Manual of the Mother Church Part 4

Article XXI

Establishment. SECTION 1. Each church of the Christian Science denomination shall have a Reading Room, though two or more churches may unite in having Reading Rooms, provided these rooms are well located.

Librarian. SECTION 2. The individuals who take charge of the Reading Rooms of The Mother Church shall be elected by the Christian Science Board of Directors, subject to the approval of Mary Baker Eddy. He or she shall have no bad habits, shall have had experience in the Field, shall be well educated, and a devout Christian Scientist.[3]

Literature in Reading Rooms. SECTION 3. The literature sold or exhibited in the reading rooms of Christian Science Churches shall consist only of _Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures_, by Mary Baker Eddy, and other writings by this author; also the literature published or sold by The Christian Science Publishing Society.

[3] See also Article XXV, Sect. 7.

RELATION AND DUTIES OF MEMBERS TO PASTOR EMERITUS

Article XXII

The t.i.tle of Mother Changed. SECTION 1. In the year eighteen hundred and ninety-five, loyal Christian Scientists had given to the author of their textbook, the Founder of Christian Science, the individual, endearing term of Mother. At first Mrs. Eddy objected to being called thus, but afterward consented on the ground that this appellative in the Church meant nothing more than a tender term such as sister or brother. In the year nineteen hundred and three and after, owing to the public misunderstanding of this name, it is the duty of Christian Scientists to drop the word _mother_ and to subst.i.tute Leader, already used in our periodicals.

A Member not a Leader. SECTION 2. A member of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Ma.s.s., shall not be called Leader by members of this Church, when this term is used in connection with Christian Science.

Obedience Required. SECTION 3. It shall be the duty of the officers of this Church, of the editors of the _Christian Science Journal_, _Sentinel_, and _Der Herold_, of the members of the Committees on Publication, of the Trustees of The Christian Science Publishing Society, and of the Board of Education promptly to comply with any written order, signed by Mary Baker Eddy, which applies to their official functions. Disobedience to this By-Law shall be sufficient cause for the removal of the offending member from office.

The vacancy shall be supplied by a majority vote of the Christian Science Board of Directors, and the candidate shall be subject to the approval of Mary Baker Eddy.

Understanding Communications. SECTION 4. If the Clerk of this Church shall receive a communication from the Pastor Emeritus which he does not fully understand, he shall inform her of this fact before presenting it to the Church and obtain a clear understanding of the matter,--then act in accordance therewith.

Interpreting Communications. SECTION 5. If at a meeting of this Church a doubt or disagreement shall arise among the members as to the signification of the communications of the Pastor Emeritus to them, before action is taken it shall be the duty of the Clerk to report to her the vexed question and to await her explanation thereof.

Reading and Attesting Letters. SECTION 6. When a letter or a message from the Pastor Emeritus is brought before a meeting of this Church, or she is referred to as authority for business, it shall be the duty of the Church to inquire if all of the letter has been read, and to require all of it to be read; also to have any authority supposed to come from her satisfactorily attested.

Unauthorized Reports. SECTION 7. Members of this Church shall not report on authority an order from Mrs. Eddy that she has not sent, either to the Boards or to the executive bodies of this Church. The Pastor Emeritus is not to be consulted on cases of discipline, on the cases of candidates for admission to this Church, or on the cases of those on trial for dismissal from the Church.

Private Communications. SECTION 8. A strictly private communication from the Pastor Emeritus to a member of her Church shall not be made public without her written consent.

Unauthorized Legal Action. SECTION 9. A member of this Church shall not employ an attorney, nor take legal action on a case not provided for in its By-Laws--if said case relates to the person or to the property of Mary Baker Eddy--without having personally conferred with her on said subject.

Duty to G.o.d. SECTION 10. Members of this Church who turn their attention from the divine Principle of being to personality, sending gifts, congratulatory despatches or letters to the Pastor Emeritus on Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, or Easter, break a rule of this Church and are amenable therefor.

Opportunity for Serving the Leader. SECTION 11. At the written request of the Pastor Emeritus, Mrs. Eddy, the Board of Directors shall immediately notify a person who has been a member of this Church at least three years to go in ten days to her, and it shall be the duty of the member thus notified to remain with Mrs. Eddy three years consecutively. A member who leaves her in less time without the Directors' consent or who declines to obey this call to duty, upon Mrs. Eddy's complaint thereof shall be excommunicated from The Mother Church. Members thus serving the Leader shall be paid semi-annually at the rate of one thousand dollars yearly in addition to rent and board. Those members whom she teaches the course in Divinity, and who remain with her three consecutive years, receive the degree of the Ma.s.sachusetts Metaphysical College.

Location. SECTION 12. Rev. Mary Baker Eddy calls to her home or allows to visit or to locate therein only those individuals whom she engages through the Christian Science Board of Directors of the Mother Church. This By-Law takes effect on Dec. 15, 1908.

Agreement Required. SECTION 13. When the Christian Science Board of Directors calls a student in accordance with Article XXII, Sect. 11, of our Church Manual to the home of their Leader, Mrs. Eddy, said student shall come under a signed agreement to remain with Mrs. Eddy if she so desires, during the time specified in the Church Manual.

