1. Date of Lesson

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 — Mortals And Immortals

GOLDEN TEXT: I Kings 18 : 21

“How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him.”

RESPONSIVE READING: I Corinthians 15 : 50, 51, 53, 54   •   Romans 8 : 31

50.     Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

51. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

53.     For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

54.     So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

31.     If God be for us, who can be against us?

Lesson Sermon

The Bible

1. I Corinthians 15 : 10 (by) (to 1st :), 22, 45-49, 58

10     ... by the grace of God I am what I am:

22     For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

45     And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

46     Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

47     The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.

48     As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.

49     And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

58     Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

2. Deuteronomy 5 : 1, 2 (to us), 4, 5 (saying), 6-8 (to 1st ,), 9 (to 2nd ,), 10 (shewing), 23-25 (to ?), 32, 33 (to 3rd ,)

1     And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them.

2     The LORD our God made a covenant with us ...

4     The LORD talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire,

5     ... saying,

6     I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

7     Thou shalt have none other gods before me.

8     Thou shalt not make thee any graven image,

9     Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God,

10     ... shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.

23     And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, (for the mountain did burn with fire,) that ye came near unto me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders;

24     And ye said, Behold, the LORD our God hath shewed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he liveth.

25     Now therefore why should we die?

32     Ye shall observe to do therefore as the LORD your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

33     Ye shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you,

3. John 5 : 2-9, 16, 17, 24 (to 6th ,), 26, 39, 40, 46, 47

2     Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.

3     In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.

4     For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.

5     And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.

6     When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?

7     The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.

8     Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.

9     And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.

16     And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.

17     But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.

24     Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life,

26     For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;

39     Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

40     And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

46     For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.

47     But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?

4. Romans 8 : 5, 9 (to 1st .), 11, 14-17 (to 2nd ;), 35, 37-39

5     For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

9     But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.

11     But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

14     For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

15     For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

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

17     And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ;

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.

38     For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

39     Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

5. I Timothy 1 : 17 (to 2nd .)

17     Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Science and Health

1. 42 : 26 (in)-28

... in Christian Science the true man is governed by God — by good, not evil — and is therefore not a mortal but an immortal.

2. 14 : 5-11

We cannot "serve two masters." To be "present with the Lord" is to have, not mere emotional ecstasy or faith, but the actual demonstration and understanding of Life as revealed in Christian Science. To be "with the Lord" is to be in obedience to the law of God, to be absolutely governed by divine Love, — by Spirit, not by matter.

3. 72 : 1-6, 9 (As)-19, 21-23, 32-1

There is but one spiritual existence, — the Life of which corporeal sense can take no cognizance. The divine Principle of man speaks through immortal sense. If a material body — in other words, mortal, material sense — were permeated by Spirit, that body would disappear to mortal sense, would be deathless.

As light destroys darkness and in the place of darkness all is light, so (in absolute Science) Soul, or God, is the only truth-giver to man. Truth destroys mortality, and brings to light immortality. Mortal belief (the material sense of life) and immortal Truth (the spiritual sense) are the tares and the wheat, which are not united by progress, but separated.

Perfection is not expressed through imperfection. Spirit is not made manifest through matter, the antipode of Spirit.

God, good, being ever present, it follows in divine logic that evil, the suppositional opposite of good, is never present. ... As readily can you mingle fire and frost as Spirit and matter.

4. 169 : 16-2

If we understood the control of Mind over body, we should put no faith in material means.

Science not only reveals the origin of all disease as mental, but it also declares that all disease is cured by divine Mind. There can be no healing except by this Mind, however much we trust a drug or any other means towards which human faith or endeavor is directed. It is mortal mind, not matter, which brings to the sick whatever good they may seem to receive from materiality. But the sick are never really healed except by means of the divine power. Only the action of Truth, Life, and Love can give harmony.

Whatever teaches man to have other laws and to acknowledge other powers than the divine Mind, is anti-Christian. The good that a poisonous drug seems to do is evil, for it robs man of reliance on God, omnipotent Mind, and according to belief, poisons the human system.

5. 170 : 3-6

Modes of matter form neither a moral nor a spiritual system. The discord which calls for material methods is the result of the exercise of faith in material modes, — faith in matter instead of in Spirit.

6. 60 : 29-6

Soul has infinite resources with which to bless mankind, and happiness would be more readily attained and would be more secure in our keeping, if sought in Soul. Higher enjoyments alone can satisfy the cravings of immortal man. We cannot circumscribe happiness within the limits of personal sense. The senses confer no real enjoyment.

The good in human affections must have ascendency over the evil and the spiritual over the animal, or happiness will never be won.

7. 200 : 4-13, 16-24, 27 (Christian)-29

Moses advanced a nation to the worship of God in Spirit instead of matter, and illustrated the grand human capacities of being bestowed by immortal Mind.

Whoever is incompetent to explain Soul would be wise not to undertake the explanation of body. Life is, always has been, and ever will be independent of matter; for Life is God, and man is the idea of God, not formed materially but spiritually, and not subject to decay and dust.

The great truth in the Science of being, that the real man was, is, and ever shall be perfect, is incontrovertible; for if man is the image, reflection, of God, he is neither inverted nor subverted, but upright and Godlike.

The suppositional antipode of divine infinite Spirit is the so-called human soul or spirit, in other words the five senses, — the flesh that warreth against Spirit. These so called material senses must yield to the infinite Spirit, named God.

Christian Science says: I am determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him glorified.

8. 20 : 14-32

Jesus bore our infirmities; he knew the error of mortal belief, and "with his stripes [the rejection of error] we are healed." "Despised and rejected of men," returning blessing for cursing, he taught mortals the opposite of themselves, even the nature of God; and when error felt the power of Truth, the scourge and the cross awaited the great Teacher. Yet he swerved not, well knowing that to obey the divine order and trust God, saves retracing and traversing anew the path from sin to holiness.

Material belief is slow to acknowledge what the spiritual fact implies. The truth is the centre of all religion. It commands sure entrance into the realm of Love. St. Paul wrote, "Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us;" that is, let us put aside material self and sense, and seek the divine Principle and Science of all healing.

9. 21 : 9-14

If the disciple is advancing spiritually, he is striving to enter in. He constantly turns away from material sense, and looks towards the imperishable things of Spirit. If honest, he will be in earnest from the start, and gain a little each day in the right direction, till at last he finishes his course with joy.

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 2024 Plainfield Christian Science Church, Independent

Table of Contents

Sunday, November 17th, 2024 — Subject: Mortals And Immortals

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