Responsive Reading: Acts 17 : 22-28

22.     Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.

23.     For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.

24.     God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;

25.     Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;

26.     And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;

27.     That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

28.     For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

1. Job 33 : 4

4     The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.

2. Isaiah 44 : 23, 24

23     Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.

24     Thus saith the Lord, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;

3. Isaiah 45 : 2, 3, 12, 13 (to :)

2     I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:

3     And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.

12     I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.

13     I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways:

4. Genesis 16 : 1 (to :)

1     Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children:

5. Genesis 17 : 1, 2, 5, 6, 15-17, 19, 21 (my)

1     And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.

2     And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.

5     Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.

6     And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.

15     And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.

16     And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.

17     Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?

19     And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.

21     …my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.

6. Genesis 21 : 1-3, 5

1     And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken.

2     For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.

3     And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.

5     And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him.

7. Job 38 : 3-7, 31, 32

3     Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.

4     Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.

5     Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?

6     Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;

7     When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

31     Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?

32     Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?

8. Job 37 : 16, 17, 23

16     Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge?

17     How thy garments are warm, when he quieteth the earth by the south wind?

23     Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: he will not afflict.

9. Mark 3 : 7 (Jesus), 8

7     Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea: and a great multitude from Galilee followed him, and from Judæa,

8     And from Jerusalem, and from Idumæa, and from beyond Jordan; and they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they had heard what great things he did, came unto him.

10. Mark 4 : 35-41

35     And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side.

36     And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.

37     And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.

38     And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?

39     And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

40     And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?

41     And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

11. Amos 5 : 1 (to word), 8

1     Hear ye this word…

8     Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name:

1. 516 : 9-23

God fashions all things, after His own likeness. Life is reflected in existence, Truth in truthfulness, God in goodness, which impart their own peace and permanence. Love, redolent with unselfishness, bathes all in beauty and light. The grass beneath our feet silently exclaims, "The meek shall inherit the earth." The modest arbutus sends her sweet breath to heaven. The great rock gives shadow and shelter. The sunlight glints from the church-dome, glances into the prison-cell, glides into the sick-chamber, brightens the flower, beautifies the landscape, blesses the earth. Man, made in His likeness, possesses and reflects God's dominion over all the earth. Man and woman as coexistent and eternal with God forever reflect, in glorified quality, the infinite Father-Mother God.

2. 509 : 16-28

God forms and peoples the universe. The light of spiritual understanding gives gleams of the infinite only, even as nebulæ indicate the immensity of space.

So-called mineral, vegetable, and animal substances are no more contingent now on time or material structure than they were when "the morning stars sang together." Mind made the "plant of the field before it was in the earth." The periods of spiritual ascension are the days and seasons of Mind's creation, in which beauty, sublimity, purity, and holiness — yea, the divine nature — appear in man and the universe never to disappear.

3. 295 : 6-8

The universe is filled with spiritual ideas, which He evolves, and they are obedient to the Mind that makes them.

4. 332 : 4 (Father-Mother)-8

Father-Mother is the name for Deity, which indicates His tender relationship to His spiritual creation. As the apostle expressed it in words which he quoted with approbation from a classic poet: "For we are also His offspring."

5. 257 : 12-21

Mind creates His own likeness in ideas, and the substance of an idea is very far from being the supposed substance of non-intelligent matter. Hence the Father Mind is not the father of matter. The material senses and human conceptions would translate spiritual ideas into material beliefs, and would say that an anthropomorphic God, instead of infinite Principle, — in other words, divine Love, — is the father of the rain, "who hath begotten the drops of dew," who bringeth "forth Mazzaroth in his season," and guideth "Arcturus with his sons."

6. 547 : 25-32

The true theory of the universe, including man, is not in material history but in spiritual development. Inspired thought relinquishes a material, sensual, and mortal theory of the universe, and adopts the spiritual and immortal.

It is this spiritual perception of Scripture, which lifts humanity out of disease and death and inspires faith.

7. 119 : 1-18

When we endow matter with vague spiritual power, — that is, when we do so in our theories, for of course we cannot really endow matter with what it does not and cannot possess, — we disown the Almighty, for such theories lead to one of two things. They either presuppose the self-evolution and self-government of matter, or else they assume that matter is the product of Spirit. To seize the first horn of this dilemma and consider matter as a power in and of itself, is to leave the creator out of His own universe; while to grasp the other horn of the dilemma and regard God as the creator of matter, is not only to make Him responsible for all disasters, physical and moral, but to announce Him as their source, thereby making Him guilty of maintaining perpetual misrule in the form and under the name of natural law.

In one sense God is identical with nature, but this nature is spiritual and is not expressed in matter.

8. 171 : 12-16

Mind's control over the universe, including man, is no longer an open question, but is demonstrable Science. Jesus illustrated the divine Principle and the power of immortal Mind by healing sickness and sin and destroying the foundations of death.

9. 151 : 23-24

The divine Mind that made man maintains His own image and likeness.

10. 134 : 26-30

Jesus said: "I knew that Thou hearest me always;" and he raised Lazarus from the dead, stilled the tempest, healed the sick, walked on the water. There is divine authority for believing in the superiority of spiritual power over material resistance.

11. 124 : 14-31

The universe, like man, is to be interpreted by Science from its divine Principle, God, and then it can be understood; but when explained on the basis of physical sense and represented as subject to growth, maturity, and decay, the universe, like man, is, and must continue to be, an enigma.

Adhesion, cohesion, and attraction are properties of Mind. They belong to divine Principle, and support the equipoise of that thought-force, which launched the earth in its orbit and said to the proud wave, "Thus far and no farther."

Spirit is the life, substance, and continuity of all things. We tread on forces. Withdraw them, and creation must collapse. Human knowledge calls them forces of matter; but divine Science declares that they belong wholly to divine Mind, are inherent in this Mind, and so restores them to their rightful home and classification.

12. 121 : 24-32

The sun is the central stillness, so far as our solar system is concerned, and the earth revolves about the sun once a year, besides turning daily on its own axis.

As thus indicated, astronomical order imitates the action of divine Principle; and the universe, the reflection of God, is thus brought nearer the spiritual fact, and is allied to divine Science as displayed in the everlasting government of the universe.

13. 503 : 9-17

The divine Principle and idea constitute spiritual harmony, — heaven and eternity. In the universe of Truth, matter is unknown. No supposition of error enters there. Divine Science, the Word of God, saith to the darkness upon the face of error, "God is All-in-all," and the light of ever-present Love illumines the universe. Hence the eternal wonder, — that infinite space is peopled with God's ideas, reflecting Him in countless spiritual forms.

14. 331 : 16-17

Everything in God's universe expresses Him.