The Flames Shall Not Hurt You

Wednesday Evening Readings for August 11, 2021

From The Bible

Isa. 43:1 thus (to :), 2 (to and), 2 they, 3 (to :)

... thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: ...

When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and ... they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: ...

Ex. 3:1 (to 1st ,), 1 2nd and, 2 (to :), 2 3rd and

Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, ... and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: ... and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

Dan. 3:8 at, 9 (to 1st ,), 12 (to ;), 12 they, 19 (to 1st ,), 20, 24 (to Then), 24 the (to 1st ,), 24 3rd and (to 4th ,), 25 Lo (to ;), 26 2nd Then, 27 (to 8th ,), 27 2nd nor

... at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and accused the Jews. They spake and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, ...

There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed–nego; ... they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. ...

... ¶ Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, ...

And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed–nego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. ...

Then ... the king was astonied, ... and said unto his counsellors, ...

... Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; ...

... Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed–nego, came forth of the midst of the fire. And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, ... nor the smell of fire had passed on them.

Ps. 46:1, 2 (to 1st ,), 2 2nd though, 3 (to 1st .), 6 he, 7 (to 1st .), 10 (to :)

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, ... though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. ...

... he uttered his voice, the earth melted. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. ...

Be still, and know that I am God: ...

I Kings 19:9 behold, 11 Go (to 6th ,), 11 but, 12

... behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? ...

... Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, ... but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

Ps. 48:1

Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.

Neh. 2:1 (to 2nd ,), 2 the (to 2nd ,), 3 (to 1st ,), 3 why, 5 (to 1st ,), 5 send, 6 So (to ;), 11 (to ,), 16 (to 2nd ,), 17 (to 5th ,), 18 So, 19 (to 1st ,), 19 2nd and (to 8th ,), 19 will, 20 (to ;); 4:6 (to ;)

And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, ...

... the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, ...

And said unto the king, ... why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire? ...

And I said unto the king, ... send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it.

... So it pleased the king to send me; ...

So I came to Jerusalem, ...

And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, ...

... ¶ Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, ...

... So they strengthened their hands for this good work. But when Sanballat the Horonite, ... and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, ... will ye rebel against the king? Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; ...

So built we the wall; ...

Isa. 41:1 (to ,), 1 and (to 1st :), 6, 10

Keep silence before me, ... and let the people renew their strength: ...

They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage. ...

... ¶ Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

Ps. 107:31, 35

Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! ...

He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into watersprings.

Mark 3:7 Jesus (to :); 4:37, 39, 41

... Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea: ...

And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. ...

And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. ...

And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

Matt. 28:18

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

I Chron. 29:11 (to :), 12 2nd and (to 2nd ;)

Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: ...

... and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; ...

Rev. 19:6

And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

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

SH 586:13

FIRE. Fear; remorse; lust; hatred; destruction; affliction purifying and elevating man.

SH 445:5–8

No hypothesis as to the existence of another power should interpose a doubt or fear to hinder the demonstration of Christian Science.

SH 385:31

Any supposed information, coming from the body or from inert matter as if either were intelligent, is an illusion of mortal mind, — one of its dreams. Realize that the evidence of the senses is not to be accepted in the case of sickness, any more than it is in the case of sin.

SH 273:7–12

Deductions from material hypotheses are not scientific. They differ from real Science because they are not based on the divine law.

Divine Science reverses the false testimony of the material senses, and thus tears away the foundations of error.

SH 385:11–18

Let us remember that the eternal law of right, though it can never annul the law which makes sin its own executioner, exempts man from all penalties but those due for wrong-doing.

Constant toil, deprivations, exposures, and all untoward conditions, if without sin, can be experienced without suffering. Whatever it is your duty to do, you can do without harm to yourself.

SH 445:15

You render the divine law of healing obscure and void, when you weigh the human in the scale with the divine, or limit in any direction of thought the omnipresence and omnipotence of God.

SH 273:21

God never ordained a material law to annul the spiritual law. If there were such a material law, it would oppose the supremacy of Spirit, God, and impugn the wisdom of the creator. Jesus walked on the waves, fed the multitude, healed the sick, and raised the dead in direct opposition to material laws. His acts were the demonstration of Science, overcoming the false claims of material sense or law.

SH 394:10–12, 24–29

The admission that any bodily condition is beyond the control of Mind disarms man, prevents him from helping himself, and enthrones matter through error. ...

... Are material means the only refuge from fatal chances? Is there no divine permission to conquer discord of every kind with harmony, with Truth and Love?

We should remember that Life is God, and that God is omnipotent.

