Persecution Reproach and the Worlds Praise

Matthew 5:11-12. Blessed are you when they reproach and persecute you, and falsely speak every kind of evil against you for my sake. 12. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven; for so they persecuted the prophets who came before you.

Luke 6:22-26. Blessed are you when men hate you, exclude you, reproach you, and reject your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. 23. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; their fathers did the same to the prophets. 24. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. 25. Woe to you who are full, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. 26. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers did the same to the false prophets.

We saw last Sunday that it is very difficult for the faithful man to live here peacefully when he wants to fulfill his duty towards God and towards his neighbors. For the malice of men is so great that we must often enter into combat to maintain the good and innocent people who are afflicted: and to take charge of good and just causes. For God requires this of us: and it is not enough for each to abstain from evil and violence, but we must procure good, as far as we are. Now (as I said) on all sides we are surrounded by many evil ones, and the devil not without cause is called prince of the world. Not only will it be difficult for us to serve God, and to be in peace and at rest: but we must reckon upon this, that when we maintain the good, we will have many attacks and alarms, and that the wicked will be against us. And above all, this is practiced in doctrine: for the truth of God is hidden from men, until they are fully changed, because he who does evil does not ask for clarity, but hates it, as our Lord Jesus Christ says, and so it is that all men are evil, and if they do not show it, the filth is

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hidden therein. and God by his word discovers everything, he probes the secret thoughts, and the most hidden affections. This is why the truth of God will not be received by men, and they will reject it and resist it as much as possible.

In short, we are admonished to often remember what is here remonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ: namely, that when we are unjustly afflicted, provided that our consciences answer us before God that it is not our fault, we must not therefore lose courage, as if our condition were worse than that of the unbelievers. And why? Especially since we have to look for our happiness up there. Here let us prepare to fight, and when we are told of our rest, of our victory, and of our glory which will be achieved, let us raise our eyes and our senses above the world. Moreover, we are not only admonished to suffer patiently the harm and molestation that will be done to us, but also the reproaches, defamation, and false accusations. Now this is still the hardest, because a person of courageous spirit would more easily bear wounds, and even death, than to be in reproach and ignominy. Let us look at the heathen philosophers who have had some appearance of virtue, it is certain that whoever has been magnanimous has not had death in such horror, as shame and infamy before men. So, we must be armed with more than human constancy, to patiently endure every insult and reproaches, and the slanders that will be falsely imposed on us by the wicked. Now if we have to come to this, as Paul remonstrates, because we hope in the living God (he says) we must be tormented, even suffer shamefully, be pointed at with scorn, and spit in our faces. Since God wants us to experience this far, we need to prepare ourselves for it, and to shield ourselves from this doctrine which is put forward to us here by our Lord Jesus Christ. And moreover, he warns us that these slanders will not only come from those who openly deny the Gospel, and who declare that they want nothing to do with true and pure religion: but that those who claim to belong to the church, and who have great reputation, the very ones (I say) will be the first to degrade us, and bring all infamy before men.

And this is why in particular he says that his disciples will be rejected, that they will be driven out, and that their name will be as if cursed. According also that our Lord Jesus Christ speaks of it in John, that those who will do great pleasure and sacrifice to God, will torment the faithful and Ministers of the Gospel: and this itself was anciently under the Law, as it is said in Isaiah in the eighth chapter that the disciples of God not only were annoying to the world, and to those who made a great profession of being defenders of the Catholic faith, as we speak: but that they were as hideous, and as monsters. For Isaiah uses

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this very word, These (he says) are the children that the Lord has given me: it was necessary that they be as if to frighten people, and to be like frightening things, and which are loathsome by nature. We therefore see how both Isaiah and those who were joined to him to serve purely God were rejected. And from whom? he does not speak of the Egyptians, and of their fellows who were idolaters by profession, but of the two houses of Israel, of both these kingdoms which were consecrated in the name of God. For although the ten Lineages in separating themselves from the house of David had made a revolt, as if to renounce God, still if there was still some reserve, knowing that God wanted to be honored there. And in fact, the anointing was in no way in that Kingdom, as in Judea. He therefore says that both these nations, that is to say all those who at that time were renowned the holy church and the holy lineage of Abraham, abhorred the true prophets and true disciples of God. When then Jesus Christ appeared, according as the celestial doctrine was then declared in greatest perfection, it was also necessary may the rage of the devil and all the wicked be is sharp, there has been a fire lit, and exerted a more than furious rage against the children of God: and not only for the torment and afflict them in their bodies, but for them blaming, even and under the very shadow of order which God had established in his church.

