Responsive Reading: Proverbs 4 : 1, 4-6, 10, 13

1.     Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.

4.     Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.

5.     Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.

6.     Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee.

10.     Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many.

13.     Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.

1. I John 1 : 1-3

1     That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;

2     (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)

3     That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

2. John 5 : 8 (to saith), 19 (Verily), 24 (to 6th ,)

8     Jesus saith …

19     Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.

24     Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life,

3. Mark 5 : 21 (when)-24 (to ,), 35 (there)-43

21     … when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered unto him: and he was nigh unto the sea.

22     And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet,

23     And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.

24     And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him,

35     … there came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further?

36     As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe.

37     And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James.

38     And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly.

39     And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.

40     And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying.

41     And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.

42     And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment.

43     And he charged them straitly that no man should know it; and commanded that something should be given her to eat.

4. John 3 : 1-16

1     There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:

2     The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.

3     Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

4     Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?

5     Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

6     That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

7     Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

8     The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

9     Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?

10     Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?

11     Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.

12     If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?

13     And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

14     And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

15     That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

16     For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

5. John 13 : 31 (Jesus said) only

31     Jesus said,

6. John 14 : 2-6, 11, 12, 15, 16

2     In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

3     And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

4     And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.

5     Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?

6     Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

11     Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.

12     Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

15     If ye love me, keep my commandments.

16     And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

1. 497 : 3 (As)-4

As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life.

2. 24 : 4-13

Acquaintance with the original texts, and willingness to give up human beliefs (established by hierarchies, and instigated sometimes by the worst passions of men), open the way for Christian Science to be understood, and make the Bible the chart of life, where the buoys and healing currents of Truth are pointed out.

He to whom "the arm of the Lord" is revealed will believe our report, and rise into newness of life with regeneration.

3. 410 : 4-13

"This is life eternal," says Jesus, — is, not shall be; and then he defines everlasting life as a present knowledge of his Father and of himself, — the knowledge of Love, Truth, and Life. "This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." The Scriptures say, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," showing that Truth is the actual life of man; but mankind objects to making this teaching practical.

4. 192 : 27-31 next page

We walk in the footsteps of Truth and Love by following the example of our Master in the understanding of divine metaphysics. Christianity is the basis of true healing. Whatever holds human thought in line with unselfed love, receives directly the divine power.

I was called to visit Mr. Clark in Lynn, who had been confined to his bed six months with hip-disease, caused by a fall upon a wooden spike when quite a boy. On entering the house I met his physician, who said that the patient was dying. The physician had just probed the ulcer on the hip, and said the bone was carious for several inches. He even showed me the probe, which had on it the evidence of this condition of the bone. The doctor went out. Mr. Clark lay with his eyes fixed and sightless. The dew of death was on his brow. I went to his bedside. In a few moments his face changed; its death-pallor gave place to a natural hue. The eyelids closed gently and the breathing became natural; he was asleep. In about ten minutes he opened his eyes and said: "I feel like a new man. My suffering is all gone." It was between three and four o'clock in the afternoon when this took place.

I told him to rise, dress himself, and take supper with his family. He did so. The next day I saw him in the yard. Since then I have not seen him, but am informed that he went to work in two weeks. The discharge from the sore stopped, and the sore was healed. The diseased condition had continued there ever since the injury was received in boyhood.

Since his recovery I have been informed that his physician claims to have cured him, and that his mother has been threatened with incarceration in an insane asylum for saying: "It was none other than God and that woman who healed him." I cannot attest the truth of that report, but what I saw and did for that man, and what his physician said of the case, occurred just as I have narrated.

5. 289 : 14-20

The fact that the Christ, or Truth, overcame and still overcomes death proves the "king of terrors" to be but a mortal belief, or error, which Truth destroys with the spiritual evidences of Life; and this shows that what appears to the senses to be death is but a mortal illusion, for to the real man and the real universe there is no death-process.

6. 52 : 19-28

The "man of sorrows" best understood the nothingness of material life and intelligence and the mighty actuality of all-inclusive God, good. These were the two cardinal points of Mind-healing, or Christian Science, which armed him with Love. The highest earthly representative of God, speaking of human ability to reflect divine power, prophetically said to his disciples, speaking not for their day only but for all time: "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also;" and "These signs shall follow them that believe."

7. 324 : 13 (The)-18, 32-19

The way is straight and narrow, which leads to the understanding that God is the only Life. It is a warfare with the flesh, in which we must conquer sin, sickness, and death, either here or hereafter, — certainly before we can reach the goal of Spirit, or life in God.

Jesus said substantially, "He that believeth in me shall not see death." That is, he who perceives the true idea of Life loses his belief in death. He who has the true idea of good loses all sense of evil, and by reason of this is being ushered into the undying realities of Spirit. Such a one abideth in Life, — life obtained not of the body incapable of supporting life, but of Truth, unfolding its own immortal idea. Jesus gave the true idea of being, which results in infinite blessings to mortals.

In Colossians (iii. 4) Paul writes: "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear [be manifested], then shall ye also appear [be manifested] with him in glory." When spiritual being is understood in all its perfection, continuity, and might, then shall man be found in God's image. The absolute meaning of the apostolic words is this: Then shall man be found, in His likeness, perfect as the Father, indestructible in Life, "hid with Christ in God," — with Truth in divine Love, where human sense hath not seen man.

8. 126 : 22-31

I have set forth Christian Science and its application to the treatment of disease just as I have discovered them. I have demonstrated through Mind the effects of Truth on the health, longevity, and morals of men; and I have found nothing in ancient or in modern systems on which to found my own, except the teachings and demonstrations of our great Master and the lives of prophets and apostles. The Bible has been my only authority. I have had no other guide in "the straight and narrow way" of Truth.