Pulpit and Press (6th Edition) · Chapter 7Clippings from Newspapers
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(Daily Inter-Ocean, Chicago, December 31, 1894.)
Completion of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston.—"Our Prayer in Stone."—Description of the Most Unique Structure in Any City.—A Beautiful Temple and Its Furnishings—Mrs. Eddy's Work and Her Influence.
BOSTON, MASS., December 28.—Special Correspondence.—The "great awakening" of the time of Jonathan Edwards has been paralleled daring the last decade by a wave of idealism that has swept over the country, manifesting itself under several different aspects and under various names, but each having the common identity of spiritual demand. This movement, under the guise of Christian Science, and ingenuously calling out a closer inquiry into oriental philosophy, prefigures itself to us as one of the most potent factors in the social evolution of the last quarter of the nineteenth century. History shows the curious fact that the closing years of every century are years of more intense life manifested in unrest, or in aspiration, and scholars of special research, like Professor Max Muller, assert that the end of a cycle, as is the latter part of the present century, is marked by peculiar intimations of man's immortal life.
The completion of the first Christian Science church erected in Boston strikes a keynote of definite attention. This church is in the fashionable Back Bay between Commonwealth and Huntington avenues. It is one of the most beautiful, and is certainly the most unique structure in any city. The First Church of Christ, Scientist, as it is officially called, is termed by its founders "our prayer in stone." It is located at the intersection of Norway and Falmouth streets on a plot of triangular ground, the design a Romanesque tower with a circular front and an octagonal form accented by stone porticos and turreted corners. On the front is a marble tablet with the following inscription carved in bold relief:
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, erected Anno Domini, 1894. A testimonial to our beloved teacher, the Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science; author of "Science And Health, with Key to the Scriptures;" President of the Massachusetts Metaphysical College, and the first Pastor of this denomination.