to him is founded. Assuredly it is not on his friendship with God. I should naturally not only be surprised, but alarmed, to find myself courted by the sworn enemy of my best friend. I should be more alarmed if I felt a disposition to be gratified by his advances.

Our second reflection is, How adorable is the benignant wisdom of God, which educes good from the greatest evils! The hatred of the world against Christ, and Christianity, and Christians, and the persecutions which have sprung from it, are enormous evils. They are moral evils of the worst kind; and no human skill can estimate the amount of physical evil-suffering-which they have produced. But, by the controlling power of God's providence, and the effectual influence of his Spirit, they have been made conducive to much good. They have kept, in many instances, the unworthy out of the church, or have induced them to leave a fellowship they could only disgrace. They have not only thus been of advantage to the church as a body, but they have exercised the graces, and improved the characters, of its genuine members; while, as the fulfilment of prophecy, they have increased the evidence of Christianity, and added a new bulwark to the faith, by the very attempt to destroy it. Surely "the wrath of man praises him, and the remainder thereof he restrains." If Christianity be in danger at all, which it is not, it would be, not from the hatred and persecutions of its avowed enemies, but from the half-heartedness, indolence, and inconsistencies of its professed friends. But though not endangered, it may be injured-its progress impeded-its glory tarnished-its influence counteracted and diminished. Let us, my brethren, take good heed that we, professing to be the friends of Christianity, have no share in producing evils, which all the malice and power of the world have been incapable of effecting,—casting a shade of doubt on its divine origin, or giving a pretext to worldly men to say their hatred of Christianity is not misplaced, if we are fair specimens of the characters it is calculated to

form. Let us seek that our whole character and conduct shall be such as, if the world will quarrel with us, they shall find no occasion against us, except it be concerning the law of our God; and that, if they hate us, they hate us only for his name's sake; so that it may be said of us, as of him, "They hated us without a cause." Let us never provoke their hatred by our rash and intemperate conduct, and let their hatred never provoke us to meet them on their own ground, and fight them with their own weapons. Following this course, Christians need never be afraid of the hatred or persecution of the world. They will not essentially or permanently injure either them or their cause. They will turn out to the improvement of their character, and to the furtherance of the Gospel. It has always been so; it will always be so. "This cometh forth from the Lord, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working. To Him be all the glory." The conduct of the primitive church, after the apostles had been exposed to the hatred and persecution of the Jewish magistrate, is the model for all Christians, in similar circumstances, in all ages. "They lifted up the voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is; who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. For of a truth, against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done." 1 "The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought; he maketh the devices of the people of none effect. The counsel of the Lord standeth

Acts iv. 24-28.

for ever; the thoughts of his heart to all generations." HALLELUIAH.

(3.) The disciples had no reason to be ashamed of the

hatred and opposition of the world.

Let us now turn our attention to the reasons contained in the paragraph before us-why the disciples should not be ashamed of the hatred and the persecution of the world. It results from the very constitution of human nature,-and in this, as in all its other parts, we see the impress of the wisdom and the goodness of its author, that men are agreeably or disagreeably affected by the manifestations of the opinion of their fellow-men, in reference to their character and conduct, according as that opinion is favourable or unfavourable. A man is naturally more confident in the truth of his own opinions, and the propriety of his own conduct, when he finds that they are generally approved by his fellows, and obtains proof of this approbation in the kind and respectful treatment he receives from them; and a man must have a great deal of self-conceit, or he must have a very firm conviction of the truth of his sentiments, and the rectitude of his conduct, who does not, in some degree, experience the painful feeling of shame, when he perceives that his views and behaviour, on any subject, meet with general disapprobation, from the neglect, contempt, or direct punishment which they bring on him, from his fellow-men.

If the generality of mankind were what they should be, the operation of this part of our constitution would be productive of unmixed good. Even as it is, it produces much good, and prevents much evil. What kind of a world would we have, if men were totally regardless of each other's opinions? Yet still, from men's judgments often not being according to truth, the desire of the world's esteem and admiration, and the fear of its disapprobation, and even its "dread laugh," frequently operate as incentives to folly

and sin, and obstructions to the profession of truth, and the performance of duty. Sufferings from the hand of our fellow-men are indications of their disapprobation of our sentiments, or character, and conduct; and when these sufferings proceed from correct views of truth and justice, they, as the deserved chastisement of folly, or punishment of crime, are really shameful; and it is a proof of having sunk into the deepest moral debasement, when their infliction does not produce the feeling of shame. The man who is incapable of being made ashamed of folly and sin, is likely to be an incorrigible sinner and fool. There is very little probability of his ever becoming wise and good. He who, on being reproved for obvious and well-proved delinquency, is "not ashamed, neither can blush," is all but hopelessly depraved. To sufferings of this kind, professors of Christianity, ay, genuine Christians, may render themselves liable; and when they do so, they should be ashamed of such sufferings, and still more of their cause. The best men, when, from the prevalence of the remaining sinful propensities of their fallen nature, they incur such sufferings, will be most ashamed-they will most readily and deeply blush.

But these are not the sufferings of which our Lord is speaking in the paragraph under consideration. The hatred which he speaks of, is a hatred of them as Christians, on account of their Christianity; and the sufferings he speaks of, are just the result of that hatred. To yield in these circumstances to the instinctive impulse of the human constitution,-to be ashamed of what is generally disliked, condemned, punished,-would have been unreasonable and wrong, however natural; and, therefore, our Lord makes it very evident to his disciples, that however the hatred of the world might be manifested in contumelious and cruel treatment of them as Christians, instead of having cause to be ashamed, they had cause to glory. It was not they, the poor, hated, contemned, persecuted ones, that should be

ashamed, but the powerful ones who hated, contemned, and persecuted them.

Our Lord, by turning the attention of his disciples to what it was in them, that provoked the world's hatred and persecution; and what it was in the world, that led it to hate and persecute them, fortifies them against that feeling of shame, which is the natural effect of their being hated and persecuted by the great body of mankind, especially by those who were wealthy and powerful, and were accounted wise. The world hated and persecuted them on account of their connection with Christ. If that was a shameful thing, then might they be ashamed of its proof and consequences. "All these things will they do unto you for my name's sake." "I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." And then, as what in them was the occasion of the world's hatred and persecution was no cause for shame, so the principle of the world's persecution-its true cause,-was so discreditable, that it could bring merited disgrace on none but itself. It was hatred of Christ and of his Father, growing out of ignorance of them. The world had cause to be ashamed, both of the evil principle, and its evil effects. They who suffered from these effects had no reason to be ashamed. Hatred of God and his Son, originating in ignorance-wilful ignorance-of them, what could be more shameful? The approbation, the patronage, the friendship, of such men, would have been shameful to its objects; their hatred and persecution were creditable to their objects. Such are the topics bearing on the principle brought forward by our Lord, namely, 'Christians should not be ashamed of the hatred and persecutions of the world.' Let us briefly consider them.

Christians should be kept from being ashamed of their sufferings as Christians, while they reflect what it is in them that calls forth the hatred, and provokes the persecution, of the world. "All these things will they do unto you for my name's sake." "Ye shall be hated," says he elsewhere, "of