Real Confidence

Wednesday Bible Readings

nov 26th, 2025

From The Bible

In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.
(Proverbs 14:26)

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? ...

Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. ...

For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. ...

Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.
(Psalms 27:1, 3, 5, 14)

O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever. ...

Let them now that fear the LORD say, that his mercy endureth for ever. ...

The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me? ...

It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes. ...

Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, I will exalt thee. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
(Psalms 118:1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 28, 29)

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. ...

And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. ¶ If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
(John 14:1, 4–16)

¶ Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: ...

For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house. Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.
(Micah 7:5 (to :), 6, 7)

And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita. And the barbarous people shewed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold. And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand. And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm. Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god. In the same quarters were possessions of the chief man of the island, whose name was Publius; who received us, and lodged us three days courteously. And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him. So when this was done, others also, which had diseases in the island, came, and were healed: ...

And after three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria, ...

And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him. ...

And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.
(Acts 28:1–9, 11 (to 1st ,), 16, 30, 31)

For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. ...

For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. ...

Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: ...

We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
(II Corinthians 5:1, 4, 6, 8)

SCIENCE AND HEALTH

The mission of Jesus confirmed prophecy, and explained the so-called miracles of olden time as natural demonstrations of the divine power, demonstrations which were not understood. Jesus’ works established his claim to the Messiahship. In reply to John’s inquiry, “Art thou he that should come,” Jesus returned an affirmative reply, recounting his works instead of referring to his doctrine, confident that this exhibition of the divine power to heal would fully answer the question. Hence his reply: “Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.” In other words, he gave his benediction to any one who should not deny that such effects, coming from divine Mind, prove the unity of God, — the divine Principle which brings out all harmony.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 131:26)

One disease is no more real than another. All disease is the result of education, and disease can carry its ill-effects no farther than mortal mind maps out the way. The human mind, not matter, is supposed to feel, suffer, enjoy. Hence decided types of acute disease are quite as ready to yield to Truth as the less distinct type and chronic form of disease. Truth handles the most malignant contagion with perfect assurance.

Human mind produces what is termed organic disease as certainly as it produces hysteria, and it must relinquish all its errors, sicknesses, and sins. I have demonstrated this beyond all cavil. The evidence of divine Mind’s healing power and absolute control is to me as certain as the evidence of my own existence.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 176:24–7)

My conclusions were reached by allowing the evidence of this revelation to multiply with mathematical certainty and the lesser demonstration to prove the greater, as the product of three multiplied by three, equalling nine, proves conclusively that three times three duodecillions must be nine duodecillions, — not a fraction more, not a unit less.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 108:12)

Because Truth is infinite, error should be known as nothing. Because Truth is omnipotent in goodness, error, Truth’s opposite, has no might. Evil is but the counterpoise of nothingness. The greatest wrong is but a supposititious opposite of the highest right. The confidence inspired by Science lies in the fact that Truth is real and error is unreal.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 367:30–4)

Truth’s immortal idea is sweeping down the centuries, gathering beneath its wings the sick and sinning. ... The promises will be fulfilled. The time for the reappearing of the divine healing is throughout all time; and whosoever layeth his earthly all on the altar of divine Science, drinketh of Christ’s cup now, and is endued with the spirit and power of Christian healing.

In the words of St. John: “He shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever.” This Comforter I understand to be Divine Science.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 55:15–16, 21–29)

If the student adheres strictly to the teachings of Christian Science and ventures not to break its rules, he cannot fail of success in healing.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 448:26–28)

Guided by divine Truth and not guesswork, the theologus (that is, the student — the Christian and scientific expounder — of the divine law) treats disease with more certain results than any other healer on the globe.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 459:27–31)

How are veritable ideas to be distinguished from illusions? By learning the origin of each. Ideas are emanations from the divine Mind. Thoughts, proceeding from the brain or from matter, are offshoots of mortal mind; they are mortal material beliefs. Ideas are spiritual, harmonious, and eternal. Beliefs proceed from the so-called material senses, which at one time are supposed to be substance-matter and at another are called spirits.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 88:9)

... a resort to faith in corporeal means tends to deter those, who make such a compromise, from entire confidence in omnipotent Mind as really possessing all power.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 443:5–8 a)

Hold perpetually this thought, — that it is the spiritual idea, the Holy Ghost and Christ, which enables you to demonstrate, with scientific certainty, the rule of healing, based upon its divine Principle, Love, underlying, overlying, and encompassing all true being.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 496:15)

Stick to the truth of being in contradistinction to the error that life, substance, or intelligence can be in matter. Plead with an honest conviction of truth and a clear perception of the unchanging, unerring, and certain effect of divine Science. Then, if your fidelity is half equal to the truth of your plea, you will heal the sick.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 418:5)

RELIEF FROM INTENSE SUFFERING

I became interested in Christian Science in 1901. For four or five years I had suffered with severe attacks which nothing but an opiate seemed to relieve. After one which I think was the worst I ever had, I consulted our family physician, who diagnosed my case as a dangerous kidney disease and said that no medicine could help me but that I must undergo a surgical operation. I continued to grow worse ... Meanwhile a friend offered me a copy of Science and Health. I said I did not care to read the book, but she was so urgent that I finally promised to do so. I received the book on Saturday, and on Sunday morning I sat down to read it. When I reached the place where Mrs. Eddy says she found this truth in the Bible, I began comparing the two books. I read passages which looked very reasonable to me, and said to myself, This is nearer to the truth than anything I have ever seen. I continued to read all day, stopping only long enough to eat my dinner. As I read on, everything became clearer to me, and I felt that I was healed. ... About six weeks after, I was called to care for my mother, who was under the care of my former physician. I again let him examine my side, as he wished to see if the trouble was still there. He said, “It is certainly gone.” I said to him, “Doctor, you told me I would never be a well woman unless I was operated upon; what has healed me?” He replied, “God has healed you.” — S. H. L., North Pittston, Me.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 641:15–23 (to worse), 27–9; 642:13)

HYMNS

O dreamer, leave thy dreams for joyful waking, / O captive, rise and sing, for thou art free; / The Christ is here, all dreams of error breaking, / Unloosing bonds of all captivity.

He comes to bless thee on his wings of healing; / To banish pain, and wipe all tears away; / He comes anew, to humble hearts revealing / The mounting footsteps of the upward way.

He comes to give thee joy for desolation, / Beauty for ashes of the vanished years; / For every tear to bring full compensation, / To give thee confidence for all thy fears.

He comes to call the dumb to joyful singing; / The deaf to hear; the blinded eyes to see; / The glorious tidings of salvation bringing. / O captive, rise, thy Saviour comes to thee.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 412)

Saw ye my Saviour? Heard ye the glad sound? / Felt ye the power of the Word? / ’Twas the Truth that made us free, / And was found by you and me / In the life and the love of our Lord.

Mourner, it calls you,—“Come to my bosom, / Love wipes your tears all away, / And will lift the shade of gloom, / And for you make radiant room / Midst the glories of one endless day.”

Sinner, it calls you,—“Come to this fountain, / Cleanse the foul senses within; / ’Tis the Spirit that makes pure, / That exalts thee, and will cure / All thy sorrow and sickness and sin.”

Strongest deliverer, friend of the friendless, / Life of all being divine: / Thou the Christ, and not the creed; / Thou the Truth in thought and deed; / Thou the water, the bread, and the wine.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 568)

Glorious things of thee are spoken, / Zion, city of our God; / He whose word cannot be broken, / Formed thee for His own abode: / On the Rock of Ages founded, / What can shake thy sure repose? / By salvation’s walls surrounded / Thou mayst smile at all thy foes.

Round each habitation hovering, / See the cloud and fire appear / For a glory and a covering, / Showing that the Lord is near. / Thus deriving from their banner, / Light by night, and shade by day, / Safe they feed upon the manna, / Which He gives them when they pray.

See, the streams of living waters, / Springing from eternal Love, / Well supply thy sons and daughters, / And all fear of want remove. / Who can faint, while such a river / Ever shall their thirst assuage,— / Grace, which like the Lord, the giver, / Never fails from age to age?
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 71)

“Rule of Law” (Harmony Rules)

Wednesday, 12 Nov.

... the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.
(Isaiah 33:22 the)

As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, ... will I rule over you:
(Ezekiel 20:33 (to 4th ,), 33 will)

And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, ... and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.
(Exodus 24:12 (to 2nd ,), 12 3rd and)

Then came the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, ...
And they stood before Moses, and before Eleazar the priest, and ... all the congregation, ... saying, Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the company of them that gathered themselves together against the LORD in the company of Korah; but died in his own sin, and had no sons. Why should the name of our father be done away from among his family, because he hath no son? Give unto us therefore a possession among the brethren of our father. And Moses brought their cause before the LORD. ¶ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brethren; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them.
(Numbers 27:1 (to 2nd ,), 2 (to 3rd and), 2 all (to 3rd ,), 2–7 saying)

O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for ... he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.
(Psalms 67:4 (to 2nd for); 98:9 he)

Now, my son, ... the LORD give thee wisdom and understanding, and give thee charge concerning Israel, that thou mayest keep the law of the LORD thy God. Then shalt thou prosper, if thou takest heed to fulfil the statutes and judgments which the LORD charged Moses with concerning Israel: ...
(I Chronicles 22:11 (to 2nd ,), 12 the, 13 (to :))

Then came the word of the LORD unto me, saying, Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, ...
Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: ...But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me: ...Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have made your iniquity to be remembered, ...... Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: ...

I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: ... until he come whose right it is; ...
(Ezekiel 20:2, 3 (to 3rd ,), 7 Cast (to :), 8 (to 1st :); 21:24 (to 1st ,), 26 Remove (to 1st :), 27 (to :), 27 until (to ;))

Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law; ...
... judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it.
(Psalms 94:12, 15 judgment)

... there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, ...
and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: ...
(Isaiah 11:1 there, 2 (to 1st ,), 3 2nd and, 4 (to :))

For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
(John 1:17)

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. … And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: ... and taught them, saying, …
...Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
(Matthew 4:23; 5:1 (to 1st :), 2 2nd and, 17, 18)

And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute? He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, ... of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers? Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free. Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.
(Matthew 17:24, 25 (to 4th ,), 25–27 of)

And certain of the Pharisees said unto them, Why do ye that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath days? ...
and there was a man whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the sabbath day; ...
Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it? And looking round about upon them all, he said unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he did so: and his hand was restored whole as the other. And they were filled with madness; and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus. ...And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: … and said, ...Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, ... and shall reproach you, ... for the Son of man’s sake. ... for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets. ... But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
(Luke 6:2, 6 3rd and, 7 (to ;), 9–11, 13 (to :), 20 2nd and (to 2nd ,), 22 (to 2nd ,), 22 2nd and (to 4th ,), 22 for, 23 3rd for, 27, 28)

Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
(Matthew 7:12)

There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: ...
(James 4:12 (to :))

Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. ...... whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
(James 1:16, 17, 25 whoso)

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, ...For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
(Galatians 5:1 (to ,), 14)

Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
(Romans 13:10)

God creates and governs the universe, including man. The universe is filled with spiritual ideas, which He evolves, and they are obedient to the Mind that makes them.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 295:5–8)

Nature voices natural, spiritual law and divine Love, but human belief misinterprets nature. Arctic regions, sunny tropics, giant hills, winged winds, mighty billows, verdant vales, festive flowers, and glorious heavens, — all point to Mind, the spiritual intelligence they reflect. ...
In the order of Science, in which the Principle is above what it reflects, all is one grand concord.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 240:1–6, 10–11)

Our Master treated error through Mind. ... There is a law of God applicable to healing, and it is a spiritual law instead of material.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 463:24–25, 27–28)

Jesus walked on the waves, fed the multitude, healed the sick, and raised the dead in direct opposition to material laws. His acts were the demonstration of Science, overcoming the false claims of material sense or law.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 273:24)

... What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him. — CHRIST JESUS.

The prayer that reforms the sinner and heals the sick is an absolute faith that all things are possible to God, — a spiritual understanding of Him, an unselfed love. Regardless of what another may say or think on this subject, I speak from experience.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 1:-4–5 What)

Only as we rise above all material sensuousness and sin, can we reach the heaven-born aspiration and spiritual consciousness, which is indicated in the Lord’s Prayer and which instantaneously heals the sick.

Here let me give what I understand to be the spiritual sense of the Lord’s Prayer:
... Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious,
... Enable us to know, — as in heaven, so on earth, — God is omnipotent, supreme.
... For God is infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over all, and All.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 16:20–25, 27; 17:2, 14)

... God is incorporeal, ... Mind, ... Principle, ...
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 465:9 God (only, to 1st ,), 10 Mind (only, to 1st ,), 10 Principle (only, to 1st ,))

... all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; ... all substance; intelligence.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 587:5–6 all-knowing (to 1st ;), 7 all)

From the infinite One in Christian Science comes one Principle and its infinite idea, and with this infinitude come spiritual rules, laws, and their demonstration, which, like the great Giver, are “the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever;” ...
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 112:16–20 (to ;))

As God is substance and man is the divine image and likeness, man should wish for, and in reality has, only the substance of good, the substance of Spirit, not matter. The belief that man has any other substance, or mind, is not spiritual and breaks the First Commandment, Thou shalt have one God, one Mind. Mortal man seems to himself to be material substance, while man is “image” (idea).
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 301:17–24)

Because man-made systems insist that man becomes sick and useless, suffers and dies, all in consonance with the laws of God, are we to believe it? Are we to believe an authority which denies God’s spiritual command relating to perfection, — an authority which Jesus proved to be false?
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 168:15–20)

There is no physical science, inasmuch as all truth proceeds from the divine Mind. Therefore truth is not human, and is not a law of matter, for matter is not a lawgiver. … Christian Science eschews what is called natural science, in so far as this is built on the false hypotheses that matter is its own lawgiver, that law is founded on material conditions, and that these are final and overrule the might of divine Mind.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 127:23–26, 30–2 (to 1st .))

