The following is a reprint of an article that originally appeared in the September 10, 1910, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel. Church Founder Mary Baker Eddy called this article "practical and scientific" and recommended a careful study of it to all students of Christian Science.
See The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 237.
CHRISTIAN SCIENTISTS HAVE FOR THEIR INSTRUCTION the Scriptures, the writings of Mrs. Eddy, which open to them the Scriptures, and the Church Manual, the rules of which help them to apply what they have been taught. The Bible, understood through Christian Science, is aiding its students individually to live in Christian discipleship; the Manual of The Church of Christ, Scientist, in providing that Christian Scientists shall work together, is helping them collectively to live in Christian fellowship. The teaching of the Scriptures and the Christian Science text-book bring about the individual correction of thought, while the rules of the Church Manual make possible right action through groups of individuals and through the whole body of Scientists. So, the Bible, Science and Health, and the Manual are equally important in their places. The Manual bears definite relation to the other two books in that it shows us how to take the steps that will bring their teaching into our lives in all necessary relations with our fellow-men. It safeguards and regenerates Christian fellowship by promoting the best possible form of church organization. For these reasons, therefore, it can no more be dispensed with than can the Scriptures or the Christian Science text-book.
