Subject — Matter

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.

4.     There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.

5.     God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.

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.

11.     The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.

1.     Deuteronomy 4 : 1 (hearken), 2, 5-7, 9, 12, 13

1     …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.

2     Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.

5     Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.

6     Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

7     For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for?

9     Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;

12     And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.

13     And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.

2.     Deuteronomy 5 : 6, 7

6     I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

7     Thou shalt have none other gods before me.

3.     II Chronicles 33 : 1-3, 9-13, 16

1     Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem:

2     But did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, like unto the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.

3     For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.

9     So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel.

10     And the LORD spake to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken.

11     Wherefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.

12     And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,

13     And prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God.

16     And he repaired the altar of the LORD, and sacrificed thereon peace offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel.

4.     Psalm 97 : 1, 5-7 (to :), 9, 12

1     The LORD reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof.

5     The hills melted like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.

6     The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory.

7     Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols:

9     For thou, LORD, art high above all the earth: thou art exalted far above all gods.

12     Rejoice in the LORD, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.

5.     Matthew 4 : 23, 24

23     And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

24     And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.

6.     Matthew 5 : 1, 2

1     And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:

2     And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

7.     Matthew 6 : 24

24     No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

8.     I Corinthians 10 : 1 (brethren)-4 (to 1st :), 5-7, 12, 14, 15

1     …brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;

2     And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;

3     And did all eat the same spiritual meat;

4     And did all drink the same spiritual drink:

5     But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

6     Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.

7     Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.

12     Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

14     Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.

15     I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say.

9.     I John 5 : 18, 20 (to 1st .), 21

18     We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.

20     And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ.

21     Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

1.     340 : 15-22

"Thou shalt have no other gods before me." (Exodus xx. 3.) The First Commandment is my favorite text. It demonstrates Christian Science. It inculcates the triunity of God, Spirit, Mind; it signifies that man shall have no other spirit or mind but God, eternal good, and that all men shall have one Mind. The divine Principle of the First Commandment bases the Science of being, by which man demonstrates health, holiness, and life eternal.

2.     143 : 26-31

Mind is the grand creator, and there can be no power except that which is derived from Mind. If Mind was first chronologically, is first potentially, and must be first eternally, then give to Mind the glory, honor, dominion, and power everlastingly due its holy name.

3.     146 : 2-6

The ancient Christians were healers. Why has this element of Christianity been lost? Because our systems of religion are governed more or less by our systems of medicine. The first idolatry was faith in matter.

4.     287 : 24-31

The supposition that life, substance, and intelligence are in matter, or of it, is an error. Matter is neither a thing nor a person, but merely the objective supposition of Spirit's opposite. The five material senses testify to truth and error as united in a mind both good and evil. Their false evidence will finally yield to Truth, — to the recognition of Spirit and of the spiritual creation.

5.     214 : 18-25

We bow down to matter, and entertain finite thoughts of God like the pagan idolater. Mortals are inclined to fear and to obey what they consider a material body more than they do a spiritual God. All material knowledge, like the original "tree of knowledge," multiplies their pains, for mortal illusions would rob God, slay man, and meanwhile would spread their table with cannibal tidbits and give thanks.

6.     484 : 9 (In)-20

In divine Science, the supposed laws of matter yield to the law of Mind. What are termed natural science and material laws are the objective states of mortal mind. The physical universe expresses the conscious and unconscious thoughts of mortals. Physical force and mortal mind are one. Drugs and hygiene oppose the supremacy of the divine Mind. Drugs and inert matter are unconscious, mindless. Certain results, supposed to proceed from drugs, are really caused by the faith in them which the false human consciousness is educated to feel.

7.     158 : 1-18

It is recorded that the profession of medicine originated in idolatry with pagan priests, who besought the gods to heal the sick and designated Apollo as "the god of medicine." He was supposed to have dictated the first prescription, according to the "History of Four Thousand Years of Medicine." It is here noticeable that Apollo was also regarded as the sender of disease, "the god of pestilence." Hippocrates turned from image-gods to vegetable and mineral drugs for healing. This was deemed progress in medicine; but what we need is the truth which heals both mind and body. The future history of material medicine may correspond with that of its material god, Apollo, who was banished from heaven and endured great sufferings upon earth.

Drugs, cataplasms, and whiskey are stupid substitutes for the dignity and potency of divine Mind and its efficacy to heal.

8.     160 : 4-6

When mortals forsake the material for the spiritual basis of action, drugs lose their healing force, for they have no innate power.

9.     280 : 17-24

Moses declared as Jehovah's first command of the Ten: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me!" But behold the zeal of belief to establish the opposite error of many minds. The argument of the serpent in the allegory, "Ye shall be as gods," urges through every avenue the belief that Soul is in body, and that infinite Spirit, and Life, is in finite forms.

10.     174 : 4-8, 17-20 (to 1st .)

Is civilization only a higher form of idolatry, that man should bow down to a flesh-brush, to flannels, to baths, diet, exercise, and air? Nothing save divine power is capable of doing so much for man as he can do for himself.

The thunder of Sinai and the Sermon on the Mount are pursuing and will overtake the ages, rebuking in their course all error and proclaiming the kingdom of heaven on earth.

11.     200 : 4-7

Moses advanced a nation to the worship of God in Spirit instead of matter, and illustrated the grand human capacities of being bestowed by immortal Mind.

12.     133 : 8-18

In Egypt, it was Mind which saved the Israelites from belief in the plagues. In the wilderness, streams flowed from the rock, and manna fell from the sky. The Israelites looked upon the brazen serpent, and straightway believed that they were healed of the poisonous stings of vipers. In national prosperity, miracles attended the successes of the Hebrews; but when they departed from the true idea, their demoralization began. Even in captivity among foreign nations, the divine Principle wrought wonders for the people of God in the fiery furnace and in kings' palaces.

13.     97 : 5-11, 17-28

In reality, the more closely error simulates truth and so-called matter resembles its essence, mortal mind, the more impotent error becomes as a belief. According to human belief, the lightning is fierce and the electric current swift, yet in Christian Science the flight of one and the blow of the other will become harmless.…The more material the belief, the more obvious its error, until divine Spirit, supreme in its domain, dominates all matter, and man is found in the likeness of Spirit, his original being.

The broadest facts array the most falsities against themselves, for they bring error from under cover. It requires courage to utter truth; for the higher Truth lifts her voice, the louder will error scream, until its inarticulate sound is forever silenced in oblivion.

"He uttered His voice, the earth melted." This Scripture indicates that all matter will disappear before the supremacy of Spirit.