Responsive Reading: Psalm 16 : 1, 8, 9; II Samuel 22 : 33; II Chronicles 16 : 9; I Kings 8 : 61

1.     Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.

8.     I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

9.     Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.

33.     God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect.

9.     For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.

61.     Let your heart therefore be perfect with the Lord our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments.

1. Deuteronomy 32 : 3 (ascribe), 4 (to 1st :)

3     …ascribe ye greatness unto our God.

4     He is the Rock, his work is perfect:

2. Psalm 37 : 37

37     Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.

3. Job 1 : 1, 6-9 (to 2nd ,), 11, 12, 14 (to 2nd ,), 16 (The fire) (to ;), 18 (Thy)-20

1     There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

6     Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.

7     And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

8     And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?

9     Then Satan answered the Lord, and said,

11     But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.

12     And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.

14     And there came a messenger unto Job, and said,

16     The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them;

18     Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house:

19     And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

20     Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,

4. Job 2 : 3 (to 1st ,), 3 (still) (to ,), 4 (to 2nd ,), 5-7, 11, 13 (for)

3     And the Lord said unto Satan, … still he holdeth fast his integrity,

4     And Satan answered the Lord, and said,

5     But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.

6     And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.

7     So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.

11     Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite: for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him.

13     …for they saw that his grief was very great.

5. Job 3 : 1, 3, 25 (to ,)

1     After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.

3     Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.

25     For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me,

6. Job 4 : 1, 3, 5

1     Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

3     Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands.

5     But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.

7. Job 6 : 1

1     But Job answered and said,

8. Job 7 : 20

20     I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself?

9. Job 8 : 1, 3, 19, 20

1     Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,

3     Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice?

19     Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the earth shall others grow.

20     Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the evil doers:

10. Job 9 : 1, 20, 21

1     Then Job answered and said,

20     If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.

21     Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul: I would despise my life.

11. Job 11 : 1, 6 (Know), 7

1     Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,

6     Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth.

7     Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?

12. Job 38 : 1-4, 33

1     Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,

2     Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?

3     Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.

4     Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.

33     Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?

13. Job 40 : 8, 10

8     Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

10     Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty.

14. Job 42 : 1, 2, 3 (therefore), 5, 7, 8 (go) (to 1st :), 9 (to :), 10, 12 (to :)

1     Then Job answered the Lord, and said,

2     I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.

3     …therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.

5     I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.

7     And it was so, that after the Lord had spoken these words unto Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath.

8     …go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you:

9     So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did according as the Lord commanded them:

10     And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.

12     So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning:

15. II Timothy 1 : 1, 2, 7

1     Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,

2     To Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

7     For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

16. II Timothy 2 : 1

1     Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

17. II Timothy 3 : 2 (to 1st ,), 4 (lovers of pleasures), 5, 14

2     For men shall be lovers of their own selves,

4     …lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

5     Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

14     But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;

18. II Corinthians 13 : 11 (Be perfect)

11     Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.

1. 550 : 5-14

God is the Life, or intelligence, which forms and preserves the individuality and identity of animals as well as of men. God cannot become finite, and be limited within material bounds. Spirit cannot become matter, nor can Spirit be developed through its opposite. Of what avail is it to investigate what is miscalled material life, which ends, even as it begins, in nameless nothingness? The true sense of being and its eternal perfection should appear now, even as it will hereafter.

2. 302 : 14 (let)-24

…let us remember that harmonious and immortal man has existed forever, and is always beyond and above the mortal illusion of any life, substance, and intelligence as existent in matter. This statement is based on fact, not fable. The Science of being reveals man as perfect, even as the Father is perfect, because the Soul, or Mind, of the spiritual man is God, the divine Principle of all being, and because this real man is governed by Soul instead of sense, by the law of Spirit, not by the so-called laws of matter.

3. 393 : 16-18

Be firm in your understanding that the divine Mind governs, and that in Science man reflects God's government.

4. 14 : 1-11

If we are sensibly with the body and regard omnipotence as a corporeal, material person, whose ear we would gain, we are not "absent from the body" and "present with the Lord" in the demonstration of Spirit. We cannot "serve two masters." To be "present with the Lord" is to have, not mere emotional ecstasy or faith, but the actual demonstration and understanding of Life as revealed in Christian Science. To be "with the Lord" is to be in obedience to the law of God, to be absolutely governed by divine Love, — by Spirit, not by matter.

5. 261 : 31-23

We should forget our bodies in remembering good and the human race. Good demands of man every hour, in which to work out the problem of being. Consecration to good does not lessen man's dependence on God, but heightens it. Neither does consecration diminish man's obligations to God, but shows the paramount necessity of meeting them. Christian Science takes naught from the perfection of God, but it ascribes to Him the entire glory. By putting "off the old man with his deeds," mortals "put on immortality."

We cannot fathom the nature and quality of God's creation by diving into the shallows of mortal belief. We must reverse our feeble flutterings — our efforts to find life and truth in matter — and rise above the testimony of the material senses, above the mortal to the immortal idea of God. These clearer, higher views inspire the Godlike man to reach the absolute centre and circumference of his being.

Job said: "I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee." Mortals will echo Job's thought, when the supposed pain and pleasure of matter cease to predominate. They will then drop the false estimate of life and happiness, of joy and sorrow, and attain the bliss of loving unselfishly, working patiently, and conquering all that is unlike God.

6. 231 : 20-2

To hold yourself superior to sin, because God made you superior to it and governs man, is true wisdom. To fear sin is to misunderstand the power of Love and the divine Science of being in man's relation to God, — to doubt His government and distrust His omnipotent care. To hold yourself superior to sickness and death is equally wise, and is in accordance with divine Science. To fear them is impossible, when you fully apprehend God and know that they are no part of His creation.

Man, governed by his Maker, having no other Mind, — planted on the Evangelist's statement that "all things were made by Him [the Word of God]; and without Him was not anything made that was made," — can triumph over sin, sickness, and death.

7. 259 : 6-14

In divine Science, man is the true image of God. The divine nature was best expressed in Christ Jesus, who threw upon mortals the truer reflection of God and lifted their lives higher than their poor thought-models would allow, — thoughts which presented man as fallen, sick, sinning, and dying. The Christlike understanding of scientific being and divine healing includes a perfect Principle and idea, — perfect God and perfect man, — as the basis of thought and demonstration.

8. 192 : 4-10

We are Christian Scientists, only as we quit our reliance upon that which is false and grasp the true. We are not Christian Scientists until we leave all for Christ. Human opinions are not spiritual. They come from the hearing of the ear, from corporeality instead of from Principle, and from the mortal instead of from the immortal. Spirit is not separate from God. Spirit is God.

9. 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.