Article February 1, 2014

Persecution

Originally published in the March 1, 1891 issue of the Christian Science Series (Vol. 2, No. 21)

“Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for their’s is the kingdom of heaven.”—Matt. v. 10.

Science and Health (New Ed.) 14, 457, 32, 334

...We read how the world was bound with the iron bands of materialism when Jesus came. How is it to-day? It has advanced, it is true. But is it in any adequate degree living in the bright Light of the gospel of Jesus Christ? If it were, would we see about us, on all sides, temples of worship which stand cold, stately, formidable, and forbidding during six days of the week, presenting an appearance of life and activity only one day in seven? Would the ministry sneer at the declaration that the sick can be healed through the power of God to-day, as well as in the days gone by? What does the word ministry mean? It means not the performance of sacerdotal rites, and the formal offices of priesthood; but it means the ministering to—the doing for—one’s fellow-man in the fullest measure. Jesus was such a minister. He was indeed a minister of the Gospel—an active spreader of the Good-spell, as this word means. He was not only a preacher, but a teacher and a healer; and so should his disciples be, as well now, as when he was in the flesh. If we were living in the broadness of the Light, we would see a world of unity and harmony, instead of a world of clashings, jarrings, and discordant elements.

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