God the Preserver of Man

Transcription

1 Section 1 Golden Text Psalms 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Responsive Reading Psalms 91:1 6, 9, 10; 121:7, 8 1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. 3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. 4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. 5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; 6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. 9 Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; 10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. 7 The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. 8 The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore. 1 Deuteronomy 33:12 The 12 The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him; and the Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders. 2 Psalms 90:1, 2 1 Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. 2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. 3 Psalms 36:6, 7 6 Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O Lord, thou preservest man and beast. 7 How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. 4 Psalms 139:7 10, 14, 17 7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me The Christian Science Publishing Society. All rights reserved. This copy of a Weekly Bible Lesson from the Christian Science Quarterly is licensed for your own personal use and may not be distributed electronically or in print, except as described in the Copyright Terms and Conditions at. Christian Science Quarterly is a trademark owned by The Christian Science Publishing Society. Study references are from the Bible (King James Version) and the Christian Science textbook, with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science.

2 14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. 17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! 5 Psalms 40:11 let 11 let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me. Section :11 The Scriptures imply that God is All-in-all. From 12 this it follows that nothing possesses reality nor existence except the divine Mind and His ideas. The Allness of Scriptures also declare that God is Spirit. Spirit 15 Therefore in Spirit all is harmony, and there can be no discord; all is Life, and there is no death. Everything in God s universe expresses Him :5 7 God is the Life, or intelligence, which forms 6 and preserves the individuality and identity of animals as well as of men. Deepreaching interrogations 3 336:9, Immortal man was and is God s image or idea, even the infinite expression of infinite Mind, and immortal man is coexistent and coeternal with that 12 Mind. He has been forever in the eternal Mind, God; but infinite Mind can never be in man, but is reflected by man. The spiritual man s consciousness 15 and individuality are reflections of God. They are the emanations of Him who is Life, Truth, and Love. Immortal man is not and never was material, but always 18 spiritual and eternal. The real manhood God, the divine Principle of man, and man in God s likeness are inseparable, harmonious, and eternal :23 24, 26 The divine Mind that made man 24 maintains His own image and likeness. All that really exists is the divine Mind and 27 its idea, and in this Mind the entire being is found harmonious and eternal. The straight and narrow way is to see and acknowledge this fact, yield to this power, and 30 follow the leadings of truth The Christian Science Publishing Society. All rights reserved. 2

3 6 Proverbs 18:10 Section 2 10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe. 7 Psalms 41:1, 2 1 Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. 2 The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies. 8 Joshua 1:9 11 Be, 13 9 Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. 10 Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, 11 Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare you victuals; for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it. 13 Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, The Lord your God hath given you rest, and hath given you this land. 9 Joshua 2:1, 3, 4, 6, 8 10 (to ;), for 1 And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot s house, named Rahab, and lodged there. 3 And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are come to thee, which are entered into thine house: for they be come to search out all the country. 4 And the woman took the two men, and hid them, and said thus, There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were: 6 But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof. 8 And before they were laid down, she came up unto them upon the roof; 9 And she said unto the men, I know that the Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. 10 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; 11 for the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath. 12 Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the Lord, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father s house, and give me a true token: 13 And that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death. 10 Joshua 6:25 25 And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father s household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho The Christian Science Publishing Society. All rights reserved. 3

4 5 288:3 Section 2 3 The suppositional warfare between truth and error is only the mental conflict between the evidence of the spiritual senses and the testimony of the material The great conflict 6 senses, and this warfare between the Spirit and flesh will settle all questions through faith in and the understanding of divine Love :18 18 Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you. The cement of a higher humanity will unite all interests in the one 21 divinity : The rich in spirit help the poor in one grand brotherhood, all having the same Principle, or Father; and blessed is that man who seeth 18 his brother s need and supplieth it, seeking his own in another s good. The armor of divinity Assistance in brotherhood 8 390:4 9 We cannot deny that Life is self-sustained, and we should never deny the everlasting harmony of Soul, sim- 6 ply because, to the mortal senses, there is seeming discord. It is our ignorance of God, the Ultimate harmony divine Principle, which produces apparent discord, and 9 the right understanding of Him restores harmony. 9 83:7 9 Mortals must find refuge in Truth in order to escape the error of these latter 9 days : It should be thoroughly understood that all men have one Mind, one God and Father, one Life, Truth, and Love. Mankind will become perfect in proportion as this fact 12 becomes apparent, war will cease and the true brotherhood of man will be established. 11 Psalms 116:6 Section 3 6 The Lord preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me. 12 Isaiah 25:1, 4 1 O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. 4 For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall The Christian Science Publishing Society. All rights reserved. 4

