The Christian Science Association of the Students of Allison W. Phinney, Jr., C.S.B.

Title: ”More alive to His promises“ (SH 373:4-5)
Guest speaker – Pamela E. Phinney, C.S.
April 22, 2023

(If you’d like to print, we suggest downloading the full text references, or the PDF of citations only)

Introduction: God’s promises are kept

Deut. 6:3–5
Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Deut. 26:18
And the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments;

Jer. 7:21 (to ;), 23 Obey
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; ... Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.

II Chron. 6:16
Now therefore, O LORD God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit upon the throne of Israel; yet so that thy children take heed to their way to walk in my law, as thou hast walked before me.

SH 130:20
Laboring long to shake the adult’s faith in matter and to inculcate a grain of faith in God, – an inkling of the ability of Spirit to make the body harmonious, – the author has often remembered our Master’s love for little children, and understood how truly such as they belong to the heavenly kingdom.

Luke 18:15–17
And they brought unto him also infants, that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.

SH 323:32–4
Willingness to become as a little child and to leave the old for the new, renders thought receptive of the advanced idea. Gladness to leave the false landmarks and joy to see them disappear, – this disposition helps to precipitate the ultimate harmony.

SH 29:30
Man as the offspring of God, as the idea of Spirit, is the immortal evidence that Spirit is harmonious and man eternal. Jesus was the offspring of Mary’s self-conscious communion with God. Hence he could give a more spiritual idea of life than other men, and could demonstrate the Science of Love – his Father or divine Principle.

Luke 6:20, 35–37 love, 46–48
And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. ... love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: ...

And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.

John 8:32
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

SH 289:1–4
Truth demonstrated is eternal life. Mortal man can never rise from the temporal débris of error, belief in sin, sickness, and death, until he learns that God is the only Life.

SH 373:1–5
If we are Christians on all moral questions, but are in darkness as to the physical exemption which Christianity includes, then we must have more faith in God on this subject and be more alive to His promises.

Rom. 4:20, 21
He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

Hymn. 269:1 2nd Ask
... Ask not the Lord with breath of praise
For more than we accept;
The open fount is free to all,
God’s promises are kept.

Words: FREDERIC W. ROOT
Music: Franz Joseph Haydn

SECTION 1: “Great and precious promises” ( II Pet 1:4)

Gen. 1:4 God
... God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

Isa. 9:2
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.

Mark 1:14 Jesus, 15 (to :)
... Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: ...

John 8:12
¶ Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Ps. 36:7–9
How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.

II Pet. 1:2–4 (to :)
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises:

I John 1:1–3
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; (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;) 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.

My. 201:2
Press on towards the high calling whereunto divine Love has called us and is fast fulfilling the promises.

SH 596:23
Though the way is dark in mortal sense, divine Life and Love illumine it, destroy the unrest of mortal thought, the fear of death, and the supposed reality of error. Christian Science, contradicting sense, maketh the valley to bud and blossom as the rose.

SH 215:12–21
Whatever is governed by God, is never for an instant deprived of the light and might of intelligence and Life. We are sometimes led to believe that darkness is as real as light; but Science affirms darkness to be only a mortal sense of the absence of light, at the coming of which darkness loses the appearance of reality. So sin and sorrow, disease and death, are the suppositional absence of Life, God, and flee as phantoms of error before truth and love.

SH 572:8
In Science we are children of God; but whatever is of material sense, or mortal, belongs not to His children, for materiality is the inverted image of spirituality.

SH 288:31–1
The eternal Truth destroys what mortals seem to have learned from error, and man’s real existence as a child of God comes to light.

Ps. 108:5, 6
Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above all the earth; That thy beloved may be delivered: save with thy right hand, and answer me.

Jer. 1:4, 5–9 4th I
Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, ... I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. ¶ But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD. Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.

