by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left," which enables us to attack error and vice, while it shields us from their assaults; "by honour and dishonour; by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things."

Far from being discouraged by the trials which befal him, the true minister is disposed in such circumstances to pray with the greater fervency; and according to the ardour and constancy of his prayers, such are the degrees of fortitude and patience to which he attains. "We have not received," saith St. Paul," the spirit of bondage again to fear; but we have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself," amidst all our distresses," beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. I besought the Lord thrice that" this trial" might depart from me. And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me."

What an advantage, what an honour is it, to labour in the service of so gracious and powerful a Master! By the power, with which he controls the world, he overrules all things for good to them that love him. Their most pungent sorrows are succeeded by peculiar consolations; the reproach of the cross prepares them for the honours of a crown; and the flames in which they are sometimes seen to blaze, become like that chariot of fire, which conveyed Elijah triumphantly away from the fury of Jezebel.

TRAIT XXXIV.

HIS MODEST FIRMNESS BEFORE MAGISTRATES. SUPPORTED by a strong persuasion, that God and truth are on his side, the faithful minister is earried above all those disheartening fears, which agitate the hearts of worldly pastors. Depending upon the truth of that solemn prediction; "They will deliver you up to the council, and ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the gentiles;" he expects in times of persecution to appear before magistrates, and possibly before kings, for the cause of Christ and his Gospel. Nor is he afflicted at such a prospect. Relying on the promise of that compassionate Redeemer, who once appeared for him before Annas and Caiaphas, Herod and Pontius Pilate, without anxiously premeditating what he shall answer, and resting assured, that wisdom shall be given him in every time of need, he cries out with the holy determination of the Psalmist: "I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed."

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When he is brought as a malefactor before the judge; while his VOL. II.

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accusers, actuated by malicious zeal, agree to say-" We have found this man a pestilent fellow, a mover of sedition among the people," and one of the ringleaders of a new and dangerous sect; he justifies himself by answering-The witnesses, who appear against me this day, neither found me trampling under foot the authority of my superiors, nor sowing the seeds of sedition among the people; neither can they prove the things, whereof they now accuse me. But this I confess, that after the way, which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets; and have hope toward God, which they themselves allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.” And supposing his accusers are not only deists, but professors of the christian faith, he will add: This also I confess, that in conformity to those principles, which pretended philosophers term superstitious, and which lukewarm christians call enthusiastic,“ I believe" not only " in God the Father Almighty," but also in Jesus Christ his only Son, whom I acknowledge to be "King of Kings,” and "Lord of Lords," and who, after having suffered for our sins, rose again for our justification. Further; I joyfully subscribe to that confession of faith, which is frequently in your own mouths-“I believe in the Holy Ghost," who regenerates and sanctifies every true member of "the holy catholic church:" and I participate with those members the common advantages of our most holy faith, which are an humble consciousness of " the forgiveness of sins," a lively hope of " the resurrection of the body," and a sweet anticipation of "everlasting life. And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men." If his judge already prejudiced against him, should unbecomingly join issue with his accusers, and charge him with extravagance and fanaticism; he will answer after St. Paul, with all due respect," I am not mad: but speak forth the words of truth and soberness. And I would to God, that not only thou, but also all who hear me this day were altogether such as I am, except these bonds."

After a pastor has had experience of these difficult trials, he is then in a situation to confirm younger ministers in the manner of St. Paul-" I know, whom I have believed, and I am persuaded, that he is able to keep, that which I have committed unto him, against that day. At my first answer, no man stood with me; but all men forsook me: Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear" the Gospel: " and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his Heavenly Kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever."

Behold the inconveniences and dangers, to which not only christian pastors, but all, who follow the steps of the Apostle Paul, will be exposed in every place, where the bigoted or the incredulous occupy the first posts in church or state! And whether we are called to endure torments, or only to suffer reproach in the cause of truth, let us endeavour to support the sufferings, that shall fall to our lot, with that resolution and meekness, of which St. Paul and his adorable Master have left us such memorable examples.

TRAIT XXXV.

HIS COURAGE IN CONSOLING HIS PERSECUTED BRETHREN.

PERSUADED, that" all, who will live godly in Christ Jesus," and particularly his ministers, "shall suffer persecution," the good pastor looks for opposition from every quarter: and whenever he suffers for the testimony he bears to the truths of the Gospel, he suffers not only with resolution, but with joy.

The more the God of this degenerate world exalts himself in opposition to truth, the more he disposes every sincere heart for the reception of it. The Gospel is that everlasting rock, upon which the church is founded, and against which the gates of Hell can never prevail: and though this rock is assailed by innumerable hosts of visible and invisible enemies, yet their repeated assaults serve only to demonstrate, with increasing certainty, its unshaken firmness and absolute impenetrability. A clear sight of the sovereign good, as presented to us in the Gospel, is sufficient to make it universally desirable. The vail of inattention, however, conceals in a great measure this sovereign good, and the mists of prejudice entirely obscure it. But by the inhuman conduct of the persecutors of christianity, their false accusations, their secret plots, and their unexampled cruelty, these mists are frequently dissipated, and these vails rent in twain from the top to the bottom. Error is by these means unwittingly exposed to the view of the world; while every impartial observer, attracted by the charms of persecuted truth, examines into its nature, acknowledges its excellence, and at length triumphs in the possession of that inestimable pearl, which he once despised. Thus the tears of the faithful and the blood of confessors have been generally found to scatter and nourish the seed of the Kingdom.