Incomplete Term of Service. SECTION 14. If a student who has been called to serve our Leader in accordance with Article XXII, Sect. 11, of the Church Manual leaves her before the expiration of the time therein mentioned such student shall pay to Mrs. Eddy whatsoever she may charge for what she has taught him or her during the time of such service.

Help. SECTION 15. If the author of the Christian Science textbook call on this Board for household help or a handmaid, the Board shall immediately appoint a proper member of this Church therefor, and the appointee shall go immediately in obedience to the call. "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me." (Matt.

10:37.)

Students with Mrs. Eddy. SECTION 16. Students employed by Mrs. Eddy at her home shall not take care of their churches or attend to other affairs outside of her house.

Mrs. Eddy's Room. SECTION 17. The room in The Mother Church formerly known as "Mother's Room" shall hereafter be closed to visitors.

Pastor Emeritus to be Consulted. SECTION 18. The Mother Church shall not make a church By-Law, nor enter into a business transaction with a Christian Scientist in the employ of Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, without first consulting her on said subject and adhering strictly to her advice thereon.

THE MOTHER CHURCH AND BRANCH CHURCHES

Article XXIII

Local Self-government. SECTION 1. The Mother Church of Christ, Scientist, shall a.s.sume no general official control of other churches, and it shall be controlled by none other. Each Church of Christ, Scientist, shall have its own form of government. No conference of churches shall be held, unless it be when our churches, located in the same State, convene to confer on a statute of said State, or to confer harmoniously on individual unity and action of the churches in said State.

t.i.tles. SECTION 2. "The First Church of Christ, Scientist," is the legal t.i.tle of The Mother Church. Branch churches of The Mother Church may take the t.i.tle of First Church of Christ, Scientist; Second Church of Christ, Scientist; and so on, where more than one church is established in the same place; but the article "The"

must not be used before t.i.tles of branch churches, nor written on applications for membership in naming such churches.

Mother Church Unique. SECTION 3. In its relation to other Christian Science churches, in its By-Laws and self-government, The Mother Church stands alone; it occupies a position that no other church can fill. Then for a branch church to a.s.sume such position would be disastrous to Christian Science. Therefore, no Church of Christ, Scientist, shall be considered loyal that has branch churches or adopts The Mother Church's form of government, except in such cases as are specially allowed and named in this Manual.

Tenets Copyrighted. SECTION 4. Branch churches shall not write the Tenets of The Mother Church in their church books, except they give the name of their author and her permission to publish them as Tenets of The Mother Church, copyrighted in SCIENCE AND HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES.

Manual. SECTION 5. Branch churches shall not adopt, print, nor publish the Manual of The Mother Church. See Article x.x.xV, Sect. 1.

Organizing Churches. SECTION 6. A member of this Church who obeys its By-Laws and is a loyal exemplary Christian Scientist working in the Field, is eligible to form a church in conformity with Sect. 7 of this Article, and to have church services conducted by reading the SCRIPTURES and the Christian Science textbook. This church shall be acknowledged publicly as a Church of Christ, Scientist. Upon proper application, made in accordance with the rules of The Christian Science Publishing Society, the services of such a church may be advertised in _The Christian Science Journal_. The branch churches shall be individual, and not more than two small churches shall consolidate under one church government. If the Pastor Emeritus, Mrs.

Eddy, should relinquish her place as the head or Leader of The Mother Church of Christ, Scientist, each branch church shall continue its present form of government in consonance with The Mother Church Manual.

Requirements for Organizing Branch Churches. SECTION 7. A branch church of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston, Ma.s.s., shall not be organized with less than sixteen loyal Christian Scientists, four of whom are members of The Mother Church. This membership shall include at least one active pract.i.tioner whose card is published in the list of pract.i.tioners in _The Christian Science Journal_.

Privilege of Members. SECTION 8. Members in good standing with The Mother Church, who are members of the faculty, instructors, or students organization.

No Close Communion. SECTION 9. The Mother Church and the branch churches shall not confine their membership to the pupils of one teacher.

No Interference. SECTION 10. A member of The Mother Church may be a member of one branch Church of Christ, Scientist, or of one Christian Science society holding public services, but he shall not be a member of both a branch church and a society; neither shall he exercise supervision or control over any other church. In Christian Science each branch church shall be distinctly democratic in its government, and no individual, and no other church shall interfere with its affairs.

Teachers' and Pract.i.tioners' Offices. SECTION 11. Teachers and pract.i.tioners of Christian Science shall not have their offices or rooms in the branch churches, in the reading rooms, nor in rooms connected therewith.

Recognition. SECTION 12. In order to be eligible to a card in _The Christian Science Journal_, churches and societies are required to acknowledge as such all other Christian Science churches and societies advertised in said _Journal_, and to maintain toward them an att.i.tude of Christian fellowship.

GUARDIANSHIP OF CHURCH FUNDS

Article XXIV