From time to time questions are raised about a change made on page 120 of the 89 th edition of the Manual of The Mother Church, which was published a few weeks after Mary Baker Eddy's passing. This change consisted in the addition of three words "and Branch Churches" in the heading of the order of services in The Mother Church.
It has sometimes been assumed that Mrs. Eddy did not authorize the added words. On the contrary, she both saw and gave her handwritten approval to the proof sheets of the 89th edition containing this and several other small changes, thus making that edition the last of the "subsequent editions" with changes approved by her after the 73 rd that "shall be cited as authority" (Church Manual, Art. XXXV, Sect. 2).
There is no reason for surprise that Mrs. Eddy authorized this final clarification of her purpose in regard to the order of Sunday services. Even before the order as first prescribed was introduced into the Manual, she unequivocally stated on several occasions her intent that branch churches adopt the same order as The Mother Church.
