WEDNESDAY EVENING READINGS
April 3, 2019
Hymns: 151, 213, 283
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The Bible & Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy
PROVERBS
3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
4:20 …attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings…
GENESIS\
6:13-14… God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark …
7:5,10;21 Noah did according unto all that the Lord commanded him…And…the waters of the flood were upon the earth. …And all flesh died that moved upon the earth…
8:1 And God remembered Noah, and every living thing…that was with him in the ark…
PSALMS
37:40 the Lord shall help them, and deliver them…because they trust in him.
NEHEMIAH
4:7-9,14,16,18 …when Sanballat, and Tobiah…heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up…they were very wroth, And conspired…to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it…we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night…And I …said unto…the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses…And…from that time forth… the builders…had his sword girded by his side…
6:1-3,10,12,15,16… when…our enemies, heard that I had builded the wall…Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief…I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work…I cannot come down… Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah … and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple…for they will come to slay thee…And…I perceived that God had not sent him…Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him…So the wall was finished.
SH 444:10
Step by step will those who trust Him find that “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
SH 16:2-4
The highest prayer is not one of faith merely; it is demonstration.
SH 571:15-19
At all times and under all circumstances, overcome evil with good. Know thyself, and God will supply the wisdom and the occasion for a victory over evil. Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you.
MATTHEW
1:18-20;24-25… When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. …Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son:…
SH 298:28-30
Angels are pure thoughts from God, winged with Truth and Love, no matter what their individualism may be.
SH 326:20-21
Working and praying with true motives, your Father will open the way.
MATTHEW
2:7,8,9,11-12 Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men…And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also… and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was… and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.
1 PETER (New Living Translation)
5:8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.
MATTHEW
2:13-15;19-20… the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:…when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child’s life. And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.
SH 323:29-32
It is the “still, small voice” of Truth uttering itself. We are either turning away from this utterance, or we are listening to it and going up higher.
SH 385:17-18
Whatever it is your duty to do, you can do without harm to yourself.
SH 584:17-21
Devil. Evil; a lie; error; neither corporeality nor mind; the opposite of Truth; a belief in sin, sickness, and death; animal magnetism or hypnotism; the lust of the flesh, which saith: “I am life and intelligence in matter.
SH 103:18-19
As named in Christian Science, animal magnetism or hypnotism is the specific term for error, or mortal mind.
SH 102:20-23
So secret are the present methods of animal magnetism that they ensnare the age into indolence, and produce the very apathy on the subject which the criminal desires.
SH 392:24
Stand porter at the door of thought.
EPHESIANS
5:14 Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
LUKE (Amplified Bible)
21:36 keep alert at all times [be attentive and ready]…
MATTHEW
24:42-43) Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
SH 306:32-2
The parent of all human discord was the Adam-dream, the deep sleep, in which originated the delusion that life and intelligence proceeded from and passed into matter.
SH 490:28
Sleep and mesmerism explain the mythical nature of material sense. Sleep shows material sense as either oblivion, nothingness, or an illusion or dream.
SH 252:7
When false human beliefs learn even a little of their own falsity, they begin to disappear. A knowledge of error and of its operations must precede that understanding of Truth which destroys error, until the entire mortal, material error finally disappears, and the eternal verity, man created by and of Spirit, is understood and recognized as the true likeness of his Maker.
ROMANS
13:11-12…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.
REVELATION (The Passion Translation)
16:15 …God’s blessing is with the one who remains awake and fully clothed in me…
SH 223:25-32
Peals that should startle the slumbering thought from its erroneous dream are partially unheeded; but the last trump has not sounded, or this would not be so. Marvels, calamities, and sin will much more abound as truth urges upon mortals its resisted claims; but the awful daring of sin destroys sin, and foreshadows the triumph of truth. God will overturn, until “He come whose right it is.”
MATTHEW
10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
LUKE
22:41,42, 44 And he…kneeled down, and prayed…Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done…And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
SH 33:18-21
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.
SH 4:5-9
To keep the commandments of our Master and follow his example, is our proper debt to him and the only worthy evidence of our gratitude for all that he has done.
II CORINTHIANS (J.B. Phillips translation)
10:4-5 the battle we are fighting is on the spiritual level. The very weapons we use are not those of human warfare but powerful in God’s warfare for the destruction of the enemy’s strongholds. Our battle is to bring down every deceptive fantasy and every imposing defence that men erect against the true knowledge of God. We even fight to capture every thought until it acknowledges the authority of Christ.
