as the names of the Members of the Mother-Church will be recorded in the
history of the Church and become a part thereof.”
We all want to be historical.
MORE SELF-PROTECTIONS
The Hymnal. There is a Christian Science Hymnal. Entrance to it was
closed in 1898. Christian Science students who make hymns nowadays may
possibly get them sung in the Mother-Church, “but not unless approved by
the Pastor Emeritus.” Art. XXVII, Sec. 2.
Solo Singers. Mrs. Eddy has contributed the words of three of the hymns
in the Hymnal. Two of them appear in it six times altogether, each of
them being set to three original forms of musical anguish. Mrs. Eddy,
always thoughtful, has promulgated a By-law requiring the singing of one
of her three hymns in the Mother Church “as often as once each month.”
It is a good idea. A congregation could get tired of even Mrs. Eddy’s
muse in the course of time, without the cordializing incentive of
compulsion. We all know how wearisome the sweetest and touchingest
things can become, through rep-rep-repetition, and still rep-rep-
repetition, and more rep-rep-repetition-like “the sweet by-and-by, in the
sweet by-and-by,” for instance, and “Tah-rah-rah boom-de-aye”; and surely
it is not likely that Mrs. Eddy’s machine has turned out goods that could
outwear those great heart-stirrers, without the assistance of the lash.
“O’er Waiting Harpstrings of the Mind” is pretty good, quite fair to
middling–the whole seven of the stanzas–but repetition would be certain
to take the excitement out of it in the course of time, even if there
were fourteen, and then it would sound like the multiplication table, and
would cease to save. The congregation would be perfectly sure to get
tired; in fact, did get tired–hence the compulsory By-law. It is a
measure born of experience, not foresight.
The By-laws say that “if a solo singer shall neglect or refuse to sing
alone” one of those three hymns as often as once a month, and oftener if
so directed by the Board of Directors–which is Mrs. Eddy–the singer’s
salary shall be stopped. It is circumstantial evidence that some
soloists neglected this sacrament and others refused it. At least that
is the charitable view to take of it. There is only one other view to
take: that Mrs. Eddy did really foresee that there would be singers who
would some day get tired of doing her hymns and proclaiming the
authorship, unless persuaded by a Bylaw, with a penalty attached. The
idea could of course occur to her wise head, for she would know that a
seven-stanza break might well be a calamitous strain upon a soloist, and
that he might therefore avoid it if unwatched. He could not curtail it,
for the whole of anything that Mrs. Eddy does is sacred, and cannot be
cut.
BOARD OF EDUCATION
It consists of four members, one of whom is President of it. Its members
are elected annually. Subject to Mrs. Eddy’s approval. Art. XXX., Sec.
2.
She owns the Board–is the Board.
Mrs. Eddy is President of the Metaphysical College. If at any time she
shall vacate that office, the Directors of the College (that is to say,
Mrs. Eddy) “shall” elect to the vacancy the President of the Board of
Education (which is merely re-electing herself).
It is another case of “Pastor Emeritus.” She gives up the shadow of
authority, but keeps a good firm hold on the substance.
PUBLIC TEACHERS
Applicants for admission to this industry must pass a thorough three
days’ examination before the Board of Education “in Science and Health,
chapter on ‘Recapitulation’; the Platform of Christian Science; page 403
of Christian Science Practice, from line second to the second paragraph
of page 405; and page 488, second and third paragraphs.”
BOARD OF LECTURESHIP
The lecturers are exceedingly important servants of Mrs. Eddy, and she
chooses them with great care. Each of them has an appointed territory in
which to perform his duties–in the North, the South, the East, the West,
in Canada, in Great Britain, and so on–and each must stick to his own
territory and not forage beyond its boundaries. I think it goes without
saying–from what we have seen of Mrs. Eddy–that no lecture is delivered