The law of Christ, or Truth, makes all things possible to Spirit; but the so-called laws of matter would render Spirit of no avail, and demand obedience to materialistic codes, thus departing from the basis of one God, one lawmaker.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 182:32–4)

It is a law of so-called mortal mind, misnamed matter, which causes all things discordant.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 387:24)

Divine Science lays the axe at the root of the illusion that life, or mind, is formed by or is in the material body, ...
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 303:16–18 (to ,))

Every law of matter or the body, supposed to govern man, is rendered null and void by the law of Life, God.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 380:32–1)

... Subject sickness, sin, and death to the rule of health and holiness in Christian Science, and you ascertain that this Science is demonstrably true, for it heals the sick and sinning as no other system can. ... It brings to light the only living and true God and man as made in His likeness; whereas the opposite belief — that man originates in matter and has beginning and end, that he is both soul and body, both good and evil, both spiritual and material — terminates in discord and mortality, in the error which must be destroyed by Truth.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 337:29–1 Subject; 338:2–8)

The best sermon ever preached is Truth practised and demonstrated by the destruction of sin, sickness, and death. …

... Passions, selfishness, false appetites, hatred, fear, all sensuality, yield to spirituality, and the superabundance of being is on the side of God, good.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 201:1–3, 9)

Inasmuch as God is good and the fount of all being, He does not produce moral or physical deformity; therefore such deformity is not real, but is illusion, the mirage of error. Divine Science reveals these grand facts. On their basis Jesus demonstrated Life, never fearing nor obeying error in any form.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 243:32)

Rabbi and priest taught the Mosaic law, which said: “An eye for an eye,” and “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.” Not so did Jesus, the new executor for God, present the divine law of Love, which blesses even those that curse it. As the individual ideal of Truth, Christ Jesus came to rebuke rabbinical error and all sin, sickness, and death, — to point out the way of Truth and Life.(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 30:14–21)

Christ Jesus overruled the error which would impose penalties for transgressions of the physical laws of health; he annulled supposed laws of matter, opposed to the harmonies of Spirit, lacking divine authority and having only human approval for their sanction.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 381:31)

His spirituality separated him from sensuousness, and caused the selfish materialist to hate him; but it was this spirituality which enabled Jesus to heal the sick, cast out evil, and raise the dead.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 51:28 His)

Understanding spiritual law and knowing that there is no material law, Jesus said: “These signs shall follow them that believe, . . . ... They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 328:20–23 (to 3rd .), 24–25)

Jesus aided in reconciling man to God by giving man a truer sense of Love, the divine Principle of Jesus’ teachings, and this truer sense of Love redeems man from the law of matter, sin, and death by the law of Spirit, — the law of divine Love.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 19:6)

You will learn that in Christian Science the first duty is to obey God, to have one Mind, and to love another as yourself.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 496:5)

The vital part, the heart and soul of Christian Science, is Love.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 113:5–6)

Love is the liberator.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 225:21)

Let us banish sickness as an outlaw, and abide by the rule of perpetual harmony, — God’s law.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 381:27–28)

Let us learn of the real and eternal, and prepare for the reign of Spirit, the kingdom of heaven, — the reign and rule of universal harmony, which cannot be lost nor remain forever unseen.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 208:20)

God is the lawmaker, ... In infinite Life and Love there is no sickness, sin, nor death, and the Scriptures declare that we live, move, and have our being in the infinite God.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 381:15–16 (to ,), 17)

Love is life’s true crown and glory, / Love the splendor of the light, / Truly is God’s counsel gentle, / Truly all His ways are bright; / Jesus knew the law of kindness, / Healing mind and heart of blindness; / And in heavenly wisdom taught / Holy works of love he wrought.

Love, the Golden Rule of living, / Showeth forth the perfect Mind; / Love, our debt to God who gives it, / All compassion is, and kind; / Charity the law fulfilleth, / Mid the nations rancor stilleth; / Loving hearts in friendship blend, / One in Him, our heavenly Friend.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 178)

Lean on the sustaining infinite / And blessings will be yours. / Lean not on person, place, or thing, / Or economic laws; / But lean upon all-blessing God / Who will all needs supply / And give to all abundant good / That money cannot buy.

Let the healing reign of Truth and Life, / The reign of Love divine, / Be now established within me / To show Soul’s clear design / Of Oneness, indivisible— / Of God and me as one— / As water is to ocean wave, / As sunbeam is to sun.

Love with a heart of tenderness / Your enemies and friends; / However hard this may appear, / This quality just mends. / For Love is God in action true, / A presence that is felt; / A healing and a saving power / That will all discord melt.

So lean, and let, and love; / This is the balanced Way. / It’s free from self-will, pressure, stress; / It welcomes in God’s day. / The leaning is so gentle; / The letting is so free. / And loving is the only way / To think, and speak, and be.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 519)

It matters not what be thy lot, / So Love doth guide; / For storm or shine, pure peace is thine, / Whate’er betide.

And of these stones, or tyrants’ thrones, / God able is / To raise up seed—in thought and deed— / To faithful His.

Aye, darkling sense, arise, go hence! / Our God is good. / False fears are foes—truth tatters those, / When understood.

Love looseth thee, and lifteth me, / Ayont hate’s thrall: / There Life is light, and wisdom might, / And God is All.

The centuries break, the earth-bound wake, / God’s glorified! / Who doth His will—His likeness still— / Is satisfied.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 513)

The Covenant of Everlasting Love

The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, ...

The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.
(Psalms 93:1 (to 2nd ,), 4)

... Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. ...

And God said unto Noah, ...

... ¶ Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. ...

... with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. ...

Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
(Genesis 6:8 Noah, 13 (to 1st ,), 14, 18 with, 19, 22)

¶ And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood. ...

... the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. ...

... and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.
(Genesis 7:7, 11 5th the, 12, 17 2nd and)

And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged; ...

And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.
(Genesis 8:1, 14)

¶ And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; ...

And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: ...

And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
(Genesis 9:8, 9, 12–14, 17)

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, ...

Be still, and know that I am God: ...
(Psalms 46:1–3 (to ,), 10 (to :))

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, ...

That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;
(Luke 1:68, 71, 72)

And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things. And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him, and said, This is a desert place, and now the time is far passed: Send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread: for they have nothing to eat. ...

He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes. And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass. ...

And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all. And they did all eat, and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes. And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men. And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people. And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray. And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them. But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out: For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid. And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered. For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened. And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Gennesaret, and drew to the shore. And when they were come out of the ship, straightway they knew him, And ran through that whole region round about, and began to carry about in beds those that were sick, where they heard he was. And whithersoever he entered, into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment: and as many as touched him were made whole.
(Mark 6:34–36, 38, 39, 41–56)

... the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children; To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.
(Psalms 103:17 the, 18)

And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: ...
(Jeremiah 31:34 (to 2nd :))

SCIENCE AND HELATH

ARK. Safety; the idea, or reflection, of Truth, proved to be as immortal as its Principle; the understanding of Spirit, destroying belief in matter.

God and man coexistent and eternal; Science showing that the spiritual realities of all things are created by Him and exist forever.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 581:8–13)

NOAH. A corporeal mortal; knowledge of the nothingness of material things and of the immortality of all that is spiritual.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 592:22)

KNOWLEDGE. Evidence obtained from the five corporeal senses; mortality; beliefs and opinions; human theories, doctrines, hypotheses; that which is not divine and is the origin of sin, sickness, and death; the opposite of spiritual Truth and understanding.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 590:4)

Spirit imparts the understanding which uplifts consciousness and leads into all truth. The Psalmist saith: “The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.” Spiritual sense is the discernment of spiritual good. Understanding is the line of demarcation between the real and unreal. Spiritual understanding unfolds Mind, — Life, Truth, and Love, — and demonstrates the divine sense, giving the spiritual proof of the universe in Christian Science.

This understanding is not intellectual, is not the result of scholarly attainments; it is the reality of all things brought to light.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 505:16–28)

The “still, small voice” of scientific thought reaches over continent and ocean to the globe’s remotest bound. The inaudible voice of Truth is, to the human mind, “as when a lion roareth.” It is heard in the desert and in dark places of fear. It arouses the “seven thunders” of evil, and stirs their latent forces to utter the full diapason of secret tones. Then is the power of Truth demonstrated, — made manifest in the destruction of error.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 559:8–16)

... The Scriptures imply that God is All-in-all. From this it follows that nothing possesses reality nor existence except the divine Mind and His ideas. The Scriptures also declare that God is Spirit. Therefore in Spirit all is harmony, and there can be no discord; all is Life, and there is no death. Everything in God’s universe expresses Him.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 331:11 The)

... God is individual, incorporeal. He is divine Principle, Love, the universal cause, the only creator, and there is no other self-existence. He is all-inclusive, and is reflected by all that is real and eternal and by nothing else. He fills all space, and it is impossible to conceive of such omnipresence and individuality except as infinite Spirit or Mind. Hence all is Spirit and spiritual.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 331:18 God)

... Father-Mother is the name for Deity, which indicates His tender relationship to His spiritual creation. As the apostle expressed it in words which he quoted with approbation from a classic poet: “For we are also His offspring.”
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 332:4 Father-Mother)

The universe, like man, is to be interpreted by Science from its divine Principle, God, and then it can be understood; but when explained on the basis of physical sense and represented as subject to growth, maturity, and decay, the universe, like man, is, and must continue to be, an enigma. ...

Spirit is the life, substance, and continuity of all things. We tread on forces. Withdraw them, and creation must collapse. Human knowledge calls them forces of matter; but divine Science declares that they belong wholly to divine Mind, are inherent in this Mind, and so restores them to their rightful home and classification.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 124:14, 25)

When infringing some supposed law, you say that there is danger. This fear is the danger and induces the physical effects. We cannot in reality suffer from breaking anything except a moral or spiritual law. The so-called laws of mortal belief are destroyed by the understanding that Soul is immortal, and that mortal mind cannot legislate the times, periods, and types of disease, with which mortals die. ... In infinite Life and Love there is no sickness, sin, nor death, and the Scriptures declare that we live, move, and have our being in the infinite God.

Think less of the enactments of mortal mind, and you will sooner grasp man’s God-given dominion.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 381:8–15, 17–21)

A miracle fulfils God’s law, but does not violate that law. This fact at present seems more mysterious than the miracle itself. The Psalmist sang: “What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? Thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back? Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams, and ye little hills, like lambs? Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob.” The miracle introduces no disorder, but unfolds the primal order, establishing the Science of God’s unchangeable law.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 134:31–8)

We should consecrate existence, not “to the unknown God” whom we “ignorantly worship,” but to the eternal builder, the everlasting Father, to the Life which mortal sense cannot impair nor mortal belief destroy.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 428:15–19)

Have you shared the blood of the New Covenant, the persecutions which attend a new and higher understanding of God? ... If Christ, Truth, has come to us in demonstration, no other commemoration is requisite, for demonstration is Immanuel, or God with us; and ...

... If all who seek his commemoration through material symbols will take up the cross, heal the sick, cast out evils, and preach Christ, or Truth, to the poor, — the receptive thought, — they will bring in the millennium.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 33:27–30 Have; 34:5–8 (to and), 13)

If you venture upon the quiet surface of error and are in sympathy with error, what is there to disturb the waters? What is there to strip off error’s disguise?

If you launch your bark upon the ever-agitated but healthful waters of truth, you will encounter storms. Your good will be evil spoken of. This is the cross. Take it up and bear it, for through it you win and wear the crown. Pilgrim on earth, thy home is heaven; stranger, thou art the guest of God.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 254:24–32)

HYMNS

Though mountains may depart from thee, / And hills be far removed, / His kindness shall remain with thee, / His covenant be proved.

O thou afflicted, tossed with doubt, / God bids the storm to cease; / His children shall be taught of Him / And great shall be their peace.

Established in His righteousness, / He holds thee free from fear; / No weapon formed against His own / Shall prosper nor come near.

All tongues that rise condemning thee / Are silenced by His word; / This is thy precious heritage, / Thou servant of the Lord.

(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 347)

O gentle presence, peace and joy and power; / O Life divine, that owns each waiting hour, / Thou Love that guards the nestling’s faltering flight! / Keep Thou my child on upward wing tonight.

Love is our refuge; only with mine eye / Can I behold the snare, the pit, the fall: / His habitation high is here, and nigh, / His arm encircles me, and mine, and all.

O make me glad for every scalding tear, / For hope deferred, ingratitude, disdain! / Wait, and love more for every hate, and fear / No ill,—since God is good, and loss is gain.

Beneath the shadow of His mighty wing; / In that sweet secret of the narrow way, / Seeking and finding, with the angels sing: / “Lo, I am with you alway,”—watch and pray.

No snare, no fowler, pestilence or pain; / No night drops down upon the troubled breast, / When heaven’s aftersmile earth’s tear-drops gain, / And mother finds her home and heav’nly rest.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 212)

O for a faith that will not shrink, / Though pressed by every foe; / That will not tremble on the brink / Of any earthly woe;

A faith that shines more bright and clear / When tempests rage without; / That when in danger knows no fear, / In darkness feels no doubt;

O, give us such a faith as this, / And then, whate’er may come, / We taste e’en here the hallowed bliss / Of our eternal home.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 205)

CHANGELESS BEING

Oct 29 Bible Readings

... I am the LORD, I change not; ...
(Malachi 3:6 I (to ;))

For this God is our God for ever and ever: ...
(Psalms 48:14 (to :))

Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? ...
(Malachi 2:10 (to 2nd ?))

Thus saith the LORD, ... I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
(Jeremiah 31:2 (to 1st ,), 3 I)

It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
(Lamentations 3:22, 23)

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. ...Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. ...By faith Moses, ... forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: ...
(Hebrews 11:1, 3, 23 (to 1st ,), 27 forsook (to :))

¶ And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; .... Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, ...And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: … And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh.
(Exodus 3:11, 12 (to ;); 4:1 Moses (to 4th ,), 2–4, 6, 7)

... Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: ... he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:
(Daniel 2:20 Blessed (to 1st :), 21 3rd he)

And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, … And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them:
(Matthew 9:35 (to 3rd ,); 15:30)

There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, … The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? … Jesus answered, …That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. … The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
(John 3:1 (to 2nd ,), 2–4 (to 1st ?), 5 (to 1st ,), 6, 8)

And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, … And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: ...While he yet spake, there came ... certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: ...As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe. ...And when he was come in, he saith unto them, ... the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. … And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, ... Damsel, I say unto thee, arise. And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; ... And they were astonished with a great astonishment.
(Mark 5:22 (to 3rd ,), 23 (to :), 35 (to came), 35 certain (to :), 36, 39 (to 2nd ,), 39 the, 41 (to 3rd ,), 41 2nd Damsel, 42 (to ;), 42 3rd And)

Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. .... the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: … Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. … Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
(John 12:44, 49 the, 50 (to :); 14:10, 12)

... to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
(I Corinthians 8:6 to)

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.
(Hebrews 13:8)

I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: ...That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; ...
(Ecclesiastes 3:14 (to 2nd :), 15 (to 2nd ;))

The Christian Science God is universal, eternal, divine Love, which changeth not and causeth no evil, disease, nor death.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 140:25–27)

... God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 465:9 God)

From the infinite One in Christian Science comes one Principle and its infinite idea, and with this infinitude come spiritual rules, laws, and their demonstration, which, like the great Giver, are “the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever;” ...
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 112:16–20 (to ;))

The Scriptures inform us that man is made in the image and likeness of God.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 475:7–9)

God is the Principle of man, and man is the idea of God. Hence man is not mortal nor material. ... To the five corporeal senses, man appears to be matter and mind united; but Christian Science reveals man as the idea of God, and declares the corporeal senses to be mortal and erring illusions.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 476:9–11; 477:9–13 To)

When, led by wisdom to cast down his rod, he saw it become a serpent, Moses fled before it; but wisdom bade him come back and handle the serpent, and then Moses’ fear departed. In this incident was seen the actuality of Science. Matter was shown to be a belief only. The serpent, evil, under wisdom’s bidding, was destroyed through understanding divine Science, and this proof was a staff upon which to lean. The illusion of Moses lost its power to alarm him, when he discovered that what he apparently saw was really but a phase of mortal belief. It was scientifically demonstrated that leprosy was a creation of mortal mind and not a condition of matter, when Moses first put his hand into his bosom and drew it forth white as snow with the dread disease, and presently restored his hand to its natural condition by the same simple process. God had lessened Moses’ fear by this proof in divine Science, ... And so it was in the coming centuries, when the Science of being was demonstrated by Jesus, who showed his students the power of Mind by changing water into wine, and taught them how to handle serpents unharmed, to heal the sick and cast out evils in proof of the supremacy of Mind.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 321:8–25 (to ,), 29)

A change in human belief changes all the physical symptoms, ... When one’s false belief is corrected, Truth sends a report of health over the body.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 194:6–7 (to ,), 8)

The various contradictions of the Science of Mind by the material senses do not change the unseen Truth, which remains forever intact.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 481:9–12)

In the illusion of life that is here to-day and gone to-morrow, man would be wholly mortal, were it not that Love, the divine Principle that obtains in divine Science, destroys all error and brings immortality to light. Because man is the reflection of his Maker, he is not subject to birth, growth, maturity, decay. These mortal dreams are of human origin, not divine.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 305:22)

Time-tables of birth and death are so many conspiracies against manhood and womanhood. Except for the error of measuring and limiting all that is good and beautiful, man would enjoy more than threescore years and ten and still maintain his vigor, freshness, and promise. Man, governed by immortal Mind, is always beautiful and grand. Each succeeding year unfolds wisdom, beauty, and holiness.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 246:18)

Eternity, not time, expresses the thought of Life, and time is no part of eternity. One ceases in proportion as the other is recognized. Time is finite; eternity is forever infinite. Life is neither in nor of matter. What is termed matter is unknown to Spirit, which includes in itself all substance and is Life eternal. Matter is a human concept. Life is divine Mind. Life is not limited. Death and finiteness are unknown to Life.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 468:28–5 (to 2nd .))