EPHESIANS
6:10-12… be strong in the Lord…Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places
I THESSALONIANS
5:6… let us not sleep, as do others;
SH 324:13
Be watchful, sober, and vigilant. The way is straight and narrow, which leads to the understanding that God is the only Life. It is a warfare with the flesh, in which we must conquer sin, sickness, and death, either here or hereafter, — certainly before we can reach the goal of Spirit, or life in God.
MATTHEW
26:40 And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?
SH 570:4
The present apathy as to the tendency of certain active yet unseen mental agencies will finally be shocked into another extreme mortal mood, — into human indignation; for one extreme follows another.
SH 250:6-7
Mortal existence is a dream; mortal existence has no real entity, but saith “It is I.”
SH 442:30
Christian Scientists, be a law to yourselves that mental malpractice cannot harm you either when asleep or when awake.
SH 340:4-12
This text in the book of Ecclesiastes conveys the Christian Science thought, especially when the word duty, which is not in the original, is omitted: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” In other words: Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: love God and keep His commandments: for this is the whole of man in His image and likeness.
SH 495:25-8
Question. — How can I progress most rapidly in the understanding of Christian Science?
Answer. — Study thoroughly the letter and imbibe the spirit. Adhere to the divine Principle of Christian Science and follow the behests of God, abiding steadfastly in wisdom, Truth, and Love. In the Science of Mind, you will soon ascertain that error cannot destroy error. You will also learn that in Science there is no transfer of evil suggestions from one mortal to another, for there is but one Mind, and this ever-present omnipotent Mind is reflected by man and governs the entire universe. You will learn that in Christian Science the first duty is to obey God, to have one Mind, and to love another as yourself.
SH 38:24-26
Jesus mapped out the path for others. He unveiled the Christ, the spiritual idea of divine Love.
SH 55:27
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.
SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS
Alertness to Duty. Sect. 6. It shall be the duty of every member of this Church to defend himself daily against aggressive mental suggestion, and not be made to forget nor to neglect his duty to God, to his Leader, and to mankind. By his works he shall be judged, — and justified or condemned. (Manual 42:4)
“Our Duty to Our Leader”
By Laura Edith Sutherland
Christian Science Sentinel, December 1939
…As the spiritual import of this rule is grasped, and its relation to the prosperity of the Christian Science movement and our own progress unfolds in our thought, we realize the need for growth in appreciation of the place of our Leader in God’s plan…Mrs. Eddy recognized that Jesus manifested Christ—the emanation of the one Mind. She realized that it was to the Christ, as revealed in divine Science, that Jesus referred when he said to his disciples, “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.” In this recognition Mrs. Eddy appreciated, more than anyone else since Jesus’ time, his divine commission. It is important to recall that when in the third century of the Christian era, the appreciation of the mission of Christ Jesus became confused, darkened, and personalized, the spiritual meaning of his teaching was almost entirely lost. Thought had become so material as to lose the qualities of spiritual-mindedness essential to appreciate the divine message.
With the darkening of thought, spiritual healing largely disappeared, not to reappear until the discovery by Mrs. Eddy of the allness of Spirit and the eternal nature of the Christ. It was she who discovered divine Science, the Comforter or “the Spirit of truth,” which Jesus promised should come… Through her consecrated, humble obedience to God her consciousness was so illumined that she was able to appreciate Jesus’ mission and restore to the world the spiritual healing which Jesus taught.
To appreciate, even in a small degree, the service rendered humanity by our Leader, it is necessary to gain some measure of the same pure consciousness of the Christ which she gained. To recognize Mrs. Eddy as the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science is also to recognize her revelation of the one Mind. The discovery and the Discoverer are inseparable… Genuine understanding of and loyalty to our Leader enable us to grow in spiritual stature. Thus each Christian Scientist is privileged to help vitally in the extension of the Christian Science movement in its divinely appointed mission of bringing the Christ-healing to the world.
PROSE WORKS
By Mary Baker Eddy
Beloved Christian Scientists, keep your minds so filled with Truth and Love, that sin, disease, and death cannot enter them. It is plain that nothing can be added to the mind already full. There is no door through which evil can enter, and no space for evil to fill in a mind filled with goodness. Good thoughts are an impervious armor; clad therewith you are completely shielded from the attacks of error of every sort. And not only yourselves are safe, but all whom your thoughts rest upon are thereby benefited. (My. 210:2)