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2. Subject, Golden Text, and Responsive Reading

3. Lesson Sermon — The Bible

4. Lesson Sermon — Science and Health

5. The Daily Duties

6. About the preparation of this lesson

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Subject — Life

GOLDEN TEXT: Colossians 3 : 3

“Your life is hid with Christ in God.”

RESPONSIVE READING: Hebrews 7 : 1-4, 15, 16

1.     For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;

2.     To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;

3.     Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.

4.     Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.

15.     And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest,

16.     Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.

Lesson Sermon

The Bible

1. Proverbs 12 : 28

28     In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death.

2. Psalm 36 : 5-10

5     Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.

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.

8     They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.

9     For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.

10     O continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee; and thy righteousness to the upright in heart.

3. Psalm 90 : 16, 17

16     Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.

17     And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

4. Genesis 5 : 18, 21-24

18     And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch:

21     And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah:

22     And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:

23     And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:

24     And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

5. Job 11 : 14-17

14     If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles.

15     For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; yea, thou shalt be stedfast, and shalt not fear:

16     Because thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass away:

17     And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday; thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning.

6. Deuteronomy 30 : 11-14, 19, 20

11     For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off.

12     It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?

13     Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?

14     But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.

19     I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

20     That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

7. John 12 : 1-3, 35, 36 (to 1st .), 44 (He)-47, 49, 50 (to :)

1     Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.

2     There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him.

3     Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.

35     Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

36     While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light.

44     He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.

45     And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me.

46     I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.

47     And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.

49     For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.

50     And I know that his commandment is life everlasting:

8. Acts 9 : 36-41

36     Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did.

37     And it came to pass in those days, that she was sick, and died: whom when they had washed, they laid her in an upper chamber.

38     And forasmuch as Lydda was nigh to Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent unto him two men, desiring him that he would not delay to come to them.

39     Then Peter arose and went with them. When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber: and all the widows stood by him weeping, and shewing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them.

40     But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and turning him to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up.

41     And he gave her his hand, and lifted her up, and when he had called the saints and widows, presented her alive.

9. Psalm 92 : 12-14

12     The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

13     Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.

14     They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;

Science and Health

1. 394 : 28-29

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

2. 246 : 27-31

Life is eternal. We should find this out, and begin the demonstration thereof. Life and goodness are immortal. Let us then shape our views of existence into loveliness, freshness, and continuity, rather than into age and blight.

3. 249 : 18-20 (to 1st .)

Life is, like Christ, "the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever." Organization and time have nothing to do with Life.

4. 584 : 1-2, 4-8

DAY. The irradiance of Life; light, the spiritual idea of Truth and Love.

The objects of time and sense disappear in the illumination of spiritual understanding, and Mind measures time according to the good that is unfolded. This unfolding is God's day, and "there shall be no night there."

5. 245 : 32-6

The infinite never began nor will it ever end. Mind and its formations can never be annihilated. Man is not a pendulum, swinging between evil and good, joy and sorrow, sickness and health, life and death. Life and its faculties are not measured by calendars. The perfect and immortal are the eternal likeness of their Maker.

6. 246 : 10-26

The measurement of life by solar years robs youth and gives ugliness to age. The radiant sun of virtue and truth coexists with being. Manhood is its eternal noon, undimmed by a declining sun. As the physical and material, the transient sense of beauty fades, the radiance of Spirit should dawn upon the enraptured sense with bright and imperishable glories.

Never record ages. Chronological data are no part of the vast forever. Time-tables of birth and death are so many conspiracies against manhood and womanhood. Except for the error of measuring and limiting all that is good and beautiful, man would enjoy more than threescore years and ten and still maintain his vigor, freshness, and promise. Man, governed by immortal Mind, is always beautiful and grand. Each succeeding year unfolds wisdom, beauty, and holiness.

7. 247 : 13-30

Immortality, exempt from age or decay, has a glory of its own, — the radiance of Soul. Immortal men and women are models of spiritual sense, drawn by perfect Mind and reflecting those higher conceptions of loveliness which transcend all material sense.

Comeliness and grace are independent of matter. Being possesses its qualities before they are perceived humanly. Beauty is a thing of life, which dwells forever in the eternal Mind and reflects the charms of His goodness in expression, form, outline, and color. It is Love which paints the petal with myriad hues, glances in the warm sunbeam, arches the cloud with the bow of beauty, blazons the night with starry gems, and covers earth with loveliness.

The embellishments of the person are poor substitutes for the charms of being, shining resplendent and eternal over age and decay.

