Heb. xiii. 3. Remember them, that are in bonds, as bound ivith them ; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.
IN the first ages of Christianity persecution raged to a degree that we at this time have little conception of: bonds and imprisonment were no uncommon lot, especially amongst those who were active in the ser- vice of their Lord. The loss of all things was also not unfrequently added to the other trials of the saints ; so that their afflictions were greatly multi- plied and exceeding heavy. At such a season, it was incumbent on every member of the Church to
compassionate the distresses of his afflicted brethren, and by a participation of their burthens to hghten their pressure, and to alleviate the sorrows occasioned by them. To this they might well be stimulated by the consideration that they themselves were constantly exposed to the same trials, and might soon need the same rehef which they were administering to others. Through the goodness of God we know but little of these trials. The persecutions of the present day amount to little more than contempt and hatred, and in some few instances a little outward opposition to our worldly interests. Still however there are afflic- tions of other kinds in abundance to which we all are subject ; and under which it becomes us all to manifest the tenderest compassion towards each other, not knowing how soon it may become our own lot to need the sympathy which we ourselves have exercised. In this view, the exhortation in our text deserves the attention of every child of man. Let us notice in it,
I. The duty inculcated —
Compassion towards our suffering fellow-creatures is a duty universally acknowledged. If the house- hold of faith are entitled to a preference in our re- gards, as certainly they are% our benevolence is not to be restricted to them : it is to be exercised gene- rally towards all the sons and daughters of affliction ; and that too in a way of, 1. Tender sympathy — [We should "remember them that are in bonds" or afflic- tions of any kind, not with a transient sigh, or a few customary expressions of condolence, but " as actually bound with them," and as being ourselves partakers of their sorrows. We can read of the desolations and ravages of war, or of the miseries occasioned by storms and tempests, and pass them over almost without any emotion, and in a few minutes utterly forget them. But, if we felt aright, we shoukl enter into all the troubles of the sufferers, just as if we ourselves were in tlieir very state and condition. Paint to yourselves the anguish of shipwrecked mariners, expecting every moment to be their last : or, if their
a Gal. vi. 10.