Jer. 32:3 I
... I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it;

Jer. 38:7–10, 13 (to :)
¶ Now when Ebed–melech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs which was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon; the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin; Ebed–melech went forth out of the king’s house, and spake to the king, saying, My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is like to die for hunger in the place where he is: for there is no more bread in the city. Then the king commanded Ebed–melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from hence thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die. ...

So they drew up Jeremiah with cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: ...

Ps. 20:6
Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.

SH 387:18–24
That man does not pay the severest penalty who does the most good. By adhering to the realities of eternal existence, — instead of reading disquisitions on the inconsistent supposition that death comes in obedience to the law of life, and that God punishes man for doing good, — one cannot suffer as the result of any labor of love, but grows stronger because of it.

SH 228:11–15
The enslavement of man is not legitimate. It will cease when man enters into his heritage of freedom, his God-given dominion over the material senses. Mortals will some day assert their freedom in the name of Almighty God.

SH 542:19–21
Let Truth uncover and destroy error in God’s own way, and let human justice pattern the divine.

SH 95:30–32
Material sense does not unfold the facts of existence; but spiritual sense lifts human consciousness into eternal Truth.

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.

Mis. 2:14
To-day we behold but the first faint view of a more spiritual Christianity, that embraces a deeper and broader philosophy and a more rational and divine healing. The time approaches when divine Life, Truth, and Love will be found alone the remedy for sin, sickness, and death; when God, man’s saving Principle, and Christ, the spiritual idea of God, will be revealed.

Mis. 126:24
Christian Scientists have a strong race to run, and foes in ambush; but bear in mind that, in the long race, honesty always defeats dishonesty.

Mis. 118:24
Be of good cheer; the warfare with one’s self is grand; it gives one plenty of employment, and the divine Principle worketh with you, — and obedience crowns persistent effort with everlasting victory. Every attempt of evil to harm good is futile, and ends in the fiery punishment of the evil-doer.

SH 158:24–27
Evidences of progress and of spiritualization greet us on every hand. Drug-systems are quitting their hold on matter and so letting in matter’s higher stratum, mortal mind.

My. 266:15
This flux and flow in one direction, so generally apparent, tends in one ultimate — the final spiritualization of all things, of all codes, modes, hypotheses, of man and the universe. How can it be otherwise, since God is Spirit and the origin of all that really is, and since this great fact is to be verified by the spiritualization of all?

Mis. 100:8–16
Past, present, future, will show the word and might of Truth – healing the sick and reclaiming the sinner – so long as there remains a claim of error for Truth to deny or to destroy. Love’s labors are not lost. The five personal senses, that grasp neither the meaning nor the magnitude of self-abnegation, may lose sight thereof; but Science voices unselfish love, unfolds infinite good, leads on irresistible forces, and will finally show the fruits of Love.

Mis. 270:11
To seek or employ other means than those the Master used in demonstrating Life scientifically, is to lose the priceless knowledge of his Principle and practice. He said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Gain a pure Christianity; for that is requisite for healing the sick. Then you will need no other aid, and will have full faith in his prophecy, “And there shall be one fold, and one shepherd;” but, the Word must abide in us, if we would obtain that promise. We cannot depart from his holy example, – we cannot leave Christ for the schools which crucify him, and yet follow him in healing. Fidelity to his precepts and practice is the only passport to his power; and the pathway of goodness and greatness runs through the modes and methods of God.

SH 303:28
Spiritual man is the image or idea of God, an idea which cannot be lost nor separated from its divine Principle. When the evidence before the material senses yielded to spiritual sense, the apostle declared that nothing could alienate him from God, from the sweet sense and presence of Life and Truth.

Mis. 218:14
False realistic views sap the Science of Principle and idea; they make Deity unreal and inconceivable, either as mind or matter; but Truth comes to the rescue of reason and immortality, and unfolds the real nature of God and the universe to the spiritual sense, which beareth witness of things spiritual, and not material.

SH 62:29–30
Our false views of life hide eternal harmony, and produce the ills of which we complain.

