“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
—Jesus (Matthew 5:11–12, ESV)
When a blind man comes against you in the street you are not angry at him. You say, ‘He is blind, poor man, or he would not have hurt me.’ So you may say of the poor worldlings when they speak evil of Christians—they are blind.
—M’Cheyne.
Mind, it must be said falsely, and it must be for Christ’s sake, if you are to be blessed; but there is no blessing in having evil spoken of you truthfully, or in having it spoken of you falsely because of some bitterness in your own spirit.
—Spurgeon