On page xi of the Preface to the Christian Science textbook,"Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy writes, "When God called the author to proclaim His Gospel to this age, there came also the charge to plant and water His vineyard." Mrs. Eddy's mission was not to end with writing her textbook, nor with her own healing and teaching activities or those of her students. She was divinely inspired and directed to provide the means for preserving her discovery from the encroachments of human opinion and malicious design. To this end, and with unparalleled courage, unerring wisdom, and unselfed love, she founded The Mother Church, and wrote in its Manual the simple, Christlike rules adequate for its form of government and for the protection and promotion of her teachings. This church organization, with its many branch churches and varied activities, constitutes the Christian Science movement and provides the proper avenues for the dissemination of the unadulterated truths of Christian Science.
Mrs. Eddy writes on pages 246 and 247 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany": "The Magna Charta of Christian Science means much, multum in parvo,—allin-one and one-in-all. It stands for the inalienable, universal rights of men." In the same paragraph she adds, "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." Thus Mrs. Eddy makes known the breadth of the mission of The Mother Church. Through fulfilling the impartial demands of divine Love, it protects and furthers the development of its members, and offers the revealed truth to mankind.
Because Christian Science is the full revelation of Truth, it affords the correction for all error. Whatever is involved in what we call the human problem—individual, national, or international—eventually it must be solved according to the teachings of this Science. But the proof of the applicability of Science to human needs rests with Christian Scientists themselves. How worthily they fulfill their mission depends on how faithfully they adhere to that which has been committed to their trust.
