July
29, 2012 The
canonical writings, together with the word
of our textbook, corroborating and
explaining the Bible texts in their
spiritual import and application to all
ages, past, present, and future,
constitute a sermon undivorced from truth,
uncontaminated and unfettered by human
hypotheses, and divinely
authorized. Subject:
LOVE Responsive
Reading: — Isaiah 43:1-11
thus. The
following Citations comprise our Sermon.
From
the Christian Science Quarterly, August 3,
1913
Originally published in the early
years of the Christian Science movement,
these lessons are composed of citations
from the Bible (King James Version) and
the Christian Science textbook, Science
and Health with Key to the Scriptures
by Mary Baker Eddy.
EXPLANATORY NOTE:
Friends:
The Bible and the Christian Science
textbook are our only preachers. We shall
now read Scriptural texts, and their
correlative passages from our
denominational textbook; these comprise
our sermon.
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Golden
Text: Jeremiah 31:3. The Lord hath
appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I
have loved thee with an everlasting love:
therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn
thee.
1 Thus saith the Lord that created
thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O
Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed
thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou
art mine.
2 When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee; and through
the rivers, they shall not overflow thee:
when thou walkest through the fire, thou
shalt not be burned; neither shall the
flame kindle upon thee.
3 For I am the Lord thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave
Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba
for thee.
4 Since thou wast precious in my
sight, thou hast been honourable, and I
have loved thee: therefore will I give men
for thee, and people for thy life.
5 Fear not: for I am with thee: I
will bring thy seed from the east, and
gather thee from the west;
6 I will say to the north, Give up;
and to the south, Keep not back: bring my
sons from far, and my daughters from the
ends of the earth;
7 Even every one that is called by
my name: for I have created him for my
glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made
him.
8 Bring forth the blind people that
have eyes, and the deaf that have
ears.
9 Let all the nations be gathered
together, and let the people be assembled:
who among them can declare this, and shew
us former things? let them bring forth
their witnesses, that they may be
justified: or let them hear, and say, It
is truth.
10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the
Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen:
that ye may know and believe me, and
understand that I am he: before me there
was no God formed, neither shall there be
after me.
11 I, even I, am the Lord; and
beside me there is no saviour.
Section
One
Section
Two
Section
Three
Section
Four
Section
Five
Section
Six
This lesson
was prepared by early students of Christian Science to
reinforce the class teaching given by Mary Baker Eddy in the
Massachusetts Metaphysical College in the 1880s and 1890s.
Consistent with the outline used in her teaching, the six
sections of the early lessons usually followed a general
outline: Section
One: The relation of the subject to
God.
Section
Two: The relation of the subject to man or Christ Jesus.
Section Three: The presentation of Christian Science
through a relative law, as related to the
subject.
Section
Four: The application of the relative law presented in
section three. Section Five: The demonstration of the
relative law from section three. Section Six: The
triumph or victory of the relative law, leaving the student
in the kingdom of God. For more information, visit our
Bible
Lessons
information page.
Study Guide
(2)
John 17:24 (3) Rev
3:9, 10 (4)
Jude 1:21 (2)
239:16 (3)
275:6, 14-17 (4)
331:18-20 (5)
305:22-27
The Holy Bible
King
James Version
(1)
Deut 7:7-9
The Lord did not set his love upon you,
nor choose you, because ye were more in
number than any people; for ye were the
fewest of all people: But because the Lord
loved you, and because he would keep the
oath which he had sworn unto your fathers,
hath the Lord brought you out with a
mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the
house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh
king of Egypt. Know therefore that the
Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God,
which keepeth covenant and mercy with them
that love him and keep his commandments to
a thousand generations;
Father, I will that they also, whom thou
hast given me, be with me where I am; that
they may behold my glory, which thou hast
given me: for thou lovedst me before the
foundation of the world.
