the faith of Christ, was an illustration and proof of this truth. View him —
1. On this occasion —
[It ever he might have hoped to escape persecution, it was at this time. Consider what he had done in restoring a man who had been a cripple from the womb ; and what a spirit the people had manifested towards him, in ascribing to him divine honour, and bringing sacrifices to him as unto a god : Could it be thought that he was in any danger at that place ? Yet, behold, no sooner did Jews come from Antioch and Iconium to stir up the people against him, than their minds were changed, and they stoned him as an impostor, whom they had just before proposed to worship as a god: so rapid was the transition from one extreme to another. Just as, in the case of our blessed Lord, there was but an interval of three days between the acclamations of the populace, and the universal cry of " Crucify him, crucify him," so there was but a step between the deification and destruction of this blessed man.]
2. Through the whole course of his ministry —
[Like his adorable Master, the Lord Jesus, he was truly " a man of sorrows." Indeed he expected that he should be so, and forewarned his converts respecting it, lest, when they saw the treatment he received, they should be discouraged a. When speaking of his sufferings some years afterwards, he especially referred to this particular occasion b: but, in fact, it made only a single article out of a long catalogue of trials, which attended him through lifec.]
We are apt to think that persecution was the lot of Christians only in the first ages of the Church : but the Apostle's testimony relates to all Christians of every age ; and must therefore be considered,
II. As to be realized in us —
It is a fact that all zealous Christians are perse- cuted—
[We say not that persecution rages equally at all times ; but we affirm, that lively and zealous Christians are hated by the world'1: that " those who are born after the flesh do still persecute those who are born after the Spirite." There are seasons indeed when the world may seem to favour a servant of God ; but, in the midst of all their seeming kindness, there
a 1 Thess. iii. 3, 1. b 2 Tim. iii. 10, 11. c 2 Cor. xi. 23—28. d Matt. x. 22. John xv. IS, 10. c Gal. iv. 29.