August
2, 2026 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: — Romans 13:1, 3,
7-14. The
following Citations comprise our Sermon.
From
the Christian Science Quarterly, August 5,
1917
Originally published in the early
years of the Christian Science movement,
these lessons are comprised 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: John 14:21. He that hath my
commandments, and keepeth them, he it is
that loveth me: and he that loveth me
shall be loved of my Father, and I will
love him, and will manifest myself to
him.
1 Let every soul be subject unto
the higher powers. For there is no power
but of God: the powers that be are
ordained of God.
3 For rulers are not a terror to
good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou
then not be afraid of the power? do that
which is good, and thou shalt have praise
of the same:
7 Render therefore to all their
dues: tribute to whom tribute is due;
custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear;
honour to whom honour.
8 Owe no man any thing, but to love
one another: for he that loveth another
hath fulfilled the law.
9 For this, Thou shalt not commit
adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt
not steal, Thou shalt not bear false
witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if
there be any other commandment, it is
briefly comprehended in this saying,
namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself.
10 Love worketh no ill to his
neighbour: therefore love is the
fulfilling of the law.
11 And that, knowing the time, that
now it is high time to awake out of sleep:
for now is our salvation nearer than when
we believed.
12 The night is far spent, the day
is at hand: let us therefore cast off the
works of darkness, and let us put on the
armour of light.
13 Let us walk honestly, as in the
day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not
in chambering and wantonness, not in
strife and envying.
14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and make not provision for the
flesh, to fulfil the lusts
thereof.
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) Isa
41:17, 18 (3)
Deut 10:14, 15, 18 (4) I
John 4:8 (2)
256:7, 13, 24-25 (3)
516:4
The Holy Bible
King
James Version
(1)
Isa 40:10, 11
Behold, the Lord God will come with strong
hand, and his arm shall rule for him:
behold, his reward is with him, and his
work before him. He shall feed his flock
like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs
with his arm, and carry them in his bosom,
and shall gently lead those that are with
young.
When the poor and needy seek water, and
there is none, and their tongue faileth
for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I
the God of Israel will not forsake them. I
will open rivers in high places, and
fountains in the midst of the valleys: I
will make the wilderness a pool of water,
and the dry land springs of
water.
Behold, the heaven and the heaven of
heavens is the Lord's thy God, the earth
also, with all that therein is. Only the
Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love
them, and he chose their seed after them,
even you above all people, as it is this
day. He doth execute the judgment of the
fatherless and widow, and loveth the
stranger, in giving him food and
raiment.
He that loveth not knoweth not God; for
God is love.
Science
and Health
with Key to the Scriptures
by
Mary Baker Eddy
(1)
275:6
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.
Love, the divine Principle, is the Father
and Mother of the universe, including man.
The everlasting I
AM
is not bounded nor compressed within the
narrow limits of physical humanity, nor
can He be understood aright through mortal
concepts. The precise form of God must be
of small importance in comparison with the
sublime question, What is infinite Mind or
divine Love? No form nor physical
combination is adequate to represent
infinite Love.
The substance, Life, intelligence, Truth,
and Love, which constitute Deity, are
reflected by His creation; and when we
subordinate the false testimony of the
corporeal senses to the facts of Science,
we shall see this true likeness and
reflection everywhere.
(6) Jer
10:23 (7) Ps
84:2 (8)
Deut 10:12, 13 (5)
258:1 (6)
13:25-29 (7)
60:24-31 (8)
21:1-5, 9
(5)
Ps 146:3-5
Put not your trust in princes, nor in the
son of man, in whom there is no help. His
breath goeth forth, he returneth to his
earth; in that very day his thoughts
perish. Happy is he that hath the God of
Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the
Lord his God:
O Lord, I know that the way of man is not
in himself: it is not in man that walketh
to direct his steps.
My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for
the courts of the Lord: my heart and my
flesh crieth out for the living
God.
And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy
God require of thee, but to fear the Lord
thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to
love him, and to serve the Lord thy God
with all thy heart and with all thy soul,
To keep the commandments of the Lord, and
his statutes, which I command thee this
day for thy good?
(4)
257:24-27
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?
A mortal, corporeal, or finite conception
of God cannot embrace the glories of
limitless, incorporeal Life and Love.
Hence the unsatisfied human craving for
something better, higher, holier, than is
afforded by a material belief in a
physical God and man. The insufficiency of
this belief to supply the true idea proves
the falsity of material belief.
Because of human ignorance of the divine
Principle, Love, the Father of all is
represented as a corporeal creator; hence
men recognize themselves as merely
physical, and are ignorant of man as God's
image or reflection and of man's eternal
incorporeal existence.
An ill-attuned ear calls discord harmony,
not appreciating concord. So physical
sense, not discerning the true happiness
of being, places it on a false basis.
