It is noteworthy that following her immediate recovery from the effects of a fall and injury which physicians and medicine had failed to heal, Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, turned to her Bible in her search for the understanding of the spiritually scientific law whereby she had regained her health. Speaking of this, she writes in her book "Retrospection and Introspection" (p. 25): "The Bible was my textbook. It answered my questions as to how I was healed; but the Scriptures had to me a new meaning, a new tongue. Their spiritual signification appeared; and I apprehended for the first time, in their spiritual meaning, Jesus' teaching and demonstration, and the Principle and rule of spiritual Science and metaphysical healing,—in a word, Christian Science."
It was from her study of the King James Version of the Bible that Mrs. Eddy discerned and had revealed to her the spiritual idea, or Christ. This revelation is completely set forth in her teaching, which she called Christian Science, or the Science of being. In the early days of her discovery and writing, many people urged her to follow other versions, but she continuously and steadfastly indicated her preference for the King James Version. As a scholar Mrs. Eddy was naturally interested in the new translations that appeared from time to time, but she used them only to a limited extent. She was interested in new things but only when they were more spiritual than the old.
Our Leader not only adopted, but continuously approved, the King James Version of the Bible for the Lesson-Sermons in the Christian Science Quarterly, on which, she says, "the prosperity of Christian Science largely depends" (Manual of The Mother Church, Art. III, Sect. 1). The King James Version is the one used in quoting from the Bible in our periodicals, and this practice was established and directed by our Leader.
