First Church of Christ, Scientist, La Cañada Flintridge, California
Wednesday Meeting Readings
- Ps. 84:11 2nd the
the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
- II Cor. 9:8 God
God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:
- Gen. 31:17 Jacob, 18, 20, 22-24, 26, 31, 41, 43 (to :), 44, 45, 55
Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon camels;
18And he carried away all his cattle, and all his goods which he had gotten, the cattle of his getting, which he had gotten in Padan–aram, for to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan.
... 20And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled.
... 22And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob was fled.
23And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days’ journey; and they overtook him in the mount Gilead.
24And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said unto him, Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.
26And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast stolen away unawares to me, and carried away my daughters, as captives taken with the sword?
... 31And Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid: for I said, Peradventure thou wouldest take by force thy daughters from me.
41Thus have I been twenty years in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle: and thou hast changed my wages ten times.
43¶ And Laban answered and said unto Jacob, These daughters are my daughters, and these children are my children, and these cattle are my cattle, and all that thou seest is mine:
... 44Now therefore come thou, let us make a covenant, I and thou; and let it be for a witness between me and thee.
45And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar.
... 55And early in the morning Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them: and Laban departed, and returned unto his place.
- Gen. 32:1, 3-7 (to :), 11, 24-30
1And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.
... 3And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom.
4And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now:
5And I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and menservants, and womenservants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight.
6¶ And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.
7Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed:
11Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children.
24¶ And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
25And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.
26And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.
27And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
28And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
29And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.
30And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
- Gen. 33:1 (to 1st .), 4, 8-11, 15, 16
1And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men.
... 4And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept.
... 8And he said, What meanest thou by all this drove which I met? And he said, These are to find grace in the sight of my lord.
9And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself.
10And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me.
11Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it.
... 15And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me. And he said, What needeth it? let me find grace in the sight of my lord.
16¶ So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir.
- Rom. 5:20 where
where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
- Eph. 2:8
8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
- Heb. 12:28 let
let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
- SH 4:3-5
- SH 1:6
- SH 308:16-23, 26-28
Jacob was alone, wrestling with error, — struggling with a mortal sense of life, substance, and intelligence 18Wrestling of Jacobas existent in matter with its false pleasures and pains, — when an angel, a message from Truth and Love, appeared to him and smote the sinew, 21or strength, of his error, till he saw its unreality; and Truth, being thereby understood, gave him spiritual strength in this Peniel of divine Science. ... But the patriarch, perceiving his error and his need 27of help, did not loosen his hold upon this glorious light until his nature was transformed.
- SH 309:7-9 (to 2nd .)
- SH 589:4
- SH 333:19-26
Throughout all generations both before and after the Christian era, the Christ, as the spirit-21ual idea, — the reflection of God, — has come with some measure of power and grace to all prepared to receive Christ, Truth. Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and the prophets 24caught glorious glimpses of the Messiah, or Christ, which baptized these seers in the divine nature, the essence of Love.
- SH 134:14-17
- SH 494:15 (only)
The miracle of grace is no miracle to Love.
- SH 107:1
In the year 1866, I discovered the Christ Science or Christian Science discovereddivine laws of Life, Truth, and Love, and 3named my discovery Christian Science. God had been graciously preparing me during many years for the reception of this final revelation of the ab-6solute divine Principle of scientific mental healing.
- SH 109:11-24
For three years after my discovery, I sought the solu-12tion of this problem of Mind-healing, searched the Scrip-Solitary researchtures and read little else, kept aloof from so-ciety, and devoted time and energies to dis-15covering a positive rule. The search was sweet, calm, and buoyant with hope, not selfish nor depressing. I knew the Principle of all harmonious Mind-action to be God, 18and that cures were produced in primitive Christian healing by holy, uplifting faith; but I must know the Science of this healing, and I won my way to absolute 21conclusions through divine revelation, reason, and dem-onstration. The revelation of Truth in the understand-ing came to me gradually and apparently through divine 24power.
- SH 108:1, 30
Whence came to me this heavenly conviction, — a con-viction antagonistic to the testimony of the physical senses? 3According to St. Paul, it was “the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of His power.” It was the divine law of Life and Love, unfolding to me 6the demonstrable fact that matter possesses neither sen-sation nor life; that human experiences show the falsity of all material things; and that immortal cravings, “the 9price of learning love,” establish the truism that the only sufferer is mortal mind, for the divine Mind cannot suffer.
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, 109 109:1and led up to my demonstration of the proposition that Mind is All and matter is naught as the leading factor in 3Mind-science.
- SH 111:26
After a lengthy examination of my discovery and its 27demonstration in healing the sick, this fact became evi-Confirmatory testsdent to me, — that Mind governs the body, not partially but wholly. I submitted my 30metaphysical system of treating disease to the broad-est practical tests. Since then this system has gradually gained ground, and has proved itself, whenever scien-112112:1tifically employed, to be the most effective curative agent in medical practice.
- SH 146:31
Divine metaphysics is now reduced to a system, to a form comprehensible by and adapted to the thought of 147 147:1the age in which we live. This system enables the Reduction to systemlearner to demonstrate the divine Principle, 3upon which Jesus’ healing was based, and the sacred rules for its present application to the cure of disease.
- SH 150:4
To-day the healing power of Truth is widely demon-strated as an immanent, eternal Science, instead of a 6The main purposephenomenal exhibition. Its appearing is the coming anew of the gospel of “on earth peace, good-will toward men.” This coming, as was promised 9by the Master, is for its establishment as a permanent dispensation among men; but the mission of Christian Science now, as in the time of its earlier demonstration, 12is not primarily one of physical healing. Now, as then, signs and wonders are wrought in the metaphysical heal-ing of physical disease; but these signs are only to demon-15strate its divine origin, — to attest the reality of the higher mission of the Christ-power to take away the sins of the world.
- SH 147:6
Late in the nineteenth century I demonstrated the divine rules of Christian Science. They were submitted to the broadest practical test, and everywhere, when honestly ap-9plied under circumstances where demonstration was hu-manly possible, this Science showed that Truth had lost none of its divine and healing efficacy, even though cen-12turies had passed away since Jesus practised these rules on the hills of Judæa and in the valleys of Galilee.
- SH 67:23
Hymn 438: “Amazing grace!”
Hymn 422: “Grace for today, O Love divine”
Hymn 88: “Gracious Spirit, dwell with me”