He would have us to glory in such kind of tribula- | in his own person, but those which the apostle suftions, and triumph in them, Rom. v. 3. So did the fered for his sake. As he says to the Philippians, apostles, who, having been ignominiously scourged that he desired to be found in Christ, to the end that by the decree of the council of the Jews, rejoiced (says he might know "the fellowship of his sufferings," the sacred history) "that they were counted worthy Phil. iii. 10; that is, those sufferings by which all to suffer shame for the name of Jesus," Acts v. 41. | his faithful ones are consecrated after his example. I confess that such joy, in occurrences which would The same he elsewhere calls "the afflictions of the produce shame and sadness in all other men, is gospel," 2 Tim. i. 8; and in another place," the strange; it is contrary to the sentiments of nature, dying of the Lord Jesus," which he says he bears and exceeds its strength: yet I affirm that it is just; "about in his body," 2 Cor. iv. 10; just as he here and although it is above the reach of our reason, it says that he fills up the afflictions of Christ in his will be found to be a very rational joy. flesh. And, in my judgment, it is the same that he means at the end of the Epistle to the Galatians, where he glories in bearing in his body "the marks of the Lord Jesus," Gal. vi. 17, because afflictions are, as it were, the mark that Jesus Christ imprints in the flesh of his servants, the seal and badge of his house. So in the Epistle to the Hebrews, he terms the low and disgraceful condition, the afflictions and inconveniences of the people of God," the reproach of Christ;" saying that Moses esteemed "the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt," Heb. xi. 26. II. That this may the better appear, let us now consider the two reasons of it, which the apostle here alleges, when he adds, " And fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church." The word "and," which knits these words with the foregoing, is put here, as in many other places of Scripture, for one of those particles which they call causal. I" rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions," &c.; that is, forasmuch as I fill up, or because I fill up, that which remains of the afflictions of Christ, as some of the best and most learned interpreters have well observed. The first of these reasons which induced the apostle to receive the sufferings of the gospel with joy is this, that by undergoing them he filled up the rest of the afflictions of Christ in his flesh. First, It is clear that by "the afflictions of Christ" he does not mean the troubles which the Lord Jesus himself suffered in his own person during the days of his flesh, of which his death on the cross was the last and the chief, the end and crowning of them all. For neither St. Paul, nor any of the writers of the New Testament, ever uses the term "affliction" to express those sufferings of our Lord. They are always termed either his passion, and sufferings, or his temptations; as in the Epistle to the Hebrews, "Jesus was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death," Heb. ii. 9; and in St. Peter, "The Spirit testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ," 1 Pet. i. 11; and so also in other places. 66 If you now ask me the reason of this mode of speech, it is not difficult to be found. For, first, since it is for the name of the Lord, for his cause, and in his service, that the faithful are afflicted; 'suffering," according to St. Peter's advice, "not as a murderer, or thief, or evil-doer, or as busybodies in other men's matters," but as Christians, 1 Pet. iv. 15, 16; all the wounds which they receive upon this account are justly called the sufferings of Christ. Since he is the cause and the true occasion of them, it is reasonable to attribute them to him, and to say that they are his. Secondly, there is so strict a union between the Lord and all his true members, that they with him make up but one body, as the apostle will presently tell us. And by virtue of this conjunction we have part both in his glory and, in some measure, in his very name; as the apostle intimates, when he compares this mystical body to a natural body, and says, "As the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ," 1 Cor. xii. 12. Under the name of "Christ" there St. Paul comprises not only the person of the Lord Jesus, but with him the whole multitude of his believers. And considering them as united together, he gives the name "Christ" to this whole body, which is composed of the Lord as the Head, and of the faithful as memWhereby it appears that all that believers suffer, each for his share, makes up part of the afflic tions of Christ. As you know we call those injuries ours which we receive in any one of our members, whether the hand or the foot. Paul is the hand of Christ, as one of the members of his body, yea, one of the most excellent. Surely then all that he suffers pertains to Christ. It is his affliction and his hurt. None of the wounds of his servant is alien to him. And you see even among men, it is an offence to a prince to slight his minister, it is an affront to the husband to injure the wife, to