he submitted with unconquerable " patience." Those two words (" afflictions" and " patience") may be con- sidered as comprehending the whole, which in all that follows is branched out into a variety of particulars. Bearing that in remembrance, there will be found a cli- max throughout the whole. It will be proper to notice,
1. The circumstances in which he was placed — [He was in one continual state of trial, as arising from
different so^irces. Mark his trials; first, as arising from the occurrences of every day: he was often in such " necessities," as to want every thing that was needful for the body, and to suffer much from hunger and cold and nakedness : his " dis- tresses," too, were often of so embarrassing a nature, that he knew not how to extricate himself from them. Mark them, next, as arisiiig from the treatment he met with : multitudes were embittered against him to the last degree ; sometimes loading him with " stripes ;" at other times tormenting him with " imprisonments ;" and at other times raging against him with such " tumults," that he was literally in danger of being torn in pieces by his infuriated enemies. Mark them, yet further, as arising from his oivn zeal in the discharge of his high office. His " labours," and " watchings," and " fastings," were doubtless sometimes imposed upon him by necessity ; but they were also sometimes voluntarily undertaken, for the ad- vancement of God's work in his own soul, and for the further- ing, by means of more fervent intercession, the glorious cause he had undertaken to promote. Now let us turn our attention to,]
2. The manner in which he conducted himself under them —
[On this he dilates, with a richness and a copiousness unrivalled perhaps in the whole world. He speaks of his patience under these diversified trials, and of his deportment under them ; first, in a loay of active exertion. He was careful, above all things, that no one should have cause to impeach the " pureness" of his principles; and he strove to act with such judgment, that his " knowledge" of God's will should be evident to all, and be exercised to the uttermost, for the benefit of all. At the same time, he took care, by his " long- suifering," to shew that he could not easily be stimulated to resentment against his persecutors: on the contrary, he lost no opportunity of requiting by " kindness" the injuries they inflicted ; evincing, by this, that he was under the influence of " the Holy Ghost," and actuated altogether by " unfeigned love" to every child of man. " The word of truth" was con-