I feel that I am long overdue in expressing my gratitude to God through the periodicals for all the good that has come to me through the study and application of Christian Science.
During military service I gained a greater appreciation of the Manual of The Mother Church by Mary Baker Eddy. Mrs. Eddy was divinely guided to provide in the Manual every law needful to the eternal defense of the Cause of Christian Science, including the church offices, officers, and individual church members. On page 148 of "Miscellaneous Writings," Mrs. Eddy, speaking of the Rules and By-Laws in the Manual, says in part: "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." The By-Laws of the Manual must be obeyed by members of The Mother Church even as they obey the Ten Commandments and Beatitudes, if their divine protection is to be enjoyed.
An angel-like reminder of the Manual's vital role in an individual sense proved a blessing in one instance when I was faced with the last enemy. Military duty on one occasion required me to leave the Netherlands East Indies on a flight into the Philippines. The flight was to be made in two laps. On the first lap motor trouble developed in the right engine, but we succeeded in reaching our first landing strip. After a hasty inspection emergency repairs were completed, because the urgency of our mission made it necessary to continue our journey. While still some four hundred miles from land and our final destination, the right motor stopped running. The plane was heavily loaded with cargo, eight passengers, and a crew of five. This type of plane was not noted for floating long once it had crashed into the sea, and we had sacrificed lifesaving equipment for a capacity load.
