This is the faith which we should cultivate : this view of Jesus as an almighty and all-sufficient Saviour will quicken us to every duty, and strengthen us for every trial, and make us victorious over every enemy. Though appointed as " sheep for the slaughter, we shall be more than conquerors through Him that loved us."]
2. His love —
[In exact conformity to his Saviour's example, he died praying for his murderers ; " Lord lay not this sin to their charge !" This shews how far he was from feeling any thing of resentment in the rebuke which he had before given them : and it shews that the utmost fidelity to the souls of men will consist with the most fervent love towards them. Well had this holy man learned the precepts of his Lord. O that we also might obtain the same grace to " bless them that curse us, and to pray for them that despitefully use us and persecute us !" This is the test of real love. To love them that love us, is nothing: the vilest publicans will do that: but to love our enemies, to feel for them rather than for ourselves, to be tenderly concerned for them at the very moment that they are venting their utmost rage against us, and to be more anxious for the welfare of their souls than for the preservation of our own lives, this is Christian love ; this is that love which is the fruit of the Spirit, the image of God, and the earnest of heaven in the soul. Possessed of such a spirit, we need not fear what man can do unto us; for even the most violent