Golden Text
10I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my whole being shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
The Golden Text is from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition.
Responsive Reading
1For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:
4For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
5Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
6Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:
7(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
8We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
16Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
17Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
18And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
Section 1
The Bible
Psalms 104:1 O Lord
1O Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty.
Psalms 25:4, 5 thou, 16, 17 O bring, 18
4Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths.
5thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.
16Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me; for I am desolate and afflicted.
17O bring thou me out of my distresses.
18Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins.
Isaiah 43:14 (to ;)
14Thus saith the Lord, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel;
Isaiah 1:16–18
16Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
17Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
18Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Jeremiah 31:3 Yea
3Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
Science and Health with Key to the Scripturesby Mary Baker Eddy
6:17–18
“God is Love.” More than this we cannot ask, higher we cannot look, farther we cannot go.
19:4–5
Man cannot exceed divine Love, and so atone for himself.
6:3–5
Divine Love corrects and governs man. Men may pardon, but this divine Principle alone reforms the sinner.
339:1–4
Divine
pardon
The destruction of sin is the divine method of pardon. Divine Life destroys death, Truth destroys error, and Love destroys hate. Being destroyed, sin needs no other form of forgiveness.
304:9
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. The perfect man — governed by God, his perfect Principle — is sinless and eternal.
Section 2
The Bible
Zechariah 2:10, 11 (to :)
10Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord.
11And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people:
Zechariah 3:3, 4, 8
3Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.
4And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.
8Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.
Isaiah 11:1, 2, 5
1And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
2And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord;
5And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.
I John 2:1–3, 5 whoso
1My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
2And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
3And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
5whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
Romans 5:11 we
11we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
Science and Health
18:1–9, 13–2
Divine
oneness
Atonement is the exemplification of man’s unity with God, whereby man reflects divine Truth, Life, and Love. Jesus of Nazareth taught and demonstrated man’s oneness with the Father, and for this we owe him endless homage. His mission was both individual and collective. He did life’s work aright not only in justice to himself, but in mercy to mortals, — to show them how to do theirs, but not to do it for them nor to relieve them of a single responsibility.
Human
reconciliation
The atonement of Christ reconciles man to God, not God to man; for the divine Principle of Christ is God, and how can God propitiate Himself? Christ is Truth, which reaches no higher than itself. The fountain can rise no higher than its source. Christ, Truth, could conciliate no nature above his own, derived from the eternal Love. It was therefore Christ’s purpose to reconcile man to God, not God to man.
333:19–23
The divine
Principle
and idea
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.
19:17–24
Efficacious
repentance
Every pang of repentance and suffering, every effort for reform, every good thought and deed, will help us to understand Jesus’ atonement for sin and aid its efficacy; but if the sinner continues to pray and repent, sin and be sorry, he has little part in the atonement, — in the at-one-ment with God, — for he lacks the practical repentance, which reforms the heart and enables man to do the will of wisdom.
15:26–27
Self-forgetfulness, purity, and affection are constant prayers.
202:3
The scientific unity which exists between God and man must be wrought out in life-practice, and God’s will must be universally done.
Section 3
The Bible
Matthew 14:14
14And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.
Matthew 9:20–22
20And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment:
21For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.
22But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.
Job 29:14 (to :)
14I put on righteousness, and it clothed me:
Science and Health
142:4
Two claims
omitted
Anciently the followers of Christ, or Truth, measured Christianity by its power over sickness, sin, and death; but modern religions generally omit all but one of these powers, — the power over sin. We must seek the undivided garment, the whole Christ, as our first proof of Christianity, for Christ, Truth, alone can furnish us with absolute evidence.
141:13–16
In healing the sick and sinning, Jesus elaborated the fact that the healing effect followed the understanding of the divine Principle and of the Christ-spirit which governed the corporeal Jesus.
31:10
He recognized Spirit, God, as the only creator, and therefore as the Father of all.
12:2–5 A, 10
Prayer for
the sick
A mere request that God will heal the sick has no power to gain more of the divine presence than is always at hand.
It is neither Science nor Truth which acts through blind belief, nor is it the human understanding of the divine healing Principle as manifested in Jesus, whose humble prayers were deep and conscientious protests of Truth, — of man’s likeness to God and of man’s unity with Truth and Love.
1:1–4
The prayer that reforms the sinner and heals the sick is an absolute faith that all things are possible to God, — a spiritual understanding of Him, an unselfed love.
