Responsive Reading: Proverbs 3 : 1, 5, 6, 9, 10, 13, 16

1.     My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:

5.      Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

6.     In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

9.     Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:

10.     So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

13.     Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.

16.     Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour.

1. Psalm 23 : 1, 6

1     The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

6     Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

2. II Kings 4 : 8, 12 (to 1st .), 14, 15 (And when), 16-26, 32-37

8     And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread.

12     And he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite.

14     And he said, What then is to be done for her? And Gehazi answered, Verily she hath no child, and her husband is old.

15     And when he had called her, she stood in the door.

16     And he said, About this season, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son. And she said, Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid.

17     And the woman conceived, and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life.

18     And when the child was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father to the reapers.

19     And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother.

20     And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died.

21     And she went up, and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him, and went out.

22     And she called unto her husband, and said, Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men, and one of the asses, that I may run to the man of God, and come again.

23     And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him to day? it is neither new moon, nor sabbath. And she said, It shall be well.

24     Then she saddled an ass, and said to her servant, Drive, and go forward; slack not thy riding for me, except I bid thee.

25     So she went and came unto the man of God to mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunammite:

26     Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well.

32     And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed.

33     He went in therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the Lord.

34     And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm.

35     Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.

36     And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And when she was come in unto him, he said, Take up thy son.

37     Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son, and went out.

3. Matthew 14 : 14-21

14     And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.

15     And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals.

16     But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.

17     And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes.

18     He said, Bring them hither to me.

19     And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.

20     And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.

21     And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.

4. Luke 20 : 1

1     And it came to pass, that on one of those days, as he taught the people in the temple, and preached the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes came upon him with the elders,

5. Luke 21 : 1-4

1     And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury.

2     And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites.

3     And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all:

4     For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.

6. Psalm 147 : 5, 10, 11, 14

5     Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.

10     He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man.

11     The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.

14     He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat.

7. Philippians 4 : 19 (my), 20

19     …my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

20     Now unto God and our Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

1. 468 : 16-24

Question. — What is substance?

Answer. — Substance is that which is eternal and incapable of discord and decay. Truth, Life, and Love are substance, as the Scriptures use this word in Hebrews: "The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Spirit, the synonym of Mind, Soul, or God, is the only real substance. The spiritual universe, including individual man, is a compound idea, reflecting the divine substance of Spirit.

2. 335 : 7 (Spirit)-8 (to 2nd .), 12-15

Spirit, God, has created all in and of Himself. Spirit never created matter. … Spirit is the only substance, the invisible and indivisible infinite God. Things spiritual and eternal are substantial. Things material and temporal are insubstantial.

3. 123 : 11-15

The verity of Mind shows conclusively how it is that matter seems to be, but is not. Divine Science, rising above physical theories, excludes matter, resolves things into thoughts, and replaces the objects of material sense with spiritual ideas.

4. 278 : 3-11 (to 2nd .), 28-5

Divine metaphysics explains away matter. Spirit is the only substance and consciousness recognized by divine Science. The material senses oppose this, but there are no material senses, for matter has no mind. In Spirit there is no matter, even as in Truth there is no error, and in good no evil. It is a false supposition, the notion that there is real substance-matter, the opposite of Spirit. Spirit, God, is infinite, all. Spirit can have no opposite.

All that we term sin, sickness, and death is a mortal belief. We define matter as error, because it is the opposite of life, substance, and intelligence. Matter, with its mortality, cannot be substantial if Spirit is substantial and eternal. Which ought to be substance to us, — the erring, changing, and dying, the mutable and mortal, or the unerring, immutable, and immortal? A New Testament writer plainly describes faith, a quality of mind, as "the substance of things hoped for."

5. 23 : 16-20

Faith, if it be mere belief, is as a pendulum swinging between nothing and something, having no fixity. Faith, advanced to spiritual understanding, is the evidence gained from Spirit, which rebukes sin of every kind and establishes the claims of God.

6. 206 : 15-31

In the scientific relation of God to man, we find that whatever blesses one blesses all, as Jesus showed with the loaves and the fishes, — Spirit, not matter, being the source of supply.

Does God send sickness, giving the mother her child for the brief space of a few years and then taking it away by death? Is God creating anew what He has already created? The Scriptures are definite on this point, declaring that His work was finished, nothing is new to God, and that it was good.

Can there be any birth or death for man, the spiritual image and likeness of God? Instead of God sending sickness and death, He destroys them, and brings to light immortality. Omnipotent and infinite Mind made all and includes all. This Mind does not make mistakes and subsequently correct them. God does not cause man to sin, to be sick, or to die.

7. 475 : 28 only

Man is incapable of sin, sickness, and death.

8. 300 : 28-29 next page

The universe reflects and expresses the divine substance or Mind; therefore God is seen only in the spiritual universe and spiritual man, as the sun is seen in the ray of light which goes out from it. God is revealed only in that which reflects Life, Truth, Love, — yea, which manifests God's attributes and power, even as the human likeness thrown upon the mirror, repeats the color, form, and action of the person in front of the mirror.

Few persons comprehend what Christian Science means by the word reflection. To himself, mortal and material man seems to be substance, but his sense of substance involves error and therefore is material, temporal.

On the other hand, the immortal, spiritual man is really substantial, and reflects the eternal substance, or Spirit, which mortals hope for. He reflects the divine, which constitutes the only real and eternal entity. This reflection seems to mortal sense transcendental, because the spiritual man's substantiality transcends mortal vision and is revealed only through divine Science.

As God is substance and man is the divine image and likeness, man should wish for, and in reality has, only the substance of good, the substance of Spirit, not matter. The belief that man has any other substance, or mind, is not spiritual and breaks the First Commandment, Thou shalt have one God, one Mind. Mortal man seems to himself to be material substance, while man is “image" (idea). Delusion, sin, disease, and death arise from the false testimony of material sense, which, from a supposed standpoint outside the focal distance of infinite Spirit, presents an inverted image of Mind and substance with everything turned upside down.

9. 516 : 2-8

As the reflection of yourself appears in the mirror, so you, being spiritual, are the reflection of God. The substance, Life, intelligence, Truth, and Love, which constitute Deity, are reflected by His creation; and when we subordinate the false testimony of the corporeal senses to the facts of Science, we shall see this true likeness and reflection everywhere.

10. 494 : 10-14

Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need. It is not well to imagine that Jesus demonstrated the divine power to heal only for a select number or for a limited period of time, since to all mankind and in every hour, divine Love supplies all good.

11. 578 : 5, 16-18

[Divine love] is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house [the consciousness] of [love] for ever.