Wednesday Readings for April 27th, 2022

From The Bible

The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD. ...

Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.
(Lamentations 3:24–26, 41)

Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: ...

Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;
(Hebrews 6:17, 19)

And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus' band. And entering into a ship of Adramyttium, we launched, ...

Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was now already past, Paul admonished them, And said unto them, Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives. Nevertheless the centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship, more than those things which were spoken by Paul. ...

And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship; And the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship. And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away. But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss. And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the ship. For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Cæsar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me. ...

And while the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, This day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing. Wherefore I pray you to take some meat: for this is for your health: for there shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you. And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all: and when he had broken it, he began to eat. Then were they all of good cheer, and they also took some meat. And we were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen souls. And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, and cast out the wheat into the sea. ...

And falling into a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the forepart stuck fast, and remained unmoveable, but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves. And the soldiers' counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out, and escape. But the centurion, willing to save Paul, kept them from their purpose; and commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land: And the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land.
(Acts 27:1, 2 (to 2nd ,), 9–11, 18–25, 33–38, 41–44)

And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita. And the barbarous people shewed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold. And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand. And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm. ...

And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him. So when this was done, others also, which had diseases in the island, came, and were healed:
(Acts 28:1–5, 8, 9)

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, ...

Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, ...
(Romans 1:1, 3 (to ,))

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. ...

For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
(Romans 8:16–19, 24, 25)

I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.
(Psalms 130:5)

Selections from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy

The nature of Christianity is peaceful and blessed, but in order to enter into the kingdom, the anchor of hope must be cast beyond the veil of matter into the Shekinah into which Jesus has passed before us; and this advance beyond matter must come through the joys and triumphs of the righteous as well as through their sorrows and afflictions. Like our Master, we must depart from material sense into the spiritual sense of being.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 40:31)

Spiritual sense, contradicting the material senses, involves intuition, hope, faith, understanding, fruition, reality. Material sense expresses the belief that mind is in matter. This human belief, alternating between a sense of pleasure and pain, hope and fear, life and death, never reaches beyond the boundary of the mortal or the unreal. When the real is attained, which is announced by Science, joy is no longer a trembler, nor is hope a cheat. Spiritual ideas, like numbers and notes, start from Principle, and admit no materialistic beliefs. Spiritual ideas lead up to their divine origin, God, and to the spiritual sense of being.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 298:13)

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.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 451:14)

As human thought changes from one stage to another of conscious pain and painlessness, sorrow and joy, — from fear to hope and from faith to understanding, — the visible manifestation will at last be man governed by Soul, not by material sense. Reflecting God's government, man is self-governed. When subordinate to the divine Spirit, man cannot be controlled by sin or death, thus proving our material theories about laws of health to be valueless.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 125:12)

The human mind is opposed to God and must be put off, as St. Paul declares. All that really exists is the divine Mind and its idea, and in this Mind the entire being is found harmonious and eternal. The straight and narrow way is to see and acknowledge this fact, yield to this power, and follow the leadings of truth.

That mortal mind claims to govern every organ of the mortal body, we have overwhelming proof. But this so-called mind is a myth, and must by its own consent yield to Truth. It would wield the sceptre of a monarch, but it is powerless. The immortal divine Mind takes away all its supposed sovereignty, and saves mortal mind from itself. The author has endeavored to make this book the Æsculapius of mind as well as of body, that it may give hope to the sick and heal them, although they know not how the work is done. Truth has a healing effect, even when not fully understood.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 151:24–9)

A human perception of divine Science, however limited, must be correct in order to be Science and subject to demonstration. A germ of infinite Truth, though least in the kingdom of heaven, is the higher hope on earth, ...
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 361:23–27 (to ,))

A mortal belief fulfils its own conditions. Sickness, sin, and death are the vague realities of human conclusions. Life, Truth, and Love are the realities of divine Science. They dawn in faith and glow full-orbed in spiritual understanding. As a cloud hides the sun it cannot extinguish, so false belief silences for a while the voice of immutable harmony, but false belief cannot destroy Science armed with faith, hope, and fruition.

