"IN the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." As John discerned the truth through spiritual sense and gave it to men, so must the true scribe to this age read the inner language of the Bible, revealing its infinite import. His every thought must be illuminated with the holy light of divine inspiration. His heart must be filled with an overwhelming love for mankind and concern for their salvation from the deception of materialism. And his hand must be the servant of the gospel of Truth. Such a one was Mary Baker Eddy, the great translator of the spiritual meaning of the Word that was in the beginning and ever shall be. Of the sacred Book, Mrs. Eddy says, "The Bible was written in order that all peoples, in all ages, should have the same opportunity to become students of the Christ, Truth, and thus become God-endued with power (knowledge of divine law) and with 'signs following' " (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 190).
In 1604, as many are aware, was begun the preparation for the King James Version of the Bible, which is now generally used in church services, and through the study of which came the revelation of divine Science to Mrs. Eddy. Up to that time many translators and revisers of the Bible had endured great hardships while accomplishing their tasks: their Biblical renderings were often destroyed. Isolation and penury were the lot of some who had devoted their years to this sacred purpose. Others paid with their lives for translating a part of the Scriptures into a language which the masses could understand. With what reverence mankind remembers and values the priceless work of these men, their fadeless service in the pageant of Bible history! For, through the ages, from the primitive days of Semitic legends to the closing years of the nineteenth century of the Christian era, the preservation, translation, and revision of the Holy Scriptures had persisted until the letter of the Bible was practically complete in several hundred languages and dialects, reaching the great majority of the human race in their own tongue. And since these scholars of bygone days gave to the world the fruits of their labors, many others have brought to mankind further revisions of value in Biblical study.
The colossal work of the centuries in the perfecting of the Holy Book might almost have seemed complete. But in the latter half of the nineteenth century a new light was cast upon the Scriptures through the discovery of Christian Science, which revealed God as the divine Principle of all reality. It was therefore necessary that this further light on the Scriptures should also be spiritually translated, that is, be made plain. All the scholarly, consecrated work of the past in connection with the beloved Book was thus preparatory to the great spiritual translation or elucidation which was to come through a woman.
