Responsive Reading: Psalm 119 : 1-7

1.     Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.

2.     Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.

3.     They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways.

4.     Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently.

5.     O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!

6.     Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.

7.     I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments.

1. Deuteronomy 30 : 6, 9 (to 1st ,), 10, 11

6     And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.

9     And the Lord thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand,

10     If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.

11     For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off.

2. II Chronicles 34 : 1 (to ,), 2 (to 2nd ,), 8 (to sent), 8 (to repair), 14 (Hilkiah), 16 (to 1st ,), 19, 22 (to 3rd ,), 23 (to 1st ,), 26 (as), 27, 29, 30 (to 1st ,), 30 (and he read)-32, 33 (And all)

1     Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign,

2     And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father,

8     Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the house, he sent … to repair the house of the Lord his God.

14     Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the Lord given by Moses.

16     And Shaphan carried the book to the king,

19     And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes.

22     And Hilkiah, and they that the king had appointed, went to Huldah the prophetess,

23     And she answered them,

26     …as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, so shall ye say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel concerning the words which thou hast heard;

27     Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the Lord.

29     Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.

30     And the king went up into the house of the Lord, … and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of the Lord.

31     And the king stood in his place, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book.

32     And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.

33     And all his days they departed not from following the Lord, the God of their fathers.

3. Matthew 15 : 1

1     Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying,

4. Mark 7 : 5 (Why)-8

5     Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?

6     He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

7     Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

8     For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.

5. Mark 12 : 28-34

28     And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?

29     And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:

30     And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

31     And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

32     And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:

33     And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

34     And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.

6. John 5 : 39

39     Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

7. Ephesians 1 : 3, 4, 12, 13

3     Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

4     According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

12     That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

13     In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

1. 496 : 6 (in Christian)-8

…in Christian Science the first duty is to obey God, to have one Mind, and to love another as yourself.

2. 9 : 5-16

The test of all prayer lies in the answer to these questions: Do we love our neighbor better because of this asking? Do we pursue the old selfishness, satisfied with having prayed for some- thing better, though we give no evidence of the sincerity of our requests by living consistently with our prayer? If selfishness has given place to kindness, we shall regard our neighbor unselfishly, and bless them that curse us; but we shall never meet this great duty simply by asking that it may be done. There is a cross to be taken up before we can enjoy the fruition of our hope and faith.

3. 239 : 13-32

The watchword of Christian Science is Scriptural: "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts."

To ascertain our progress, we must learn where our affections are placed and whom we acknowledge and obey as God. If divine Love is becoming nearer, dearer, and more real to us, matter is then submitting to Spirit. The objects we pursue and the spirit we manifest reveal our standpoint, and show what we are winning.

Mortal mind is the acknowledged seat of human motives. It forms material concepts and pro-duces every discordant action of the body. If action proceeds from the divine Mind, action is harmonious. If it comes from erring mortal mind, it is discordant and ends in sin, sickness, death. Those two opposite sources never mingle in fount or stream. The perfect Mind sends forth perfection, for God is Mind. Imperfect mortal mind sends forth its own resemblances, of which the wise man said, "All is vanity."

4. 9 : 17-21 (to 1st .), 25-4

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.

Are you willing to leave all for Christ, for Truth, and so be counted among sinners? No! Do you really desire to attain this point? No! Then why make long prayers about it and ask to be Christians, since you do not care to tread in the footsteps of our dear Master? If unwilling to follow his example, why pray with the lips that you may be partakers of his nature? Consistent prayer is the desire to do right. Prayer means that we desire to walk and will walk in the light so far as we receive it, even though with bleeding footsteps, and that waiting patiently on the Lord, we will leave our real desires to be rewarded by Him.

5. 256 : 19-23

Who is it that demands our obedience? He who, in the language of Scripture, "doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?"

6. 184 :12-18

Truth, Life, and Love are the only legitimate and eternal demands on man, and they are spiritual lawgivers, enforcing obedience through divine statutes.

Controlled by the divine intelligence, man is harmonious and eternal. Whatever is governed by a false belief is discordant and mortal.

7. 375 : 11-20

The Christian Scientist demonstrates that divine Mind heals, while the hypnotist dispossesses the patient of his individuality in order to control him. No person is benefited by yielding his mentality to any mental despotism or malpractice. All unscientific mental practice is erroneous and powerless, and should be understood and so rendered fruitless. The genuine Christian Scientist is adding to his patient's mental and moral power, and is increasing his patient's spirituality while restoring him physically through divine Love.

8. 381 : 8-12, 15-4

When infringing some supposed law, you say that there is danger. This fear is the danger and induces the physical effects. We cannot in reality suffer from breaking anything except a moral or spiritual law. … God is the lawmaker, but He is not the author of barbarous codes. In infinite Life and Love there is no sickness, sin, nor death, and the Scriptures declare that we live, move, and have our being in the infinite God.

Think less of the enactments of mortal mind, and you will sooner grasp man's God-given dominion. You must understand your way out of human theories relating to health, or you will never believe that you are quite free from some ailment. The harmony and immortality of man will never be reached without the understanding that Mind is not in matter. Let us banish sickness as an outlaw, and abide by the rule of perpetual harmony, — God's law. It is man's moral right to annul an unjust sentence, a sentence never inflicted by divine authority.

Christ Jesus overruled the error which would impose penalties for transgressions of the physical laws of health; he annulled supposed laws of matter, opposed to the harmonies of Spirit, lacking divine authority and having only human approval for their sanction.

9. 307 : 25 (The divine)-30

The divine Mind is the Soul of man, and gives man dominion over all things. Man was not created from a material basis, nor bidden to obey material laws which Spirit never made; his province is in spiritual statutes, in the higher law of Mind.

10. 311 : 22-25

When humanity does understand this Science, it will become the law of Life to man, — even the higher law of Soul, which prevails over material sense through harmony and immortality.

11. 497 : 24(And)-27

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.