December 13th, From The Bible

Isa. 9:2, 6 (to 2nd ,), 6 4th The

The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. ...

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, ... The Prince of Peace. 

Isa. 11:1 (to ,), 2 (to 1st ,), 3 2nd and, 4 (to :)

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, ...

And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, ...

... and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: ...

Mic. 5:2

But thou, Beth–lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have beenfrom of old, from everlasting. 

Matt. 2:1, 2 (to ?)

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? ...

Luke 2:8 (to ,), 9 (to 3rd ,), 10 (to 1st ,), 10 behold, 11, 40

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, ...

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, ...

And the angel said unto them, ... behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. ...

And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him. 

Luke 4:14 (to :), 15 (to ,), 16 (to :), 17, 18, 21

¶ And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: ...

And he taught in their synagogues, ...

... ¶ And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: ...

And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, ...

And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. 

Luke 4:24, 25 (to 2nd ,), 26 (to 3rd ,), 27–29 (to 1st ,), 29–31 that

And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, ...

But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, ...

And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, And rose up, ... that they might cast him down headlong. But he passing through the midst of them went his way, And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days. 

Luke 5:12 (to 1st ,), 12 behold, 13, 18 (to :), 20, 21 (to 2nd ,), 21 2nd Who, 22 (to 2nd ,), 23, 24 (to 4th ,), 25 (to 1st ,), 25 3rd and

¶ And it came to pass, ... behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And he put forth hishand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him. ...

... ¶ And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: ...

And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, ... Who can forgive sins, but God alone? But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, ...

Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, ...

And immediately he rose up before them, ... and departed to his own house, glorifying God. 

Matt. 4:17

¶ From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 

Luke 17:20, 21

¶ And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. 

Luke 13:20, 21

And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. 

Luke 6:12, 13 (to :), 20 (to 2nd ,)

And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. ¶ And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: ...

... ¶ And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, ...

Luke 6:22 (to 2nd ,), 22 2nd and (to 4th ,), 22 for, 23 2nd for (to 2nd :), 27, 28, 31

Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, ... and shall reproach you, ... for the Son of man’s sake. 

... for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: ...

... ¶ But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. ...

And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. 

Matt. 4:23; 5:2, 3, 6, 9, 10, 12, 14, 16, 38, 39, 43–45, 48

¶ And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. ...

And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ...

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. ...

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ...

Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. ...

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. ...

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. ...

... ¶ Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. ...

... ¶ Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. ...

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. 

John 10:24, 25, 31, 32, 37, 38

Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me. ...

Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? ...

If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him. 

Luke 8:1 (to :)

And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: ...

II Thess. 2:16, 17

Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work. 

Mic. 3:9 (to 4th ,); 4:1 in (to 2nd ,), 1 2nd and, 2 (to 4th ,), 2 5th and (to :), 3

Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, ...

... in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, ... and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, ... and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: ...

... ¶ And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 

Rev. 12:10 (to :)

And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: …

SH vii:1

TO those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings. The wakeful shepherd beholds the first faint morning beams, ere cometh the full radiance of a risen day. So shone the pale star to the prophet-shepherds; yet it traversed the night, and came where, in cradled obscurity, lay the Bethlehem babe, the human herald of Christ, Truth, who would make plain to benighted understanding the way of salvation through Christ Jesus, till across a night of error should dawn the morning beams and shine the guiding star of being. The Wisemen were led to behold and to follow this daystar of divine Science, lighting the way to eternal harmony. 

SH 333:16–23 The

... The advent of Jesus of Nazareth marked the first century of the Christian era, but the Christ is without beginning of years or end of days. Throughout all generations both before and after the Christian era, the Christ, as the spiritual idea, — the reflection of God, — has come with some measure of power and grace to all prepared to receive Christ, Truth. 

SH 473:10–12

Christ is the ideal Truth, that comes to heal sickness and sin through Christian Science, and attributes all power to God. 

SH 316:20

Christ presents the indestructible man, whom Spirit creates, constitutes, and governs. Christ illustrates that blending with God, his divine Principle, which gives man dominion over all the earth. 

SH 26:12–16

This Christ, or divinity of the man Jesus, was his divine nature, the godliness which animated him. Divine Truth, Life, and Love gave Jesus authority over sin, sickness, and death. 