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.

Ret. 93:8, 13
Hear this saying of our Master, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” ...The best spiritual type of Christly method for uplifting human thought and imparting divine Truth, is stationary power, stillness, and strength; and when this spiritual ideal is made our own, it becomes the model for human action.

My. 229:30–1
Truth is strong with destiny; it takes life profoundly; it measures the infinite against the finite.

’02 11:2
Our heavenly Father never destined mortals who seek for a better country to wander on the shores of time disappointed travellers, tossed to and fro by adverse circumstances, inevitably subject to sin, disease, and death. Divine Love waits and pleads to save mankind – and awaits with warrant and welcome, grace and glory, the earth-weary and heavy-laden who find and point the path to heaven.

SH 570:14–18
Millions of unprejudiced minds – simple seekers for Truth, weary wanderers, athirst in the desert – are waiting and watching for rest and drink. Give them a cup of cold water in Christ’s name, and never fear the consequences.

SH 95:5–10
Paul said, “To be spiritually minded is life.” We approach God, or Life, in proportion to our spirituality, our fidelity to Truth and Love; and in that ratio we know all human need and are able to discern the thought of the sick and the sinning for the purpose of healing them.

Isa. 58:6, 8, 11, 12, 14
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

...Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy reward.

...And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.

Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

Section 2: “God giving all and man having all that God gives” (My 5:9–10)

I Chron. 29:11, 13
Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all.

...Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.

Eph. 2:4–8 God
...God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

James 1:17, 18
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

I Cor. 2:12
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

II Cor. 9:15
Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.

Mis. 345:1–2
The Spirit bestows spiritual gifts, God’s presence and providence.

My. 170:14–26
I would present a gift to you to-day, only that this gift is already yours. God hath given it to all mankind. It is His coin, His currency; it has His image and superscription. This gift is a passage of Scripture; it is my sacred motto, and it reads thus: – “Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass. And He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.”

SH 258:11–15
Man reflects infinity, and this reflection is the true idea of God. God expresses in man the infinite idea forever developing itself, broadening and rising higher and higher from a boundless basis.

SH 90:24–25
The admission to one’s self that man is God’s own likeness sets man free to master the infinite idea.

SH 337:20–24 The

...The true idea of man, as the reflection of the invisible God, is as incomprehensible to the limited senses as is man’s infinite Principle. The visible universe and material man are the poor counterfeits of the invisible universe and spiritual man.

SH 300:29–31 God
...God is seen only in the spiritual universe and spiritual man, as the sun is seen in the ray of light which goes out from it.

SH 361:16
As a drop of water is one with the ocean, a ray of light one with the sun, even so God and man, Father and son, are one in being. The Scripture reads: “For in Him we live, and move, and have our being.”

Mis. 182:11, 17–21 Born
Through divine Science man gains the power to become the son of God, to recognize his perfect and eternal estate. ...Born of no doctrine, no human faith, but beholding the truth of being; even the understanding that man was never lost in Adam, since he is and ever was the image and likeness of God, good.

Mis. 183:24–28
Asserting a selfhood apart from God, is a denial of man’s spiritual sonship; for it claims another father. As many as do receive a knowledge of God through Science, will have power to reflect His power, in proof of man’s “dominion over all the earth.”

SH 316:3–7
The real man being linked by Science to his Maker, mortals need only turn from sin and lose sight of mortal selfhood to find Christ, the real man and his relation to God, and to recognize the divine sonship.

No. 16:17–25
Mortals do not understand the All; hence their inference of some other existence beside God and His true likeness, – of something unlike Him. He who is All, understands all. He can have no knowledge or inference but His own consciousness, and can take in no more than all. The mists of matter – sin, sickness, and death – disappear in proportion as mortals approach Spirit, which is the reality of being.

Peo. 7:30–32
Because God is Spirit, our thoughts must spiritualize to approach Him, and our methods grow more spiritual to accord with our thoughts.

