The long proclamation of Christian truth in England has the effect of making mere profession of it a perfectly safe and even proper thing.

But the antagonism remains at bottom the same.

Let a man earnestly accept even the creeds of established religion and live by them, and he will find that out.  Let him seek to proclaim and enforce some of those truths of Christianity whose bearing upon social and economical and ecclesiastical questions is but partially understood.  Let him set up and stick to a high standard of Christian morality and see what comes of it, in business, say, or in social life.

‘All that will live godly will suffer persecution.’

4.  The present forms are perhaps not less hard to bear than the old ones.

They are, no doubt, very small in contrast with the lions in the arena or the fires of Smithfield.  The curled lip, the civil scorn, the alienation of some whose good opinion we would fain have, or, if we stand in some public position, the poisonous slanders of the press, and the contumacious epithets, are trivial but very real tokens of dislike.  We have the assassin’s tongue instead of the assassin’s dagger.  But yet such things may call for as much heroism as braving a rack, and the spirit that shoots out the tongue may be as bad as the spirit that yelled, ’Christianos ad leones.’

5.  The great reason why professing Christians now know so little about persecution is because there is so little real antagonism.  ’If ye were of the world, the world would love his own.’  The Church has leavened the world, but the world has also leavened the Church; and it seems agreed by common consent that there is to be no fanatical goodness of the early primitive pattern.  Of course, then, there will be no persecution, where religion goes in silver slippers, and you find Christian men running neck and neck with others, and no man can tell which is which.

Then, again, many escape by avoiding plain Christian duty, shutting themselves up in their own little coteries.

(a) Let us be sure that we never flinch from our Christian character to buy anybody’s good opinion.

It is not for us to lower our flags to whoever fires across our bows.  Do you never feel it an effort to avow your principles?  Do you never feel that they are being smiled away in society?  Are you not flattered by being shown that this religion of yours is the one thing that stands between you and cordial reception by these people?

(b) Let us be sure that it is righteousness and Christ which are the grounds of anything of the sort we have to bear, and not our own faults of temper and character.

(c) Let us be sure that we are not persecutors our selves.

To be so is inherent in human nature.

Men have often been both confessors and inquisitors.  The spirit of censorious judgment, of fierce hate, of impatient intolerance, has often disgraced Christian men.  It is for us to be only and always meek, merciful peace-bringers; and if men will not accept truth, to seek to win and woo them, not to be angry.