love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." In what ardent language, does St. Paul exclaim, "Shall persecution or famine or peril or sword separate us from the love of Christ? In all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us." (Romans, viii. 35.) This love attests its sincerity by an unequivocal surrender of all worldly enjoyments in honours, pleasures, profit, and ordinary comfort. It is a love, not capricious, but unalterable. While the storm of persecution is distant, it is easier to say, "Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee;" than, in the hour of peril, to make the words good. The greatest love of God was to die for man: the greatest love of man is to die for God.

3. There is no courage like that of a Martyr: he fears no evils but sin and condemnation. The bravery of the Duellist consists in daring to offend his Maker. The soldier is excited by the number of companions and by the tumult of the fray: and sometimes, by the hope of glory or of revenge or of plunder. Are we to suppose that of the thousands, marshalled in battlearray against each other, one-third would be present, if each individual fore-knew that he would expire on the field? But that a man should go alone, and in cold blood, to the stake or scaffold of martyrdom, when, in every step of advance, he can, by compliance, recede from his undertaking; deliberately submit himself to certain execution; and feel himself die with all his thoughts, reflections, and passions about him; this is courage indeed; and such a noble spectacle as might well deserve to be a theatre to angels and men. In this spirit the Apostles (Acts, v. 41) departed from the Council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of a crucified Saviour. In the same spirit, the foresight of bonds and afflic tions moved not St. Paul from finishing his course with joy. (Acts, xx. 23.)

The happiness which is promised to the persecuted, and the reason for their joy under their distresses, are intimated in the words, Theirs is the kingdom of heaven, and, Great is their reward in heaven.

That there will be different degrees of reward in proportion to the measures of present exertion, is a point not to be disputed. To those, therefore, who from a pure love of God, and for the sake of a good conscience, have given up all their en

joyments in life; who have gone through all manner of indignities, reproaches, tortures, and oppressions; who have even resisted unto blood with patience and constancy; to them is secured a bright and glorious crown by the repeated promises of Him who cannot lie. "Having come out of great tribulation, and having washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb; therefore, are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his Temple: and he that sitteth on the throne, shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat: for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them to living fountains of waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." (Revel. vii.)

With this view of blessedness, the persecuted have (as our Lord affirms) reason to rejoice and to be exceeding glad. Not but that they have cause for joy, even in this world, in the consciousness of having been found faithful in a trial more precious than that of gold; that their names will be enrolled in the noble army of Martyrs; and that they are, in some measure, like to the Captain of their salvation, who himself was made perfect by sufferings: but still more do they rejoice, and are exceeding glad in the assurance of Jesus, that they shall receive, for all their sufferings, a hundred-fold, in the glorious mansions of their heavenly Father's house.

Our Church, in celebrating the memory of ALL SAINTS, has quoted this Scripture in which happiness is promised to the sufferings of martyrs; and enjoins us to "pray for grace that we may follow them in all virtuous and godly living." How shall we excuse our sloth or our timidity? The primitive Christians, during three centuries, were subjected to a persecution, the details of which cannot be perused without shuddering. In more modern periods of history, the Crusades against the Albigenses swept away, from one wretched city, 15,000 Protestants. The year 1479 saw, in Spain, the establishment of the Inquisition; which removed mental error by the torments of the body. The day of St. Bartholomew witnessed a massacre, even under the mask of friendship, of 12,000 Protestants. In the reign of Louis, falsely called Great, the Protestants were slain and hunted, like partridges upon the mountains. Our own country has added many a sad page to

the history of persecuted and murdered Saints. Can we forget the venerable Bishop Hooper who rejected the pardon of the sanguinary Mary; and who exhorted the people, till his tongue, swollen by agony, could no longer permit utterance? We cannot have forgotten Ridley and Latimer, who perished in the same flames, and supported each other with mutual exhortations. God has not placed our salvation at so high a price: but he exacts from all a heart, humble in the midst of power; charitable, in the midst of riches; self-denying, in the midst of enjoyments. God wishes us to manifest, by a faithful discharge of our several duties, that he is the God not only of Apostles and Martyrs; but the God of every rank and condition whatever. While the Saints carried their Cross on shoulders streaming with blood; our Cross is carried in thwarting the inclinations of a corrupt heart. Happy indeed are we, that heaven should cost us so little for if we are unable to serve God in times of peace and abundance, it is very unlikely that we should serve him better, in poverty, weakness, and disgrace. The greater and more urgent reason have we to pray, in the words of our Church, "O Almighty God, who hast knit together thine elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord; grant us grace so to follow thy Blessed Saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those unspeakable joys which thou hast purchased for them that unfeignedly love thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord."

