Article February 28, 1925 Issue

Cooperation

ALGERNON HERVEY BATHURST

WHAT a remarkable illustration of true church government our Leader has given us in the By-laws set forth in the Church Manual! And how surely and persistently the Christian Science movement grows and prospers as these rules are studied and obeyed by the members of The Mother Church! At the same time, every conscientious student recognizes that he has yet much to learn from a still deeper and more consecrated study of those rules which Mrs. Eddy tells us, in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 148), "will do for the race what absolute doctrines destined for future generations might not accomplish."

There is perhaps no more marked feature of the form of government which Mrs. Eddy established through spiritual discernment than the freedom, and even the independence, experienced by those branch churches or societies and individuals that are cooperating in their endeavor to understand and obey the rules thus set forth. The claim of evil or animal magnetism always attempts to reverse the truth. So, with regard to The Mother Church, it would suggest among other things, to those ready to listen to pernicious whisperings, that the form of government is autocratic.

In this connection the following experience is interesting. A student of Christian Science heard at one time subtle suggestions and insinuations frequently reiterated with regard to one in a position of prominence in the movement. He found that these persistent arguments were almost constituting a hindrance to his work as a Christian Science practitioner. The student therefore reasoned the matter out, separated the belief from person in his own thinking, realizing that Principle or divine Mind governs and controls wisely, well, and eternally. The evil suggestions of criticism and the like soon ceased to trouble him, and he was able to continue his work gladly and gratefully. He thought no more about the experience until, some months later, the proof that the very suggestions which had been poured forth so persistently were untrue was given him, without the slightest desire or effort on his part to ascertain the facts.

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