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sweeter than has ever before reached high Heaven, now rises clearer and nearer to the great heart of Christ; for the accuser is not there, and Love sends forth her primal and everlasting strain. Self-abnegation--by which we lay down all for Christ, Truth, in our warfare against error--is a rule in Christian Science. This rule clearly interprets God as divine Principle,--as Life, represented by the Father; as Truth, represented by the Son; as Love, represented by the mother. Every mortal, at some period, here or hereafter, must grapple with and overcome the mortal belief in a power opposed to God.
The Scripture, "Thou hast been faithful over a few things; I will make thee ruler over many," is literally fulfilled, when we are conscious of the supremacy of Truth, whereby the nothingness of error is seen, and we know that its nothingness is in proportion to its wickedness. He that touches the hem of Christ's robe, and masters his mortal belief, animality and hate, rejoices in the proof of healing,--in a sweet and certain sense that God is Love. Alas for those who break faith with Divine Science, and fail to strangle the serpent of sin, as well as of sickness! They are dwellers still in the deep darkness of belief. They are in the surging sea of error, not struggling to lift their heads above the drowning wave.
What must the end be? They must eventually expiate their sin through suffering. The sin which one has made his bosom companion, comes back to him at last with accelerated force; for the evil knoweth its time is short. Here the Scriptures declare that evil is temporal, not eternal. The dragon is at last stung to death by his own malice; but how many periods of self-torture it may take to remove all sin and its effects, must depend upon its obduracy.
Revelation xii, 13. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.
The march of mind and honest investigation will bring the hour when the people will chain, with fetters of some sort, the growing occultism of this period. The present apathy as to the tendency of certain active yet unseen mental agencies will finally be shocked into another extreme mortal mood,--into human indignation; for one extreme follows another.
Revelation xii, 15, 16. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman; and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
Millions of unprejudiced minds--simple seekers for Truth, weary wanderers, athirst in the desert--are waiting and watching for rest and drink. Give them a cup of cold water in Christ's name, and never fear the consequences. What if the old dragon sends forth a new flood, to drown the Christ-idea? He can neither drown your voice with its roar, nor again sink the world into the deep waters of chaos and old night. In this age the earth will help the woman; the spiritual idea will be understood. Those ready for the blessing you impart will give thanks. The waters will be pacified, and Christ will command the wave.
When God heals the sick or the sinful, they should know the great benefit Mind has wrought. They should also know the great delusion of mortal mind, when it makes them sick or sinful. Many are willing to open the eyes of the people to the power of good resident in divine Mind; but they are not as willing to point out the evil in human thought, and expose its hidden mental ways of accomplishing iniquity.
Why this backwardness, since exposure is necessary, to ensure the avoidance of the evil? Because people like you better when you tell them their virtues, than when you tell them their vices. It requires the spirit of our great Master to tell a man his faults, and so risk human displeasure, for the sake of doing right and benefiting our race. Who is telling mankind of their foe in ambush? Is the informer one who sees the foe? If so, listen and be wise. Escape from evil, and designate those as unfaithful stewards, who have seen the danger and yet have given no warning.
At all times, and under all circumstances, overcome evil with Good. Know thyself, and God will supply the wisdom and the occasion for a victory over evil. Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you. The cement of a higher humanity will unite all interests in the one Divinity.

HYMNS.
BY REV. MARY BAKER EDDY.
(Set to the Church chimes and sung on this occasion.)
LAYING THE CORNER STONE.
Laus Deo, it is done.