§ 10. Worldly prosperity is dangerous. LUKE, vi. 24–26: Wo unto you that are rich: for ye have received your consolation. Wo unto you that are full: for ye shall hunger and weep. Wo unto you when all men shall speak well of you: for so did the fathers to the false prophets.

Ir blessings and curses were pronounced at Mount Ebal (Joshua, viii. 33), so at the mount on which our Lord is now seated, the word wo is intermingled with the word happy or blessed.

Perhaps, some persons who were rich, and lived in plenty and luxury, had come to make their remarks on our Lord's preaching, and to deride what they might hear. But, in general,

our Lord intended to shew his disciples the danger of riches, worldly indulgences, and all those ruinous advantages, which men so eagerly pursue; and of that pride and self-sufficiency which are commonly increased by prosperity. Wo unto you that are rich, for ye have received your consolation.

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But as poverty, which is neither good nor bad in itself, does not recommend one to God, unless it is accompanied with those virtues which are suitable to an afflicted state; so riches do not make us the object of God's hatred; unless they be accompanied with those vices, which oftentimes spring from an opulent fortune, namely, pride, luxury, love of pleasure, covetousness. Rich men, infected with such vices as these, are the objects of the wo here denounced and not they who make a proper use of their wealth, and possess the virtues which should accompany affluence. Wherefore, though there is no restriction added to the word rich in the malediction, as there is to the word poor in the complete enunciation of the beatitude; it is equally understood in both: Blessed are the poor in spirit; so wo unto you that are rich in spirit; you who are proud, covetous, lovers of pleasure for ye have received your consolation. The parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus may be considered as an illustration both of the beatitude and of the malediction.

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Wo unto you that are full: for ye shall hunger: the pains which ye shall suffer in the life to come, shall be sharp, like those which persons who place their happiness in eating and drinking, suffer from famine.

Our Lord often made use of images drawn from the pleasures and pains of this life, to represent the joys of the blessed, and the punishments of the condemned in the life to come.

Wo unto you that laugh now: for ye shall mourn and weep. Our Lord's malediction is not inconsistent with the Apostle's precepts, which command Christians "always to rejoice." Neither is the mirth against which the wo is denounced, to be understood of that constant cheerfulness of temper which arises to the true Christian, from the comfortable and cheerful doctrines with which they are enlightened by the Gospel, the assurance they have of reconciliation with God, the hope they have of everlasting life, and the pleasure they enjoy in the practice of piety, and the other duties of religion. But it is to be understood of that turbulent carnal mirth, that

excessive levity and vanity of spirit which arise not from any solid foundation, but from immoderate sensual pleasure; or those vain amusements of life by which the giddy and the gay contrive to make away their time; that sort of mirth which dissipates thought, leaves no time for consideration, and gives them an utter aversion to all serious reflections. Persons who continue to indulge themselves in this sort of mirth through life, shall weep and mourn eternally, when they are excluded from the joys of heaven; and banished for ever from the presence of God, by the light of whose countenance all the Blessed are enlivened, and made transcendently happy.

It may be again observed, that though St. Luke omits some beatitudes recorded by St. Matthew, and seems to recite, in preference, the three preceding woes; yet, in a general sense, they are not applicable, because men are rich; because they are full; because they laugh; but because they place their happiness in these things: take up with them as their portion; valuing themselves by what they have in hand, not by what they have in hope. He that is rich and righteous; he that is great and gracious; he that has his hands full of this world, and his heart empty of vain pride and confidence; he that laughs when God smiles; he that expresses himself joyfully, when God expresses himself graciously :—such a man is rich in grace, who is thus gracious in the midst of riches: for to be rich and holy argues much riches of holiness.

26: Wo unto you when all men shall speak well of you.—Wo unto you if, by propagating such doctrine as encourages men in sin, ye shall gain to yourselves the applause and flattery of the generality of men: for thus, in old times, did the false prophets and deceivers, who accommodating their doctrines to the lusts and passions of men, were more caressed and better hearkened to, than the true prophets of God.

Our Saviour does not condemn any of his disciples or ministers, who, by doing their duty, have gained a fair reputation among the men of the world; but to let us understand, how rarely it is attained. Usually, the best men are the worst spoken of. Neither the prophets of the Old Testament, nor John the Baptist, nor Christ himself, nor his Apostles, gained the good will or the good word of the generation in which they lived. Universal applause is seldom to be gained without sinful