For excommunication was a sacred thing, because God willed that at all times the church be purged of all filth, and that those who committed scandals and dissolutions there were cut off, as is quite right: for the heathen philosophers themselves have always had excommunication recommended. They were ashamed that the wicked and those who were defiled should mix among their sacrifices. It was a profanation that they could not tolerate. If the blind poor observed such a policy, it was necessary that in the church of God there was such an order. Now Jesus Christ declares that his disciples will have to come to this battle, and that they will be dismissed from the synagogue, that they will be held as reprobate people, and as filthy and stinking.

We now see in short what we have to remember from this passage, it is according to what we have alleged from Paul, that not only do we have to be patient when we are afflicted in our persons, when we are outraged, even to the point of life: that not only do we have to be equipped with constancy in this case, but also that when we are blamed, when we are torn to pieces by slander, when we are charged, false crimes, we must still bow our heads, and wait with peaceful courage for God to shine upon our integrity, like the dawn of the day, as is spoken of in the other passage, and follow Jeremiah, who, when he calls

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God for his guardian, and knows that he approves of his cause, does not care much about everything that men can put before him. So when we are in this world, let it be enough for us that God recognizes us as his servants, and that we walk so far before him, that the reproaches of the world will not be able to turn us aside, and cause us to decline from the right path. Now this doctrine is very necessary for us today, not only because the practice of it is very rare, but also because we would not otherwise be able to discern that it is to serve to God. Because we will see a lot of people, and and although their number is great, if it is that we will see some who will live virtuously, and not can we accuse them of neither avarice nor plunder, neither lewdness nor intemperance. Thus then a life which will be approved: but nevertheless which is it what holds them in such a bridle? It's that they want to be in reputation and honor. Here, in short, is where all the virtue and nobility of this world is to have some integrity in appearance:

but there is only smoke in their case, especially let them look at men. And so, already they received their reward, as we will see here after. For when we have tried to live without reproach, and when we have given no opportunity to anyone to speak ill of us, nor to be a detractor, and yet it is necessary that we are degraded, that we are mocked, bitten, and flayed by slander (so to speak) that we accuse one of being a hypocrite, the other that he did not carry out his work faithfully, that (in short) we are burdened with all slander, if notwithstanding we still continue our way, then we will know the truth that we serve God. And why? We despise all the glory of the world: here then is a good examination, to discover that there is a good will in us, and that we are inflamed with a zeal for the service of God, when we can come with heads held high, to protest that we have not acted with a divided heart, and that the vanities of this world have not transported us, so that we have not always followed the path which he showed us, because he commanded and approved it.

Now all the more we must carefully observe what is being shown to us here, namely,, that if we are blamed for the wicked, we nevertheless do not fail to always follow the path that God proposes to us, and that we constantly persist until God declares himself to be our guarantor, and that he, in the face of shining our innocence, as we have already alleged the promise given to us in the Psalm. Now concerning the excommunication of which it is here spoken, today we see what our Lord Jesus Christ declares. Because the Pope with all his sequel, and the whole corrupt body of the clergy, will hold us like dogs: and we see the thunderbolts of their excommunications which they level against us: well, it is

