"and doth deliver, in whom we trust that he will

yet deliver

deliver us." 2 Cor. I. 8. &c.

"In all things approving ourselves the min"isters of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprison"ments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in «fasting's 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, always rejoicing, as poor yet "making many rich; as having nothing and yet possessing all things. " 2 Cor. VI. 4. &c. As a contrast of his situation with that of the eloquent speakers in this church of Corinth, who seem to have been much at their ease, he gives the following affecting account of his labours and sufferings. 2 Cor. XI. 23. &c. "Are they ministers of In labours more abundant, "in stripes above measure, in prisons more fre

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Christ, I am more.

quent, in deaths often. Of the Jews five times "received I forty stripes save one. Thrice v as I "beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suf "fered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in "the deep. In journeying often, in perils of wa"ters, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own country

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"countrymen, in perils in the wilderness, in perils "in the sea, in perils among false brethren. In “weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in

hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of "all, the churches. Who is weak and I am not. weak? who is offended and I burn not? If I must "needs glory, I will glory of the things which con"cern my infirmities. The God and Father of

our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed for ever"more knoweth that I lie not. In Damascus

the governor under Aretas the king kept the ci( ty of the Damascanes with a garrison, desirous to “apprehend me ; and through a window, in a bas"ket, I was let down by the wall, and escaped his "hands.”

In his epistle from Rome, written in the near prospect of death, after enduring, as we have seen, such a series of hardship as few men have ever gone through, he thought proper to remind the churches to which he wrote of what he had suf fered, that they might not be surprised, or discouraged, if they met with no better treatment in this 'world than he had met with.

To the Ephesians he says, Ch. III. 13. "Where

fore

"fore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulation "for you, which is your glory;" intimating that so far from being discouraged, or ashamed, they ought to be proud of these proofs of his affection for them, and of his zeal in the common cause.

To the Colossians he says, to the same purpose, Ch. I. 24. "I rejoice in my sufferings for

you,

" and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions "of Christ in my flesh, for his body's sake, which "is the church." As if a certain portion of suf fering had been necessary to establish christianity and as if that of Christ had not been suficient, he took the remainder upon himself. The same idea occurs, though not so distinctly, in his epistle to the Galatians, written long before this. Gal. II 20. "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless "I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. Where"fore let no man trouble me, for I bear in my

body the marks of the Lord Jesus." VI. 17.

The christians at Philippi had suffered much. Writing to them from Rome, he expresses the greatest indifference and contempt of all that could befal him. "In nothing," he says. (Ch. I. 20.) "shall I be ashamed, but that with all boldness,

as always, so now also, Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death. "I have

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"I have learned," he says, (IV. 11.) “in what

ever state I am, therewith to be content. I know "both how to be abased, and how to abound. E

very where, and in all things, I am instructed "both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

The general sentiment of the duty of patience and fortitude under the evils of life may, no doubt, be found in the writing of Marcus Antoninus, Seneca, and other heathens; but the feelings they convey are very different, quite feeble and ineffica cious. The heathens could not have the same motives to patience and fortitude. Those of christians are infinitely more efficacious, and far more natural, as they are taught to look beyond them to objects which in similar cases do not fail to enable men to bear hardships of any kind, viz. to a certain advantage accruing from them, and to which they are necessary. If the christian suffer here, especially in the cause of virtue and truth, he is taught to expect a certain recompence in a future state. Compared with this, the patience and fortitude of heathens, especially in the near view of death, cannot be much more than mere obstinacy, arising from the consideration of the necessity of

bearing

bearing what they cannot avoid; and therefore of the folly of complaining where it cannot answer any good end.

Let the writings of the Stoics on this subject be compared with those of the apostles, and the dif ference must be striking. In the sufferings of christians we see there is a source of joy. Paul speaks of rejoicing in tribulation, but for this the Stoic could not have any motive. The apostles did not deny that painful sufferings were evils. They acknowledge that they were not in themselves joyous but grievous, but they worked out for them a far more exceeding, even an eternal weight of glory. According to the apostles, it is only for a time, and if need be, that we are to be in sorrow through divers trials, and to the end of this time they were well able to look, and, like their master, for the joy that was set before them, they endured every affliction, and even the pains of death itself.

Let us now hear Marcus Antoninus on the subject of the fear of death, to which he frequently adverts in his Meditations, and from which we may infer that it was much upon his mind. After enumerating the duties of life, which he says “every man is under obligation to discharge," he says, (II. 17.)

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