396:22
Healthful
explanation
At the right time explain to the sick the power which their beliefs exercise over their bodies. Give them divine and wholesome understanding, with which to combat their erroneous sense, and so efface the images of sickness from mortal mind. 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.
170:14–15, 22
The demands of Truth are spiritual, and reach the body through Mind.
Causation
considered
Spiritual causation is the one question to be considered, for more than all others spiritual causation relates to human progress. The age seems ready to approach this subject, to ponder somewhat the supremacy of Spirit, and at least to touch the hem of Truth’s garment.
Section 4
The Bible
Matthew 23:1–3, 13 woe, 28 ye
1Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
2Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:
3All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
13woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
28ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
Mark 14:1 the chief
1the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death.
Mark 15:1, 16, 22, 24, 37–39
1And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate.
16And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Prætorium; and they call together the whole band.
22And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull.
24And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take.
37And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.
38And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.
39And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.
John 3:17 God
17God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
Acts 3:19, 26 God
19Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
26God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.
Hebrews 10:16, 17, 19, 20, 23, 24
16This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
17And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
19Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
20By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
23Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
24And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
Science and Health
597:5
The great Nazarene, as meek as he was mighty, rebuked the hypocrisy, which offered long petitions for blessings upon material methods, but cloaked the crime, latent in thought, which was ready to spring into action and crucify God’s anointed. The martyrdom of Jesus was the culminating sin of Pharisaism. It rent the veil of the temple. It revealed the false foundations and superstructures of superficial religion, tore from bigotry and superstition their coverings, and opened the sepulchre with divine Science, — immortality and Love.
26:1–14, 16, 21–32
Individual
experience
While we adore Jesus, and the heart overflows with gratitude for what he did for mortals, — treading alone his loving pathway up to the throne of glory, in speechless agony exploring the way for us, — yet Jesus spares us not one individual experience, if we follow his commands faithfully; and all have the cup of sorrowful effort to drink in proportion to their demonstration of his love, till all are redeemed through divine Love.
Christ’s
demonstration
The Christ was the Spirit which Jesus implied in his own statements: “I am the way, the truth, and the life;” “I and my Father are one.” This Christ, or divinity of the man Jesus, was his divine nature, the godliness which animated him.
His mission was to reveal the Science of celestial being, to prove what God is and what He does for man.
Proof in
practice
Jesus’ teaching and practice of Truth involved such a sacrifice as makes us admit its Principle to be Love. This was the precious import of our Master’s sinless career and of his demonstration of power over death. He proved by his deeds that Christian Science destroys sickness, sin, and death.
Our Master taught no mere theory, doctrine, or belief. It was the divine Principle of all real being which he taught and practised. His proof of Christianity was no form or system of religion and worship, but Christian Science, working out the harmony of Life and Love.
333:26–27
The divine image, idea, or Christ was, is, and ever will be inseparable from the divine Principle, God.
23:7 The
The atonement is a hard problem in theology, but its scientific explanation is, that suffering is an error of sinful sense which Truth destroys, and that eventually both sin and suffering will fall at the feet of everlasting Love.
Section 5
The Bible
Revelation 7:9 I beheld, 10, 13–15, 17 the
9I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
10And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
13And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
14And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
17the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
Revelation 19:1
1And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:
Science and Health
571:22–27, 32
Pure religion
enthroned
Through trope and metaphor, the Revelator, immortal scribe of Spirit and of a true idealism, furnishes the mirror in which mortals may see their own image. In significant figures he depicts the thoughts which he beholds in mortal mind. Thus he rebukes the conceit of sin, and foreshadows its doom.
He enthrones pure and undefiled religion, and lifts on high only those who have washed their robes white in obedience and suffering.
22:11–12, 23–27
“Work out your own salvation,” is the demand of Life and Love, for to this end God worketh with you.
Deliverance
not vicarious
Final deliverance from error, whereby we rejoice in immortality, boundless freedom, and sinless sense, is not reached through paths of flowers nor by pinning one’s faith without works to another’s vicarious effort.
23:1–5
Justice and
substitution
Wisdom and Love may require many sacrifices of self to save us from sin. One sacrifice, however great, is insufficient to pay the debt of sin. The atonement requires constant self-immolation on the sinner’s part.
569:11–14
He that touches the hem of Christ’s robe and masters his mortal beliefs, animality, and hate, rejoices in the proof of healing, — in a sweet and certain sense that God is Love.
340:12
Divine Love is infinite. Therefore all that really exists is in and of God, and manifests His love.