First Church of Christ, Scientist, La Cañada Flintridge
Wednesday Meeting Readings
- Gen. 3:1-6
1Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
6And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
- Ex. 3:1-4, 10
1Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.
2And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
3And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.
4And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.
10Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
- Ex. 4:1-4
1And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee.
2And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.
3And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.
4And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand:
- Mark 3:7, 8
7But Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea: and a great multitude from Galilee followed him, and from Judæa,
8And from Jerusalem, and from Idumæa, 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.
- Mark 5:1-20
1And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.
2And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,
3Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains:
4Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.
5And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.
6But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him,
7And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.
8For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.
9And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.
10And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country.
11Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.
12And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.
13And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.
14And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done.
15And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.
16And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine.
17And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.
18And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him.
19Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.
20And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel.
- Acts 9:32, 35
32¶ And it came to pass, as Peter passed throughout all quarters, he came down also to the saints which dwelt at Lydda.
... 35And all that dwelt at Lydda and Saron saw him, and turned to the Lord.
- Acts 10:34-38
34¶ Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
35But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.
36The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:)
37That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judæa, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached;
38How 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.
- by Mary Baker EddySH 414:4, 19
The treatment of insanity is especially interesting. However obstinate the case, it yields more readily than 6Cure of insanitydo most diseases to the salutary action of truth, which counteracts error. The argu -ments to be used in curing insanity are the same as in 9other diseases: namely, the impossibility that matter, brain, can control or derange mind, can suffer or cause suffering; also the fact that truth and love will establish 12a healthy state, guide and govern mortal mind or the thought of the patient, and destroy all error, whether it is called dementia, hatred, or any other discord.
The Christian Scien-tist’s argument rests on the Christianly scientific basis of 21being. The Scripture declares, “The Lord He is God [good]; there is none else beside Him.” Even so, harmony is universal, and discord is unreal. Christian Science de-24clares that Mind is substance, also that matter neither feels, suffers, nor enjoys. Hold these points strongly in view. Keep in mind the verity of being, — that man is 27the image and likeness of God, in whom all being is painless and permanent. Remember that man’s perfec-tion is real and unimpeachable, whereas imperfection is 30blameworthy, unreal, and is not brought about by divine Love.
- SH 407:29
There are many species of insanity. All sin is insan-30Sin a form of insanityity in different degrees. Sin is spared from this classification, only because its method of madness is in consonance with common mortal belief. 408 408:1Every sort of sickness is error, — that is, sickness is loss of harmony. This view is not altered by the fact 3that sin is worse than sickness, and sickness is not ac-knowledged nor discovered to be error by many who are sick.
- SH 301:17
As God is substance and man is the divine image and 18likeness, man should wish for, and in reality has, only Inverted images and ideasthe substance of good, the substance of Spirit, not matter. The belief that man has any other 21substance, or mind, is not spiritual and breaks the First Commandment, Thou shalt have one God, one Mind. Mortal man seems to himself to be material sub-24stance, while man is “image” (idea). Delusion, sin, dis-ease, and death arise from the false testimony of material sense, which, from a supposed standpoint outside the 27focal distance of infinite Spirit, presents an inverted image of Mind and substance with everything turned upside down.
- SH 408:6
There is a universal insanity of so-called health, which mistakes fable for fact throughout the entire round of the material senses, but this general craze cannot, in a scien-9tific diagnosis, shield the individual case from the special name of insanity. Those unfortunate people who are committed to insane asylums are only so many distinctly 12defined instances of the baneful effects of illusion on mor-tal minds and bodies.
- SH 330:25 The
The notion that both evil and good are real is a delusion of material sense, which Science annihilates. 27Evil obsoleteEvil is nothing, no thing, mind, nor power. As manifested by mankind it stands for a lie, nothing claiming to be something, — for lust, dishonesty, 30selfishness, envy, hypocrisy, slander, hate, theft, adultery, murder, dementia, insanity, inanity, devil, hell, with all the etceteras that word includes.
- SH 408:14-19, 28
The supposition that we can correct insanity by the use 15of purgatives and narcotics is in itself a mild species of Drugs and brain-lobesinsanity. Can drugs go of their own accord to the brain and destroy the so-called inflam-18mation of disordered functions, thus reaching mortal mind through matter?
The unconscious thought in the corporeal substra-tum of brain produces no effect, and that condition of 30Matter and animate errorthe body which we call sensation in matter is unreal. Mortal mind is ignorant of it-self, — ignorant of the errors it includes and of their 409 409:1effects. Intelligent matter is an impossibility. You may say: “But if disease obtains in matter, why do 3you insist that disease is formed by mortal mind and not by matter?” Mortal mind and body combine as one, and the nearer matter approaches its final state-6ment, — animate error called nerves, brain, mind, — the more prolific it is likely to become in sin and disease-beliefs.
- SH 409:16
The so-called conscious mortal mind is believed to be superior to its unconscious substratum, matter, and 18So-called superioritythe stronger never yields to the weaker, ex-cept through fear or choice. The animate should be governed by God alone. The real man is 21spiritual and immortal, but the mortal and imperfect so-called “children of men” are counterfeits from the beginning, to be laid aside for the pure reality. This 24mortal is put off, and the new man or real man is put on, in proportion as mortals realize the Science of man and seek the true model.
- SH 319:1
- SH 594:1 (only, to Serpent), 2
Serpent ... Subtlety; a lie; the opposite of Truth, named error; 3the first statement of mythology and idolatry; the belief in more than one God; animal magnetism; the first lie of limitation; finity; the first claim that there is an oppo-6site of Spirit, or good, termed matter, or evil; the first delusion that error exists as fact; the first claim that sin, sickness, and death are the realities of life. The first 9audible claim that God was not omnipotent and that there was another power, named evil, which was as real and eternal as God, good.
- SH 348:3-13
Medical theories virtually admit the nothingness of hallucinations, even while treating them as disease; and who objects to this? Ought we not, then, to approve 6any cure, which is effected by making the disease appear to be — what it really is — an illusion?
Here is the difficulty: it is not generally understood how 9one disease can be just as much a delusion as another. It All disease a delusionis a pity that the medical faculty and clergy have not learned this, for Jesus established 12this foundational fact, when devils, delusions, were cast out and the dumb spake.
- SH 319:15
Hymn 29: “Breaking through the clouds of darkness”
Hymn 592: “We are all God's children, expressions of one Mind”
Hymn 601: “...I am healing you”
