70 SERMONS UPON MATTfiEW XXV. [SeR. XXIII.
2. What value and esteem we should have for Christ's servants and faithful worshippers. Christ treateth his mystical body with greater indulgence, love, and respect than he did his natural body ; for he doth not dispense his judgment with respect to that, but these. He would not have us know him after the flesh, 2 Cor. v. 16 ; please ourselves with the conceit of what we would do to him if he were alive and here upon earth ; but he will judge us according to the respect or disrespect we show to his members, even to the meanest among them ; to wrong them is to wrong Christ : Zech. ii. 8, ' He that toucheth you touchetli the apple of his eye.' The church's trouble goes near his heart, which in due time will be manifested upon the instruments thereof. To slight them is to slight Christ : ' He that despiseth you, despiseth me.' To grieve and offend them is to grieve and offend Christ : Mat. xviii. 10, ' Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones ; for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.' Did we but consider the value Christ puts upon the meanest christian, we would be loath to offend them. What comfort, love, kindness you show to them, it is reckoned by Christ as done to himself. If we would look upon things now as they shall be looked upon at the day of judgment, we would find our hands and tongues tied and bridled from injuring Christ's faithful servants; yea, we would show more of a christian spirit in relieving their bodily and spiritual necessities, and doing good upon all occasions.
3. It teacheth us to take off our thoughts from things temporal to things eternal ; both in judging of ourselves and others. The great miscarriage of the world is because they measure all things by sense and visible appearance : ' Now we are the sons of God ; but it doth not appear what we shall be,' 1 John iii. 2. Heirs in the world are bred up suitable to their birth and hopes, but God's sons and heirs make no fair show in the flesh.
[1.] Do not judge amiss of others. God's people are a poor, despised, hated, scorned company in the world as to visible appearance ; and what proof of Christ is there in them ? Who can see Christ in a hungry beggar ? or the glorious Son of God in an imprisoned and scorned believer? or one beloved of God in him that is mortified with con- tinual sicknesses and diseases ? ' Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or sick, and in prison ? ' A pearl or a jewel that is fallen into the dirt, you cannot discern the worth of it till you wash it, and see it sparkle. A prince in disguise may be jostled and affronted. To a common eye things go better with the Avicked than with the children of God. They enjoy little of the honour and pleasure and esteem of the world, and yet they are the ' excellent ones of the earth,' Ps. xvi. 3. If you can see anything of Christ in them, of the image of God in them, you will one day see them other manner of persons than now you see them, or they appear to be. These will be owned when others are disclaimed, and glorified when they arc rejected and banished out of Christ's pre- sence ; and though your companying with them be a disgrace to you now, it will then be your greatest joy and comfort.
[2.] Do not judge amiss of yourselves. When the world doth not esteem of us, but is ready to put many injuries upon us, and to follow us with hatred and sundry persecutions, we are apt to judge ourselves
Vers. 37-40.] sermons upon matthew xxv. 71'
forsaken of God ; that we have no room or place in his heart, or else these things would not befall us. Oh, no ! Christ may be imprisoned in his members, banished in his members, reduced to great straits and exigencies in his members ; yea, by the hand of God you may be made poor and hungry and naked ; but all this shall be recompensed to you. We must not walk by sense, but by faith, 2 Cor. v. 7. Time will come when they that wonder at our afHictions shall wonder at us for the glory that Christ will put upon us, when you and all the saints about you shall say, Little did I think that a poor, base, laborious, miserable life should have such a glorious end and close. Christians, wait but a little time, and you will have more cause to wonder at the glory that shall be revealed in you than at the afflictions you now endure.
Secondly, We now come to Christ's answer and reply to this question. Wherein —
1. Take notice of the note of averment and assurance, ' Verily I say unto you.' I do the rather observe it, because I find the like in a parallel place : Mat. x. 42, ' Verily I say unto you, He shall in nowise lose his reward.' This showeth that it is hardly believed in the world, but yet it is a certain truth.