When Mary Baker Eddy, through the power of God manifested to her in her own recovery from the effects of an accident, received the spiritual revelation which she afterward named Christian Science, she had before her an uncharted way. As her understanding of the revelation deepened, she saw that she must give it to all mankind. There was no precedent, no established path to follow except as the Scriptures opened it, no former landmarks to point the way. The new outlook called for new developments. She could not foresee, nor at first estimate, the requirements necessary to preserve the integrity of her teaching. But as she followed spiritual guidance, her church organization came into being, and step by step the Church Manual with its Rules and By-Laws appeared.

In her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy writes (p. 330), "Until the author of this book learned the vastness of Christian Science, the fixedness of mortal illusions, and the human hatred of Truth, she cherished sanguine hopes that Christian Science would meet with immediate and universal acceptance." Thus encountering unexpected resistance to the revelation she had been given, Mrs. Eddy was obliged to find, in the face of great difficulties, ways and means not only to promote Christian Science but to protect it. She saw that she must bring her discovery into the field of established Christian religions. To this end she founded an organization and provided for its continuance. Christian Science is promoted through her writings. It is to a considerable degree protected by her church organization.

Three outstanding features of the Christian Science movement are the revelation of Christian Science as set forth in the writings of Mrs. Eddy, her life and work as its Discoverer and Founder, and her Church; or, the revelation, the revelator, and the organization through which the revelation is disseminated to men. The Manual of The Mother Church, through its Rules and By-Laws, defines the activities of the church and enfolds them in spiritual safekeeping.

It has been said that genius must organize or it is lost. The artist "organizes" his awareness of a landscape into the painting which preserves it. The musician translates beauty into the structure of a symphony and so fixes his inspiration in a form appreciable to others. By such means the perception of beauty and truth which comes to one is not lost, but is preserved for all. Surely, then, spiritual perception and realization, if they are to be shared with a world, must define themselves in an orderly procedure of church action which will assure the endurance and safety of the church; which will establish it for the salvation of humanity while holding it above the destructive elements of that same humanity.

This fact Mrs. Eddy saw. And through toil, disappointments, recoveries, and revelation she brought the Manual of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, to completeness. It is interesting to note that while Mrs. Eddy's other writings in conjunction with the Scriptures deal with the individual life of the Christian Scientist, the Manual provides for the collective lives of Christian Scientists, especially in church activities. It sets forth the requirements of disciplined obedience to law, which subdues personal clamor and calls brotherhood into evidence. If obeyed it brings about a working band of Christian Scientists who are striving to subordinate self-interest to the good of the whole. Christian Science brings an understanding of the divine nature to bear upon human nature, and thus transforms the latter. The discipline of the Manual develops a "togetherness" which contributes largely to this end.

Within the provisions of the Manual of The Mother Church is every prerequisite for carrying on the Christian Science movement. The publishing of Mrs. Eddy's writings, the establishment of church services, Reading Rooms, lectures, class instruction, the publication of the religious periodicals and of The Christian Science Monitor, are all provided for and carried on through the processes of the Manual. Without the Manual these great activities could not function. Without the Manual, confusion and dilution could have overtaken the course of Christian Science. The foreseeing wisdom of the great Leader of the Christian Science movement enabled her to organize a church government, based on the power of Spirit, which holds Christian Science in indivisible oneness, inviolate.

The Manual of The Mother Church sprang from the same source of revelation as did the entire spiritual experience of Mary Baker Eddy. Christian Science and its Church Manual can never be separated. They stand together as one divine revelation. The Manual followed logically the healing of Mrs. Eddy, her healing of others, her teaching, her writing. Those who were with Christian Science in its earlier days saw the Manual appear, saw it develop with the need for it. As an emergency arose in the hitherto uncharted way, a new By-Law would appear to cover a situation or to stimulate progress. Wise and loving care for the church organization kept the Leader of the Christian Science movement at her watchful post. The Manual, presented through progressive unfoldment to meet the human need, became the instrument for defining the means for the dissemination of Christian Science, and the bastion against misrepresentation and perversion.

The salvation of the Church rests in a government founded upon Principle and not dependent upon persons. The coming and going of people are incidental; the changes in personnel are not of first importance. Persons fulfill official responsibilities for a season and while at these duties have the special confidence and support of their fellow church members. But it is the Church with its Manual which stands unchangeable, ensuring the continuance of Christian Science through the ages. So long as there is left on the earth a sufferer to be healed, a sinner to be saved, this Church through the provisions of its Manual can be printing for him a textbook, providing him with a lecture, furnishing him a trustworthy practitioner. The Christian Scientist knows the Church and its Manual to be inseparable from the entire Cause of Christian Science, inviolable within the completeness of the Cause. "And the government shall be upon his shoulder" (Isa. 9:6).

Upon page 383 of her book "Miscellaneous Writings," Mrs. Eddy writes: "The elements of earth beat in vain against the immortal parapets of this Science. Erect and eternal, it will go on with the ages, go down the dim posterns of time unharmed, and on every battle-field rise higher in the estimation of thinkers and in the hearts of Christians."