his master. Jesus Christ, who is the head of his family, has been abused and called ill names, even such a name as Beelzebub the chief of devils. (Matt. xii. 24. Mark iii. 22. See portion sixty-one vol. ii., page 160): the members and servants of his family have therefore more reason to expect, that they also will be abused in the same manner. But if they are only sharing the treatment of their great master, there is no occasion to be afraid. The time will come, when all that has been done privately shall be exposed publicly, and every thing that has been hidden and kept secret shall be laid open and become known: so that all the trials the servants of Christ have gone through will be brought forth to their honour, and to the shame and confusion of those who have done any thing to hurt them. (Matt. xxv. 31-46. Luke xii. 1-3 Rom. ii. 5-10. 1 Cor. iv. 5. 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18; v. 10; xi. 15. Rev. xx. 4—6, 12—15.) The Apostles were therefore not to allow any evil consequences to themselves to hinder their preaching the Gospel, according to the command of Christ. What He told them in private, that they were to declare publicly; and what He had explained them in conversation, that they were to preach in a manner most likely to attract general attention; such as going to the places where most people assembled together, for instance the flat roofs of houses where people used to walk. (Mark iv. 21. Luke viii. 16, vol. ii. page 239. Luke v. 19. vol. ii. page 22.)

Supposing that those who ill-treated the ministers of Christ did their very worst, they could only put them to death, that is make the soul separate from the body; after which they could

do no more to hurt them, they could not bring the soul to the second death (Rev. xx. 14; xxi. 8): therefore there is no reason to be afraid of such enemies. It is more reasonable to have a true fear of offending God, whose power extends over both body and soul; so that He can not only separate the soul from the body, by what is called death here on earth, but He can also, if He will, cast both body and soul of those who offend him into perdition, in the eternal state after this life. While his great kindness is a reason why we should continually live in his fear, (Psa. cxxx. 4. Jer. xxxiii. 8. 9.) his great care for his people is a reason why they should not be afraid of any thing else in the world, except offending Him. God rules and manages every thing that happens; even the most trifling things cannot be done without Him. For instance, two sparrows might be bought for the smallest piece of money then in use, and yet, neither of those two little birds could be killed without the knowledge and permission of Him who is the Father of men. Nay more; there is nothing that can happen, to hurt God's people in the least possible way, without His consent-or, according to the common expression, nothing can touch a hair of their head without his taking account of it. (1 Sam. xiv. 45. 2 Sam. xiv. 11. 1 Kings i. 52. Luke xxi. 18. Acts xxvii. 34.) There can be no occasion then for God's people to be afraid of any thing that men can do to hurt them; since it is plain that their souls are more precious in the sight of God, than a great many of the little birds over which his Providence nevertheless extends. (Psa.xxvii. 1-3 lvi. 3, 4. cxviii. 6. Isa. li. 12. Heb. xiii. 6.)

Still further to encourage his disciples under the ill-treatment from men, which a faithful preaching of the Gospel would bring upon them, as well as to excite in them that holy fear of God to. which He had been exhorting them; our Lord declared that those persons who are not afraid of shewing publicly that they believe in him, are those whom he will publicly acknowledge to belong to him, before God His Father in heaven; whilst on the contrary those persons who, through fear or any other feeling, are induced to disown Christ, by shewing publicly that they do not believe in Him, are those whom He will also disown before God His Father in heaven, as not belonging to Him. (Luke ix. 26. 2 Tim. i. 8. ii. 12.)

Having thus quieted those fears, which the troubles he had forewarned them of were likely to excite in his disciples, our Lord repeated in a still more particular manner what he had said concerning the effects, which would be produced by the preaching of the Gospel. They were mistaken if they had thought, that the consequences of Christ's coming would be, to make the inhabitants of the earth at peace and friendly one with another. Jesus declared that his coming would have a very different effect: and yet he did come, though he knew that, whilst some would take advantage of his mercy and be saved, their turning to him would be the means of producing war rather than peace. He warned his disciples, that his coming would make dissensions and quarrels in families, between fathers and sons, between mothers and daughters, between mothersin-law and daughters-in-law; so that when a man became a christian, it would make even the mem

bers of his own family trouble and ill-treat him.

This however must not prevent any one from continuing a disciple of Christ: for if the affection in a child's heart even for a father or a mother, is greater than the love which he bears to Christ as his Saviour, such a heart is not fit for Christ. Nor will the heart of parents be fit for Him, if their love towards him is not more powerful than that which they feel for their children. The pain of heart which must be felt by those who find their dearest relations opposing them because of their faith in Christ, is indeed very great, and very difficult to be borne. It is like that distress which any one who was condemned to death amongst the Romans would feel, when forced to take upon his shoulder the upper end of the heavy cross of wood upon which he was afterwards to be nailed, and to carry it to the place of execution. No one however is fit to belong to Christ, if he refuses to undergo all the pain that may come upon him in consequence of professing to be His disciple. This Jesus calls taking up the cross, and following him; by which he, for the first time, plainly referred to the cruel kind of death he was afterwards to suffer. Our Lord closed this statement concerning the domestic trials of his people by declaring that those persons who shrunk from their trials in order to preserve the comfort which they might have in this present life, would lose the joys of the life to come: while, on the contrary, those who were willing to give up such comforts on his account, and who even sacrificed their lives for him, shall find that they will obtain the life everlasting.

Our Lord then gave his Apostles authority as servants or stewards, appointed to do the business

upon which he employed them, instead of himself; or (as St. Paul afterwards expressed it) he sent them forth, as a king sends ambassadors to act for him in a foreign country. (2 Cor. v. 19, 20. Gal. i. 10; iv. 14.) He said that every person, who should receive them as Christ's Missionaries, by so doing received Christ himself, and in receiving Christ, they received also God the Father who sent him. (John xii. 44; xiii. 3; xvi. 27, 28.) He shewed moreover the importance of having a right motive in receiving His ministers, by declaring that every one who receives them in that character, (that is, because they are ministers sent by Christ, rather than on any other account) shall be rewarded hereafter as if they had been themselves in the same situation as the ministers whom they thus receive. And this principle extends not only to ministers, but to all christians: for every one, who receives a christian as such; (as one made righteous in the sight of God by the merits of Jesus Christ, and living in righteousness of life) and whose reason for receiving him in kindness and friendliness is because of this character, such a one shall be blessed with the blessing which is given to a true christian. (1 John iii. 14. 3 John 8.) And the blessing shall follow those who really shew such a feeling by even the smallest act of kindness: the gift of a draught of cold water only to one of those whom Christ calls "these little ones," (because they have become converted and born again by his Spirit, Matt xviii. 3-6. Mark x. 15. John iii. 3, 5) if it be given out of love to Christ, and because they are His disciples, shall not be forgotten; and he, who thus gives it, shall not lose the promised blessing. (Heb. vi. 10.)