life who would declare s?" so may it be said of all his followers: their accusers are bold enough : but their defenders are not to be found, even in the seasons of their greatest need.
Nor is it to one description of persons only that the godly are obnoxious : the rich and the poor, the moral and the im- moral, are penetrated with the same feelings towards them, and manifest their hatred in the same unblushing manner. Were Paul and Barnabas to be expelled from Antioch? no more willing instruments could be found than some " devout and honourable women h." Have Paul and Silas provoked the envy of the Jews at Thessalonica ? there are plenty of " lewd fellows of the baser sort" ready to execute whatever their superiors may wish, and to drive these holy men from the place ; uproar and tumult being deemed the best answers to arguments which could not be controverted by rational discourse'. Only let Pilate and the chief priests pass sentence against Christ, and there will be no want of common people to spit in his face, and crucify him. David, though so great and good a man, com- plains that all orders of men were actuated by the same malig- nant dispositions towards him: " the fat bulls of Bashan beset him, whilst dogs also compassed him round aboutk;" yea, " the very abjects gathered themselves together against him, and hypocritical mockers gnashed upon him with their teeth1." That there are times and seasons of comparative peace to the Church we readily acknowledge : there were such seasons even in the primitive Church m. And we also thankfully acknow- ledge, that even where the same disapprobation of vital god- liness exists, it does not manifest itself with the same degree of bitterness in all persons ; the natural enmity of the heart being moderated by sentiments of liberality and candour. But we will still say, that it does exist in the heart of every uncon- verted man, and that " they who are born after the flesh, will, though not in all cases with the same rancour, persecute those who are born after the Spirit:" as it was formerly, "so it is now";" and so it ever will be, as long as an unconverted man shall exist upon the face of the earth.]
Having established this fact, I now come, II. To account for it —
Certainly one should rather have expected, that every one departing from evil, would be an object, not of hatred and censure, but of approbation and applause. We are constrained however to acknow-
g Isai. liii. 8. h Acts xvii. 3, 4. * Acts xiii. 50.
k Ps. xxii. 12, 16. ' Ps. xxxv. 15, 16. m Acts ix. 31.
n Gal. iv. 29.