Responsive Reading: Deuteronomy 4 : 1, 29-31, 36, 39

1.     Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you.

29.     If from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.

30.     When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;

31.     (For the Lord thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.

36.     Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee.

39.     Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.

1. Psalm 46 : 1-3 (to 1st .), 6, 10

1     God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

2     Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

3     Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.

6     The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.

10     Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

2. Isaiah 30 : 15 (to :), 21

15     For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength:

21     And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

3. Exodus 20 : 1, 2

1     And God spake all these words, saying,

2     I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

4. Exodus 23 : 20-26

20     Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.

21     Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.

22     But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.

23     For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off.

24     Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.

25     And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.

26     There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil.

5. Exodus 33 : 1, 9-11 (to 1st .), 12 (to 1st ,), 13, 14

1     And the Lord said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it:

9     And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses.

10     And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door.

11     And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.

12     And Moses said unto the Lord,

13     Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.

14     And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.

6. Deuteronomy 34 : 10

10     And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.

7. Proverbs 3 : 5, 6

5     Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

6     In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

8. Jeremiah 23 : 5, 6, 18, 23, 24, 29

5     Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.

6     In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

18     For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?

23     Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off?

24     Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.

29     Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?

9. John 8 : 1, 2

1     Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.

2     And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.

10. John 10 : 1-10, 27, 28 (and they)

1     Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

2     But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

3     To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.

4     And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.

5     And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

6     This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.

7     Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.

8     All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.

9     I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

10     The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

27     My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

28     …and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

1. 587 : 5-8

God. The great I am; the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence.

2. 465 : 16-6

Question. — Is there more than one God or Principle?

Answer. — There is not. Principle and its idea is one, and this one is God, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent Being, and His reflection is man and the universe. Omni is adopted from the Latin adjective signifying all. Hence God combines all-power or potency, all-science or true knowledge, all-presence. The varied manifestations of Christian Science indicate Mind, never matter, and have one Principle.

3. 72 : 2-3

The divine Principle of man speaks through immortal sense.

4. 308 : 14-15

The Soul-inspired patriarchs heard the voice of Truth, and talked with God as consciously as man talks with man.

5. 78 : 17-20

If Spirit pervades all space, it needs no material method for the transmission of messages. Spirit needs no wires nor electricity in order to be omnipresent.

6. 117 : 6-19, 24-28

God is Spirit; therefore the language of Spirit must be, and is, spiritual. Christian Science attaches no physical nature and significance to the Supreme Being or His manifestation; mortals alone do this. God's essential language is spoken of in the last chapter of Mark's Gospel as the new tongue, the spiritual meaning of which is attained through "signs following."

Ear hath not heard, nor hath lip spoken, the pure language of Spirit. Our Master taught spirituality by similitudes and parables. As a divine student he unfolded God to man, illustrating and demonstrating Life and Truth in himself and by his power over the sick and sinning.

Evidence drawn from the five physical senses relates solely to human reason; and because of opacity to the true light, human reason dimly reflects and feebly transmits Jesus' works and words. Truth is a revelation.

7. 213 : 16-4

Sound is a mental impression made on mortal belief. The ear does not really hear. Divine Science reveals sound as communicated through the senses of Soul — through spiritual understanding.

Mozart experienced more than he expressed. The rapture of his grandest symphonies was never heard. He was a musician beyond what the world knew. This was even more strikingly true of Beethoven, who was so long hopelessly deaf. Mental melodies and strains of sweetest music supersede conscious sound. Music is the rhythm of head and heart. Mortal mind is the harp of many strings, discoursing either discord or harmony according as the hand, which sweeps over it, is human or divine.

Before human knowledge dipped to its depths into a false sense of things, — into belief in material origins which discard the one Mind and true source of being, — it is possible that the impressions from Truth were as distinct as sound, and that they came as sound to the primitive prophets. If the medium of hearing is wholly spiritual, it is normal and indestructible.

8. 284 : 28-32

According to Christian Science, the only real senses of man are spiritual, emanating from divine Mind. Thought passes from God to man, but neither sensation nor report goes from material body to Mind. The intercommunication is always from God to His idea, man.

9. 585 : 1-4

Ears. Not organs of the so-called corporeal senses, but spiritual understanding.

Jesus said, referring to spiritual perception, "Having ears, hear ye not?" (Mark viii. 18.)

10. 89 : 18-24

Mind is not necessarily dependent upon educational processes. It possesses of itself all beauty and poetry, and the power of expressing them. Spirit, God, is heard when the senses are silent. We are all capable of more than we do. The influence or action of Soul confers a freedom, which explains the phenomena of improvisation and the fervor of untutored lips.

11. 84 : 3-13, 28-9

The ancient prophets gained their foresight from a spiritual, incorporeal standpoint, not by foreshadowing evil and mistaking fact for fiction, — predicting the future from a groundwork of corporeality and human belief. When sufficiently advanced in Science to be in harmony with the truth of being, men become seers and prophets involuntarily, controlled not by demons, spirits, or demigods, but by the one Spirit. It is the prerogative of the ever-present, divine Mind, and of thought which is in rapport with this Mind, to know the past, the present, and the future.

All we correctly know of Spirit comes from God, divine Principle, and is learned through Christ and Christian Science. If this Science has been thoroughly learned and properly digested, we can know the truth more accurately than the astronomer can read the stars or calculate an eclipse. This Mind-reading is the opposite of clairvoyance. It is the illumination of the spiritual understanding which demonstrates the capacity of Soul, not of material sense. This Soul-sense comes to the human mind when the latter yields to the divine Mind.

Such intuitions reveal whatever constitutes and perpetuates harmony, enabling one to do good, but not evil.

12. 85 : 23-24, 30-32

Both Jew and Gentile may have had acute corporeal senses, but mortals need spiritual sense. … The great Teacher knew both cause and effect, knew that truth communicates itself but never imparts error.

13. 505 : 20-28

Spiritual sense is the discernment of spiritual good. Understanding is the line of demarcation between the real and unreal. Spiritual understanding unfolds Mind, — Life, Truth, and Love, — and demonstrates the divine sense, giving the spiritual proof of the universe in Christian Science.

This understanding is not intellectual, is not the result of scholarly attainments; it is the reality of all things brought to light.

14. 559 : 8-16

The "still, small voice" of scientific thought reaches over continent and ocean to the globe's remotest bound. The inaudible voice of Truth is, to the human mind, "as when a lion roareth." It is heard in the desert and in dark places of fear. It arouses the "seven thunders" of evil, and stirs their latent forces to utter the full diapason of secret tones. Then is the power of Truth demonstrated, — made manifest in the destruction of error.