First Church of Christ, Scientist, Wellesley, home page

A New Way to Look at Aging

The Bible

	*Job 11:17 thine*
17	thine age shall be clearer than the noonday; thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning.
	*Ps 110:3 thou*
3	thou hast the dew of thy youth.
	*Ps 92:14*
14	They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;
	*II Sam 19:32-36, 37 But, 38*
32	Now Barzillai was a very aged man, even fourscore years old: and he had provided the king of sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim; for he was a very great man.
33	And the king said unto Barzillai, Come thou over with me, and I will feed thee with me in Jerusalem.
34	And Barzillai said unto the king, How long have I to live, that I should go up with the king unto Jerusalem?
35	I am this day fourscore years old: and can I discern between good and evil? can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink? can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women? wherefore then should thy servant be yet a burden unto my lord the king?
36	Thy servant will go a little way over Jordan with the king: and why should the king recompense it me with such a reward?
37	But behold thy servant Chimham; let him go over with my lord the king; and do to him what shall seem good unto thee.
38	And the king answered, Chimham shall go over with me, and I will do to him that which shall seem good unto thee: and whatsoever thou shalt require of me, that will I do for thee.
	Pro 20:29
29	The glory of young men is their strength: and the beauty of old men is the gray head.
	Isa 46:4
4	And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.
	Philem 1:1,3,4,7,9,10,17-22,25 (to.)
1	Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellow-labourer,
3	Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4	I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers,
7	For we have great joy and consolation in thy love, because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother.
9	Yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
10	I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds:
17	If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself.
18	If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account;
19	I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it: albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides.
20	Yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord: refresh my bowels in the Lord.
21	Having confidence in thy obedience I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say.
22	But withal prepare me also a lodging: for I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto you.
25	The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
	Isa 65:20 (to:)
20	There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days:
	Heb 11:1,2,5 (to:),11
1	Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
2	For by it the elders obtained a good report.
5	By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him:
11	Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
	Eph 4:7,22-24
7	But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
22	That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
23	And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
24	And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
	*John 3:1-4,7,9-12,16-18 (to:),19-21*
1	There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
2	The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
3	Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4	Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
7	Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
9	Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
10	Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
11	Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.
12	If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
16	For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17	For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18	He that believeth on him is not condemned:
19	And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20	For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21	But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
	Rom 6:4 like, 6
4	like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
6	Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
	Ps 103:1,4, 5
1	Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
4	Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
5	Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.

Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures
by Mary Baker Eddy

	*191:8-13* As a material, theoretical life-basis is found to be a	The immortal birth
9	misapprehension of existence, the spiritual and divine Principle of man dawns upon human thought, and leads it to "where the young child was,"
12	— even to the birth of a new-old idea, to the spiritual sense of being and of what Life includes.
	246:10-13 The measurement of life by solar years robs youth and gives ugliness to age. The radiant sun of virtue and truth
12	coexists with being. Manhood is its eternal noon, un- dimmed by a declining sun.
	246:17 Never record ages. Chronological data are no part
18	of the vast forever. Time-tables of birth and death are so many conspiracies against manhood and womanhood. Except for the error of meas-	Undesirable records
21	uring 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,
24	governed by immortal Mind, is always beautiful and grand. Each succeeding year unfolds wisdom, beauty, and holiness.
	261:11-1 Under the strong im-	Unreality of pain
12	pulse of a desire to perform his part, a noted actor was accustomed night after night to go upon the stage and sustain his appointed task, walking about as actively
15	as the youngest member of the company. This old man was so lame that he hobbled every day to the theatre, and sat aching in his chair till his cue was spoken, — a signal
18	which made him as oblivious of physical infirmity as if he had inhaled chloroform, though he was in the full pos- session of his so-called senses.
21	Detach sense from the body, or matter, which is only a form of human belief, and you may learn the meaning of God, or good, and the nature of the immu-	Immutable identity of man
24	table and immortal. Breaking away from the mutations of time and sense, you will neither lose the solid objects and ends of life nor your own iden-	Immutable identity of man
27	tity. Fixing your gaze on the realities supernal, you will rise to the spiritual consciousness of being, even as the bird which has burst from the egg and preens its wings for a
30	skyward flight. We should forget our bodies in remembering good and the human race. Good demands of man every hour, in
1	which to work out the problem of being.
	262:7 By putting "off the old man with his deeds," mortals "put on immortality."
	296:9
9	The old man with his deeds must be put off. Nothing sensual or sinful is immortal. The death of a false material sense and of sin, not the death of organic
12	matter, is what reveals man and Life, harmonious, real, and eternal.
	519:14-16 Mortals
15	can never know the infinite, until they throw off the old man and reach the spiritual image and likeness.
	236:28-10 Jesus loved little children because of their freedom from wrong and their receptiveness of right. While
30	age is halting between two opinions or battling with false beliefs, youth makes easy and rapid strides towards Truth.
1	A little girl, who had occasionally listened to my ex- planations, badly wounded her finger. She seemed not
3	to notice it. On being questioned about it she answered ingenuously, "There is no sensation in matter." Bound- ing off with laughing eyes, she presently added, "Mamma,
6	my finger is not a bit sore." It might have been months or years before her parents would have laid aside their drugs, or reached the mental
9	height their little daughter so naturally at- tained.	Soil and seed
	194:17-31 The authentic history of Kaspar Hauser is a useful hint
18	as to the frailty and inadequacy of mortal mind. It proves beyond a doubt that education consti- tutes this so-called mind, and that, in turn,	Power of habit
21	mortal mind manifests itself in the body by the false sense it imparts. Incarcerated in a dungeon, where neither sight nor sound could reach him, at the age of
24	seventeen Kaspar was still a mental infant, crying and chattering with no more intelligence than a babe, and realizing Tennyson's description:
27	An infant crying in the night, An infant crying for the light, And with no language but a cry.
30	His case proves material sense to be but a belief formed by education alone.
	244:29-17 Even Shakespeare's poetry pictures age as infancy, as
30	helplessness and decadence, instead of assigning to man the everlasting grandeur and immortality of development, power, and prestige.
1	The error of thinking that we are growing old, and the benefits of destroying that illusion, are illustrated in a
3	sketch from the history of an English woman, published in the London medical magazine called The Lancet. Disappointed in love in her early years, she became
6	insane and lost all account of time. Believing that she was still living in the same hour which parted her from her lover, taking no note of years,	Perpetual youth
9	she stood daily before the window watching for her lover's coming. In this mental state she remained young. Having no consciousness of time, she literally grew no
12	older. Some American travellers saw her when she was seventy-four, and supposed her to be a young woman. She had no care-lined face, no wrinkles nor gray hair, but
15	youth sat gently on cheek and brow. Asked to guess her age, those unacquainted with her history conjectured that she must be under twenty.
	247:3
3	I have seen age regain two of the elements it had lost, sight and teeth. A woman of eighty-five, whom I knew, had a return of sight. Another woman at	Eyes and teeth renewed
6	ninety had new teeth, incisors, cuspids, bi- cuspids, and one molar. One man at sixty had retained his full set of upper and lower teeth without	Eyes and teeth renewed
9	a decaying cavity.
	214:5 If Enoch's perception had been confined to the evidence
6	before his material senses, he could never have "walked with God," nor been guided into the demonstration of life eternal.
	214:28-30 Neither age nor accident can interfere with the senses of Soul,	The senses of Soul
30	and there are no other real senses.
	190:14 Human birth, growth, maturity, and decay are as the
15	grass springing from the soil with beautiful green blades, afterwards to wither and return to its native nothingness. This mortal seeming is temporal;	Human frailty
18	it never merges into immortal being, but finally disap- pears, and immortal man, spiritual and eternal, is found to be the real man.
	244:23 (only) Man in Science is neither young nor old.
	246:27
27	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	True life eternal
30	loveliness, freshness, and continuity, rather than into age and blight.	True life eternal