May 20

Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Matthew 5:11.

“THE world knoweth us not,” says the Apostle John: and this accounts for the mistaken opinions and divers misrepresentations of Christians by the men of the world. And yet they are very free in speaking of them; for we always find some ready to speak of things of which they know nothing. Hence our Lord here forewarns his disciples of being evil spoken of, assuring them that, though men will say all manner of evil of them, if it be falsely spoken they may be comforted under the slanderous imputations by the consciousness of the falsehood of the charges alleged against them. The people of the world will magnify their infirmities into faults; they will take the miscarriages of a few and impute them to the whole community; and when they cannot find any thing whereof to accuse them, they will go a motive-hunting, and, shrugging their shoulders, will say, “Ah! they are no better than others behind the scenes. If you knew them, you would find their holiness hypocrisy, and their zeal selfishness.” But we must not complain nor murmur, but remember these words of the Lord Jesus; let us learn from these to be indifferent as to the judgment of the world. “With me,” says the apostle, “it is a very small thing to be judged of by you or of man’s judgment.”

We may respect natural men for their conduct and kindness, and be willing to sit at their feet to learn other things of them; but we shall not think of being judged by them as regards those things which are peculiarly our own. But is there nothing of which the world may judge us? Yes; many things. They may judge of our talents, and may be able truly to say, You “think more highly of yourself than you ought to think.” They may judge of something with regard to our conduct, and of our convictions, as professors of religion. “What do ye more than others?” they may ask; and they have a right to ask this of Christians, because they profess more than others. They can also judge, though not of the feelings and experience of Christians, yet of their moral and practical effects. Christians should therefore seek to abound in all the fruits of righteousness, and to “adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.”

Therefore, says the apostle, “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”