Behold, I will make them of the synagogue
of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are
not, but do lie; behold, I will make them
to come and worship before thy feet, and
to know that I have loved thee. Because
thou hast kept the word of my patience, I
also will keep thee from the hour of
temptation, which shall come upon all the
world, to try them that dwell upon the
earth.
Keep yourselves in the love of God,
looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus
Christ unto eternal life.
Science
and Health
with Key to the Scriptures
by
Mary Baker Eddy
(1)
140:25
The Christian Science God is universal,
eternal, divine Love, which changeth not
and causeth no evil, disease, nor death.
It is indeed mournfully true that the
older Scripture is reversed. In the
beginning God created man in His, God's,
image; but mortals would procreate man,
and make God in their own human image.
What is the god of a mortal, but a mortal
magnified?
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 starting-point of divine Science is
that God, Spirit, is All-in-all, and that
there is no other might nor Mind, —
that God is Love, and therefore He is
divine Principle. All substance,
intelligence, wisdom, being, immortality,
cause, and effect belong to God. These are
His attributes, the eternal manifestations
of the infinite divine Principle,
Love.
God is individual, incorporeal. He is
divine Principle, Love, the universal
cause, the only creator, and there is no
other self-existence.
In the illusion of life that is here
to-day and gone to-morrow, man would be
wholly mortal, were it not that Love, the
divine Principle that obtains in divine
Science, destroys all error and brings
immortality to light.
(6) Isa
45:16, 17, 21 (7) Hos
11:1, 3 (8) II
Tim 1:7 God (7)
xi:9-21
To
preach deliverance to the captives [of
sense], (8)
328:6 (9)
414:26
(5)
Isa 63:7, 8
I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the
Lord, and the praises of the Lord,
according to all that the Lord hath
bestowed on us, and the great goodness
toward the house of Israel, which he hath
bestowed on them according to his mercies,
and according to the multitude of his
lovingkindnesses. For he said, Surely they
are my people, children that will not lie:
so he was their Saviour.
They shall be ashamed, and also
confounded, all of them: they shall go to
confusion together that are makers of
idols. But Israel shall be saved in the
Lord with an everlasting salvation: ye
shall not be ashamed nor confounded world
without end. Tell ye, and bring them near;
yea, let them take counsel together: who
hath declared this from ancient time? who
hath told it from that time? have not I
the Lord? and there is no God else beside
me; a just God and a Saviour; there is
none beside me.
When Israel was a child, then I loved him,
and called my son out of Egypt. I taught
Ephraim also to go, taking them by their
arms; but they knew not that I healed
them.
God hath not given us the spirit of fear;
but of power, and of love, and of a sound
mind.
(6) 285:23
By interpreting God as a corporeal Saviour
but not as the saving Principle, or divine
Love, we shall continue to seek salvation
through pardon and not through reform, and
resort to matter instead of Spirit for the
cure of the sick. As mortals reach,
through knowledge of Christian Science, a
higher sense, they will seek to learn, not
from matter, but from the divine
Principle, God, how to demonstrate the
Christ, Truth, as the healing and saving
power.
The physical healing of Christian Science
results now, as in Jesus' time, from the
operation of divine Principle, before
which sin and disease lose their reality
in human consciousness and disappear as
naturally and as necessarily as darkness
gives place to light and sin to
reformation. Now, as then, these mighty
works are not supernatural, but supremely
natural. They are the sign of Immanuel, or
"God with us," — a divine influence
ever present in human consciousness and
repeating itself, coming now as was
promised aforetime,
And
recovering of sight to the blind,
To
set at liberty them that are
bruised.
Understanding little about the divine
Principle which saves and heals, mortals
get rid of sin, sickness, and death only
in belief. These errors are not thus
really destroyed, and must therefore cling
to mortals until, here or hereafter, they
gain the true understanding of God in the
Science which destroys human delusions
about Him and reveals the grand realities
of His allness.
