February 21, 2018
Hymns: 172, 258, 306
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THE BIBLE
&
SCIENCE & HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES
By Mary Baker Eddy
HABAKKUK
2:1 I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me.
JUDGES (English Standard)
6:12 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said…, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.”
14 … “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian;
17…I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”
7:1 Then…Gideon and all the people who were with him rose early…
2 The Lord said to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’
3 Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.’” Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained.
4 And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ shall go with you, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ shall not go.”
5 So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “Every one who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise, every one who kneels down to drink.”
6 And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was 300 men, but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. 7 And the Lord said to Gideon, “With the 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others go every man to his home.
7:16 And he divided the 300 men into three companies and put trumpets into the hands of all of them and empty jars, with torches inside the jars.
17 And he said to them, “Look at me, and do likewise. When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do.
18 When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’”
19 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just set the watch. And they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands.
20 Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow. And they cried out, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!”
21 Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled.
22 When they blew the 300 trumpets, the Lord set every man’s sword against his comrade and against all the army.
8:22 Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us…, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.”
23 Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you,…; the Lord will rule over you.”
ISAIAH (King James)
55:6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
SH 14:9-11
To be “with the Lord” is to be in obedience to the law of God, to be absolutely governed by divine Love, — by Spirit, not by matter.
SH 323:28-32
The effects of Christian Science are not so much seen as felt. 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.
NEHEMIAH
4:6 So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.
7 But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth,
8 And conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it.
9 Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.
21 So we laboured in the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared.
6:2…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.
3 And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?
5 Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter…
6 Wherein was written, It is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel: for which cause thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king…
8 Then I sent unto him, saying, There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart.
10 Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah…and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they will come to slay thee; yea, in the night will they come to slay thee.
11 And I said, Should such a man as I flee?…
12 And,…I perceived that God had not sent him; but that he pronounced this prophecy against me: for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
15 So the wall was finished in…fifty and two days.
I PETER
5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
SH 96:11-27, 31-4
“The darkest hour precedes the dawn.”
This material world is even now becoming the arena for conflicting forces. On one side there will be discord and dismay; on the other side there will be Science and peace. The breaking up of material beliefs may seem to be famine and pestilence, want and woe, sin, sickness, and death, which assume new phases until their nothingness appears. These disturbances will continue until the end of error, when all discord will be swallowed up in spiritual Truth.
Mortal error will vanish in a moral chemicalization. This mental fermentation has begun, and will continue, until all errors of belief yield to understanding. Belief is changeable, but spiritual understanding is changeless.
As this consummation draws nearer, he who has shaped his course in accordance with divine Science will endure to the end.
During this final conflict, wicked minds will endeavor to find means by which to accomplish more evil; but those who discern Christian Science will hold crime in check. They will aid in the ejection of error. They will maintain law and order, and cheerfully await the certainty of ultimate perfection.
LUKE
21:33 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
I THESSALONIANS
5:5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
LUKE (J.B. Phillips)
12:35-39 “You must be ready dressed and have your lamps alight, like men who wait to welcome their lord and master on his return from the wedding-feast, so that when he comes and knocks at the door, they may open it for him at once. Happy are the servants whom their lord finds on the alert when he arrives.
41 And if he should come just after midnight or in the very early morning, and find them still on the alert, their happiness is assured. But be certain of this, that if the householder had known the time when the burglar would come, he would not have let his house be broken into. So you must be on the alert, for the Son of Man is coming at a time when you may not expect him.”
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.
SH 97:11-28
The more destructive matter becomes, the more its nothingness will appear, until matter reaches its mortal zenith in illusion and forever disappears. The nearer a false belief approaches truth without passing the boundary where, having been destroyed by divine Love, it ceases to be even an illusion, the riper it becomes for destruction. The more material the belief, the more obvious its error, until divine Spirit, supreme in its domain, dominates all matter, and man is found in the likeness of Spirit, his original being.
The broadest facts array the most falsities against themselves, for they bring error from under cover. It requires courage to utter truth; for the higher Truth lifts her voice, the louder will error scream, until its inarticulate sound is forever silenced in oblivion.
“He uttered His voice, the earth melted.” This Scripture indicates that all matter will disappear before the supremacy of Spirit.
EPHESIANS
6:10 …be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 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.
18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
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.
MATTHEW
25:1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.
9 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.
10 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.
11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
REVELATION
3:11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
SH 442:30-32
Christian Scientists, be a law to yourselves that mental malpractice cannot harm you either when asleep or when awake.
SH 1:6-9
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 193:6-9
A change in human belief changes all the physical symptoms and determines a case for better or for worse. When one’s false belief is corrected, Truth sends a report of health over the body..
SH 233:17-24
Ye who can discern the face of the sky, — the sign material, — how much more should ye discern the sign mental and compass the destruction of sin and sickness by overcoming the thoughts which produce them, and by understanding the spiritual idea which corrects and destroys them. To reveal this truth was our Master’s mission to all mankind, including the hearts which rejected him.
SH 497:24-25
And we solemnly promise to watch, and pray for that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus;
SH 98:4-7
The prophet of to-day beholds in the mental horizon the signs of these times, the reappearance of the Christianity which heals the sick and destroys error, and no other sign shall be given.
ADDITIONAL READING
“Today’s Need for Spiritual Alertness”
By Harold Molter
October 1959 The Christian Science Sentinel
… The cultivation and exercise of spiritual alertness by the Christian Scientist enable him to forward his progress and to protect himself from physical, mental, and moral discord.
The Italian origin of the word “alert” conveys the thought of standing on a watchtower or height. In many regions, wooded or mountainous, watchers are assigned to occupy high towers, where, elevated above their surroundings, they can discern the first signs of danger and notify the ground crews of the need for action…
Every Christian Scientist needs constantly to stand upon a watch, to preserve a state of alertness in order to discern the slightest sign of aggressive evil which would claim to lower his standard of spiritual thinking and righteous living. And then he needs to go into action by maintaining the spiritual truths of existence as revealed in Christian Science.
One of the basic points in the cultivation and utilization of the quality of alertness, or true watchfulness, is the recognition that God is the only Mind and that this perfect Mind is the Mind of all. Any claim of another mind—a carnal or mortal mind—must be seen and rejected as a lie.
…Through the exercise of spiritual alertness the Christian of today discerns both good and evil. Holding fast to the one and rejecting the other, he finds the way growing brighter unto the perfect day of God’s creating…
Our Leader admonishes us in “Miscellaneous Writings” (p. 154): “Pray without ceasing. Watch diligently; never desert the post of spiritual observation and self-examination.”
He who is faithful to this demand rises above the evil suggestions of a world in conflict and finds health, peace, and true security in the secret place of the Most High….