VIII.

ST. MATTHEW, V. 10, 11, 12.

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake;

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theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you, falsely, for my sake: Rejoice, and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

OUR SAVIOUR here sets before his disciples the opposition and persecution which they were to expect in this world, on the one hand; and the glorious reward in a life to come, on the other. His doctrine would, in this respect, seem new to his hearers. The Pharisees were of a re. ligion which brought to them much honour from men; and the general body of the Jews had no idea that a man's religious faith would expose him to trial and persecution. The religion, indeed, both of the Pharisees, and of the body of the Jews, was an easy and popular religion; it was not the struggling religion of a minority. The professors of it had only to swim with the stream; they neither combated their own natural corruption, nor the common errors and iniquities of the age.

In this respect the disciples of CHRIST were to differ from the Jews; and of this difference our SAVIOUR gives notice, in the passage which we are considering. It is, as if He had said, "Think not that if you are my followers, all men shall speak well of you. Far from it;—if you follow me, you must expect much reproach." The servants of God have in all ages been the objects of censure to those who lived at the same time with them; though they may have been extolled by the worldly people of succeeding Learn, therefore, to consider the opposition of the age in which you live, as a proof that you are followers of

ages.

the Prophets who went before you; and be content to be as ill received as they. "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you, falsely, for my sake: Rejoice and be exceeding glad." Account yourselves happy in the midst of your persecutions; for great is your reward in Heaven. Look forward to that immense recompense which awaits you; and which shall be proportioned to your persecutions here on earth. Take care, indeed, that you are reviled not for that which is evil, but for that which is good. Be sure that whatever is said against you, be said "falsely," and "for my sake." Let the reproach be on account of faithfulness to my cause; and while you continue thus faithful and thus reproached, not only be not cast down, but rejoice, even, and be exceeding glad; for "great is your reward in Heaven."

Such was our SAVIOUR'S language to his disciples; and it is no small proof of the truth of his religion that it was received under such discouraging circumstances. They embraced persecutions and tribulations, having been told to expect them; but they embraced at the same time the hope of eternal glory; and this hope supported them, even under the pains of martyrdom. Though, for a time, fearful and weak in faith: yet, when endued with that “ power from on high," which they received on the day of Pentecost, they learned to fear the face of no man. We find, that, when beaten with many stripes," they rejoiced, that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of CHRIST;" we read, also, that Paul and Silas, when in prison, "sung praises to GOD;" and we hear the Apostle thus expressing himself" For Thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Who shall separate us from the love of CHRIST? Shall tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine, or uakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him that-loved us"

Let us now consider how far we are to apply this passage to ourselves.

And, first, it shall be allowed, that the same persecution, to which the Apostles and early Christians were exposed, by no means threatens us. The world is now governed by better laws and this is one reason why the modern Christian does not experience the same degree of ill-treatment : another reason is, that the faith of CHRIST has now been established. The Christian minister of this day does not like the Apostles, proclaim a faith entirely new; he does not oppose as they did, all the professed opinions of men. Still, however, the case is not altogether changed. Persecution indeed has, generally speaking, ceased; but opposition to the Gospel of CHRIST (we mean to the Gospel preached and practised in its primitive purity and strictness) certainly has not. It is but too plain, that the world at this day is not truly Christian; and that, even in Christian lands, the majority are very unchristian people. Vice and wickedness prevail openly in many places. Practical infidelity is in the hearts of thousands who fancy themselves to be true believers and every where we meet with unchristian maxims, sentiments, and customs. It is, therefore, as plain a duty in the modern Christian to resist the stream of the world, as ever it was in the primitive one. Like the prophets of old, he has to bear his testimony on the side of God and holiness; amidst a multitude of gainsayers. He has not to expose, like the Apostles, his back to stripes, and his life to martyrdom. But since he is delivered from these greater trials, let him the more cheerfully endure the smaller. Let him not fear to assert his Christian singularity, to resist the corrupt customs of this generation, and to avoid those amusements of the world which are accommodated to its unchristian taste, and are unbecoming the purity and strictness of the Gospel. Let him refuse, in short, in a thousand instances, to do as others do; and let him practise many things which others, deeming them unnecessary strictnesses, do not care to practise, Let him

sometimes reprove others for their sins,- -a duty which is indeed quite indispensable in Christian ministers. Finally, let him, who has as yet experienced no opposition, examine whether his faith and his practice be not accommodated to the taste of the world in a manner quite unauthorized by Scripture; and if the dread of opposition have been the hindrance to his profession of a purer Christianity, let him remember who hath said, "Except a man take up his cross daily, he cannot be my disciple;" and "except a man forsake even his father and mother and wife and children (when they are his hindrance in the Gospel,) yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." And again, "Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when He cometh in the glory of his Father, and with his holy Angels."

IX.

ST. MATTHEW, V. 13, 14, 15, 16.

Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out, and to be trodder under foot of men.

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill, cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

How high an idea of Christianity does our SAVIOUR here present to us. Christians are the "salt of the earth." In them ought to be that savour by which the whole world is to be seasoned. Again, Christians are the "light of the world." By them is the moral darkness of this wicked. world to be enlightened

And again, "they are like a city

set upon a hill." They are to be conspicuous to all around, for their superior virtue and excellence. Such did CHRIST, when He was on earth, require his disciples to be; and such in fact they were, in the first ages of the Church. In these degenerate days an opinion prevails, and even among many who call themselves Christians, that we should not be particular in any respect; that we ought not to profess any more religion than our neighbours; that it is presumptuous to suppose that we can enlighten others; and illiberal to think that our own mode of faith is the best. But how inconsistent is such language with these sayings of CHRIST! Are we not required to be singular? It is to be feared, that they, who entertain sentiments so lowering to the character of religion, are the persons who are condemned in the latter part of the thirteenth verse. I mean that they are salt which has "lost its savour,?Christians without the spirit of Christianity; and, just as salt, which has become tasteless, is only "fit to be cast on the ground, and trodden under foot of men," so are these ordinary and insipid Christians fit only to be cast out of the Christian Church.

consider the duty reUndoubtedly it is not

Let us now, more particularly, quired by these words of CHRIST. intended by them that we should be ostentatious in our religion; for we are commanded to be “ poor in spirit" and to be meek and lowly in heart. CHRIST, nevertheless, must mean to insist that there should be such a character and tone in our religion, as shall distinguish us from the world. He expects the difference between us and other men to be so great, that other men shall be struck by that difference. This is the manner in which He has ordained that the work of converting mankind shall be carried on. Our light is so to shine before men, that they (seeing our good works) may glorify our Father which is in heaven. CHRIST has appointed preaching to be one of the means of extending His kingdom: but He has not more plainly directed ministers to preach, than He has com