Responsive Reading: Psalm 139 : 1-4, 7-10

1.     O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.

2.     Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.

3.     Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

4.     For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.

7.     Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

8.     If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

9.     If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

10.     Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

1. Isaiah 41 : 10

10     Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

2. Genesis 28 : 10-13 (to :), 15-19 (to :), 20, 21

10     And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran.

11     And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.

12     And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

13     And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac:

15     And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

16     And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.

17     And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.

18     And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.

19     And he called the name of that place Beth-el:

20     And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,

21     So that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God:

3. Genesis 32 : 1, 2 (to :), 3, 6, 7 (to :), 24-30

1     And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.

2     And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God’s host:

3     And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom.

6     And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.

7     Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed:

24     And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.

25     And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.

26     And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

27     And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.

28     And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

29     And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.

30     And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

4. Psalm 119 : 76, 77, 80

76     Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to thy word unto thy servant.

77     Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live: for thy law is my delight.

80     Let my heart be sound in thy statutes; that I be not ashamed.

5. I Corinthians 3 : 9-11, 16, 21, 23

9     For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.

10     According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

11     For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

16     Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

21     Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;

23     And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.

6. II Corinthians 6 : 16-18

16     And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

17     Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,

18     And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

7. Hebrews 13 : 1, 2, 5, 6, 20, 21

1     Let brotherly love continue.

2     Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

5     Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

6     So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

20     Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,

21     Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

1. 465 : 14-15, 17 (Principle)-4

The attributes of God are justice, mercy, wisdom, goodness, and so on.

Principle and its idea is one, and this one is God, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent Being, and His reflection is man and the universe. Omni is adopted from the Latin adjective signifying all. Hence God combines all-power or potency, all-science or true knowledge, all-presence.

2. 303 : 25-15

God, without the image and likeness of Himself, would be a nonentity, or Mind unexpressed. He would be without a witness or proof of His own nature. Spiritual man is the image or idea of God, an idea which cannot be lost nor separated from its divine Principle. When the evidence before the material senses yielded to spiritual sense, the apostle declared that nothing could alienate him from God, from the sweet sense and presence of Life and Truth.

It is ignorance and false belief, based on a material sense of things, which hide spiritual beauty and goodness. Understanding this, Paul said: "Neither death, nor life, ... nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God." This is the doctrine of Christian Science: that divine Love cannot be deprived of its manifestation, or object; that joy cannot be turned into sorrow, for sorrow is not the master of joy; that good can never produce evil; that matter can never produce mind nor life result in death. The perfect man — governed by God, his perfect Principle — is sinless and eternal.

3. 336 : 25 (God)-31

God, the divine Principle of man, and man in God's likeness are inseparable, harmonious, and eternal. The Science of being furnishes the rule of perfection, and brings immortality to light. God and man are not the same, but in the order of divine Science, God and man coexist and are eternal. God is the parent Mind, and man is God's spiritual offspring.

4. 251 : 15-27

We must learn how mankind govern the body, — whether through faith in hygiene, in drugs, or in will-power. We should learn whether they govern the body through a belief in the necessity of sickness and death, sin and pardon, or govern it from the higher understanding that the divine Mind makes perfect, acts upon the so-called human mind through truth, leads the human mind to relinquish all error, to find the divine Mind to be the only Mind, and the healer of sin, disease, death. This process of higher spiritual understanding improves mankind until error disappears, and nothing is left which deserves to perish or to be punished.

5. 205 : 32-3

When we fully understand our relation to the Divine, we can have no other Mind but His, — no other Love, wisdom, or Truth, no other sense of Life, and no consciousness of the existence of matter or error.

6. 308 : 14-23

The Soul-inspired patriarchs heard the voice of Truth, and talked with God as consciously as man talks with man.

Jacob was alone, wrestling with error, — struggling with a mortal sense of life, substance, and intelligence as existent in matter with its false pleasures and pains, — when an angel, a message from Truth and Love, appeared to him and smote the sinew, or strength, of his error, till he saw its unreality; and Truth, being thereby understood, gave him spiritual strength in this Peniel of divine Science.

7. 309 : 7 (The)-16

The result of Jacob's struggle thus appeared. He had conquered material error with the understanding of Spirit and of spiritual power. This changed the man. He was no longer called Jacob, but Israel, — a prince of God, or a soldier of God, who had fought a good fight. He was to become the father of those, who through earnest striving followed his demonstration of the power of Spirit over the material senses; and the children of earth who followed his example were to be called the children of Israel, until the Messiah should rename them.

8. 296 : 4 (Progress)-6, 14-18, 28-30

Progress is born of experience. It is the ripening of mortal man, through which the mortal is dropped for the immortal.

The so-called pleasures and pains of matter perish, and they must go out under the blaze of Truth, spiritual sense, and the actuality of being. Mortal belief must lose all satisfaction in error and sin in order to part with them.

An improved belief is one step out of error, and aids in taking the next step and in understanding the situation in Christian Science.

9. 297 : 12 (Erroneous)-19

Erroneous belief is destroyed by truth. Change the evidence, and that disappears which before seemed real to this false belief, and the human consciousness rises higher. Thus the reality of being is attained and man found to be immortal. The only fact concerning any material concept is, that it is neither scientific nor eternal, but subject to change and dissolution.

10. 292 : 27-31

This carnal material mentality, misnamed mind, is mortal. Therefore man would be annihilated, were it not for the spiritual real man's indissoluble connection with his God, which Jesus brought to light.

11. 114 : 23-29

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.

12. 91 : 5-8

Let us rid ourselves of the belief that man is separated from God, and obey only the divine Principle, Life and Love. Here is the great point of departure for all true spiritual growth.

13. 316 : 3-7

The real man being linked by Science to his Maker, mortals need only turn from sin and lose sight of mortal selfhood to find Christ, the real man and his relation to God, and to recognize the divine sonship.

14. 306 : 18 (man)-20

…man cannot be separated for an instant from God, if man reflects God. Thus Science proves man's existence to be intact.