Responsive Reading: Psalm 112 : 1-5, 9

1.     Praise ye the Lord. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments.

2.     His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed.

3.     Wealth and riches shall be in his house: and his righteousness endureth for ever.

4.     Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.

5.     A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth: he will guide his affairs with discretion.

9.     He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor; his righteousness endureth for ever; his horn shall be exalted with honour.

1. I Timothy 6 : 17-19

17     Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;

18     That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;

19     Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

2. Joshua 7 : 10 (to 1st ,), 11, 13, 19-22, 25, 26 (to 1st .)

10     And the Lord said unto Joshua,

11     Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff.

13     Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the Lord God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you.

19     And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me.

20     And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done:

21     When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.

22     So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and, behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it.

25     And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the Lord shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.

26     And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day.

3. II Chronicles 1 : 1 (Solomon), 6-12

1     Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him, and magnified him exceedingly.

6     And Solomon went up thither to the brasen altar before the Lord, which was at the tabernacle of the congregation, and offered a thousand burnt offerings upon it.

7     In that night did God appear unto Solomon, and said unto him, Ask what I shall give thee.

8     And Solomon said unto God, Thou hast shewed great mercy unto David my father, and hast made me to reign in his stead.

9     Now, O Lord God, let thy promise unto David my father be established: for thou hast made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude.

10     Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people: for who can judge this thy people, that is so great?

11     And God said to Solomon, Because this was in thine heart, and thou hast not asked riches, wealth, or honour, nor the life of thine enemies, neither yet hast asked long life; but hast asked wisdom and knowledge for thyself, that thou mayest judge my people, over whom I have made thee king:

12     Wisdom and knowledge is granted unto thee; and I will give thee riches, and wealth, and honour, such as none of the kings have had that have been before thee, neither shall there any after thee have the like.

4. Luke 18 : 18 (a)-30

18     …a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

19     And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.

20     Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.

21     And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.

22     Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.

23     And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.

24     And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!

25     For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

26     And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved?

27     And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.

28     Then Peter said, Lo, we have left all, and followed thee.

29     And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake,

30     Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.

5. I John 2 : 15-17

15     Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

16     For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

17     And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

1. 468 : 8-15

Question. — What is the scientific statement of being?

Answer. — There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual.

2. 477 : 9-17

Whatever is material is mortal. To the five corporeal senses, man appears to be matter and mind united; but Christian Science reveals man as the idea of God, and declares the corporeal senses to be mortal and erring illusions. Divine Science shows it to be impossible that a material body, though interwoven with matter's highest stratum, misnamed mind, should be man, — the genuine and perfect man, the immortal idea of being, indestructible and eternal.

3. 279 : 13-21, 26-29

Spirit and matter can neither coexist nor cooperate, and one can no more create the other than Truth can create error, or vice versa.

In proportion as the belief disappears that life and intelligence are in or of matter, the immortal facts of being are seen, and their only idea or intelligence is in God. Spirit is reached only through the understanding and demonstration of eternal Life and Truth and Love.

A logical and scientific conclusion is reached only through the knowledge that there are not two bases of being, matter and mind, but one alone, — Mind.

4. 301 : 17-23, 24-29

As God is substance and man is the divine image and likeness, man should wish for, and in reality has, only the substance of good, the substance of Spirit, not matter. The belief that man has any other substance, or mind, is not spiritual and breaks the First Commandment, Thou shalt have one God, one Mind. … Delusion, sin, disease, and death arise from the false testimony of material sense, which, from a supposed standpoint outside the focal distance of infinite Spirit, presents an inverted image of Mind and substance with everything turned upside down.

5. 269 : 21-28

The testimony of the material senses is neither absolute nor divine. I therefore plant myself unreservedly on the teachings of Jesus, of his apostles, of the prophets, and on the testimony of the Science of Mind. Other foundations there are none. All other systems — systems based wholly or partly on knowledge gained through the material senses — are reeds shaken by the wind, not houses built on the rock.

6. 326 : 8-14

All nature teaches God's love to man, but man cannot love God supremely and set his whole affections on spiritual things, while loving the material or trusting in it more than in the spiritual.

We must forsake the foundation of material systems, however time-honored, if we would gain the Christ as our only Saviour.

7. 593 : 6

Purse. Laying up treasures in matter; error.

8. 262 : 17-26

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. Starting from a higher standpoint, one rises spontaneously, even as light emits light without effort; for "where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

9. 272 : 19-25

It is the spiritualization of thought and Christianization of daily life, in contrast with the results of the ghastly farce of material existence; it is chastity and purity, in contrast with the downward tendencies and earthward gravitation of sensualism and impurity, which really attest the divine origin and operation of Christian Science.

10. 322 : 26-5

The sharp experiences of belief in the supposititious life of matter, as well as our disappointments and ceaseless woes, turn us like tired children to the arms of divine Love. Then we begin to learn Life in divine Science. Without this process of weaning, "Canst thou by searching find out God?" It is easier to desire Truth than to rid one's self of error. Mortals may seek the understanding of Christian Science, but they will not be able to glean from Christian Science the facts of being without striving for them. This strife consists in the endeavor to forsake error of every kind and to possess no other consciousness but good.

11. 61 : 4-11

The good in human affections must have ascendency over the evil and the spiritual over the animal, or happiness will never be won. The attainment of this celestial condition would improve our progeny, diminish crime, and give higher aims to ambition. Every valley of sin must be exalted, and every mountain of selfishness be brought low, that the highway of our God may be prepared in Science.

12. 518 : 15-19

The rich in spirit help the poor in one grand brotherhood, all having the same Principle, or Father; and blessed is that man who seeth his brother's need and supplieth it, seeking his own in another's good.

13. 451 : 14-18

Man walks in the direction towards which he looks, and where his treasure is, there will his heart be also. If our hopes and affections are spiritual, they come from above, not from beneath, and they bear as of old the fruits of the Spirit.

14. 390 : 9-11

Truth will at length compel us all to exchange the pleasures and pains of sense for the joys of Soul.