Golden Text: I Tim 4:7  Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness;  English Standard Version

Responsive Reading: Isa 40:3-6,8,15,18; Isa 42:10,16

3  ¶ The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

4  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:

5  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.

6  The voice said, Cry.  And he said, What shall I cry?  All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:

8  The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

15  Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.

18  ¶ To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?

10  ¶ Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.

16  And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight.  These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.

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( 1)   John 1:1,3-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.    All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

( 2)   Gen 1:2-4 the,31 (to 1st .) the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.  And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.     And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.

( 1)   335:7-12     XVIII.  Spirit, God, has created all in and of Himself. Spirit never created matter. There is nothing in Spirit out of which matter could be made, for, as the Bible declares, without the Logos, the Aeon or Word of God, "was not anything made that was made."

( 2)   588:15 All the objects of God's creation reflect one Mind, and whatever reflects not this one Mind, is false and erroneous, even the belief that life, substance, and intelligence are both mental and material.

( 3)   504:3-9,27-29 Genesis i. 5.  And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night.  And the evening and the morning were the first day.     All questions as to the divine creation being both spiritual and material are answered in this passage, for though solar beams are not yet included in the record of creation, still there is light.      Did infinite Mind create matter, and call it light?  Spirit is light, and the contradiction of Spirit is matter, darkness, and darkness obscures light. 

( 4)   255:3 "Let there be light," is the perpetual demand of Truth and Love, changing chaos into order and discord into the music of the spheres. The mythical human theories of creation, anciently classified as the higher criticism, sprang from cultured scholars in Rome and in Greece, but they afforded no foundation for accurate views of creation by the divine Mind.

( 5)   521:5 All that is made is the work of God, and all is good. We leave this brief, glorious history of spiritual creation (as stated in the first chapter of Genesis) in the hands of God, not of man, in the keeping of Spirit, not matter, —  joyfully acknowledging now and forever God's supremacy, omnipotence, and omnipresence.

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( 3)   Ps 50:2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.

( 4)   Isa 40:5,8 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 grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

( 5)   Ps 90:1,2,16,17 (to :) Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.     Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us:

( 6)   Zech 9:17 (to !) For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty!

( 6)   247:10-30     Beauty, as well as truth, is eternal; but the beauty of material things passes away, fading and fleeting as mortal belief. Custom, education, and fashion form the transient standards of mortals. Immortality, exempt from age or decay, has a glory of its own, — the radiance of Soul. Immortal men and women are models of spiritual sense, drawn by perfect Mind and reflecting those higher conceptions of loveliness which transcend all material sense.     Comeliness and grace are independent of matter. Being possesses its qualities before they are perceived humanly. Beauty is a thing of life, which dwells forever in the eternal Mind and reflects the charms of His goodness in expression, form, outline, and color. It is Love which paints the petal with myriad hues, glances in the warm sunbeam, arches the cloud with the bow of beauty, blazons the night with starry gems, and covers earth with loveliness.     The embellishments of the person are poor substitutes for the charms of being, shining resplendent and eternal over age and decay.

( 7)   304:3-5     It is ignorance and false belief, based on a material sense of things, which hide spiritual beauty and goodness. 

( 8)   246:13,23-25 As the physical and material, the transient sense of beauty fades, the radiance of Spirit should dawn upon the enraptured sense with bright and imperishable glories.     Man, governed by immortal Mind, is always beautiful and grand.

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( 7)   Ps 42:8 the the Lord will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.

( 8)   John 6:63 (to :) It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing:

( 9)   Dan 6:1,2 (to :),3-7,9,11,12 (to ?),13 That,16,18 (to 1st :),20-23 It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom; And over these three presidents; of whom Daniel was first:    Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God. Then these presidents and princes assembled together to the king, and said thus unto him, King Darius, live for ever. All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and the princes, the counsellers, and the captains, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.     Wherefore king Darius signed the writing and the decree.     Then these men assembled, and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God. Then they came near, and spake before the king concerning the king's decree; Hast thou not signed a decree, that every man that shall ask a petition of any God or man within thirty days, save of thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?     That Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day.     Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions.  Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee.     Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting:     And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions? Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for ever. My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt. Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den.  So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God.

( 9)   468:25-27 Question. — What is Life?    Answer. — Life is divine Principle, Mind, Soul, Spirit.  Life is without beginning and without end. 

(10)   469:1-5 (to 2nd .) Life is neither in nor of matter. What is termed matter is unknown to Spirit, which includes in itself all substance and is Life eternal. Matter is a human concept. Life is divine Mind. Life is not limited. Death and finiteness are unknown to Life.

(11)   517:7-8 The life-giving quality of Mind is Spirit, not matter.

(12)   76:6-10     When being is understood, Life will be recognized as neither material nor finite, but as infinite, — as God, universal good; and the belief that life, or mind, was ever in a finite form, or good in evil, will be destroyed.