Keep in mind the verity of being, —
that man is the image and likeness of God,
in whom all being is painless and
permanent. Remember that man's perfection
is real and unimpeachable, whereas
imperfection is blameworthy, unreal, and
is not brought about by divine
Love.
(10) I
John 5:11, 12 (11)
Gal 5:6, 13, 14 (11)
501:10 (12)
473:18 (13)
458:25 The
(9)
I John 4:7-9
Beloved, let us love one another: for love
is of God; and every one that loveth is
born of God, and knoweth God. He that
loveth not knoweth not God; for God is
love. In this was manifested the love of
God toward us, because that God sent his
only begotten Son into the world, that we
might live through him.
And this is the record, that God hath
given to us eternal life, and this life is
in his Son. He that hath the Son hath
life; and he that hath not the Son of God
hath not life.
For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision
availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision;
but faith which worketh by love. For,
brethren, ye have been called unto
liberty; only use not liberty for an
occasion to the flesh, but by love serve
one another. For all the law is fulfilled
in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love
thy neighbour as thyself.
(10)
25:13-16
Jesus taught the way of Life by
demonstration, that we may understand how
this divine Principle heals the sick,
casts out error, and triumphs over
death.
The incarnation of Truth, that
amplification of wonder and glory which
angels could only whisper and which God
illustrated by light and harmony, is
consonant with ever-present Love.
So-called mystery and miracle, which
subserve the end of natural good, are
explained by that Love for whose rest the
weary ones sigh when needing something
more native to their immortal cravings
than the history of perpetual
evil.
In an age of ecclesiastical despotism,
Jesus introduced the teaching and practice
of Christianity, affording the proof of
Christianity's truth and love; but to
reach his example and to test its unerring
Science according to his rule, healing
sickness, sin, and death, a better
understanding of God as divine Principle,
Love, rather than personality or the man
Jesus, is required.
The Christian Scientist wisely shapes his
course, and is honest and consistent in
following the leadings of divine Mind. He
must prove, through living as well as
healing and teaching, that Christ's way is
the only one by which mortals are
radically saved from sin and
sickness.
(13) I
Cor 14:33 (14)
James 3:16-18 (15)
Rom 5:1-5 (15)
583:14 (16)
23:23-27 (to 1st ") (17)
136:1 (18)
55:16-21 (17)
John 10:37, 38 (18)
John 14:12 (20)
420:24 (21)
411:10, 27-4 (22)
410:17 (20)
Isa 40:28, 29 (21)
Rev 21:3, 4 (24)
257:24 (25)
520:3-10 The (26)
340:12
(12) II Cor 13:11 Be
Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one
mind, live in peace; and the God of love
and peace shall be with you.
For God is not the author of confusion,
but of peace, as in all churches of the
saints.
For where envying and strife is, there is
confusion and every evil work. But the
wisdom that is from above is first pure,
then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be
entreated, full of mercy and good fruits,
without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
And the fruit of righteousness is sown in
peace of them that make peace.
Therefore being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ: By whom also we have access by
faith into this grace wherein we stand,
and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
And not only so, but we glory in
tribulations also: knowing that
tribulation worketh patience; And
patience, experience; and experience,
hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because
the love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given
unto us.
(14)
35:19-20 Our church
Our church is built on the divine
Principle, Love.
The Church is that institution, which
affords proof of its utility and is found
elevating the race, rousing the dormant
understanding from material beliefs to the
apprehension of spiritual ideas and the
demonstration of divine Science, thereby
casting out devils, or error, and healing
the sick.
One kind of faith trusts one's welfare to
others. Another kind of faith understands
divine Love and how to work out one's "own
salvation, with fear and
trembling."
Jesus established his church and
maintained his mission on a spiritual
foundation of Christ-healing. He taught
his followers that his religion had a
divine Principle, which would cast out
error and heal both the sick and the
sinning. He claimed no intelligence,
action, nor life separate from God.
