Solo and congregational music are important elements in Christian Science church services, but, surprisingly, they are little discussed in the Manual of The Mother Church by Mary Baker Eddy. The Manual's Article XIX, "Music in the Church," consists of a single By-Law, "Soloist and Organist." This By-Law discusses the music in The Mother Church's services only, and directs no guidance specifically to branch Churches of Christ, Scientist. Yet within this brief paragraph is much to consider, for the By-Law's history is an especially rich and interesting one.
"Soloist and Organist" dates to early 1896, when The Mother Church was barely three years old. In its earliest version, published in the fifth edition of the Church Manual (1896), the By-Law was very different. In fact, there were two "Church Rules" (as they were then called), and the By-Laws seemed designed more to deal with local difficulties than to provide guidance on the place of music in a Christian Science church service:
No hymns nor words composed by students of Christian Science that are not at this date, January 22, 1896, in the Christian Science Hymnal shall be sung in the Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston. As a necessary barrier to inharmony in the Church this By-Law has become requisite.