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true that already they are so exposed that all their authority is almost lost in several places. And in fact, there is not a single Papist in the world today, who honors either these mitred prelates, or the corruption of the priesthood, which we call: there is (say) no Papist who honors them out of good devotion:

but we know that all their inventions are forged by men: and yet, that they must be left there as they are. However, whatever may be, they still retain this name of Prelates and Bishops. However, therefore, they will release their excommunications against us. Well? If we were not equipped with this doctrine, what would it be? we would find it strange. Is it possible (shall we say) that for the truth of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, who is the salvation of the world, we are thus cast out, that we are held as execrable, and that it seems that the earth must no longer support us? But we see what happened to all the prophets, we see what the Apostles experienced, and those who followed in their path. But we are not privileged above them, so let us walk where. God calls us, and may it be enough for us when we are absolved by him, even though everyone condemns us, and let us boldly treat all the excommunications with contempt of the Pope, and its followers, knowing that we are all the more approved of God, when we are rejected by such beasts: and that being separated from all their stinking, we come so much closer to our Lord Jesus Christ, to be participants in his purity. And even in this regard we see what happened to him to whom our Lord Jesus Christ had restored his sight. For when he confessed that he who had healed him could not be wicked, because God would not have heard him, that it was therefore necessary that he was sent from God, because he had testimony of being a holy Prophet. When this poor man (I say) has made such a confession, he is excommunicated, he is dismissed, it seems that he is not worthy to walk on earth: he is driven out of this rabble, who nevertheless call themselves Priests of the Law, and Prelates of the church: and here is Jesus Christ who meets him. And so let us not doubt that we will be gathered from the Son of God, whenever we are rejected by men, and by the servants of the devil, who only ask to bring such confusion to the world, that we can no longer discern between God and idols, and that all true religion be abolished.

In short, this is what we have to remember, which is that our lives are not precious to us, when it is a question of us being afflicted in order to bear witness to the truth, in which our salvation, our happiness, and all our glory consists. And then, when we are degraded by the world, may our honor not be in such a recommendation to us that we do not bear the slanders that will be brought against us, or even provided that we always walk as before God, and that we have

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testimony of him, and that our conscience responds to us in good, as Peter speaks of it: following also what is said by Paul in the other passage, that we be ready to hear evil, that is to say to be blamed, but that we do not fail to continue to do good: and yet, if men charge us, and we are like trampled, let us always go further, so as not to be an occasion of scandal, to procure the good: nevertheless let us always be ready to suffer such calumnies, to be condemned and repudiated. to remember. Now our Lord Jesus Christ offers us the prophets, he proposed them to his disciples: and now we have both the ones and the others. For if the persecutions had been new, and it would have been a thing previously unknown, to be blasphemed and dismissed for having purely served God: it is certain that this would have greatly shaken, even almost crushed, the most firm. let us know that it was nothing new or strange.

And this is why our Lord Jesus Christ highlights the prophets here: as if he were saying to his disciples, You are not better than the men who were so excellent, who were gifted with such great virtues, that God had raised them up like angels in this world. For the prophets represented the person of God: he had imprinted on them the mark of his majesty, so that we were forced to admire them. And yet how were they treated? They endured many outrages not only in their own person, but they were charged with blasphemy and insults, they were accused and held as mutineers and enemies of the church. As we read of Jeremiah, he was reproached that he only wanted to sow trouble and dissension among the people, that he was a traitor, and had intelligence with the enemies. On this he is put in prison, and the greatest outrages in the world are done to him. Here is also Isaiah who is put to death, in such a cruel way that nothing more. Some are whipped, others are like torn to pieces. Well, the prophets suffered this, because God had strengthened them. And why would you now seek a better condition? Now this example here (as I said) was very useful to the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that they would not give in when it was necessary to be exercised in such battles, when it was a question of underto hold assaults so harsh, that they always push past them. As also we see that Peter does the same with regard to doctrine. For we are exhorted by him to persist, even if there comes a diversity of opinions, and contradictory disputes arise, that the heretics deceive us, that they try to overturn everything, and confuse: well, then many are unsettled who are as if lost. But what? said Peter, Have you not heard of the ancient Testament of the church, that there have always been false prophets, who nevertheless claimed the name of God, and this title so sacred and honorable? and yet have the faithful therefore left the true religion? No. For

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they knew that it was necessary for the truth to be victorious: and that even though it was assailed on all sides, it was nevertheless necessary for them to see it without declining in any way.

