Editorial May 19, 1973 Issue

A Book to Be "Eaten Up"

Naomi Price

There was no student of the Christian Science textbook more conscientious than its author, Mary Baker Eddy. People close to her say that she constantly read it with deep attention. This was no symptom of self-adulation. At one time she wrote of her book: "It was not myself, but the divine power of Truth and Love, infinitely above me, which dictated 'Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.' I have been learning the higher meaning of this book since writing it."^{The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 114;}

Through long hours of Bible study and yearning in prayer to grasp the full spiritual import of Christ Jesus' life and teaching, she gained great heights of inspiration and understanding. As the revelation of God's law of harmony unfolded to her, with joy she found that this understanding of divine Truth and Love equipped her with spiritual power to heal, and in humility she wrote down the discovery in her book. This done, she did not rest but sought to gain a practical grasp of these truths of spiritual reality to an ever-widening degree. Through revision after revision of the textbook she labored to make her discovery more readily perceptible to students, so that the whole world might benefit from its regenerating power.

In the book of Revelation, St. John recorded his vision in which he "saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud ... and he had in his hand a little book open." As he looked, he heard a voice from heaven telling him to take it from the angel's hand. Then the angel instructed him, "Take it, and eat it up."^{Rev. 10:1, 2, 9;}

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