Article November 3, 1906 Issue

THE LAW OF THE CHURCH

LEWIS R. WORKS.

Our Leader has said, "Love fulfils the law in Christian Science" (Science and Health, p. 572), and every Scientist endeavors, as his part in the fulfilment, so to regulate his life as to be a faithful mirror of that Love which is the only possible guide for his individual conduct. But there are rules of action to be considered in Christian Science, at least for the present, in addition to the laws for individual guidance, which are necessarily objects of the fulfilment referred to by our Leader. So long as it is necessary for us to have a Church extenalized by outward structures and characterized in its worship by a certain amount of form and ceremony, just so long will it be necessary to have Church law laid down for us through the instrumentality of types, ink, and paper; just so long shall we be bound to observe, in addition to the laws for our individual guidance, this law of the Church.

Where is the law of the Church to be found? It is necessary that all law, to be effective, shall be so promulgated as to come to the knowledge of all to whom it is to apply, and that rule, standing as it does for common justice, is peculiarly applicable to the laws which govern our Church. In order that the rule may be observed and the law reach members of the Church in the remotest parts of the world, as well as near at hand, the Manual of The Mother Church has been prepared as the instrumentality through which its promulgation is made.

In saying that the law of the Church is set forth in the Manual, we should always remember that we cannot become or remain members of the Church unless we daily adhere to and practise the teachings of Christianity as set forth in the Bible and in Mrs. Eddy's inspired writings, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" and her other works. (Manual of The Mother Church. Art. VII., Sect. 1: Art. XXVI., Sect. I.) The Bible and Science and Health are also ordained Pastor over the Church (Manual Art. XIII., Sect. I). In other words, the study of the Bible and Mrs. Eddy's writings should keep the individual in such moral and spiritual condition as will make him, together with his associates, amenable and obedient to Church discipline under and according to the law of the Church promulgated in the Manual.

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