SH 332:19 Jesus

... Jesus demonstrated Christ; he proved that Christ is the divine idea of God — the Holy Ghost, or Comforter, revealing the divine Principle, Love, and leading into all truth. 

SH 20:16–20

“Despised and rejected of men,” returning blessing for cursing, he taught mortals the opposite of themselves, even the nature of God; and when error felt the power of Truth, the scourge and the cross awaited the great Teacher. 

SH 52:19–23

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. 

SH 54:1–10

Through the magnitude of his human life, he demonstrated the divine Life. Out of the amplitude of his pure affection, he defined Love. With the affluence of Truth, he vanquished error. The world acknowledged not his righteousness, seeing it not; but earth received the harmony his glorified example introduced. 

Who is ready to follow his teaching and example? All must sooner or later plant themselves in Christ, the true idea of God. 

SH 476:28–32; 477:4–5

When speaking of God’s children, not the children of men, Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is within you;” that is, Truth and Love reign in the real man, showing that man in God’s image is unfallen and eternal. ... Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy. 

SH 321:3

As Paul says, in his first epistle to the Corinthians, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” 

SH 590:1–3 (to ;)

Kingdom of Heaven. The reign of harmony in divine Science; the realm of unerring, eternal, and omnipotent Mind; ...

SH 242:9

There is but one way to heaven, harmony, and Christ in divine Science shows us this way. It is to know no other reality — to have no other consciousness of life — than good, God and His reflection, and to rise superior to the so-called pain and pleasure of the senses. 

SH 117:31; 118:10 (only), 23

His parable of the “leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened,” impels the inference that the spiritual leaven signifies the Science of Christ and its spiritual interpretation, — an inference far above the merely ecclesiastical and formal applications of the illustration. ...

Ages pass, but this leaven of Truth is ever at work. ...

... This continues until the leaven of Spirit changes the whole of mortal thought, as yeast changes the chemical properties of meal. 

SH 138:14–22

The supremacy of Spirit was the foundation on which Jesus built. His sublime summary points to the religion of Love. 

Jesus established in the Christian era the precedent for all Christianity, theology, and healing. Christians are under as direct orders now, as they were then, to be Christlike, to possess the Christ-spirit, to follow the Christ-example, and to heal the sick as well as the sinning. 

SH 326:12–14

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

SH 494:15 Jesus

Jesus demonstrated the inability of corporeality, as well as the infinite ability of Spirit, thus helping erring human sense to flee from its own convictions and seek safety in divine Science. Reason, rightly directed, serves to correct the errors of corporeal sense; but sin, sickness, and death will seem real (even as the experiences of the sleeping dream seem real) until the Science of man’s eternal harmony breaks their illusion with the unbroken reality of scientific being. 

SH 337:7–10

For true happiness, man must harmonize with his Principle, divine Love; the Son must be in accord with the Father, in conformity with Christ. 

SH 271:21

When the Science of Christianity appears, it will lead you into all truth. The Sermon on the Mount is the essence of this Science, and the eternal life, not the death of Jesus, is its outcome. 

SH 138:27–2

Our Master said to every follower: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature! . . . Heal the sick! . . . Love thy neighbor as thyself!” It was this theology of Jesus which healed the sick and the sinning. It is his theology in this book and the spiritual meaning of this theology, which heals the sick and causes the wicked to “forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts.” 

SH 39:1–4 (to 1st .), 8

Meekly our Master met the mockery of his unrecognized grandeur. Such indignities as he received, his followers will endure until Christianity’s last triumph. ... We must have trials and self-denials, as well as joys and victories, until all error is destroyed. 

SH 446:24–27

Resisting evil, you overcome it and prove its nothingness. Not human platitudes, but divine beatitudes, reflect the spiritual light and might which heal the sick. 

SH 29:1

Christians must take up arms against error at home and abroad. They must grapple with sin in themselves and in others, and continue this warfare until they have finished their course. If they keep the faith, they will have the crown of rejoicing. 

SH 276:4–9

When the divine precepts are understood, they unfold the foundation of fellowship, in which one mind is not at war with another, but all have one Spirit, God, one intelligent source, in accordance with the Scriptural command: “Let this Mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” 

SH 340:23

One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations; constitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfils the Scripture, “Love thy neighbor as thyself;” annihilates pagan and Christian idolatry, — whatever is wrong in social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes; equalizes the sexes; annuls the curse on man, and leaves nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed. 

