DAVID E. ROBINSON, et al, pro se______________________
Plaintiff
v.
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE BOARD OF DIRECTORS, et al______
Defendants

1. A crucial point in this case concerns a recognition of the distinction Mrs. Eddy made between the Mother Church and The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts.

2. When the original Mother Church was completed in 1894, it, and its organization, was called the Mother Church, but the real Mother Church is a wholly spiritual concept, the church of the Glossary definition on page 583 of the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy: "The structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle." The textbook goes on to define how this spiritual idea lifts the "dormant understanding" to the demonstration of divine science. The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, is the local branch church, with no jurisdiction over other branches.

4. With Mrs. Eddy at the helm, the two churches worked well together, and she was able to use the organization to advance the spiritual idea of Christian Science. But she was well aware of the dangers of organization, and it was only the persistent demands of her students that induced her to organize and charter a church in 1879, although this church never had a church building of its own in which to worship.

5. Ten years later in 1889, seeing the dangers arising from organization and "increasing popularity" she not only dissolved the church, but also the Christian Science Association and closed her Metaphysical College, although she encouraged her students to go on meeting and holding services, and forming new branch churches where required. She write of this at Ret. 44-45. "This measure was immediately followed by a great revival of mutual love, prosperity, and spiritual power... Adding to its ranks and influence, this spiritually organized Church of Christ Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, still goes on. A new light broke upon it... Despite the prosperity of my church, it was learned that material organization has its value and peril, and that organization is requisite only in the earliest periods in Christian history... continued organization retards spiritual growth, and should be laid off."

6. For three years there was no central organization of their own. So in 1892 Mrs. Eddy allowed them to reorganize under her jurisdiction. A brief account of the organizing of the two churches of 1879 and 1892, showing the difference between them, is given in the Historical Sketch on pages 17-19 of the Manual.

7. Mrs. Eddy drew up the Rules and By-laws for the new church, and added to them as the necessity arose during her lifetime. They were first copyrighted as the Manual of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1895.

8. But how was she to protect her church against the dangers of prolonged organization?

9. The first organization was dissolved, not because the students say that this was the right thing to do, but because Mrs. Eddy requested them to do so. They were doing the right thing, but not for the right motive. They had not seen the danger for themselves, and so this led to the need for the second organization. If Mrs. Eddy had included a By-law actually telling them to disorganize on her passing, this would again have led to them taking a step for which they were not ready.

10. Instead, under divine guidance she was led to include what are known as the estoppel clauses in the By-laws. These clauses state that Mrs. Eddy's written approval or consent as Pastor Emeritus of her Church is necessary for the appointment of officers and officials of the Mother Church, and for any change in or addition to the By-laws. This meant that on her passing, the central organization should have wound down, for no new officers could legally be appointed when their terms of office ran out.

11. During her last years, the Directors tried repeatedly to persuade her to change these estoppel Bylaws, but she refused, replying that God had told her to include them, and until He told her to change them, they must remain to be obeyed.

12. So when Mrs. Eddy passed on December 3, 1910, the central organization with its control under her direction over the branch churches, the Boards of Education and Lectureship, etc., should have come to an end.

13. The Deed of Trust of 1892 (Man. 128-135) gave the land on which to be built a church edifice to four Trustees who were to be called Directors, and required them to "maintain public worship in accordance with the doctrines of Christian Science."

14. The congregation which shall worship in said church shall be styled "The First Church of Christ, Scientist."

15. These four Directors (Trustees) could fill any vacancy occurring among themselves, and so "constitute a perpetual body"

16. The second Deed of Trust of 1903 (Man. 136-148) conveyed "land for church purposes," and for the erection of the Extension to the original Edifice of the Mother Church, and was again granted to four Trustees who were now called Directors.

17. However, in 1892 Mrs. Eddy had appointed a fifth Director to the Mother Church, and made the self-filling of a vacancy on this five-man Board subject to her approval as the Pastor Emeritus of the Church (M 26).

18. This addition of a fifth Directors confirms the distinction between The First Church of Christ, Scientist, the branch church in Boston with its perpetual four member Board, and the Mother Church, the spiritual concept whose five-member Board could function only under Mrs. Eddy.s guidance.

18. And neither Board had any jurisdiction over any other branch church; all branches were to be individually and democratically self-governed.

19. But what happened in December 1910? Instead of turning to Principle for guidance as Mrs. Eddy had done, the five Directors sought legal advice on the estoppel clauses, and concluded that such clauses could be disregarded if it was thought that this would have been the wish of the Founder.

20. Mrs. Eddy anticipated that his would happen, but hoped that before long sufficient members of the church would awaken to the significance of the By-laws and of the dangers of organization, to bring about the dissolution of the central organization.

21. However, the Directors considered themselves to be her successors and assumed absolute control of the Movement, gradually increasing instead of diminishing their domination and promptly excommunicating any member who awoke to the implications of Mrs. Eddy.s estoppel clauses for freeing the organization from ecclesiastical control.

22. Over the years this has led to the strangulation of the Movement, and the steady decline in recent years of the membership and the number of branch churches. Few members are being enrolled, and more and more are withdrawing as they realize the failure of the organized Christian Science church to fulfill its promised good.

19. The end of the central organization would not mean the end of the Christian Science Movement. Rather it would be a return to the .spiritually organized church congregation. that prospered from 1889 to 1892. The true Mother church is not the church in Boston. It is the omnipresent .Structure of Truth and Love. resting upon divine Principle, and proving its utility by demonstration divine Science (S&H 583).

20. To become a member of this spiritual church congregation the applicant must be a believer in the doctrines of Christian Science according to the platform and teaching contained in the Christian Science textbook. The Bible and Science and Health "shall be his only textbooks" (Man. 34) and he must subscribe to the six Tenets of the association (S&H 497: Man. 15-16).

21. There is no list of members on which one.s name must be enrolled. Instead, like the seventy disciples of Jesus in Luke 10:20 one.s name is .written in heaven.. The issue is entirely between oneself and God. "We can unite with this church only as we are newborn of Spirit, as we reach the Life which is Trust and the Truth which is Life by bringing forth the fruits of Love, -- casting out error and healing the sick." (S&H 35).