It always has been and probably always will be a difficult matter adequately to express spiritual truths in material language; and as all the ancient writers in the Bible were more or less inspired, it is necessary for us by means of a closer walk with God to endeavor to bring ourselves into the same spiritual atmosphere, if we are to catch their meaning and understand the "mysteries of the kingdom." In studying the works of Mary Baker Eddy one is not only filled with inexpressible gratitude for her untiring devotion to the cause of Christian Science but is much impressed with the simplicity of her language, the convincing proof of her arguments, her syntactical accuracy, and the care she has taken to select phraseology most suitable to point out the correct meaning of the various truths of the Bible. No effort seemed too great for her, as with untiring patience she selected the exact wording to express the truth; and as though perceiving that it might be possible for some of her students to fail to understand her meaning, she spared herself no pains to present her statement from every standpoint. As the facets of a diamond present the beauties of the stone from every viewpoint, so she took the utmost care to give out the truth in so many and varied ways that no student, if he applies himself diligently, can fail to understand her meaning.
On page 242 of her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy says: "According to the Bible, the facts of being are commonly misconstrued, for it is written: 'They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots.' The divine Science of man is woven into one web of consistency without seam or rent. Mere speculation or superstition appropriates no part of the divine vesture while inspiration restores every part of the Christly garment of righteousness." The word "being" is of the utmost importance. One of the facts of being which, according to the Bible, are commonly misunderstood, is found in the first chapter of Genesis, for in the twenty-seventh verse we are told that "God created man in his own image." so that immediately we see man as the reflection of God; or, as Mrs. Eddy puts it on page 470 of Science and Health, "Man is the expression of God's being," thereby linking up man with God from the very beginning of things, eternally with his creator.
It is as though one narrator first of all states a positive, absolute fact: and then another endeavors to account for mankind by means of a fable, just as parents when teaching their children will illustrate their meaning by means of a fable or fairy tale. Later on, translators of the Bible and numerous students of all ages, failing to see that this second version of the creation, this story of a man made from dust, is just a description of a supposititious and not a real man, have written it into their translations and given it out to the world as the creation of man thereby entirely failing to distinguish between the Elohistic and the Jehovistic versions, which run side by side throughout the first chapters of the book of Genesis.
