Any attempt to understand the purpose and operation of the Church of Christ, Scientist, without studying what Mrs. Eddy says in the Manual of The Mother Church would be like seeking an understanding of Christian Science without reference to what she says in Science and Health.
The discovery of Christian Science and the founding of The Mother Church are closely related historical events. Together they record the coming to this world of the Comforter promised by Christ Jesus. The Comforter comes to mankind through the revelation of the divine Principle of scientific healing, which is found complete in the Bible and Science and Health and which Mrs. Eddy demonstrated by the founding and establishing of The Mother Church and by the writing of the Church Manual.
What did Mrs. Eddy's writing of the Manual do as a sequel to the writing of Science and Health? We hear it said that men must discover their religion before they can choose their church. If we are genuinely stirred by some fresh spiritual insight, it is unlikely that we will keep it to ourselves, improbable that we will not act on it. Discovery and sharing go hand in hand; one is the inevitable outcome of the other. In the same way, the Manual is impelled by the love evidenced in Mrs. Eddy's writing of Science and Health; it identifies the steps we must take with fellow Scientists, whose charge, like ours, is to work in God's vineyard.
