1. The Foreword to the Christian Science Pamphlet, entitled, Permanency of the Mother Church and its Manual, the Christian Science Board of Directors refer to a sentence in a letter that Mrs. Eddy wrote to them, from her home in Concord, N.H., on February 27, 1903, as being what they claim to be "the consent or approval that would enable [enables] them to act -- in the words of Matthew 8:9, -- ‘under authority'."

2. Matthew 8:9 reads: "For I am a man under authority having soldiers under me and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it."

3. This citation gives the mistaken impression that the Directors are personally authorized by Mrs. Eddy herself.

4. In this Foreword the Directors say that, "By 1903 the most basic structural changes in the Church had been effected, and in that year she sent to the Christian Science Board of Directors the famous letter, to be found on pages 12-13 of the pamphlet, with its central message: ‘Never abandon the By-Laws nor the denominational government of the Mother Church.' In that same year [1903] she drew up a new By-Law requiring Christian Scientists to drop 'the endearing term of Mother' which they had given her some years before, and to substitute the term ‘Leader."

Further on, the Directors state that, "Science and Health would always be the authority for teaching and practicing Christian Science, while the Manual of the Mother Church would always be the authority for carrying on the activities of the Church of Christ, Scientist."

The Directors should have more accurately said it this way; that the Manual of the First Church of Christ, Scientist, would always be the authority for carrying on the activities of the Mother Church. Their twisting of the facts give the impression that the Mother Church is the foundation of the Cause, whereas the First Church of Christ, Scientist is the foundation of the Cause. What's more, the Directors refer to what Mrs. Eddy wrote in the Christian Science Journal, in 1909, in the year before her passing in 1910, thusly:

"I approve the By-Laws of the Mother Church, and require the Christian Science Board of Directors to maintain them and sustain them . . . And I hereby publicly declare that I am not personally involved in the affairs of the Church in any other way than through my written and published rules, all of which can be read by the individual who desires to inform himself of the facts."

The Directors go on to state that, "The continuity of her leadership was not to depend upon her personal presence. While actions taken under certain important By-Laws required her written or verbal consent, her most trusted legal advisor, Henry M. Baker, made clear that this would cause no legal problem when she was no longer available in person to give such consent . . ." And that, ". . . On the other hand, by leaving these 'consent' ['estoppel'] clauses in the By-Laws, our Leader indicated that the church officers responsible for administering the Manual would be morally and spiritually responsible at all times for bringing their actions into strict accord with her 'written and published rules,' and with the letter and spirit of her published writings as a whole."

As mentioned above; the Directors claim Mrs. Eddy's statement -- in the letter of February 27, 1903 -- to be her consent or approval that enables them to act "under authority." They claim that, "This is attested to by the following clauses in [Mrs. Eddy's] last Will, executed in 1901, and in no way modified by two later codicils."

The Directors then cite Mrs. Eddy's statements from the Will, "I give and bequeath to The Christian Science Board of Directors of The Mother Church -- "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts" and their successors in office . . .. and ". . . to The Mother Church - The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, in trust for the following general purposes . . ."

However, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, discloses the fallacy of the Directors' position. Before the 5- man, ecclesiastical Board of Directors was established in 1903, Mrs. Eddy's Will of 1901 stated that the beneficiary of Mrs. Eddy's residual estate was (as the Directors say), "The Mother Church - The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts and their successors in office . . ."

But after the 5- man, ecclesiastical Board of Directors was established in 1903, Mrs. Eddy's Second Codicil to her Will, dated 1904, states that the beneficiary of Mrs. Eddy's residual estate is, "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts," -- with no mention of the Mother Church at all.

Furthermore: In the Directors' oft-quoted letter to them (by Mrs. Eddy, February 27, 1903) Mrs. Eddy was ordering them to "Never abandon the By-Laws of the denominational government of the Mother Church." She was addressing the Board of Directors here, -- not the Field. And as an enabling clause to bind and confirm her order, Mrs. Eddy ordered the Directors to heed "the teachings of St. Paul [which] are as useful today as when they were first written." And she ordered the Directors to "Put this letter upon, our church records." (entered on page 85 of Church Record Book Vol. 3).

The teachings of St. Paul of which she writes, which "are as useful today as when they were first written," refers to 1 Corinthinans 6:1 where the Apostle Paul says, "Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?"

"[Mrs. Eddy's] instructions in the By-Laws" does not cover interpretations by others or the setting aside of the estoppels. The estoppels are the instructions that she left in the By-Laws.

Therefore, the statement of Mrs. Eddy's most trusted legal advisor, Henry M. Baker, -- that action taken under certain important By-Laws requiring her written or verbal consent would cause no legal problems when she was no longer available in person to give such consent, -- would have held true, if the 5-man ecclesiastical Board of Directors had obeyed the Manual estoppel on page 26 and stepped aside, in favor of the 4-man Board of Trustees under Mrs. Eddy's 1892 Deed of Trust.