The Bible—just as we have it— is supreme in that it relates to the subjects of which it treats. We are dependent upon it, and almost alone upon it, for what we know about Christ Jesus, his life and labors, and of the antecedent, cumulative, and contributory forces which made his advent the great central fact of all the world's history. The Bible is, moreover, assuredly of supreme potency in its ethical teaching, and of supreme authority in its great vital bases, for human conduct in all circumstances, among all peoples, and in all ages, and never has its value been more highly appreciated than by Christian Scientists, the first tenet of their church being as follows: "As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life" (Science and Health, p. 497).
As a text-book of religion, the Bible has never been strengthened from any source outside of itself; the philosophies of the most ancient civilizations cannot be placed in comparison with it, for the Christianity it teaches contains everything of value found in other religions, while embodying the quality and potency of the Christ-idea in its divine fulness. This great book is altogether and always different from all other books. It is in the world and for the world, but not of the world. It tells plainly of the beauty and the baseness, the power and the poverty, the largeness and the limitations, the message and the meaning, of the world without and the man within. "The Bible," Mrs. Eddy says, "is the learned man's masterpiece, the ignorant man's dictionary, the wise man's directory" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 363).
Perhaps there is no better evidence of the legitimacy of its claim to be the Word of God than the fact that all the assaulting forces of error have failed to disturb its hold upon the human conscience, or weaken its power as the one authoritative tribunal for the determination of matters of life and conduct. The mighty Caesars of ancient paganism, and the mighty cities of modern paganism, have sought to destroy its record and influence, but it still lives and continues to speak with authority to the consciences of all classes and conditions of men, compelling them to hear, even if they will not obey. Individual dislikes because of rebukes, individual acceptances because of illuminations, alike testify to the immortal potentiality of the supreme personage of its story and to the vitality of its appeal to common thought.
