et propositum nostrum accommodare, non quod hoc velimus, poetam idipsum spectasse et in animo habuisse quod nos cum ejus verba usurpamus, sed id grata quadam accommodatione' duntaxat a nobis fit, quod allusionibus libenter et impense soliti sint homines delectari.”—Matt. xiii. 34. Psal. xlix. 2. Rom. x. 18. Psal. xix. 5. 2 Cor. viii. 15. Exod. xvi. 13.L. CAPELLUS.

NOTE C.

"Should the empress," says Chrysostom, in his epistle to Cyriacus, "determine to banish me, let her banish me; the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof.' If she will cast me into the sea, let her cast me into the sea; I will remember Jonah. If she will throw me into a burning fiery furnace; the three children were there before me. If she will throw me to the wild beasts; I will remember that Daniel was in the den of lions. If she will condemn me to be stoned; I shall be the associate of Stephen, the proto-martyr. If she will have me beheaded; the Baptist has submitted to the same punishment. If she will take away my substance; naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return to it.'"

VOL. II.

S

DISCOURSE XVI.

THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST (THEIR NATURE-DESIGN— CONSEQUENCES) AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO CHRISTIANS SUFFERING FOR HIS CAUSE.

1 PET. iii. 18-22.-For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), by the resurrection of Jesus Christ who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels, and authorities, and powers, being made subject unto him.

IN studying Christianity, as developed in the inspired writings of the New Testament, few things are more fitted to strike the mind, than the intimate, the indissoluble, connexion which exists between its principles and its laws, its doctrinal statements and its practical requirements. Its doctrines are such as, if really believed, necessarily lead to the discharge of its duties; and its duties are such as cannot be discharged without a knowledge and belief of its doctrines. They are connected together as the two constituents of human nature; body and soul. The doctrines are embodied in the duties, and the duties are animated by the doctrines.

This is true even of those doctrines which, at first view,

seem to partake most of the nature of abstract principles; such as the doctrine of the expiation of human guilt, and the accomplishment of human salvation, through the penal, vicarious, expiatory sufferings, of the incarnate Son of God. This doctrine, which to many seems a point of mere speculation, having little or nothing to do with the formation of character or the guidance of conduct, is brought forward in the New Testament as the grand motive to Christian obedience generally, and to all the various parts of Christian obedience. Are Christians exhorted to universal holiness? this is the motive, "Ye are bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." Are they exhorted to "walk in love?" the motive is, "Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God, for a sweet-smelling savour." Are they exhorted to mutual forgiveness? the motive is, "God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven us." Are they exhorted to a complying, self-denying spirit? the motive is, "Christ pleased not himself." Are they exhorted to public spirit, in opposition to selfishness? the motive is drawn from "the mind which was in Christ," and which manifested itself in his emptying and abasing himself, in his labouring, and suffering, and dying, for the salvation of men. Are they exhorted to make pecuniary sacrifices for the relief of their poor brethren? the motive is, "Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus, in that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich." Are husbands urged to love their wives? the motive is, "Christ also loved the church," his spouse, " and gave himself for her." And, not to multiply examples, in the passage which I have read as the subject of discourse, are Christians called on cheerfully and patiently to endure suffering in the cause of Christ? the motive is, "Christ also once suffered for us, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, and quickened by the Spirit; by which also he went and preached to the spirits in prison; which aforetime were disobedient:

and having risen from the dead is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels, and authorities, and powers, being made subject to him.”

In the immediate context, as you are aware, the Apostle has been instructing those to whom he was writing how to behave themselves, when exposed to persecution on account of the religion of Christ, so as to reflect honour on Him, on it, and on themselves; and to reconcile them to such sufferings, and induce them to conduct themselves properly under them, he suggests the thought, that divinely appointed suffering in a good cause, rightly sustained, is not to be considered as an evil.' "If ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye." "It is better, since such is the will of God, that ye doing well suffer:" better not only that ye should suffer doing well, "rather than doing evil;" but better in these circumstances that ye should suffer than ye should not suffer.

It is in illustration and proof of this principle, I apprehend, that the Apostle introduces the example of our Lord, the Prince of sufferers. His sufferings were divinely appointed sufferings; sufferings in the best of all causes; sufferings sustained in the best possible manner; and sufferings terminating in such a way, as very strikingly to show, that divinely appointed suffering in a good cause, rightly sustained, is rather to be chosen and embraced as a good, than dreaded and shunned as an evil. Such seems to me the general import of the interesting paragraph I have read, excluding from consideration, at present, the 20th and 21st verses, which are plainly parenthetical, which may be left out without at all interrupting the train of thought, and which, being involved in considerable difficulties, may, with greater advantage, be afterwards made a subject of separate examination.

In suffering "for righteousness' sake," ye may well account yourselves happy. It is better, since such is the will of God, that ye doing well should suffer; for even (that is the force of the particle rendered also) the Lord Christ, all

excellent and glorious as he is, even HE, ONCE suffered, though now and henceforth he suffers no more—is completely and for ever exempt from suffering of every kind, in every degree, the ends of his sufferings being completely gained. He suffered, even to the death, "for sins;" not his own, for he had none, but for those of others, of course then, by the will of God, the express appointment of the supreme Judge, "in the stead of sinners ;" and he suffered doing well, being and appearing to be "the just One," though "in the room of the unjust;" and these sufferings were for a most holy and benignant object, that he might restore sinful and miserable men to holiness and happiness by bringing them to God. These sufferings, though they ended in a most violent death (for he was put to death, or became dead "in the flesh," or bodily), led to a vivification, a quickening in the Spirit, or spiritually, which manifested itself in his going and preaching to the spirits in prison, whatever that may mean, and to a bodily resurrection too, which was followed by ascension to heaven, where, in the nature in which he had endured so much suffering, He sits "at the right hand of God; angels, and authorities, and powers, being made subject to him.” Is there not abundant reason here why Christians, the followers of that illustrious sufferer, the Captain of salvation, thus made perfect through suffering, when exposed to suffering for his sake, should count it all joy to be subjected to manifold trials while he is conducting them to glory; should reckon themselves happy because they thus endure; should consider it better, since such is the will of God, that they doing well should suffer?

For the further illustration of this most interesting and instructive passage of Scripture, I shall call your attention, First, to the illustrious sufferer, "Christ, the just One;" Secondly, to his sufferings, he suffered, suffered even to death; Thirdly, to the nature of his sufferings, they were penal, vicarious, expiatory, for sins, in the room of the unjust; Fourthly to the design of his sufferings,-to bring