The great majority of the members of The Mother Church throughout the field earnestly desire to follow Mrs. Eddy's provisions for the continued progress of Christian Science. Sometimes, however, there has been a sense of confusion when it came to discerning just what those provisions were, and just what our Leader desired and expected should be done. Some have said, "If Mrs. Eddy had only told us definitely!" Time after time, however, during the years that have marked the history of Christian Science, we have had remarkable instances of the wisdom and foresight that characterized her provisions for the Cause. In every crisis the angel of the Lord was surely at her right hand.
The two questions that seem to be particularly involved are those of leadership and government. On pages 346 and 347 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany," and in the "Magna Charta of Christian Science" beginning on page 246 of the same volume, these questions are surely answered. The first passage referred to reads as follows: "I did say that a man would be my future successor. By this I did not mean any man to-day on earth. Science and Health makes it plain to all Christian Scientists that the manhood and womanhood of God have already been revealed in a degree through Christ Jesus and Christian Science, His two witnesses. What remains to lead on the centuries and reveal my successor, is man in the image and likeness of the Father-Mother God, man the generic term for mankind." In the second passage referred to—the Magna Charta—we find the following: "Essentially democratic, its government is administered by the common consent of the governed, wherein and whereby man governed by his creator is self-governed. The church is the mouthpiece of Christian Science,—its law and gospel are according to Christ Jesus; its rules are health, holiness, and immortality,—equal rights and privileges, equality of the sexes, rotation in office."
As to leadership: How is this man in the image and likeness of God to "lead on"? Christian Scientists can answer this question only by perceiving the metaphysical meaning of such leadership. How could "man the generic term for mankind" lead on, except as a divine idea in the consciousness of the adherents of Christian Science? Therefore, must not the spiritual perception and understanding of the real man be that which is to lead? To the extent that each individual keeps his thought clear as to what constitutes man in the image and likeness of God is he able to demonstrate this understanding.
