darkness : not a man on earth would be able to stand, if not upheld by an almighty arm : in fact, the only way to be strong in the Christian warfare is, to feel ourselves " weak," and to be " strong only in the Lord and in the power of his might " ]
2. Those who are offended —
[The consequence of weakness is, a liability to be oifended and cast down by untoward circumstances of any kind. It is no uncommon thing for persons to be offended even at the very mysteries of our holy religion. When our Lord spake of our eating his flesh and drinking his blood, some of his Disciples exclaimed, " This is an hard saying ; who can hear it''?" Upon which, our Lord, knowing in himself that his Disciples murmured at it, saith to them, " Doth this offend you ? What, and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before®?" So, at this day, many of the sublimer truths of Christianity are "hard sayings" in the ears of some, whose " hearts, we yet hope, are, on the whole, right with
God" Our Lord intimated that it would be so, when
he said, " Blessed is he who shall not be offended in me^."
And, as some are offended at the woi'd of God, so are others at his providence : especially when they see what persecutions they have to endure for righteousness' sake, and how the un- godly triumph over the very Church and cause of God^
Nor are the falls or apostasy of professors an uncommon occasion of offence. We are apt to forget, that " all are not Israel who are of Israel." There was a Judas even amongst the Apostles themselves : and of the immediate followers of our Lord, so many went back and walked no more with him, that even the stability of the Apostles themselves was en- dangered''.]
What then is,
II. The duty of their more estabhshed brethren towards them ?
Certainly the Apostle's example is that which we ought to follow, even as he himself followed Christ : of whom it is said, " A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory'."
''With the weak, then, we must be weak" —
d John vi. 41—43. « John vi. GO— G2.
f Matt. xi. G. € Matt. xiii. 21.
1' John vi. G6, 67. ' Matt. xii. 20.