Responsive Reading: Isaiah 60 : 2, 3 • Isaiah 52 : 1-3, 9, 10

2.     For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.

3.     And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

1.     Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.

2.     Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.

3.     For thus saith the Lord, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.

9.     Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.

10.     The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

1. Psalm 104 : 24

24     O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.

2. Genesis 1 : 26-28, 31 (to 1st .)

26     And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27     So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28     And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

31     And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.

3. Genesis 2 : 1, 6, 7, 21, 22

1     Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

6     But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

7     And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

21     And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

22     And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

4. Genesis 4 : 1, 2, 8-12

1     And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.

2     And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

8     And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

9     And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?

10     And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.

11     And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand;

12     When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.

5. Mark 1 : 1, 9-11

1     The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;

9     And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.

10     And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:

11     And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

6. John 5 : 2, 3, 5-9, 14-17, 19 (Verily), 20, 30

2     Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.

3     In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.

5     And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.

6     When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?

7     The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.

8     Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.

9     And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.

14     Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.

15     The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole.

16     And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.

17     But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.

19     Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.

20     For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.

30     I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

7. Romans 8 : 1, 2, 35, 37-39

1     There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

2     For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

35     Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

37     Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

38     For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

39     Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

8. I Corinthians 15 : 22

22     For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

1. 516 : 24-29

Genesis i. 27. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.

To emphasize this momentous thought, it is repeated that God made man in His own image, to reflect the divine Spirit.

2. 517 : 30-4 (to 2nd .)

Divine Love blesses its own ideas, and causes them to multiply, — to manifest His power. Man is not made to till the soil. His birthright is dominion, not subjection. He is lord of the belief in earth and heaven, — himself subordinate alone to his Maker. This is the Science of being.

3. 519 : 7-14

Genesis ii. 1. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

Thus the ideas of God in universal being are complete and forever expressed, for Science reveals infinity and the fatherhood and motherhood of Love. Human capacity is slow to discern and to grasp God's creation and the divine power and presence which go with it, demonstrating its spiritual origin.

4. 521 : 21-29

Genesis ii. 6. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

The Science and truth of the divine creation have been presented in the verses already considered, and now the opposite error, a material view of creation, is to be set forth. The second chapter of Genesis contains a statement of this material view of God and the universe, a statement which is the exact opposite of scientific truth as before recorded.

5. 522 : 3-14

The Science of the first record proves the falsity of the second. If one is true, the other is false, for they are antagonistic. The first record assigns all might and government to God, and endows man out of God's perfection and power. The second record chronicles man as mutable and mortal, — as having broken away from Deity and as revolving in an orbit of his own. Existence, separate from divinity, Science explains as impossible.

This second record unmistakably gives the history of error in its externalized forms, called life and intelligence in matter.

6. 206 : 19-24, 28-31

Does God send sickness, giving the mother her child for the brief space of a few years and then taking it away by death? Is God creating anew what He has already created? The Scriptures are definite on this point, declaring that His work was finished, nothing is new to God, and that it was good.

Omnipotent and infinite Mind made all and includes all. This Mind does not make mistakes and subsequently correct them. God does not cause man to sin, to be sick, or to die.

7. 338 : 12 (The word)-13, 27-32

The word Adam is from the Hebrew adamah, signifying the red color of the ground, dust, nothingness.

Jehovah declared the ground was accursed; and from this ground, or matter, sprang Adam, notwithstanding God had blessed the earth "for man's sake." From this it follows that Adam was not the ideal man for whom the earth was blessed. The ideal man was revealed in due time, and was known as Christ Jesus.

8. 545 : 21-1

The translators of this record of scientific creation entertained a false sense of being. They believed in the existence of matter, its propagation and power. From that standpoint of error, they could not apprehend the nature and operation of Spirit. Hence the seeming contradiction in that Scripture, which is so glorious in its spiritual signification. Truth has but one reply to all error, — to sin, sickness, and death: "Dust [nothingness] thou art, and unto dust [nothingness] shalt thou return."

"As in Adam [error] all die, even so in Christ [Truth] shall all be made alive." The mortality of man is a myth, for man is immortal.

9. 259 : 6-14

In divine Science, man is the true image of God. The divine nature was best expressed in Christ Jesus, who threw upon mortals the truer reflection of God and lifted their lives higher than their poor thought-models would allow, — thoughts which presented man as fallen, sick, sinning, and dying. 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.

10. 230 : 11-15

It would be contrary to our highest ideas of God to suppose Him capable of first arranging law and causation so as to bring about certain evil results, and then punishing the helpless victims of His volition for doing what they could not avoid doing.

11. 282 : 28-31

Whatever indicates the fall of man or the opposite of God or God's absence, is the Adam-dream, which is neither Mind nor man, for it is not begotten of the Father.

12. 304 : 3-14

It is ignorance and false belief, based on a material sense of things, which hide spiritual beauty and goodness. Understanding this, Paul said: "Neither death, nor life, ... nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God." This is the doctrine of Christian Science: that divine Love cannot be deprived of its manifestation, or object; that joy cannot be turned into sorrow, for sorrow is not the master of joy; that good can never produce evil; that matter can never produce mind nor life result in death.

13. 470 : 18-20, 32-5

The standard of perfection was originally God and man. Has God taken down His own standard, and has man fallen?

The relations of God and man, divine Principle and idea, are indestructible in Science; and Science knows no lapse from nor return to harmony, but holds the divine order or spiritual law, in which God and all that He creates are perfect and eternal, to have remained unchanged in its eternal history.

14. 200 : 16-19

The great truth in the Science of being, that the real man was, is, and ever shall be perfect, is incontrovertible; for if man is the image, reflection, of God, he is neither inverted nor subverted, but upright and Godlike.

15. 336 : 25 (God)-26

God, the divine Principle of man, and man in God's likeness are inseparable, harmonious, and eternal.