Mortal existence is a dream of pain and pleasure in matter, a dream of sin, sickness, and death; and it is like the dream we have in sleep, in which every one recognizes his condition to be wholly a state of mind.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 188:11–15)

Jesus demonstrated the inability of corporeality, as well as the infinite ability of Spirit, thus helping erring human sense to flee from its own convictions and seek safety in divine Science. Reason, rightly directed, serves to correct the errors of corporeal sense; but sin, sickness, and death will seem real (even as the experiences of the sleeping dream seem real) until the Science of man’s eternal harmony breaks their illusion with the unbroken reality of scientific being.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 494:15 Jesus)

Jesus said of Lazarus: “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.” Jesus restored Lazarus by the understanding that Lazarus had never died, not by an admission that his body had died and then lived again.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 75:12–16)

To the synagogue ruler’s daughter, whom they called dead but of whom he said, “she is not dead, but sleepeth,” he simply said, “Damsel, I say unto thee, arise!”
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 398:10–13)

The understanding of Truth gives full faith in Truth, … The Master said, “No man cometh unto the Father [the divine Principle of being] but by me,” Christ, Life, Truth, Love; for Christ says, “I am the way.” Physical causation was put aside from first to last by this original man, Jesus.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 286:6–7 (to ,), 9–13)

The fact that the Christ, or Truth, overcame and still overcomes death proves the “king of terrors” to be but a mortal belief, or error, which Truth destroys with the spiritual evidences of Life; and this shows that what appears to the senses to be death is but a mortal illusion, for to the real man and the real universe there is no death-process.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 289:14)

All that we term sin, sickness, and death is a mortal belief. We define matter as error, because it is the opposite of life, substance, and intelligence. Matter, with its mortality, cannot be substantial if Spirit is substantial and eternal. Which ought to be substance to us, — the erring, changing, and dying, the mutable and mortal, or the unerring, immutable, and immortal? A New Testament writer plainly describes faith, a quality of mind, as “the substance of things hoped for.”
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 278:28)

Paul says: “For the invisible things of Him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.” (Romans i. 20.) When the substance of Spirit appears in Christian Science, the nothingness of matter is recognized. Where the spirit of God is, and there is no place where God is not, evil becomes nothing, — the opposite of the something of Spirit.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 479:29–5)

The Bible declares: “All things were made by Him [the divine Word]; and without Him was not anything made that was made.” This is the eternal verity of divine Science. ... Man is tributary to God, Spirit, and to nothing else.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 480:26–29; 481:2–3)

Principle and its idea, man, are coexistent and eternal.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 520:9–10)

Happy the man whose heart can rest, / Assured God’s goodness ne’er will cease; / Each day, complete, with joy is blessed, / God keepeth him in perfect peace.

God keepeth him, and God is one, / One Life, forevermore the same, / One Truth unchanged while ages run; / Eternal Love His holiest name.

Dwelling in Love that cannot change, / From anxious fear man finds release; / No more his homeless longings range, / God keepeth him in perfect peace.

In perfect peace, with tumult stilled, / Enhavened where no storms arise, / There man can work what God hath willed; / The joy of perfect work his prize.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 93)

Be still, my heart: you rest in Love divine; / God’s gracious touch has silenced grief and pain. / Love’s timeless Christ allows for no decline; / In changeless being shall your health remain. / Be still, my heart: your faithful only Friend / Secures your joyful voyage without end.

Be still, my heart: of present glories sing, / Instead of mourning for a troubled past. / Replace sad tunes with melodies that ring / Of God’s rich mercy and of blessings vast. / Be still, my heart: the winds and waves recede / When to God’s angel voices you give heed.

Be still, my heart: our God casts out all fears, / Assuring you that God and man are one; / And in that oneness here and now appears / Love’s everlasting life, with death outdone. / Be still, my heart: no lies, no tears, no curse / Can mar the rhythm of God’s universe.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 444)

Saw ye my Saviour? Heard ye the glad sound? / Felt ye the power of the Word? / ’Twas the Truth that made us free, / And was found by you and me / In the life and the love of our Lord.

Mourner, it calls you,—“Come to my bosom, / Love wipes your tears all away, / And will lift the shade of gloom, / And for you make radiant room / Midst the glories of one endless day.”

Sinner, it calls you,—“Come to this fountain, / Cleanse the foul senses within; / ’Tis the Spirit that makes pure, / That exalts thee, and will cure / All thy sorrow and sickness and sin.”

Strongest deliverer, friend of the friendless, / Life of all being divine: / Thou the Christ, and not the creed; / Thou the Truth in thought and deed; / Thou the water, the bread, and the wine.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 570)

THE END OF OPPRESSION

Wednesday Bible Readings

OCT 8TH, 2025

From The Bible

Ps. 69:1 (to ;), 2–4 2nd I (to 1st ,), 4 2nd are (to 2nd :), 16

Save me, O God; ...... I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God. They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, ... are mighty: ...Hear me, O Lord; for thy lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies. 

Jer. 31:3 (to :)

The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: ...

Isa. 57:15 thus; 58:1 (to 4th ,), 6

... thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. ...Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, … Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? 

Ex. 8:1

And the Lord spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Let my people go, that they may serve me. 

Ex. 19:3 (to 3rd ,)

And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, ...

Deut. 6:4–6

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 

Ex. 20:3, 5 (to :), 16

Thou shalt have no other gods before me. … Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: ...Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. 

Ex. 23:1, 2 (to ;), 9

Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. ¶ Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; ...... ¶ Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. 

Lev. 19:17 (to :), 17 and, 18 (to :)

¶ Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: ... and not suffer sin upon him. ¶ Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: ...

Lev. 26:13, 14, 19 I (to ;)

I am the Lord your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright. ¶ But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments; … ... I will break the pride of your power; ...

Ps. 12:5

For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him. 

Eccl. 5:8 (to ;)

¶ If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; ...

Acts 10:38 God (to ;)

... God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; ...

Mark 1:23, 27 (to 1st ,), 27 saying (to 1st ?), 27 for

And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, ...And they were all amazed, ... saying, What thing is this? ... for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him. 

Luke 21:8 (to 1st ,), 9 when (to ;), 10 Nation, 11 (to ;), 17, 18

And he said, ...... when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; ...... Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; ...And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake. But there shall not an hair of your head perish. 

Isa. 34:1 hearken (to :); 35:4, 8 (to 1st ;), 10 (to 1st ,), 10 they

... hearken, ye people: ...Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come withvengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. ...And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; ...And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, ... they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. 

I Cor. 2:12

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 

I Chron. 16:31

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice: and let men say among the nations, The Lord reigneth. 

SH 200:4

Moses advanced a nation to the worship of God in Spirit instead of matter, and illustrated the grand human capacities of being bestowed by immortal Mind. 

SH 186:29–5

If mortal mind knew how to be better, it would be better. Since it must believe in something besides itself, it enthrones matter as deity. The human mind has been an idolater from the beginning, having other gods and believing in more than the one Mind. As mortals do not comprehend even mortal existence, how ignorant must they be of the all-knowing Mind and of His creations. 

SH 280:17–21

Moses declared as Jehovah’s first command of the Ten: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me!” But behold the zeal of belief to establish the opposite error of many minds. 

SH 114:6

The spiritually unscientific definition of mind is based on the evidence of the physical senses, which makes minds many and calls mind both human and divine. 

SH 204:3

All forms of error support the false conclusions that there is more than one Life; that material history is as real and living as spiritual history; that mortal error is as conclusively mental as immortal Truth; and that there are two separate, antagonistic entities and beings, two powers, — namely, Spirit and matter, — resulting in a third person (mortal man) who carries out the delusions of sin, sickness, and death. 

SH 289:8–11

A wicked mortal is not the idea of God. He is little else than the expression of error. To suppose that sin, lust, hatred, envy, hypocrisy, revenge, have life abiding in them, is a terrible mistake. 

SH 227:30

If God had instituted material laws to govern man, disobedience to which would have made man ill, Jesus would not have disregarded those laws by healing in direct opposition to them and in defiance of all material conditions. 

SH 279:22

Every system of human philosophy, doctrine, and medicine is more or less infected with the pantheistic belief that there is mind in matter; but this belief contradicts alike revelation and right reasoning. A logical and scientific conclusion is reached only through the knowledge that there are not two bases of being, matter and mind, but one alone, — Mind. 

SH 227:3–15

I saw that the law of mortal belief included all error, and that, even as oppressive laws are disputed and mortals are taught their right to freedom, so the claims of the enslaving senses must be denied and superseded. The law of the divine Mind must end human bondage, or mortals will continue unaware of man’s inalienable rights and in subjection to hopeless slavery, because some public teachers permit an ignorance of divine power, — an ignorance that is the foundation of continued bondage and of human suffering. Discerning the rights of man, we cannot fail to foresee the doom of all oppression. 

SH 205:22–31

When we realize that there is one Mind, the divine law of loving our neighbor as ourselves is unfolded; whereas a belief in many ruling minds hinders man’s normal drift towards the one Mind, one God, and leads human thought into opposite channels where selfishness reigns. Selfishness tips the beam of human existence towards the side of error, not towards Truth. Denial of the oneness of Mind throws our weight into the scale, not of Spirit, God, good, but of matter. 

SH 242:6

Denial of the claims of matter is a great step towards the joys of Spirit, towards human freedom and the final triumph over the body. 

SH 227:18

“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” Love and Truth make free, but evil and error lead into captivity. 

SH 225:23

Legally to abolish unpaid servitude in the United States was hard; but the abolition of mental slavery is a more difficult task. The despotic tendencies, inherent in mortal mind and always germinating in new forms of tyranny, must be rooted out through the action of the divine Mind. 

SH 226:5

The voice of God in behalf of the African slave was still echoing in our land, when the voice of the herald of this new crusade sounded the keynote of universal freedom, asking a fuller acknowledgment of the rights of man as a Son of God, demanding that the fetters of sin, sickness, and death be stricken from the human mind and that its freedom be won, not through human warfare, not with bayonet and blood, but through Christ’s divine Science. 

SH 114:23–24, 25–27

Christian Science explains all cause and effect as mental, not physical. ... It shows the scientific relation of man to God, disentangles the interlaced ambiguities of being, and sets free the imprisoned thought. 

SH 433:31–1 Christ

... Christ, Truth, the spirit of Life and the friend of Mortal Man, can open wide those prison doors and set the captive free. 

SH 315:11

The opposite and false views of the people hid from their sense Christ’s sonship with God. They could not discern his spiritual existence. Their carnal minds were at enmity with it. Their thoughts were filled with mortal error, instead of with God’s spiritual idea as presented by Christ Jesus. The likeness of God we lose sight of through sin, which beclouds the spiritual sense of Truth; and we realize this likeness only when we subdue sin and prove man’s heritage, the liberty of the sons of God. 

SH 576:31–4

This human sense of Deity yields to the divine sense, even as the material sense of personality yields to the incorporeal sense of God and man as the infinite Principle and infinite idea, — as one Father with His universal family, held in the gospel of Love. 

SH 280:25–4

Rightly understood, instead of possessing a sentient material form, man has a sensationless body; and God, the Soul of man and of all existence, being perpetual in His own individuality, harmony, and immortality, imparts and perpetuates these qualities in man, — through Mind, not matter. The only excuse for entertaining human opinions and rejecting the Science of being is our mortal ignorance of Spirit, — ignorance which yields only to the understanding of divine Science, the understanding by which we enter into the kingdom of Truth on earth and learn that Spirit is infinite and supreme. 

SH 225:2; 226:14–17

Whatever enslaves man is opposed to the divine government. Truth makes man free. ...God has built a higher platform of human rights, and He has built it on diviner claims. These claims are not made through code or creed, but in demonstration of “on earth peace, good-will toward men.” 

SH 340:23

One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations; constitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfils the Scripture, “Love thy neighbor as thyself;” annihilates pagan and Christian idolatry, — whatever is wrong in social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes; equalizes the sexes; annuls the curse on man, and leaves nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed. 

SH 276:1

Having one God, one Mind, unfolds the power that heals the sick, and fulfils these sayings of Scripture, “I am the Lord that healeth thee,” and “I have found a ransom.” When the divine precepts are understood, they unfold the foundation of fellowship, in which one mind is not at war with another, but all have one Spirit, God, one intelligent source, in accordance with the Scriptural command: “Let this Mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” Man and his Maker are correlated in divine Science, and real consciousness is cognizant only of the things of God. 

SH 469:30–5

With one Father, even God, the whole family of man would be brethren; and with one Mind and that God, or good, the brotherhood of man would consist of Love and Truth, and have unity of Principle and spiritual power which constitute divine Science. 

Hymn. 258

Oft to every man and nation / Comes the moment to decide, / In the strife of Truth with falsehood, / For the good or evil side. / A great cause, God’s new Messiah, / Shows to each the bloom or blight, / So can choice be made by all men / Twixt the darkness and the light. 

New occasions teach new duties, / Time makes ancient creeds uncouth; / They must upward still and onward / Who would keep abreast of Truth, / And serenely down the future / See the thought of men incline / To the side of perfect justice / And to God’s supreme design. 

Though the cause of evil prosper, / Yet ’tis Truth alone is strong; / Though her portion be the scaffold, / And upon the throne be wrong, / Yet that scaffold sways the future, / And behind the dim unknown / Standeth God within the shadow / Keeping watch above His own. 

Words: James Russell Lowell, adapted

Music: Welsh Hymn Melody

Hymn. 553

Our desire to heed God’s calling / Lifts us to a new design, / Outlined by pure inspiration, / Rendered in Love’s graceful line. 

When our own plans seem to crumble / Incomplete or ill-defined, / Let us turn to God’s creation, / Always perfectly aligned. 

With the model right before us, / Perfect God and perfect man, / Let God’s wholeness reign within us, / Let Mind’s will perfect our plan. 

Far beyond the bounds of matter, / Unrestrained by fear or time, / All our plans unfold together / In Soul’s harmony and rhyme. 

Words: Mara Purl, alt.

Music: American melody, Pilsbury’s United States’ Sacred Harmony, 1799; arr. CSPS

Hymn. 539

O gentle presence, peace and joy and power; / O Life divine, that owns each waiting hour, / Thou Love that guards the nestling’s faltering flight! / Keep Thou my child on upward wing tonight. 

Love is our refuge; only with mine eye / Can I behold the snare, the pit, the fall: / His habitation high is here, and nigh, / His arm encircles me, and mine, and all. 

O make me glad for every scalding tear, / For hope deferred, ingratitude, disdain! / Wait, and love more for every hate, and fear / No ill,—since God is good, and loss is gain. 

Beneath the shadow of His mighty wing; / In that sweet secret of the narrow way, / Seeking and finding, with the angels sing: / “Lo, I am with you alway,”—watch and pray. 

No snare, no fowler, pestilence or pain; / No night drops down upon the troubled breast, / When heaven’s aftersmile earth’s tear-drops gain, / And mother finds her home and heav’nly rest. 

