JESUS said, "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones." The teachings of Christianity came like a gleam of light and love into the lives of some of the slaves of ancient Rome. Primitive Christianity appealed to many among the poor and despised, to those of little account in the eyes of the world. Paul wrote, "God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty . . . and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are."
Christianity started its work among those who had little of this world's goods; and they "had all things common," so that no one lacked. A beautiful picture of primitive Christianity is presented in the wonderful sense of brotherhood that prevailed among the early Christians taking refuge in the catacombs. There, it seems, the patrician and the slave met on common ground, and there was laid the foundation of our modern democracy, a fact attested by a certain historical writer. While modern civilization may sometimes seem to have little of the element of Christianity or true brotherhood, and while agnosticism and even atheism may seem to be widespread, yet the very democracy which has made freedom of speech possible was founded on the teachings of Jesus that all are in reality equally the children of God. This fact Paul stated in his letter to the Galatians, saying: "Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. . . . There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus."
As Christianity began to be adopted by the wise men of this world; as the claims of class and caste, of ritualism and dogma, began to overshadow the simplicity of the early church, so the spirit of Christ with its healing ministry began to disappear, and there followed dark centuries of oppression and the obscuration of spiritual light. But while the world of sense obscured the light, it could not extinguish it; and in the year 1866 the vital light of Truth was again uncovered by Mary Baker Eddy through the discovery of the Science of Christianity, revealing again the healing Christ with the same mission to the weak, the poor, the despised; but with the added protection of its Science, so that the light should not again be lost.