Science will correct the discord, and
teach us life's sweeter harmonies. Soul
has infinite resources with which to bless
mankind, and happiness would be more
readily attained and would be more secure
in our keeping, if sought in
Soul.
If Truth is overcoming error in your daily
walk and conversation, you can finally
say, "I have fought a good fight . . . I
have kept the faith," because you are a
better man. This is having our part in the
at-one-ment with Truth and Love. If the
disciple is advancing spiritually, he is
striving to enter in. He constantly turns
away from material sense, and looks
towards the imperishable things of Spirit.
If honest, he will be in earnest from the
start, and gain a little each day in the
right direction, till at last he finishes
his course with joy.
(10)
John 15:9, 10, 12 (11)
Eph 3:14, 17-19 (10)
54:3-17 (11)
51:23 (12)
4:3-9, 17-22
(9)
Isa 54:11, 13, 14
O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and
not comforted, behold, I will lay thy
stones with fair colours, and lay thy
foundations with sapphires. And all thy
children shall be taught of the Lord; and
great shall be the peace of thy children.
In righteousness shalt thou be
established: thou shalt be far from
oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and
from terror; for it shall not come near
thee.
As the Father hath loved me, so have I
loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye
keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my
love; even as I have kept my Father's
commandments, and abide in his love. This
is my commandment, That ye love one
another, as I have loved you.
For this cause I bow my knees unto the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, That
Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith;
that ye, being rooted and grounded in
love, May be able to comprehend with all
saints what is the breadth, and length,
and depth, and height; And to know the
love of Christ, which passeth knowledge,
that ye might be filled with all the
fulness of God.
(9)
19:6
Jesus aided in reconciling man to God by
giving man a truer sense of Love, the
divine Principle of Jesus' teachings, and
this truer sense of Love redeems man from
the law of matter, sin, and death by the
law of Spirit, — the law of divine
Love.
Out of the amplitude of his pure
affection, he defined Love. With the
affluence of Truth, he vanquished error.
The world acknowledged not his
righteousness, seeing it not; but earth
received the harmony his glorified example
introduced. Who is ready to follow his
teaching and example? All must sooner or
later plant themselves in Christ, the true
idea of God. That he might liberally pour
his dear-bought treasures into empty or
sin-filled human storehouses, was the
inspiration of Jesus' intense human
sacrifice. In witness of his divine
commission, he presented the proof that
Life, Truth, and Love heal the sick and
the sinning, and triumph over death
through Mind, not matter. This was the
highest proof he could have offered of
divine Love.
He was inspired by God, by Truth and Love,
in all that he said and did. The motives
of his persecutors were pride, envy,
cruelty, and vengeance, inflicted on the
physical Jesus, but aimed at the divine
Principle, Love, which rebuked their
sensuality.
What we most need is the prayer of fervent
desire for growth in grace, expressed in
patience, meekness, love, and good deeds.
To keep the commandments of our Master and
follow his example, is our proper debt to
him and the only worthy evidence of our
gratitude for all that he has done. Simply
asking that we may love God will never
make us love Him; but the longing to be
better and holier, expressed in daily
watchfulness and in striving to assimilate
more of the divine character, will mould
and fashion us anew, until we awake in His
likeness.
(13) I
Thess 4:8, 9 (14)
Matt 5:43, 44 (15)
Phil 2:1-3 (14)
57:22 (15)
147:29 (16)
518:15 (17) Ps
146:8 (18)
Matt 20:30, 34 (19)
Rom 14:10, 13 (18)
242:15 In (19)
243:25 (20)
5:3-6 (21)
6:3-7 (21)
Isa 2:2-4 (22)
Isa 25:7, 8 (23)
Rom 8:35, 37 (23)
265:3-15, 23 (24)
519:9-11
(12)
Zech 8:16, 17
These are the things that ye shall do;
speak ye every man the truth to his
neighbour; execute the judgment of truth
and peace in your gates: And let none of
you imagine evil in your hearts against
his neighbour; and love no false oath: for
all these are things that I hate, saith
the Lord.
He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not
man, but God, who hath also given unto us
his holy Spirit. But as touching brotherly
love ye need not that I write unto you:
for ye yourselves are taught of God to
love one another.
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou
shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine
enemy. But I say unto you, Love your
enemies, bless them that curse you, do
good to them that hate you, and pray for
them which despitefully use you, and
persecute you;
If there be therefore any consolation in
Christ, if any comfort of love, if any
fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels
and mercies, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be
like-minded, having the same love, being
of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be
done through strife or vainglory; but in
lowliness of mind let each esteem other
better than themselves.
