Responsive Reading: Isaiah 60 : 1-3   •   II Corinthians 4 : 3-6

1.     Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.

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.

3.     But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:

4.     In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

5.     For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.

6.     For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

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

1     In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

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.

2. Genesis 2 : 1, 6, 7

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.

3. Matthew 8 : 5-10, 13

5     And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,

6     And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.

7     And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.

8     The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.

9     For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

10     When Jesus heard it, he marvelled,     and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

13     And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.

4. John 9 : 1-7

1     And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.

2     And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

3     Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

4     I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

5     As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

6     When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,

7     And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

5. John 17 : 1-3, 9, 22, 23

1     These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:

2     As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.

3     And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

9     I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.

22     And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

23     I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

6. Romans 6 : 12, 14

12     Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

14     For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

7. Romans 8 : 1, 2, 12-17 (to 2nd ;)

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.

12     Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

13     For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

14     For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

15     For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

16     The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

17     And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ;

8. I Corinthians 15 : 22

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

9. 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.

1. 63 : 5 (In)-11

In Science man is the offspring of Spirit. The beautiful, good, and pure constitute his ancestry. His origin is not, like that of mortals, in brute instinct, nor does he pass through material conditions prior to reaching intelligence. Spirit is his primitive and ultimate source of being; God is his Father, and Life is the law of his being.

2. 492 : 3-11

For right reasoning there should be but one fact before the thought, namely, spiritual existence. In reality there is no other existence, since Life cannot be united to its unlikeness, mortality.

Being is holiness, harmony, immortality. It is already proved that a knowledge of this, even in small degree, will uplift the physical and moral standard of mortals, will increase longevity, will purify and elevate character.

3. 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.

4. 517 : 7-10, 25-4

The life-giving quality of Mind is Spirit, not matter. The ideal man corresponds to creation, to intelligence, and to Truth. The ideal woman corresponds to Life and to Love.

Genesis i. 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.

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.

5. 521 : 21-1 (page 523)

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. The history of error or matter, if veritable, would set aside the omnipotence of Spirit; but it is the false history in contradistinction to the true.

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. It records pantheism, opposed to the supremacy of divine Spirit; but this state of things is declared to be temporary and this man to be mortal, — dust returning to dust.

In this erroneous theory, matter takes the place of Spirit. Matter is represented as the life-giving principle of the earth. Spirit is represented as entering matter in order to create man. God's glowing denunciations of man when not found in His image, the likeness of Spirit, convince reason and coincide with revelation in declaring this material creation false.

This latter part of the second chapter of Genesis, which portrays Spirit as supposedly cooperating with matter in constructing the universe, is based on some hypothesis of error, for the Scripture just preceding declares God's work to be finished. Does Life, Truth, and Love produce death, error, and hatred? Does the creator condemn His own creation? Does the unerring Principle of divine law change or repent? It cannot be so.

6. 470 : 18-20

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

7. 338 : 27-32

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. 171 : 4-11

Through discernment of the spiritual opposite of materiality, even the way through Christ, Truth, man will reopen with the key of divine Science the gates of Paradise which human beliefs have closed, and will find himself unfallen, upright, pure, and free, not needing to consult almanacs for the probabilities either of his life or of the weather, not needing to study brainology to learn how much of a man he is.

9. 476 : 21-22, 28-32

Learn this, O mortal, and earnestly seek the spiritual status of man, which is outside of all material selfhood.

When speaking of God's children, not the children of men, Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is within you;" that is, Truth and Love reign in the real man, showing that man in God's image is unfallen and eternal.

10. 557 : 24 (revealed)-27

... revealed religion proclaims the Science of Mind and its formations as being in accordance with the first chapter of the Old Testament, when God, Mind, spake and it was done.