Article October 24, 1936 Issue

"Mortal Man is the defendant"

RICHARD P. VERRALL

When Mary Baker Eddy gave her priceless discovery of Christian Science to the world, she soon encountered that active opposition which has always attended the impartation of a new and higher concept of God. The very success of her healing work and the growing popularity of her teachings inevitably aroused the envy and misrepresentation of materialism. To protect the newly organized "Church of Christ, Scientist," against the Pharaohs and Herods of modern times required much time and mental energy. Looking to God, our Leader learned how to defend this church against the repeated attacks of the carnal mind, and she instructed her students in the art of spiritual warfare. She early secured the protection of the copyright law that her published writings might be beyond the reach of piracy and adulteration. The introduction of her teachings into human consciousness, so that they could be understood and applied in the affairs of daily life, however, was a far more difficult task. Many were eager to receive the healing benefits of Christian Science, but few were ready or willing to conform to its self-disciplinary demands.

Recognizing the fallibility of human nature and the need of correcting its inherent defects, our Leader, as occasion required, enacted By-Laws through which she imposed definite duties upon her followers. The chapter on "Discipline" in the Manual of The Mother Church contains sixteen pages of such rules. Article VIII, Section 6, for example, makes it "the duty of every member of this Church to defend himself daily against aggressive mental suggestion, and not be made to forget nor to neglect his duty to God, to his Leader, and to mankind." Our Leader knew better than any of her followers that the benefits of Christian Science cannot be permanently enjoyed by anyone without a due assumption of the responsibilities involved.

It is now clearly apparent that it is not enough that Christian Science has been discovered, that The Mother Church, with its activities, has been founded, and that branch churches have been organized all over the world. These things, no matter how valuable as means, cannot of themselves save a single individual, much less bring the kingdom of heaven on earth. To this end every student of Christian Science must patiently set himself to understand what Mrs. Eddy discovered, and through the study of the Bible with the aid of her writings, establish these teachings in the living temple of his own individual character. The student is blessed in that he has inherited the truth which Mrs. Eddy, with the Bible as her guide, sought and found, and the ways and means she established for working out his own salvation.

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