5 13 Psalms 91:9, 10 9 Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; 10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. 14 Matthew 8: And when Jesus was come into Peter s house, he saw his wife s mother laid, and sick of a fever. 15 And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them. 16 When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: Section :10 19 Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need. It is not well to imagine that Jesus demon- 12 strated the divine power to heal only for a select number or for a limited period of time, since to all mankind and in every hour, divine Love supplies all good. 15 The miracle of grace is no miracle to Love. Jesus demonstrated the inability of corporeality, as well as the infinite ability of Spirit, thus helping erring Reason 18 human sense to flee from its own convictions and Science and seek safety in divine Science :7 Christ, Truth, was demonstrated through Jesus to prove the power of 9 Spirit over the flesh, to show that Truth is made manifest by its effects upon the human mind and body, healing sickness and destroying sin :23 1 Fear as the foundation Disease is an image of thought externalized. 24 The mental state is called a material state. Whatever is cherished in mortal mind as the physical condition is imaged forth on the body. 27 Always begin your treatment by allaying the fear of patients. Silently reassure them as to their exemption from disease and danger. Watch the re- Unspoken pleading 30 sult of this simple rule of Christian Science, and you will find that it alleviates the symptoms of every disease. If you succeed in wholly removing the fear, 1 your patient is healed :26 27 Destroy fear, 27 and you end fever The Christian Science Publishing Society. All rights reserved. 5

6 15 454:5 9, The understanding, 6 even in a degree, of the divine All-power destroys fear, and plants the feet in the true path, Impotence of hate the path which leads to the house built without hands 9 eternal in the heavens. Love for God and man is the true 18 incentive in both healing and teaching. 15 Deuteronomy 33:27 (to :) Section 4 27 The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: 16 Psalms 121:2, 3 (to :), 8 Love the incentive 2 My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. 3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: 8 The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore. 17 Psalms 119:117, 130, 133 (to :) 117 Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe: and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually. 130 The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple. 133 Order my steps in thy word: 18 Psalms 34:19, Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. 20 He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken :12 13, 15 Section 4 12 Man is indestructible and eternal. 15 In Science, no breakage nor dislocation can really occur. You say that accidents, injuries, and disease kill man, but this is not true. The life of man is 18 Mind. The material body manifests only what mortal mind believes, whether it be a broken bone, disease, or sin : When an accident happens, you think or exclaim, I am hurt! Your thought is more powerful than your words, more 15 powerful than the accident itself, to make the injury real. Now reverse the process. Declare that you are not hurt 18 and understand the reason why, and you will find the ensuing good effects to be in exact proportion to your disbelief in physics, and your fidelity to divine meta- 21 physics, confidence in God as All, which the Scriptures declare Him to be The Christian Science Publishing Society. All rights reserved. 6

7 18 424:5 11 Accidents are unknown to God, or immortal Mind, 6 and we must leave the mortal basis of belief and unite with the one Mind, in order to change the notion of chance to the proper sense Accidents unknown to God 9 of God s unerring direction and thus bring out harmony. Under divine Providence there can be no accidents, since there is no room for imperfection in perfection :24 28, If there ever was a moment when man did not express the divine perfection, then there was a moment when man did not express 27 God, and consequently a time when Deity was unexpressed that is, without entity. Indestructible relationship The relations of God and man, divine Principle and 1 idea, are indestructible in Science; and Science knows no lapse from nor return to harmony, but holds the divine 3 order or spiritual law, in which God and all that He creates are perfect and eternal, to have remained unchanged in its eternal history. 19 Psalms 62:7 Section 5 7 In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. 20 II Corinthians 1:1, 3, 4 1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia: 3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. 21 II Corinthians 11:25, 27, Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; 27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. 28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. 22 II Timothy 4:17, 18 (to :) 17 Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. 18 And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: 2017 The Christian Science Publishing Society. All rights reserved. 7

8 23 Acts 19:11 11 And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: 24 Romans 8:28, 35, And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us :27 4 Section 5 27 The history of Christianity furnishes sublime proofs of the supporting influence and protecting power bestowed on man by his heavenly Father, omnipotent Christian history 30 Mind, who gives man faith and understanding whereby to defend himself, not only from temptation, but from bodily suffering. 1 The Christian martyrs were prophets of Christian Science. Through the uplifting and consecrating power 3 of divine Truth, they obtained a victory over the corporeal senses, a victory which Science alone can explain. 21 5: The followers of Christ drank his cup. Ingratitude and persecution filled it to the brim; but God pours the riches of His love into the understanding and 18 affections, giving us strength according to our day :30 30 When the evidence before the material senses yielded to spiritual sense, the apostle declared that nothing could alienate him from 1 God, from the sweet sense and presence of Life and Truth :29 Christianity is again demonstrating the Life that is 30 Truth, and the Truth that is Life, by the apostolic work of casting out error and healing the Christianity still rejected sick. Earth has no repayment for the persecutions which 1 attend a new step in Christianity; but the spiritual recompense of the persecuted is assured in the elevation of ex- 3 istence above mortal discord and in the gift of divine Love :9 9 This is the doctrine of Christian Science: that divine Love cannot be deprived of its manifestation, or object; that joy cannot be turned into 12 sorrow, for sorrow is not the master of joy; that good can never produce evil; that matter can never produce mind nor life result in death. The perfect man governed 15 by God, his perfect Principle is sinless and eternal The Christian Science Publishing Society. All rights reserved. 8

9 25 Ruth 2:12 Section 6 12 The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust. 26 Hebrews 4:9 9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. Section :7 Security for the claims of harmonious and eternal being is found only in divine Science :28 The 1 highest and sweetest rest, even from a human standpoint, is in holy work :10 Refuge and strength Step by step will those who trust Him find that God is our refuge 12 and strength, a very present help in trouble The Christian Science Publishing Society. All rights reserved. 9