Therefore, as we see that the disciples of God persisted, even though the church was subjected to these troubles, let us also know that when there are still false teachers around today, it is then that we must hold on: and must not say like these fickle people: And in whom shall we believe? So let us look to God, remember ancient facts, and consider how he has always led his church: and then for our part let us walk in righteousness and humility: and it is certain that in doing so God will not allow us to be deceived. So we must do: and when we see that the world will be envenomed against the Gospel, let us nevertheless hold fast, and let us know that it is to follow the prophets, and then to follow the Apostles and disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ. So today we have more confirmation that the disciples did not have: because they had to look only at the prophets. Now we have the Apostles, and the disciples, and all the order that continued. We therefore have today a much greater help to strengthen us, and to not be lost when we are unjustly afflicted, even by those who falsely claim the name of God, and who want to be reputed as supporters of the church. Now in this doctrine there was still some regret, if Jesus Christ had not acknowledged what we read in Luke. For even if the faithful are taught that they must be prepared to suffer persecution, to be rejected by the world, and even vituperated, and put in reproach and infamy, as evildoers, if they are not insensitive however when they come and then later to make comparison: Yes, but here are the despisers of God who are held to be good people, everyone will applaud them, everyone favors them.

And yet we are held like the filth of the world, that everyone revels and despises us, that we are even hated? and yet here are the wicked who have abandoned themselves completely in contempt of God, to lead a dissolute life, as if they wanted to overthrow all order, these nevertheless are maintained and favored, they are welcomed everywhere. And when they are living in luxury, and we consider that their life appears supremely happy, we must meanwhile mourn and weep, be hungry and thirsty, while they feast. This then could still cause regret to the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ, as in the Psalm which was sung we see this speech well expressed: for David confesses that his foot was as if on ice, and that it was hardly necessary that he was not fallen at all, when he saw the wicked enjoying such prosperity, that they were exempt from the ordinary miseries of life: and even as when they afflicted others no one dared look at

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them, and everyone trembled under them. When he saw this, he protested that it was almost to make him fall away, had God not restrained him: but even then it was not that he succeeded at the first attempt. For he confesses that he was like a beast, that he was like a donkey, or like a calf, which would be so lost that it could not be held.

So our Lord Jesus Christ has provided for all these perplexities which could arise in our imagination. For this reason he said Woe, woe to all those who laugh today: Woe to all those who are very drunk: Woe to all those who are loved by the world: and it is so that we learn to wait for the outcome, and not judge things by present appearances. For the happiness that we judge to be in all wicked people is only a dream, like the present life, for what else is the present life? But still, it is necessary that the wicked, even if God would give them all their eases and delights, would sometimes feel very great bitterness in this world, because God already warns them that the good times will not last them forever. And he does this also to make them inexcusable, so that they recognize themselves, and that they prepare to give an account: and when they have such warnings, let it be to aggravate their condemnation so much more. So whatever may be, all the delights, the pomp, the sensual pleasures, the honors, the riches, and all the goods of the despisers of God, and profane people are only a dream which soon vanishes. But at first glance we do not estimate it. And this is what causes us to feel displeasure and sadness when we see them prosper.

For we envy them, and conclude from what we see today with the eye: and cannot let's not elevate our senses to look further. Our Lord Jesus Christ therefore to remedy to this perverse judgment to which we are left too inclined, tells us that if we consider blessed those who laugh, those who are drunk, and who are rich, it is all the more so that we do not consider the outcome, that we are too light, as if to rush, and that with this haste so great, we cannot form a settled judgment. So this is how he holds us in check, as here before he said, Do not think that your condition is unhappy when you cry, when you are hungry and thirsty, even when you are hunted and persecuted: do not think that God has abandoned you yet, as if you were there miserable creatures. And why? For you must go beyond this world, and seek your reward in heaven, and think that it is to be children of God, when he declares himself to be your Father, and you claim him as such. When you have this (I say) your state is much more desirable than anything that men desire here on earth. Also now on the opposite side, you will see the wicked prosper and flourish, you will see them having all their sensual pleasures and delights, and living amid abundance. This is what you will

