adness. The ignominy
cast upon them leaves the name of the Lord's Father written upon their
foreheads, the mark of the true among the false, of the children among
the slaves. With all who suffer for the world, persecution is the seal
of their patent, a sign that they were sent: they fill up that which is
behind of the afflictions of Christ for his body's sake.

Let us look at the similar words the Lord spoke in a later address to
his disciples, in the presence of thousands, on the plain,--supplemented
with lamentation over such as have what they desire: St Luke vi. 20--26.

_'Blessed be ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are ye
that hunger now, for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now,
for ye shall laugh. Blessed are ye when men shall hate you, and when
they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and
cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man's sake. Rejoice ye in
that day, and leap for joy, for behold your reward is great in heaven;
for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets._

_'But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your
consolation. Woe unto you that are full, for ye shall hunger. Woe unto
you that laugh now, for ye shall mourn and weep. Woe unto you when all
men shall speak well of you; for so did their fathers to the false
prophets.'_

On this occasion he uses the word _hunger_ without limitation. Every
true want, every genuine need, every God-created hunger, is a thing
provided for in the idea of the universe; but no attempt to fill a void
otherwise than the Heart of the Universe intended and intends, is or can
be anything but a woe. God forgets none of his children--the naughty
ones any more than the good. Love and reward is for the good: love and
correction for the bad. The bad ones will trouble the good, but shall do
them no hurt. The evil a man does to his neighbour, shall do his
neighbour no harm, shall work indeed for his good; but he himself will
have to mourn for his doing. A sore injury to himself, it is to his
neighbour a cause of jubilation--not for the evil the man does to
himself--over that there is sorrow in heaven--but for the good it
occasions his neighbour. The poor, the hungry, the weeping, the hated,
may lament their lot as if God had forgotten them; but God is all the
time caring for them. Blessed in his sight now, they shall soon know
themselves blessed. 'Blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall
laugh.'