Theme: Assurance
Hymn 390
William F. Sherwin – Adapted
Why is thy faith in God's great love so small?
Why doth thy heart shrink back at duty's call?
Art thou obeying this: Abide in me;
And doth the Master's word abide in thee?
O blest assurance from our risen Lord;
O precious comfort breathing from the Word.
How great the promise, could there greater be?
Ask what thou wilt, it shall be done for thee.
Ask what thou wilt, but O, remember this,
We ask and have not when we ask amiss.
If weak in faith, we only half believe
That what we ask we really shall receive.
Readings from the Bible.
Isaiah 32:1‑4,16‑18 judgment
Behold, a king shall reign in
righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. And a man shall be as an hiding place from
the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as
the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them
that hear shall hearken. The heart also
of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall
be ready to speak plainly.
judgment shall dwell in the
wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field. And the work of righteousness shall be peace;
and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever. And my people shall dwell in a peaceable
habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places;
Jeremiah 32:37‑41
Behold, I will gather them
out of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury,
and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will
cause them to dwell safely: And they shall be my people, and I will be their
God: And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for
ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: And I will make
an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do
them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart
from me. Yea, I will rejoice over them
to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole
heart and with my whole soul.
Acts 17:24‑31
God that made the world and
all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in
temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he
needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And
hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the
earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their
habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him,
and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live,
and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For
we are also his offspring. Forasmuch
then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is
like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked
at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed
a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom
he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath
raised him from the dead.
Colossians 2:1‑10 I would
I would that ye knew what
great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as
have not seen my face in the flesh; That their hearts might be comforted, being
knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding,
to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;
In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And this I say, lest any man should beguile
you with enticing words. For though I be
absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your
order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus
the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the
faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through
philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of
the world, and not after Christ. For in
him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head
of all principality and power:
I Thessalonians 1:1‑6 Grace
Grace be unto you, and peace,
from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our
prayers; Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love,
and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our
Father; Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. For our gospel came not unto you in word
only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye
know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. And ye became followers of us, and of the
Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost:
II Timothy 3:14‑17 continue
continue thou in the things
which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast
learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which
are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ
Jesus. All scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be
perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
Hebrews 6:9‑15 beloved
beloved, we are persuaded
better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus
speak. For God is not unrighteous to
forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that
ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that every one of you do shew
the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: That ye be not
slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the
promises. For when God made promise to
Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, Saying,
Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he
obtained the promise.
Hebrews 10:16‑25
This is the covenant that I
will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into
their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and
iniquities will I remember no more. Now
where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter
into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath
consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having an
high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and
our bodies washed with pure water. Let
us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful
that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to
good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner
of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day
approaching.
I John 3:1‑3,6‑9,18‑24
Behold, what manner of love
the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God:
therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it
doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear,
we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him
purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
Whosoever abideth in him
sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive you: he
that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for
the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was
manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin;
for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of
God.
My little children, let us
not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth,
and shall assure our hearts before him.
For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth
all things. Beloved, if our heart
condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him,
because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his
sight. And this is his commandment, That
we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as
he gave us commandment. And he that
keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know
that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.
Readings from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.
vii:13‑8
The time for thinkers has come. Truth, independent of doctrines and time‑honored
systems, knocks at the portal of humanity.
Contentment with the past and the cold conventionality of materialism
are crumbling away. Ignorance of God is
no longer the stepping‑stone to faith.
The only guarantee of obedience is a right apprehension of Him whom to
know aright is Life eternal. Though
empires fall, "the Lord shall reign forever."
A book introduces new thoughts, but it cannot
make them speedily understood. It is the
task of the sturdy pioneer to hew the tall oak and to cut the rough
granite. Future ages must declare what
the pioneer has accomplished.
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; but to reach the heights of Christian
Science, man must live in obedience to its divine Principle. To develop the full might of this Science,
the discords of corporeal sense must yield to the harmony of spiritual sense,
even as the science of music corrects false tones and gives sweet concord to
sound.
