FROM Scriptural records we learn that the voice of God was heard by holy men of old. Noah, Abraham, Jacob, and many others enjoyed this close communion with divine Love. Among the inspiring messages thus given, the words which God spoke to Abraham stand out prominently, including that divine utterance which so clearly expresses the truth of being, "I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect." In these words we see how the Christ-idea was revealed to the unselfed thought of Abraham. It was then that his former name of Abram was put off, and he received from God the new name of Abraham. The effect of God's messages to man has always been to impart good, to correct and nullify error, and to bring to light a higher and more practical understanding of Truth and Love. Mrs. Eddy shows clearly how intimate and direct were these divine communications, when she writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 308), "The Soul-inspired patriarchs heard the voice of Truth, and talked with God as consciously as man talks with man."
'In later times, also, God spoke to the prophets, to Christ Jesus, and to the apostles. The records of these messages from divine Love and of the good deeds resulting from them make up the inspired word of the Bible. The divine mission of God's messengers in their respective ages has been to prove the ever presence and power of good and to destroy the seeming power of evil. Just as God, infinite good, has had His ambassadors in all ages, so the one evil, counterfeiting good, has claimed to have its emissaries. The entire records of the Bible show the striking fact that, in the conflict between omnipotent good and the false claim of evil, good has always eventually triumphed. The reason for this lies in the simple fact that good alone really exists.
The voice of God spoke to Moses at the burning bush, revealing God as the I am, self-existent Life, and man as the immortal, indestructible reflection of Life. The practical power of this Christ-idea to destroy invisible and visible sin was made plain to Moses when he saw the serpent changed into a staff. The divine power to heal disease was proved when his leprous hand was restored to its normal condition. Mrs. Eddy, in explaining this latter incident in Science and Health (p. 321) writes: "God had lessened Moses' fear by this proof in divine Science, and the inward voice became to him the voice of God, which said: 'It shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.'"
