ONE of the most striking evidences of the unique character of the Christian Science body is its church polity, which, as compared with that of other church organizations of this period, departs so widely from commonly accepted standards as to be clearly indicative of the inspirational nature of its conception and the spirituality of purpose in its design. It is safe to say that in no other existing religious body is personality so subordinated, and such insistence placed upon an impersonal application of universal spiritual law, as in the ideal held before the membership of the Christian Science organization by its Founder and Leader, Mrs. Eddy.
The Mother Church in Boston is the expression of that which Mrs. Eddy has found both by experience and revelation to be the best calculated to defend Christian Science against the assaults of those human influences which always array themselves in opposition to advanced discoveries in spiritual law, and at the same time to be a witness before men of that for which the outward structure stands, and the visible manifestation of the power of good over the evil human tendencies with which mankind are seemingly surrounded. Yet. in this important center from which radiate all the lines of activity connected with the Christian Science work, personality is so subordinated that Mrs. Eddy is never seen at a public service, and does not permit even the members of the church to express to her a tithe of that affectionate personal regard which those who have been blessed by her activities feel for her. A single sentence in the message which she sent to her students a few years ago, states the whole polity of the church which she has founded, and if made the self-appropriated motto of each one of those whom she has taught, it will perpetuate the Christian Science church to the end of time. The sentence referred to reads, "Follow your Leader only so far as she follows Christ" (Messages to The Mother Church, p. 70)
The special obligation which attaches to The Mother Church is an impersonal and impartial obligation to defend the faith, in all that the term implies. It provides Mrs. Eddy with a channel through which to reach the field at large with necessary literature, lectures, Lesson-Sermons, and timely advice, and its high office can no more be performed by any other church than there can be another Discoverer of Christian Science or another Founder of the Christian Science church. While the held of the branch churches is necessarily confined to the locality in which they are situated, the field of The Mother Church is coextensive with civilization; wherever there are Christian Science students, patients, or practitioners, there is felt the influence of The Mother Church, for it reaches out into all places through the Journal, Der Herold, the Sentinel, the Monitor; and instructs all inquiring thought with its lecturers and its miscellaneous contributions through the publication committees; admonishing, guiding, leading, encouraging each individual whose eyes fall upon its printed word or whose ears receive its message through the spoken word. In its ceaseless activities The Mother Church simply reflects upon the religious world that impersonal truth, that spiritual individuality which has an unlimited sweep onward toward pure being, and which leads thought to God, and to Him only, as all-embracing, all-pervading Life. The sole mission of The Mother Church is to make to the world the constant declaration: "The Lord he is God; there is none else."
