First Church of Christ, Scientist, La Cañada Flintridge
Wednesday Meeting Readings
Section I
23They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
24These see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.
25For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
26They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
27They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end.
28Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
29He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
30Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
31Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
4¶And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.
5And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.
6¶And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee.
16And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death;
17That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.
18And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand.
19And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.
20And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him.
21¶But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.
7Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea: and a great multitude from Galilee followed him, and from Judaea,
8And from Jerusalem, and from Idumaea, and from beyond Jordan; and they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they had heard what great things he did, came unto him.
9And he spake to his disciples, that a small ship should wait on him because of the multitude, lest they should throng him.
10For he had healed many; insomuch that they pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had plagues.
11And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God.
1And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:
2And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,
3Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
6Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
10Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
1speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:
2That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.
3The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
4That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
5To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
6Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.
7In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity,
8Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.
11For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
12Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
13Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
14Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
by Mary Baker Eddy
A prize of one hundred pounds, offered in Oxford Uni‐
versity, England, for the best essay on Natural Science,
Pertinent
proposal 21 — an essay calculated to offset the tendency of
the age to attribute physical effects to physical
causes rather than to a final spiritual cause, — is one of
24many incidents which show that Christian Science meets
a yearning of the human race for spirituality.
The way of error is awful to contemplate. The illu‐
sion of sin is without hope or God. If man's spiritual
The fall
of error 12gravitation and attraction to one Father, in
whom we "live, and move, and have our be‐
ing," should be lost, and if man should be governed by
15corporeality instead of divine Principle, by body instead
of by Soul, man would be annihilated. Created by flesh
instead of by Spirit, starting from matter instead of from
18God, mortal man would be governed by himself. The
blind leading the blind, both would fall.
Passions and appetites must end in pain. They are
21"of few days, and full of trouble." Their supposed joys
are cheats. Their narrow limits belittle their gratifica‐
tions, and hedge about their achievements with thorns.
Sin and disease must be thought before they can be
manifested. You must control evil thoughts in the first
27instance, or they will control you in the second. Jesus
declared that to look with desire on forbidden objects was
to break a moral precept. He laid great stress on the
30action of the human mind, unseen to the senses.
Evil thoughts and aims reach no farther and do no more
harm than one's belief permits. Evil thoughts, lusts, and
235:1malicious purposes cannot go forth, like wandering pollen,
from one human mind to another, finding unsuspected
3lodgment, if virtue and truth build a strong defence.
Portraits, landscape-paintings, fac-similes of penman‐
ship, peculiarities of expression, recollected sentences,
Phenomena
explained 27can all be taken from pictorial thought and
memory as readily as from objects cognizable
by the senses. Mortal mind sees what it believes as
30certainly as it believes what it sees. It feels, hears, and
sees its own thoughts. Pictures are mentally formed
before the artist can convey them to canvas. So is it
87:1with all material conceptions.
We must
destroy the false belief that life and intelligence are in
223:1matter, and plant ourselves upon what is pure and per‐
fect. Paul said, "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not
3fulfil the lust of the flesh." Sooner or later we shall learn
that the fetters of man's finite capacity are forged by the
illusion that he lives in body instead of in Soul, in matter
6instead of in Spirit.
In Science man is the offspring of Spirit. The beauti‐
6ful, good, and pure constitute his ancestry. His origin is
Spiritual
origin not, like that of mortals, in brute instinct, nor
does he pass through material conditions prior
9to reaching intelligence. Spirit is his primitive and ulti‐
mate source of being; God is his Father, and Life is the
law of his being.
265:1 Man is the off‐
spring, not of the lowest, but of the highest qualities of
Godward
gravitation 3Mind. Man understands spiritual existence
in proportion as his treasures of Truth and
Love are enlarged. Mortals must gravitate Godward,
6their affections and aims grow spiritual, — they must near
the broader interpretations of being, and gain some proper
sense of the infinite, — in order that sin and mortality
9may be put off.
This scientific sense of being, forsaking matter for
Spirit, by no means suggests man's absorption into Deity
12and the loss of his identity, but confers upon man en‐
larged individuality, a wider sphere of thought and action,
a more expansive love, a higher and more permanent
15peace.
The good in human affections must have ascendency
over the evil and the spiritual over the animal, or happi‐
Ascendency
of good 6ness will never be won. The attainment of
this celestial condition would improve our
progeny, diminish crime, and give higher aims to ambi‐
9tion. Every valley of sin must be exalted, and every
mountain of selfishness be brought low, that the highway
of our God may be prepared in Science.
Hymn 149: "In Love divine all earth-born fear and sorrow Fade as the dark"
Hymn 376: "We thank Thee, heavenly Father, For Thy correcting rod"
Hymn 263: "Only God can bring us gladness, only God can give us peace"
