Page:The Life of Mary Baker Eddy (Wilbur).djvu/431

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LIFE AT CHESTNUT HILL
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changed by three members. Her attention had been very much centered upon the directorate and its deliberations. She had heartened it by special messages sent to its meetings, she had given it very important work to do in the investigation of the practises of certain of the branch churches, and she had sustained it by messages to the field. In one particular instance, she had written the following letter:

Brookline, Mass., Nov. 13, 1909.

To the Board of Trustees, First Church of Christ, Scientist, New York City:

Beloved Brethren, — In consideration of the present momentous question at issue in First Church of Christ, Scientist, New York City, I am constrained to say, if I can settle this church difficulty amicably by a few words, as many students think I can, I herewith cheerfully subscribe these words of love:

My beloved brethren in First Church of Christ, Scientist, New York City, I advise you with all my soul to support the Directors of the Mother Church, and in this way God will bless and prosper you. This I know, for He has proved it to me for forty years in succession.

Lovingly yours,

Mary Baker Eddy.

To support the directors of the Mother Church meant that the members of the Mother Church and the members of branch churches should be loyal to the tenets of the Mother Church as set forth in the Church Manual; for it is the work of