Apples of Gold (continued)
with, compared to the great things that others have suffered for Christ's sake.
Ah, young men! you should be like the Scythian that went naked in the snow; and when Alexander wondered how he could endure it, answered, I am all forehead.
So should you in the cause and way of Christ; you should not be ashamed, you should be all forehead, you should be stout and bold.
Colonus, the Dutch martyr, under all his reproaches, called to the judge that had sentenced him to death, and desired him to lay his hand upon his heart, and then asked him, Whose heart did beat fastest—his or the judge's? All the reproaches in the world should not so much as make a Christian's heart race; they should not in the least trouble him nor disturb him. But,
2. Secondly, I answer, That all the reproaches you meet with in the way of Christ, and for the sake of Christ—they do but add pearls to your crown; they are all additions to your happiness and blessedness. "If you are ridiculed for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you." 1 Peter
4:14. The more you are reproached for Christ's sake on earth, the greater shall be your reward in heaven; those who are most loaded with reproaches here, shall be most laden with glory hereafter, Mat.
5:11-12. Christ has written their names in golden letters in his book of life—who are written in black letters of reproach for his sake on earth. It was a good saying of Chrysostom: A reproacher, says he, is