signifies place, and sometimes the people who occupy it, and sometimes, as in the present instance, both. "Tribulation," as here used, is a term expressive of the most poignant anguish, arising from the operation of outward circumstances. In our text, these words stand to each other in the relation of cause and effect: the tribulation would have no source, but for the world, and no subject but for the church. In farther prosecuting our theme, we shall inquire into the cause of this tribulation, its tendency, and its antidote. 66 The cause is to be found in the world's eumity to God. Our Lord himself has fully illustrated this part of the subject. He traces it exclusively to the enmity of the human heart. If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you: if ye were of the world, the world would love its own, but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also (John xv. 18). In perfect harmony with the doctrine of our Divine Master, his inspired servants the apostles declare that the carnal mind is enmity against God: it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." From this, the ruling spirit of our world, arises the persecution of the righteous. Persecution is, in fact, the penalty of virtue. The renewed mind is love, and the very sight of that love by men, "hateful and hating one another," excites their bitterest animosity. Ungodly men are always maddened at beholding the infinite superiority of the righteous. The spirit, the principles, the conduct, the character, are, and ever have been, a ground of offence and subject of quarrel on the part of a rebel world, since the days of Cain down to our own times. This hatred exists in various degrees, dependent upon circumstances. Piety, when most hidden, is most safe,-when most active and visible, it is most obnoxious and liable to assaults. Its least distinguishable symptoms expose its possessor to the frowns and scorn of the wicked; but, as it gathers strength, and principles become developed in actual practice, expressing themselves in acts of devotion, and in the observance of ordinances, in works of faith and in labours of love, in denouncing evil and exhibiting excellence, it becomes increasingly hateful, till at length, if law and order prevent not, it brings down on the head of its subject a tempest of persecution, and engulfs him in the depths of tribulation. It was the sacrifice of Abel, with its acceptance, that maddened Cain, and led to the awful perpetration of his brother's murder. Brethren, turn to the page of your own experience. The first buddings of repentance, in the case of some of you, were not unnoticed by unholy connections. The depression of spirit, of which you were the subject, when the "commandment came, sin revived, and you died," was to them a cause of anxiety, and for you it enkindled in their bosoms a sentiment of pity. They trembled for the state of your health, both physically and mentally. But when piety began to manifest itself, and the pains of penitence gave place to the peace of faith, then their compassion was instantly converted into anger, and the right spirit which accompanied your new heart, became the object of their abhorrence. But still, when the first shock was past, and reason had had time to ruminate, and affection to recover its bias, they could have endured the inward change if you would have kept it to yourself. If you had been content with the secret service of God, and the hidden love of Christ, and if in public you had continued to act as aforetime, the grievous offence might have been overlooked. It was when you began to separate yourselves from the world, and consequently, in part from them, and sought the companionship of such as feared the Lord, that the spirit of hatred began to be con. firmed, and the principle of persecution became rooted in their nature. This step never fails to call forth the deepest hostility of the human heart. Nor is the alarm thence arising without foundation. To the world such an act is very intelligible; it cannot be mistaken. Its voice to them is, "Choose ye whom ye will serve, but as for me, I will serve the Lord." The world fully understands this movement, and it is understood still better by the powers of darkness. It is in fact the turningpoint in the history of a human soul. Let a sinner who has been awakened to a sense of his danger be kept apart from the righteous, and continually mixed up with the world, and Satan will succeed much more easily in retaining him in captivity; but if once he find his way to the fellowship of those whom Christ has made free, the probability is, that as a bird, he will escape from the snare of the fowler, and, holding fast the beginning of his confidence, believe to the salvation of his soul. From the want or the neglect of the means thousands and millions, who once seemed in a hopeful state, have lost their first impressions, and drawn back again into perdition. Nothing tends so forcibly, so fearfully, to illustrate the fallen condition of man as the spirit of persecution. It is a dreadful exemplification, in its most aggravated form, of the incurable enmity of the human soul to God: for in reality it is not so much the creature that is hated and assailed. Man can look at the heavens, which are the handiwork of the Most High, with the sun, the moon, and the stars, and at the earth and ocean, with their collective and boundless stores of objects illustrative of the divine wisdom, power, and goodness, not only without offence, but with pleasure. He will take the entire creation as his Bible, and read its communications with rapture; manifesting no disgust at its doctrines, no indignation at its lessons. The reason of all this is obvious. In that volume he finds nothing to excite either fear or hatred; nothing to humble his pride or quench his passions; nothing which involves any consideration of his state or character, deeds or destiny. But let him sit down to the volume of