Responsive Reading
Isaiah 9:2, 6 (to 2nd :), 7; Psalms 148:1–6 (to :), 11–13
Isa. 9:2The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.
6For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder:
7Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
Ps. 148:1Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens: praise him in the heights.
2Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts.
3Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light.
4Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens.
5Let them praise the name of the Lord: for he commanded, and they were created.
6He hath also stablished them for ever and ever:
11Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of the earth:
12Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children:
13Let them praise the name of the Lord: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven.
Section 1
The Bible
Psalms 68:32, 33 lo, 34 (to :)
32Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth; O sing praises unto the Lord;
33lo, he doth send out his voice, and that a mighty voice.
34Ascribe ye strength unto God:
Psalms 104:1–3, 5, 24, 30
1Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty.
2Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:
3Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind:
5Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever.
24O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.
30Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.
Psalms 36:9
9For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.
Science and Health with Key to the Scripturesby Mary Baker Eddy
295:5–8
Mortals
unlike
immortals
God creates and governs the universe, including man. The universe is filled with spiritual ideas, which He evolves, and they are obedient to the Mind that makes them.
502:28
The universe reflects God. There is but one creator and one creation. This creation consists of the unfolding of spiritual ideas and their identities, which are embraced in the infinite Mind and forever reflected. These ideas range from the infinitesimal to infinity, and the highest ideas are the sons and daughters of God.
503:10
Spiritual
harmony
In the universe of Truth, matter is unknown. No supposition of error enters there. Divine Science, the Word of God, saith to the darkness upon the face of error, “God is All-in-all,” and the light of ever-present Love illumines the universe. Hence the eternal wonder, — that infinite space is peopled with God’s ideas, reflecting Him in countless spiritual forms.
209:5–8
Allness of
Truth
Mind, supreme over all its formations and governing them all, is the central sun of its own systems of ideas, the life and light of all its own vast creation; and man is tributary to divine Mind.
505:22–28
Spiritual understanding unfolds Mind, — Life, Truth, and Love, — and demonstrates the divine sense, giving the spiritual proof of the universe in Christian Science.
This understanding is not intellectual, is not the result of scholarly attainments; it is the reality of all things brought to light.
Section 2
The Bible
Daniel 2:20 Blessed, 22
20Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his:
22He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.
Isaiah 7:14 the
14the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Luke 1:26 the angel, 27, 30, 31, 34, 35, 37, 38 (to 1st .), 46 My, 47, 49
26the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
27To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
30And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
31And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
34Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
35And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
37For with God nothing shall be impossible.
38And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.
46My soul doth magnify the Lord,
47And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
49For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.
Science and Health
501:10–13
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.
29:20, 32–1
Spiritual
conception
The illumination of Mary’s spiritual sense put to silence material law and its order of generation, and brought forth her child by the revelation of Truth, demonstrating God as the Father of men. The Holy Ghost, or divine Spirit, overshadowed the pure sense of the Virgin-mother with the full recognition that being is Spirit. The Christ dwelt forever an idea in the bosom of God, the divine Principle of the man Jesus, and woman perceived this spiritual idea, though at first faintly developed.
Jesus was the offspring of Mary’s self-conscious communion with God.
315:21–26
Immaculate
conception
Jesus’ spiritual origin and understanding enabled him to demonstrate the facts of being, — to prove irrefutably how spiritual Truth destroys material error, heals sickness, and overcomes death. The divine conception of Jesus pointed to this truth and presented an illustration of creation.
135:9
Spiritual evolution alone is worthy of the exercise of divine power.
260:8
Spiritual
discovery
Through many generations human beliefs will be attaining diviner conceptions, and the immortal and perfect model of God’s creation will finally be seen as the only true conception of being.
Section 3
The Bible
Psalms 118:27 (to :)
27God is the Lord, which hath shewed us light:
Luke 2:1, 3–11, 13, 14
1And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
3And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
4And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judæa, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
5To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
6And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
7And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
8And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Science and Health
494:15 (only)
The miracle of grace is no miracle to Love.
vii:2–10
The wakeful shepherd beholds the first faint morning beams, ere cometh the full radiance of a risen day. So shone the pale star to the prophet-shepherds; yet it traversed the night, and came where, in cradled obscurity, lay the Bethlehem babe, the human herald of Christ, Truth, who would make plain to benighted understanding the way of salvation through Christ Jesus, till across a night of error should dawn the morning beams and shine the guiding star of being.