SH 325:13–15
When spiritual being is understood in all its perfection, continuity, and might, then shall man be found in God’s image.

No. 26:22
God holds man in the eternal bonds of Science, – in the immutable harmony of divine law. Man is a celestial; and in the spiritual universe he is forever individual and forever harmonious. “If God so clothe the grass of the field, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?”

My. 5:7–10
Wholly apart from this mortal dream, this illusion and delusion of sense, Christian Science comes to reveal man as God’s image, His idea, coexistent with Him – God giving all and man having all that God gives.

Mis. 331:29
As mortals awake from their dream of material sensation, this adorable, all-inclusive God, and all earth’s hieroglyphics of Love, are understood; and infinite Mind is seen kindling the stars, rolling the worlds, reflecting all space and Life, – but not life in matter. Wisely governing, informing the universe, this Mind is Truth, – not laws of matter. Infinitely just, merciful, and wise, this Mind is Love, – but not fallible love.

SH 340:12
Divine Love is infinite. Therefore all that really exists is in and of God, and manifests His love.

My. 193:15–16 Love
Love gives nothing to take away.

Mis. 358:1
Love impels good works. Love is greatly needed, and must be had to mark the way in divine Science.

Mis. 12:25
In Christian Science, the law of Love rejoices the heart; and Love is Life and Truth. Whatever manifests aught else in its effects upon mankind, demonstrably is not Love. We should measure our love for God by our love for man; and our sense of Science will be measured by our obedience to God, – fulfilling the law of Love, doing good to all; imparting, so far as we reflect them, Truth, Life, and Love to all within the radius of our atmosphere of thought.

Section 3: “Rising and Resisting"

Ex. 20:3
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Dan. 6:1, 2 (to :), 3, 4 (to 1st ;), 7, 9, 11, 12 (to ;), 13, 16, 19–23, 25–27
It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom; And over these three presidents; of whom Daniel was first:

...Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom; ...

All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and the princes, the counsellors, and the captains, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.

Wherefore king Darius signed the writing and the decree. ...Then these men assembled, and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God. Then they came near, and spake before the king concerning the king’s decree;

Then answered they and said before the king, That Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day. Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee.

Then the king arose very early in the morning, and went in haste unto the den of lions. And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions? Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for ever. My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me:

forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt. Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God.

Then king Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and stedfast for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end. He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.

Ps. 1:1
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

SH 393:12
Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good. God has made man capable of this, and nothing can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on man.

Mis. 15:22
What a faith-lighted thought is this! that mortals can lay off the “old man,” until man is found to be the image of the infinite good that we name God, and the fulness of the stature of man in Christ appears.

Gal. 4:6
And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

Mis. 62:1
Holding the right idea of man in my mind, I can improve my own, and other people’s individuality, health, and morals; whereas, the opposite image of man, a sinner, kept constantly in mind, can no more improve health or morals, than holding in thought the form of a boa-constrictor can aid an artist in painting a landscape.

SH 259:32
Deducing one’s conclusions as to man from imperfection instead of perfection, one can no more arrive at the true conception or understanding of man, and make himself like it, than the sculptor can perfect his outlines from an imperfect model, or the painter can depict the form and face of Jesus, while holding in thought the character of Judas.

SH 407:22–26 In
In Science, all being is eternal, spiritual, perfect, harmonious in every action. Let the perfect model be present in your thoughts instead of its demoralized opposite.

Matt. 3:16
And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:

My. 191:19–22 Spirit
Spirit is saying unto matter: I am not there, am not within you. Behold the place where they laid me; but human thought has risen! Mortality’s thick gloom is pierced.

SH 340:15–20
“Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” (Exodus xx. 3.) The First Commandment is my favorite text. It demonstrates Christian Science. It inculcates the tri-unity of God, Spirit, Mind; it signifies that man shall have no other spirit or mind but God, eternal good, and that all men shall have one Mind.

