SERMON XVI.

MATTHEW V. 10.

Bleffed are they that are perfecuted for righteousness' fake: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

I

IN my laft difcourfe I treated on a Character, illuftrious in the roll of Chriftian graces, and diftinguished above the rest by energy of action; namely, that of the Peacemakers. have now to treat on another Character, placed in parallel to the former, being no less illuftrious in the fame divine catalogue, but distinguished in a very different manner, by fortitude of fuffering; namely, that of those who are perfecuted for righteoufnefs' fake.

To endure perfecution, abstractedly confidered, does not feem to fall under the description of virtue, as it implies what is merely paffive on the part of the receiver. But to endure perfecution for the fake of righteousness has every title to that honourable name; fince it implies "out of a pure heart, of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned","

in open avowal of religious truth, a voluntary fubmiffion and a patient refignation to every kind and to every degree of perfecution, which the malice of the world can inflict. This was the fentiment of our bleffed Lord, an infallible Judge of moral excellence; who has not only given it a place in the series of his Beatitudes, but from the ftation he has affigned it at the clofe of all may be understood to have marked it with peculiar praise, as finishing the fcale of fpiritual worth, as accomplishing the Chriftian character, as rendering the man of God perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

A difpofition of this kind is peculiar to the true Religion; as no system, that wanted the ftamp of truth, could engage mankind to render any very extraordinary facrifice. Thus we find it foreign to the fentiment and practice of the Heathen world. The morality of their philofophers was of fo loose a kind, as to recommend a compliance with the religious customs and obfervances, and I may add opinions, of the age and place in which they lived. And the practice of the people in general was fo cafy and indifferent, that in the united hiftory of all Heathen States it might

be difficult to produce an unquestionable inftance of perfecution for the fake of righteoufnefs.

The Children of Ifrael were animated by a principle of faith, which moved them to make many facrifices and to undergo many fufferings. Thus the Minifter of their Law is commended by the Apostle, that he chofe rather to endure reproach and to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy all the honours and all the treasures of the kingdom and court of Egypt. And the fame energy of faith was frequently difplayed among the Hebrews in their intercourse with the feveral idolatrous nations round about them. And though it cannot be diffembled, that in the different periods of their more ancient history they shewed many fymptoms of apoftafy from the law and worship of the true God, yet in later times, as the recompence of another life gained a firmer hold upon their faith, they fhewed fo zealous an attachment to the religion of their Fathers, as in teftimony thereof to fubmit to every fpecies of perfecution; as is recorded by the Apostle: They wandered in defarts and in mountains; they concealed themselves

in dens and caves of the earth; they were exposed to bonds and imprisonments; they had trial of cruel mockings and fcourgings; they were ftoned, they were fawn asunder, they were flain with the sword; they were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better refurrection d.

But this difpofition must have had a deeper hold upon the fouls of men, when a fuller affurance of a better refurrection was given. And therefore in that Difpenfation, which brought life and immortality to light, our Lord had firmer ground to establish this as one of the principal virtues of his Religion. Accordingly he not only brings it forward in this catalogue of Chriftian graces, but he dwells upon it in the fequel, as if it had a fuperior claim to the regard and cultivation of his Followers. Thus he adds, with a more immediate reference to his perfonal Disciples, who for the fake of his religion would be exposed to perfecution far beyond the common orders of Chriftians; "Bleffed are ye, when men shall revile you, and perfecute you, and fhall fay all manner of evil against you falfely for my fake: Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in

◄ Heb. xi. 35, &c.

heaven:

heaven for fo perfecuted they the Prophets which were before you." And if the ancient Prophets were fupported under afflictions by the promises of God, while given only in figures, much more indeed might the Disciples of Jefus, to whom these promises were more diftinctly and openly conveyed.

In like manner he fays in another place; "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whofoever will fave his life, fhall lose it; and whofoever will lofe his life for my fake, fhall find it." Thus he inculcates on his difciples the duty incumbent on them, to follow him, not only in acting, but alfo in forbearing and in fuffering for the fake of righteousness. The fuffering, to which he here alludes, had been foretold many ages before by the Prophet Ifaiah, when he says, that he was despised and rejected of men; that he was wounded for our tranfgreffions, and bruised for our iniquities; that he was oppreffed and afflicted; that he was brought as a lamb to the flaughter, yet he opened not his mouth; that he was cut off out of the land of the living; that for the tranfgreffions

Mat. v. 11, 12..

f Mat. xvi. 24, 25. B b 2

of