SH 568:5–7, 13–15 (to :), 30

The twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse typifies the divine method of warfare in Science, and the glorious results of this warfare. ...

Revelation xii. 10–12. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ: ...

... Self-abnegation, by which we lay down all for Truth, or Christ, in our warfare against error, is a rule in Christian Science. This rule clearly interprets God as divine Principle, — as Life, represented by the Father; as Truth, represented by the Son; as Love, represented by the Mother. Every mortal at some period, here or hereafter, must grapple with and overcome the mortal belief in a power opposed to God. 

SH 276:9–16, 19

Man and his Maker are correlated in divine Science, and real consciousness is cognizant only of the things of God. 

The realization that all inharmony is unreal brings objects and thoughts into human view in their true light, and presents them as beautiful and immortal. Harmony in man is as real and immortal as in music. Discord is unreal and mortal. 

... When we learn in Science how to be perfect even as our Father in heaven is perfect, thought is turned into new and healthy channels, — towards the contemplation of things immortal and away from materiality to the Principle of the universe, including harmonious man. 

SH 208:20

Let us learn of the real and eternal, and prepare for the reign of Spirit, the kingdom of heaven, — the reign and rule of universal harmony, which cannot be lost nor remain forever unseen. 

SH 248:29

Let unselfishness, goodness, mercy, justice, health, holiness, love — the kingdom of heaven — reign within us, and sin, disease, and death will diminish until they finally disappear. 

SH 174:9–14, 17–20 (to 1st .)

The footsteps of thought, rising above material standpoints, are slow, and portend a long night to the traveller; but the angels of His presence — the spiritual intuitions that tell us when “the night is far spent, the day is at hand” — are our guardians in the gloom. ...

The thunder of Sinai and the Sermon on the Mount are pursuing and will overtake the ages, rebuking in their course all error and proclaiming the kingdom of heaven on earth. 

Hymn. 222

O little town of Bethlehem, / How still we see thee lie; / Above thy deep and dreamless sleep / The silent stars go by; / Yet in thy dark streets shineth / The everlasting Light; / The hopes and fears of all the years / Are met in thee tonight. 

O morning stars, together / Proclaim the holy birth, / And praises sing to God the King, / And peace to men on earth; / Where charity stands watching / And faith holds wide the door, / The dark night wakes, the glory breaks, / And Christmas comes once more. 

How silently, how silently, / The wondrous gift is given; / So God imparts to human hearts / The blessings of His heaven. / No ear may hear his coming, / But in this world of sin, / Where meekness will receive him, still / The dear Christ enters in. 

Words: Phillips Brooks

Music: Lewis H. Redner

Hymn. 236:1–4

O peace of the world, O hope in each breast, / O Bethlehem star that ages have blest, / A day of fresh promise breaks over the land, / Gaunt warfare is doomed, and God’s kingdom at hand! 

From cannon and sword shape tillers of soil, / No more let dire hate man’s spirit despoil, / Let Truth be proclaimed, let God’s love be retold, / That men of good will may their brethren uphold. 

As stars in their courses never contend, / As blossoms their hues in harmony blend, / As bird voices mingle in joyful refrain, / So God’s loving children in concord remain. 

Our God is one Mind, the Mind we adore; / Ineffable joy His love doth outpour; / Let nations be one in a union of love, / God’s bountiful peace, all earth’s treasures above. 

Words: Irving C. Tomlinson

Music: William Croft

Hymn. 253:1–7

O’er waiting harpstrings of the mind / There sweeps a strain, / Low, sad, and sweet, whose measures bind / The power of pain, 

And wake a white-winged angel throng / Of thoughts, illumed / By faith, and breathed in raptured song, / With love perfumed. 

Then His unveiled, sweet mercies show / Life’s burdens light. / I kiss the cross, and wake to know / A world more bright. 

And o’er earth’s troubled, angry sea / I see Christ walk, / And come to me, and tenderly, / Divinely talk. 

Thus Truth engrounds me on the rock, / Upon Life’s shore, / ’Gainst which the winds and waves can shock, / Oh, nevermore! 

From tired joy and grief afar, / And nearer Thee,— / Father, where Thine own children are, / I love to be. 

My prayer, some daily good to do / To Thine, for Thee; / An offering pure of Love, whereto / God leadeth me. 

Words: Mary Baker Eddy

Music: William Lyman Johnson