Ye messengers of Christ,

His sovereign voice obey;

Arise, and follow where he leads,

And peace attend your way.

The Master whom ye serve

Will needful strength bestow;

Depending on his promised aid,

With sacred courage go.

In vain shall evil strive,

And hell in vain oppose;

The cause is God’s and will prevail,

In spite of all His foes.

Matt. 10:1, 5, 16-20

Jesus called his twelve disciples together and gave them authority to cast out evil spirits and to heal every kind of disease and illness.

Jesus sent out the twelve apostles with these instructions: “Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves. But beware! . . . You will stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers. But this will be your opportunity to tell the rulers and other unbelievers about me. When you are arrested, don’t worry about how to respond or what to say. God will give you the right words at the right time. For it is not you who will be speaking—it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Luke 10:1, 2, 9, 17-19

The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples . . . These were his instructions to them: Heal the sick. When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to him, “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!”

“Yes,” he told them, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning! Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you.

Matt. 16:13

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.

Is. 42:6-7

“I, the lord, have called you to demonstrate my righteousness. I will take you by the hand and guard you. . . . And you will be a light to guide the nations. You will open the eyes of the blind.

You will free the captives from prison, releasing those who sit in dark dungeons.

Acts. 5:12, 16-17, 28, 29

The apostles were performing many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. Crowds came from the villages around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those possessed by evil spirits, and they were all healed. The high priest and his officials, who were Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. But an angel of the Lord came at night, opened the gates of the jail, and brought them out. Then he told them, “Go to the Temple and give the people this message of life!”

Then they brought the apostles before the high council, where the high priest confronted them. “We gave you strict orders never again to teach in this man’s name!” But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than any human authority.”

Acts 12:1-5, 7, 10-11

About that time King Herod Agrippa began to persecute some believers in the church. [H]e also arrested Peter. Then he imprisoned him, placing him under the guard of four squads of four soldiers each. But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him. Suddenly, there was a bright light in the cell, and an angel of the Lord stood before Peter. The angel struck him on the side to awaken him and said, “Quick! Get up!” And the chains fell off his wrists. They passed the first and second guard posts and came to the iron gate leading to the city, and this opened for them all by itself. So they passed through and started walking down the street, and then the angel suddenly left him.

Peter finally came to his senses. “It’s really true!” he said. “The Lord has sent his angel and saved me.

Acts. 9:1, 3-6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 15, 17, 20, 23

Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers

As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”

“Who are you, lord?” Saul asked.

And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes he was blind.

Now there was a believer in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said, “Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. “But Lord,” exclaimed Ananias, “I’ve heard many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers in Jerusalem!”

But the Lord said, “Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles.” So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Instantly something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized.

And immediately he began preaching about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is indeed the Son of God!” All who heard him were amazed. After a while some of the Jews plotted together to kill him.

Acts. 16:22, 23, 25, 29-31

A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas and then they were thrown into prison. Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off!

The jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.”

His entire household rejoiced because they all believed in God.

Gal. 1:11-13, 15-16, 23-24

Dear brothers and sisters, . . . You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion—how I violently persecuted God’s church. I did my best to destroy it. But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace. Then it pleased him 16to reveal his Son to me so that I would proclaim the Good News about Jesus to the Gentiles.

[P]eople were saying, “The one who used to persecute us is now preaching the very faith he tried to destroy!” And they praised God

SH 136:1-5, 6

Jesus established his church and maintained his mission on a spiritual foundation of

Christ-healing. He taught his followers that his religion had a divine Principle, which would cast out error and heal both the sick and the sinning. Despite the persecution this brought upon him, he used his divine power to save men both bodily and spiritually.

SH 324:19

Paul was not at first a disciple of Jesus but a persecutor of Jesus’ followers. When the truth first appeared to him in Science, Paul was made blind, and his blindness was felt; but spiritual light soon enabled him to follow the example and teachings of Jesus, healing the sick and preaching Christianity throughout Asia Minor, Greece, and even in imperial Rome.

SH 327:9-10

Evil is sometimes a man’s highest conception of right, until his grasp on good grows stronger.

SH 139:28-32

Atheism, pantheism, theosophy, and agnosticism are opposed to Christian Science, as they are to ordinary religion; but it does not follow that the profane or atheistic invalid cannot be healed by Christian Science.

SH 329:32-2

Human resistance to divine Science weakens in proportion as mortals give up error for Truth and the understanding of being supersedes mere belief.

SH 326:23

Saul of Tarsus beheld the way — the Christ, or Truth  — only when his uncertain sense of right yielded to a spiritual sense, which is always right. Then the man was changed. Thought assumed a nobler outlook, and his life became more spiritual. He learned the wrong that he had done in persecuting Christians, whose religion he had not understood, and in humility he took the new name of Paul. He beheld for the first time the true idea of Love, and learned a lesson in divine Science.

