To be near unto God - pagina 473

"I in in the: sealed of God,

them and Thou

in

Me."

A

unity

87

'TOR THE SPIRIT OF GOD RESTETH

UPON

YOU."

was a wonderful word which Jesus spake one which still pours balm into many wounds, and revives courage when ready to faint; a, word which has made heroes and martyrs, and has strengthened and comforted them when at the end of the beatitudes he said: "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you It

—

falsely, for

my

sake."

This word reaches farther than the prophecy, that prison and martyrdom awaited the disciples. These would be limited to certain periods in the struggle of Jesus' church. But what is not bound to any age, but always goes on, is the malice and hatred, the mockery, scorn and disdain, from which the world can not restrain itself, whenever the Lord's people gather strength to oppose it and courage to resist it. Persecution unto blood is exceptional. This other persecution, which with the lancet of scorn and abuse, strikes at the heart, goes on in all ages. And therefore, this beatitude of the Lord enters so deeply into our human life. It betrays the tender sympathy of Jesus for what

awaited his own. It finds application, now here, there, every day. No day passes but it imparts courage and comfort. It does not mean

now

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