Responsive Reading: Proverbs 4 : 10, 21-23, 25-27

10.     Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many.

21.     Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.

22.     For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.

23.     Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

25.     Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.

26.     Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.

27.     Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.

1. Psalm 104 : 24, 30, 31, 33, 34

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

30     Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.

31     The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever: the Lord shall rejoice in his works.

33     I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.

34     My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord.

2. Psalm 36 : 9

9     For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.

3. Psalm 16 : 5-11

5     The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.

6     The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.

7     I will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.

8     I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

9     Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.

10     For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

11     Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

4. Deuteronomy 11 : 26-28

26     Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;

27     A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day:

28     And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.

5. Ecclesiastes 1 : 12, 13 (to :)

12     I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

13     And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven:

6. Ecclesiastes 2 : 1, 5, 8-11

1     I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity.

5     I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits:

8     I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts.

9     So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.

10     And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour.

11     Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

7. Isaiah 65 : 13, 14, 16 (he who)-19, 21-23

13     Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed:

14     Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit.

16     …he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes.

17     For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.

18     But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.

19     And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.

21     And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.

22     They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

23     They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them.

8. John 8 : 1, 2, 12 (saying)

1     Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.

2     And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.

12     …saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

9. John 10 : 1, 2, 9, 10 (I), 27-29

1     Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

2     But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

9     I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

10     I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

27     My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

28     And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

29     My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.

10. Romans 8 : 1, 2, 5, 6

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.

5     For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

6     For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

1. 471 : 31 (Science teaches)-1 (to ,)

Science teaches man that God is the only Life,

2. 324 : 13 (The)-18

The way is straight and narrow, which leads to the understanding that God is the only Life. It is a warfare with the flesh, in which we must conquer sin, sickness, and death, either here or hereafter, — certainly before we can reach the goal of Spirit, or life in God.

3. 325 : 24 (he)-26

…he, who is begotten of the beliefs of the flesh and serves them, can never reach in this world the divine heights of our Lord.

4. 319 : 1-2, 5-9 (to ;)

The delusion that there is life in matter has no kinship with the Life supernal.

To calculate one's life-prospects from a material basis, would infringe upon spiritual law and misguide human hope. Having faith in the divine Principle of health and spiritually understanding God, sustains man under all circumstances;

5. 190 : 14-31

Human birth, growth, maturity, and decay are as the grass springing from the soil with beautiful green blades, afterwards to wither and return to its native nothingness. This mortal seeming is temporal; it never merges into immortal being, but finally disappears, and immortal man, spiritual and eternal, is found to be the real man.

The Hebrew bard, swayed by mortal thoughts, thus swept his lyre with saddening strains on human existence:

As for man, his days are as grass:

As a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.

For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone;

And the place thereof shall know it no more.

When hope rose higher in the human heart, he sang:

As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness:

I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness.

· · · · · · · ·

For with Thee is the fountain of life;

In Thy light shall we see light.

6. 191 : 8-23

As a material, theoretical life-basis is found to be a misapprehension of existence, the spiritual and divine Principle of man dawns upon human thought, and leads it to "where the young child was," — even to the birth of a new-old idea, to the spiritual sense of being and of what Life includes. Thus the whole earth will be transformed by Truth on its pinions of light, chasing away the darkness of error.

The human thought must free itself from self-imposed materiality and bondage. It should no longer ask of the head, heart, or lungs: What are man's prospects for life? Mind is not helpless. Intelligence is not mute before non-intelligence.

By its own volition, not a blade of grass springs up, not a spray buds within the vale, not a leaf unfolds its fair outlines, not a flower starts from its cloistered cell.

7. 239 : 16-22, 29-32

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.

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."

8. 272 : 19-27

It is the spiritualization of thought and Christianization of daily life, in contrast with the results of the ghastly farce of material existence; it is chastity and purity, in contrast with the downward tendencies and earthward gravitation of sensualism and impurity, which really attest the divine origin and operation of Christian Science. The triumphs of Christian Science are recorded in the destruction of error and evil, from which are propagated the dismal beliefs of sin, sickness, and death.

9. 265 : 23-5

Who that has felt the loss of human peace has not gained stronger desires for spiritual joy? The aspiration after heavenly good comes even before we discover what belongs to wisdom and Love. The loss of earthly hopes and pleasures brightens the ascending path of many a heart. The pains of sense quickly inform us that the pleasures of sense are mortal and that joy is spiritual.

The pains of sense are salutary, if they wrench away false pleasurable beliefs and transplant the affections from sense to Soul, where the creations of God are good, "rejoicing the heart." Such is the sword of Science, with which Truth decapitates error, materiality giving place to man's higher individuality and destiny.

10. 262 : 17-26

Job said: "I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee." Mortals will echo Job's thought, when the supposed pain and pleasure of matter cease to predominate. They will then drop the false estimate of life and happiness, of joy and sorrow, and attain the bliss of loving unselfishly, working patiently, and conquering all that is unlike God. Starting from a higher standpoint, one rises spontaneously, even as light emits light without effort; for “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

11. 264 : 13-20, 24-31

As mortals gain more correct views of God and man, multitudinous objects of creation, which before were invisible, will become visible. When we realize that Life is Spirit, never in nor of matter, this understanding will expand into self-completeness, finding all in God, good, and needing no other consciousness.

Spirit and its formations are the only realities of being. … Spiritual living and blessedness are the only evidences, by which we can recognize true existence and feel the unspeakable peace which comes from an all-absorbing spiritual love.

When we learn the way in Christian Science and recognize man's spiritual being, we shall behold and understand God's creation, — all the glories of earth and heaven and man.