cuted for righteousness sake, when God has given him, by the Spirit, the word of righteousness, and sent him to preach it; as he did to Noah, in whom, and by whom, the Spirit of Christ strove with the wicked Antediluvians, whose souls are now in prison, 1 Peter iii. 19; till God said, "My Spirit shall not always strive with man." Soon after, God brought in the flood upon the world of the ungodly, and saved Noah, a preacher of righteousness. He must be in a justified state, who, in the sense of the text, is persecuted for righteousness sake. If impostors, infidels, or hypocrites, bring a persecution upon themselves, it is rather a being buffeted for their hypocrisy, than being persecuted for righteousness sake: and it is often seen, that such go back again, with humble submission, to the devil and the world; and, to atone for their past offences, commit all uncleanness with greediness. Persons, therefore, that are justified by faith, and live in good conscience; who vindicate the honour of a righteous God, and reprove unrighteous and wicked men; who profess, or preach, the righteousness of faith, and oppose errors advanced; and who live by the faith of the Son of God; and whose conduct and conversation in the world is just and upright before God, and before men; these are the persons that are persecuted for righteousness sake, and theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

"Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil

against you falsely for my sake.” Reviling a person's name and character, his writings, preaching, religion, or profession, without any just charge of ignorance, error, hypocrisy, or immorality, is reviling him falsely. Opposing a servant of Christ, resisting, gainsaying, or endeavouring to hinder his usefulness, in the work of God, is persecuting him. Calling him an Antinomian, a bad spirit, a licentious person, and an encourager of sin, without either ground or proof, is speaking evil against him falsely, and that for Christ's sake.

Rejoice, and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in heaven." The Saviour knew these things would not always be found easy to flesh and blood, therefore tells us to rejoice that he counts us worthy to suffer reproach and shame for his name; and in that we are honoured in being employed in the Lord's service, and in fighting the Lord's battles. Furthermore it shews, that such a soul is tolerably sound in the faith, and pretty well purged from the spirit of the world, and from the community of it, as they so detest him; which is matter of rejoicing, for many legal professors and hypocrites are sensible that they want this test. Moreover, the reproach that falls on us, for Christ's sake, is the reproach of Christ himself: it falls on the members for the sake of the head. And,

Great is the reward of righteous persons, suffering wrongfully for righteousness sake; for God is their portion, glory their crown, and hea

ven itself their home, and their reward of inheritance.

"For so persecuted they the prophets which were before you." They suffered reproach and persecution who shewed before of the coming of the Just one; and they share the same who embrace him that is come. The Saviour, therefore, sets the reward against persecution, to counterbalance it; that light afflictions, which are but for a moment, may appear as nothing, when compared to an eternal weight of glory.

"Ye are the salt of the earth." Salt is emblematical of special grace. "Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another." And to shew that the grace of God is needful in every branch of God's service and worship, God says, "With all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt." Grace is needful in christian conversation, or no grace can be communicated by it. "Let your speech be seasoned with salt." Salt is a penetrable article, and so is grace; it will penetrate into a hard heart, a stubborn will, and soon stop a raging putrefaction, and heal a loathsome disease. "Ye are the salt of the earth." All flesh hath corrupted its way; but I have seasoned you. The Spirit, and grace of God, are in you, and you are to season others.

"But if the salt have lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted?" But if your ministry, company, and conversation, hath lost all its savour with graceless professors, or earthly-minded men,

so that they relish not the things that be of God, how shall the earth be saited? What else can preserve them from becoming a stink in the nostrils of God? Nothing. And so it appeared when the Romish army laid them in heaps, as dung upon the earth; the salt was all gathered out, and the stink of their camps and their carcases soon went up.

"It is thenceforth good for nothing." It is good for nothing in the judgment of hardened and impenitent sinners; it profits them nothing: but is a savour of death unto death: they mock at it, and their bands are made strong; it leaves them without a cloak for their sin; in their esteem it is good for nothing but to be cast out; they cast the apostles out of the synagogue, and broke the pleasing bonds of the everlasting covenant asunder, and cast their cords from them, and so judged themselves unworthy of eternal life. And at last the salt

Was trodden under foot of men. They trampled on the blood of the everlasting covenant, on the ministry of divine grace, and on the church of the living God; and therefore the Saviour trampled them in his fury, and left them without. help, to tread, by themselves, the wine-press of the wrath of Almighty God.

"Ye are the light of the world," Ye are Mount Zion, the perfection of beauty, out of which God will shine. "In them hath he set a tabernacle for the Sun, which is as a bridegroom

coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race." The Spirit of illumination is in you; and it will ever shine through you, and make you burning and shining lights; yea, a flaming fire: and from you the light shall shine from east to west, and nothing shall be hid from the heat thereof.

"A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid." Its smoke, lights, lamps, towers, and walls, are seen at a great distance. And upon Mount Zion, and on all her assemblies, shall be a smoke by day, and the burning of a flaming fire by night, Isaiah iv. 5. I am your wall of salvation, your high tower, and your fortress: and I will make you as a tower and a fortress; yea, as an iron pillar, and a brazen wall. And the lamp of salvation, in the hand of your faith, shall enlighten thousands into the ways of Zion, who shall see her glory, privileges, and beautiful situation; and both strangers and foreigners shall become fellow-citizens of it."

"Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick." I have not enlightened you into the knowledge of your own hearts, and into the mysteries of my kingdom, that you should be hid in obscurity; or conceal that wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, that I have given you. No: I shall shortly raise up many churches; and, as so many candlesticks, I shall place you as so many candles on them, that you may give light unto all that are of my household.