In her works "Miscellaneous Writings" and "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" Mary Baker Eddy refers to the Manual of The Mother Church in striking terms. She states that its By-Laws were written under divine guidance as occasion demanded and that they are inviolable, forever endowed with power to elevate and spiritualize the thought of those obeying them. Unless we have begun to glimpse for ourselves these facts concerning the Manual, we are unlikely to use the Manual in the way its name implies we should use it—as our handbook or constant guide in thought and action. Unless it is so used and obeyed, its strengthening and spiritualizing activity cannot be fully experienced.
How does one begin to grasp the divine authority of the Manual? Surely by using its individual By-Laws in the way they first were written, namely as occasion requires and as each one is found to be applicable. We need not feel dismayed if we do not comprehend at once the full import of By-Laws which embrace all the activities of The Mother Church. By the time we have faithfully used such By-Laws as relate specifically to daily living and to our own particular church activity, we shall find that their God-given authority will have become so evident in our experience that we shall gratefully accept the guidance of the Manual in its entirety and eagerly await a similar unfoldment of the remaining By-Laws.
It was as a Sunday School teacher that the author first began to glimpse the authority and sufficiency of the Church Manual. Because she was totally inexperienced in teaching, the instructions given in Article XX, Sections 2 and 3, appeared at first desperately inadequate. But as she obeyed them, they unfolded till she marveled at their wisdom and completeness. As she prepared for a class of older pupils, the opening words from Section 2, "The Sabbath School children shall be taught the Scriptures," kept coming to thought, reminding her that the Bible, in its spiritual significance as explained in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, was to be their only authority as it had been hers. Then the teacher with a new appreciation of the wisdom contained in the Scriptures turned to our Leader's instructions (Sect. 3): "The first lessons of the children should be the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:3-17), the Lord's Prayer (Matt. 6:9-13), and its Spiritual Interpretation by Mary Baker Eddy, Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:3-12). The next lessons consist of such questions and answers as are adapted to a juvenile class, and may be found in the Christian Science Quarterly Lessons, read in Church services. The instruction given by the children's teachers must not deviate from the absolute Christian Science contained in their textbook."
