Suffering for Righteousness' Sake
“Who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? But and if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear: having a good conscience; that whereas they speak evil of you, as of evil-doers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing.”
TWICE in this paragraph we meet the word suff’er;
and in each case it is associated with that special
kind of suffering which is inflicted on the innocent
and holy by those who hate the light flung in on
their own darkness, and who desire to extinguish it
if they may.
The Incarnation led inevitably to the cross. Any attentive student of human nature who stood with Jesus on the threshold of his life, and heard Him speak or saw Him act, must have been convinced that there was but one fate reserved for such a one as He was. And though the acts of love and power which marked his busy days — as the silver bells which made music at every movement of Israel’s high priest — averted the crisis for some few months, it came; as from the first it was evident that it must come. Amid every sign of vehement hatred, the Lamb of God was led to his death; hurried out of the world as millions of his followers have been since. From Bethlehem the road lay straight to Calvary
And what was true of the Son of God in his human flesh is true of each incarnation of Him in our hearts and lives. Where, by the Holy Spirit, He enters into the nature of those who consecrate themselves wholly to Him, and begins to live freely and mightily within them, He will not only manifest much of the grace and power of his own human life, but He will also come into collision with the prejudices and interests of worldly and evil men, incurring as of old their most virulent dislike, and probably their violent resistance.
The Origin of Persecution. — We cannot analyze at length all the causes of the inevitable dislike which the world feels towards the Christian. They are many, and obvious. For instance: The man of God should be att embodied conscience. The one endeavour of ungodly men is to drown the remonstrances of conscience. For this they plunge into gaiety, or business, or exploration; for this they hurry from scene to scene; for this they studiously avoid all that savours of God or his claims. But in a holy life they meet with a devout and constant recognition of those claims, coupled with a faithful endeavour to. fulfil them. There is an embodiment of righteousness without them, which arouses into instant and unwelcome activity those convictions of their duty which they have done their best to quell. There is the pride of heart which resents superiority in another. There is the envy which grudges the influence that goodness always attracts. There is the malice which broods over the contrast that purity presents to impurity, until the fact of its doing so bulks as a positive injury. All these strong passions of the unrenewed heart, like Pilate and Herod of old, become friends in their common antagonism to the saintliness which intrudes upon their privacy and menaces their peace.
Besides, there is always an aggressivefiess 17i tme Christianity which arouses strong resistance. We readily admit that, in one aspect, it does not strive, nor cry, nor lift up, nor cause its voice to be heard. Soft as the zephyr which scarcely stirs the bearded wheat; light as the tread of the morning; gentle as distilling dew-drops — does the religion of Jesus spread onwards over the world. And yet it endangers crafts; undermines profitable but nefarious trades; steals away customers from the devil’s shrines; attacks vested interests; and turns the world upside down. A tiresome, annoying, gain-sapping thing is pure and undefiled religion; and the devil’s servants have a bad time of it when the Puritan reigns, or the Revival sweeps as a prairie fire through the community. “If we let Him alone, all men will believe on Him; and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.”
Have we not here the clue to the subsidence of persecution in our days? True, each age has its peculiar discipline; and ours is cursed by a soft, luxurious worldliness, which is most hostile to the manifestation of strong and heroic principle. But is not there too great a contrast between our lives and those of our forefathers? Where is the saintliness of living, the zeal for souls, the uncompromising rebuke of evil, the sturdy adherence to principle at all costs, which littered the Alpine summits with the bones of slaughtered saints, and lit the fires of Smithfield? If these virtues were more generally embodied in the daily practice of the majority, as they are in that of a small minority of professing Christians, can there be much doubt as to the issue? Men might not adopt the barbarous expedients of former days, for even in this they unconsciously do homage to Jesus of Nazareth; but they would find some other method of ridding themselves of the unwelcome protests of holy lives against the selfishness and evil of their own condition.