15:25‑23
Christians rejoice in secret beauty and
bounty, hidden from the world, but known to God. Self‑forgetfulness, purity, and affection are
constant prayers. Practice not
profession, understanding not belief, gain the ear and right hand of
omnipotence and they assuredly call down infinite blessings. Trustworthiness is the foundation of
enlightened faith. Without a fitness for
holiness, we cannot receive holiness.
A great sacrifice of material things must
precede this advanced spiritual understanding.
The highest prayer is not one of faith merely; it is demonstration. Such prayer heals sickness, and must destroy
sin and death. It distinguishes between
Truth that is sinless and the falsity of sinful sense.
Our Master taught his disciples one brief
prayer, which we name after him the Lord's Prayer. Our Master said, "After this manner
therefore pray ye," and then he gave that prayer which covers all human
needs. There is indeed some doubt among
Bible scholars, whether the last line is not an addition to the prayer by a
later copyist; but this does not affect the meaning of the prayer itself. In the phrase, "Deliver us from
evil," the original properly reads, "Deliver us from the evil
one." This reading strengthens our
scientific apprehension of the petition, for Christian Science teaches us that
"the evil one," or one evil, is but another name for the first lie
and all liars.
Only as
we rise above all material sensuousness and sin, can we reach the heaven‑born
aspiration and spiritual consciousness, which is indicated in the Lord's Prayer
and which instantaneously heals the sick.
68:27‑10
Christian Science presents unfoldment, not
accretion; it manifests no material growth from molecule to mind, but an
impartation of the divine Mind to man and the universe. Proportionately as human generation ceases,
the unbroken links of eternal, harmonious being will be spiritually discerned;
and man, not of the earth earthly but coexistent with God, will appear. The scientific fact that man and the universe
are evolved from Spirit, and so are spiritual, is as fixed in divine Science as
is the proof that mortals gain the sense of health only as they lose the sense
of sin and disease. Mortals can never
understand God's creation while believing that man is a creator. God's children already created will be
cognized only as man finds the truth of being.
Thus it is that the real, ideal man appears in proportion as the false
and material disappears.
69:13
Spiritually to understand
that there is but one creator, God, unfolds all creation, confirms the
Scriptures, brings the sweet assurance of no parting, no pain, and of man
deathless and perfect and eternal.
176:7‑32
The primitive custom of taking no thought
about food left the stomach and bowels free to act in obedience to nature, and
gave the gospel a chance to be seen in its glorious effects upon the body. A ghastly array of diseases was not paraded
before the imagination. There were fewer books on digestion and more
"sermons in stones, and good in everything." When the mechanism of the human mind gives
place to the divine Mind, selfishness and sin, disease and death, will lose
their foothold.
Human fear of miasma would load with disease
the air of Eden, and weigh down mankind with superimposed and conjectural
evils. Mortal mind is the worst foe of
the body, while divine Mind is its best friend.
Should all cases of organic disease be
treated by a regular practitioner, and the Christian Scientist try truth only
in cases of hysteria, hypochondria, and hallucination? One disease is no more real than another. All disease is the result of education, and
disease can carry its ill‑effects no farther than mortal mind maps out the
way. The human mind, not matter, is
supposed to feel, suffer, enjoy. Hence
decided types of acute disease are quite as ready to yield to Truth as the less
distinct type and chronic form of disease.
Truth handles the most malignant contagion with perfect assurance.
223:7‑24
Matter does not express Spirit. God is infinite omnipresent Spirit. If Spirit is all and is everywhere, what and where is matter? Remember that truth is greater than error,
and we cannot put the greater into the less.
Soul is Spirit, and Spirit is greater than body. If Spirit were once within the body, Spirit
would be finite, and therefore could not be Spirit.
The question, "What is Truth,"
convulses the world. Many are ready to
meet this inquiry with the assurance which comes of understanding; but more are
blinded by their old illusions, and try to "give it pause." "If the blind lead the blind, both shall
fall into the ditch."
