“The Lord says, ‘If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household! Fear them not therefore, for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.’ The Lord himself was accused of being a drunkard and a keeper of bad company—and perhaps would in the present day be so regarded by not a few calling themselves by his name, and teaching temperance and virtue. He lived upon a higher spiritual platform than they understand, acted from a height of the virtues they would inculcate, loftier than their eyes can scale. The Lord bore with their evil tongues, and was neither dismayed nor troubled; but from this experience of his own, comforts those who, being his messengers, must fare as he. When men count themselves Christians on any other ground than that they are slaves of Jesus Christ, the children of God, and free from themselves, so long will they use the servants of the Master despitefully. Few who have endeavored to do their duty, have not been annoyed, disappointed, enraged perhaps, by the antagonism, misunderstanding,  and false representationto which they have been subjected, issuing mainly from those who have benefited by their efforts to be neighbors to all.  ‘Do not hesitate,’ says the Lord, ‘to speak the truth that is in you; never mind what they call you; proclaim from the housetop; fear nobody.’ He spoke the words to the men to whom he looked first to spread the news of the kingdom of heaven; but they apply to all who obey him.”

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