Words: Mary Baker Eddy

Music: Lisa Redfern; arr. CSPS

Of Sound Mind

Wednesday Bible Readings

OCT 6TH, 2025

From The Bible

Canst thou by searching find out God? ...

The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. ...

If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward him; ...

... then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; yea, thou shalt be stedfast, and shalt not fear: ...

And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday; thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning. And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; yea, thou shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy rest in safety. Also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid; ...
(Job 11:7 (to 1st ?), 9, 13, 15 then, 17–19 (to ;))

... thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the LORD. ...

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. ...

And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
(Jeremiah 29:8 thus, 9, 11, 13)

... Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea: ...
(Mark 3:7 Jesus (to :))

And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not. For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many. ...

And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, ...

And they ... told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done. And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: ...

And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him. Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee. And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel.
(Mark 5:1–9, 13 (to 1st ,), 14 (to 1st they), 14 told, 15 (to :), 18–20)

... and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught. And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes. And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him. And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him. And immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee.
(Mark 1:21–28 2nd and)

Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed. And there was great joy in that city.
(Acts 8:5–8)

... I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
(Acts 2:25–28 I)

Teach me, O LORD, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end. Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight.
(Psalms 119:33–35)

Thy testimonies are wonderful: therefore doth my soul keep them. The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.
(Psalms 119:129, 130)

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
(Philippians 4:8)

... God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
(II Timothy 1:7 God)

SCIENCE AND HEALTH

Question. — Does brain think, and do nerves feel, and is there intelligence in matter?

Answer. — No, not if God is true and mortal man a liar. ... How can intelligence dwell in matter when matter is non-intelligent and brain-lobes cannot think? Matter cannot perform the functions of Mind. ... That only is real which reflects God.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 478:14–17, 20–23, 26–27)

Matter is neither self-existent nor a product of Spirit. ... Matter cannot see, feel, hear, taste, nor smell. It is not self-cognizant, — cannot feel itself, see itself, nor understand itself. Take away so-called mortal mind, which constitutes matter’s supposed selfhood, and matter can take no cognizance of matter.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 479:8 (only), 10–15)

Are mentality, immortality, consciousness, resident in matter? It is not rational to say that Mind is infinite, but dwells in finiteness, — in matter, — or that matter is infinite and the medium of Mind.

If God were limited to man or matter, or if the infinite could be circumscribed within the finite, God would be corporeal, and unlimited Mind would seem to spring from a limited body; but this is an impossibility. Infinite Mind can have no starting-point, and can return to no limit. It can never be in bonds, nor be fully manifested through corporeality.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 283:32–10)

Every system of human philosophy, doctrine, and medicine is more or less infected with the pantheistic belief that there is mind in matter; but this belief contradicts alike revelation and right reasoning. A logical and scientific conclusion is reached only through the knowledge that there are not two bases of being, matter and mind, but one alone, — Mind.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 279:22)

Mind is the natural stimulus of the body, but erroneous belief, taken at its best, is not promotive of health or happiness. Tell the sick that they can meet disease fearlessly, if they only realize that divine Love gives them all power over every physical action and condition.

... Turn his gaze from the false evidence of the senses to the harmonious facts of Soul and immortal being. Tell him that he suffers only as the insane suffer, from false beliefs. The only difference is, that insanity implies belief in a diseased brain, while physical ailments (so-called) arise from the belief that other portions of the body are deranged. Derangement, or disarrangement, is a word which conveys the true definition of all human belief in ill-health, or disturbed harmony.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 420:22, 30–7)

There are many species of insanity. All sin is insanity in different degrees. Sin is spared from this classification, only because its method of madness is in consonance with common mortal belief. Every sort of sickness is error, — that is, sickness is loss of harmony.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 407:29–2)

There is a universal insanity of so-called health, which mistakes fable for fact throughout the entire round of the material senses, but this general craze cannot, in a scientific diagnosis, shield the individual case from the special name of insanity. Those unfortunate people who are committed to insane asylums are only so many distinctly defined instances of the baneful effects of illusion on mortal minds and bodies.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 408:6)

The treatment of insanity is especially interesting. However obstinate the case, it yields more readily than do most diseases to the salutary action of truth, which counteracts error. The arguments to be used in curing insanity are the same as in other diseases: namely, the impossibility that matter, brain, can control or derange mind, can suffer or cause suffering; also the fact that truth and love will establish a healthy state, guide and govern mortal mind or the thought of the patient, and destroy all error, whether it is called dementia, hatred, or any other discord.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 414:4)

... any abnormal condition or derangement of the body is as directly the action of mortal mind as is dementia or insanity. ... They are only phenomena of the mind of mortals.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 423:27–29 any, 31–32)

Unconscious mortal mind — alias matter, brain — cannot dictate terms to consciousness nor say, “I am sick.” The belief, that the unconscious substratum of mortal mind, termed the body, suffers and reports disease independently of this so-called conscious mind, is the error which prevents mortals from knowing how to govern their bodies.

... The real man is spiritual and immortal, but the mortal and imperfect so-called “children of men” are counterfeits from the beginning, to be laid aside for the pure reality. This mortal is put off, and the new man or real man is put on, in proportion as mortals realize the Science of man and seek the true model.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 409:9, 20)

Christian Science brings to the body the sunlight of Truth, which invigorates and purifies. Christian Science acts as an alterative, neutralizing error with Truth. ...

Experiments have favored the fact that Mind governs the body, not in one instance, but in every instance. The indestructible faculties of Spirit exist without the conditions of matter and also without the false beliefs of a so-called material existence.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 162:4–7, 12–16)

Remember, brain is not mind. Matter cannot be sick, and Mind is immortal.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 372:1–2)

All that really exists is the divine Mind and its idea, and in this Mind the entire being is found harmonious and eternal. The straight and narrow way is to see and acknowledge this fact, yield to this power, and follow the leadings of truth.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 151:26)

... The human mind will sometime rise above all material and physical sense, exchanging it for spiritual perception, and exchanging human concepts for the divine consciousness. Then man will recognize his God-given dominion and being.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 531:10 The)

A demonstration of the facts of Soul in Jesus’ way resolves the dark visions of material sense into harmony and immortality. ... To divest thought of false trusts and material evidences in order that the spiritual facts of being may appear, — this is the great attainment by means of which we shall sweep away the false and give place to the true.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 428:3–6 A, 8–12)

Though the way is dark in mortal sense, divine Life and Love illumine it, destroy the unrest of mortal thought, the fear of death, and the supposed reality of error. Christian Science, contradicting sense, maketh the valley to bud and blossom as the rose.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 596:23)

HYMNS

O do not bar your mind / Against the light of good; / But open wide, let in the Word, / And Truth will be your food.

Truth will from error free / Your long enslaved mind, / And bring the light of liberty / Where it shall be enshrined.

Hid treasures it reveals / To all who know its power; / And all who will may light receive / In this most gracious hour.

Then open wide your heart / To Truth and Light and Love; / You then shall know your life is hid / With Christ in God above.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 201)

O’er waiting harpstrings of the mind / There sweeps a strain, / Low, sad, and sweet, whose measures bind / The power of pain,

And wake a white-winged angel throng / Of thoughts, illumed / By faith, and breathed in raptured song, / With love perfumed.

Then His unveiled, sweet mercies show / Life’s burdens light. / I kiss the cross, and wake to know / A world more bright.

And o’er earth’s troubled, angry sea / I see Christ walk, / And come to me, and tenderly, / Divinely talk.

Thus Truth engrounds me on the rock, / Upon Life’s shore, / ’Gainst which the winds and waves can shock, / Oh, nevermore!

From tired joy and grief afar, / And nearer Thee,— / Father, where Thine own children are, / I love to be.

My prayer, some daily good to do / To Thine, for Thee; / An offering pure of Love, whereto / God leadeth me.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 254)

Thou whose almighty Word / Chaos and darkness heard, / And took their flight; / Hear us, we humbly pray, / And where the Gospel-day / Sheds not its glorious ray, / Let there be light.

Christ, thou dost come to bring / On thy redeeming wing / Healing and sight, / Health to the sick in mind, / Sight to the inly blind; / Ah, now to all mankind / Let there be light.

Spirit of truth and love, / Life-giving, holy dove, / Speed forth thy flight; / Move on the waters’ face, / Bearing the lamp of grace, / And in earth’s darkest place / Let there be light.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 346)

jwb2nd

A WORKMAN UNASHAMED

Wednesday Bible Readings

Sep 12,th, 2025

From The Bible

CITATIONS:

II Tim. 2:15

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 

II Tim. 2:7, 16 shun (to :), 22 but

Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things. ...... shun profane and vain babblings: ...
... but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 

Matt. 20:17

¶ And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them, 

Matt. 25:1–13 the

... the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that werefoolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh. 

James 1:2–4

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. 

Matt. 16:24

¶ Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 

Matt. 8:14, 15 (to :), 16, 19, 21, 22

¶ And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever. And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: ...
... ¶ When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: ...And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. …And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead. 

Luke 9:61, 62

And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. 

James 1:22–25 be

... be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. 

Luke 9:1, 2, 6; 10:1, 17

Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick. ...And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where. ...After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. ...... ¶ And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. 

Heb. 12:1

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 

Gal. 5:7 who

... who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? 

Rom. 13:11 now, 12

... now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. 

II Tim. 4:1 (to 2nd ,), 2, 5

I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, ...Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. ...But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. 

SH 1:6

Prayer, watching, and working, combined with self-immolation, are God’s gracious means for accomplishing whatever has been successfully done for the Christianization and health of mankind. 

SH 26:28–32

Our Master taught no mere theory, doctrine, or belief. It was the divine Principle of all real being which he taught and practised. His proof of Christianity was no form or system of religion and worship, but Christian Science, working out the harmony of Life and Love. 

SH 31:12–13

First in the list of Christian duties, he taught his followers the healing power of Truth and Love. 

SH 37:22–29, 30

It is possible, — yea, it is the duty and privilege of every child, man, and woman, — to follow in some degree the example of the Master by the demonstration of Truth and Life, of health and holiness. Christians claim to be his followers, but do they follow him in the way that he commanded? Hear these imperative commands: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect!” ... “Heal the sick!” 

SH 410:4–7

“This is life eternal,” says Jesus, — is, not shall be; and then he defines everlasting life as a present knowledge of his Father and of himself, — the knowledge of Love, Truth, and Life. 

SH 107:1–3

IN the year 1866, I discovered the Christ Science or divine laws of Life, Truth, and Love, and named my discovery Christian Science. 

SH 495:25–28

Question. — How can I progress most rapidly in the understanding of Christian Science? 
Answer. — Study thoroughly the letter and imbibe the spirit. 

SH 456:25–27 (to .)

A Christian Scientist requires my work Science and Health for his textbook, and so do all his students and patients. 

SH 147:14–20

Although this volume contains the complete Science of Mind-healing, never believe that you can absorb the whole meaning of the Science by a simple perusal of this book. The book needs to be studied, and the demonstration of the rules of scientific healing will plant you firmly on the spiritual groundwork of Christian Science. 

SH 496:5, 9–12 Ask

You will learn that in Christian Science the first duty is to obey God, to have one Mind, and to love another as yourself.  ... Ask yourself: Am I living the life that approaches the supreme good? Am I demonstrating the healing power of Truth and Love? 

SH 459:31

The Christian Scientist should understand and adhere strictly to the rules of divine metaphysics as laid down in this work, and rest his demonstration on this sure basis. 

SH 457:19–22, 28–30; 458:25 The

Christian Science is not an exception to the general rule, that there is no excellence without labor in a direct line. One cannot scatter his fire, and at the same time hit the mark. ... The Scientist’s demonstration rests on one Principle, and there must and can be no opposite rule. .... The Christian Scientist wisely shapes his course, and is honest and consistent in following the leadings of divine Mind. He must prove, through living as well as healing and teaching, that Christ’s way is the only one by which mortals are radically saved from sin and sickness. 

SH 15:18–20

We must resolve to take up the cross, and go forth with honest hearts to work and watch for wisdom, Truth, and Love. 

SH 326:16

The purpose and motive to live aright can be gained now. This point won, you have started as you should. You have begun at the numeration-table of Christian Science, and nothing but wrong intention can hinder your advancement. Working and praying with true motives, your Father will open the way. “Who did hinder you, that ye should not obey the truth?” 

SH 239:16

To ascertain our progress, we must learn where our affections are placed and whom we acknowledge and obey as God. If divine Love is becoming nearer, dearer, and more real to us, matter is then submitting to Spirit. The objects we pursue and the spirit we manifest reveal our standpoint, and show what we are winning. 

SH 21:25–27, 30–1 satisfied (to ,); 22:3–4 (to ,), 5 our

Being in sympathy with matter, the worldly man is at the beck and call of error, and will be attracted thitherward. ... satisfied if he can only imagine himself drifting in the right direction. By-and-by, ashamed of his zigzag course, he would borrow the passport of some wiser pilgrim, ...

Vibrating like a pendulum between sin and the hope of forgiveness, ... our moral progress will be slow. Waking to Christ’s demand, mortals experience suffering. This causes them, even as drowning men, to make vigorous efforts to save themselves; and through Christ’s precious love these efforts are crowned with success. 

SH 22:11–13, 14 and, 23–27

“Work out your own salvation,” is the demand of Life and Love, for to this end God worketh with you. “Occupy till I come!” ... and “be not weary in well doing.” If your endeavors are beset by fearful odds, and you receive no present reward, go not back to error, nor become a sluggard in the race. ...
Final deliverance from error, whereby we rejoice in immortality, boundless freedom, and sinless sense, is not reached through paths of flowers nor by pinning one’s faith without works to another’s vicarious effort. 

SH 483:30–32

One must fulfil one’s mission without timidity or dissimulation, for to be well done, the work must be done unselfishly. 

SH 21:6–14

Christians do not continue to labor and pray, expecting because of another’s goodness, suffering, and triumph, that they shall reach his harmony and reward. 
If the disciple is advancing spiritually, he is striving to enter in. He constantly turns away from material sense, and looks towards the imperishable things of Spirit. If honest, he will be in earnest from the start, and gain a little each day in the right direction, till at last he finishes his course with joy. 

SH 95:31–32 spiritual

... spiritual sense lifts human consciousness into eternal Truth. 

SH 349:18–21

The elucidation of Christian Science lies in its spiritual sense, and this sense must be gained by its disciples in order to grasp the meaning of this Science. 

SH 496:15

Hold perpetually this thought, — that it is the spiritual idea, the Holy Ghost and Christ, which enables you to demonstrate, with scientific certainty, the rule of healing, based upon its divine Principle, Love, underlying, overlying, and encompassing all true being. 

SH 259:11

The Christlike understanding of scientific being and divine healing includes a perfect Principle and idea, — perfect God and perfect man, — as the basis of thought and demonstration. 

SH 253:32–6; 254:10, 19 the

The divine demand, “Be ye therefore perfect,” is scientific, and the human footsteps leading to perfection are indispensable. Individuals are consistent who, watching and praying, can “run, and not be weary; . . . walk, and not faint,” who gain good rapidly and hold their position, or attain slowly and yield not to discouragement. ... When we wait patiently on God and seek Truth righteously, He directs our path. Imperfect mortals grasp the ultimate of spiritual perfection slowly; but to begin aright and to continue the strife of demonstrating the great problem of being, is doing much. ... the human self must be evangelized. This task God demands us to accept lovingly to-day, and to abandon so fast as practical the material, and to work out the spiritual which determines the outward and actual. 

SH 178:32

Whoever reaches the understanding of Christian Science in its proper signification will perform the sudden cures of which it is capable; but this can be done only by taking up the cross and following Christ in the daily life. 