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see today: but have patience. For if their joy is converted into gnashing of teeth, if their wealth returns to them in poverty, because they are cursed by God, if the honor they have is to put them into confusion before God and before his angels, if all this is, must you envy them? In short, we see how our Lord Jesus Christ wants to elevate us above all these earthly things, and rise above this transitory life, and show us that if we do not have our reward here, this should not make us lose courage, because it is in heaven. Now in saying that our reward is in heaven, he does not mean a reward earned by our merit: as the Papists misuse these words, whenever this reward comes forward. For immediately they say, it follows then that our works are meritorious to eternal life, and that when we have failed, we have the satisfactions by which to acquit ourselves: and although the grace of God assists us, if there is any dignity in us, when we work on our side. And although this dignity is not equal to this infinite good of eternal life, if it is nevertheless that there is some dignity and propriety: for God would be unjust, if not he rewarded those who served him.

Thus therefore as if under the shadow of this word of Rent, the Papists will not only seek to diminish the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, but also to annihilate it if it were possible. Now for our part, let us know that our Lord Jesus Christ did not come here to fill us with pride and presumption, that he did not want us to be the authors of our salvation, having this false persuasion, that if we commit faults, we have the means to reward them. For he shows us enough in many other passages, that it is in him alone that we must seek all this, and that it is in the gratuitous goodness of God his Father that even our works find acceptance: and that God finds them good (for they are defective in themselves and deserve rejection) is from his pure grace and liberality, and from the paternal love which he bears to us. So our Lord Jesus Christ did not want to put us here in dispute about the cause of our salvation, to know what value there is in all the services that we will do to God his Father: but he wanted to show us that if it seems that it is wasted time to employ ourselves in doing good, seeing that all the more we will seek to conform to the will of God his Father, we will be hated by the world, we will be rejected, and even persecuted: these temptations should not prevent us from continuing our course. And why? For although we will live here on earth, we must serve God through many battles. And where is our victory? In heaven, let's look there. And so let us think, not to merit, but only to persevere in the service of God: for we have the reward which was acquired for us by our Lord Jesus Christ, and which we obtain by the merit of his death and passion, which cannot fail us. And let us boldly despise all these

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scoundrels of the Papacy, who will talk enough about merits, but it is while mocking God: because by disgorging their merits, it seems that they are ready to do wonders: and to hear them, one would say that there is only fire and zeal in them, yet there is no one who would lift a finger to suffer anything. As for patience, there is none, but on the contrary the greatest preachers of the merits of these beasts, and of these hypocrites who make the air resound, they will be vile rascals, some dissolute and profane, others drunken and indulge in all debauchery: in short, there will only be all villainy and enormity. Thus therefore the beautiful preachers of the merits of the Papacy, and yet in all their life there will be only contempt for God. But on the contrary, let us know that when we have done more than a hundred times that we are commanded (if possible) that we must not therefore consider that we have done anything more: but recognize that we owe everything to God. And since we are indebted to him in everything, in what way can he be obliged to us? Can he owe us anything from his side? Furthermore, let us know that when we still strive for good, it will always be stumbling, instead of running: there will be many imperfections and weaknesses: and there is no one who does not know this in themselves, provided that they judge themselves without hypocrisy. Above all, we know that all our works would be nothing but a curse before God, unless he accepted them by his infinite goodness, even more so that we are disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that we have all our rest in him.

This then is how we must make the most of this doctrine. For when we are here drawn to heaven, it is so that it does not cost us much to walk among the thorns, to jump over the pits, and even to climb over the rocks and mountains when necessary: and so that nothing distracts us, that we do not tend and aspire to our goal. Now we could here ask, if it is not lawful for the children of God, to be rich, and to use the goods which God has entrusted to them, and to rely on them. For it is said, Woe to you who laugh: Woe to you who are rich: and even, Woe to you when people speak well of you. And how? It will therefore not be lawful to live well and virtuously, so that people speak well of us: and in fact, we must procure good before men (as Paul says) and we must ensure that even the wicked have their mouths closed (as it is said in the other passage) and that they are forced to glorify God, when they see that we walk in fear of him. This then could be found harsh and strange, that the rich of this world are cursed, and those who have some rest, and who are idle: but Jesus Christ here looked at the affection of those who forget the heavenly kingdom, when they are well in this world, and who are entirely dazed and stupid there. To better understand this,