attack the servant is to assault the master. Though the connexion between these persons is not so close or so intimate as the union of Jesus Christ and his people, yet it is sufficient to denominate those outrages and injuries the prince's, the husband's, or the master's injuries, which are done to the persons who appertain to them under that relationship. Accordingly, you see in civil affairs, that men interest themselves as much in such cases, and take as heinously, or even more so, the outrages done to persons depending on them, and dear to them, than those which are directly aimed at themselves. Thus, in the heavenly state of the church, Secondly, "The afflictions of Christ," of which the apostle speaks in this place, were not finished; there remained still some part of them to be filled up; whereas the Lord's personal sufferings were perfectly completed on the cross, so that in this respect there remained nothing more for him to suffer; according to what he himself testified, when he cried with a loud voice, before he gave up the ghost, " It is finish-bers. ed:" and also according to what the apostle teaches in various places; namely, that Christ "died unto sin once;" that henceforth he "dieth no more," but "liveth unto God;" and that he "was once offered to bear the sins of many," Rom. vi. 9, 10; Heb. ix. 28. Those of Rome confess it, and even complain that they should be charged with having other thoughts upon the subject; they acknowledge it would be gross blasphemy to say that the sufferings of the Lord Jesus, by which he expiated our sins on the cross, want any thing that should be supplied either by St. Paul or any other man. What then are these "afflictions of Christ" which are here spoken of? Dear brethren, they are those which the apostle suffered for the name of the Lord, and in his communion, and by reason of the ministry with which he had honoured him. For it is the practice of these holy men to give this title to all that believers suffer for this holy and glorious cause. "As the sufferings of Christ abound in us," says the apostle, consolation also aboundeth by Christ," 2 Cor. i. 5. Hence you clearly see that by "the sufferings of Christ" are not meant those which the Lord suffered 66 So our Jesus Christ owns both the good and the evil that are done to his followers. He says of those who visit, comfort, and feed his poor members, that they visit, and comfort, and feed himself. Of those who refuse them these good offices, he declares that they have denied them to him. And Paul had learned this lesson from his own mouth. For when, in the darkness of his ignorance, actuated by the fury of his zeal without knowledge, he persecuted the disciples, Jesus cried to him from heaven, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" Acts ix. 4. It is me whom thou outragest in the person of those faithful people whom thou purposest to bind and imprison. Thou dost not give them a blow that does not reach me. I fail not, though in heaven, to bear a part in all that they suffer on earth. The blood thou drawest from them is mine; and as their persons belong to me, so all their afflictions and torments are mine. The apostle, instructed by this Divine oracle, boldly calls afflictions of Christ all those which he suffered after he had the honour of being his. But he does not barely say here that he suffers "the afflictions of Christ." He also says that he fills up that which is behind, that which was yet wanting of them. To understand this aright, we must remember what he teaches us elsewhere, namely," that whom God did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren," Rom. viii. 29; and that one of the principal parts of this conformity is their suffering here below, and their partaking of the cross of Christ, according to the intimation which he constantly gives us in Scripture, that if any one will follow him he must take up his cross, that all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. Now as the wisdom and understanding of the Lord is infinite, he has not only ordained this in general, but has defined and decreed in his eternal counsel, both that which the whole body of the church shall bear in the gross, and what each of the faithful, of whom this body is composed, shall suffer in particular, through what trials he shall pass, where his exercises shall begin, and where they shall end. And as his hand and his counsel had before determined all that the Lord Jesus suffered in his own person, Acts iv. 28; for which reason St. Peter calls him the Lamb that was foreordained before the foundations of the world," 1 Pet. i. 20; so likewise has he resolved upon, and formed, in the light of his eternal providence, the whole lot of each one of the faithful, all the parts and thrusts of their combat. The case of the head and of the members is alike. Nothing happens to them by mere chance. The procedure and proportion of their whole laborious course is cut out and fashioned before all ages. According to this true and holy doctrine, the apostle doubted not that his task was ordained in the counsel of his God, that the number of his sufferings were determined, and the quality of them regulated. Having then already despatched a great