We should rather regard it as a ground of joy —
[On this subject there is but one testimony throughout all the Holy Scriptures. Our blessed Lord says, " If ye be persecuted for righteousness' sake, rejoice ye, and leap for joy." St. Paul tells us, that the true Christian will " glory in tribulations0:" and that he himself actually "took pleasure in them" from the consideration that Christ's strength would thereby be displayed and glorified d. St. James bids us " count it all joy when we fall into divers temptations :" and gives it as his deliberate judgment, " We count them happy that endure e." St. Peter, as this whole epistle informs us, had the same view of the subject : and therefore we feel warranted in saying to all of you, " If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye."]
In confirmation of this sentiment, I proceed to shew,
II. What reason we have for viewing it in that light- Certainly it appears strange and paradoxical that the most cruel persecution for Christ's sake should be considered as a ground of joy. But this view of it is just : for, when we suffer for Christ's sake,
1. We are made "partakers of Christ's suffer- ings"—
[We all know, that if any part of the human body suffer, whether the head or members, the whole participates in the pain. Now the Lord Jesus Christ is the head of his mystical body, and we are the members : and when he suffered on the cross, we suffered with him ; as it is written, " We are crucified with Christ;" " we died with him;" " we were buried with himf." So when we suffer, he suffers, as it were, with us: as he said, " Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me^?" " In all our afflictions he is afflicted11:" and " he who toucheth us, toucheth the apple of his eye1." As far as respects an atone- ment made for sin, he suffered alone : but, that we may be conformed to his image in all things, he has ordained that his Church should complete and " fill up the measure of his sufferings :" so that, though in his own person he is beyond the reach of man's cruelty, he is still enduring much from it in the persons of his people. In truth, it is not on their own
c
Rom. v. 3. d 2 Cor. xii. 10. e Jam. i. 2. and v. 11.
f Gal. ii. 20. Rom. vi. 4, 8. e Acts ix. 4.
h Isai. lxiii. 9. i Zech. h. 8.