The Scales of Justice
Wednesday Evening Readings for May 12, 2021
Eccl. 5:8
¶ If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they.
Esth. 2:5 (to 2nd ,), 6 (to captivity), 7 (to up), 7 Esther (to :), 7 2nd and, 17 (to sight), 17 so (to queen)
¶ Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, whose name was Mordecai, …
Who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity …
And he brought up … Esther, his uncle’s daughter: … and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter. …
And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight … so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen …
Esth. 3:1, 2, 5, 6 wherefore, 8, 9 (to :), 10, 11
After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him. And all the king’s servants, that were in the king’s gate, bowed, and reverenced Haman: for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence. …
And when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence, then was Haman full of wrath.
… wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai. …
… ¶ And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from all people; neither keep they the king’s laws: therefore it is not for the king’s profit to suffer them. If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed: …
And the king took his ring from his hand, and gave it unto Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews’ enemy. And the king said unto Haman, The silver is given to thee, the people also, to do with them as it seemeth good to thee.
Esth. 4:3 (to ;), 4 (to ;), 12, 16, 17
And in every province, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; …
… ¶ So Esther’s maids and her chamberlains came and told it her. Then was the queen exceedingly grieved; …
And they told to Mordecai Esther’s words. …
Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish. So Mordecai went his way, and did according to all that Esther had commanded him.
Esth. 5:6 (to Esther), 6–8 What
¶ And the king said unto Esther … What is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: and what is thy request? even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed. Then answered Esther, and said, My petition and my request is; If I have found favour in the sight of the king, and if it please the king to grant my petition, and to perform my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I shall prepare for them, and I will do to-morrow as the king hath said.
Esth. 7:1–4 (to 1st .), 5, 6 (to 1st .)
So the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen. And the king said again unto Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, What is thy petition, queen Esther? and it shall be granted thee: and what is thy request? and it shall be performed, even to the half of the kingdom. Then Esther the queen answered and said, If I have found favour in thy sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request: For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. …
… ¶ Then the king Ahasuerus answered and said unto Esther the queen, Who is he, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to do so? And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. …
Esth. 8:1, 2, 15 (to 2nd ,), 17 (to 4th ,)
On that day did the king Ahasuerus give the house of Haman the Jews’ enemy unto Esther the queen. And Mordecai came before the king; for Esther had told what he was unto her. And the king took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it unto Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman. …
… ¶ And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, …
And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, …
Ps. 89:8, 13, 14
O Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee? …
Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand. Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.
Isa. 9:6, 7
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, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
Luke 13:11–17
¶ And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day. The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day? And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.
Luke 18:1–8 (to .)
And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. …
Rom. 7:5 when, 6 (to 1st ,), 6 2nd that, 12, 14 (to
… when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, … that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. …
Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. …
For we know that the law is spiritual: …
SH 36:19–21
A selfish and limited mind may be unjust, but the unlimited and divine Mind is the immortal law of justice as well as of mercy.
SH 542:10, 19–21
The avoidance of justice and the denial of truth tend to perpetuate sin, invoke crime, jeopardize self-control, and mock divine mercy. …
… Let Truth uncover and destroy error in God’s own way, and let human justice pattern the
divine.
SH 391:17
Justice is the moral signification of law. Injustice declares the absence of law. When the body is supposed to say, “I am sick,” never plead guilty. Since matter cannot talk, it must be mortal mind which speaks; therefore meet the intimation with a protest. If you say, “I am sick,” you plead guilty. Then your adversary will deliver you to the judge (mortal mind), and the judge will sentence you. Disease has no intelligence to declare itself something and announce its name. Mortal mind alone sentences itself. Therefore make your own terms with sickness, and be just to yourself and to others.
SH 390:12
When the first symptoms of disease appear, dispute the testimony of the material senses with divine Science. Let your higher sense of justice destroy the false process of mortal opinions which you name law, and then you will not be confined to a sick-room nor laid upon a bed of suffering in payment of the last farthing, the last penalty demanded by error. “Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him.” Suffer no claim of sin or of sickness to grow upon the thought. Dismiss it with an abiding conviction that it is illegitimate, because you know that God is no more the author of sickness than He is of sin. You have no law of His to support the necessity either of sin or sickness, but you have divine authority for denying that necessity and healing the sick.
SH 392:4
To cure a bodily ailment, every broken moral law should be taken into account and the error be rebuked. Fear, which is an element of all disease, must be cast out to readjust the balance for God. Casting out evil and fear enables truth to outweigh error. The only course is to take antagonistic grounds against all that is opposed to the health, holiness, and harmony of man, God’s image.