part of them, he means here that which remained for him yet to finish according to the counsel of God. I accomplish, says he, in my present sufferings, "that which is behind," or the remainder, "of the afflictions of Christ." I despatch my task by little and little, and what I now suffer makes up a part of it. It is one draught of the cup which the Lord has ordained for me, a portion of the afflictions which I am to pass through, for his Christ's sake and cause. It is one of the conflicts which I must endure, for the consummation of my whole 66 course. But it must not be omitted, that the word here used, and which we have rendered "fill up," is in the original very emphatical; and signifies, not simply to " fill up," or to finish, but to fill up in one's turn, in consequence of and in exchange with some other. I consider that there is represented by it a secret opposition between what Jesus Christ had suffered for the apostle, and what the apostle at that time was suffering for Jesus Christ. The Lord, says he, on his part, has completed all the sufferings that were necessary for my redemption; I now, in my turn, fill up all the afflictions that are useful for his glory. He did the work which the Father had given him to do on earth; and I after him, and after his example, do that which he has charged me with. He has suffered for me; I suffer for him. He has purchased my salvation by his cross; I advance his kingdom by my conflicts. His blood has redeemed the church; my imprisonment and my bonds edify it. For you see, my brethren, that the conformity which is between Jesus Christ and each one of his believers, requires that there should be such a resemblance between his sufferings and ours. And this is what the apostle intends by the word here used. To this we must also particularly refer his saying that he "fills up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in his flesh." For as the Lord suffered in this infirm and mortal nature which he had put on; and, after he had put off the infirmness of it, and rendered it immortal and impassible, suffered no more; in like manner, it is in this flesh that all the afflictions shall be filled up which we are to suffer by the order and counsel of God. When we shall once have quitted it, there will be no more conflicts and sufferings for us to undergo, than there were for the Lord Jesus after his death upon the cross. It is the same thing which the apostle signifies in the passages quoted before, that he bears the dying of Christ in his body, and his marks in his flesh. From whence, by the way, it appears how absurd the belief of purgatory is, which makes the faithful to suffer, not in the flesh, but in the spirit; and extends their afflictions and pains beyond the days of their flesh; in which, nevertheless, the apostle teaches us that their sufferings are completed. Thus you see what is the sense of his words, and how much reason he had to rejoice in his sufferings: first, because they were the afflictions of Jesus Christ, the Prince of life, and the author of our salvation. Secondly, because they were dispensed by the order and will of God. Thirdly, because they made up the last part of the apostle's task; being the continuance and remainder of the conflicts which he had to sustain. And lastly, because they contained an illustrious evidence of his gratitude towards the Lord; and rendered him conformable to his holy image, in that, as Jesus had suffered for his salvation, he also suffered in his turn for the glory of his gracious Master. III. But he adds yet another reason, which likewise sweetened the bitterness of his sufferings, and enabled him to find joy amidst the horror of them; it is that he suffered them for "the sake of the body of the Lord, which is his church." He had already said that he suffered for the Colossians, as we have explained; now he extends the fruit of his afflictions further, saying that they are of use to the whole church. And to show us how much weight this consideration should have to make his sufferings pleasant to him, he gives the church the highest and the most glorious appellation that can be attributed to any creatures, calling it the body of Christ. For what object more illustrious and more precious can we suffer, than the body of the Son of God, the King of ages, the Father of eternity? We have already treated of it upon the 18th verse of this chapter, and showed how, and in what sense, the church is the body of Christ, and we will not now repeat it. But his affirming that he fills up these afflictions for the church is true, and appears so in two respects. First, inasmuch as the church was the occasion, and indeed the cause, of his sufferings. For it was the service he did it, in preaching the gospel, in instructing and comforting it, in grounding and settling it in the faith, which had provoked the Jews against him, and involved him in the afflictions which beset him. As if a prince's servant, zealous for his master's glory, and for the prosperity of his affairs, should through his zeal fall into some disaster, he might say it was for him and his interests that he shed his blood, and lay a prisoner in his enemies' hands. Secondly, St. Paul's afflictions