It is historical fact that Mary Baker Eddy was the Discoverer of Christian Science and also that she is accepted and known as the Founder of the Christian Science movement. Objections have been made to her use of these terms; it has been preached from the pulpit and heralded from the press that a person cannot be the discoverer and also the founder of the same thing. Nevertheless, Mrs. Eddy insisted that she be known as both the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. In the Preface of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. xi), our Leader writes, "When God called the author to proclaim His Gospel to this age, there came also the charge to plant and water His vineyard." This latter we understand to mean the divine command to found and establish what is known as the Christian Science movement. We therefore not only accept Science and Health as a complete revelation of Christian Science, but we also accept the Manual, written by Mrs. Eddy, as her final instruction with regard to church government. It is the only one we shall ever have; its By-laws are the constitution of the Christian Science movement and make it what it is.
Every step taken by our Leader in the early stages of her work led her directly toward the forming and establishing of the Christian Science church. In June, 1879, she obtained a charter from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in which occurred the following clause: "Now therefore, I, Henry B. Pierce, Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, do hereby certify that said Mary Baker G. Eddy and others [giving their names], their associates and successors, are legally organized and established as, and are hereby made, an existing corporation under the name of the Church of Christ (Scientist), with the powers, rights, and privileges, and subject to the limitations, duties, and restrictions which by law appertain thereto." Mark well the language used here. The church was not only given certain rights and privileges, but it was also made subject to certain legal limitations and restrictions.
Mrs. Eddy afterward saw that her church, representing "the structure of Truth and Love" (Science and Health, p. 583), could not be satisfactorily regulated by state laws. She felt that for its own development the church required laws wherein divine Mind governed, and not the state of Massachusetts. A story is told of a law student who made application for admission to the Boston bar. The examining committee soon discovered that he knew little or nothing about the fundamentals of law and so informed him. His reply was, "Why don't you examine me on the statutes? I know all the statutes," meaning by that the laws passed by the state Legislature. The presiding judge replied, "Why, if your knowledge of law is limited to the statutes, some day a Legislature may come along and repeal all you know." It was plain to Mrs. Eddy that if the government of her church depended upon state laws, a state Legislature might repeal those laws, or enact new ones that would seriously affect her church.
