us and avows us for His own. And we know what St. Luke
narrates of Peter and John (Acts v., 41); namely, that they rejoiced to
have been counted worthy to suffer infamy and reproach for the name of
the Lord Jesus.

Ignominy and dignity are two opposites: so says the world, which, being
infatuated, judges against all reason, and in this way converts the
glory of God into dishonor. But, on our part, let us not refuse to be
vilified as concerns the world, in order to be honored before God and
His angels. We see what pains the ambitious take to receive the commands
of a king, and what a boast they make of it. The Son of God presents His
commands to us, and every one stands back. Tell me, pray, whether in so
doing are we worthy of having anything in common with Him? there is
nothing here to attract our sensual nature, but such notwithstanding
are the true escutcheons of nobility in the heavens. Imprisonment,
exile, evil report, imply in men's imagination whatever is to be
vituperated; but what hinders us from viewing things as God judges and
declares them, save our unbelief? Wherefore, let the name of the Son of
God have all the weight with us which it deserves, that we may learn to
count it honor when He stamps His marks upon us. If we act otherwise our
ingratitude is insupportable.

Were God to deal with us according to our desserts, would He not have
just cause to chastise us daily in a thousand ways? Nay more, a hundred
thousand deaths would not suffice for a small portion of our misdeeds!
Now, if in His infinite goodness He puts all our faults under His foot
and abolishes them, and instead of punishing us according to our
demerit, devises an admirable means to convert our afflictions into
honor and a special privilege, inasmuch as through them we are taken
into partnership with His Son, must it not be said, when we disdain such
a happy state, that we have indeed made little progress in Christian
doctrine?

Accordingly, St. Peter, after exhorting us (I Peter iv., 15) to walk so
purely in the fear of God, as not to suffer as thieves, adulterers, and
murderers, immediately adds, that if we must suffer as Christians, let
us glorify God for the blessing which He thus bestows upon us. It is
not without cause he speaks thus. For who are we, I pray, to be
witnesses of the truth of God, and advocates to maintain His cause? Here
we are poor worms of the earth, creatures full of vanity, full of lies,
and yet God employs us to d