SH 33:18; 34:13

When the human element in him struggled with the divine, our great Teacher said: “Not my will, but Thine, be done!” — that is, Let not the flesh, but the Spirit, be represented in me. This is the new understanding of spiritual Love. It gives all for Christ, or Truth. It blesses its enemies, heals the sick, casts out error, raises the dead from trespasses and sins, and preaches the gospel to the poor, the meek in heart. ... If all who seek his commemoration through material symbols will take up the cross, heal the sick, cast out evils, and preach Christ, or Truth, to the poor, — the receptive thought, — they will bring in the millennium. 

Hymn. 183

Make haste, O man, to do / Whatever must be done; / Thou hast no time to lose in sloth, / When all to Truth must come. 

The useful and the great, / The thing that never dies, / The silent toil that is not lost,— / Set these before thine eyes. 

Up, face the task and work; / Fling ease and self away; / This is no time for thee to sleep; / Up, watch, and work, and pray. 

Words: Horatius Bonar, adapted

Music: Mason and Webb’s Cantica Laudis, 1850

Hymn. 325

Take up thy cross, the Saviour said, / If thou wouldst my disciple be; / Thyself deny, the world forsake, / And humbly follow after me. 

Take up thy cross, nor heed the shame; / Let not thy foolish pride rebel; / Thy Lord for thee the cross endured, / He conquered sin, and death, and hell. 

Take up thy cross, in God’s own strength, / Calmly all fear and danger brave; / So shalt thou find immortal Life / Giveth thee victory o’er the grave. 

Words: Charles W. Everest, adapted

Music: John Hatton

Hymn. 256

O’er waiting harpstrings of the mind / There sweeps a strain, / Low, sad, and sweet, whose measures bind / The power of pain, 

And wake a white-winged angel throng / Of thoughts, illumed / By faith, and breathed in raptured song, / With love perfumed. 

Then His unveiled, sweet mercies show / Life’s burdens light. / I kiss the cross, and wake to know / A world more bright. 

And o’er earth’s troubled, angry sea / I see Christ walk, / And come to me, and tenderly, / Divinely talk. 

Thus Truth engrounds me on the rock, / Upon Life’s shore, / ’Gainst which the winds and waves can shock, / Oh, nevermore! 

From tired joy and grief afar, / And nearer Thee,— / Father, where Thine own children are, / I love to be. 

My prayer, some daily good to do / To Thine, for Thee; / An offering pure of Love, whereto / God leadeth me. 

Words: Mary Baker Eddy

Music: Basil Harwood

Handling Unbelief

Wednesday Bible Readings

Sep 3rd, 2025

From The Bible

I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore.
(Psalms 86:12)

The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. And he spake many things unto them in parables, ...
(Matthew 13:1–3 (to 1st ,))

And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. ...

For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
(Matthew 13:10, 11, 15, 16)

¶ Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
(Matthew 13:24–30)

Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; ...

Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
(Matthew 13:36–41, 43)

¶ Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. ...

Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord. ...

... ¶ And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence. And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house. And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
(Matthew 13:44, 51, 53–58)

¶ And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatic, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me. And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
(Matthew 17:14–21)

And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. ...

And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: ...

But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you. ...

And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not. ¶ After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country. And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them. ¶ Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. ...

And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. ¶ So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
(Mark 16:1, 2, 5, 6 (to 3rd :), 7, 10–15, 17–20)

SCIENCE AND HEALTH

Jesus taught the way of Life by demonstration, that we may understand how this divine Principle heals the sick, casts out error, and triumphs over death. Jesus presented the ideal of God better than could any man whose origin was less spiritual. By his obedience to God, he demonstrated more spiritually than all others the Principle of being. Hence the force of his admonition, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” ...

... Implicit faith in the Teacher and all the emotional love we can bestow on him, will never alone make us imitators of him. We must go and do likewise, ...
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 25:13, 26–29 (to ,))

In Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English, faith and the words corresponding thereto have these two definitions, trustfulness and trustworthiness. One kind of faith trusts one’s welfare to others. Another kind of faith understands divine Love and how to work out one’s “own salvation, with fear and trembling.” “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief!” expresses the helplessness of a blind faith; whereas the injunction, “Believe . . . and thou shalt be saved!” demands self-reliant trustworthiness, which includes spiritual understanding and confides all to God.

The Hebrew verb to believe means also to be firm or to be constant. This certainly applies to Truth and Love understood and practised. Firmness in error will never save from sin, disease, and death.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 23:21–3)

Denial of the possibility of Christian healing robs Christianity of the very element, which gave it divine force and its astonishing and unequalled success in the first century.

The true Logos is demonstrably Christian Science, the natural law of harmony which overcomes discord, ... because it is the immutable law of God, good.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 134:17–22 (to ,), 25–26 because)

The action of so-called mortal mind must be destroyed by the divine Mind to bring out the harmony of being. Without divine control there is discord, manifest as sin, sickness, and death.

The Scriptures plainly declare the baneful influence of sinful thought on the body. Even our Master felt this. It is recorded that in certain localities he did not many mighty works “because of their unbelief” in Truth. Any human error is its own enemy, and works against itself; it does nothing in the right direction and much in the wrong. If so-called mind is cherishing evil passions and malicious purposes, it is not a healer, but it engenders disease and death.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 400:26–6)

There is a large class of thinkers whose bigotry and conceit twist every fact to suit themselves. Their creed teaches belief in a mysterious, supernatural God, and in a natural, all-powerful devil. Another class, still more unfortunate, are so depraved that they appear to be innocent. They utter a falsehood, while looking you blandly in the face, and they never fail to stab their benefactor in the back. A third class of thinkers build with solid masonry. They are sincere, generous, noble, and are therefore open to the approach and recognition of Truth. To teach Christian Science to such as these is no task. They do not incline longingly to error, whine over the demands of Truth, nor play the traitor for place and power.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 450:1)

Some people yield slowly to the touch of Truth. Few yield without a struggle, and many are reluctant to acknowledge that they have yielded; but unless this admission is made, evil will boast itself above good. The Christian Scientist has enlisted to lessen evil, disease, and death; and he will overcome them by understanding their nothingness and the allness of God, or good. Sickness to him is no less a temptation than is sin, and he heals them both by understanding God’s power over them. The Christian Scientist knows that they are errors of belief, which Truth can and will destroy.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 450:15)

Mind produces all action. If the action proceeds from Truth, from immortal Mind, there is harmony; but mortal mind is liable to any phase of belief. ... Never fear the mental malpractitioner, the mental assassin, who, in attempting to rule mankind, tramples upon the divine Principle of metaphysics, for God is the only power. To succeed in healing, you must conquer your own fears as well as those of your patients, and rise into higher and holier consciousness.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 419:20–22, 25)

Insist vehemently on the great fact which covers the whole ground, that God, Spirit, is all, and that there is none beside Him. There is no disease. When the supposed suffering is gone from mortal mind, there can be no pain; and when the fear is destroyed, the inflammation will subside.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 421:15–21)

Christian Science brings to light Truth and its supremacy, universal harmony, the entireness of God, good, and the nothingness of evil.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 293:28)

The Scripture, “Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many,” is literally fulfilled, when we are conscious of the supremacy of Truth, by which the nothingness of error is seen; and we know that the nothingness of error is in proportion to its wickedness. He that touches the hem of Christ’s robe and masters his mortal beliefs, animality, and hate, rejoices in the proof of healing, — in a sweet and certain sense that God is Love.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 569:6–14)

HYMNS

Christ, whose glory fills the skies, / Christ, the true, the perfect Light, / Sun of righteousness, arise, / Triumph o’er the shades of night; / Dayspring from on high, be near, / Daystar, in my heart appear.

Dark and cheerless is the morn / Uncompanioned, Lord, by thee; / Joyless is the day’s return, / Till thy mercy’s beams I see; / Till they inward light impart, / Glad my eyes, and warm my heart.

Visit then this soul of mine, / Pierce the gloom of sin and grief; / Fill me, radiancy divine, / Scatter all my unbelief; / More and more thyself display, / Shining to the perfect day.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 35)

O’er waiting harpstrings of the mind / There sweeps a strain, / Low, sad, and sweet, whose measures bind / The power of pain,

And wake a white-winged angel throng / Of thoughts, illumed / By faith, and breathed in raptured song, / With love perfumed.

Then His unveiled, sweet mercies show / Life’s burdens light. / I kiss the cross, and wake to know / A world more bright.

And o’er earth’s troubled, angry sea / I see Christ walk, / And come to me, and tenderly, / Divinely talk.

Thus Truth engrounds me on the rock, / Upon Life’s shore, / ’Gainst which the winds and waves can shock, / Oh, nevermore!

From tired joy and grief afar, / And nearer Thee,— / Father, where Thine own children are, / I love to be.

My prayer, some daily good to do / To Thine, for Thee; / An offering pure of Love, whereto / God leadeth me.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 256, words by Mary Baker Eddy)

Ye timid saints, fresh courage take, / The clouds ye so much dread / Are big with mercy, and will break / In blessings on your head.

His mighty purpose ripens fast, / Unfolding every hour; / The bud may have a bitter taste, / But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err, / And scan His work in vain; / God is His own interpreter, / And He will make it plain.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 399)

A place by me

Wednesday Bible Readings

June 18th, 2025

From The Bible

Is not the LORD your God with you? and hath he not given you rest on every side? ...
Now set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God; ...
(I Chronicles 22:18 (to 2nd ?), 19 (to ;))

If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward him; ...
... then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; yea, thou shalt be stedfast, and shalt not fear: ...
And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; yea, thou shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy rest in safety. Also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid; ...
(Job 11:13, 15 then, 18, 19 (to ;))

Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
(Psalms 55:22)

Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, Saying, ...
(Matthew 23:1, 2 (to ,))

¶ Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
(Matthew 11:28–30)

¶ Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
(Luke 10:38–42)

Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. ...
Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was. Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judæa again. ...
... and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. ...
Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. ...
Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already. ...
Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house. Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee. As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him. ...
Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. ...
Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. ...
Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
(John 11:1, 3–7, 11 and, 12, 14, 17, 20–29, 32–35, 38, 39 (to 1st .), 41–44)

For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. ...
Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
(II Corinthians 4:6, 14–18)

There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
(Hebrews 4:9)

SCIENCE AND HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES by MARY BAKER EDDY

God never punishes man for doing right, for honest labor, or for deeds of kindness, though they expose him to fatigue, cold, heat, contagion. If man seems to incur the penalty through matter, this is but a belief of mortal mind, not an enactment of wisdom, and man has only to enter his protest against this belief in order to annul it. Through this action of thought and its results upon the body, the student will prove to himself, by small beginnings, the grand verities of Christian Science.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 384:6)

By adhering to the realities of eternal existence, — instead of reading disquisitions on the inconsistent supposition that death comes in obedience to the law of life, and that God punishes man for doing good, — one cannot suffer as the result of any labor of love, but grows stronger because of it.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 387:19–24)

In patient obedience to a patient God, let us labor to dissolve with the universal solvent of Love the adamant of error, — self-will, self-justification, and self-love, — which wars against spirituality and is the law of sin and death.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 242:15–20 In)

When the final physical and moral effects of Christian Science are fully apprehended, the conflict between truth and error, understanding and belief, Science and material sense, foreshadowed by the prophets and inaugurated by Jesus, will cease, and spiritual harmony reign. The lightnings and thunderbolts of error may burst and flash till the cloud is cleared and the tumult dies away in the distance. Then the raindrops of divinity refresh the earth. As St. Paul says: “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God” (of Spirit).
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 288:10)

Material belief is slow to acknowledge what the spiritual fact implies. The truth is the centre of all religion. It commands sure entrance into the realm of Love.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 20:24–27)

If it is true that man lives, this fact can never change in Science to the opposite belief that man dies. Life is the law of Soul, even the law of the spirit of Truth, and Soul is never without its representative. Man’s individual being can no more die nor disappear in unconsciousness than can Soul, for both are immortal.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 427:1–7)

Jesus said of Lazarus: “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.” Jesus restored Lazarus by the understanding that Lazarus had never died, not by an admission that his body had died and then lived again. Had Jesus believed that Lazarus had lived or died in his body, the Master would have stood on the same plane of belief as those who buried the body, and he could not have resuscitated it.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 75:12)

If Jesus awakened Lazarus from the dream, illusion, of death, this proved that the Christ could improve on a false sense. Who dares to doubt this consummate test of the power and willingness of divine Mind to hold man forever intact in his perfect state, and to govern man’s entire action? Jesus said: “Destroy this temple [body], and in three days I [Mind] will raise it up;” and he did this for tired humanity’s reassurance.

Is it not a species of infidelity to believe that so great a work as the Messiah’s was done for himself or for God, who needed no help from Jesus’ example to preserve the eternal harmony? But mortals did need this help, and Jesus pointed the way for them. Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need. It is not well to imagine that Jesus demonstrated the divine power to heal only for a select number or for a limited period of time, since to all mankind and in every hour, divine Love supplies all good.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 493:28–14)

Denial of the possibility of Christian healing robs Christianity of the very element, which gave it divine force and its astonishing and unequalled success in the first century.

The true Logos is demonstrably Christian Science, the natural law of harmony which overcomes discord, — not because this Science is supernatural or preternatural, nor because it is an infraction of divine law, but because it is the immutable law of God, good. Jesus said: “I knew that Thou hearest me always;” and he raised Lazarus from the dead, stilled the tempest, healed the sick, walked on the water. There is divine authority for believing in the superiority of spiritual power over material resistance.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 134:17–30)

The crude creations of mortal thought must finally give place to the glorious forms which we sometimes behold in the camera of divine Mind, when the mental picture is spiritual and eternal. Mortals must look beyond fading, finite forms, if they would gain the true sense of things. Where shall the gaze rest but in the unsearchable realm of Mind?
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 264:3–10)

Jesus cast out evil spirits, or false beliefs. ... by the one Spirit. He said: “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” He never described disease, so far as can be learned from the Gospels, but he healed disease.

The unscientific practitioner says: “You are ill. Your brain is overtaxed, and you must rest. Your body is weak, and it must be strengthened. You have nervous prostration, and must be treated for it.” Science objects to all this, contending for the rights of intelligence and asserting that Mind controls body and brain.

Mind-science teaches that mortals need “not be weary in well doing.” It dissipates fatigue in doing good. Giving does not impoverish us in the service of our Maker, neither does withholding enrich us. We have strength in proportion to our apprehension of the truth, and our strength is not lessened by giving utterance to truth.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 79:17 (only), 19–3 by)

When we reach our limits of mental endurance, we conclude that intellectual labor has been carried sufficiently far; but when we realize that immortal Mind is ever active, and that spiritual energies can neither wear out nor can so-called material law trespass upon God-given powers and resources, we are able to rest in Truth, refreshed by the assurances of immortality, opposed to mortality.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 387:5)

In Christian Science there is never a retrograde step, never a return to positions outgrown.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 74:29–30)

Christian Science hynals

God is our refuge and defense,
In trouble our unfailing aid;
Secure in His omnipotence,
What foe can make our heart afraid?

There is a river pure and bright,
Whose streams make glad the heavenly plains;
Where, in eternity of light,
The city of our God remains.

Built by the word of His command,
With His unclouded presence blest,
Firm as His throne the bulwarks stand;
There is our home, our hope, our rest.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 80)

O gentle presence, peace and joy and power;
O Life divine, that owns each waiting hour,
Thou Love that guards the nestling’s faltering flight!
Keep Thou my child on upward wing tonight.

Love is our refuge; only with mine eye
Can I behold the snare, the pit, the fall:
His habitation high is here, and nigh,
His arm encircles me, and mine, and all.