Despite the persecution this brought upon
him, he used his divine power to save men
both bodily and spiritually.
My weary hope tries to realize that happy
day, when man shall recognize the Science
of Christ and love his neighbor as
himself, — when he shall realize
God's omnipotence and the healing power of
the divine Love in what it has done and is
doing for mankind.
(16)
Matt 12:10-15, 17, 18
And, behold, there was a man which had his
hand withered. And they asked him, saying,
Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days?
that they might accuse him. And he said
unto them, What man shall there be among
you, that shall have one sheep, and if it
fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will
he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?
How much then is a man better than a
sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well
on the sabbath days. Then saith he to the
man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he
stretched it forth; and it was restored
whole, like as the other. Then the
Pharisees went out, and held a council
against him, how they might destroy him.
But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew
himself from thence: and great multitudes
followed him, and he healed them all; That
it might be fulfilled which was spoken by
Esaias the prophet, saying, Behold my
servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved,
in whom my soul is well pleased: I will
put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew
judgment to the Gentiles.
If I do not the works of my Father,
believe me not. But if I do, though ye
believe not me, believe the works: that ye
may know, and believe, that the Father is
in me, and I in him.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that
believeth on me, the works that I do shall
he do also; and greater works than these
shall he do; because I go unto my
Father.
(19)
241:19-21
The substance of all devotion is the
reflection and demonstration of divine
Love, healing sickness and destroying
sin.
Tell the sick that they can meet disease
fearlessly, if they only realize that
divine Love gives them all power over
every physical action and
condition.
If Spirit or the power of divine Love bear
witness to the truth, this is the
ultimatum, the scientific way, and the
healing is instantaneous. Always begin
your treatment by allaying the fear of
patients. Silently reassure them as to
their exemption from disease and danger.
Watch the result of this simple rule of
Christian Science, and you will find that
it alleviates the symptoms of every
disease. If you succeed in wholly removing
the fear, your patient is healed. The
great fact that God lovingly governs all,
never punishing aught but sin, is your
standpoint, from which to advance and
destroy the human fear of
sickness.
The Apostle John says: "There is no fear
in Love, but perfect Love casteth out
fear. . . . He that feareth is not made
perfect in Love." Here is a definite and
inspired proclamation of Christian
Science.
(19)
Ps 147:2, 3, 5
The Lord doth build up Jerusalem: he
gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.
He healeth the broken in heart, and
bindeth up their wounds. Great is our
Lord, and of great power: his
understanding is infinite.
Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard,
that the everlasting God, the Lord, the
Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth
not, neither is weary? there is no
searching of his understanding. He giveth
power to the faint; and to them that have
no might he increaseth
strength.
And I heard a great voice out of heaven
saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is
with men, and he will dwell with them, and
they shall be his people, and God himself
shall be with them, and be their God. And
God shall wipe away all tears from their
eyes; and there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall
there be any more pain: for the former
things are passed away.
(23) 567:7
To infinite, ever-present Love, all is
Love, and there is no error, no sin,
sickness, nor death. Against Love, the
dragon warreth not long, for he is killed
by the divine Principle. Truth and Love
prevail against the dragon because the
dragon cannot war with them. Thus endeth
the conflict between the flesh and
Spirit.
Who hath found finite life or love
sufficient to meet the demands of human
want and woe, — to still the desires,
to satisfy the aspirations? Infinite Mind
cannot be limited to a finite form, or
Mind would lose its infinite character as
inexhaustible Love, eternal Life,
omnipotent Truth.
The depth, breadth, height, might,
majesty, and glory of infinite Love fill
all space. That is enough! Human language
can repeat only an infinitesimal part of
what exists. The absolute ideal, man, is
no more seen nor comprehended by mortals,
than is his infinite Principle, Love.
Principle and its idea, man, are
coexistent and eternal.
Divine Love is infinite. Therefore all
that really exists is in and of God, and
manifests His love.