June
11, 2023 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:
GOD THE PRESERVER OF MAN Responsive
Reading: — Proverbs
2:1-12,20,21. The
following Citations comprise our Sermon.
From
the Christian Science Quarterly, June 14,
1914
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: Psalms 16:1. Preserve me, O
God: for in thee do I put my
trust.
1 My son, if thou wilt receive my
words, and hide my commandments with
thee;
2 So that thou incline thine ear
unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to
understanding;
3 Yea, if thou criest after
knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for
understanding;
4 If thou seekest her as silver,
and searchest for her as for hid
treasures;
5 Then shalt thou understand the
fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge
of God.
6 For the Lord giveth wisdom: out
of his mouth cometh knowledge and
understanding.
7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the
righteous: he is a buckler to them that
walk uprightly.
8 He keepeth the paths of judgment,
and preserveth the way of his saints.
9 Then shalt thou understand
righteousness, and judgment, and equity;
yea, every good path.
10 When wisdom entereth into thine
heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy
soul;
11 Discretion shall preserve thee,
understanding shall keep thee:
12 To deliver thee from the way of
the evil man, from the man that speaketh
froward things;
20 That thou mayest walk in the way
of good men, and keep the paths of the
righteous.
21 For the upright shall dwell in
the land, and the perfect shall remain in
it.
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) Job
7:20 (3) Job
9:20 (4) Job
10:12 (5)
Matt 15:29-31 (2)
166:16-26 To (3)
231:20 (4)
514:26-2 (5)
494:10
The Holy Bible
King
James Version
(1)
Job 13:3
Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and
I desire to reason with God.
I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee,
O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set
me as a mark against thee, so that I am a
burden to myself?
If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall
condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it
shall also prove me perverse.
Thou hast granted me life and favour, and
thy visitation hath preserved my
spirit.
And Jesus departed from thence, and came
nigh unto the sea of Galilee; and went up
into a mountain, and sat down there. And
great multitudes came unto him, having
with them those that were lame, blind,
dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast
them down at Jesus' feet; and he healed
them: Insomuch that the multitude
wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak,
the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk,
and the blind to see: and they glorified
the God of Israel.
Science
and Health
with Key to the Scriptures
by
Mary Baker Eddy
(1)
243:4-9
The divine Love, which made harmless the
poisonous viper, which delivered men from
the boiling oil, from the fiery furnace,
from the jaws of the lion, can heal the
sick in every age and triumph over sin and
death. It crowned the demonstrations of
Jesus with unsurpassed power and
love.
To ignore God as of little use in sickness
is a mistake. Instead of thrusting Him
aside in times of bodily trouble, and
waiting for the hour of strength in which
to acknowledge Him, we should learn that
He can do all things for us in sickness as
in health. Failing to recover health
through adherence to physiology and
hygiene, the despairing invalid often
drops them, and in his extremity and only
as a last resort, turns to God.
To hold yourself superior to sin, because
God made you superior to it and governs
man, is true wisdom. To fear sin is to
misunderstand the power of Love and the
divine Science of being in man's relation
to God, — to doubt His government and
distrust His omnipotent care. To hold
yourself superior to sickness and death is
equally wise, and is in accordance with
divine Science. To fear them is
impossible, when you fully apprehend God
and know that they are no part of His
creation.
Understanding the control which Love held
over all, Daniel felt safe in the lions'
den, and Paul proved the viper to be
harmless. All of God's creatures, moving
in the harmony of Science, are harmless,
useful, indestructible. A realization of
this grand verity was a source of strength
to the ancient worthies. It supports
Christian healing, and enables its
possessor to emulate the example of
Jesus.
Divine Love always has met and always will
meet every human need. It is not well to
imagine that Jesus demonstrated the divine
power to heal only for a select number or
for a limited period of time, since to all
mankind and in every hour, divine Love
supplies all good.
(7)
Luke 9:51-56 (to 1st .) (8)
Luke 6:27 I, 31 (7)
373:14-15 (8)
383:21 (9)
407:6
(6)
Ps 140:1,7
Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man:
preserve me from the violent man; O God
the Lord, the strength of my salvation,
thou hast covered my head in the day of
battle.
And it came to pass, when the time was
come that he should be received up, he
stedfastly set his face to go to
Jerusalem, And sent messengers before his
face: and they went, and entered into a
village of the Samaritans, to make ready
for him. And they did not receive him,
because his face was as though he would go
to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James
and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt
thou that we command fire to come down
from heaven, and consume them, even as
Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked
them, and said, Ye know not what manner of
spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is
not come to destroy men's lives, but to
save them.
I say unto you which hear, Love your
enemies, do good to them which hate you,
And as ye would that men should do to you,
do ye also to them likewise.
(6) 374:5-6,18
Hatred and its effects on the body are
removed by Love. You confess to ignorance
of the future and incapacity to preserve
your own existence, and this belief helps
rather than hinders disease. Such a state
of mind induces sickness. It is like
walking in darkness on the edge of a
precipice. You cannot forget the belief of
danger, and your steps are less firm
because of your fear, and ignorance of
mental cause and effect.
