Responsive Reading: Isaiah 11 : 1-6

1.     And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:

2.     And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord;

3.     And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:

4.     But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.

5.     And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

6.     The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.

1. Isaiah 9 : 2, 6, 7

2     The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

6     For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

7     Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

2. Matthew 1 : 18-25

18     Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

19     Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.

20     But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

21     And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

22     Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,

23     Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

24     Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:

25     And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.

3. Matthew 2 : 1-13, 19 (when)-21, 23

1     Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,

2     Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

3     When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

4     And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.

5     And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judæa: for thus it is written by the prophet,

6     And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.

7     Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.

8     And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.

9     When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.

10     When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

11     And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

12     And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

13     And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.

19     …when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,

20     Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child’s life.

21     And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.

23     And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.

4. Luke 2 : 40

40     And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.

5. Luke 4 : 14-21

14     And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.

15     And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.

16     And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

17     And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,

18     The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

19     To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

20     And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

21     And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

1. vii : 1-12, 27-2 (to ;)

To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings. The wakeful shepherd beholds the first faint morning beams, ere cometh the full radiance of a risen day. So shone the pale star to the prophet-shepherds; yet it traversed the night, and came where, in cradled obscurity, lay the Bethlehem babe, the human herald of Christ, Truth, who would make plain to benighted understanding the way of salvation through Christ Jesus, till across a night of error should dawn the morning beams and shine the guiding star of being. The Wisemen were led to behold and to follow this daystar of divine Science, lighting the way to eternal harmony.

Since the author's discovery of the might of Truth in the treatment of disease as well as of sin, her system has been fully tested and has not been found wanting;

2. 108 : 1-4, 19-6

Whence came to me this heavenly conviction, — a conviction antagonistic to the testimony of the physical senses? According to St. Paul, it was "the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of His power."

When apparently near the confines of mortal existence, standing already within the shadow of the death-valley, I learned these truths in divine Science: that all real being is in God, the divine Mind, and that Life, Truth, and Love are all-powerful and ever-present; that the opposite of Truth, — called error, sin, sickness, disease, death, — is the false testimony of false material sense, of mind in matter; that this false sense evolves, in belief, a subjective state of mortal mind which this same so-called mind names matter, thereby shutting out the true sense of Spirit.

My discovery, that erring, mortal, misnamed mind produces all the organism and action of the mortal body, set my thoughts to work in new channels, and led up to my demonstration of the proposition that Mind is All and matter is naught as the leading factor in Mind-science.

Christian Science reveals incontrovertibly that Mind is All-in-all, that the only realities are the divine Mind and idea.

3. 109 : 22-27

The revelation of Truth in the understanding came to me gradually and apparently through divine power. When a new spiritual idea is borne to earth, the prophetic Scripture of Isaiah is renewedly fulfilled: "Unto us a child is born, ... and his name shall be called Wonderful."

4. 333 : 16 (The advent)-23

The advent of Jesus of Nazareth marked the first century of the Christian era, but the Christ is without beginning of years or end of days. Throughout all generations both before and after the Christian era, the Christ, as the spiritual idea, — the reflection of God, — has come with some measure of power and grace to all prepared to receive Christ, Truth.

5. 141 : 13-22 (to ;)

In healing the sick and sinning, Jesus elaborated the fact that the healing effect followed the understanding of the divine Principle and of the Christ-spirit which governed the corporeal Jesus. For this Principle there is no dynasty, no ecclesiastical monopoly. Its only crowned head is immortal sovereignty. Its only priest is the spiritualized man. The Bible declares that all believers are made "kings and priests unto God." The outsiders did not then, and do not now, understand this ruling of the Christ;

6. 52 : 13-14

"Despised and rejected of men," was Isaiah's graphic word concerning the coming Prince of Peace.

7. 55 : 2-5

The advancing century, from a deadened sense of the invisible God, to-day subjects to unchristian comment and usage the idea of Christian healing enjoined by Jesus; but this does not affect the invincible facts.

8. 110 : 17-24

No human pen nor tongue taught me the Science contained in this book, Science and Health; and neither tongue nor pen can overthrow it. This book may be distorted by shallow criticism or by careless or malicious students, and its ideas may be temporarily abused and misrepresented; but the Science and truth therein will forever remain to be discerned and demonstrated.

9. 141 : 28-3

Let our pulpits do justice to Christian Science. Let it have fair representation by the press. Give to it the place in our institutions of learning now occupied by scholastic theology and physiology, and it will eradicate sickness and sin in less time than the old systems, devised for subduing them, have required for self-establishment and propagation.

10. 147 : 14-23

Although this volume contains the complete Science of Mind-healing, never believe that you can absorb the whole meaning of the Science by a simple perusal of this book. The book needs to be studied, and the demonstration of the rules of scientific healing will plant you firmly on the spiritual groundwork of Christian Science. This proof lifts you high above the perishing fossils of theories already antiquated, and enables you to grasp the spiritual facts of being hitherto unattained and seemingly dim.

11. xi : 9-21

The physical healing of Christian Science results now, as in Jesus' time, from the operation of divine Principle, before which sin and disease lose their reality in human consciousness and disappear as naturally and as necessarily as darkness gives place to light and sin to reformation. Now, as then, these mighty works are not supernatural, but supremely natural. They are the sign of Immanuel, or "God with us," — a divine influence ever present in human consciousness and repeating itself, coming now as was promised aforetime,

To preach deliverance to the captives [of sense],

And recovering of sight to the blind,

To set at liberty them that are bruised.

12. 565 : 13-18

The impersonation of the spiritual idea had a brief history in the earthly life of our Master; but "of his kingdom there shall be no end," for Christ, God's idea, will eventually rule all nations and peoples — imperatively, absolutely, finally — with divine Science.