either for ourselves or our children : or, if we possess them, let us not seek our happiness in them, but in God alone. If we possess not his favour, though we had kingdoms in our possession, we are poor : but if he be our God, then, though bereft of every thing else, we are rich.]
2. How blessed they are who live by faith ! [True it is that the whole of their life is foolishness in the eyes of unconverted men : and they must of necessity meet with many reproaches and persecutions for the truth's sake. But, notwithstanding all that they are, or can be, called to endure for righteousness' sake, the very worst of their portion is better than the best of the portion of ungodly men : the best that the world can give, is its treasures : and the worst that the believer can receive, is its reproaches and persecutions : yet is the reproach which the believer sustains for Christ's sake, greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt. How superior then must the believer's portion be in the eternal world ! If the believer in a dungeon is richer, and happier, than the unbeliever on a throne, what must his portion in heaven be when compared with the unbeliever's in hell ! Be not dejected, then, ye who are despised or persecuted for Christ's sake, but by faith view your privileges, and expect your reward. Our blessed Lord has set forth the worst of your portion, and pronounced you in the midst of all " blessed." And he has set forth the best of the unbeliever's portion, and denounced nothing but " woes" against him in the midst of all°. Take but eternity into your estimate of things, and have respect unto the recompense of your reward in heaven ; then will every sacrifice be small, every suffering light, every service easy. In such a frame you will rejoice to suffer shame for Christ's sake, and account death itself, though of the most violent and cruel kind, a subject of desire rather than of fear, of self-congratulation rather than of sorrow p.]
o Luke vi. 20—26. p Phil. ii. 1 7.