333:16–23
The divine
Principle
and idea
The advent of Jesus of Nazareth marked the first century of the Christian era, but the Christ is without beginning of years or end of days. Throughout all generations both before and after the Christian era, the Christ, as the spiritual idea, — the reflection of God, — has come with some measure of power and grace to all prepared to receive Christ, Truth.
83:13
Natural
wonders
The scientific manifestation of power is from the divine nature and is not supernatural, since Science is an explication of nature. The belief that the universe, including man, is governed in general by material laws, but that occasionally Spirit sets aside these laws, — this belief belittles omnipotent wisdom, and gives to matter the precedence over Spirit.
507:21
A material world implies a mortal mind and man a creator. The scientific divine creation declares immortal Mind and the universe created by God.
191:8
The immortal
birth
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.
Section 4
The Bible
Isaiah 42:5, 6
5Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:
6I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;
Luke 2:52
52And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.
Luke 4:15, 22 (to .)
15And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.
22And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.
Luke 5:12, 13, 15 and
12And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
13And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him.
15and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities.
John 8:12
12Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
Science and Health
539:27–1
Scientific
offspring
The divine origin of Jesus gave him more than human power to expound the facts of creation, and demonstrate the one Mind which makes and governs man and the universe. The Science of creation, so conspicuous in the birth of Jesus, inspired his wisest and least-understood sayings, and was the basis of his marvellous demonstrations.
xi:9–21
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, To preach deliverance to the captives [of sense], And recovering of sight to the blind, To set at liberty them that are bruised.
69:2–5
The scientific fact that man and the universe are evolved from Spirit, and so are spiritual, is as fixed in divine Science as is the proof that mortals gain the sense of health only as they lose the sense of sin and disease.
396:26
Keep distinctly in thought that man is the offspring of God, not of man; that man is spiritual, not material; that Soul is Spirit, outside of matter, never in it, never giving the body life and sensation. It breaks the dream of disease to understand that sickness is formed by the human mind, not by matter nor by the divine Mind.
490:23–25
The scientifically Christian explanations of the nature and origin of man destroy all material sense with immortal testimony.
266:27–29 (to 1st .)
Beatific
presence
Man is the idea of Spirit; he reflects the beatific presence, illuming the universe with light.
Section 5
The Bible
Isaiah 2:5 come, 22
5come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.
22Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?
Psalms 90:1, 2, 16
1Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
2Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
16Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.
Romans 8:16, 17 (to 2nd ;)
16The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ;
Science and Health
367:24
The infinite Truth of the Christ-cure has come to this age through a “still, small voice,” through silent utterances and divine anointing which quicken and increase the beneficial effects of Christianity. I long to see the consummation of my hope, namely, the student’s higher attainments in this line of light.
485:19–24
The belief that life can be in matter or soul in body, and that man springs from dust or from an egg, is the result of the mortal error which Christ, or Truth, destroys by fulfilling the spiritual law of being, in which man is perfect, even as the “Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
547:25
True theory
of the
universe
The true theory of the universe, including man, is not in material history but in spiritual development. Inspired thought relinquishes a material, sensual, and mortal theory of the universe, and adopts the spiritual and immortal.
228:3–6
No fleshly
heredity
The transmission of disease or of certain idiosyncrasies of mortal mind would be impossible if this great fact of being were learned, — namely, that nothing inharmonious can enter being, for Life is God.
227:24
Standard
of liberty
Citizens of the world, accept the “glorious liberty of the children of God,” and be free! This is your divine right. The illusion of material sense, not divine law, has bound you, entangled your free limbs, crippled your capacities, enfeebled your body, and defaced the tablet of your being.
288:31–1
The eternal Truth destroys what mortals seem to have learned from error, and man’s real existence as a child of God comes to light.
Section 6
The Bible
Isaiah 60:1, 19
1Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.
19The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.
Revelation 11:15 The kingdoms
15The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
Revelation 22:16
16I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
Science and Health
255:1–6
Eternal Truth is changing the universe. As mortals drop off their mental swaddling-clothes, thought expands into expression. “Let there be light,” is the perpetual demand of Truth and Love, changing chaos into order and discord into the music of the spheres.
513:6–10, 26–27
Spiritual
spheres
Advancing spiritual steps in the teeming universe of Mind lead on to spiritual spheres and exalted beings. To material sense, this divine universe is dim and distant, gray in the sombre hues of twilight; but anon the veil is lifted, and the scene shifts into light.
God creates all forms of reality. His thoughts are spiritual realities.
519:9–11
Thus the ideas of God in universal being are complete and forever expressed, for Science reveals infinity and the fatherhood and motherhood of Love.
361:4–5
Christ, as the true spiritual idea, is the ideal of God now and forever, here and everywhere.