Responsive Reading: Psalm 51 : 1-3, 10-13

1.     Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.

2.     Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

3.     For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.

10.     Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

11.     Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

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

13.     Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

1. Psalm 103 : 8-12, 17, 18

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

9     He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.

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.

17     But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children;

18     To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.

2. John 8 : 1-11

1     Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.

2     And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.

3     And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,

4     They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.

5     Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?

6     This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.

7     So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

8     And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.

9     And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

10     When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?

11     She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

3. Hebrews 12 : 5 (despise)-7, 11

5     ... despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:

6     For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

7     If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

11     Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

4. II Peter 3 : 9

9     The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

5. Romans 5 : 8 (God)-10, 17-21

8     God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

9     Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

10     For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

17     For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.

18     Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

19     For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

20     Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

21     That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

6. Romans 6 : 12-14, 16-18, 21, 22

12     Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

13     Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

14     For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

16     Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

17     But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

18     Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

21     What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.

22     But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

1. 201 : 1-3, 7 (We)-12, 17-5

The best sermon ever preached is Truth practised and demonstrated by the destruction of sin, sickness, and death.

We cannot build safely on false foundations. Truth makes a new creature, in whom old things pass away and "all things are become new." Passions, selfishness, false appetites, hatred, fear, all sensuality, yield to spirituality, and the superabundance of being is on the side of God, good.

The way to extract error from mortal mind is to pour in truth through flood-tides of Love. Christian perfection is won on no other basis.

Grafting holiness upon unholiness, supposing that sin can be forgiven when it is not forsaken, is as foolish as straining out gnats and swallowing camels.

The scientific unity which exists between God and man must be wrought out in life-practice, and God's will must be universally done.

2. 497 : 9 (We)-12

We acknowledge God's forgiveness of sin in the destruction of sin and the spiritual understanding that casts out evil as unreal. But the belief in sin is punished so long as the belief lasts.

3. 356 : 19-27

God is as incapable of producing sin, sickness, and death as He is of experiencing these errors. How then is it possible for Him to create man subject to this triad of errors, — man who is made in the divine likeness?

Does God create a material man out of Himself, Spirit? Does evil proceed from good? Does divine Love commit a fraud on humanity by making man inclined to sin, and then punishing him for it?

4. 357 : 1-5

In common justice, we must admit that God will not punish man for doing what He created man capable of doing, and knew from the outset that man would do. God is "of purer eyes than to behold evil."

5. 537 : 14 (Error)-15

Error excludes itself from harmony. Sin is its own punishment.

6. 188 : 4-10

The belief of sin, which has grown terrible in strength and influence, is an unconscious error in the beginning, — an embryonic thought without motive; but afterwards it governs the so-called man. Passion, depraved appetites, dishonesty, envy, hatred, revenge ripen into action, only to pass from shame and woe to their final punishment.

7. 5 : 3-21

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."

Saints and sinners get their full award, but not always in this world. The followers of Christ drank his cup. Ingratitude and persecution filled it to the brim; but God pours the riches of His love into the understanding and affections, giving us strength according to our day. Sinners flourish "like a green bay tree;" but, looking farther, the Psalmist could see their end, — the destruction of sin through suffering.

8. 19 : 26-28

If living in disobedience to Him, we ought to feel no security, although God is good.

9. 196 : 6-10

Better the suffering which awakens mortal mind from its fleshly dream, than the false pleasures which tend to perpetuate this dream. Sin alone brings death, for sin is the only element of destruction.

10. 10 : 31-4

Do you ask wisdom to be merciful and not to punish sin? Then "ye ask amiss." Without punishment, sin would multiply. Jesus' prayer, "Forgive us our debts," specified also the terms of forgiveness. When forgiving the adulterous woman he said, "Go, and sin no more."

11. 35 : 30 (The)-9

The design of Love is to reform the sinner. If the sinner's punishment here has been insufficient to reform him, the good man's heaven would be a hell to the sinner. They, who know not purity and affection by experience, can never find bliss in the blessed company of Truth and Love simply through translation into another sphere. Divine Science reveals the necessity of sufficient suffering, either before or after death, to quench the love of sin. To remit the penalty due for sin, would be for Truth to pardon error. Escape from punishment is not in accordance with God's government, since justice is the handmaid of mercy.

12. 6 : 3 (Divine)-5

Divine Love corrects and governs man. Men may pardon, but this divine Principle alone reforms the sinner.

13. 95 : 32-5

Humanity advances slowly out of sinning sense into spiritual understanding; unwillingness to learn all things rightly, binds Christendom with chains.

Love will finally mark the hour of harmony, and spiritualization will follow, for Love is Spirit.

14. 98 : 31-11

The way through which immortality and life are learned is not ecclesiastical but Christian, not human but divine, not physical but metaphysical, not material but scientifically spiritual. Human philosophy, ethics, and superstition afford no demonstrable divine Principle by which mortals can escape from sin; yet to escape from sin, is what the Bible demands. "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling," says the apostle, and he straightway adds: "for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Philippians ii. 12, 13). Truth has furnished the key to the kingdom, and with this key Christian Science has opened the door of the human understanding.

15. 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.