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let's look at how the faithful are comfortable. It is true that if God sends them prosperity and rest, they will bring everything to his praise: for they will use what is given to them soberly, even to such an end that they will always try to live well. Well, they will not want these goods to be lost: but they recognize them as blessings from God. Afterwards, if a man hates some excellent gift of the Spirit of God, he will not say that he is entirely empty of it: otherwise he would be a hypocrite. If they are rich, if they have bodily health, and even (as I said) if they are endowed with some excellent gifts of the Holy Spirit, they will recognize the graces of God in all this, and will devote themselves to it, and will give Him praise.

This is how the faithful will use all the goods of the present life. But however today they are at ease, they are prepared to suffer tomorrow, when it pleases God to call them to it: and if it pleases him to strip them of the goods he has given them, they are also ready to resign them to him, and place them in his hands, knowing well that it was on this condition that they possessed them, to leave them when it pleases him. The faithful man will therefore know, Well, today rich, tomorrow poor. When it pleases God to make such a change in me, that instead of being at ease I have to suffer a lot: and instead of laughing, that I have to cry, it is enough for me that nevertheless I will not stop being one of his children: and for his part, he has promised me that he will always confess me as such, I will therefore be happy to do so. This, I say, is how the faithful will do it, and then they will always maintain sobriety: they will restrain their appetites. And will hold back, and will think, Even though I can rise in ambition and loftiness, although I can place my confidence entirely in pleasures, if it is necessary that I think higher, and that I know that all the goods that God distributes to me in this world, it is to make the way for me to tend to him, and to be like a ladder to take us up, and not to be like a sepulchre to bury me down here. This is how the faithful will not rejoice like brute beasts, and will not stop at the obsolete happiness which is given to them: and then they will not also become intoxicated when the world applauds them, as if they had their rent here on earth, and as if they were already rewarded for the good life they have led: but they will be ready to walk faithfully through good report and bad. This is the measure and the means that the faithful hold, knowing that when they are at ease, if they will not fall asleep there: and get drunk there, even less: and then they will always be ready to leave everything, when it pleases God. But on the contrary, unbelievers immediately become intoxicated with their ease, they are completely exhausted, and are so stupid that there is no question of thinking

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about God or the spiritual life. And then they harden themselves, and if any adversity happens to them, it is to gnash their teeth, and to blaspheme before God.

We therefore see how and in what sense our Lord Jesus Christ here curses the rich, and those who are drunk, those who laugh, and those whom the world praises. Job said in the midst of his afflictions, If we have received good things from the hand of God, why do we not receive evils as well? What Job said then, it is certain that he had meditated for a long time, and had kept this treasure to produce it in time and place. So what is needed? Although God spares us, and gives us ease, however much we think about it, only if it does us good; we must also be ready to receive evil from his hand: and not with regret or by force, but with a docile and good spirit, to conform to his will in everything and in everything. For he must govern us, not according to our appetite, but according to what he knows to be proper and expedient for us. And in this we have reason to be concerned, that he will turn everything to our salvation. This then is what we have to remember from this passage, when our Lord Jesus Christ curses, and the rich, and those who are merry, and those who are drunk. So that we learn to use so much of the goods that we have in hand, that it is not to get drunk in this world, that is to say to be like idiots there. That if we have something, let us know that we must not nevertheless be buried, neither in gold, nor in silver, nor in fields, nor in meadows, like those who think that it is their last goal to have everything they want. It is certain that such are already like those who have passed away: for they bury themselves in these perishing goods, so much so that they cannot look up to heaven. Let us therefore think of ourselves, and let us be careful not to be cursed from the mouth of the Son of God, but let us expect from him all blessing and all our life, so as not to come to this misfortune which is here pronounced. And that we learn by this, to pass through this world, so that we are there as strangers: and that he who possesses (as Paul says) is as if he had nothing, It is true that those who have enough to spend a lot, also have greater temptations, to which they could succumb: and yet let them learn to have recourse to God, and that all that he gives them is to attract them more and more to him: to inflame them in his love, and to incite them to obey him: and that they have no such desire for the goods which are given to them, that they are wholly given to the world.