SH 192:17
Moral and spiritual might belong to Spirit, who holds the “wind in His fists;” and this teaching accords with Science and harmony. In Science, you can have no power opposed to God, and the physical senses must give up their false testimony. Your influence for good depends upon the weight you throw into the right scale. The good you do and embody gives you the only power obtainable. Evil is not power. It is a mockery of strength, which erelong betrays its weakness and falls, never to rise.
SH 155:15–25
The universal belief in physics weighs against the high and mighty truths of Christian metaphysics. This erroneous general belief, which sustains medicine and produces all medical results, works against Christian Science; and the percentage of power on the side of this Science must mightily outweigh the power of popular belief in order to heal a single case of disease. The human mind acts more powerfully to offset the discords of matter and the ills of flesh, in proportion as it puts less weight into the material or fleshly scale and more weight into the spiritual scale.
SH 168:4–10
If the scales are evenly adjusted, the removal of a single weight from either scale gives preponderance to the opposite. Whatever influence you cast on the side of matter, you take away from Mind, which would otherwise outweigh all else. Your belief militates against your health, when it ought to be enlisted on the side of health.
SH 445:15–21
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.
Christian Science silences human will, quiets fear with Truth and Love, and illustrates the unlabored motion of the divine energy in healing the sick.
SH 224:22
A higher and more practical Christianity, demonstrating justice and meeting the needs of mortals in sickness and in health, stands at the door of this age, knocking for admission. Will you open or close the door upon this angel visitant, who cometh in the quiet of meekness, as he came of old to the patriarch at noonday?
SH 141:27
The adoption of scientific religion and of divine healing will ameliorate sin, sickness, and death. Let our pulpits do justice to Christian Science. Let it have fair representation by the press. Give to it the place in our institutions of learning now occupied by scholastic theology and physiology, and it will eradicate sickness and sin in less time than the old systems, devised for subduing them, have required for self-establishment and propagation.
SH 60:2
Science inevitably lifts one’s being higher in the scale of harmony and happiness.
Hymn. 2
A glorious day is dawning, / And o’er the waking earth / The heralds of the morning / Are springing into birth. / In dark and hidden places / There shines the blessed light; / The beam of Truth displaces / The darkness of the night.
The advocates of error / Foresee the glorious morn, / And hear in shrinking terror, / The watchword of reform: / It rings from hill and valley, / It breaks oppression’s chain. / A thousand freemen rally, / And swell the mighty strain.
The watchword has been spoken, / The light has broken forth, / Far shines the blessed token / Upon the startled earth. / To hearts and homes benighted / The blessed Truth is given, / And peace and love, united, / Point upward unto heaven.
Words: Author Unknown
Music: Lowell Mason
Hymn. 501
I love Your way of freedom, Lord, / To serve You is my choice; / In Your clear light of Truth I rise / And, listening for Your voice, / I hear Your promise old and new, / That bids all fear to cease: / “My presence still shall go with you / And I will give you peace.”
Though storm or discord cross my path / Your power is still my stay, / Though human will and woe would check / My upward-soaring way; / All unafraid I wait, the while / Your angels bring release, / For still Your presence is with me, / And You do give me peace.
I climb, with joy, the heights of Mind, / To soar o’er time and space; / I yet shall know as I am known / And see You face to face. / Till time and space and fear are naught / My quest shall never cease, / Your presence ever goes with me / And You do give me peace.
Words: Violet Hay, alt.
Music: Andrew D. Brewis
Hymn. 226
O Lord of life, to Thee we lift / Our hearts in praise for those, / Thy prophets, who have shown Thy gift / Of grace that ever grows, / Of truth that spreads from shore to shore, / Of wisdom’s widening ray, / Of light that shineth more and more / Unto Thy perfect day.
Shine forth, O Light, that we may see, / With hearts all unafraid, / The meaning and the majesty / Of things that Thou hast made: / Shine forth, and let the darkling past / Beneath Thy beam grow bright; / Shine forth, and touch the future vast / With Thine untroubled light.
Light up Thy word; the fettered page / From darkened bondage free: / Light up our way; lead forth this age / In love’s large liberty. / O Light of light, within us dwell, / Through us Thy radiance pour, / That word and deed Thy truths may tell, / And praise Thee evermore.
Words: Washington Gladden*
Music: Mainz Gesangbuch, 1833