O make me glad for every scalding tear,
For hope deferred, ingratitude, disdain!
Wait, and love more for every hate, and fear
No ill,—since God is good, and loss is gain.

Beneath the shadow of His mighty wing;
In that sweet secret of the narrow way,
Seeking and finding, with the angels sing:
“Lo, I am with you alway,”—watch and pray.

No snare, no fowler, pestilence or pain;
No night drops down upon the troubled breast,
When heaven’s aftersmile earth’s tear-drops gain,
And mother finds her home and heav’nly rest.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 208)

How gentle God’s commands,
How kind His precepts are;
Come, cast your burdens on the Lord,
And trust His constant care.

Beneath His watchful eye
His saints securely dwell;
That hand which bears creation up
Shall guard His children well.

His goodness stands approved,
Unchanged from day to day:
I drop my burden at His feet,
And bear a song away.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 124)

Obedience

Wednesday Bible Readings

august 13th, 2025

From The Bible

Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
(Romans 6:16)

... the spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded: And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, ... The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you. ...And when Asa heard these words, ... they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul; ...... and the LORD gave them rest round about. ...In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, ...Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of the LORD and of the king’s house, and sent to Ben–hadad king of Syria, ... saying, ... behold, I have sent thee silver and gold; go, break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me. … And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the LORD thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand. ...And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, ... yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians. ¶ And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign.
(II Chronicles 15:1 the, 2 (to 4th ,), 2 The, 8 (to 1st ,), 12 they, 15 4th and; 16:1 (to 1st ,), 2 (to 2nd ,), 2 saying, 3 behold, 7, 12 (to 1st ,), 12 yet, 13)

A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.
(James 1:8)

The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. ..... ¶ No man can serve two masters: ... Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
(Matthew 6:22, 23 (to .), 24 (to :), 24 Ye)

¶ Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them. .... and cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ language, ... saying, .... Let not Hezekiah deceive you: ...Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us, ...And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, ... thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; ...Now therefore, O LORD our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, ...In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. ...... and prayed unto the LORD, saying, I beseech thee, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. And it came to pass, ... that the word of the LORD came to him, saying, ... I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: ...... and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; ...
(II Kings 18:13, 28 and (to 1st ,), 28 saying (to 3rd ,), 29 Let (to 1st :), 30 (to 3rd ,); 19:15 (to 3rd ,), 15 thou (to ;), 19 (to 4th ,); 20:1 (to 1st .), 2–4 and (to 1st ,), 4 that, 5 I (to 2nd :), 6 2nd and (to 2nd ;))

Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. ...
(James 4:8 (to 1st .))

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. ...And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, ...... Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; ...After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, ...... Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
(Matthew 4:23; 5:2, 44 Love; 6:9 (to ,), 10 2nd Thy)

... Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
(Luke 10:27 Thou)

And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples, Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified. ...Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: … Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. ...... ¶ And while he yet spake, .... they that had laid hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, ...... ¶ Now Peter sat without in the palace: and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee. But he denied before them all, ...Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.
(Matthew 26:1, 2, 31 (to :), 33, 34, 47 (to 1st ,), 57 they (to ,), 69, 70 (to 1st ,), 74, 75)

... I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. ...O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. ...
(Romans 7:18–20 I, 24, 25 (to 1st .))

Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children, ...Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
(I Peter 1:13, 14 (to ,), 22)

... All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient.
(Exodus 24:7 All)

Who is it that demands our obedience? He who, in the language of Scripture, “doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?”
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 256:19)

The only guarantee of obedience is a right apprehension of Him whom to know aright is Life eternal.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. vii:18–20)

... God is what the Scriptures declare Him to be, — Life, Truth, Love. Spirit is divine Principle, and divine Principle is Love, and Love is Mind, and Mind is not both good and bad, for God is Mind; therefore there is in reality one Mind only, because there is one God. ... The notion that both evil and good are real is a delusion of material sense, which Science annihilates. Evil is nothing, no thing, mind, nor power.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 330:19 God, 25–27 The)

Divine Mind rightly demands man’s entire obedience, affection, and strength. ... Obedience to Truth gives man power and strength. Submission to error superinduces loss of power.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 183:21–22, 23)

Carnal beliefs defraud us. They make man an involuntary hypocrite, — producing evil when he would create good, forming deformity when he would outline grace and beauty, injuring those whom he would bless. ... He might say in Bible language: “The good that I would, I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.”
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 263:11–14, 17)

We cannot serve both God and mammon at the same time; but is not this what frail mortals are trying to do?
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 346:30–32)

If the student goes away to practise Truth’s teachings only in part, dividing his interests between God and mammon and substituting his own views for Truth, he will inevitably reap the error he sows.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 462:9–12)

The law of Christ, or Truth, makes all things possible to Spirit; but the so-called laws of matter would render Spirit of no avail, and demand obedience to materialistic codes, thus departing from the basis of one God, one lawmaker.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 182:32–4)

Obedience to material law prevents full obedience to spiritual law, — the law which overcomes material conditions and puts matter under the feet of Mind.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 182:19–22)

Truth, Life, and Love are the only legitimate and eternal demands on man, and they are spiritual lawgivers, enforcing obedience through divine statutes.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 184:12)

Do not believe in any supposed necessity for sin, disease, or death, knowing (as you ought to know) that God never requires obedience to a so-called material law, for no such law exists.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 253:25–28)

Christ Jesus overruled the error which would impose penalties for transgressions of the physical laws of health; he annulled supposed laws of matter, opposed to the harmonies of Spirit, lacking divine authority and having only human approval for their sanction.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 381:31)

Jesus walked on the waves, fed the multitude, healed the sick, and raised the dead in direct opposition to material laws. His acts were the demonstration of Science, overcoming the false claims of material sense or law.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 273:24)

Jesus taught the way of Life by demonstration, that we may understand how this divine Principle heals the sick, casts out error, and triumphs over death. ... By his obedience to God, he demonstrated more spiritually than all others the Principle of being. Hence the force of his admonition, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 25:13–16, 17)

Dost thou “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind”? This command includes much, even the surrender of all merely material sensation, affection, and worship. ... It involves the Science of Life, and recognizes only the divine control of Spirit, in which Soul is our master, and material sense and human will have no place.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 9:17–21 (to 1st .), 22)

Divine Science derives its sanction from the Bible, and the divine origin of Science is demonstrated through the holy influence of Truth in healing sickness and sin. This healing power of Truth must have been far anterior to the period in which Jesus lived. It is as ancient as “the Ancient of days.” It lives through all Life, and extends throughout all space.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 146:23)

The only way to this living Truth, which heals the sick, is found in the Science of divine Mind as taught and demonstrated by Christ Jesus.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 180:27)

The effect of this Science is to stir the human mind to a change of base, on which it may yield to the harmony of the divine Mind.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 162:9)

Only through radical reliance on Truth can scientific healing power be realized.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 167:30)

We are Christian Scientists, only as we quit our reliance upon that which is false and grasp the true.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 192:4–5)

You will learn that in Christian Science the first duty is to obey God, to have one Mind, and to love another as yourself.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 496:5)

The scientific unity which exists between God and man must be wrought out in life-practice, and God’s will must be universally done.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 202:3)

Our Father which art in heaven,… Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 16:26 (only); 17:1 (only))

In speechless prayer and reverence, / Dear Lord, I come to Thee; / My heart with love Thou fillest, / Yea, with humility. / My bread and wine Thou art, / With Thee I hold communion; / Thy presence healeth me.

To do Thy will is greater / Than sacrifice can be; / O give me needed courage / Sweet with sincerity. / From earthly thought released, / In speechless prayer and reverence, / Dear Lord, I come to Thee.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 151)

Day by day the manna fell: / O, to learn this lesson well. / Still by constant mercy fed, / Give me, Lord, my daily bread.

Day by day the promise reads, / Daily strength for daily needs: / Cast foreboding fears away; / Take the manna of today.

Lord, my times are in Thy hand: / All my sanguine hopes have planned, / To Thy wisdom I resign, / And would mold my will to Thine.

Thou my daily task shalt give; / Day by day to Thee I live; / So shall added years fulfill / Not my own, my Father’s will.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 46)

My God, my Father, make me strong, / When tasks of life seem hard and long, / To greet them with this triumph song, / Thy will be done.

With confident and humble mind, / My joy in service I would find, / My prayer through every task assigned, / Thy will be done.

Things deemed impossible I dare, / Thine is the call and Thine the care, / Thy wisdom shall the way prepare; / Thy will be done.

Heaven’s music chimes the glad days in, / Hope soars beyond death, pain and sin, / Faith sings in triumph, Love doth win; / Thy will is done.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 190)

Forgiveness

Wednesday Bible Readings

august 6th, 2025

From The Bible

.. O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee: ...

Hearken therefore unto the supplications of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, which they shall make toward this place: hear thou from thy dwelling place, even from heaven; and when thou hearest, forgive.
(II Chronicles 6:19 O, 21)

For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.
(Psalms 86:5)

¶ And when Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him. And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him. And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants. And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.
(Genesis 50:15–21)

And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:34)

Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
(John 8:1–11)

¶ And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat. And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner. And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. ...

... Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.
(Luke 7:36–48, 50 Thy)

But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners? And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
(Luke 5:30–32)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: ...

In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
(Ephesians 1:3, 7)

... put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. ...

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
(Ephesians 4:24 put, 32)

SCIENCE AND HEALTH

I first heard of Christian Science four years ago. At that time drinking and smoking were my comforters. I had no other companionship. I had lived almost constantly from childhood in an evil atmosphere. Though I was far from being satisfied with my condition, I failed to see how to better it until I read Science and Health. ... When I began to read Science and Health, I saw it offered something substantial. After a few months’ study all desire for drinking and smoking disappeared. I did not give them up; I made no sacrifices, I simply found something better. ...

During my four years’ study of Christian Science I have not spent a cent for doctors or medicine, neither have I lost a day from my work on account of sickness, ...

... I also wish to acknowledge the benefit I have had from the Journal and the Sentinel. They have helped me wonderfully. ... It would be impossible to measure their value, as I have got something from Science and Health that all the money in the world could not buy. — H. P. H., Chicago, Ill.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 693:11–16, 20–25, 30–2 (to ,); 694:11–13 (to 2nd .), 17)

To-day the healing power of Truth is widely demonstrated as an immanent, eternal Science, instead of a phenomenal exhibition. Its appearing is the coming anew of the gospel of “on earth peace, good-will toward men.” This coming, as was promised by the Master, is for its establishment as a permanent dispensation among men; but the mission of Christian Science now, as in the time of its earlier demonstration, is not primarily one of physical healing. Now, as then, signs and wonders are wrought in the metaphysical healing of physical disease; but these signs are only to demonstrate its divine origin, — to attest the reality of the higher mission of the Christ-power to take away the sins of the world.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 150:4)

Jesus’ prayer, “Forgive us our debts,” specified also the terms of forgiveness. When forgiving the adulterous woman he said, “Go, and sin no more.”
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 11:1 Jesus')

Only as we rise above all material sensuousness and sin, can we reach the heaven-born aspiration and spiritual consciousness, which is indicated in the Lord’s Prayer and which instantaneously heals the sick.

Here let me give what I understand to be the spiritual sense of the Lord’s Prayer:
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 16:20–25)

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And Love is reflected in love;

(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 17:6)

The spiritual man’s consciousness and individuality are reflections of God. They are the emanations of Him who is Life, Truth, and Love. Immortal man is not and never was material, but always spiritual and eternal.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 336:14)

It is related in the seventh chapter of Luke’s Gospel that Jesus was once the honored guest of a certain Pharisee, by name Simon, though he was quite unlike Simon the disciple. While they were at meat, an unusual incident occurred, as if to interrupt the scene of Oriental festivity. A “strange woman” came in. ... this woman (Mary Magdalene, as she has since been called) approached Jesus. ... She bore an alabaster jar containing costly and fragrant oil, — sandal oil perhaps, which is in such common use in the East. Breaking the sealed jar, she perfumed Jesus’ feet with the oil, wiping them with her long hair, ...
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 362:1–7, 11–12 this; 363:1–5 (to ,))

Did Jesus spurn the woman? Did he repel her adoration? No! He regarded her compassionately. Nor was this all. Knowing what those around him were saying in their hearts, especially his host, — that they were wondering why, being a prophet, the exalted guest did not at once detect the woman’s immoral status and bid her depart, — knowing this, Jesus rebuked them with a short story or parable. He described two debtors, one for a large sum and one for a smaller, who were released from their obligations by their common creditor. “Which of them will love him most?” was the Master’s question to Simon the Pharisee; and Simon replied, “He to whom he forgave most.” Jesus approved the answer, and so brought home the lesson to all, following it with that remarkable declaration to the woman, “Thy sins are forgiven.”

Why did he thus summarize her debt to divine Love? Had she repented and reformed, and did his insight detect this unspoken moral uprising? She bathed his feet with her tears before she anointed them with the oil. In the absence of other proofs, was her grief sufficient evidence to warrant the expectation of her repentance, reformation, and growth in wisdom? Certainly there was encouragement in the mere fact that she was showing her affection for a man of undoubted goodness and purity, who has since been rightfully regarded as the best man that ever trod this planet. Her reverence was unfeigned, and it was manifested towards one who was soon, though they knew it not, to lay down his mortal existence in behalf of all sinners, that through his word and works they might be redeemed from sensuality and sin.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 363:8–7)

Which was the higher tribute to such ineffable affection, the hospitality of the Pharisee or the contrition of the Magdalen? This query Jesus answered by rebuking self-righteousness and declaring the absolution of the penitent. ...

Here is suggested a solemn question, a question indicated by one of the needs of this age. Do Christian Scientists ...

... show their regard for Truth, or Christ, by their genuine repentance, by their broken hearts, expressed by meekness and human affection, as did this woman? If so, then it may be said of them, as Jesus said of the unwelcome visitor, that they indeed love much, because much is forgiven them.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 364:8–12, 16–18 (to Scientists), 25 show)

If the Scientist has enough Christly affection to win his own pardon, and such commendation as the Magdalen gained from Jesus, then he is Christian enough to practise scientifically and deal with his patients compassionately; and the result will correspond with the spiritual intent.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 365:19)

Divine Science adjusts the balance as Jesus adjusted it. Science removes the penalty only by first removing the sin which incurs the penalty. This is my sense of divine pardon, which I understand to mean God’s method of destroying sin.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 40:8–12)

HYMNS

Dear Lord and Father of us all, / Forgive our foolish ways; / Reclothe us in our rightful mind; / In purer lives Thy service find, / In deeper reverence, praise.

In simple trust like theirs who heard, / Beside the Syrian sea, / The gracious calling of the Lord, / Let us, like them, without a word / Rise up and follow thee.

Breathe through the pulses of desire / Thy coolness and Thy balm; / Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire; / Speak through the earthquake, wind and fire, / O still small voice of calm.

Drop Thy still dews of quietness, / Till all our strivings cease; / Take from us now the strain and stress, / And let our ordered lives confess / The beauty of Thy peace.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 50)

Shepherd, show me how to go / O’er the hillside steep, / How to gather, how to sow,— / How to feed Thy sheep; / I will listen for Thy voice, / Lest my footsteps stray; / I will follow and rejoice / All the rugged way.

Thou wilt bind the stubborn will, / Wound the callous breast, / Make self-righteousness be still, / Break earth’s stupid rest. / Strangers on a barren shore, / Lab’ring long and lone, / We would enter by the door, / And Thou know’st Thine own;

So, when day grows dark and cold, / Tear or triumph harms, / Lead Thy lambkins to the fold, / Take them in Thine arms; / Feed the hungry, heal the heart, / Till the morning’s beam; / White as wool, ere they depart, / Shepherd, wash them clean.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 574)

Praise, my soul, the King of heaven; / To His feet thy tribute bring. / Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven, / Who like us His praise should sing? / Praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, / Praise the everlasting King.