8. 243 : 30-6

Sickness, sin, and death are not the fruits of Life. They are inharmonies which Truth destroys. Perfection does not animate imperfection. Inasmuch as God is good and the fount of all being, He does not produce moral or physical deformity; therefore such deformity is not real, but is illusion, the mirage of error. Divine Science reveals these grand facts. On their basis Jesus demonstrated Life, never fearing nor obeying error in any form.

9. 245 : 30 (decrepitude)-31

…decrepitude is not according to law, nor is it a necessity of nature, but an illusion.

10. 407 : 21-28

If delusion says, "I have lost my memory," contradict it. No faculty of Mind is lost. 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. This spiritualization of thought lets in the light, and brings the divine Mind, Life not death, into your consciousness.

11. 289 : 1-4, 14-20

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.

The fact that the Christ, or Truth, overcame and still overcomes death proves the "king of terrors" to be but a mortal belief, or error, which Truth destroys with the spiritual evidences of Life; and this shows that what appears to the senses to be death is but a mortal illusion, for to the real man and the real universe there is no death-process.

12. 214 : 5-8

If Enoch's perception had been confined to the evidence before his material senses, he could never have "walked with God," nor been guided into the demonstration of life eternal.

13. 376 : 10-16

The pallid invalid, whom you declare to be wasting away with consumption of the blood, should be told that blood never gave life and can never take it away, — that Life is Spirit, and that there is more life and immortality in one good motive and act, than in all the blood, which ever flowed through mortal veins and simulated a corporeal sense of life.

14. 206 : 25-31

Can there be any birth or death for man, the spiritual image and likeness of God? Instead of God sending sickness and death, He destroys them, and brings to light immortality. Omnipotent and infinite Mind made all and includes all. This Mind does not make mistakes and subsequently correct them. God does not cause man to sin, to be sick, or to die.

15. 492 : 3-4, 7-12

For right reasoning there should be but one fact before the thought, namely, spiritual existence.

Being is holiness, harmony, immortality. It is already proved that a knowledge of this, even in small degree, will uplift the physical and moral standard of mortals, will increase longevity, will purify and elevate character. Thus progress will finally destroy all error, and bring immortality to light.

16. 496 : 9-19

We all must learn that Life is God. Ask yourself: Am I living the life that approaches the supreme good? Am I demonstrating the healing power of Truth and Love? If so, then the way will grow brighter "unto the perfect day." Your fruits will prove what the understanding of God brings to man. Hold perpetually this thought, — that it is the spiritual idea, the Holy Ghost and Christ, which enables you to demonstrate, with scientific certainty, the rule of healing, based upon its divine Principle, Love, underlying, overlying, and encompassing all true being.

The Daily Duties

by Mary Baker Eddy

Daily Prayer

It shall be the duty of every member of this Church to pray each day: "Thy kingdom come;" let the reign of divine Truth, Life, and Love be established in me, and rule out of me all sin; and may Thy Word enrich the affections of all mankind, and govern them!

Church Manual, Article VIII, Sect. 4

A Rule for Motives and Acts

Neither animosity nor mere personal attachment should impel the motives or acts of the members of The Mother Church. In Science, divine Love alone governs man; and a Christian Scientist reflects the sweet amenities of Love, in rebuking sin, in true brotherliness, charitableness, and forgiveness. The members of this Church should daily watch and pray to be delivered from all evil, from prophesying, judging, condemning, counseling, influencing or being influenced erroneously.

Church Manual, Article VIII, Sect. 1

Alertness to Duty

It shall be the duty of every member of this Church to defend himself daily against aggressive mental suggestion, and not be made to forget nor to neglect his duty to God, to his Leader, and to mankind. By his works he shall be judged, — and justified or condemned.

Church Manual, Article VIII, Sect. 6

Take Notice

To Christian Scientists: — See Science and Health, page 442, line 30, and give daily attention thereto.

from Miscellany, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 237

“Christian Scientists, be a law to yourselves that mental malpractice cannot harm you either when asleep or when awake.”

Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, page 422

This Bible Lesson was prepared by Plainfield Christian Science Church, Independent. It is composed of Scriptural Quotations from the King James Bible and Correlative Passages from the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, 1910 Edition, by Mary Baker Eddy.

Copyright 2022 Plainfield Christian Science Church, Independent

Table of Contents

Sunday, July 17th, 2022 — Subject: Life

Date of Lesson

Subject, Golden Text, and Responsive Reading

Lesson Sermon — The Bible

Lesson Sermon — Science and Health

The Daily Duties

About the preparation of this lesson