Responsive Reading: Psalm 94 : 11-15

11.     The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.

12.     Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law;

13.     That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked.

14.     For the Lord will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.

15.     But judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it.

1. Job 5 : 17

17     Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:

2. Matthew 15 : 1-3 (to ,), 7-14

1     Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying,

2     Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.

3     But he answered and said unto them,

7     Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,

8     This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.

9     But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

10     And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand:

11     Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.

12     Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?

13     But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.

14     Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

3. James 3 : 2-6, 10-18

2     For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

3     Behold, we put bits in the horses’ mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body.

4     Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth.

5     Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!

6     And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

10     Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.

11     Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?

12     Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.

13     Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.

14     But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.

15     This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

16     For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

17     But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

18     And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

4. Ephesians 4 : 17-25, 29-32

17     This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,

18     Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

19     Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

20     But ye have not so learned Christ;

21     If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:

22     That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

23     And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

24     And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

25     Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

29     Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

30     And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

31     Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

32     And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

5. I Peter 1 : 13-16, 22, 23

13     Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

14     As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:

15     But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;

16     Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

22     Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

23     Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

6. Hebrews 12 : 6, 7, 11

6     For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

7     If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

11     Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

1. 259 : 6-21

In divine Science, man is the true image of God. The divine nature was best expressed in Christ Jesus, who threw upon mortals the truer reflection of God and lifted their lives higher than their poor thought-models would allow, — thoughts which presented man as fallen, sick, sinning, and dying. The Christlike understanding of scientific being and divine healing includes a perfect Principle and idea, — perfect God and perfect man, — as the basis of thought and demonstration.

If man was once perfect but has now lost his perfection, then mortals have never beheld in man the reflex image of God. The lost image is no image. The true likeness cannot be lost in divine reflection. Understanding this, Jesus said: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."

2. 339 : 7 (Since)-19

Since God is All, there is no room for His unlikeness. God, Spirit, alone created all, and called it good. Therefore evil, being contrary to good, is unreal, and cannot be the product of God. A sinner can receive no encouragement from the fact that Science demonstrates the unreality of evil, for the sinner would make a reality of sin, — would make that real which is unreal, and thus heap up "wrath against the day of wrath." He is joining in a conspiracy against himself, — against his own awakening to the awful unreality by which he has been deceived. Only those, who repent of sin and forsake the unreal, can fully understand the unreality of evil.

3. 227 : 19-20

Love and Truth make free, but evil and error lead into captivity.

4. 266 : 20-21, 24-27

The sinner makes his own hell by doing evil, and the saint his own heaven by doing right.

Mortals must follow Jesus' sayings and his demonstrations, which dominate the flesh. Perfect and infinite Mind enthroned is heaven. The evil beliefs which originate in mortals are hell.

5. 35 : 30-9

The design of Love is to reform the sinner. If the sinner's punishment here has been insufficient to reform him, the good man's heaven would be a hell to the sinner. They, who know not purity and affection by experience, can never find bliss in the blessed company of Truth and Love simply through translation into another sphere. Divine Science reveals the necessity of sufficient suffering, either before or after death, to quench the love of sin. To remit the penalty due for sin, would be for Truth to pardon error. Escape from punishment is not in accordance with God's government, since justice is the handmaid of mercy.

6. 537 : 14 (Sin)-15

Sin is its own punishment.

7. 10 : 31-11

Do you ask wisdom to be merciful and not to punish sin? Then "ye ask amiss." Without punishment, sin would multiply. Jesus' prayer, "Forgive us our debts," specified also the terms of forgiveness. When forgiving the adulterous woman he said, "Go, and sin no more."

A magistrate sometimes remits the penalty, but this may be no moral benefit to the criminal, and at best, it only saves the criminal from one form of punishment. The moral law, which has the right to acquit or condemn, always demands restitution before mortals can "go up higher." Broken law brings penalty in order to compel this progress.

8. 405 : 1-32

The basic error is mortal mind. Hatred inflames the brutal propensities. The indulgence of evil motives and aims makes any man, who is above the lowest type of manhood, a hopeless sufferer.

Christian Science commands man to master the propensities, — to hold hatred in abeyance with kindness, to conquer lust with chastity, revenge with charity, and to overcome deceit with honesty. Choke these errors in their early stages, if you would not cherish an army of conspirators against health, happiness, and success. They will deliver you to the judge, the arbiter of truth against error. The judge will deliver you to justice, and the sentence of the moral law will be executed upon mortal mind and body. Both will be manacled until the last farthing is paid, — until you have balanced your account with God. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." The good man finally can overcome his fear of sin. This is sin's necessity, — to destroy itself. Immortal man demonstrates the government of God, good, in which is no power to sin.

It were better to be exposed to every plague on earth than to endure the cumulative effects of a guilty conscience. The abiding consciousness of wrong-doing tends to destroy the ability to do right. If sin is not regretted and is not lessening, then it is hastening on to physical and moral doom. You are conquered by the moral penalties you incur and the ills they bring. The pains of sinful sense are less harmful than its pleasures. Belief in material suffering causes mortals to retreat from their error, to flee from body to Spirit, and to appeal to divine sources outside of themselves.

9. 497 : 11-12

But the belief in sin is punished so long as the belief lasts.

10. 184 : 6-15

Belief produces the results of belief, and the penalties it affixes last so long as the belief and are inseparable from it. The remedy consists in probing the trouble to the bottom, in finding and casting out by denial the error of belief which produces a mortal disorder, never honoring erroneous belief with the title of law nor yielding obedience to it. Truth, Life, and Love are the only legitimate and eternal demands on man, and they are spiritual lawgivers, enforcing obedience through divine statutes.

11. 29 : 1-6

Christians must take up arms against error at home and abroad. They must grapple with sin in themselves and in others, and continue this warfare until they have finished their course. If they keep the faith, they will have the crown of rejoicing.

12. 23 : 10 (eventually)-11

...eventually both sin and suffering will fall at the feet of everlasting Love.