November 8, 2017
Hymns: 3, 172, 258
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THE BIBLE
LUKE

12:35 Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning;
36 And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.
37 Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.
38 And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.
39 And this know, that if the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through.
40 Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.

LUKE (J.B. Phillips translation)

12: 35-40 “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. I assure you that he will take off his outer clothes, make then sit down to dinner, and come and wait on them. 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.”

NEHEMIAH

1:1…as I was in …the palace,
2 Hanani, one of my brethren, came…and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped…and concerning Jerusalem.
3 And they said … The remnant that are left of the captivity …are in great affliction…: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates …are burned with fire.
4 …when I heard… I sat down and wept, and mourned…and prayed …
11 …I was the king’s cupbearer.
2:2 Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad… this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid,
3 And said unto the king… why should not my countenance be sad, when… the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates are consumed with fire?
5…If it please the king…that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it.
11 So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.
12 And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem:
16 And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews,
19 …when Sanballat and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem …heard it, they laughed us to scorn… and said…will ye rebel against the king?
20 Then answered I … The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build:
4:1 But …when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth,…
2 And he spake before his brethren … will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?
3 Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall.
6 So built we the wall…
7 ¶ But…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…
11 And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst among them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease.
12 …the Jews said unto us ten times, From all places …they will be upon you.
13 …I set the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows.
14 …and said to …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.
16 And … from that time forth… 17They which builded on the wall… with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon.
21 So we laboured in the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared.
6:1 Now… when …our enemies, heard that I had builded the wall, and that there was no breach left therein; …
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 … saying, I am doing a great work, …I cannot come down:…
4 Yet they sent unto me four times…; and I answered them after the same manner.
5 Then sent Sanballat his servant …the fifth time with an open letter in his hand;
6 Wherein was written, It is reported among the heathen … that thou and the Jews think to rebel: for which cause thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king,…
8 …I sent unto him, saying, There are no such things done as thou sayest,
10 Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah…and he said, Let us meet together… within the temple, and …shut the doors…: for they will come to slay thee in the night…
11 And I said, Should such a man as I flee? … I will not go in.
12 And …I perceived that God had not sent him; …Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
15 So the wall was finished …in fifty and two days.

ROMANS

13:11…it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
12 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.

MARK

13:28 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near:
29 So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors.
32 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.
33 Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.
34 For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.
35 Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:
36 Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.
37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.

SCIENCE & HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES

By Mary Baker Eddy

S&H 3:17

Simply asking that we may love God will never make us love Him; but the longing to be better and holier, expressed in daily watchfulness and in striving to assimilate more of the divine character, will mould and fashion us anew, until we awake in His likeness. We reach the Science of Christianity through demonstration of the divine nature; but in this wicked world goodness will “be evil spoken of,” and patience must bring experience.

S&H 392:24 (to 2nd .)

Stand porter at the door of thought. Admitting only such conclusions as you wish realized in bodily results, you will control yourself harmoniously. When the condition is present which you say induces disease, whether it be air, exercise, heredity, contagion, or accident, then perform your office as porter and shut out these unhealthy thoughts and fears. Exclude from mortal mind the offending errors; then the body cannot suffer from them. The issues of pain or pleasure must come through mind, and like a watchman forsaking his post, we admit the intruding belief, forgetting that through divine help we can forbid this entrance.

S&H 571:15-16

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.

S&H 218:24-25

Treat a belief in sickness as you would sin, with sudden dismissal.

S&H 458:14-15

Divinity is always ready. Semper paratus is Truth’s motto.

S&H 249:24-28

Sleep and apathy are phases of the dream that life, substance, and intelligence are material. The mortal night-dream is sometimes nearer the fact of being than are the thoughts of mortals when awake. The night-dream has less matter as its accompaniment.

S&H 324:7

Unless the harmony and immortality of man are becoming more apparent, we are not gaining the true idea of God; and the body will reflect what governs it, whether it be Truth or error, understanding or belief, Spirit or matter. Therefore “acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace.” 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.

S&H 367:17

A Christian Scientist occupies the place at this period of which Jesus spoke to his disciples, when he said: “Ye are the salt of the earth.” “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.” Let us watch, work, and pray that this salt lose not its saltness, and that this light be not hid, but radiate and glow into noontide glory.

S&H 15:14

In order to pray aright, we must enter into the closet and shut the door. We must close the lips and silence the material senses. In the quiet sanctuary of earnest longings, we must deny sin and plead God’s allness. We must resolve to take up the cross, and go forth with honest hearts to work and watch for wisdom, Truth, and Love. We must “pray without ceasing.” Such prayer is answered, in so far as we put our desires into practice. The Master’s injunction is, that we pray in secret and let our lives attest our sincerity.

S&H 497:24

And we solemnly promise to watch, and pray for that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; to do unto others as we would have them do unto us; and to be merciful, just, and pure.

S&H vii:2-13

The wakeful shepherd beholds the first faint morning beams, ere cometh the full radiance of a risen day. So shone the pale star to the prophet-shepherds; yet it traversed the night, and came where, in cradled obscurity, lay the Bethlehem babe, the human herald of Christ, Truth, who would make plain to benighted understanding the way of salvation through Christ Jesus, till across a night of error should dawn the morning beams and shine the guiding star of being. The Wise-men were led to behold and to follow this daystar of divine Science, lighting the way to eternal harmony.

The time for thinkers has come.

S&H 442:30

Christian Scientists, be a law to yourselves that mental malpractice cannot harm you either when asleep or when awake.

“WATCH”
Christian Science Sentinel
May 1899

“What I say unto you I say unto all, watch.”
What is the meaning of this Scripture? Who or what is it that is to be watched? Not God, for He needs no watching. Not divine Truth, for it needs no watching. Not divine Love, for it needs no watching. Not divine Life, for it needs no watching. Not Good, for it needs no watching.
The Master’s injunction is to watch against evil or sin…To be ever on our guard against the temptations of sin is to watch and pray. To be thus on guard we must have our thought and purpose so fixed upon God, Good,—in other words, our hearts so filled with divine Love,—that we are proof against the snares of the tempter.
And who is the tempter? To the earnest, struggling Christian the grosser forms of sin or error cannot be said to be temptations. These forms can be guarded against with comparative ease. But what of the subtle forms of error, coming in the guise of good? What of those temptations coming in the form of mental suggestion, where the deliberate purpose of the suggestor is to mislead, misguide, confuse, and warp the judgment and discernment of his intended victim? Only a few are awake to this form of temptation. It is perhaps unknown to the Christian believer outside the ranks of Christian Science.
…the methods of depraved and wicked minds “upon mischief bent;” protect themselves …by constant watchfulness and prayer; that is by the unceasing realization of the allness of divine Love and power…
Our Leader, the Rev. Mary Baker Eddy,…caused the text which heads this article to be placed on the first page of our Sentinel. She did it for a purpose…She is aware of the absolute necessity for watchfulness and prayer on the part of Christian Scientists,…the attempt to protect one’s self by the merely intellectual declaration that all is Good, there is no evil, does not at all answer the need. It remains for every earnest disciple to prove the unreality of evil by overcoming it in his life. For only by its destruction in one’s consciousness can one become freed from its claim of dominion.
“What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.” “Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.”
The word rendered “watching” is Greek gregoreo, “to stay awake, ‘be watchful,’ to be in constant readiness, ‘be on the alert.’ “[4] It comes from a word meaning “to wake or rouse up someone.”