Responsive Reading: Psalm 23 : 1, 3 • Psalm 25 : 1, 4, 5, 10, 13, 20

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

3.     He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

1.     Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.

4.     Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths.

5.     Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.

10.     All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.

13.     His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth.

20.     O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in thee.

1. Psalm 33 : 1-6, 8-15, 18-22

1     Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright.

2     Praise the Lord with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.

3     Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.

4     For the word of the Lord is right; and all his works are done in truth.

5     He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

6     By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.

8     Let all the earth fear the Lord: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.

9     For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.

10     The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect.

11     The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.

12     Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.

13     The Lord looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men.

14     From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth.

15     He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works.

18     Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;

19     To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.

20     Our soul waiteth for the Lord: he is our help and our shield.

21     For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name.

22     Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.

2. Psalm 51 : 12

12     Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.

3. Luke 7 : 6 (to Jesus), 11 (went into)-16

6     Then Jesus

11 ...went into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much people.

12     Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her.

13     And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.

14     And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.

15     And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.

16     And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people.

4. Mark 8 : 22-25

22     And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him.

23     And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought.

24     And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.

25     After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.

5. John 12 : 44

44     Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.

6. John 15 : 7-14

7     If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

8     Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

9     As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.

10     If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

11     These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

12     This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

13     Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

14     Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

7. Isaiah 58 : 10 (if)-12, 14

10     ...if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday:

11     And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

12     And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.

14     Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

8. Psalm 34 : 1-4

1     I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

2     My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.

3     O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.

4     I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.

1. 120 : 4-6

Soul, or Spirit, is God, unchangeable and eternal; and man coexists with and reflects Soul, God, for man is God's image.

2. 60 : 29-1

Soul has infinite resources with which to bless mankind, and happiness would be more readily attained and would be more secure in our keeping, if sought in Soul. Higher enjoyments alone can satisfy the cravings of immortal man.

3. 467 : 1-16

Question. — What are the demands of the Science of Soul?

Answer. — The first demand of this Science is, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." This me is Spirit. Therefore the command means this: Thou shalt have no intelligence, no life, no substance, no truth, no love, but that which is spiritual. The second is like unto it, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." It should be thoroughly understood that all men have one Mind, one God and Father, one Life, Truth, and Love. Mankind will become perfect in proportion as this fact becomes apparent, war will cease and the true brotherhood of man will be established. Having no other gods, turning to no other but the one perfect Mind to guide him, man is the likeness of God, pure and eternal, having that Mind which was also in Christ.

4. 62 : 27-4

The higher nature of man is not governed by the lower; if it were, the order of wisdom would be reversed. Our false views of life hide eternal harmony, and produce the ills of which we complain. Because mortals believe in material laws and reject the Science of Mind, this does not make materiality first and the superior law of Soul last. You would never think that flannel was better for warding off pulmonary disease than the controlling Mind, if you understood the Science of being.

5. 70 : 12-4

The divine Mind maintains all identities, from a blade of grass to a star, as distinct and eternal. The questions are: What are God's identities? What is Soul? Does life or soul exist in the thing formed?

Nothing is real and eternal, — nothing is Spirit, — but God and His idea. Evil has no reality. It is neither person, place, nor thing, but is simply a belief, an illusion of material sense.

6. 114 : 23-31

Christian Science explains all cause and effect as mental, not physical. It lifts the veil of mystery from Soul and body. It shows the scientific relation of man to God, disentangles the interlaced ambiguities of being, and sets free the imprisoned thought. In divine Science, the universe, including man, is spiritual, harmonious, and eternal. Science shows that what is termed matter is but the subjective state of what is termed by the author mortal mind.

7. 119 : 29 (Christian)-3

Christian Science reverses the seeming relation of Soul and body and makes body tributary to Mind. Thus it is with man, who is but the humble servant of the restful Mind, though it seems otherwise to finite sense. But we shall never understand this while we admit that soul is in body or mind in matter, and that man is included in non-intelligence.

8. 89 : 18-24

Mind is not necessarily dependent upon educational processes. It possesses of itself all beauty and poetry, and the power of expressing them. Spirit, God, is heard when the senses are silent. We are all capable of more than we do. The influence or action of Soul confers a freedom, which explains the phenomena of improvisation and the fervor of untutored lips.

9. 125 : 12-20

As human thought changes from one stage to another of conscious pain and painlessness, sorrow and joy, — from fear to hope and from faith to understanding, — the visible manifestation will at last be man governed by Soul, not by material sense. Reflecting God's government, man is self-governed. When subordinate to the divine Spirit, man cannot be controlled by sin or death, thus proving our material theories about laws of health to be valueless.

10. 481 : 24-32

If Soul sins, it must be mortal. Sin has the elements of self-destruction. It cannot sustain itself. If sin is supported, God must uphold it, and this is impossible, since Truth cannot support error. Soul is the divine Principle of man and never sins, — hence the immortality of Soul. In Science we learn that it is material sense, not Soul, which sins; and it will be found that it is the sense of sin which is lost, and not a sinful soul.

11. 14 : 12-22

Become conscious for a single moment that Life and intelligence are purely spiritual, — neither in nor of matter, — and the body will then utter no complaints. If suffering from a belief in sickness, you will find yourself suddenly well. Sorrow is turned into joy when the body is controlled by spiritual Life, Truth, and Love. Hence the hope of the promise Jesus bestows: "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; ... because I go unto my Father," — [because the Ego is absent from the body, and present with Truth and Love.]

12. 9 : 17-24

Dost thou "love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy

mind"? This command includes much, even the surrender of all merely material sensation, affection, and worship. This is the El Dorado of Christianity. It involves the Science of Life, and recognizes only the divine control of Spirit, in which Soul is our master, and material sense and human will have no place.

13. 14 : 25-30

Entirely separate from the belief and dream of material living, is the Life divine, revealing spiritual understanding and the consciousness of man's dominion over the whole earth. This understanding casts out error and heals the sick, and with it you can speak "as one having authority."