inspiration, and ponder its disclosures, relative both to the divine character and his own, and forthwith the latent spark of enmity in his soul is kindled to a flame, and breaks forth in all possible means of manifestation. That Book gives an account of God, for which he is not prepared, and an account of himself which covers him with confusion. It sets prominently forth two ideas-the Divine holiness and the Divine justice-which inspire him with dread and fill him with resentment. God in the Book is to him at once terrible and hateful. God in Christ to the wicked who beheld him was far more hateful, and, perhaps, not less terrible. God in man, Christ in His people is, even now, if less terrible, little less hateful. The assumptions of the Gospel respecting the character, conduct, and deserts of man are so wounding, so humbling, and so calcu lated to arouse his pride, that he will not listen to the Gospel itself, and hence the mistake under which they labour regarding its nature, design, tendency, and excellence. · The man who finds in his breast the heart of a persecutor, has within him the grounds and evidence of his own condemnation! He need go no farther in quest of proof that he is an enemy to God, and on the way to perdition! In the court of conscience all other evidence of his guilt may be safely dispensed with; for this alone will suffice for his conviction and condemnation. The man, on the contrary, who is persecuted for righteousness' sake is not only blessed in spirit, but entitled to indulge the hope that his is the kingdom of heaven. The tendency of this affliction may be ascertained by attention to the biography of the Old Testament. Behold Elijah, that man of iron strength The and lion courage, fleeing for his life: see him in the wilderness, prostrate under the juniper-tree. Hear his lamentable supplication-"It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left alone, and they seek my life to take it away." (1 Kings xix. 4, 14). Hear the pathetic words of Jeremiah, Oh, that I had in the wilderness a lodging-place of wayfaring men, that I might leave my people and go away from them" (Jer. ix. 2). The Book of Psalms abounds with the language of complaint, arising from the wrongs to which the Psalmist was subjected. To cite all that bears upon this subject would be to cite no small portion of the Book. Piety is not insensibility. The children of God are duly, deeply alive to the cruelty of the persecutor, although they endure it with meekness and patience. Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me?" is David's language. "Why do the wicked prosper, and those who deal very treacherously?" is the lament of Jeremiah. Paul could say, though sorrowful yet always rejoicing." Joy triumphed, but still sorrow had its place. Again, he says, "rejoicing in tribulation." The latter was clearly felt, although the former was gloriously in the ascendant. 66 The antidote to immoderate sorrow was very clearly set forth in the Old and still more so in the New Testament. The source of every comfort was the fatherhood of God. "If God be for us, who can be against us? was the question of the apostle of the Gentiles. The same idea is brought forth with much feeling and force throughout the whole book of Psalms. We find David everywhere committing himself under opposition, persecution, and cruel wrong, to God, who was all his salvation and all his joy. The Lord Jesus is exhibited in the New Testament in Isaiah lv. 10, 11. "For as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it to bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." I. In the beginning of this chapter we have an encouraging and delightful view of the value and freeness of the blessings of the Gospel. They are set before us under the similitude of a feast prepared for all people. But we bave naturally no appetite for such foodno relish for the provision offered to us, and it may be asked, What security is there that the invitation will be complied with, that the boon will be received? The message itself is most comprehensive and explicit: "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness." There is no ambiguity, observe, in the invitation itself: the difficulty is in the state of mind of those to whom it is addressed. In the promulgation of the Gospel message, there are many difficulties and discourage ments that stand in the way of its success; and in contemplating the obstacles that oppose its progress, we are in danger of giving way to despondency, and are ready to exclaim with the prophet, "Who hath believed our report?" or with the Apostle, Who is sufficient for these things?" These obstacles may be regarded in a two-fold point of view, as partly external, and as partly internal: the former present themselves chiefly at the first introduction of the Gospel into a country; the latter arise mainly from the corruption of human nature, and the inherent depravity of the human heart. 1. Among the external difficulties or obstacles that present themselves to the successful introduction of Christianity into a country, may be mentioned the comparative weakness and feebleness of the instruments employed for its propagation. This was sensibly felt by the apostles and primitive preachers. The treasure was put into earthen vessels. God was pleased to choose "the weak things of the world to confound the mighty, and the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, that no flesh should glory in his presence:" they went forth as sheep in the midst of wolves, and encountered opposition of every kind, both from Jews and Gentiles. Among the former, they had to contend with the national pride, carnality, selfrighteousness and unbelief of their countrymen: the doctrine of the Cross was a stumbling-block to the Jews," and they proved the bitterest enemies of the new religion. In carrying the word of life to the benighted Gentiles, they were exposed to still greater persecution and danger. They had to