IT is a generally accepted rule in all branches of public service wherein many individuals work together for a common cause, that each shall have a definite idea of his own respective function. This rule is so simple that it sometimes escapes notice; still its importance is so great and its observance so necessary, that no permanent success can be obtained in any department of life without obedience to it.
A good example of this rule, as applied by Mrs. Eddy, may be found in the chapter entitled Recapitulation, beginning on Science and Health, page 465 of Science and Health. "This chapter," as we read in the opening paragraph, "is from the first edition of the author's class-book," which our Leader tells us in "Retrospection and Introspection" (Retrospection and Introspection, p. 35) was issued under the title "The Science of Man" five years prior to the publication of the Christian Science text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." A glance through the chapter will show that, in common with all successful exponents of new and original thought, Mrs. Eddy began with a series of exact definitions of the words she was about to employ. She took no scholastic opinions for granted, but challenged everything that was stereotyped, and thus made her way to clearer and purer views of spiritual reality.
As students of Christian Science we certainly cannot do better than to follow the example of our inspired Leader; and in becoming members of The Church of Christ, Scientist, we should all have a definite idea of our duties and responsibilities, and also be thoroughly familiar with the nature and significance of church relations. In the beginning it is natural that we should have a somewhat local and plural sense of churches, as of people and material things. As we go on, however, we discern the spiritual law of unity, and perceive that as there is but one God and His one infinite manifestation, so there is in reality but one church, no matter how many differing human conceptions there may be concerning it.