SH 451:2
Christian Scientists must live under the constant pressure of the apostolic command to come out from the material world and be separate. They must renounce aggression, oppression and the pride of power. Christianity, with the crown of Love upon her brow, must be their queen of life.

SH 227:14–15
Discerning the rights of man, we cannot fail to foresee the doom of all oppression.

My. 134:1–10 (to 1st .), 14
Difficulty, abnegation, constant battle against the world, the flesh, and evil, tell my long-kept secret – evidence a heart wholly in protest and unutterable in love.

The unprecedented progress of Christian Science is proverbial, and we cannot be too grateful nor too humble for this, inasmuch as our daily lives serve to enhance or to stay its glory. To triumph in truth, to keep the faith individually and collectively, conflicting elements must be mastered.

Truth, Life, and Love will never lose their claim on us. And here let me add: – Truth happifies life in the hamlet or town; Life lessens all pride – its pomp and its frown – Love comes to our tears like a soft summer shower, To beautify, bless, and inspire man’s power.

My. 139:9–13
Like the verdure and evergreen that flourish when trampled upon, the Christian Scientist thrives in adversity; his is a life-lease of hope, home, heaven; his idea is nearing the Way, the Truth, and the Life, when misrepresented, belied, and trodden upon.

James 4:7
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

SH 406:19–20 (to 2nd .)
Resist evil – error of every sort – and it will flee from you. Error is opposed to Life.

SH 571:16–18
Know thyself, and God will supply the wisdom and the occasion for a victory over evil.

’01 15:7
The Christian Scientist has enlisted to lessen sin, disease, and death, and he overcomes them through Christ, Truth, teaching him that they cannot overcome us. The resistance to Christian Science weakens in proportion as one understands it and demonstrates the Science of Christianity.

Mis. 110:26–3
As Christian Scientists, you have dared the perilous defense of Truth, and have succeeded. You have learned how fleeting is that which men call great; and how permanent that which God calls good. You have proven that the greatest piety is scarcely sufficient to demonstrate what you have adopted and taught; that your work, well done, would dignify angels.

Mis. 206:24–6
Beloved students, you have entered the path. Press patiently on; God is good, and good is the reward of all who diligently seek God. Your growth will be rapid, if you love good supremely, and understand and obey the Way-shower, who, going before you, has scaled the steep ascent of Christian Science, stands upon the mount of holiness, the dwelling-place of our God, and bathes in the baptismal font of eternal Love.

As you journey, and betimes sigh for rest “beside the still waters,” ponder this lesson of love. Learn its purpose; and in hope and faith, where heart meets heart reciprocally blest, drink with me the living waters of the spirit of my life-purpose, – to impress humanity with the genuine recognition of practical, operative Christian Science.

Section 4: “Theology and Healing: Healing and the nature of God”

John 1:1–3, 14, 17
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. ...And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Acts 10:38 God
...God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

SH 19:29–1
Jesus urged the commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” which may be rendered: Thou shalt have no belief of Life as mortal; thou shalt not know evil, for there is one Life, – even God, good.

SH 332:9–17 Christ
Christ is the true idea voicing good, the divine message from God to men speaking to the human consciousness. The Christ is incorporeal, spiritual, – yea, the divine image and likeness, dispelling the illusions of the senses; the Way, the Truth, and the Life, healing the sick and casting out evils, destroying sin, disease, and death. As Paul says: “There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”

Matt. 4:17 Jesus, 24 2nd and
... Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. ...and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.

SH 138:27–31
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.

SH 207:20–23
There is but one primal cause. Therefore there can be no effect from any other cause, and there can be no reality in aught which does not proceed from this great and only cause.

Gen. 1:3
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

I John 1:5
This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

Peo. 2:5–7
As the finite sense of Deity, based on material conceptions of spiritual being, yields its grosser elements, we shall learn what God is, and what God does.

