There are two Church Bodies, the Congregation (which shall worship in said church) established on September 1, 1892, by Mrs. Eddy’s 1892 Deed of Trust, which shall be styled The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, whose self-perpetuating, four-man Board was “fully empowered to make any and all rules and regulations” for the establishment of services therein, to maintain public worship in accordance with the doctrines of Christian Science in said church,” — and the church Organization established 22 days later on September 23, 1892, under the polity of the church By-Laws, which was called the Mother Church and was a purely ecclesiastical, spiritual organization.

Notice that the “Church Manual of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts” does not say anything about The Mother Church on the page facing the copyright page where you will find a letter from Miscellaneous Writings written by Mrs. Eddy, which start off:

“The Rules and By-Laws in the Manual of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts . . .”

For the Manual to continue to exist, after Mrs. Eddy’s passing, it must be for The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, since its By-Laws instruct the dissolution of The Mother Church when Mrs. Eddy is no longer with us here in the flesh.

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, in a decision dated November 23, 1921, recognized and accepted that there were two boards of directors. One ecclesiastical, deriving its powers from the Church Manual, composed of five members, established in 1903, and the other fiduciary, deriving its power from the Deed of Trust of September 1, 1892, and that the estoppels in Article 35 prevented any changes in the church Manual following Mrs. Eddy’s demise.

The 1892 Deed of Trust is the nucleus of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts.

The 1892 Deed of Trust does not call for Mrs. Eddy’s approval in writing or otherwise, and has nothing to do with The Mother Church, the five member ecclesiastical Board of Directors under the By-Laws (who do require Mrs. Eddy’s approval for filling a vacancy and for taking certain other important administrative offices and functions of fundamental importance) the church Manual, or any ecclesiastical matter.

And by the principles of interpretation recognized and accepted by the Court, the estoppel clauses elsewhere in the church Manual govern the secular administrative aspects of the church.