SH 293:21

There is no vapid fury of mortal mind — expressed in earthquake, wind, wave, lightning, fire, bestial ferocity — and this so-called mind is self-destroyed. The manifestations of evil, which counterfeit divine justice, are called in the Scriptures, “The anger of the Lord.” In reality, they show the self-destruction of error or matter and point to matter's opposite, the strength and permanency of Spirit. Christian Science brings to light Truth and its supremacy, universal harmony, the entireness of God, good, and the nothingness of evil.

SH 97:11–13, 26

The more destructive matter becomes, the more its nothingness will appear, until matter reaches its mortal zenith in illusion and forever disappears. ...

“He uttered His voice, the earth melted.” This Scripture indicates that all matter will disappear before the supremacy of Spirit.

SH 293:13–16

The material so-called gases and forces are counterfeits of the spiritual forces of divine Mind, whose potency is Truth, whose attraction is Love, whose adhesion and cohesion are Life, perpetuating the eternal facts of being.

SH 124:20–21 (to ,), 25

Adhesion, cohesion, and attraction are properties of Mind. They belong to divine Principle, ...

Spirit is the life, substance, and continuity of all things. We tread on forces. Withdraw them, and creation must collapse. Human knowledge calls them forces of matter; but divine Science declares that they belong wholly to divine Mind, are inherent in this Mind, and so restores them to their rightful home and classification.

SH 283:4–6

Mind is the source of all movement, and there is no inertia to retard or check its perpetual and harmonious action.

SH 161:5

Holy inspiration has created states of mind which have been able to nullify the action of the flames, as in the Bible case of the three young Hebrew captives, cast into the Babylonian furnace; while an opposite mental state might produce spontaneous combustion.

SH 328:20–24

Understanding spiritual law and knowing that there is no material law, Jesus said: “These signs shall follow them that believe, . . . they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.

SH 138:14–15

The supremacy of Spirit was the foundation on which Jesus built.

SH 454:11

That evil or matter has neither intelligence nor power, is the doctrine of absolute Christian Science, and this is the great truth which strips all disguise from error.

SH 558:1–3 (to ,), 5–6 and (to 2nd :), 9 (only, to ,), 10 prefigures (only); 559:8–10, 14–16, 19–20 (to 2nd .)

St. John writes, in the tenth chapter of his book of Revelation: —

And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, ... and his feet as pillars of fire: and he had in his hand a little book open: ...

This angel or message which comes from God, ... prefigures divine Science. ...

... The “still, small voice” of scientific thought reaches over continent and ocean to the globe's remotest bound. ... Then is the power of Truth demonstrated, — made manifest in the destruction of error. ... Mortals, obey the heavenly evangel. Take divine Science.

SH 398:30–31 (to 1st .)

The Science of Mind must come to the rescue, to work a radical cure.

SH 572:3–6, 17

Thus we see, in both the first and last books of the Bible, — in Genesis and in the Apocalypse, — that sin is to be Christianly and scientifically reduced to its native nothingness. ...

... Under the supremacy of Spirit, it will be seen and acknowledged that matter must disappear.

SH 275:20

Divine metaphysics, as revealed to spiritual understanding, shows clearly that all is Mind, and that Mind is God, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, — that is, all power, all presence, all Science. Hence all is in reality the manifestation of Mind.

Hymns from the Christian Science Hymnal

Hymn. 123

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, / Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word. / What more can He say than to you He hath said, / To you who to God for your refuge have fled: /

Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed, / For I am thy God, I will still give thee aid; / I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, / Upheld by My gracious, omnipotent hand; /

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, / My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply; / The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design / Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

Words: ADAPTED

Music: 18th Century

Hymn. 74

Go forth and stand upon the mount, / For Truth is at thy side; / The very rocks may seem to break, / And earth to open wide; / Yet error's tempest and its fire / Before that still small voice retire. /

Go, take the little open book / From out the angel's hand; / The word of Truth is there for all / To read and understand. / What though the seven thunders roll? / That still small voice shall make thee whole.

Words: EDMUND BEALE SARGANT

Music: Koch’s Choralbuch, 1816

Hymn. 513

It matters not what be thy lot, / So Love doth guide; / For storm or shine, pure peace is thine, / Whate'er betide. /

And of these stones, or tyrants' thrones, / God able is / To raise up seed—in thought and deed— / To faithful His. /

Aye, darkling sense, arise, go hence! / Our God is good. / False fears are foes—truth tatters those, / When understood. /

Love looseth thee, and lifteth me, / Ayont hate's thrall: / There Life is light, and wisdom might, / And God is All. /

The centuries break, the earth-bound wake, / God's glorified! / Who doth His will—His likeness still— / Is satisfied.

Words: MARY BAKER EDDY

Music: Andrew D. Brewis