The early Christian Church sets the example. The challenge today is to follow it—to keep the fires of spiritual purpose burning. The Apostle Paul and the disciples of Christ Jesus realized that the message of truth their Saviour had brought to mankind is the message of salvation; it is alive, vital, strong. So they took this message out into the sunlight of active demonstration where people could see it, hear it, and know it. The Church could not retreat into the shadows of self-serving complacency and still fulfill its mission. With such a retreat, there could in fact be no Church.
Paul would go wherever people needed to hear the gospel, even where he was reviled. His Master had done the same, even to the cross. Many of the early Christians were willing to let their faith be known regardless of the cost. In Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy's words point to the courage of such steadfast believers: "Martyrs are the human links which connect one stage with another in the history of religion. They are earth's luminaries, which serve to cleanse and rarefy the atmosphere of material sense and to permeate humanity with purer ideals." Science and Health, p. 37.
Two thousand years ago the world had to know what lay behind Christian faith. The world still needs to know. The Church must stay on the front lines if humanity's struggle with sin, disease, and death is to be won. There have been too many times during past centuries when ignorance and apathy have been allowed to creep in and the spiritual light that the Church should represent has seemed little more than a flicker.