The fear of disease and the love of sin
are the sources of man's
enslavement.
The tobacco-user, eating or smoking poison
for half a century, sometimes tells you
that the weed preserves his health, but
does this make it so? Does his assertion
prove the use of tobacco to be a
salubrious habit, and man to be the better
for it? Such instances only prove the
illusive physical effect of a false
belief, confirming the Scriptural
conclusion concerning a man, "As he
thinketh in his heart, so is
he."
Man's enslavement to the most relentless
masters — passion, selfishness, envy,
hatred, and revenge — is conquered
only by a mighty struggle. Every hour of
delay makes the struggle more severe. If
man is not victorious over the passions,
they crush out happiness, health, and
manhood. Here Christian Science is the
sovereign panacea, giving strength to the
weakness of mortal mind, — strength
from the immortal and omnipotent Mind,
— and lifting humanity above itself
into purer desires, even into spiritual
power and good-will to man.
(10)
Josh 24:1,2,14,17 (11)
John 8:31-34,56-59 (11)
350:24 Divine (12)
216:7 (13)
252:8
(9)
Ps 40:11
Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from
me, O Lord: let thy lovingkindness and thy
truth continually preserve me.
And Joshua gathered all the tribes of
Israel to Shechem, and called for the
elders of Israel, and for their heads, and
for their judges, and for their officers;
and they presented themselves before God.
And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus
saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers
dwelt on the other side of the flood in
old time, even Terah, the father of
Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and
they served other gods. Now therefore fear
the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and
in truth: and put away the gods which your
fathers served on the other side of the
flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the
Lord. For the Lord our God, he it is that
brought us up and our fathers out of the
land of Egypt, from the house of bondage,
and which did those great signs in our
sight, and preserved us in all the way
wherein we went, and among all the people
through whom we passed:
Then said Jesus to those Jews which
believed on him, If ye continue in my
word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And
ye shall know the truth, and the truth
shall make you free. They answered him, We
be Abraham's seed, and were never in
bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye
shall be made free? Jesus answered them,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever
committeth sin is the servant of sin. Your
father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and
he saw it, and was glad. Then said the
Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty
years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I
say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
Then took they up stones to cast at him:
but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the
temple, going through the midst of them,
and so passed by.
(10)
351:16
We cannot bring out the practical proof of
Christianity, which Jesus required, while
error seems as potent and real to us as
Truth, and while we make a personal devil
and an anthropomorphic God our
starting-points, — especially if we
consider Satan as a being coequal in power
with Deity, if not superior to Him.
Because such starting-points are neither
spiritual nor scientific, they cannot work
out the Spirit-rule of Christian healing,
which proves the nothingness of error,
discord, by demonstrating the
all-inclusiveness of harmonious
Truth.
Divine Truth must be known by its effects
on the body as well as on the mind, before
the Science of being can be demonstrated.
Hence its embodiment in the incarnate
Jesus, — that life-link forming the
connection through which the real reaches
the unreal, Soul rebukes sense, and Truth
destroys error.
Error bites the heel of truth, but cannot
kill truth. Truth bruises the head of
error — destroys error. Spirituality
lays open siege to materialism. On which
side are we fighting?
A knowledge of error and of its operations
must precede that understanding of Truth
which destroys error, until the entire
mortal, material error finally disappears,
and the eternal verity, man created by and
of Spirit, is understood and recognized as
the true likeness of his Maker.
(13) Ps
37:28 (14) Is
54:17 (15) II
Tim 4:18 the (15)
144:30-13 (16)
218:24-2 (17)
219:24-28 (17) Ps
121:8 (18)
Matt 8:23-27 (19)
397:12-22 (20)
392:24 Stand (21)
393:12 (20) Is
49:8-10 (21)
John 5:24,26 (23)
368:20-24 (24)
426:11-28
(12) Ps 12:5-7
For the oppression of the poor, for the
sighing of the needy, now will I arise,
saith the Lord; I will set him in safety
from him that puffeth at him. The words of
the Lord are pure words: as silver tried
in a furnace of earth, purified seven
times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou
shalt preserve them from this generation
for ever.
For the Lord loveth judgment, and
forsaketh not his saints; they are
preserved for ever: but the seed of the
wicked shall be cut off.
No weapon that is formed against thee
shall prosper; and every tongue that shall
rise against thee in judgment thou shalt
condemn. This is the heritage of the
servants of the Lord, and their
righteousness is of me, saith the
Lord.
The Lord shall deliver me from every evil
work, and will preserve me unto his
heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for
ever and ever. Amen.
(14)
387:27-4
The history of Christianity furnishes
sublime proofs of the supporting influence
and protecting power bestowed on man by
his heavenly Father, omnipotent Mind, who
gives man faith and understanding whereby
to defend himself, not only from
temptation, but from bodily suffering. The
Christian martyrs were prophets of
Christian Science. Through the uplifting
and consecrating power of divine Truth,
they obtained a victory over the corporeal
senses, a victory which Science alone can
explain.