were for the church, because he suffered them for the edification and consolation of the church. This was the intention of his patience, and the design of his constancy. It was to the church that all the fruit of these fair and illustrious examples of the apostle's constancy redounded. He himself explains it to be so. "Whether we be afflicted," says he to the Corinthians, "it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer," 2 Cor. i. 6. Here you see that the fruit which the faithful reaped from these afflictions consisted in this, that by the virtue of his example they were confirmed in the gospel; were rejoiced, and comforted, and fortified for the same conflicts. And in the Epistle to the Philippians, when treating of the same imprisonment to which he alludes in our text, he says, "I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; and many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear," Phil. i. 12-14. Behold! how his sufferings were for the church, in that they encouraged the preachers, and enkindled in the hearts of the faithful people the zeal of the house of God; and in those without the church an inquisitiveness about the gospel, for which he was a prisoner. This great man's preaching would never have sparkled as it did, never afforded the world and the church so much edification and consolation, if it had not been accompanied with sufferings sealed with his blood, and confirmed by his wonderful patience amidst the continual persecutions which were raised against him. The conflicts of other servants of God have the same effect. Their blood is the seed of the church. It is from their sufferings that it springs up. It is by them that it grows and gathers strength. It is the patience of these Divine warriors that converted the world, that conquered the nations unto Jesus Christ, and planted his cross and his gospel every where, even in the most rebellious spirits. Surely, since the church received so much profit from the apostle's afflictions, it is with good reason he here affirms that he fills up that which is behind of them for it. And in this sense we must understand it, when he says to Timothy that he "endures all things for the elect's sake," 2 Tim. ii. 10. This may suffice for the discussion of our text, which is perspicuous, simple, and obvious. But the error of our adversaries compels us to lengthen this discourse. Not that they deny the exposition which we have given; for how could they do that, without renouncing the doctrine of the gospel and the confession of Christians in all ages? But, granting that the apostle's afflictions were for the church in the sense in which we have expounded it, they add, that | they were so also in another sense; that is to say, in that by undergoing them he made satisfaction for the sins of other believers, and by this means contributed to the increase and enrichment of the church's treasury of satisfactions, out of which the bishop of Rome, to whom the custody of it is committed, makes largesses from time to time, as he judges meet, for the expiation of the sins of penitents; and hence has arisen the use of indulgences, which is become so common in our days. But, first, what kind of proof is this? To show that the saints have satisfied Divine justice for the sins of other believers, they allege that St. Paul writes, "I fill up the rest of the afflictions of Christ for his church.” I answer, his meaning is for edifying and comforting the church. They acknowledge the force of this answer, but add, that the apostle's sufferings serve also for the expiation of the sins of the church, and to fill the exchequer of its pretended satisfactions. Is this fair disputing? Is it not a pronouncing of dogmas after their own fancy? Is not this presupposing their opinion instead of proving it? It is clear that we read nothing in this text either of these satisfactions, of that treasury, or of those indulgences of which they inform us. Certainly, if they will draw these things from hence, it behoves them to show us that they are here, to disclose them to us, to constrain us by the clearness of their proofs to see them. So far, however, from forcing us to this by the weight of their evidences, they do not so much as attempt it, but content themselves with telling us, that though our exposition is good and true, yet theirs also must be added. Since they urge no other proof of it but their own dictate, we may reject it with the same facility with which they offer it. Nevertheless, for your greater edification, I will proIceed a little further in the illustration of this text. First, the apostle's words by no means warrant us in supposing that he is speaking of satisfactions, it being evident that it may be said of all useful things, that they are for those who have the use of them: as, for example, that it is for men the sun shines in the heavens; that it is for them the clouds pour down the rain, and the earth yields its fruits; that it is for the church St. Paul wrote his Epistles, and preached, and published the gospel; and a thousand other such things, in which no man ever dreamed that there is any satisfaction. And when St. Paul professes to the Corinthians, that he would most willingly spend and be spent for them, 2 Cor. xii. 15, does he mean for the atonement of their sins? No, says a Jesuit; but he speaks of his great pains in preaching and teaching, which could not have failed of being very useful for the edification of the church, though of no value for the satisfaction of God.