as " turning the world upside down," and are deemed little better than " the filth of the world and the ofF-scouring of all things." Nor will any thing screen us from this odium : we may be as learned, as blameless, as benevolent, as active as Paul himself, and yet, if we have any measure of his fidelity, we shall be sure enough to have some measure also of his treatment from an ungodly world.]
But the experience of all ages abundantly attests, II. The vanity of that opposition —
Notwithstanding all the exertions of his enemies,
Christ was exalted —
[It was " a vain thing that the people imagined," when they supposed that they could defeat the purposes of the Most High in relation to the establishment of his Son upon the throne of Israel. " He that sitteth in the heavens laughed at them, and had them in derision." In vain were the stone, the seal, the guard : at the appointed hour, Christ rose triumphant from the grave ; and, on his ascension to the right hand of God, sent forth his Spirit to erect, in the hearts of men, that spiritual kingdom that shall never be moved: "Yet," says God, " have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion." As the purpose of Jehovah respecting the typical David was fulfilled in due season, so was that " decree which Jehovah had declared" respecting " his anointed Son." " The word grew and multiplied" in every place : and " the stone that had been cut out of the mountain without hands, broke in pieces" all adverse powers, and filled the whole Roman empire s. The opposition raised by the Jewish nation against the Lord and his Christ, terminated only in the confusion of the opponents, on whom " the wrath of God" soon fell, and who are to this hour the most awful monuments of " his displeasure."]
In due time his exaltation shall be complete —
[God having, in the resurrection of Christ, borne witness to him as his only-begotten Son'\ has engaged, in answer to his requests, to " give him the utmost ends of the earth for his possession." And this he is gradually accomplishing: in every quarter of the globe is the Redeemer's kingdom extend- ing on the right hand and on the left : and though there is very much land still rmsubdued before him, yet shall he "go on conquering and to conquer," " till every enemy is put under his feet." The enmity of the human heart, indeed, will still vent itself against him ; but all who will not bow to the sceptre of his grace, " shall be broken in pieces like a potter's vessel." Whether we look to the world at large, or to any particular
8 Dan. ii. 34, 35. '' Rom. i. 4.