SCIENTIFIC TRANSLATION - The Mary Baker Eddy Science Institute

As this translation function is understood, it begins to explain why itstextual presentation had to be placed in the chapter “Science,Theology, Medicine.” The revelation that came to Mary Baker Eddywas that in reality there is nothing but the divine One, expressingitself and maintaining itself. Stated more relatively, the Science ofGod's being with its systematic laws is a true theology, for it relatesGod to man as Principle and idea, and is also a divine medicine,correcting and healing the material sense of man. (See S & H 18:13-25.) The chapter is thus a treatise on how the divine Science,Theology, and Medicine, operating through spiritual laws, leaven andtranslate the entire mortal thought and heal humanity.This was the discovery that came to Mrs. Eddy with the impact ofrevelation, which enabled her to accomplish her remarkable earlyhealings. Accordingly for a long time this chapter, now the sixth, wasthe first one in the book. It was the premise from which she herselfcould work naturally, but she found that her students could not attainit with the same facility; the problem was how to communicate to theunillumined human mind things that were obvious to the inspiredthought. Her greatest difficulty was to raise their thought to herspiritually mental altitude where the light of God floodedconsciousness and, without a process or an argument, scattered theillusion. They had not experienced those years of graciouspreparation whereby the ' I' had been purged of self and become adirect transparency. It seems that she realized that telling people isnot the equivalent of actually giving them the experience, and so byrearranging the chapters in their present order she provided thenecessary educational framework. These first five chapters nowrepresent for every student the years of God's gracious preparation.The real treasures of divine Science are not accessible on thesurface but are buried, like the treasure hidden in the field in Jesus'parable. They are buried by design, to promote spiritual growth; inpenetrating the depths the student himself is changed, reformed,transfigured, because the end of all true spiritual education is not thefilling of the student with facts, but the quickening of spiritual sense.Everything must begin with the God-induced desire to know God asHe really is, through the opening of the heart and a willingness tohave our standpoint changed (Prayer). This brings us to the39