(13)   243:4-8     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.

(14)   249:8 Let us rejoice that we are subject to the divine "powers that be."  Such is the true Science of being. Any other theory of Life, or God, is delusive and mythological.

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(10)   Prov 2:6,7 (to :) For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous:

(11)   Luke 4:14 (to :),16,22 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee:     And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.     And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.  And they said, Is not this Joseph's son?

(12)   John 7:2,14-16 about Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand.     about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught. And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.

(13)   Matt 16:1-3 The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven. He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to-day: for the sky is red and lowering.  O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?

(14)   Job 28:12 where,23 where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?      God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof.

(15)   469:7-11 Question. — What is intelligence?     Answer. — Intelligence is omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence. It is the primal and eternal quality of infinite Mind, of the triune Principle, — Life, Truth, and Love, — named God.

(16)   319:15-17     The varied doctrines and theories which presuppose life and intelligence to exist in matter are so many ancient and modern mythologies. 

(17)   269:21-25 (to 1st .),29-10     The testimony of the material senses is neither absolute nor divine. I therefore plant myself unreservedly on the teachings of Jesus, of his apostles, of the prophets, and on the testimony of the Science of Mind.      The theories I combat are these: (1) that all is matter; (2) that matter originates in Mind, and is as real as Mind, possessing intelligence and life.  The first theory, that matter is everything, is quite as reasonable as the second, that Mind and matter coexist and cooperate. One only of the following statements can be true: (1) that everything is matter; (2) that everything is Mind. Which one is it?     Matter and Mind are opposites. One is contrary to the other in its very nature and essence; hence both cannot be real. If one is real, the other must be unreal. Only by understanding that there is but one power, — not two powers, matter and Mind, — are scientific and logical conclusions reached.

(18)   62:20-22     We must not attribute more and more intelligence to matter, but less and less, if we would be wise and healthy. 

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(15)   Jer 8:22 Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

(16)   Mark 6:34 And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.

(17)   Luke 13:10-13,17 and all And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.      and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.

(19)   381:31     Christ Jesus overruled the error which would impose penalties for transgressions of the physical laws of health; he annulled supposed laws of matter, opposed to the harmonies of Spirit, lacking divine authority and having only human approval for their sanction.

(20)   162:13-22 The indestructible faculties of Spirit exist without the conditions of matter and also without the false beliefs of a so-called material existence. Working out the rules of Science in practice, the author has restored health in cases of both acute and chronic disease in their severest forms. Secretions have been changed, the structure has been renewed, shortened limbs have been elongated, ankylosed joints have been made supple, and carious bones have been restored to healthy conditions.

(21)   120:15     Health is not a condition of matter, but of Mind; nor can the material senses bear reliable testimony on the subject of health. The Science of Mind-healing shows it to be impossible for aught but Mind to testify truly or to exhibit the real status of man. Therefore the divine Principle of Science, reversing the testimony of the physical senses, reveals man as harmoniously existent in Truth, which is the only basis of health; and thus Science denies all disease, heals the sick, overthrows false evidence, and refutes materialistic logic.

(22)   285:27 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.

(23)   369:5     In proportion as matter loses to human sense all entity as man, in that proportion does man become its master. He enters into a diviner sense of the facts, and comprehends the theology of Jesus as demonstrated in healing the sick, raising the dead, and walking over the wave. All these deeds manifested Jesus' control over the belief that matter is substance, that it can be the arbiter of life or the constructor of any form of existence.

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(18)   Ps 119:89,104,105 For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.     Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

(19)   Ex 23:1 (to :),7 (;) Thou shalt not raise a false report:     Keep thee far from a false matter;

(20)   Acts 17:22 Paul,23,25 he giveth,28 (to ;) Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.  Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.    he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;       For in him we live, and move, and have our being;

(24)   208:5-6,25 (only)     The Scriptures say, "In Him we live, and move, and have our being."     Mind, not matter, is causation.

(25)   428:8-12,26 To divest thought of false trusts and material evidences in order that the spiritual facts of being may appear, — this is the great attainment by means of which we shall sweep away the false and give place to the true.    The evidence of man's immortality will become more apparent, as material beliefs are given up and the immortal facts of being are admitted.

(26)   491:11 Matter cannot connect mortals with the true origin and facts of being, in which all must end. It is only by acknowledging the supremacy of Spirit, which annuls the claims of matter, that mortals can lay off mortality and find the indissoluble spiritual link which establishes man forever in the divine likeness, inseparable from his creator.

(27)   339:20-25     XXXII.  As the mythology of pagan Rome has yielded to a more spiritual idea of Deity, so will our material theories yield to spiritual ideas, until the finite gives place to the infinite, sickness to health, sin to holiness, and God's kingdom comes "in earth, as it is in heaven."