Subject — God the Preserver of Man

48.     My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes.

49.     Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.

50.     This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.

51.     The proud have had me greatly in derision: yet have I not declined from thy law.

52.     I remembered thy judgments of old, O Lord; and have comforted myself.

1. Isaiah 40 : 28-31

28     Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

29     He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

30     Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

31     But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

2. Psalm 140 : 1, 4, 6

1     Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man: preserve me from the violent man;

4     Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from the violent man; who have purposed to overthrow my goings.

6     I said unto the Lord, Thou art my God: hear the voice of my supplications, O Lord.

3. I Samuel 19 : 1-12

1     And Saul spake to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David.

2     But Jonathan Saul’s son delighted much in David: and Jonathan told David, saying, Saul my father seeketh to kill thee: now therefore, I pray thee, take heed to thyself until the morning, and abide in a secret place, and hide thyself:

3     And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where thou art, and I will commune with my father of thee; and what I see, that I will tell thee.

4     And Jonathan spake good of David unto Saul his father, and said unto him, Let not the king sin against his servant, against David; because he hath not sinned against thee, and because his works have been to thee-ward very good:

5     For he did put his life in his hand, and slew the Philistine, and the Lord wrought a great salvation for all Israel: thou sawest it, and didst rejoice: wherefore then wilt thou sin against innocent blood, to slay David without a cause?

6     And Saul hearkened unto the voice of Jonathan: and Saul sware, As the Lord liveth, he shall not be slain.

7     And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan shewed him all those things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence, as in times past.

8     And there was war again: and David went out, and fought with the Philistines, and slew them with a great slaughter; and they fled from him.

9     And the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand: and David played with his hand.

10     And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin; but he slipped away out of Saul’s presence, and he smote the javelin into the wall: and David fled, and escaped that night.

11     Saul also sent messengers unto David’s house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning: and Michal David’s wife told him, saying, If thou save not thy life to night, to morrow thou shalt be slain.

12     So Michal let David down through a window: and he went, and fled, and escaped.

4. Mark 6 : 34 (to 4th ,), 53-56

34     And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them,

53     And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Gennesaret, and drew to the shore.

54     And when they were come out of the ship, straightway they knew him,

55     And ran through that whole region round about, and began to carry about in beds those that were sick, where they heard he was.

56     And whithersoever he entered, into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment: and as many as touched him were made whole.

5. II Timothy 4 : 1, 2, 16 (to :), 17, 18 (to 1st .)

1     I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;

2     Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

16     At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me:

17     Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.

18     And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever.

6. Colossians 3 : 2-4

2     Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

3     For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

4     When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

7. II Thessalonians 3 : 3 (the)

3     …the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.

8. Psalm 62 : 5-8 (to 1st .), 11

5     My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.

6     He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved.

7     In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.

8     Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us.

11     God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God.

1. 184 : 16-17

Controlled by the divine intelligence, man is harmonious and eternal.

2. 487 : 27-1

The understanding that Life is God, Spirit, lengthens our days by strengthening our trust in the deathless reality of Life, its almightiness and immortality.

This faith relies upon an understood Principle. This Principle makes whole the diseased, and brings out the enduring and harmonious phases of things.

3. 550 : 4-7

Matter surely does not possess Mind. God is the Life, or intelligence, which forms and preserves the individuality and identity of animals as well as of men.

4. 151 : 20-30

Every function of the real man is governed by the divine Mind. The human mind has no power to kill or to cure, and it has no control over God's man. The divine Mind that made man maintains His own image and likeness. The human mind is opposed to God and must be put off, as St. Paul declares. All that really exists is the divine Mind and its idea, and in this Mind the entire being is found harmonious and eternal. The straight and narrow way is to see and acknowledge this fact, yield to this power, and follow the leadings of truth.

5. 218 : 24-5

Treat a belief in sickness as you would sin, with sudden dismissal. Resist the temptation to believe in matter as intelligent, as having sensation or power.

The Scriptures say, "They that wait upon the Lord … shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." The meaning of that passage is not perverted by applying it literally to moments of fatigue, for the moral and physical are as one in their results. When we wake to the truth of being, all disease, pain, weakness, weariness, sorrow, sin, death, will be unknown, and the mortal dream will forever cease. My method of treating fatigue applies to all bodily ailments, since Mind should be, and is, supreme, absolute, and final.

6. 387 : 4-12, 19-32

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.

By adhering to the realities of eternal existence, — instead of reading disquisitions on the inconsistent supposition that death comes in obedience to the law of life, and that God punishes man for doing good, — one cannot suffer as the result of any labor of love, but grows stronger because of it. It is a law of so-called mortal mind, misnamed matter, which causes all things discordant.

The history of Christianity furnishes sublime proofs of the supporting influence and protecting power bestowed on man by his heavenly Father, omnipotent Mind, who gives man faith and understanding whereby to defend himself, not only from temptation, but from bodily suffering.

7. 219 : 24-28

Those who are healed through metaphysical Science, not comprehending the Principle of the cure, may misunderstand it, and impute their recovery to change of air or diet, not rendering to God the honor due to Him alone.

8. 516 : 4-12

The substance, Life, intelligence, Truth, and Love, which constitute Deity, are reflected by His creation; and when we subordinate the false testimony of the corporeal senses to the facts of Science, we shall see this true likeness and reflection everywhere.

God fashions all things, after His own likeness. Life is reflected in existence, Truth in truthfulness, God in goodness, which impart their own peace and permanence.

9. 246 : 1-8, 20-31

Man is not a pendulum, swinging between evil and good, joy and sorrow, sickness and health, life and death. Life and its faculties are not measured by calendars. The perfect and immortal are the eternal likeness of their Maker. Man is by no means a material germ rising from the imperfect and endeavoring to reach Spirit above his origin.

Except for the error of measuring and limiting all that is good and beautiful, man would enjoy more than threescore years and ten and still maintain his vigor, freshness, and promise. Man, governed by immortal Mind, is always beautiful and grand. Each succeeding year unfolds wisdom, beauty, and holiness.

Life is eternal. We should find this out, and begin the demonstration thereof. Life and goodness are immortal. Let us then shape our views of existence into loveliness, freshness, and continuity, rather than into age and blight.

10. 325 : 10-19

In Colossians (iii. 4) Paul writes: "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear [be manifested], then shall ye also appear [be manifested] with him in glory." When spiritual being is understood in all its perfection, continuity, and might, then shall man be found in God's image. The absolute meaning of the apostolic words is this: Then shall man be found, in His likeness, perfect as the Father, indestructible in Life, "hid with Christ in God," — with Truth in divine Love, where human sense hath not seen man.

11. 407 : 24-28

Let the perfect model be present in your thoughts instead of its demoralized opposite. This spiritualization of thought lets in the light, and brings the divine Mind, Life not death, into your consciousness.

12. 340 : 23-29

One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations; constitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfils the Scripture, "Love thy neighbor as thyself;" annihilates pagan and Christian idolatry, — whatever is wrong in social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes; equalizes the sexes; annuls the curse on man, and leaves nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed.