Responsive Reading: Psalm 118 : 1, 14-18

1.     O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever.

14.     The Lord is my strength and song, and is become my salvation.

15.     The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous: the right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly.

16.     The right hand of the Lord is exalted: the right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly.

17.     I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.

18.     The Lord hath chastened me sore: but he hath not given me over unto death.

1. Psalm 103 : 1-8, 10-12, 20-22

1     Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

2     Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

3     Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;

4     Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;

5     Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

6     The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.

7     He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.

8     The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.

10     He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

11     For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.

12     As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

20     Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.

21     Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure.

22     Bless the Lord, all his works in all places of his dominion: bless the Lord, O my soul.

2. I Kings 8 : 22 (Solomon), 23, 33-36

22     Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven:

23     And he said, Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart:

33     When thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray, and make supplication unto thee in this house:

34     Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest unto their fathers.

35     When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them:

36     Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, that thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.

3. Luke 13 : 11 (there)-17

11     … there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.

12     And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.

13     And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.

14     And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.

15     The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering?

16     And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?

17     And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.

4. I John 2 : 1-5

1     My 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:

2     And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

3     And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

4     He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

5     But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.

5. Revelation 21 : 1 (I)-7

1     I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

2     And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

3     And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

4     And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

5     And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

6     And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

7     He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

1. 99 : 23-29

The calm, strong currents of true spirituality, the manifestations of which are health, purity, and self-immolation, must deepen human experience, until the beliefs of material existence are seen to be a bald imposition, and sin, disease, and death give everlasting place to the scientific demonstration of divine Spirit and to God's spiritual, perfect man.

2. 248 : 26-32

We must form perfect models in thought and look at them continually, or we shall never carve them out in grand and noble lives. Let unselfishness, goodness, mercy, justice, health, holiness, love — the kingdom of heaven — reign within us, and sin, disease, and death will diminish until they finally disappear.

3. 166 : 23-32

Failing to recover health through adherence to physiology and hygiene, the despairing invalid often drops them, and in his extremity and only as a last resort, turns to God. The invalid's faith in the divine Mind is less than in drugs, air, and exercise, or he would have resorted to Mind first. The balance of power is conceded to be with matter by most of the medical systems; but when Mind at last asserts its mastery over sin, disease, and death, then is man found to be harmonious and immortal.

4. 317 : 16-23

The individuality of man is no less tangible because it is spiritual and because his life is not at the mercy of matter. The understanding of his spiritual individuality makes man more real, more formidable in truth, and enables him to conquer sin, disease, and death. Our Lord and Master presented himself to his disciples after his resurrection from the grave, as the self-same Jesus whom they had loved before the tragedy on Calvary.

5. 494 : 15 (Jesus)-24

Jesus demonstrated the inability of corporeality, as well as the infinite ability of Spirit, thus helping erring human sense to flee from its own convictions and seek safety in divine Science. Reason, rightly directed, serves to correct the errors of corporeal sense; but sin, sickness, and death will seem real (even as the experiences of the sleeping dream seem real) until the Science of man's eternal harmony breaks their illusion with the unbroken reality of scientific being.

6. 429 : 31-11

Jesus said (John viii. 51), "If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death." That statement is not confined to spiritual life, but includes all the phenomena of existence. Jesus demonstrated this, healing the dying and raising the dead. Mortal mind must part with error, must put off itself with its deeds, and immortal manhood, the Christ ideal, will appear. Faith should enlarge its borders and strengthen its base by resting upon Spirit instead of matter. When man gives up his belief in death, he will advance more rapidly towards God, Life, and Love. Belief in sickness and death, as certainly as belief in sin, tends to shut out the true sense of Life and health.

7. 543 : 8-16

In divine Science, the material man is shut out from the presence of God. The five corporeal senses cannot take cognizance of Spirit. They cannot come into His presence, and must dwell in dreamland, until mortals arrive at the understanding that material life, with all its sin, sickness, and death, is an illusion, against which divine Science is engaged in a warfare of extermination. The great verities of existence are never excluded by falsity.

8. 395 : 6-14

Like the great Exemplar, the healer should speak to disease as one having authority over it, leaving Soul to master the false evidences of the corporeal senses and to assert its claims over mortality and disease. The same Principle cures both sin and sickness. When divine Science overcomes faith in a carnal mind, and faith in God destroys all faith in sin and in material methods of healing, then sin, disease, and death will disappear.

9. 253 : 9-17

I hope, dear reader, I am leading you into the understanding of your divine rights, your heaven-bestowed harmony, — that, as you read, you see there is no cause (outside of erring, mortal, material sense which is not power) able to make you sick or sinful; and I hope that you are conquering this false sense. Knowing the falsity of so-called material sense, you can assert your prerogative to overcome the belief in sin, disease, or death.

10. 572 : 19-25

In Revelation xxi. 1 we read: —

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

The Revelator had not yet passed the transitional stage in human experience called death, but he already saw a new heaven and a new earth.

11. 573 : 19 (St. John’s)-2

St. John's corporeal sense of the heavens and earth had vanished, and in place of this false sense was the spiritual sense, the subjective state by which he could see the new heaven and new earth, which involve the spiritual idea and consciousness of reality. This is Scriptural authority for concluding that such a recognition of being is, and has been, possible to men in this present state of existence, — that we can become conscious, here and now, of a cessation of death, sorrow, and pain. This is indeed a foretaste of absolute Christian Science. Take heart, dear sufferer, for this reality of being will surely appear sometime and in some way. There will be no more pain, and all tears will be wiped away. When you read this, remember Jesus' words, "The kingdom of God is within you." This spiritual consciousness is therefore a present possibility.