MARY BAKER EDDY, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, tells us in the Manual of The Mother Church (Art. I, Sect. 9), "Without a proper system of government and form of action, nations, individuals, and religion are unprotected." In the world's present state of unrest and confusion, with its conflicting, changing opinions concerning human governments, and in certain parts of the world with deliberate attempts to suppress and even to stamp out all forms of religious worship, we see illustrated the truth of these, our Leader's words.

The Manual sets forth in Rules and By-Laws a system of government which, when rightly understood and practiced, leads to the practical utilization of Christian Science by the individual in all his relationships with his fellow men. Our Leader writes (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, pp. 246, 247): "The Magna Charta of Christian Science means much, multum in parvo,—all-in-one and one-in-all. It stands for the inalienable, universal rights of men. Essentially democratic, its government is administered by the common consent of the governed, wherein and whereby man governed by his creator is self-governed."

The Manual is wisely, justly, and harmoniously governing an ever-increasing church membership, distributed throughout the civilized world. This vast membership is experiencing democratic government in the branch church organizations.

These church members are learning through their work in their respective branch churches the great lessons of cooperative service; they are learning the importance of subordinating selfish ambition, personal preferences and opinions to the greatest good of the greatest number. The worker who has thus disciplined himself to receive with tolerance and kindly consideration the views and opinions of his fellow members, and to accept lovingly the will of the majority, becomes an intelligent and worthy worker, and alert Christian Scientist, and a more useful citizen.

This form of government, which unites under one banner men and women of divergent environments and cultures, is indeed a living monument to the revelator and Founder of Christian Science, and a source of inspiration to its adherents. Is not the Christ, Truth, on which this teaching is founded, "the stone which the builders rejected;" and has it not "become the head of the corner"?

The strength of this church government and its influence for good among men of different nations, depend largely upon the fidelity of present and future members of The Mother Church and its branches to the teachings of Christian Science. This church welcomes the active support and membership of every loyal student of Christian Science who is qualified for the responsibilities of church membership, and gives in return the greatly needed protection and support of the church organization. If one mistakenly believes he can get from her writings all that Mrs. Eddy has given us, separate from the organization she has established to safeguard and disseminate this revelation of Truth, he will find himself greatly mistaken. His progress will be slow, and his opportunities for proving these truths by individual demonstration greatly limited; nor can he know the joy and the blessings that come only through active church membership. Therefore, the consistent student recognizes that his acceptance of the teachings of the Bible and of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, with their attendant blessings, leaves him no choice other than to accept wholeheartedly the discipline these teachings place upon him through the Rules and By-Laws of the Church Manual.

The student of Christian Science who is faithful and sincere in his daily study of the Bible and the textbook of Christian Science, and who applies what he learns of the truth, will not become disloyal to these teachings or to the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. Nor will the student who is equally faithful in his daily study of the Church Manual, and who is striving to adhere to both the letter and the spirit of its admonitions, become indifferent toward the great organization founded by our Leader to safeguard her sacred discovery of the divine Principle of all real being.

One student has learned to his great joy and profit that the daily study of the Manual and willing obedience to its admonitions awaken a more profound reverence for the discerning wisdom of our Leader, a deeper sense of gratitude for her life of self-sacrifice, and a greater love for the organization she labored so long and so unselfishly to establish.

It is evident from Mrs. Eddy's article, "Mental Digestion" (Miscellany, pp. 229, 230), that the Manual is no less divinely inspired than is her textbook, and therefore should be studied. She leaves no doubt concerning the rightful and important part the Manual has and will continue to have in the advancement of the Cause of Christian Science. And of its great value to the individual student she says in the closing lines of this article, "Of this I am sure, that each Rule and By-law in this Manual will increase the spirituality of him who obeys it, invigorate his capacity to heal the sick, to comfort such as mourn, and to awaken the sinner."