It is a question to-day, whether the
ancient inspired healers understood the
Science of Christian healing, or whether
they caught its sweet tones, as the
natural musician catches the tones of
harmony, without being able to explain
them. So divinely imbued were they with
the spirit of Science, that the lack of
the letter could not hinder their work;
and that letter, without the spirit, would
have made void their practice. The
struggle for the recovery of invalids goes
on, not between material methods, but
between mortal minds and immortal Mind.
The victory will be on the patient's side
only as immortal Mind through Christ,
Truth, subdues the human belief in
disease.
Treat a belief in sickness as you would
sin, with sudden dismissal. Resist the
temptation to believe in matter as
intelligent, as having sensation or power.
The Scriptures say, "They that wait upon
the Lord . . . shall run, and not be
weary; and they shall walk, and not
faint." The meaning of that passage is not
perverted by applying it literally to
moments of fatigue, for the moral and
physical are as one in their results. When
we wake to the truth of being, all
disease, pain, weakness, weariness,
sorrow, sin, death, will be unknown, and
the mortal dream will forever
cease.
Those who are healed through metaphysical
Science, not comprehending the Principle
of the cure, may misunderstand it, and
impute their recovery to change of air or
diet, not rendering to God the honor due
to Him alone.
(16)
Ps 91:9,10
Because thou hast made the Lord, which is
my refuge, even the most High, thy
habitation; There shall no evil befall
thee, neither shall any plague come nigh
thy dwelling.
The Lord shall preserve thy going out and
thy coming in from this time forth, and
even for evermore.
And when he was entered into a ship, his
disciples followed him. And, behold, there
arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch
that the ship was covered with the waves:
but he was asleep. And his disciples came
to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save
us: we perish. And he saith unto them, Why
are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then
he arose, and rebuked the winds and the
sea; and there was a great calm. But the
men marvelled, saying, What manner of man
is this, that even the winds and the sea
obey him!
(18)
424:5-11
Accidents are unknown to God, or immortal
Mind, and we must leave the mortal basis
of belief and unite with the one Mind, in
order to change the notion of chance to
the proper sense of God's unerring
direction and thus bring out harmony.
Under divine Providence there can be no
accidents, since there is no room for
imperfection in perfection.
When an accident happens, you think or
exclaim, "I am hurt!" Your thought is more
powerful than your words, more powerful
than the accident itself, to make the
injury real. Now reverse the process.
Declare that you are not hurt and
understand the reason why, and you will
find the ensuing good effects to be in
exact proportion to your disbelief in
physics, and your fidelity to divine
metaphysics, confidence in God as All,
which the Scriptures declare Him to
be.
Stand porter at the door of thought.
Admitting only such conclusions as you
wish realized in bodily results, you will
control yourself harmoniously. When the
condition is present which you say induces
disease, whether it be air, exercise,
heredity, contagion, or accident, then
perform your office as porter and shut out
these unhealthy thoughts and fears.
Exclude from mortal mind the offending
errors; then the body cannot suffer from
them. The issues of pain or pleasure must
come through mind, and like a watchman
forsaking his post, we admit the intruding
belief, forgetting that through divine
help we can forbid this
entrance.
Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist
all that is unlike good. God has made man
capable of this, and nothing can vitiate
the ability and power divinely bestowed on
man.
(19)
Ps 64:1
Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer:
preserve my life from fear of the
enemy.
Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time
have I heard thee, and in a day of
salvation have I helped thee: and I will
preserve thee, and give thee for a
covenant of the people, to establish the
earth, to cause to inherit the desolate
heritages; That thou mayest say to the
prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in
darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed
in the ways, and their pastures shall be
in all high places. They shall not hunger
nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun
smite them: for he that hath mercy on them
shall lead them, even by the springs of
water shall he guide them.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that
heareth my word, and believeth on him that
sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall
not come into condemnation; but is passed
from death unto life. For as the Father
hath life in himself; so hath he given to
the Son to have life in
himself;
(22) 425:15-17
Mortal man will be less mortal, when he
learns that matter never sustained
existence and can never destroy God, who
is man's Life.
That Life is not contingent on bodily
conditions is proved, when we learn that
life and man survive this body. Neither
evil, disease, nor death can be spiritual,
and the material belief in them disappears
in the ratio of one's spiritual
growth.
If the belief in death were obliterated,
and the understanding obtained that there
is no death, this would be a "tree of
life," known by its fruits. Man should
renew his energies and endeavors, and see
the folly of hypocrisy, while also
learning the necessity of working out his
own salvation. When it is learned that
disease cannot destroy life, and that
mortals are not saved from sin or sickness
by death, this understanding will quicken
into newness of life. It will master
either a desire to die or a dread of the
grave, and thus destroy the great fear
that besets mortal existence. The
relinquishment of all faith in death and
also of the fear of its sting would raise
the standard of health and morals far
beyond its present elevation, and would
enable us to hold the banner of
Christianity aloft with unflinching faith
in God, in Life eternal.