Mis. 16:16
Here, then, is the awakening from the dream of life in matter, to the great fact that God is the only Life; that, therefore, we must entertain a higher sense of both God and man. We must learn that God is infinitely more than a person, or finite form, can contain; that God is a divine Whole, and All, an all-pervading intelligence and Love, a divine, infinite Principle; and that Christianity is a divine Science. This newly awakened consciousness is wholly spiritual; it emanates from Soul instead of body, and is the new birth begun in Christian Science.

Jer. 17:14
Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.

Jer. 30:17 (to ;), 22
For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD; ...And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

Luke 10:9
And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.

SH 120:15
Health is not a condition of matter, but of Mind; nor can the material senses bear reliable testimony on the subject of health. The Science of Mind-healing shows it to be impossible for aught but Mind to testify truly or to exhibit the real status of man. Therefore the divine Principle of Science, reversing the testimony of the physical senses, reveals man as harmoniously existent in Truth, which is the only basis of health; and thus Science denies all disease, heals the sick, overthrows false evidence, and refutes materialistic logic.

Un. 6:13–14 (to 2nd ,), 26–28 drilled (to ;)
Until the heavenly law of health, according to Christian Science, is firmly grounded, ...drilled in the plainer manual of their spiritual armament. “Wait patiently on the Lord;”

SH 450:19–22
The Christian Scientist has enlisted to lessen evil, disease, and death; and he will overcome them by understanding their nothingness and the allness of God, or good.

Section 5: “Restoring Christian healing in contemporary times”

John 14:1–4, 6, 12, 16–18, 25–27
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 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. 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. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.

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

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

John 15:26 when, 27
...when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.

SH 55:27
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.

SH 127:26
Science is an emanation of divine Mind, and is alone able to interpret God aright. It has a spiritual, and not a material origin. It is a divine utterance, – the Comforter which leadeth into all truth.

Rev. 10:1, 2 3rd and, 8–11
And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: ...and his left foot on the earth,

And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

SH vii:22
A book introduces new thoughts, but it cannot make them speedily understood. It is the task of the sturdy pioneer to hew the tall oak and to cut the rough granite. Future ages must declare what the pioneer has accomplished.

SH 108:19
When apparently near the confines of mortal existence, standing already within the shadow of the death-valley, I learned these truths in divine Science: that all real being is in God, the divine Mind, and that Life, Truth, and Love are all-powerful and ever-present; that the opposite of Truth, – called error, sin, sickness, disease, death, – is the false testimony of false material sense, of mind in matter; that this false sense evolves, in belief, a subjective state of mortal mind which this same so-called mind names matter, thereby shutting out the true sense of Spirit.

Ret. 23:10–16
The world was dark. The oncoming hours were indicated by no floral dial. The senses could not prophesy sunrise or starlight. Thus it was when the moment arrived of the heart’s bridal to more spiritual existence. When the door opened, I was waiting and watching; and, lo, the bridegroom came!

Ret. 27:29–1
The divine hand led me into a new world of light and Life, a fresh universe – old to God, but new to His “little one.”

SH ix:3, 20–24
A child drinks in the outward world through the eyes and rejoices in the draught. He is as sure of the world’s existence as he is of his own; yet he cannot describe the world. He finds a few words, and with these he stammeringly attempts to convey his feeling. Later, the tongue voices the more definite thought, though still imperfectly.

Her first pamphlet on Christian Science was copyrighted in 1870; but it did not appear in print until 1876, as she had learned that this Science must be demonstrated by healing, before a work on the subject could be profitably studied.

SH x:3–9

The first edition of SCIENCE AND HEALTH was published in 1875. Various books on mental healing have since been issued, most of them incorrect in theory and filled with plagiarisms from SCIENCE AND HEALTH. They regard the human mind as a healing agent, whereas this mind is not a factor in the Principle of Christian Science.