So in the midst of all our abundance we must not get drunk, so much as to strangle us, and let this curse be upon us, Woe to you who are drunk: but let us know that we must be satisfied in another way: namely, by contemplating the

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face of God, as it is said in the Psalm 16. So let goods be our help, until we enjoy the sight of the face of our God, where all our happiness and joy lies. And also that we learn to laugh, so that we may prepare ourselves to cry when it pleases God, and that our own joy be mixed with sadness, also that we have compassion on those who endure: that each one does not withdraw separately, but that we learn to rejoice when the name of God is glorified. Let us then (god) rejoice, even though we have occasion to groan and weep. And on the contrary, when we are at our ease, and there is no question other than of rejoicing, if we see some desolation in the church, and that the name of God is blasphemed, that it is exposed to reproach and mockery, may this sadden us more than all the blessings of the world could make us sad: and may our joy for earthly prosperity then be tempered, and that we put water in our wine, as they say in the proverb. So much for this word.

Moreover, as a conclusion, when our Lord Jesus Christ says, Be careful when men speak ill of you: he does not mean this of all men, but of the common: as Paul says, that when he would serve men, and please them, he would have to renounce God. For men who are carnal by nature only ask to be flattered and pleased in everything. So to be praised in the manner of the world, we would have to close our eyes to all vices, and make ourselves prosecutors and advocates of them, and maintain them, and call evil virtue. This is, in short, how it happens that all those who desire the favor of men corrupt the doctrine of God, and wickedly corrupt it, and by this means leave the service of their Master. But there is another way of pleasing: it is to know that we do not try to feed the vices of men, but according as they themselves delight in evil, that we try to please them according to God. In short, this sentence of Paul tends to this goal, that the men whom we try to please must also be enemies of their greed and evil appetites, and of their wicked affections. When they are such, it is certain that the doctrine of God will please them: and therefore us who carry it. But if men remain in their nature, they will want everything covered and a veil drawn against all iniquity. So when it is spoken here of men, it is certain that Jesus Christ hears it of all those who make this compact: Now it is that you are prized by us, and that you also spare us.

For this is how profane people and enemies of the truth, all hypocrites, and all those who do not have a true and living root of fear of God, have their plots which they make with the false prophets: Well, you will be honored, we will serve you everything as you ask, but however also be careful not to annoy us by your speech: that you be at your ease, and that you also leave us there. woe on

CHAPTER 5: Persecution Reproach and the Worlds Praise

such a plot, when the prophets and teachers of the church, those who are responsible for teaching, that these (I say) are like hired singers who perform a sweet and pleasant song, and which tickles the ears of the listeners without any profit. And yet those who delight in such flattery will say, Oh, what a good teacher, the good man. And what better could we want? So when some want to be so flattered, and others will also speak as they please, here is our Lord Jesus Christ who comes thundering against all this, Woe to you (he says) when men will say well of you, because in the end you will have to experience how you were abused when the false prophets applauded you: for there will be only a curse on your heads, and on both, when the world has said well of you.

Therefore, let us note that this last point here is expressed in particular, to warn those who have the responsibility of carrying the word of God, that if they are hated, if they are blamed, if they are detracted from, even if they try to do well and fulfill their duty, they must continue faithfully in their course: and this is a doctrine common to all, that is to say of which the benefit extends to all members of the church: namely, we learn not to praise and magnify those to whom we applaud from all sides, because they only ask to flatter in order to acquire favor. Let us therefore remember not to prize such people, if we do not want to be condemned by God by approving evil: but let us learn to praise those who do not seek to gain reputation and influence by flattery, but who reject everything which could prevent them from duly fulfilling their duty. When we have this, we will fulfill what is said in the Psalm, to bless those who come in the name of God: until he gathers us into his eternal Kingdom, where we will enjoy all the good things which are now promised to us, and which we await.

Now let us bow before the majesty of our good God, etc.