Ah, it is one of the most terrible rebukes that Incarnate Love can administer, when it says of any now, as it did of some in the days of his flesh: “The world cannot hate you.” Not to be hated by the world; to be loved and flattered and caressed by the world — is one of the most terrible positions in which a Christian can find himself “What bad thing have I done,” asked the ancient sage, “that he should speak well of me?” The absence of the world’s hate proves that we do not testify against it that its works are evil. The warmth of the world’s love proves that we are of its own. The friendship of the world is enmity with God. Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God (John vii. 7; xv. 19; James iv. 4).
The Blessedness of the Persecuted. — “Blessed are ye,” A beatitude caught from the lips of Jesus, and ringing but again in our next chapter (Matt. v. 10 and i Pet. iv. 14). Blessedness is a higher thing than happiness, and is consistent with the most trying circumstances. But what a universal testimony has been given to that blessedness shining from the faces and breathing from the lips of those who have suffered for righteousness’ sake!
A recent writer has culled the words from dying martyrtestimonies; and they testify to this inner blessedness. “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord,” said one martyr, as he was condemned to die.
“This prison very sweet to me
Hath been since I came here;
And so would also hanging be,
If Thou didst then appear,”
sang Bunyan in Bedford Gaol, his eyes dazzled with frescoes painted by angel hands on the damp walls. “Methinks they strew roses at my feet,” said another, as the faggots were lighted about him.
And wherein does this blessedness consist? It comes through the inner possession by the spirit of that heavenly temper, which is inspired by the Spirit of God, and is close akin to Him, and is in itself blessedness. It comes through the enforced constraint laid upon the soul to seek its delight and rapture in the love and friendship of Christ, the Friend of the persecuted, who is always nearest to those who are most like Him in suffering, because most like in character and life. It comes through the glad consciousness of being on the path trodden already by prophets and righteous men, who have gone through flood and flame, but who have overcome, and are set down with Christ on his throne. It comes because the Spirit of glory and of God rests brooding in the heart. It comes because the exceeding great reward beckons from on high.
There are many gates into blessedness. It stands four-square; and, judging from our Lord’s words, it has two gateways on each side, so that no life is so far away or obscure, but it may enter in and dwell there. Choose you which gate you will! And if you are not able to lay claim to poverty of spirit, or mercifulness, or purity in heart, then dare to do well at all costs; pursue patiently the path of lofty integrity and blameless purity; bear the suffering which will inevitably (all to your lot with uncomplaining patience and fortitude — and there will be administered to you a blessed and abundant entrance into that kingdom of blessedness which is already established on earth, standing with its sapphire walls and gates amid the erections of men, unstained by their pollutions, as it is unseen by any but purged eyes. “If ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, blessed are ye.”
The Behaviour of the Persecuted. — (i) Be not afraid. There seems here a reminiscence on Peter’s part of words heard long before: “Be not afraid of them that kill the body; and after that have no more that they can do.” “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” No pallor on your face. No clammy sweat on your brow. No quiver through your frame.
How may we obtain this lion-heart, which knows no fear in the presence of our foes? There is but one answer possible. Expel fear by fear. Drive out the fear of man by the fear of God. ‘■^Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts.” These words come back to us from a very stormy era in Jewish history. “It was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim. And his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind.” And the Lord spake to Isaiah his servant, “with a strong hand,” saying, Do not join in this panic-stricken cry, or seek to meet confederacy by confederacy; fear ye not their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread. And He shall be for a sanctuary (Isa. vii., viii.).
How often we see fear expel fear! The fear of being burnt will nerve a woman to let herself down by a water-pipe from the upper storeys of a house in flames. The fear of losing her young will inspire the timid bird to throw herself before the steps of man, attracting his notice from them to herself The fear of the whip will expel the horse’s dread of the object at which it has taken fright. Oh for that Divine habit of soul which so conceives of the majesty, and power, and love of God, that it dares not sin against Him, but would rather brave a world in arms than bring a shadow over his face! “So did not I,” said a sincere and noble man, “because of the fear of God.”
And when a man so fears God as that he fears to sin against Him, he will find God to be a sanctuary into which he may retreat, and enjoy an inviolable defence. “Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in his pavilion. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me.”
