Our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, tells us in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 547): "The Scriptures are very sacred. Our aim must be to have them understood spiritually, for only by this understanding can truth be gained." Mrs. Eddy grew up in a Puritan home in which the Bible had an important place. From childhood she eagerly read and pondered the Scriptures. Even as the child Jesus lingered in the temple in Jerusalem, conferring with the learned doctors, authorities on the Scriptures for his day, so the youthful Mary Baker weighed the words of the scholarly pastors whose pure influence in her young years helped direct her thought to the deep things of God contained in the Scriptures.

In this way she was prepared for the momentous discovery of Christian Science, which was brought about through divine revealment of the true significance of a Scripturally recorded healing performed by Christ Jesus. At the time, Mrs. Eddy was supposed to be on her deathbed; but finding herself suddenly healed through this remarkable revelation, she earnestly set about searching the Scriptures for further light on her discovery. Of this period she writes (ibid., p. 109): "For three years after my discovery, I sought the solution of this problem of Mind-healing, searched the Scriptures and read little else, kept aloof from society, and devoted time and energies to discovering a positive rule. The search was sweet, calm, and buoyant with hope, not selfish nor depressing."

The reward of this search was rich indeed, for thus came into being the textbook, Science and Health, which, because it is the key that unlocks the spiritual treasures of the Bible, is destined ever to stand side by side with the Bible for the ultimate redemption of all mankind from sin, disease, and death. According to her biographers and those who knew her well, our Leader throughout the years of her earthly life continued to turn to the Bible for comfort, inspiration, and guidance. That her followers might never lose sight of the importance of the Bible, Mrs. Eddy has set forth as the first religious tenet of Christian Science the following (ibid., p. 497): "As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life."

Christian Science ever turns the thought of the student to the first magnificent chapter of Genesis, where God, the Holy One, the creator of the universe, is revealed. In the same chapter it is revealed that man, too, is holy, for therein it is proclaimed that man is made in the image and likeness of God. Here, then, is set forth the standard. Here are the basic facts regarding God, man, and the universe, facts to which the Christian Scientist returns again and again for enlightenment, inspiration, and correction.

When the Bible is regarded merely as the history of a people, it would seem to set forth a procession of events many of which could be duplicated in the recorded facts of any race or nation. But when one looks to these holy writings for inspiration and instruction, he sees the hand of God moving through the hallowed pages. From the allegorical account of the garden of Eden to the brightness of St. John's vision of the city that lieth four-square there is recorded in the Scriptures a steady growth Spiritward, an ever-increasing understanding of God.

No longer need the frightened and the weary vainly search the Bible for help. In the light which Christian Science sheds upon it the verses live and glow with healing messages. Throughout her writings our Leader makes clear that the great underlying thought of the Bible is the omnipotence of God, good—the power of Spirit over any seeming material power or obstruction.

The Bible is frequently referred to as God's Word, and perhaps there could be no more truly significant title. Throughout the ages this Book of books has largely been accepted in the civilized world as constituting moral law; but to one with a hearing ear and a receptive heart a light is sometimes shed upon its pages which makes it seem in a very personal way the Word of God. It is in this way that the Bible has its deepest meaning for the human race, because the world will progress toward upholding God's law in proportion as His law is spiritually understood and written in the heart.

A young girl in a Bible class tells an interesting experience which well illustrates how God speaks forth from the pages of the Bible. She was asked to study and report upon the first five verses of the first chapter of John, which read: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."

She thought the last statement applied to her, since she did not understand the passage. She was, however, desirous of carrying out the assignment to the best of her ability; so she began searching for the meaning of the verses. Her search led her to Christian Science, and through her study of its text-book the words of John were filled with beautiful light. She realized that the passage corresponds in meaning to the first chapter of Genesis, for they both proclaim the fact that God, Spirit, is the sole creator of man and the universe.

In deepest gratitude for the understanding that had come to her she began turning the pages of the Bible to learn who had first pierced the darkness of mortal thought and found God to be Spirit. With great interest she read the story of Abram, or Abraham, as set forth in the book of Genesis. As she followed his journeyings and marveled at his pure faith, her thought was suddenly arrested by these words of God to Abram (Gen. 13:15): "All the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it." Although these words seemed but a part of the narrative, they were illumined with light as the divine message came, revealing to her that insofar as she comprehended and utilized the truth of God and man, so far would she have dominion. So clear was the angel message shining through the verse that she never doubted it was God's Word to her. She then began earnest daily study of the Bible, together with Science and Health, rejoicing in growth and fruitage.

That the Word of God guides as well as inspires was proved in the case of a householder who was faced with the need of finding a new home. This man had been presented with so many ideas and plans that he was in a state of confusion and no longer felt capable of making a right decision. Quietly retiring with the Bible, putting aside all human outlining and suggestions, he turned humbly to God for the right decision, knowing that in his years as a student of Christian Science he had ever found God to be the one infallible Mind. In the peace that followed this realization of truth, he opened the Bible to a section unfamiliar to him. At once his attention was fixed upon a verse in which someone was being counseled to buy a field. Suddenly he remembered a piece of country property he had always wanted, and immediately he felt satisfied that the purchase of this land was the right decision. Years of happy country living proved that God's Word to him had been definite and right.

Little children in their simplicity and purity often go straight to the heart of a Bible verse or story. Parents who are students of Christian Science and who read Bible stories to their children often witness quick healings from the truth contained in these stories. A child who seemed extremely ill with a fever called loudly and insistently for the story of the Shunammite woman and her son, as given in the fourth chapter of II Kings. As the mother read the story, the little body relaxed, the fever suddenly left, and at the conclusion of the story the child arose well. Asked what it was that had brought about the quick healing, the little one replied, "The Shunammite mother said, 'It is well.' " Immediately the child's mother realized that her own thought had been full of fear and that she, like the Shunammite mother, must ever cling to the fact that all is well with God's child.

Are not these some of the reasons why "the Scriptures are very sacred"? From Genesis to Revelation the hallowed pages reveal to spiritual understanding the oneness and allness of God, His power and His presence, His greatness, His wisdom, and above all His tender love for His children. Christ Jesus said (John 5:39), "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." They do indeed testify of the Christ, of the spiritual oneness of Father and son.