Responsive Reading: James 1 : 2-5, 13, 14, 17, 18

2.     My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

3.     Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

4.     But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

5.     If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

13.     Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

14.     But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

17.     Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

18.     Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

1. Psalm 32 : 1, 2, 5 (to 2nd .), 6 (to :), 9-11

1     Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

2     Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.

5     I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.

6     For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found:

9     Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.

10     Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.

11     Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.

2. Jeremiah 18 : 1-8

1     The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

2     Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.

3     Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.

4     And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

5     Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

6     O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.

7     At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;

8     If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.

3. Luke 14 : 3 (to spake)

3     And Jesus answering spake …

4. Luke 15 : 11-18, 20 (But)-25, 28, 29, 31

11     And he said, A certain man had two sons:

12     And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.

13     And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

14     And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.

15     And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.

16     And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.

17     And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

18     I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,

20     But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

21     And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.

22     But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:

23     And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:

24     For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

25     Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing.

28     And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him.

29     And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:

31     And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.

5. I John 1 : 5-9

5     This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

6     If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

7     But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

8     If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

9     If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

6. Ephesians 4 : 23, 24, 31, 32

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.

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.

1. 405 : 19 (Immortal)-21

Immortal man demonstrates the government of God, good, in which is no power to sin.

2. 372 : 14-16, 26-32

When man demonstrates Christian Science absolutely, he will be perfect. He can neither sin, suffer, be subject to matter, nor disobey the law of God.

In Christian Science, a denial of Truth is fatal, while a just acknowledgment of Truth and of what it has done for us is an effectual help. If pride, superstition, or any error prevents the honest recognition of benefits received, this will be a hindrance to the recovery of the sick and the success of the student.

3. 405 : 5-9

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.

4. 22 : 20-22

Love is not hasty to deliver us from temptation, for Love means that we shall be tried and purified.

5. 5 : 3-13, 22-16

Sorrow for wrong-doing is but one step towards reform and the very easiest step. The next and great step required by wisdom is the test of our sincerity, — namely, reformation. To this end we are placed under the stress of circumstances. Temptation bids us repeat the offence, and woe comes in return for what is done. So it will ever be, till we learn that there is no discount in the law of justice and that we must pay "the uttermost farthing." The measure ye mete "shall be measured to you again," and it will be full "and running over."

Prayer is not to be used as a confessional to cancel sin. Such an error would impede true religion. Sin is forgiven only as it is destroyed by Christ, — Truth and Life. If prayer nourishes the belief that sin is cancelled, and that man is made better merely by praying, prayer is an evil. He grows worse who continues in sin because he fancies himself forgiven.

An apostle says that the Son of God [Christ] came to "destroy the works of the devil." We should follow our divine Exemplar, and seek the destruction of all evil works, error and disease included. We cannot escape the penalty due for sin. The Scriptures say, that if we deny Christ, "he also will deny us."

Divine Love corrects and governs man. Men may pardon, but this divine Principle alone reforms the sinner. God is not separate from the wisdom He bestows. The talents He gives we must improve. Calling on Him to forgive our work badly done or left undone, implies the vain supposition that we have nothing to do but to ask pardon, and that afterwards we shall be free to repeat the offence.

To cause suffering as the result of sin, is the means of destroying sin. Every supposed pleasure in sin will furnish more than its equivalent of pain, until belief in material life and sin is destroyed. To reach heaven, the harmony of being, we must understand the divine Principle of being.

6. 406 : 11-18, 20 (We)-25

The Science of being unveils the errors of sense, and spiritual perception, aided by Science, reaches Truth. Then error disappears. Sin and sickness will abate and seem less real as we approach the scientific period, in which mortal sense is subdued and all that is unlike the true likeness disappears. The moral man has no fear that he will commit a murder, and he should be as fearless on the question of disease.

We can, and ultimately shall, so rise as to avail ourselves in every direction of the supremacy of Truth over error, Life over death, and good over evil, and this growth will go on until we arrive at the fulness of God's idea, and no more fear that we shall be sick and die.

7. 407 : 11-16

Here Christian Science is the sovereign panacea, giving strength to the weakness of mortal mind, — strength from the immortal and omnipotent Mind, — and lifting humanity above itself into purer desires, even into spiritual power and good-will to man.

8. 253 : 18-28, 32-2

If you believe in and practise wrong knowingly, you can at once change your course and do right. Matter can make no opposition to right endeavors against sin or sickness, for matter is inert, mindless. Also, if you believe yourself diseased, you can alter this wrong belief and action without hindrance from the body.

Do not believe in any supposed necessity for sin, disease, or death, knowing (as you ought to know) that God never requires obedience to a so-called material law, for no such law exists.

The divine demand, "Be ye therefore perfect," is scientific, and the human footsteps leading to perfection are indispensable.

9. 403 : 14-23

You command the situation if you understand that mortal existence is a state of self-deception and not the truth of being. Mortal mind is constantly producing on mortal body the results of false opinions; and it will continue to do so, until mortal error is deprived of its imaginary powers by Truth, which sweeps away the gossamer web of mortal illusion. The most Christian state is one of rectitude and spiritual understanding, and this is best adapted for healing the sick.

10. 402 : 8-12

The time approaches when mortal mind will forsake its corporeal, structural, and material basis, when immortal Mind and its formations will be apprehended in Science, and material beliefs will not interfere with spiritual facts.

11. 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.