Ye zealous defenders of truth! let not the severest persecutions alarm your apprehension or weaken your confidence; since every trial of this kind must necessarily terminate in your own advantage, as well as in the establishment and glory of the christian faith. Error, always accompanied with contradictions, and big with absurd consequences, will shortly appear to be supported by no other prop, than that of prejudice or passion, or the despotism of a usurped authority, which renders itself odious by the very means employed for its support. The more the partisans of every false doctrine sound the alarm against you, the more they resemble a violent multitude opposing the efforts of a few, who are labouring to extinguish the fire, that consumes their neighbours' habitations; the different conduct of the one and the other must, sooner or later, manifest the incendiaries. Error may be compared to a vessel of clay, and truth to a vase of massy gold. In vain is calumny endeavouring to render the truth contemptible by overheaping it with every thing that is abominable; in vain would prejudice give error an amiable appearance by artfully concealing its defects; for whenever the hand of persecution shall furiously hurl the latter against the former, the solid gold will sustain the shock unhurt, while the varnished clay shall be dashed in pieces. The experience, however, of seventeen ages has not been sufficient to demonstrate to persecutors a truth so evident; nor are there wanting inexperienced believers in the church, who are ready to call it in

question, and who, when persecution ariseth because of the word, are unhappily observed to lose their christian resolution. But, "why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing, the kings of the earth stand up, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against his anointed? He that dwelleth in Heaven shall laugh them to scorn," and make their malice serve to the accomplishment of his great designs.

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Thus the Jews, in crucifying Christ, contributed to lay the grand foundation of the christian church; and afterwards by persecuting the Apostle Paul to death, gave him an opportunity of bearing the torch to Rome, and even into the palaces of its emperors. And it was from Rome itself, as from the jaws of a devouring lion, that he comforted the faithful, who were ready to faint at his afflictions, and encourage them to act in conformity to their glorious vocation. “I suffer trouble as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.. Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain the salvation, which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. It is a faithful saying; For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: if we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the Gospel, according to the power of God: who hath called us according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel: whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an Apostle, for the which cause I also suffer these things; nevertheless, I am not ashamed. Thou, therefore, endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." Happy is the faithful minister of Christ amid all the severe afflictions to which he is sometimes exposed! Though troubled on every side, yet he is not distressed; though perplexed, yet not in despair; though persecuted, yet not forsaken; though cast down, yet not destroyed. All the violent attacks of his enemies must finally contribute to the honour of his triumph, while their flagrant injustice gives double lustre to the glorious cause in which he suffers.

TRAIT XXXVI.

HIS HUMBLE CONFIDENCE IN PRODUCING THE SEALS OF HIS MINISTRY.

A PASTOR must sooner or later convert sinners, if he sincerely and earnestly calls them to repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, though filled with indignation against sin, with compassion toward the impenitent, and with gratitude to Christ, he should, like St. Paul, in proportion to his strength, wrestle with God by prayer, with sinners by exhortation, and with the flesh by abstinence; yet even then, as much unequal to that Alt, as he was unequal to his Master, he may reasonably despair of freuently beholding the happy effects of his evangelical labours. But if he cannot adopt the following apostolic language: "Thanks be unto - God, who always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest, the favour of his knowledge by us in every place:" he will, at least,

be able to say in his little sphere-"We are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: to the one we are the savour of death uuto death; and to the other, the savour of life unto life." If he has not, like St. Paul, planted new vines, he is engaged, with Apollos, in watering those, which are already planted; he is rooting up some withered cumberers of the ground, he is lopping off some unfruitful branches, and propping up those tender sprigs, which the tempest has beaten down.

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He would be the most unhappy of all faithful ministers, had he not some in his congregation, to whom he might with propriety address. himself in the following terms: "Do we need epistles of commendation to you? Ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart. not ye my work in the Lord? If I be not an Apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the seal of mine Apostleship are ye in the Lord. For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus have I begotten you - through the Gospel."

When a minister of the Gospel, after labouring for several years in the same place, is unacquainted with any of his flock, to whom he might modestly hold the preceding language; it is to be feared, that he has laboured too much like the generality of pastors in the present day since the word of God," when delivered with earnestness and without adulteration, "is" usually "quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow. He that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully: what is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord. Is not my word like a fire; and like a hammer, that breaketh the rock in pieces? Behold I am against them, that cause my people to err by their lies and by their lightness: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord."

Those ministers, who are anxious so to preach, and so to conduct themselves, as neither to trouble the peace of the formal, nor to alarm the fears of the impenitent, are undoubtedly the persons peculiarly alluded to in the following solemn passage of Jeremiah's prophecy : "Mine heart within me is broken, because of the prophets; all my bones shake because of the Lord, and because of the words of his holiness. For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord. They walk in lies," either actually or doctrinally: "they strengthen also the hands of evil doers, that none doth return from his wickedness. From the prophets of Jerusalem is prophaneness gone forth into all the land. They speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord. They say unto them, that" secretly "despise me, The Lord hath said, ye shall have peace and they say unto every one, that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you. I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings."

Behold the reason, why nothing can so much afflict a faithful minister, as not to behold from time to time, unfeigned conversions effected among the people by means of his ministry. The husbandman, after