Fatherlike, He tends and spares us, / Well our daily needs He knows; / In His hand He gently bears us, / Rescues us from all our foes. / Praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, / Widely as His mercy flows.

Praise Him for His grace and favor / To our fathers in distress; / Praise Him still the same forever, / Slow to chide, and swift to bless. / Praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, / Glorious in His faithfulness.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 280)

There Shall No Evil Befall Thee

Wednesday Bible Readings

JULY 31ST, 2025

From The Bible

Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, ...
(Psalms 91:9, 10 (to ,))

And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God: For he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places, and brake down the images, and cut down the groves: And commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment. ...

And Asa had an army of men that bare targets and spears, out of Judah three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that bare shields and drew bows, two hundred and fourscore thousand: all these were mighty men of valour. ¶ And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; ...

And Asa cried unto the LORD his God, and said, LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O LORD our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O LORD, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee. So the LORD smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. ...

Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law. But when they in their trouble did turn unto the LORD God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.
(II Chronicles 14:2–4, 8, 9 (to ;), 11, 12; 15:3, 4)

But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head. I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah. ...

I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about.
(Psalms 3:3, 4, 6)

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. ...

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
(Psalms 23:4, 6)

¶ And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. ...

... ¶ And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. ...

And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. But he passing through the midst of them went his way, And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days. And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power. ¶ And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not. And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out.
(Luke 4:14, 16–21, 28–36)

¶ Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. ...

Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
(Matthew 15:21–23 (to 1st .), 25–28)

Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. ...

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, ...
(Hebrews 4:14, 16 (to 2nd ,))

¶ Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. ...

For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.
(Isaiah 41:10, 11, 13)

SCIENCE AND HEALTH

The universe, like man, is to be interpreted by Science from its divine Principle, God, and then it can be understood; but when explained on the basis of physical sense and represented as subject to growth, maturity, and decay, the universe, like man, is, and must continue to be, an enigma.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 124:14)

Spirit imparts the understanding which uplifts consciousness and leads into all truth. ... Spiritual sense is the discernment of spiritual good. Understanding is the line of demarcation between the real and unreal. Spiritual understanding unfolds Mind, — Life, Truth, and Love, — and demonstrates the divine sense, giving the spiritual proof of the universe in Christian Science. 

This understanding is not intellectual, is not the result of scholarly attainments; it is the reality of all things brought to light.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 505:16–17, 20–28)

... The Scriptures imply that God is All-in-all. From this it follows that nothing possesses reality nor existence except the divine Mind and His ideas. The Scriptures also declare that God is Spirit. Therefore in Spirit all is harmony, and there can be no discord; all is Life, and there is no death. Everything in God’s universe expresses Him.

... God is individual, incorporeal. He is divine Principle, Love, the universal cause, the only creator, and there is no other self-existence. He is all-inclusive, and is reflected by all that is real and eternal and by nothing else. He fills all space, and it is impossible to conceive of such omnipresence and individuality except as infinite Spirit or Mind. Hence all is Spirit and spiritual.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 331:11 The, 18 God)

When infringing some supposed law, you say that there is danger. This fear is the danger and induces the physical effects. We cannot in reality suffer from breaking anything except a moral or spiritual law. The so-called laws of mortal belief are destroyed by the understanding that Soul is immortal, and that mortal mind cannot legislate the times, periods, and types of disease, with which mortals die. God is the lawmaker, but He is not the author of barbarous codes. In infinite Life and Love there is no sickness, sin, nor death, and the Scriptures declare that we live, move, and have our being in the infinite God.

Think less of the enactments of mortal mind, and you will sooner grasp man’s God-given dominion.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 381:8–21)

The “still, small voice” of scientific thought reaches over continent and ocean to the globe’s remotest bound. The inaudible voice of Truth is, to the human mind, “as when a lion roareth.” It is heard in the desert and in dark places of fear. It arouses the “seven thunders” of evil, and stirs their latent forces to utter the full diapason of secret tones. Then is the power of Truth demonstrated, — made manifest in the destruction of error.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 559:8–16)

Christian Science reveals a necessity for overcoming the world, the flesh, and evil, and thus destroying all error.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 10:12)

Mankind must learn that evil is not power. Its so-called despotism is but a phase of nothingness. Christian Science despoils the kingdom of evil, and pre-eminently promotes affection and virtue in families and therefore in the community.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 102:30–2)

God is natural good, and is represented only by the idea of goodness; while evil should be regarded as unnatural, because it is opposed to the nature of Spirit, God.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 119:21)

Christian Science reveals God, not as the author of sin, sickness, and death, but as divine Principle, Supreme Being, Mind, exempt from all evil. It teaches that matter is the falsity, not the fact, of existence; that nerves, brain, stomach, lungs, and so forth, have — as matter — no intelligence, life, nor sensation.

There is no physical science, inasmuch as all truth proceeds from the divine Mind. Therefore truth is not human, and is not a law of matter, for matter is not a lawgiver. Science is an emanation of divine Mind, and is alone able to interpret God aright. It has a spiritual, and not a material origin. It is a divine utterance, — the Comforter which leadeth into all truth.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 127:16–29)

If thought is startled at the strong claim of Science for the supremacy of God, or Truth, and doubts the supremacy of good, ought we not, contrariwise, to be astounded at the vigorous claims of evil and doubt them, and no longer think it natural to love sin and unnatural to forsake it, — no longer imagine evil to be ever-present and good absent? Truth should not seem so surprising and unnatural as error, and error should not seem so real as truth.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 130:26–2)

Christian Science destroys material beliefs through the understanding of Spirit, and the thoroughness of this work determines health. Erring human mind-forces can work only evil under whatever name or pretence they are employed; for Spirit and matter, good and evil, light and darkness, cannot mingle.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 186:5)

Evil is a suppositional lie.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 103:17)

Because God is Spirit, evil becomes more apparent and obnoxious proportionately as we advance spiritually, until it disappears from our lives. ...

... We must learn that evil is the awful deception and unreality of existence. Evil is not supreme; good is not helpless; nor are the so-called laws of matter primary, and the law of Spirit secondary.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 207:2–4, 9–13)

Love giveth to the least spiritual idea might, immortality, and goodness, which shine through all as the blossom shines through the bud. All the varied expressions of God reflect health, holiness, immortality — infinite Life, Truth, and Love.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 518:19)

Many proofs of the healing power of Truth and of His protecting care throng my thoughts. Seven years ago, when we were in a far distant country, where Christian Science was then unknown, my little daughter came in one morning from her school, saying, “Mother, I have measles; twenty of the girls are sick in bed and I am afraid they will put me there also.” Her face, hands, and chest were covered with a deep red rash, throat sore, and eyes inflamed. We began immediately to do our work in Science and at night, when I left her at the door of the college, her face was clear, her eyes bright, and all fear destroyed. That was the end of the disease. — F. M. P., Boston, Mass.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 654:20)

HYMNS

The Lord is my Shepherd; I need not a thing. / Green pastures give rest for my soul. / Love leads me beside the still, still waters. / Love restores me, and Love makes me whole.

Love leads me in right paths to honor God’s name, / And though I walk through darkest days, / I won’t be afraid for Love’s here beside me / To protect me and show me the way.

Though sin would surround me, my cup overflows; / You show that I’m never alone. / Your goodness and love are mine forever; / In the dwelling of Love, I am home.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 584)

In heavenly Love abiding, / No change my heart shall fear; / And safe is such confiding, / For nothing changes here. / The storm may roar without me, / My heart may low be laid; / But God is round about me, / And can I be dismayed?

Wherever He may guide me, / No want shall turn me back; / My Shepherd is beside me, / And nothing can I lack. / His wisdom ever waketh, / His sight is never dim; / He knows the way He taketh, / And I will walk with Him.

Green pastures are before me, / Which yet I have not seen; / Bright skies will soon be o’er me, / Where darkest clouds have been. / My hope I cannot measure, / My path in life is free; / My Father has my treasure, / And He will walk with me.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 148)

O for a faith that will not shrink, / Though pressed by every foe; / That will not tremble on the brink / Of any earthly woe;

A faith that shines more bright and clear / When tempests rage without; / That when in danger knows no fear, / In darkness feels no doubt;

O, give us such a faith as this, / And then, whate’er may come, / We taste e’en here the hallowed bliss / Of our eternal home.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 205)

Lost and found (Loss is gain)

Wednesday Bible Readings

July 15th, 2025

From The Bible

Is not the LORD your God with you? and hath he not given you rest on every side? ...
Now set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God; ...
(I Chronicles 22:18 (to 2nd ?), 19 (to ;))

If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward him; ...
... then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; yea, thou shalt be stedfast, and shalt not fear: ...
And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; yea, thou shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy rest in safety. Also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid; ...
(Job 11:13, 15 then, 18, 19 (to ;))

Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
(Psalms 55:22)

Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, Saying, ...
(Matthew 23:1, 2 (to ,))

¶ Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
(Matthew 11:28–30)

¶ Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
(Luke 10:38–42)

Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. ...
Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was. Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judæa again. ...
... and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. ...
Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. ...
Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already. ...
Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house. Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee. As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him. ...
Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. ...
Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. ...
Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
(John 11:1, 3–7, 11 and, 12, 14, 17, 20–29, 32–35, 38, 39 (to 1st .), 41–44)

For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. ...
Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
(II Corinthians 4:6, 14–18)

There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
(Hebrews 4:9)

SCIENCE AND HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES by MARY BAKER EDDY

God never punishes man for doing right, for honest labor, or for deeds of kindness, though they expose him to fatigue, cold, heat, contagion. If man seems to incur the penalty through matter, this is but a belief of mortal mind, not an enactment of wisdom, and man has only to enter his protest against this belief in order to annul it. Through this action of thought and its results upon the body, the student will prove to himself, by small beginnings, the grand verities of Christian Science.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 384:6)

By adhering to the realities of eternal existence, — instead of reading disquisitions on the inconsistent supposition that death comes in obedience to the law of life, and that God punishes man for doing good, — one cannot suffer as the result of any labor of love, but grows stronger because of it.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 387:19–24)

In patient obedience to a patient God, let us labor to dissolve with the universal solvent of Love the adamant of error, — self-will, self-justification, and self-love, — which wars against spirituality and is the law of sin and death.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 242:15–20 In)

When the final physical and moral effects of Christian Science are fully apprehended, the conflict between truth and error, understanding and belief, Science and material sense, foreshadowed by the prophets and inaugurated by Jesus, will cease, and spiritual harmony reign. The lightnings and thunderbolts of error may burst and flash till the cloud is cleared and the tumult dies away in the distance. Then the raindrops of divinity refresh the earth. As St. Paul says: “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God” (of Spirit).
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 288:10)

Material belief is slow to acknowledge what the spiritual fact implies. The truth is the centre of all religion. It commands sure entrance into the realm of Love.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 20:24–27)

If it is true that man lives, this fact can never change in Science to the opposite belief that man dies. Life is the law of Soul, even the law of the spirit of Truth, and Soul is never without its representative. Man’s individual being can no more die nor disappear in unconsciousness than can Soul, for both are immortal.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 427:1–7)

Jesus said of Lazarus: “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.” Jesus restored Lazarus by the understanding that Lazarus had never died, not by an admission that his body had died and then lived again. Had Jesus believed that Lazarus had lived or died in his body, the Master would have stood on the same plane of belief as those who buried the body, and he could not have resuscitated it.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 75:12)

If Jesus awakened Lazarus from the dream, illusion, of death, this proved that the Christ could improve on a false sense. Who dares to doubt this consummate test of the power and willingness of divine Mind to hold man forever intact in his perfect state, and to govern man’s entire action? Jesus said: “Destroy this temple [body], and in three days I [Mind] will raise it up;” and he did this for tired humanity’s reassurance.

Is it not a species of infidelity to believe that so great a work as the Messiah’s was done for himself or for God, who needed no help from Jesus’ example to preserve the eternal harmony? But mortals did need this help, and Jesus pointed the way for them. Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need. It is not well to imagine that Jesus demonstrated the divine power to heal only for a select number or for a limited period of time, since to all mankind and in every hour, divine Love supplies all good.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 493:28–14)

Denial of the possibility of Christian healing robs Christianity of the very element, which gave it divine force and its astonishing and unequalled success in the first century.

The true Logos is demonstrably Christian Science, the natural law of harmony which overcomes discord, — not because this Science is supernatural or preternatural, nor because it is an infraction of divine law, but because it is the immutable law of God, good. Jesus said: “I knew that Thou hearest me always;” and he raised Lazarus from the dead, stilled the tempest, healed the sick, walked on the water. There is divine authority for believing in the superiority of spiritual power over material resistance.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 134:17–30)

The crude creations of mortal thought must finally give place to the glorious forms which we sometimes behold in the camera of divine Mind, when the mental picture is spiritual and eternal. Mortals must look beyond fading, finite forms, if they would gain the true sense of things. Where shall the gaze rest but in the unsearchable realm of Mind?
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 264:3–10)

Jesus cast out evil spirits, or false beliefs. ... by the one Spirit. He said: “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” He never described disease, so far as can be learned from the Gospels, but he healed disease.

The unscientific practitioner says: “You are ill. Your brain is overtaxed, and you must rest. Your body is weak, and it must be strengthened. You have nervous prostration, and must be treated for it.” Science objects to all this, contending for the rights of intelligence and asserting that Mind controls body and brain.

Mind-science teaches that mortals need “not be weary in well doing.” It dissipates fatigue in doing good. Giving does not impoverish us in the service of our Maker, neither does withholding enrich us. We have strength in proportion to our apprehension of the truth, and our strength is not lessened by giving utterance to truth.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 79:17 (only), 19–3 by)

When we reach our limits of mental endurance, we conclude that intellectual labor has been carried sufficiently far; but when we realize that immortal Mind is ever active, and that spiritual energies can neither wear out nor can so-called material law trespass upon God-given powers and resources, we are able to rest in Truth, refreshed by the assurances of immortality, opposed to mortality.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 387:5)

In Christian Science there is never a retrograde step, never a return to positions outgrown.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 74:29–30)

Christian Science hynals

God is our refuge and defense,
In trouble our unfailing aid;
Secure in His omnipotence,
What foe can make our heart afraid?

There is a river pure and bright,
Whose streams make glad the heavenly plains;
Where, in eternity of light,
The city of our God remains.

Built by the word of His command,
With His unclouded presence blest,
Firm as His throne the bulwarks stand;
There is our home, our hope, our rest.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 80)

O gentle presence, peace and joy and power;
O Life divine, that owns each waiting hour,
Thou Love that guards the nestling’s faltering flight!
Keep Thou my child on upward wing tonight.

Love is our refuge; only with mine eye
Can I behold the snare, the pit, the fall:
His habitation high is here, and nigh,
His arm encircles me, and mine, and all.

O make me glad for every scalding tear,
For hope deferred, ingratitude, disdain!
Wait, and love more for every hate, and fear
No ill,—since God is good, and loss is gain.

Beneath the shadow of His mighty wing;
In that sweet secret of the narrow way,
Seeking and finding, with the angels sing:
“Lo, I am with you alway,”—watch and pray.

No snare, no fowler, pestilence or pain;
No night drops down upon the troubled breast,
When heaven’s aftersmile earth’s tear-drops gain,
And mother finds her home and heav’nly rest.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 208)

How gentle God’s commands,
How kind His precepts are;
Come, cast your burdens on the Lord,
And trust His constant care.

