Every advancing step in spiritual progress includes overcoming materiality and hence involves a fight with entrenched material thinking. History shows the persecution of the advanced spiritual thinker by worldly-minded mortals, and the greatest example of this fact is the life of Christ Jesus. However, the lesson of Jesus' life is not portrayed in his persecution but in the spiritual resources he demonstrated in overcoming the world, the flesh, and the devil. He proved that the power of God is sufficient to destroy evil in all its forms and to annul the effects of persecution. His life is one of greatest triumph and glory.
His is a timeless example. The same elements of thought that Jesus encountered must be overcome today, and the same effort is requisite. Now the Science of being has been discovered in its completeness by Mrs. Eddy. She endured persecution in some measure similar to that endured by the Master. Having Christian Science as the promised Comforter means that today we should be able to follow Jesus' example more effectively than ever before and to counteract evil with truth. By looking to the divine source for our ability and our rewards, we shall gain current compensation for the trials and tribulations that beset an advance in overcoming materiality.
In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy says, "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."Science and Health, pp. 97, 98;