SH xi:9
The physical healing of Christian Science results now, as in Jesus’ time, from the operation of divine Principle, before which sin and disease lose their reality in human consciousness and disappear as naturally and as necessarily as darkness gives place to light and sin to reformation. Now, as then, these mighty works are not supernatural, but supremely natural. They are the sign of Immanuel, or “God with us,” – a divine influence ever present in human consciousness and repeating itself, coming now as was promised aforetime,

To preach deliverance to the captives [of sense],
And recovering of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty them that are bruised.

Ret. 21:13
It is well to know, dear reader, that our material, mortal history is but the record of dreams, not of man’s real existence, and the dream has no place in the Science of being. It is “as a tale that is told,” and “as the shadow when it declineth.” The heavenly intent of earth’s shadows is to chasten the affections, to rebuke human consciousness and turn it gladly from a material, false sense of life and happiness, to spiritual joy and true estimate of being.

My. 156:4 I
...“I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able” – “able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,” “able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work,” “able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.”

Section 6: “The Cause of Christian Science needs you now”

Isa. 42:5, 8
Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein: ...I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

Ps. 147:5
Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.

Prov. 2:1, 2, 9–11
My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; ...Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path. When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:

Gal. 6:8
For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

Job 32:8 there
...there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.

Rom. 8:16
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

Rev. 19:6 Alleluia, 7 (to :)
... Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: ...

Mis. 176:26–8
Are we duly aware of our own great opportunities and responsibilities? Are we prepared to meet and improve them, to act up to the acme of divine energy wherewith we are armored? Never was there a more solemn and imperious call than God makes to us all, right here, for fervent devotion and an absolute consecration to the greatest and holiest of all causes. The hour is come. The great battle of Armageddon is upon us. The powers of evil are leagued together in secret conspiracy against the Lord and against His Christ, as expressed and operative in Christian Science.

Mis. 290:5
Science lifts humanity higher in the scale of harmony, and must ultimately break all bonds that hinder progress.

My. 130:12–13
The spirit of Truth is the lever which elevates mankind.

Mis. 113:4, 23
If, as is indisputably true, “God is Spirit,” and Spirit is our Father and Mother, and that which it includes is all that is real and eternal, when evil seems to predominate and divine light to be obscured, free moral agency is lost; and the Revelator’s vision, that “no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name,” is imminent. ….Thank God! this evil can be resisted by true Christianity. Divine Love is our hope, strength, and shield. We have nothing to fear when Love is at the helm of thought, but everything to enjoy on earth and in heaven.

Mis. 114:21
Christian Scientists cannot watch too sedulously, or bar their doors too closely, or pray to God too fervently, for deliverance from the claims of evil. Thus doing, Scientists will silence evil suggestions, uncover their methods, and stop their hidden influence upon the lives of mortals. Rest assured that God in His wisdom will test all mankind on all questions; and then, if found faithful, He will deliver us from temptation and show us the powerlessness of evil, – even its utter nothingness.

No. 32:22–25
The domination of good destroys the sense of evil. To illustrate: It seems a great evil to belie and belittle Christian Science, and persecute a Cause which is healing its thousands and rapidly diminishing the percentage of sin.

Mis. 110:21–22
We may well unite in thanksgiving for the continued progress and unprecedented prosperity of our Cause.

Mis. 115:12–27
May God enable my students to take up the cross as I have done, and meet the pressing need of a proper preparation of heart to practise, teach, and live Christian Science! Your means of protection and defense from sin are, constant watchfulness and prayer that you enter not into temptation and are delivered from every claim of evil, till you intelligently know and demonstrate, in Science, that evil has neither prestige, power, nor existence, since God, good, is All-in-all.

The increasing necessity for relying on God to defend us against the subtler forms of evil, turns us more unreservedly to Him for help, and thus becomes a means of grace. If one lives rightly, every effort to hurt one will only help that one; for God will give the ability to overcome whatever tends to impede progress.

