"The determination to hold Spirit in the grasp of matter is the persecutor of Truth and Love." So writes Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, on page 28 of her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures."
One need not be dismayed, therefore, if persecution should attend his forward steps in the demonstration of Christian Science. Indeed these tests of one's invulnerability bring their reward. Our Leader promises (Science and Health, pp. 97, 98), "Earth has no repayment for the persecutions which attend a new step in Christianity; but the spiritual recompense of the persecuted is assured in the elevation of existence above mortal discord and in the gift of divine Love." Such reward must have been attained by Paul, who, recounting his experiences in Asia and anticipating hostility on his return to Jerusalem, said, "None of these things move me." How paltry a thing is human sacrifice, compared with the sublime independence of thought, serene in its awareness of the allness of God, good!
The attainment of this blessed state of freedom may require many moments of self-surrender, perhaps years of learning patience, wisdom, and humility, for even the petty annoyances of everyday living have a way of recurring as if to uncover more and more of the irritability and impatience which are part of the belief of a selfhood apart from God. To remain undisturbed and to refuse to be annoyed, are proofs of our faithfulness. The blessing resulting from persecution "for righteousness' sake" lies in the unevadable demand to overcome the temptation to believe that our brother is a persecutor and that we are the objects of his persecution. We can, by clinging to the Christ, the spiritual idea of God and man, be joyfully conscious of this.
