Article February 27, 1909 Issue

THE MANUAL OF THE MOTHER CHURCH

LAURA C. TUCKER

AMONG the many priceless gifts bestowed upon mankind by divine Love, through the understanding and demonstration of Truth by our revered Leader, Mrs. Eddy, is the Manual of The Mother Church, and its value as a utilitarian agency for the scientific conduct and administration of the affairs of the organization of whose government it is the impersonal administrator, is above estimate. The Manual clearly defines the relationship which the branch churches bear to The Mother Church, and it reveals to the faithful student the spiritual benefits derived from the demonstration of orderly procedure. More than this, the statements of the Manual have a deeper significance, the import of which has as yet but faintly dawned upon the consciousness of the writer. Nevertheless her glimpse of the truth contained in this book has so illumined consciousness as in a measure to reveal the great import of its word, and the spiritual and practical value of its demonstration. This realization places the Manual (in the estimation of the writer) next in importance to the Christian Science text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," in the demonstration of the divine Principle of Christian Science.

To thought which is unaccustomed to the stern though loving demands of spiritual law, and which is of itself lawless, the requirements of the Manual may at first appear to be mandatory or even dictatorial, but to the consciousness imbued with a spirit of loving obedience to spiritual law and the divine will its honest and persistent study unfolds an ever-increasing sense of divine love and protection, a realization that obedience to divine law involves absolute immunity from evil and a consciousness of the eternal presence and power of divine Principle, Love. Strict adherence, on the part of Christian Scientists, to the rules and by-laws of The Mother Church would ensure perfect law and order in our churches, our homes, our business, as well as in our individual consciousness, a condition which would necessarily close the door of human consciousness to sickness, sin, and death. The obedience to divine Principle enjoined by our Manual would heal every malignant claim of envy and jealousy and destroy the possibility of their expression in the lives of Christian Scientists.

The perfect law and order which our Manual sets forth, becomes, in proportion to its demonstration, the rule of life for each one who obeys the law, and under this ruling there can be no fear of losing one's own individual place or possessions, while it is made clear that one cannot, in the understanding of Christian Science, fill the place of another. The joy of working to realize one's own spiritual individuality, one's own identity in Mind, leaves no room for envy or jealousy. Furthermore, divine justice, which is the spiritual signification of law, coupled with mercy, is made manifest in the consciousness and experience of the student, in proportion to his apprehension of the justice of our Leader's demands and the mercifulness of their requisition. This apprehension will include the spiritual understanding of the intent and scope of these demands.

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