* Here therefore, in the same manner, when the apostle says his afflictions are for the church, it follows clearly that his sufferings were of use to the church, (which I willingly confess,) but not that they were satisfactions for the sins of the church; which is precisely the thing we deny, and which they would prove. But if the words of this text do not support their exposition, the authority of the fathers, which they so highly extol, does not establish it any the more; not one of them ever having been known to infer their doctrine from this text, or to interpret it differently to what we have done. Lastly, the thing itself as little favours their design; and, to demonstrate it to you, we must briefly touch upon all the points of their pretended mystery. It is composed of four propositions, all of which they advance upon their own credit, without founding so * Justinian in loc. and patience, but without any emotions of joy; and also by the confession of our adversaries themselves, who represent to us that the souls which suffer for their sins, in their imaginary purgatory, are all confounded with horror, and full of excessive sadness. Lastly, how does this fiction accord with the perpetual voice of the church,* that though the faithful die for their brethren, yet martyrs did not shed one drop of their blood for the remission of their sins; and that none but Christ has done this for us; and that in this he did nothing for our imitation but that for which we should thank him? that he alone took on him our punishment without our sin, to the end that we by him, without merit, might obtain the grace which is not due to us? This foundation being overturned, their pretended treasury, and its distribution, which they invent, fall to the ground. I confess the church has a treasure, or rather a living spring of graces, and of propitiation for its sins, but it is full and whole in Jesus Christ, her eternal High Priest, who was ordained of God, from all time, to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood; and to have possession of these blessings, the sinner needs but to present him a heart full of faith and of repentance, according to the direction of St. John, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness," 1 John i. 9. As for the patience and the sufferings of saints, though they have not the virtue to atone for our sins, yet they are not unprofitable to us. Wherefore the Lord would have them put up and kept, not in the pretended exchequer of the pope, but in the treasury of the Scriptures, out of which every believer has the liberty of receiving them at all times for his use, to the edifying of his life, that he may gather from such fair examples that excellent fruit of piety which they contain, and admire and imitate them to the best of his ability. This is the lesson which we ought to practise upon the sufferings of the apostle in particular, which are represented to us in this text, that we may in reality profit by them, to the glory of God and our own edification. much as one of them on Scripture. For, first, they presuppose that when God pardons the sins which are committed after baptism, he remits only the guilt, and the eternal punishment of our trespasses, but not their temporal punishment; this they consider he obliges us to expiate, either here or in purgatory. Secondly, they add, that various saints, as the apostles, martyrs, and others, have done and suffered much more than they themselves required for the expiation of their own sins; and as they are provident, thrifty men, lest these superfluous satisfactions (for so they call them) be unprofitably lost, they maintain that they go into the common treasury of the churches, where, being mixed with the superabundant sufferings of Christ, they are preserved for the necessities of the penitent. And, finally, in addition to all this, they give the custody of this treasury to the bishop of Rome alone, who dispenses it as he judges expedient. Here is a chain of imaginations which have no foundation, either in reason, or in Scripture, or any where else, but in their own passion and interest. For, first, who taught them thus to cut in pieces the benefits of God, and to suppose that he remits the guilt without the punishment, as if to remit a sin was any thing else than not to punish it? and that he again remits a part of the punishment, namely, that which is eternal, and holds us bound to satisfy for the other? How does this accord with that full and entire grace which he promises to repenting sinners, and with his declaration that he will forget their sins; that he will blot out their iniquities; that he will remember them no more; and that there is no condemnation to them that are in Jesus Christ? Would it not be a mockery, if, after all this, he should exact of men the punishment of their faults to the utmost farthing? And as for the pretended satisfactions of the