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 that hunger now, for ye shall be filled.  Blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh.  Blessed are ye when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake.  Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy, for behold your reward is great in heaven; for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.

’But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.  Woe unto you that are full, for ye shall hunger.  Woe unto you that laugh now, for ye shall mourn and weep.  Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you; for so did their fathers to the false prophets.’