There is a mercy that lies in the endeavour to share with others the
best things God has given: they who do so will be persecuted, and
reviled, and slandered, as well as thanked and loved and befriended. The
Lord not only promises the greatest possible reward; he tells his
disciples the worst they have to expect. He not only shows them the fair
countries to which they are bound; he tells them the truth of the rough
weather and the hardships of the way. He will not have them choose in
ignorance. At the same time he strengthens them to meet coming
difficulty, by instructing them in its real nature. All this is part of
his preparation of them for his work, for taking his yoke upon them, and
becoming fellow-labourers with him in his father's vineyard. They must
not imagine, because they are the servants of his father, that therefore
they shall find their work easy; they shall only find the reward great.
Neither will he have them fancy, when evil comes upon them, that
something unforeseen, unprovided for, has befallen them. It is just
then, on the contrary, that their reward comes nigh: when men revile
them and persecute them, then they may know that they are blessed. Their
suffering is ground for rejoicing, for exceeding gladness. The ignominy
cast upon them leaves the name of the Lord's Father written upon their
foreheads, the mark of the true among the false, of the children among
the slaves. With all who suffer for the world, persecution is the seal
of their patent, a sign that they were sent: they fill up that which is
behind of the afflictions of Christ for his body's sake.

Let us look at the similar words the Lord spoke in a later address to
his disciples, in the presence of thousands, on the plain,--supplemented
with lamentation over such as have what they desire: St Luke vi. 20--26.

_'Blessed be ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are ye