whom now I send thee." "Thou hast delivered, " and dost deliver, and in thee I trust that thou "wilt yet deliver." If I "must stand before "Cæsar," and bear witness to Christ at Rome, as well as at Jerusalem, "no man can set on me to "hurt me," till this be accomplished. Till my "testimony be finished," all the power of carth and hell will be as unable to destroy my life as to 66 separate me from the love of Christ:" so that "in all these things I am more than conqueror ;" "all is working for me a far more exceeding and "eternal weight of glory."”'

I

He might also add, 'I am bound by the most express and solemn obligations: "The vows of "God are upon me." "Necessity is laid upon me; yea wo is me if I preach not the gospel:" have been expressly commanded to do it; I have deliberately engaged to do it. "None of us liveth "to himself, and none dieth to himself; for whether

66

we live we live unto the Lord, and whether we "die we die unto the Lord; whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's."1 "We "are not our own; we are bought with a price : "therefore let us glorify God in our body and in

our spirit which are God's." 2 If this be the case with others, much more is it mine: shall I then shrink in the time of danger or of conflict? God forbid!'

We might enlarge; but lay together the things which have been stated: the realizing view of eternal things, and of the evanescent nature of things temporal, whether pleasant or painful; the

1 Rom. xiv. 7, 8.

2 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20

allotted him, that to the last he gloried and rejoiced in it, However moved in other respects, it does not appear that he could have done more to promote the cause of Christ, had no bonds or afflictions awaited him." When "shamefully entreated" at one city, he "fled to another," and there preached the word with all boldness." When he could not go, he sent, he wrote, he prayed; he eagerly seized every opportunity: he "did what he could," and exhorted others to do the same. "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, "unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord." "Be not weary of well doing; for "in due season ye shall reap, if ye faint not." charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus,—

"I

preach the word, be instant in season, out of “season :" " for I am now ready to be offered, and "the time of my departure is at hand." And in the chapter of our text: "I know this, that after my de

66

parting shall grievous wolves enter in, not spar"ing the flock : also of your own selves shall men "arise speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them: therefore watch."

66

"Neither count I my life dear to myself."-Life is valuable, especially the life of a good, an eminent, an useful man: but it is valuable to his family, to his country, to the church of God, and to mankind in general, far more than to himself. His duty requires him to take prudent care of his life, on this account and thus right principles will induce a military commander, or officer, to do the same: I do not mean a cautious, timid care, precluding those risks and exertions without which nothing important can be achieved. It does not appear

that the apostle ever imprudently exposed his life; yet he never scrupled to venture it when present duty required him to do so. His grand principle was, "To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” He could say, 'Death, come when, and as it will, is my friend, my gain, my privilege; but my life is worth preserving as long as my Saviour shall be pleased to employ me. I was a condemned, a justly condemned traitor: I am most mercifully pardoned: I am even assured of high and honourable preferment hereafter in the court of my prince. But it is his pleasure that for some time, I know not how long, I should continue, as pardoned and reconciled, in the prison, and fare in many respects as the prisoners do; though I have many gracious visits, and kind tokens of remembrance, from my prince, to solace my hours and counterbalance my hardships. In this situation I am continued, in order to recommend his clemency to my fellow criminals, and to persuade them to submit and seek mercy and to tend on and comfort such as have found mercy. This will not, however, endure very long as far as I am concerned I should say,

The sooner it ends the better;' but, when I consider the honour of my beloved prince, and the usefulness which attends my labours among my fellow prisoners, I am almost ready to say, I care not how long.' I am willing to endure the hardships of the dungeon, for his honour and their benefit; yet my continuance in it is, surely," not "dear to myself.” '

"So that I may finish my course with joy." The joy here spoken of, I apprehend, is not simply, or chiefly, the consolations which some Christians do,

and others apparently do not, experience at the approach of death. However life may terminate, if Jesus" come and take us to himself, that where " he is there we may be also ;" if he says, “Enter "into the joy of thy Lord;" if he admits us to "his presence, where is fulness of joy, and pleasures "at his right hand for evermore;" we shall cer"tainly finish our course with joy."

66

The word "course" implies a race. "Irun not "as uncertainly:" "Forgetting the things which "are behind, I press forward toward the mark, for "the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." 1 "Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset us; and let us run "with patience the race set before us: looking "unto Jesus." 2 Accordingly, just before his martyrdom, he says, "I have fought a good fight, I "have finished my course, I have kept the faith: "henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righ"teousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, "shall give me at that day."3

To set out on the race, and then to turn back, or turn aside, or grow weary, or loiter and lose the prize, would be not "to finish the course with "joy." So "run," brethren, "that ye may ob"tain."

"And the ministry which I have received of the "Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of "God." That I may finish this ministry " with "joy;" with faithfulness, with acceptance, with large success."Ye are my rejoicing in the day of "Christ." I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath

· Phil. iii. 13, 14. 2 Heb. xxii. 1, 2.

32 Tim. iv. 8.

"enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, put

66

ting me into the ministry, who was before a blas

phemer, and a persecutor, and injurious." "All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to him"self by Jesus Christ, and hath committed unto us "the ministry of reconciliation. Now then we are "ambassadors for Christ, as though God did be"seech you by us, we pray you, in Christ's stead, "be ye reconciled to God." St. Paul was chosen to be the servant and the minister of Christ; his steward, ambassador, witness, and representative; a pastor, a preacher of the gospel to the gentiles; an apostle," not a whit behind the very chiefest "apostles. The dispensation of the gospel was committed to him; and "this grace was given "him" that he should preach among the gentiles "the unsearchable riches of Christ." He was a missionary, strictly speaking; but of a superior order. He had his commission and instructions immediately from Christ; and his grand business was, "to testify the gospel of the grace of God." A ministry of a similar nature, though inferior in authority, was committed to Timothy, whom the apostle, as with his dying breath, thus charges: "Watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do "the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy

66

ministry; for I am now ready to be offered, and "the time of my departure is at hand." And a similar charge he sends to another minister, "Say "to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which "thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it."? Oh that all who are called the ministers of

12 Tim. iii. 5, 6.

* Col. iv. 17.

VOL. VI.

21