Responsive Reading: Hebrews 9 : 11-15

11.     Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;

12.     Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

13.     For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:

14.     How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

15.     And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament.

1. Romans 12 : 1, 2

1     I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

2     And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

2. Matthew 4 : 18-25

18     And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.

19     And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

20     And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.

21     And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.

22     And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.

23     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.

24     And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.

25     And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judæa, and from beyond Jordan.

3. Luke 9 : 1, 2, 6, 57-62

1     Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.

2     And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.

6     And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where.

57     And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.

58     And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

59     And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.

60     Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.

61     And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.

62     And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

4. Luke 10 : 1, 2

1     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.

2     Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.

5. Luke 14 : 1-7 (to parable), 16 (A certain)-27, 33-35

1     And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him.

2     And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy.

3     And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?

4     And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go;

5     And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?

6     And they could not answer him again to these things.

7     And he put forth a parable…

16     A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:

17     And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.

18     And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.

19     And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.

20     And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

21     So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.

22     And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.

23     And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

24     For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.

25     And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,

26     If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

27     And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

33     So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

34     Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?

35     It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

6. Matthew 13 : 44-46

44     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.

45     Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:

46     Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

1. 241 : 19-22

The substance of all devotion is the reflection and demonstration of divine Love, healing sickness and destroying sin. Our Master said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”

2. 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.

3. 20 : 27-32

St. Paul wrote, “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;” that is, let us put aside material self and sense, and seek the divine Principle and Science of all healing.

4. 4 : 5-11

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. Outward worship is not of itself sufficient to express loyal and heartfelt gratitude, since he has said: “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”

5. 11 : 22-27

We know that a desire for holiness is requisite in order to gain holiness; but if we desire holiness above all else, we shall sacrifice everything for it. We must be willing to do this, that we may walk securely in the only practical road to holiness.

6. 9 : 17-24

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. This is the El Dorado of Christianity. 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.

7. 27 : 22-27

Jesus sent forth seventy students at one time, but only eleven left a desirable historic record. Tradition credits him with two or three hundred other disciples who have left no name. “Many are called, but few are chosen.” They fell away from grace because they never truly understood their Master’s instruction.

8. 38 : 26-32

To those buried in the belief of sin and self, living only for pleasure or the gratification of the senses, he said in substance: Having eyes ye see not, and having ears ye hear not; lest ye should understand and be converted, and I might heal you. He taught that the material senses shut out Truth and its healing power.

9. 129 : 30-6

The generous liver may object to the author’s small estimate of the pleasures of the table. The sinner sees, in the system taught in this book, that the demands of God must be met. The petty intellect is alarmed by constant appeals to Mind. The licentious disposition is discouraged over its slight spiritual prospects. When all men are bidden to the feast, the excuses come. One has a farm, another has merchandise, and therefore they cannot accept.

10. 91 : 16-21

Absorbed in material selfhood we discern and reflect but faintly the substance of Life or Mind. The denial of material selfhood aids the discernment of man’s spiritual and eternal individuality, and destroys the erroneous knowledge gained from matter or through what are termed the material senses.

11. 455 : 20-2

God selects for the highest service one who has grown into such a fitness for it as renders any abuse of the mission an impossibility. The All-wise does not bestow His highest trusts upon the unworthy. When He commissions a messenger, it is one who is spiritually near Himself. No person can misuse this mental power, if he is taught of God to discern it.

This strong point in Christian Science is not to be overlooked, — that the same fountain cannot send forth both sweet waters and bitter. The higher your attainment in the Science of mental healing and teaching, the more impossible it will become for you intentionally to influence mankind adverse to its highest hope and achievement.

12. 456 : 5-15, 19-20

Strict adherence to the divine Principle and rules of the scientific method has secured the only success of the students of Christian Science. This alone entitles them to the high standing which most of them hold in the community, a reputation experimentally justified by their efforts. Whoever affirms that there is more than one Principle and method of demonstrating Christian Science greatly errs, ignorantly or intentionally, and separates himself from the true conception of Christian Science healing and from its possible demonstration.

One must abide in the morale of truth or he cannot demonstrate the divine Principle.

13. 457 : 19-24

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. To pursue other vocations and advance rapidly in the demonstration of this Science, is not possible.

14. 459 : 3-8

Paul and John had a clear apprehension that, as mortal man achieves no worldly honors except by sacrifice, so he must gain heavenly riches by forsaking all worldliness. Then he will have nothing in common with the worldling’s affections, motives, and aims.

15. 33 : 31-17

Are all who eat bread and drink wine in memory of Jesus willing truly to drink his cup, take his cross, and leave all for the Christ-principle? Then why ascribe this inspiration to a dead rite, instead of showing, by casting out error and making the body “holy, acceptable unto God,” that Truth has come to the understanding? If Christ, Truth, has come to us in demonstration, no other commemoration is requisite, for demonstration is Immanuel, or God with us; and if a friend be with us, why need we memorials of that friend?