saints, whence have they drawn them? from what prophets, from what apostles, seeing that, so far from having suffered more than was necessary to expiate their sins, all of them declare that none of them were justified by their doings or their sufferings, that they all needed grace for the expiation of their transgressions, and that all their sufferings were not Let us learn from them, first, not to be ashamed of able to counterpoise the glory wherewith God will affliction for the gospel's sake. St. Paul shows us that crown them? And if we be indebted to them for any it is matter of joy; I "rejoice," says he, "in my sufpart of the expiation of our sins, what will become of ferings;" and our Lord himself says, "Blessed are the apostle's assertion, that Christ purged our sins ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, by himself? Heb. i. 3; and that he consummated, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, or made perfect, them that believe, by that one sole for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad for oblation which he made on the cross? If St. Paul, great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted who is in question, did in suffering satisfy for us, they the prophets which were before you," Matt. v. why does he protest elsewhere that he was not cruci-11, 12. Christ was treated thus himself, and his fied for us? 1 Cor. i. 13. Surely, according to our adversaries' supposition, he could not in truth deny it. For if his sufferings serve not only for the edification of our lives, but also for the atonement of our sins, as they pretend, there remains no longer any sense in which it may be said that Christ alone suffered for us. These two propositions, that the apostle did suffer, and did not suffer for us, will be irreconcilable; whereas in our doctrine it is easy to harmonize them, by saying, he suffered for us, that is, for our edification; and suffered not for us, that is, not to atone for our sins; this kind of suffering appertaining to the Lord Jesus only. Besides, if the afflictions of which the apostle here speaks were satisfactory for the church, (as our adversaries will have it,) Št. Paul would not have suffered them with joy; it being evident that pains of this nature necessarily seize those who suffer them with an extreme horror and heaviness, because they are accompanied with the apprehension of the wrath of God against sin, as appears both by the cross of our Lord, which he bore, it is true, with firmness apostles went to heaven the same way. Blush not to bear their marks. If they be ignominious before men, they are glorious before God. Fortify yourselves in this resolution, particularly you to whom God has committed the ministry of his word. If the world thwart your preaching, if it threaten you, if it proceed so far as to imprisonments and to banishment, remember that St. Paul had no better usage, and that it was out of a prison that he wrote this excellent Epistle. As your cause is the same, so let your courage be like his. Conclude, as he did, that these bonds are an honour to you, that these sufferings are the afflictions of Christ. Let this sacred name, and the communion you have with him, sweeten all the bitterness of your troubles. But, faithful brethren, think not that you shall be exempted from these trials because you are not ministers of the gospel. You also have part in them, each one according to his calling, and the measure of the grace of God. He has no children whom he * Aug. 34. tract. in Joan. et 1. 4. ad Bonif. de Pecc. mer. et remiss. consecrates not by afflictions. But if you suffer with Jesus Christ, you shall reign with him; if you have part now in his cross, you shall one day have part in his glory. And, to assure you of it, he calls your sufferings his afflictions. He protests that you receive not a blow but what he feels. Doubt not that he takes great notice of the conflicts which he vouchsafes to call his. Think also upon what he has sustained for you, and you will confess it is reasonable that you should suffer something for his glory who has undergone so much for your salvation. He has suffered for you the whole curse of God; will not you bear the reproaches and wrongs of men for him? He has borne and expiated the penalty of your sins on the cross; will you shrink from that which is behind of his afflictions? He has accomplished what was most difficult, that which none but he could discharge, having drank for us the dreadful cup of God's indignation against our sins. Let us valiantly accomplish the trials which remain for us. It is he himself that dispenses them to us. It is not either the fancy of men, or the rage of devils. God has appointed our task for us. It is from his hand we must receive all the afflictions which we shall suffer. | alms for the refreshment of its poor members. Their number and their necessities increase daily. Let your charity be augmented after the same proportion. Let it relieve the indigence of some, let it allay the passions of others, let it extinguish enmities and hatred among us all. Let it seek not only to those whom you have wronged, but even to them that have offended you without cause, that henceforth you may truly be the body of thy Lord, his church, holy and unblamable, "having eneither spot, nor wrinkle, nor any such thing;" patient and generous in affliction, humble and modest in prosperity, crowned with good works and the fruits of righteousness, to the glory of our great Saviour, the edification of men, and your own salvation. Amen. SERMON XIV. VERSE 25-27. Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dis pensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. But beside that we owe this respect and subjection to God, let us learn of the apostle that we owe such examples also to the church. It is not for Jesus Christ alone that we suffer. It is for his body also. As our afflictions advance the glory of the Master, so they likewise serve for the edification of the family. Judge thereby, faithful brethren, what our affection for the church should be. The consideration of it constituted a great part of the apostle's joy. He ac- THE church of our Lord Jesus Christ is the fairest counted himself happy, that by his sufferings he and most glorious state that ever existed in the world; could testify the love he bore to this sacred body of a state formed in the counsel of God before the crea his Master. He blessed his chain, how hard soever tion of the heavens, founded on the cross of his Son it was, because it did the church some service. Dear in the fulness of time; governed by the Father of brethren, let us imitate this Divine charity. Let us eternity, and enlivened by his Spirit; it is the most love our Lord's church above all things. Let us precious of his jewels, the last end of his works, and make it the chief object of our delight. Let us con- the only design of all his wondrous performances. secrate to its edification all the actions and sufferings It is a state not mortal and corruptible, as those of of our lives. Let us embrace all its members with the earth, but firm and everlasting, situate above the brotherly kindness, and take good heed that we de- sun and moon, and sees all other things roll under spise no man who has the honour to be incorporated its feet, in continual change, without being subject in so august and divine a society. The apostle's to their vanity. It is the only society against which example shows us that we owe them even our blood neither the gates of hell, nor the revolutions of time, and our life. And we have heard him also at another shall prevail. It is the house of the living God, the time professing to the Philippians, that if he should temple of his holiness, the pillar of his truth, the be offered upon the sacrifice and service of their dwelling-place of his grace and glory. One of the faith, he should joy in it, Phil. ii. 17. And St. John prophets therefore long ago contemplating it in spirit, says expressly, that as Christ " laid down his life for cried out in transport and in ecstasy, "Glorious us, so we ought to lay down our lives for the bre- things are spoken of thee, O city of God," Psal. lxxxvii. thren," I John iii. 16. If the Lord spare our infirmity, 3. and call us not to such great trials, let us at least testify our love towards the church by all the offices and services of which our condition, and the present occasion, is capable. We owe it our blood. Let us give it, at least, our tears, our alms, our good examples. You that have had the heart to plunge into the vain pastimes of the world while the church was in mourning, that have laughed and sported while she suffered and groaned, repair this disorder. Comfort her with your pious tears, whom you have saddened by your vain pleasures. Break with the world. Have no more commerce but with the children of God. Remember you have the honour to be the body of Jesus Christ. How is it that you have no horror at defiling, in the filth of sin and vanity, those members which are consecrated to the Son of God, washed with his blood, sanctified by his word, and baptized with his Spirit. The church, beside this purity of life which its edification requires of you at all times, particularly at the present, demands of you the succour of your But among its other glories, this is in my opinion none of the least, that God employs the hands, the sweat, and the blood of his apostles for its erection. It is for the church that he made and formed these great men, and poured into their souls all the riches of heaven. And as they had received them for the service of the church, so they laid them out in it faithfully and cheerfully, insomuch that they counted it a great honour to suffer on its account, and they blessed the reproaches which they received for its edification. We lately heard St. Paul, the most excellent of these divine men, protesting that he rejoiced in his sufferings and afflictions for the church; and now, in the text which we have read, he goes on to say that he is the minister of the church. What an admirable and happy community must that have been whose minister and servitor was St. Paul, the greatest of men, one of the master-pieces of Heaven, and the wonder of earth. But by these words he not only justifies the joy he had in suffering for the church, as minister of it; he also grounds upon them his liberty to make remonstrances to the Colossians, |