Whenever individuals unite to promote a common cause, it becomes immediately necessary to formulate rules of action, that procedure may be orderly and effective. A significant episode in connection with the coming of the Pilgrim Fathers to the shores of the New World, one upon which, with something of wonder, succeeding generations have loved to dwell, was the gathering, in the little cabin of the Mayflower, of those hardy seafarers, to formulate and adopt a compact as the basis for the government of the community they were about to establish. Joined in a common interest, they drew up and adopted an agreement binding themselves to definite lines of action for the good of all. This was the first self-imposed covenant for the promotion of religious freedom to be expressed in terms of civic polity established in the New World. Thus began the exercise of the right of self-government later incorporated in those great covenants, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
The beginnings at Plymouth were to be followed two and a half centuries later by the establishment of another voluntary association, also in New England,—the Church of Christ, Scientist, which, through restoring primitive Christianity, should provide means of liberation for all mankind. As the great importance of her discovery gradually dawned upon Mrs. Eddy, she turned her attention to the founding of Christian Science, in order that its healing truth might become available for the multitude of weary wanderers in the desert of human hopes and fears, hungering and thirsting for an understanding that would set them free. Thus arose the prime necessity for organization, uniting in the common cause individuals—beneficiaries of her demonstration—who, themselves having tasted the true bread and drunk from the fountain of living waters, saw in this movement salvation and release for humanity.
As an instrumentality for propagating Christian Science she organized The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, to carry its healing messages throughout the world, wherever, in order to taste the blessedness of spiritual living, human consciousness should be found ready to divest itself of something of its materiality. For the guidance of those who joined themselves in this voluntary association, to insure a stable organization, it became necessary to establish rules and regulations to which allegiance should be pledged by individual consent. These Rules, termed By-laws, were formulated by Mrs. Eddy herself, as occasion arose for action in specific instances. Christian Scientists have come to recognize in the By-laws of the Church Manual a no less definite revelation than is found in the textbook of Christian Science itself, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." Of their origin, Mrs. Eddy states in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 148): "The Rules and By-laws in the Manual of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston, originated not in solemn conclave as in ancient Sanhedrim. They were not arbitrary opinions nor dictatorial demands, such as one person might impose on another. They were impelled by a power not one's own, were written at different dates, and as the occasion required. They sprang from necessity, the logic of events,—from the immediate demand for them as a help that must be supplied to maintain the dignity and defense of our Cause."
