like the gladiatoi's, who were to engage in renewed combats till they died*^. In truth, he was regarded only as " the filth of the world, and as the ofF-scouring of all things;" fit only to be sacrificed for the pacifying of a daemon, or for the removal of a common plague^. Thus " he was in jeopardy every hour of his life*^;" and, as he expresses it in my text, " he died daily."]
2. As wrought and cherished in his own soul — [It is plain that this also is included in the expression before us; and that it forms, in fact, the very jet of his argu- ment. * I protest,' says he ' that, as I am daily exposed to death for my ministrations, so I willingly submit to it in an assured prospect that I shall be recompensed at the resurrec- tion of the just.' He knew that, independently of his perse- cutions, his life was very uncertain, and that he could not call a day or an hour his own : and the murderous cruelty of his enemies rendered his continuance in life still more precarious. But he was willing to die at any time, and in any way, for his Master's sake^ : yea, " he desired to depart, and to be with Christ, as far better " than any thing he could attain in this life^; and he accounted every moment of his continuance in the body as a privation of blessedness in the immediate pre- sence of his Lord'. He knew, that, at the very instant of his departure from the body, he should " behold his Lord face to face*^;" and, that, at the da:y of judgment, his body also should be raised to " meet the Lord in the air, and to be for ever with the Lord^:" and, under this conviction, he looked upon martyrdom itself as a ground of cordial self-congratulation and
This subject derives peculiar importance from, II. The solemn manner in which he affirmed it —
He takes for granted that those, whom he addressed, rejoiced in Christ Jesus, even as he did : and he pro- tests by their rejoicing, as well as by his ozmi"^, that this was indeed his experience from day to day. And from this protest we learn,
1. That this experience is not common — [No, in truth : it is very rare even among " those who
^ 1 Cor. iv. 9. e 1 Cor. iv. 1 3.
f ver. 30. s Acts xx. 24. and xxi. 13.
h Phil. i. 23. i 2 Cor. v. 6—8. ^ i Cor. xiii. 12.
1 1 Thcss. iv. 17. "> Phil. ii. 17, 18.
" I think tlie marginal translation of "our" instead of "your," decidedly preferable.