(13)
467:9-13
It should be thoroughly understood that
all men have one Mind, one God and Father,
one Life, Truth, and Love. Mankind will
become perfect in proportion as this fact
becomes apparent, war will cease and the
true brotherhood of man will be
established.
Human affection is not poured forth
vainly, even though it meet no return.
Love enriches the nature, enlarging,
purifying, and elevating it. The wintry
blasts of earth may uproot the flowers of
affection, and scatter them to the winds;
but this severance of fleshly ties serves
to unite thought more closely to God, for
Love supports the struggling heart until
it ceases to sigh over the world and
begins to unfold its wings for
heaven.
A pure affection takes form in goodness,
but Science alone reveals the divine
Principle of goodness and demonstrates its
rules.
The rich in spirit help the poor in one
grand brotherhood, all having the same
Principle, or Father; and blessed is that
man who seeth his brother's need and
supplieth it, seeking his own in another's
good. Love giveth to the least spiritual
idea might, immortality, and goodness,
which shine through all as the blossom
shines through the bud. All the varied
expressions of God reflect health,
holiness, immortality — infinite
Life, Truth, and Love.
(16)
Isa 40:4, 5
Every valley shall be exalted, and every
mountain and hill shall be made low: and
the crooked shall be made straight, and
the rough places plain: And the glory of
the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh
shall see it together: for the mouth of
the Lord hath spoken it.
The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind:
the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down:
the Lord loveth the righteous:
And, behold, two blind men sitting by the
way side, when they heard that Jesus
passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy
on us, O Lord, thou son of David. So Jesus
had compassion on them, and touched their
eyes: and immediately their eyes received
sight, and they followed him.
But why dost thou judge thy brother? or
why dost thou set at nought thy brother?
for we shall all stand before the judgment
seat of Christ. Let us not therefore judge
one another any more: but judge this
rather, that no man put a stumblingblock
or an occasion to fall in his brother's
way.
(17)
61:9-11
Every valley of sin must be exalted, and
every mountain of selfishness be brought
low, that the highway of our God may be
prepared in Science.
In patient obedience to a patient God, let
us labor to dissolve with the universal
solvent of Love the adamant of error,
— self-will, self-justification, and
self-love, — which wars against
spirituality and is the law of sin and
death.
Truth has no consciousness of error. Love
has no sense of hatred. Life has no
partnership with death. Truth, Life, and
Love are a law of annihilation to
everything unlike themselves, because they
declare nothing except God.
Sorrow for wrong-doing is but one step
towards reform and the very easiest step.
The next and great step required by wisdom
is the test of our sincerity, —
namely, reformation.
Divine Love corrects and governs man. Men
may pardon, but this divine Principle
alone reforms the sinner. God is not
separate from the wisdom He bestows. The
talents He gives we must
improve.
(20)
Ps 16:8, 9, 11
I have set the Lord always before me:
because he is at my right hand, I shall
not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad,
and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also
shall rest in hope. Thou wilt shew me the
path of life: in thy presence is fulness
of joy; at thy right hand there are
pleasures for evermore.
And it shall come to pass in the last
days, that the mountain of the Lord's
house shall be established in the top of
the mountains, and shall be exalted above
the hills; and all nations shall flow unto
it. And many people shall go and say, Come
ye, and let us go up to the mountain of
the Lord, to the house of the God of
Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways,
and we will walk in his paths: for out of
Zion shall go forth the law, and the word
of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall
judge among the nations, and shall rebuke
many people: and they shall beat their
swords into plowshares, and their spears
into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift
up sword against nation, neither shall
they learn war any more.
And he will destroy in this mountain the
face of the covering cast over all people,
and the veil that is spread over all
nations. He will swallow up death in
victory; and the Lord God will wipe away
tears from off all faces; and the rebuke
of his people shall he take away from off
all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken
it.
Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or
peril, or sword? Nay, in all these things
we are more than conquerors through him
that loved us.
(22) 304:9-14
This is the doctrine of Christian Science:
that divine Love cannot be deprived of its
manifestation, or object; that joy cannot
be turned into sorrow, for sorrow is not
the master of joy; that good can never
produce evil; that matter can never
produce mind nor life result in
death.
Man understands spiritual existence in
proportion as his treasures of Truth and
Love are enlarged. Mortals must gravitate
Godward, their affections and aims grow
spiritual, — they must near the
broader interpretations of being, and gain
some proper sense of the infinite, —
in order that sin and mortality may be put
off. This scientific sense of being,
forsaking matter for Spirit, by no means
suggests man's absorption into Deity and
the loss of his identity, but confers upon
man enlarged individuality, a wider sphere
of thought and action, a more expansive
love, a higher and more permanent peace.
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.
Thus the ideas of God in universal being
are complete and forever expressed, for
Science reveals infinity and the
fatherhood and motherhood of
Love.