Responsive Reading: Psalm 103 : 1, 3, 4, 13, 15-18, 20

1.     Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

3.     Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;

4.     Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;

13.     Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.

15.     As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.

16.     For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.

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.

20.     Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.

1. Acts 6 : 8, 9 (to 1st ,), 10-13 (to 1st ,)

8     And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.

9     Then there arose certain of the synagogue,

10     And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.

11     Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.

12     And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council,

13     And set up false witnesses,

2. Acts 7 : 2 (to 6th ,), 48, 49 (to 2nd :), 52-57 (to 1st ,), 59 (to 1st ,), 60

2     And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia,

48     Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,

49     Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord:

52     Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:

53     Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.

54     When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.

55     But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,

56     And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.

57     Then they cried out with a loud voice,

59     And they stoned Stephen,

60     And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

3. Acts 8 : 1 (to .), 2

1     And Saul was consenting unto his death.

2     And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.

4. Acts 9 : 1 (to 1st ,), 2 (desired)-5 (to :), 6, 8, 10 (to 1st .), 11 (Arise), 17, 18, 20

1     And Saul,

2     … desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

3     And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:

4     And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

5     And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest:

6     And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

8     And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.

10     And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias.

11     Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth,

17     And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.

18     And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.

20     And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.

5. Acts 14 : 2, 19, 20

2     But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected against the brethren.

19     And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.

20     Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.

6. Acts 20 : 7-12

7     And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.

8     And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together.

9     And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.

10     And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him.

11     When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed.

12     And they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted.

7. Romans 8 : 2, 9 (ye) (to .), 12 (to 3rd ,), 14, 16, 17 (to 2nd ;), 38, 39

2     For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

9     … ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.

12     Therefore, brethren, we are debtors,

14     For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

16     The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

17     And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ;

38     For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

39     Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1. 115 : 13-16

God: Divine Principle, Life, Truth, Love, Soul, Spirit, Mind.

Man: God's spiritual idea, individual, perfect, eternal.

2. 332 : 4 (Father-Mother)-8

Father-Mother is the name for Deity, which indicates His tender relationship to His spiritual creation. As the apostle expressed it in words which he quoted with approbation from a classic poet: "For we are also His offspring."

3. 264 : 32-15

The universe of Spirit is peopled with spiritual beings, and its government is divine Science. Man is the offspring, not of the lowest, but of the highest qualities of Mind. Man understands spiritual existence in proportion as his treasures of Truth and Love are enlarged. Mortals must gravitate Godward, their affections and aims grow spiritual, — they must near the broader interpretations of being, and gain some proper sense of the infinite, — in order that sin and mortality may be put off.

This scientific sense of being, forsaking matter for Spirit, by no means suggests man's absorption into Deity and the loss of his identity, but confers upon man enlarged individuality, a wider sphere of thought and action, a more expansive love, a higher and more permanent peace.

4. 37 : 5 (History)-12

History is full of records of suffering. "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." Mortals try in vain to slay Truth with the steel or the stake, but error falls only before the sword of Spirit. Martyrs are the human links which connect one stage with another in the history of religion. They are earth's luminaries, which serve to cleanse and rarefy the atmosphere of material sense and to permeate humanity with purer ideals.

5. 388 : 1-4

The Christian martyrs were prophets of Christian Science. Through the uplifting and consecrating power of divine Truth, they obtained a victory over the corporeal senses, a victory which Science alone can explain.

6. 326 : 23-32

Saul of Tarsus beheld the way — the Christ, or Truth — only when his uncertain sense of right yielded to a spiritual sense, which is always right. Then the man was changed. Thought assumed a nobler outlook, and his life became more spiritual. He learned the wrong that he had done in persecuting Christians, whose religion he had not understood, and in humility he took the new name of Paul. He beheld for the first time the true idea of Love, and learned a lesson in divine Science.

7. 275 : 25-4

Our material human theories are destitute of Science. The true understanding of God is spiritual. It robs the grave of victory. It destroys the false evidence that misleads thought and points to other gods, or other so-called powers, such as matter, disease, sin, and death, superior or contrary to the one Spirit.

Truth, spiritually discerned, is scientifically understood. It casts out error and heals the sick.

Having one God, one Mind, unfolds the power that heals the sick, and fulfils these sayings of Scripture, "I am the Lord that healeth thee," and "I have found a ransom."

8. 166 : 3 (As)-7

As a man thinketh, so is he. Mind is all that feels, acts, or impedes action. Ignorant of this, or shrinking from its implied responsibility, the healing effort is made on the wrong side, and thus the conscious control over the body is lost.

9. 534 : 18-23

Paul says in his epistle to the Romans: "The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the spirit of God dwell in you."

10. 315 : 16-20

The likeness of God we lose sight of through sin, which beclouds the spiritual sense of Truth; and we realize this likeness only when we subdue sin and prove man's heritage, the liberty of the sons of God.

11. 477 : 6-8

Man is not a material habitation for Soul; he is himself spiritual. Soul, being Spirit, is seen in nothing imperfect nor material.

12. 393 : 4-15

The body seems to be self-acting, only because mortal mind is ignorant of itself, of its own actions, and of their results, — ignorant that the predisposing, remote, and exciting cause of all bad effects is a law of so-called mortal mind, not of matter. Mind is the master of the corporeal senses, and can conquer sickness, sin, and death. Exercise this God-given authority. Take possession of your body, and govern its feeling and action. Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good. God has made man capable of this, and nothing can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on man.

13. 245 : 32 (The)-16

The infinite never began nor will it ever end. Mind and its formations can never be annihilated. Man is not a pendulum, swinging between evil and good, joy and sorrow, sickness and health, life and death. Life and its faculties are not measured by calendars. The perfect and immortal are the eternal likeness of their Maker. Man is by no means a material germ rising from the imperfect and endeavoring to reach Spirit above his origin. The stream rises no higher than its source.

The measurement of life by solar years robs youth and gives ugliness to age. The radiant sun of virtue and truth coexists with being. Manhood is its eternal noon, undimmed by a declining sun. As the physical and material, the transient sense of beauty fades, the radiance of Spirit should dawn upon the enraptured sense with bright and imperishable glories.

14. 516 : 9 (God)-12, 19-23

God fashions all things, after His own likeness. Life is reflected in existence, Truth in truthfulness, God in goodness, which impart their own peace and permanence.

Man, made in His likeness, possesses and reflects God's dominion over all the earth. Man and woman as coexistent and eternal with God forever reflect, in glorified quality, the infinite Father-Mother God.