of his people was he ftricken . And all this was accomplished in the hiftory of his paffion. After leading a life of poverty and forrow, after fubmitting to fcorn and flander during the whole of his ministry for the fake of righteousness, he was at length arraigned before an iniquitous tribunal; he was buffeted; he was fcourged; he was nailed to the crofs. The fury of his perfecutors was wreaked upon him; and the cup which was given him to drink was the bittereft, which ingenious malice could devife to mingle.

From this great pattern of refignation to fuffering in fo good a cause, the Apostle exhorts his Difciples to fubmit with patience to griefs and perfecutions, even if wrongfully inflicted, for confcience toward God: for to this, he afferts, were they called on taking upon them the Chriftian name; and it was expedient that they should fubmit to these things; "becaufe Chrift alfo fuffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow his steps who did no fin, neither was guile found in his mouth; who when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: who bore our

8 Ifa. liii. 3, &c.

fins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to fin should live to righteousness : by whofe ftripes we are healed "."

On this precept and example was formed. the glorious company of the Apostles, who in obedience to the parting injunction of their Lord went forth to preach his gospel to all nations, and to establish the fceptre of his righteousness over all the kingdoms of the world. However feeble their minds, however timid their characters had been at the time, when their Lord was delivered into the hands of men, yet as foon as they were instructed in the real purpose of his death, as foon as they comprehended the true nature and constitution of his Kingdom, they did not hesitate to undergo every toil, to confront every danger, and to encounter every fiery trial, in accomplishing that work for which they were called: they gloried in tribulation, and rejoiced that they were counted worthy to fuffer fhame for the name of Jefus i. What the Apostle Paul has afferted of his own feelings and fentiments on the certain prospect or the actual endurance of persecution, may be applied indifferently to all the Apostles: "Behold, I go bound in the Spirit

h

1 Pet. ii. 21-24.

i Acts v. 41.

Bb3

unto

unto Jerufalem, not knowing the things that shall befal me there: fave that the Holy Ghost witneffeth in every city, faying, that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me; neither count I my life dear unto myself; fo that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jefus, to testify the Gospel of the grace of God." In his Second Epistle to the Corinthians he glories in the trials, to which he was expofed as a Minifter of Chrift: "In labours more abundant, in ftripes above measure, in prifons more frequent, in deaths oft:-In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the fea, in perils among falfe brethren: In wearinefs and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in faftings often, in cold and nakedness1." And in his Epiftle to the Romans he endeavours in thefe folemn ftrains to impress upon their hearts the divine Love of their bleffed Redeemer: "Who fhall feparate us from the love of Chrift? Shall tribulation, or diftrefs, or perfecution, or fa

k Acts xx. 22, 23, 24.

12 Cor. xi. 23-27.

mine, or nakedness, or peril, or the fword?Nay in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am perfuaded, that neither the fear of death, nor the defire of life; nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers; nor things prefent, nor things to come; nor height of profperity, nor depth of calamity, nor any other creature, fhall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Chrift Jefus our Lord m."

By the fame precept and example was also formed that noble army of Martyrs, who during the feveral perfecutions under the Heathen Emperors fubmitted patiently to every kind of evil; who encountered death in every form of terror; who fung in the midst of flames, and gloried in fuffering for the name of Chrift and in the caufe of the Gospel. All thofe come literally under the description of our Lord, of them that are perfecuted for righteousness' fake.

In the present age of the world, when the Faith of Chrift is diffused far and wide among the nations, and is adopted and established for the religion of the State, this character of the Christian Soldier cannot literally be put to

m Rom. viii. 35-39.

B b 4

the

the proof. Yet without the test of martyrdom the true Followers of Chrift will find an ample field for the exercise of their religious fortitude. For though they are not exposed to perfecution for the fake of righteousness, yet they are expofed to temptations of various kinds in their common intercourse with the world. They encounter them in the pleasures and in the pains, in the riches and in the penury, in the honours and in the difhonours of human life. By temporal goods they are tempted to forget their God and their religion; and by temporal evils they are alfo tempted to fretfulness and impatience, and fometimes even to dishonest means of repairing their unhappy lot. The true Followers of Chrift are not moved with any of these things. In every condition and in every viciffitude of life they hold fast their integrity unfhaken, and they continue faithfully to maintain their ground against the several forms and fpecies of temptation. fubdued by thofe trials to which fo many yield, they are determined with the Apostle, that nothing fhall feparate them from the love of God in Chrift. Neither discompofed by the foft feductions of profperous fortune, nor the rude attacks of adverfe, they continue true to the cause of Christ, and under

Un