Beneath His watchful eye
His saints securely dwell;
That hand which bears creation up
Shall guard His children well.

His goodness stands approved,
Unchanged from day to day:
I drop my burden at His feet,
And bear a song away.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 124)

God's Promises Are Kept

Wednesday Bible Readings

July , 2025

From The Bible

Is not the LORD your God with you? and hath he not given you rest on every side? ...
Now set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God; ...
(I Chronicles 22:18 (to 2nd ?), 19 (to ;))

If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward him; ...
... then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; yea, thou shalt be stedfast, and shalt not fear: ...
And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; yea, thou shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy rest in safety. Also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid; ...
(Job 11:13, 15 then, 18, 19 (to ;))

Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
(Psalms 55:22)

Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, Saying, ...
(Matthew 23:1, 2 (to ,))

¶ Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
(Matthew 11:28–30)

¶ Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
(Luke 10:38–42)

Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. ...
Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was. Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judæa again. ...
... and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. ...
Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. ...
Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already. ...
Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house. Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee. As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him. ...
Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. ...
Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. ...
Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
(John 11:1, 3–7, 11 and, 12, 14, 17, 20–29, 32–35, 38, 39 (to 1st .), 41–44)

For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. ...
Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
(II Corinthians 4:6, 14–18)

There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
(Hebrews 4:9)

SCIENCE AND HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES by MARY BAKER EDDY

God never punishes man for doing right, for honest labor, or for deeds of kindness, though they expose him to fatigue, cold, heat, contagion. If man seems to incur the penalty through matter, this is but a belief of mortal mind, not an enactment of wisdom, and man has only to enter his protest against this belief in order to annul it. Through this action of thought and its results upon the body, the student will prove to himself, by small beginnings, the grand verities of Christian Science.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 384:6)

By adhering to the realities of eternal existence, — instead of reading disquisitions on the inconsistent supposition that death comes in obedience to the law of life, and that God punishes man for doing good, — one cannot suffer as the result of any labor of love, but grows stronger because of it.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 387:19–24)

In patient obedience to a patient God, let us labor to dissolve with the universal solvent of Love the adamant of error, — self-will, self-justification, and self-love, — which wars against spirituality and is the law of sin and death.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 242:15–20 In)

When the final physical and moral effects of Christian Science are fully apprehended, the conflict between truth and error, understanding and belief, Science and material sense, foreshadowed by the prophets and inaugurated by Jesus, will cease, and spiritual harmony reign. The lightnings and thunderbolts of error may burst and flash till the cloud is cleared and the tumult dies away in the distance. Then the raindrops of divinity refresh the earth. As St. Paul says: “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God” (of Spirit).
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 288:10)

Material belief is slow to acknowledge what the spiritual fact implies. The truth is the centre of all religion. It commands sure entrance into the realm of Love.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 20:24–27)

If it is true that man lives, this fact can never change in Science to the opposite belief that man dies. Life is the law of Soul, even the law of the spirit of Truth, and Soul is never without its representative. Man’s individual being can no more die nor disappear in unconsciousness than can Soul, for both are immortal.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 427:1–7)

Jesus said of Lazarus: “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.” Jesus restored Lazarus by the understanding that Lazarus had never died, not by an admission that his body had died and then lived again. Had Jesus believed that Lazarus had lived or died in his body, the Master would have stood on the same plane of belief as those who buried the body, and he could not have resuscitated it.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 75:12)

If Jesus awakened Lazarus from the dream, illusion, of death, this proved that the Christ could improve on a false sense. Who dares to doubt this consummate test of the power and willingness of divine Mind to hold man forever intact in his perfect state, and to govern man’s entire action? Jesus said: “Destroy this temple [body], and in three days I [Mind] will raise it up;” and he did this for tired humanity’s reassurance.

Is it not a species of infidelity to believe that so great a work as the Messiah’s was done for himself or for God, who needed no help from Jesus’ example to preserve the eternal harmony? But mortals did need this help, and Jesus pointed the way for them. Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need. It is not well to imagine that Jesus demonstrated the divine power to heal only for a select number or for a limited period of time, since to all mankind and in every hour, divine Love supplies all good.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 493:28–14)

Denial of the possibility of Christian healing robs Christianity of the very element, which gave it divine force and its astonishing and unequalled success in the first century.

The true Logos is demonstrably Christian Science, the natural law of harmony which overcomes discord, — not because this Science is supernatural or preternatural, nor because it is an infraction of divine law, but because it is the immutable law of God, good. Jesus said: “I knew that Thou hearest me always;” and he raised Lazarus from the dead, stilled the tempest, healed the sick, walked on the water. There is divine authority for believing in the superiority of spiritual power over material resistance.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 134:17–30)

The crude creations of mortal thought must finally give place to the glorious forms which we sometimes behold in the camera of divine Mind, when the mental picture is spiritual and eternal. Mortals must look beyond fading, finite forms, if they would gain the true sense of things. Where shall the gaze rest but in the unsearchable realm of Mind?
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 264:3–10)

Jesus cast out evil spirits, or false beliefs. ... by the one Spirit. He said: “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” He never described disease, so far as can be learned from the Gospels, but he healed disease.

The unscientific practitioner says: “You are ill. Your brain is overtaxed, and you must rest. Your body is weak, and it must be strengthened. You have nervous prostration, and must be treated for it.” Science objects to all this, contending for the rights of intelligence and asserting that Mind controls body and brain.

Mind-science teaches that mortals need “not be weary in well doing.” It dissipates fatigue in doing good. Giving does not impoverish us in the service of our Maker, neither does withholding enrich us. We have strength in proportion to our apprehension of the truth, and our strength is not lessened by giving utterance to truth.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 79:17 (only), 19–3 by)

When we reach our limits of mental endurance, we conclude that intellectual labor has been carried sufficiently far; but when we realize that immortal Mind is ever active, and that spiritual energies can neither wear out nor can so-called material law trespass upon God-given powers and resources, we are able to rest in Truth, refreshed by the assurances of immortality, opposed to mortality.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 387:5)

In Christian Science there is never a retrograde step, never a return to positions outgrown.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 74:29–30)

Christian Science hynals

God is our refuge and defense,
In trouble our unfailing aid;
Secure in His omnipotence,
What foe can make our heart afraid?

There is a river pure and bright,
Whose streams make glad the heavenly plains;
Where, in eternity of light,
The city of our God remains.

Built by the word of His command,
With His unclouded presence blest,
Firm as His throne the bulwarks stand;
There is our home, our hope, our rest.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 80)

O gentle presence, peace and joy and power;
O Life divine, that owns each waiting hour,
Thou Love that guards the nestling’s faltering flight!
Keep Thou my child on upward wing tonight.

Love is our refuge; only with mine eye
Can I behold the snare, the pit, the fall:
His habitation high is here, and nigh,
His arm encircles me, and mine, and all.

O make me glad for every scalding tear,
For hope deferred, ingratitude, disdain!
Wait, and love more for every hate, and fear
No ill,—since God is good, and loss is gain.

Beneath the shadow of His mighty wing;
In that sweet secret of the narrow way,
Seeking and finding, with the angels sing:
“Lo, I am with you alway,”—watch and pray.

No snare, no fowler, pestilence or pain;
No night drops down upon the troubled breast,
When heaven’s aftersmile earth’s tear-drops gain,
And mother finds her home and heav’nly rest.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 208)

How gentle God’s commands,
How kind His precepts are;
Come, cast your burdens on the Lord,
And trust His constant care.

Beneath His watchful eye
His saints securely dwell;
That hand which bears creation up
Shall guard His children well.

His goodness stands approved,
Unchanged from day to day:
I drop my burden at His feet,
And bear a song away.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 124)

The Inspiration That Leads to Healing

Wednesday Bible Readings

JULY 3RD, 2025

From The Bible

But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.
(Job 32:8)

I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards: I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits: ...

I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me: I gathered me also silver and gold, ...

So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me. And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun. ...

Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit. ...

Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun. ...

... ¶ There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God. ...

For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: ...
(Ecclesiastes 2:4, 5, 7, 8 (to 1st ,), 9–11, 17, 20, 24, 26 (to :))

Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.
(Jeremiah 10:2–5)

¶ Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. ...

Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel. ...

That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.
(Isaiah 41:10, 15, 16, 20)

Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil. Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full. So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out. And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed. Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.
(II Kings 4:1–7)

And a certain centurion’s servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die. And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant. ...

Then Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof: Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And they that were sent, returning to the house, found the servant whole that had been sick.
(Luke 7:2, 3, 6–10)

Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; ...

Men’s hearts failing them for fear, ...

And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
(Luke 21:10, 11 (to ;), 26 (to ,), 28)

... then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
(Luke 21:27 then)

... there shall not an hair of your head perish.
(Luke 21:18 there)


SCIENCE AND HEALTH
The description of man as purely physical, or as both material and spiritual, — but in either case dependent upon his physical organization, — is the Pandora box, from which all ills have gone forth, especially despair. ...

Through discernment of the spiritual opposite of materiality, even the way through Christ, Truth, man will reopen with the key of divine Science the gates of Paradise which human beliefs have closed, and will find himself unfallen, upright, pure, and free, ...
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 170:28–31; 171:4–8 (to 4th ,))

Whatever inspires with wisdom, Truth, or Love — be it song, sermon, or Science — blesses the human family with crumbs of comfort from Christ’s table, feeding the hungry and giving living waters to the thirsty.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 234:4)

Jesus could have withdrawn himself from his enemies. He had power to lay down a human sense of life for his spiritual identity in the likeness of the divine; ...

His consummate example was for the salvation of us all, but only through doing the works which he did and taught others to do. His purpose in healing was not alone to restore health, but to demonstrate his divine Principle. He was inspired by God, by Truth and Love, in all that he said and did.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 51:6–8 (to ;), 19–24)

The world could not interpret aright the discomfort which Jesus inspired and the spiritual blessings which might flow from such discomfort. Science shows the cause of the shock so often produced by the truth, — namely, that this shock arises from the great distance between the individual and Truth. Like Peter, we should weep over the warning, ...
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 53:16–22 (to 2nd ,))

For right reasoning there should be but one fact before the thought, namely, spiritual existence. In reality there is no other existence, since Life cannot be united to its unlikeness, mortality.

Being is holiness, harmony, immortality. It is already proved that a knowledge of this, even in small degree, will uplift the physical and moral standard of mortals, will increase longevity, will purify and elevate character. Thus progress will finally destroy all error, and bring immortality to light.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 492:3–12)

Spirit imparts the understanding which uplifts consciousness and leads into all truth. ... Spiritual sense is the discernment of spiritual good. Understanding is the line of demarcation between the real and unreal. Spiritual understanding unfolds Mind, — Life, Truth, and Love, — and demonstrates the divine sense, giving the spiritual proof of the universe in Christian Science.

This understanding is not intellectual, is not the result of scholarly attainments; it is the reality of all things brought to light.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 505:16–17, 20–28)

The history of Christianity furnishes sublime proofs of the supporting influence and protecting power bestowed on man by his heavenly Father, omnipotent Mind, who gives man faith and understanding whereby to defend himself, not only from temptation, but from bodily suffering.

The Christian martyrs were prophets of Christian Science. Through the uplifting and consecrating power of divine Truth, they obtained a victory over the corporeal senses, a victory which Science alone can explain.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 387:27–4)

Mankind will improve through Science and Christianity. The necessity for uplifting the race is father to the fact that Mind can do it; for Mind can impart purity instead of impurity, strength instead of weakness, and health instead of disease. Truth is an alterative in the entire system, and can make it “every whit whole.”
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 371:26)

Evidences of progress and of spiritualization greet us on every hand.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 158:24–25)

I had been deaf from childhood. I suffered intensely after eating, and dropsy was another of my complaints. This, with consumption, caused one doctor to say, “It puzzles me; I have never seen such a case before as yours.”

I met a friend who had been cured in Christian Science, and she said, “Try Christian Science.” I got a copy of Science and Health and in three weeks I was entirely cured. I felt uplifted. It seemed as if God’s arms were around and about me. I felt as if heaven had come down to earth for me. After five years of suffering can any one wonder at my unspeakable gratitude? — A. B., Pittsburgh, Pa.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 652:25–7 (to 3rd .))

Material sense does not unfold the facts of existence; but spiritual sense lifts human consciousness into eternal Truth.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 95:30–32)

It is the spiritualization of thought and Christianization of daily life, in contrast with the results of the ghastly farce of material existence; it is chastity and purity, in contrast with the downward tendencies and earthward gravitation of sensualism and impurity, which really attest the divine origin and operation of Christian Science. The triumphs of Christian Science are recorded in the destruction of error and evil, from which are propagated the dismal beliefs of sin, sickness, and death.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 272:19)

Let the perfect model be present in your thoughts instead of its demoralized opposite. This spiritualization of thought lets in the light, and brings the divine Mind, Life not death, into your consciousness.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 407:24)

The sculptor turns from the marble to his model in order to perfect his conception. We are all sculptors, working at various forms, moulding and chiseling thought. What is the model before mortal mind? Is it imperfection, joy, sorrow, sin, suffering? Have you accepted the mortal model? Are you reproducing it? ... Do you not hear from all mankind of the imperfect model? The world is holding it before your gaze continually. The result is that you are liable to follow those lower patterns, limit your life-work, and adopt into your experience the angular outline and deformity of matter models.

To remedy this, we must first turn our gaze in the right direction, and then walk that way. We must form perfect models in thought and look at them continually, or we shall never carve them out in grand and noble lives. Let unselfishness, goodness, mercy, justice, health, holiness, love — the kingdom of heaven — reign within us, and sin, disease, and death will diminish until they finally disappear.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 248:12–18, 19–32)

Let us accept Science, ... let us have one God, one Mind, and that one perfect, producing His own models of excellence.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 249:1 (only, to ,), 3 let)

Acquaintance with the Science of being enables us to commune more largely with the divine Mind, to foresee and foretell events which concern the universal welfare, to be divinely inspired, — yea, to reach the range of fetterless Mind.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 84:14)

HYMNS

From these Thy children gathered in Thy name, / From hearts made whole, from lips redeemed from woe, / Thy praise, O Father, shall forever flow. / Alleluia! Alleluia!

O perfect Life, in Thy completeness held, / None can beyond Thy omnipresence stray; / Safe in Thy Love, we live and sing alway / Alleluia! Alleluia!

O perfect Mind, reveal Thy likeness true, / That higher selfhood which we all must prove, / Joy and dominion, love reflecting Love. / Alleluia! Alleluia!

Thou, Soul, inspiring—give us vision clear, / Break earth-bound fetters, sweep away the veil, / Show the new heaven and earth that shall prevail. / Alleluia! Alleluia!
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 66)

It matters not what be thy lot, / So Love doth guide; / For storm or shine, pure peace is thine, / Whate’er betide.

And of these stones, or tyrants’ thrones, / God able is / To raise up seed—in thought and deed— / To faithful His.

Aye, darkling sense, arise, go hence! / Our God is good. / False fears are foes—truth tatters those, / When understood.

Love looseth thee, and lifteth me, / Ayont hate’s thrall: / There Life is light, and wisdom might, / And God is All.

The centuries break, the earth-bound wake, / God’s glorified! / Who doth His will—His likeness still— / Is satisfied.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 513)

Our God is Love, and all His sons / His image bear, we know; / The heart with love to God inspired, / With love to man will glow.

Teach us to love each other, Lord, / As we are loved by Thee; / None who are truly born of God / Can live in enmity.

Heirs of the same immortal bliss, / Our hopes and aims the same, / In bonds of love our hearts unite, / To praise His holy name.

So may we all with one accord / Learn how true Christians love; / And glorify our Father’s grace, / And seek that grace to prove.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 266)