FOR some years a student of Christian Science has found much joy in the realization that each By-Law in the Manual of The Mother Church can be profitably read and studied by every member of The Mother Church or of a branch church. One is apt to regard a By-Law as applying merely to the governing or business arrangement of the work of whatever board or committee is taking care of a particular activity. Yet remembering that Church, realized in the spiritual sense, leads to that upbuilding of consciousness which will finally enable one to see God face to face, one will also understand that each By-Law can be rightly applied to his own individual problems. Many a problem has yielded to the healing law realized through the unfoldment which has come as a result of studying the By-Laws in the Manual.
Since the student is learning to direct his daily life rightly through his application of Christian Science, he may use the spirit of the By-Laws as showing him the way to direct his thoughts. In the same way, in his daily reading of the Lesson-Sermon, he may use those By-Laws that apply to Readers; and, in keeping his daily life in line with the highest standards of living, the By-Laws that apply to discipline. Thus, in his individual thinking he will be gaining the right sense of good government, law, and order.
In speaking of the "Readers in Branch Churches" (Manual, Art. III, Sect. 6) our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, writes, "They shall read understandingly," One reader of the Lesson-Sermon pondered this statement prayerfully, together with the statement in another By-Law in the Manual (Art. II, Sect. 2) that "intelligible Readers" shall be selected. In this connection it is interesting to note that in the book of Nehemiah it is written, "So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading." To "read understanding" one must understand what he is reading. The spiritual sense of the words must be clear to the Reader's own thought or he cannot give out that intelligible meaning which awakens consciousness and brings healing to the members of the congregation. How necessary, then, that intelligibility link hands with understanding to bring out the right sense!
