In the Manual of The Mother Church, Mary Baker Eddy writes, “Law constitutes government, and disobedience to the laws of The Mother Church must ultimate in annulling its Tenets and By-Laws” (p. 28).
I love the whole concept of law, especially when lifted spiritually to the understanding of law as divine Science, the Holy Ghost, the universal action of God that establishes and maintains the harmony, or structure, of infinite being. Perhaps that’s why I deeply love the Manual, an astonishingly original legal document that lays out the structure of the human expression of “the Church Universal and Triumphant” (Manual, p. 19).
Of its origin Mrs. Eddy writes: “The Rules and By-Laws in the Manual of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston, originated not in solemn conclave as in ancient Sanhedrim. They were not arbitrary opinions nor dictatorial demands, such as one person might impose on another. They were impelled by a power not one’s own, were written at different dates, and as the occasion required” (Manual, p. 3).