What is termed material sense can report only a mortal temporary sense of things, whereas spiritual sense can bear witness only to Truth. To material sense, the unreal is the real until this sense is corrected by Christian Science.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 297:32–12)

Question. — You speak of belief. Who or what is it that believes?

Answer. — Spirit is all-knowing; this precludes the need of believing. Matter cannot believe, and Mind understands. The body cannot believe. The believer and belief are one and are mortal. Christian evidence is founded on Science or demonstrable Truth, flowing from immortal Mind, and there is in reality no such thing as mortal mind. Mere belief is blindness without Principle from which to explain the reason of its hope. The belief that life is sentient and intelligent matter is erroneous.

The Apostle James said, “Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.” The understanding that Life is God, Spirit, lengthens our days by strengthening our trust in the deathless reality of Life, its almightiness and immortality.

This faith relies upon an understood Principle.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 487:13–30)

To understand God strengthens hope, enthrones faith in Truth, and verifies Jesus' word: “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 446:20)

Truth's immortal idea is sweeping down the centuries, gathering beneath its wings the sick and sinning. My weary hope tries to realize that happy day, when man shall recognize the Science of Christ and love his neighbor as himself, — when he shall realize God's omnipotence and the healing power of the divine Love in what it has done and is doing for mankind. The promises will be fulfilled. The time for the reappearing of the divine healing is throughout all time; and whosoever layeth his earthly all on the altar of divine Science, drinketh of Christ's cup now, and is endued with the spirit and power of Christian healing.

In the words of St. John: “He shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever.” This Comforter I understand to be Divine Science.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 55:15–29)

For eight years I was a great sufferer from weak lungs and after being treated by ten different physicians, in the States of Illinois, Missouri, and Colorado, I was told there was no hope of my recovery from what they pronounced tuberculosis, which was hereditary, my father having been afflicted with it. I was greatly emaciated and hardly able to be about. ...

I had heard nothing of the curative power of Christian Science, and only to oblige a friend I went one night, about three years ago, to one of their mid-week testimonial meetings, in Boulder, Colorado. I was much impressed by what I heard there, and determined at once to investigate this strange religion, in the hope that it might have something good for me. I bought the textbook, Science and Health, and from the first I found myself growing stronger and better, both physically and mentally, as I acquired a better understanding and endeavored to put into practice what I learned. ... My lungs are now sound, ... my general health excellent, and I am able to endure without fatigue tasks that before would have prostrated me. The study of our textbook was the sole means of my healing. — L. M. St. C., Matachin, Canal Zone, Panama.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 664:2–8, 21–31; 665:6–7 (to 1st ,), 7 2nd my)

Glory be to God, and peace to the struggling hearts! Christ hath rolled away the stone from the door of human hope and faith, and through the revelation and demonstration of life in God, hath elevated them to possible at-one-ment with the spiritual idea of man and his divine Principle, Love.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 45:16)

Hymnals

Hymn No. 213

O God, our help in ages past, / Our hope for time to come, / Our shelter from the stormy blast, / And our eternal home.

Before the hills in order stood, / Or earth received her frame, / From everlasting Thou art God, / To endless years the same.

A thousand ages in Thy sight / Are like an evening gone, / Short as the watch that ends the night / Before the rising sun.

O God, our help in ages past, / Our hope for time to come, / Thou art our guard while ages last, / And our eternal home.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 213)

Hymn No. 148
Wherever He may guide me, / No want shall turn me back; / My Shepherd is beside me, / And nothing can I lack. / His wisdom ever waketh, / His sight is never dim; / He knows the way He taketh, / And I will walk with Him.

Green pastures are before me, / Which yet I have not seen; / Bright skies will soon be o'er me, / Where darkest clouds have been. / My hope I cannot measure, / My path in life is free; / My Father has my treasure, / And He will walk with me.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 148)

Hymn No. 336
The starry firmament on high, / And all the glories of the sky, / These shine not to Thy praise, O Lord, / So brightly as Thy sacred Word.

The hope Thy holy Word supplies, / Its truth divine and precepts wise, / In each a heavenly beam I see, / And every beam conducts to Thee.

And fixed for everlasting years, / Unmoved, amid dissolving spheres, / Thy Word shall shine in cloudless day, / When heaven and earth have past away.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 336)