"Who endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself."--
Heb. xii. 3.
What endurance was this! Perfect truth in the midst of error; perfect
love in the midst of ingratitude and coldness; perfect rectitude in the
midst of perjury, violence, fraud; perfect constancy in the midst of
contumely and desertion; perfect innocence, confronting every debased
form of depravity and guilt; perfect patience, encountering every
species of gross provocation--"oppressed and afflicted, He opened not
His mouth!" "For my love" (in return for my love), "they are mine
adversaries; _but_" (see His endurance!--the only species of revenge of
which His sinless nature was capable) "_I give myself unto prayer!_"
(Ps. cix. 4.)
Reader! "let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus!" The
greatest test of an earthly soldier's courage is _patient endurance_!
The noblest trait of the spiritual soldier is the same. "Having done all
_to stand_," "He _endured_, as seeing Him who is invisible!" Beware of
the angry recrimination, the hasty ebullition of temper. Amid unkind
insinuations--when motives are misrepresented, and reputation assailed;
when good deeds are ridiculed, kind intentions coldly thwarted and
repulsed, chilling reserve manifested where you expected nothing but
friendship--what a triumph over natural impulse to manifest a spirit of
meek endurance!--like a rainbow, radiant with the hues of heaven,
resting peacefully amid the storms of derision and "the floods of
ungodly men." What an opportunity of magnifying the "sustaining grace of
God!" "It is a small thing for me to be judged of you, or of man's
judgment; He that judgeth me is the Lord." "The Lord is on my side; I
will not fear what man can do unto me." "Blessed is the man that
_endureth_." "He that _endureth_ to the end, the same shall be saved."
If faithful to our God, we must expect to encounter contradiction in the
same form which Jesus did--"the contradiction of _sinners_." It has been
well said, "There is no cross of nails and wood erected now for the
Christian, but there is one of words and looks which is never taken
down." If believers are set as lights in the earth, lamps in the "city
of destruction," we know that "he that doeth evil _hateth_ the light."
"Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you!"
Weary and faint ones, exposed to the shafts of calumny and scorn because
of your fidelity to your God; encountering, it may be, the coldness and
estrangement of those dear to you, who can not, perhaps, sympathize in
the holiness of your walk and the loftiness of your aims, "consider
_Him_ that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, _lest_
ye be weary and faint in your minds!" What is _your_ "contradiction" to
_His_? Soon your cross, whatever it be, will have an end. "The seat of
the scorner" has no place in yonder glorious heaven, where all will be
peace--no jarring note to disturb its blissful harmonies! Look forward
to the great coronation-day of the Church triumphant,--the day of your
divine Lord's appearing, when motives and aims, now misunderstood, will
be vindicated, wrongs redressed, calumnies and aspersions wiped away.
Meanwhile, "rejoice that you are counted worthy to suffer shame for His
name."
"ARM YOURSELVES LIKEWISE WITH THE SAME MIND."
Fifteenth Day.