It may be said that the Manual of The Mother Church, by Mary Baker Eddy, is the basic law of that Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, of which all other Christian Science churches in the world are branches. It stands unchanged and inviolate as Mrs. Eddy's demonstrated form of government for the church which she founded and the movement which she established.
Speaking of the Mosaic law, Jesus said: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Similarly, of the By-Laws which the Manual contains, our Leader has written (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 148): "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; hence their simple, scientific basis, and detail so requisite to demonstrate genuine Christian Science, and which will do for the race what absolute doctrines destined for future generations might not accomplish."
Obviously, the more nearly the letter and spirit of the Manual are followed by The Mother Church and its branches, the more harmonious will be their government and the more certain their growth and expansion along right lines. Any careless or intentional departure from the provisions of the Manual in matters pertaining to church government would be a serious mistake and might result disastrously.
