In a Christian Science Sentinel it is related that a Sunday School teacher asked her class the question, "What is a duty?" and one little girl replied, "Something we ought to do." She then asked, "And what is a privilege?" The same little girl answered, "Something we like to do." The conclusion is that a duty becomes a privilege when the thing we ought to do is also the thing we like to do.
Under the heading "Daily Prayer" in the Manual of The Mother Church, Mary Baker Eddy points out a duty which every member of The Mother Church is expected to perform daily to the best of his ability. Article VIII, Section 4, states, "It shall be the duty of every member of this Church to pray each day: 'Thy kingdom come;' let the reign of divine Truth, Life, and Love be established in me, and rule out of me all sin ; and may Thy Word enrich the affections of all mankind, and govern them !"
This duty is a solemn one. Its importance to the spiritual progress of the individual and to the spreading of God's kingdom on earth is indicated by its inclusion in the Manual as a By-Law. A paragraph from a letter of our Leader's which appears in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 148) is printed in place of a dedication in this most indispensable guidebook. Here Mrs. Eddy tells us of the By-Laws, "They were not arbitrary opinions nor dictatorial demands, such as one person might impose on another." She explains that they were composed to fit the needs of particular occasions, and continues, "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."
