Blessed Suffering (Matt. 5:11, 12)

If we compare this verse with the one im­mediately preceding, it seems as if the one and the same thing is spoken of. That verse speaks also of persecution and of the blessedness so closely connected with it. There the blessedness is connected with the suffering for righteousness' sake, here, with the suf­fering for His, (Christ's) sake. Does the Savior refer to, and does He mean the one and the same thing? To our minds we must differentiate between the parties He speaks to. In the beatitudes,...