The efforts of error to answer this question
by some ology are vain. Spiritual rationality and free thought
accompany approaching Science, and cannot be put down. They will emancipate humanity, and supplant
unscientific means and so‑called laws.
352:12‑32
Would a mother say to her child, who is
frightened at imaginary ghosts and sick in consequence of the fear: "I
know that ghosts are real. They exist,
and are to be feared; but you must not be afraid of them"?
Children, like adults, ought to fear a reality which can harm them and which they do not
understand, for at any moment they may become its helpless victims; but instead
of increasing children's fears by declaring ghosts to be real, merciless, and
powerful, thus watering the very roots of childish timidity, children should be
assured that their fears are groundless, that ghosts are not realities, but
traditional beliefs, erroneous and man‑made.
In short, children should be told not to
believe in ghosts, because there are no such things. If belief in their reality is destroyed,
terror of ghosts will depart and health be restored. The objects of alarm will then vanish into
nothingness, no longer seeming worthy of fear or honor. To accomplish a good result, it is certainly
not irrational to tell the truth about ghosts.
386:16‑12
A blundering despatch, mistakenly announcing
the death of a friend, occasions the same grief that the friend's real death
would bring. You think that your anguish
is occasioned by your loss. Another
despatch, correcting the mistake, heals your grief, and you learn that your
suffering was merely the result of your belief.
Thus it is with all sorrow, sickness, and death. You will learn at length that there is no
cause for grief, and divine wisdom will then be understood. Error, not Truth, produces all the suffering
on earth.
If a Christian Scientist had said, while you
were laboring under the influence of the belief of grief, "Your sorrow is
without cause," you would not have understood him, although the
correctness of the assertion might afterwards be proved to you. So, when our friends pass from our sight and
we lament, that lamentation is needless and causeless. We shall perceive this to be true when we
grow into the understanding of Life, and know that there is no death.
Because mortal mind is kept active, must it
pay the penalty in a softened brain? Who
dares to say that actual Mind can be overworked? When we reach our limits of mental endurance,
we conclude that intellectual labor has been carried sufficiently far; but when
we realize that immortal Mind is ever active, and that spiritual energies can
neither wear out nor can so‑called material law trespass upon God‑given powers
and resources, we are able to rest in Truth, refreshed by the assurances of
immortality, opposed to mortality.
416:24
The sick know nothing of the mental process
by which they are depleted, and next to nothing of the metaphysical method by
which they can be healed. If they ask
about their disease, tell them only what is best for them to know. Assure them that they think too much about
their ailments, and have already heard too much on that subject. Turn their thoughts away from their bodies to
higher objects. Teach them that their
being is sustained by Spirit, not by matter, and that they find health, peace,
and harmony in God, divine Love.
Silent prayer followed by the audible repetition of the Lord’s Prayer.
Hymn 93
William P. McKenzie
Happy the man whose heart can rest,
Assured God's goodness ne'er will cease;
Each day, complete, with joy is blessed,
God keepeth him in perfect peace.
God keepeth him, and God is one,
One Life, forevermore the same,
One Truth unchanged while ages run;
Eternal Love His holiest name.
Dwelling in Love that cannot change,
From anxious fear man finds release;
No more his homeless longings range,
God keepeth him in perfect peace.
In perfect peace, with tumult stilled,
Enhavened where no storms arise,
There man can work what God hath willed;
The joy of perfect work his prize.
Sharing of experiences, testimonies and remarks by members of the congregation.
Hymn 381
William P. McKenzie
What brightness dawned in resurrection
And shone in Mary's wondering eyes!
Her heart was thrilled with new affection,
She saw her Lord in life arise.
She knew the Christ, undimmed by dying,
Alive forevermore to save;
Creative Mind, all good supplying,
Had triumphed over cross and grave.
With hope and faith, like exiles yearning
For homelands loved through patient years,
The hearts of men are homeward turning
To God Who giveth rest from fears.
Assured and safe in Love's protection,
Great peace have they, and unsought joy;
They rise from sin in resurrection,
And works of love their hands employ.