Ret. 85:22
The tempter is vigilant, awaiting only an opportunity to divide the ranks of Christian Science and scatter the sheep abroad; but “if God be for us, who can be against us?” The Cause, our Cause, is highly prosperous, rapidly spreading over the globe; and the morrow will crown the effort of to-day with a diadem of gems from the New Jerusalem.

’01 17:11–15
Had not my first demonstrations of Christian Science or metaphysical healing exceeded that of other methods, they would not have arrested public attention and started the great Cause that to-day commands the respect of our best thinkers.

’01 35:4
The question oft presents itself, Are we willing to sacrifice self for the Cause of Christ, willing to bare our bosom to the blade and lay ourselves upon the altar? Christian Science appeals loudly to those asleep upon the hill-tops of Zion. It is a clarion call to the reign of righteousness, to the kingdom of heaven within us and on earth, and Love is the way alway.

O the Love divine that plucks us
From the human agony!
O the Master’s glory won thus,
Doth it dawn on you and me?
And the bliss of blotted-out sin
And the working hitherto –
Shall we share it – do we walk in
Patient faith the way thereto?

’02 14:24–26
Therefore, I ask: What has shielded and prospered preeminently our great Cause, but the outstretched arm of infinite Love?

My. 224:30
Beloved students, just now let us adopt the classic saying, “They also serve who only stand and wait.” Our Cause is growing apace under the present persecution thereof. This is a crucial hour, in which the coward and the hypocrite come to the surface to pass off, while the loyal at heart and the worker in the spirit of Truth are rising to the zenith of success, – the “Well done, good and faithful,” spoken by our Master.

Section 7: “The promises will be fulFilled”

I Kings 8:56 (to :)
Blessed be the LORD, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised:

Mark 1:14 Jesus, 15
...Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

John 8:12
Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Matt. 5:1, 2, 14 (to 1st .)
And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, ...Ye are the light of the world.

SH 266:27–29 (to 1st .)
Man is the idea of Spirit; he reflects the beatific presence, illuming the universe with light.

SH 367:21
Let us watch, work, and pray that this salt lose not its saltness, and that this light be not hid, but radiate and glow into noontide glory.

Gal. 3:26, 28, 29
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. ...There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Rom. 9:8 4th the
...the children of the promise are counted for the seed.

Acts 2:32, 33, 38 2nd and, 39
This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. ...and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

SH 588:7
HOLY GHOST. Divine Science; the development of eternal Life, Truth, and Love.

Mis. 364:12–17
It is not a search after wisdom, it is wisdom: it is God’s right hand grasping the universe, – all time, space, immortality, thought, extension, cause, and effect; constituting and governing all identity, individuality, law, and power.

SH 332:19
Jesus demonstrated Christ; he proved that Christ is the divine idea of God – the Holy Ghost, or Comforter, revealing the divine Principle, Love, andleading into all truth.

SH 150:8
This coming, as was promised by the Master, is for its establishment as a permanent dispensation among men; but the mission of Christian Science now, as in the time of its earlier demonstration, is not primarily one of physical healing. Now, as then, signs and wonders are wrought in the metaphysical healing of physical disease; but these signs are only to demonstrate its divine origin, – to attest the reality of the higher mission of the Christ-power to take away the sins of the world.

SH 570:22–23
In this age the earth will help the woman; the spiritual idea will be understood.

SH 558:10–12
To mortal sense Science seems at first obscure, abstract, and dark; but a bright promise crowns its brow.

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 576:21
This kingdom of God “is within you,” – is within reach of man’s consciousness here, and the spiritual idea reveals it. In divine Science, man possesses this recognition of harmony consciously in proportion to his understanding of God.

II Pet. 3:13
Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

SH 264:28
When we learn the way in Christian Science and recognize man’s spiritual being, we shall behold and understand God’s creation, – all the glories of earth and heaven and man.

SH 55:21–22
The promises will be fulfilled.