contend with the power of the civil magistracy (to whom the guardianship of the popular superstition belonged*)with the prejudice and passions of the multitude-with the jealousy and selfishness of a mercenary and interested priesthood-and with the pride and *Hence the title Pontifex Maximus, applied to the Roman emperors-a distinction still claimed by the Bishop of Rome. sophistry of the heathen sages, to whom the preaching of the Cross" was foolishness." The religion of Greece and Rome could boast of a remote antiquity: it was artfully adapted to the corrupt propensities of the human heart-its forms and ceremonies were interwoven with the whole framework of social life, and it had in its favour the powerful prestige of education, custom and habit. Those who embraced the Christian faith were exposed to the hatred of their nearest friends, and to the reproach and ridicule of the world; and many were deterred from embracing it from fear of marring their temporal prospects, and by that indolence and aversion to change their old habits, which is so natural to all men. These difficulties are still realized by modern missionaries, in their endeavours to evangelize the heathen in India and other unenlightened lands. 2. But there are internal obstacles common to all countries and to all ages, even where the true religion is nominally professed, and where no false system is openly avowed; obstacles arising from the native corruption of the human heart. There is the hardening and deceitful influence of sin-the undue love of the world-the general prevalence of a self-righteous spirit-the power of ignorance, of error, of prejudice and unbelief-and the natural apathy and listlessness of the human mind in respect of spiritual things. To this must be added the mysterious nature of the peculiar doctrines of the Gospelits uncompromising opposition to error and to vice-its humbling views of human nature-its explicit declarations of the worthlessness of man's own righteousness to procure acceptance with God, and the claim which it puts forth of the entire surrender of the heart and life to the authority of Christ. This still makes the Gospel "foolishness" to the natural man. Finally, there is the mysterious but powerful influence which is exerted by the prince of darkness over the human mind, to hide from it the glory and excellence of divine truth, and to pre-occupy the attention with the lusts and pleasures of this world; for “if our Gospel be hid,” says Paul, “it is hid to them that are lost; in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." (2 Cor. iv. 3, 4.) Taking all these things into account, and contrasting the vast extent of the field to be cultivated, with the comparative fewness and feebleness of the labourers, the world appears like a vast wilderness-a valley full of dry bones: and we are ready to say, with the prophet, "Can these dry bones live? Can this moral wilderness become like the garden of the Lord?" II. On the other hand, to meet these obstacles, and to obviate these difficulties, there are various considerations of an encouraging nature which invite our attention. 66 1. There is the assurance of the Saviour himself, that He will be with His faithful servants, at all times and in all places, even to the end of the world." The Christian soldier is not sent on this spiritual warfare on his own charges, or in his own strength. The spiritual husbandman is encouraged to plough. and sow the good seed of the word, in the hope that the blessing of heaven will not be withheld: the promise of the Holy Spirit is given to stimulate exertion and to secure success. We can point to the triumphs which the Gospel obtained, at first, over the strongholds of idolatry and superstition: we can re'er to the success with which it has been followed in our own times: yea, we can appeal to many living witnesses of its power. Of this, the Christian has a proof in his own experience. 'He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself." 2. In the text we are furnished with another ground of encouragement, of a very pleasing and satisfactory nature. The efficacy of the word to accomplish the conversion of sinners, when purely and faithfully preached, is exhibited under a very striking and elegant simile. It is compared to the influence of rain and snow in the kingdom of nature to fertilize the earth, "for as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud-so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth:" A similar sentiment occurs (chap. lxi. 11.) "for as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations." So in the song of Moses; "My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew; as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass." (Deut. Xxxii 2.) In like manner (Hosea xiv. 5-7) where the influence of God's spirit is compared to the dew of heaven: "I will be as the dew unto Israel; he shall grow as the lily and cast forth his roots as Lebanon." The same idea is amplified in Dr. Watts' version of the seventysecond psalm: "As dew on meadows newly mown, So shall He send His influence down: Like heavenly dew on thirsty hills." This comparison suggests many instructive and important lessons. 1. It teaches us that there is a moral fitness or adaptation in the word itself to accomplish the end proposed; so there is a natural fitness in the rain and snow to fertilize the ground. The rain penetrates the surface of the earth, breaks the clods of the field, dissolves the furrows thereof, and communicates sap and nourishment to the grain and grass seeds, and to the roots of trees and plants, and flowers. "Who hath caused it," says Jehovah," to rain on the earth, where no man is-on the wilderness, wherein there is no man?-to satisfy the desolate and waste ground, and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?" (Job xxxviii. 26-28; Compare Psalm lxv. 9-13, civ. 13.) The snow moderates the intensity of the cold, pulverizes and enriches the soil, |