(2) Be ready always with a reason for your hope. — We are not always to be talking about our faith, but proving it by divine deeds. But when men, seeing the fruits of our faith, begin to inquire as to its ground and reason, we should always be ready to give them a satisfactory reply.
How remarkable it is, in opposition to many of the contradictory voices of our time, to meet with this clear insistance on the sweet reasonableness of the Christian’s hope! The Bible does not appeal to a blind credulity. Many of its statements are above reason; but none of them are against it. God’s continuous appeal is contained in the inspired summons, “Come, let us reason together, saith the Lord.” The reasonings of pride will be assuredly puzzled and non-plussed; but those of meekness will find abundant scope for adoring wonder and assured conviction, in the mighty depths of the thoughts of God.
Young people, the Bible has nothing to fear from the exercise of your reason! It is not possible that the God who built up your brains and endowed you with that marvellous faculty of reason will ever do violence to one of his noblest gifts. Reasoning was a favourite pursuit with the greatest of the Apostles. But reason must ever hold the torch to faith: she must be the handmaid to collect materials for the sanctified judgment; the analyst to test and separate and re-combine and think over again, as Kepler said, the first thoughts of God. Where reason is the servant of a reverent and holy spirit, as in Newton or Faraday, or the Magi who knelt before the infant Saviour, it is the glory and boast of man. The mistake of so many is not in the exercise of reason, but in putting reason in its wrong place. If you put reason on the throne of your -inner life, you may profess to see; but you will be blind. But if you enthrone “^ (Sioo& (Konaruncc.*’ 133
faith and hope, wnilst reason waits their bidding and obeys their behest, you will be wiser than foe, or teacher, or grey-haired sage (Psa. cxix. 98-100).
Let us have a reason for our faith, based on personal experience, or observation, or the study of evidence, or of fulfilled prophecy; or, above all, wrought by the Holy Spirit in our hearts; and, though we need not be ever obtruding it, let us never flinch from stating it when asked. And let us give our “easons, or conduct our arguments, in a temper which shall be t e best evidence of the divine character of our faith. Let then be meekness toward the face of man, and revercjitial fear towa. I the face of God — the temper of those who confess that, at tht best, they are but children, gathering a few shells on the shore of the boundless ocean of truth, which sweeps far away to the horizon where eternity and infinity blend.
(3) Have a good conscience. — The Apostle Paul also speaks much of conscience, and of the necessity of perpetually exercising ourselves to have a conscience void of offence toward God and man. It is well to obey these repeated commands. The Christian, who faithfully follows the inner voice, and conforms in all things to its behests, will not be far wrong. A “good conscience” imphes a “good conversation” in Christ.
There are many kinds of conscience spoken of in Scripture, but this epithet good is very comprehensive. Do my readers know what a good conscience is? It is a conscience which is purged from dead works (Heb. ix. 4); sprinkled with the blood of Christ (Heb. x. 22), borne witness to by the Holy Ghost (Rom. ix. i): whilst a joy, which is full of glory, wells up within it (2 Cor. i. 12); and as a calm, unruffled lake of peace it reflects the cloudless heaven of God’s good pleasure above. Such a conscience is a good companion for our days, and a good bedfellow for our nights. Every eflbrt should be made to preserve its integrity. And when life is moulded by such an inward influence, it will live down all misrepresentation and slander; it will outshine all the mists of envy and malice which have obscured its earliest beams; it will falsify false reports. Detractors shall be ashamed at the triumphant answer made to their accusations by the unblemished beauty of a holy Christian life; whilst those that love God shall take heart. “The righteous shall see it, and rejoice; and all iniquity shall stop her mouth.”
Let all who are persecuted possess their souls in patience. Suffering comes to all men; but if we must suffer, it is a thousand times better to suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing. Even here and now it is fraught with blessedness: but who can estimate the exceeding and eternal weight of glory which awaits each member of the noble army of martyrs — from Jesus Christ, who, before Pontius Pilate, witnessed the good confession, to the least in his kingdom who has stood up for Him unmoved, amid the mockery of schoolfellows, or the taunts of a group of shopmates: