Many times, while on a tour of naval duty during World War II, the writer was prompted to feel gratitude for the memorable way in which Mary Baker Eddy phrased the truths recorded in the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." Lonely night watches at sea became enriching instead of fearful experiences in proportion as he gave himself to a contemplation of the truth that God and man are inseparable, as taught in Science and Health. Such contemplation was made easy by our Leader's literary style, for so concisely, so clearly, and so unforgettably has she expressed the ideas which were revealed to her that the writer found himself recalling phrases, sentences, and even whole paragraphs that he had never consciously committed to memory.
How reassuring it was to have these spiritual staffs upon which to lean in moments of stress anyone will know who has had a similar experience. That many had occasion to depend upon what they could remember of Mrs. Eddy's writings is evident in the testimonies published during recent years in the Christian Science periodicals, as well as in "The Story of Christian Science Wartime Activities, 1939-1946."
"Thus speaketh the Lord God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book" (Jer. 30:2). Like the prophet Jeremiah, like Moses (Ex. 34: 27), like Isaiah (8:1), Mrs. Eddy wrote at the behest of God. "I was a scribe under orders," she says in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 311); "and who can refrain from transcribing what God indites, and ought not that one to take the cup, drink all of it, and give thanks?"
