Every By-Law in the Manual of The Mother Church by Mrs. Eddy can be understood as a commission—a demand for obedience which, when obeyed, gives great blessings. "Of this I am sure," Mrs. Eddy wrote, "that each Rule and By-law in this Manual will increase the spirituality of him who obeys it, invigorate his capacity to heal the sick, to comfort such as mourn, and to awaken the sinner." The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 230 That's our Leader's promise, and it applies to her Church's specific ministry—that is, the Christian Science organizations—at universities and colleges.
The By-Law concerning organizationsSee man., Art. XXIII,Sect.8. doesn't state that organizations are the only form of church applicable to the academic community. College and university students and faculty usually attend or teach in Sunday Schools, and are active in branch churches and societies in other ways, too. But college organizations are an additional and specific form of church adapted to and intended to meet the needs of those in academic communities.
In my own life, commitment to church activity, including an active role in a Christian Science organization at a university, actually proved to be the decisive factor in my successfully completing graduate school.