SH 327:23-24

Moral courage is requisite to meet the wrong and to proclaim the right.

SH 514:10-14

Moral courage is “the lion of the tribe of Juda,” the king of the mental realm. Free and fearless it roams in the forest. Undisturbed it lies in the open field, or rests in “green pastures, . . . beside the still waters.”

SH 238: 12-13, 22

To fall away from Truth in times of persecution, shows that we never understood Truth.

Attempts to conciliate society and so gain dominion over mankind, arise from worldly weakness. He who leaves all for Christ forsakes popularity and gains Christianity.

SH 317:6

Whosoever lives most the life of Jesus in this age and declares best the power of Christian Science, will drink of his Master’s cup. Resistance to Truth will haunt his steps, and he will incur the hatred of sinners, till “wisdom is justified of her children.” These blessed benedictions rest upon Jesus’ followers: “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you;” “Lo, I am with you alway,” — that is, not only in all time, but in all ways and conditions.

SH 454:9, 17-21

Human hate has no legitimate mandate and no kingdom. Love is enthroned. That evil or matter has neither intelligence nor power, is the doctrine of absolute Christian Science, and this is the great truth which strips all disguise from error.

Love for God and man is the true incentive in both healing and teaching. Love inspires, illumines, designates, and leads the way. Right motives give pinions to thought, and strength and freedom to speech and action.

SH 436:11

Giving a cup of cold water in Christ’s name, is a Christian service. Laying down his life for a good deed, Mortal Man should find it again. Such acts bear their own justification, and are under the protection of the Most High.

SH 97:32-3

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.

SH 388:1-2

The Christian martyrs were prophets of Christian Science.

SH 131:14-18, 22

This Science has come already, after the manner of God’s appointing, but the churches seem not ready to receive it, according to the Scriptural saying, “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” As aforetime, the spirit of the Christ, which taketh away the ceremonies and doctrines of men, is not accepted until the hearts of men are made ready for it.

SH 144:23

Because divine Science wars with so-called physical science, even as Truth wars with error, the old schools still oppose it. Ignorance, pride, or prejudice closes the door to whatever is not stereotyped. When the Science of being is universally understood, every man will be his own physician, and Truth will be the universal panacea.

SH 643:28-4 (to ;), 644:7-10 (to,), 12-16.

GRATEFUL FOR MORAL AND SPIRITUAL AWAKENING

About four years ago, after I had tried different ways and means to be relieved from bodily suffering, a faithful friend called my attention to the teaching of Christian Science. After some opposition, I decided to investigate it, with the thought that if this teaching would be helpful, it was meant for me as well as for others . . . .After I had read Mrs. Eddy’s work, Science and Health, a few days, I found that my ailments had disappeared, and a rest had come to me which I had never before known. I had smoked almost incessantly. . . . This desire as well as the desire for drink simply disappeared, and I wish to say here, that I received all these benefits before I had gained much understanding of what I was reading. Like a prisoner, who had been in chains for years, I was suddenly set free.

SH 583:14

The Church is that institution, which affords proof of its utility and is found elevating the race, rousing the dormant understanding from material beliefs to the apprehension of spiritual ideas and the demonstration of divine Science, thereby casting out devils, or error, and healing the sick.

SH 571:15

At all times and under all circumstances, overcome evil with good. Know thyself, and God will supply the wisdom and the occasion for a victory over evil. Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you. The cement of a higher humanity will unite all interests in the one divinity.

SH 37:22-25, 27

It is possible, — yea, it is the duty and privilege of every child, man, and woman, — to follow in some degree the example of the Master by the demonstration of Truth and Life, of health and holiness. Hear these imperative commands : “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect!” “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature!” “Heal the sick!”

Thou living light of pentecostal glory,

Lo, wide we fling the sunless prison doors;

Thy cleansing fire repeats its ancient story

To purge and hallow us, the splendor pours.

Perfect and pure, ineffable in beauty,

Thy stainless radiance e’en to us impart,

Till in reflection finding all our duty,

We see the glory shine from heart to heart.

So all shall see where Thine effulgence gloweth,

Through purer lives of men, a countless host,

So all shall learn how God Himself bestoweth

His priceless pearl of gifts, the Holy Ghost.

Let all the earth with songs rejoice;

Let heaven return the joyful voice;

All mindful of our God’s great name,

Let every man His praise proclaim.

Ye servants who once bore the light

Of Gospel truth o’er darkest night,

Still may our work that light impart,

To glad the eyes and cheer the heart.

O God, by whom to them was given

The key that shuts and opens heaven,

Our chains unbind, our loss repair,

Reveal Thy power through answered prayer.

For at Thy will they preached the Word

Which cured disease, which health conferred:

And now that healing power once more

Our peace and health to us restore.