The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 426

world. Households would be divided; natural affection would be overpowered by fana.ticism. Christians would be the objects of universal hatred, and that for his Na.ma's 1!8.ke. The teaching of Christ-holy, heavenly, severe-would excite the intense hatred of the worldly and the self-indulgent. The presence of Christ upon earth would stir up the evil one to a wild fury of hatred ; he would let loose all the wicked passions of men, to destroy, if it were possible, in blood and fire the Church which Christ was come to establish. It was a strange prospect for the Founder of a new religion to set before hie followers. Only he who is the Truth would have drawn such a picture, so dark, so unattractive to poor, weak human nature. 2. The reward of faithfulness. " He that endureth to the end shall be saved." He that abideth faithful amid the storm of popular hatred, he that flinches not in danger, in a.gony, in the fear of death, he shall be saved from sin, from everlasting death ; he shall be brought safe through trials, persecutions, suffering, into the blessed Paradise of God. This was the hope of the martyrs of the Lord. It is our hope now in sorrows, in bereavement, in pain of body and anguish of soul-the high and holy hop~ of everlasting life with God in heaven. 3. Flight in persecution sometim& a duty. The flight of the holy family into Egypt was necessary for the salvation of mankind. Flight from present danger sometimes preserves God's servants for other and more successful work. They were not to court martyrdom unnecessarily. Their harvest was the world. lf they could work no longer safely in one place, there was work to be done for God elsewhere. It might be needful for the good of the Church tha.t they should continue in the flesh. Let-them be willing to die or live as best might please the Lord, as best might help on the great work of winning souls. They need not fear that the work would be marred by their flight, It was long and toilsome, not to be wrought out in a few years, '!'hey themselves (the apostles, to whom the Lord was speaking) would not have gone over a.11 the cities of Israel till the Son of man should come, to end the old dispensation, and to establish the new, in the destruction of Jerusalem. Their successors would not have preached the gospel through all the kingdoms of the earth till he should come a.gain in 'power and awful majesty to judge the world. There is always work for Christian men to do. Then work while there is time; work wherever the Lord;calleth you. He is the Lord of the harvest ; he appoints to every man his work. LESSONS. 1. Let the ministers of Christ in all their trials remember their mission. It is he who sent them; he will give them strength. 2. They should be prudent; they must be sincere and truthful. 3. Let them expect opposition; Christ ha.th warned them. 4. They must not be over-anxious how to speak; they must trust; they must look for the promised help of the Spirit. 5. They must work where God's providence sends them. They must bear the cross now, looking onward to the crown. Vers. 24-42.-General rules/or all the Lord's disciples. I. THE CONFLICT, 1. They m'U6t be patient, looking 'IJITl,to Jesus. He is our Example, our Master, our Lord. He is in all things above us immeasurably and beyond comparison-in his Divine power and majesty, in his transcendent holiness, in his perfect love. "He wa.s despised and rejected of men.'' His people must expect the like. We a.re hie disciples, his servants. The great aim of our life should be to be like him; to draw nearer and nearer, though a.lways at an infinite distance, to that Pattern of exalted goodness. We must not look for the high places of the world, when the Lord endured the cross. We must not look for praise, when he was so cruelly insulted. We must expect our best deeds to be misrepresented. Men ascribed the Lord's miracles of love to the agency of Satan. It is enough for the disciple that he be as hia Master. It is good for Christians to be blamed, to be despised, t.o be slandered, It is a discipline of meekness; it leads them to look into their hearts, to see their own sins and sbortcomings; above all things, it makes them like their Master; it brings them, if they take it pa.tieutly, into nearer relations with their suffering Lord. 2. The duty of holy boldness. Suffering becomes a blessing if it makes men like their Lord; therefore they must not fear. "Fear not" is the Lord's commandment, his word of gracious encouragement. ~l) Fear not the misrepresen ta.tions of men. In the great day the secrete of men s hearts will be revealed: the falsehood, the ma.lice, the hypocrisy, the wickedness, of the persecutors; and the faith, the purity, the gentleness, the charity, of the Christian. Men will be eeen then 11J1 they really are. The mask will be torn from the hypocrites ; unreality ?f CB, x.1--42.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 423