finally removed from this world? St. Stephen beheld the heavens open, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God; and Saul, in the transaction before us, was permitted to see that Just One, and to hear the words of his mouth. Along with the light a voice was heard, saying, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest."

This solemn question is replete with instruction. He does not condescend to reason with Saul; he enters into no vindication of his cause: with the dignity suited to his character, he expostulates and

It deserves our attention, that he identifies himself with his disciples; he makes their cause entirely his own, and considers what is done against them as against himself: "Why persecutest thou me?" Christ and believers, notwithstanding the immense disparity of their circumstances, are one. He is touched with a feeling of their sufferings; and, whatever insults or reproaches are offered to them for his name's sake, he feels and resents as done to himself. Let those who are tempted to insult and despise the followers of Christ, on account of their conscientious adherence to him, remember that their scoffs and insults reach higher than they may apprehend; they will be considered as falling on their Sovereign and their Judge.

Personal injuries it is impossible now to offer to the Saviour; but the state of our hearts towards

him will be judged by our treatment of his followers: and he has warned us, that it were better a "millstone were hanged round our neck, and we buried in the depths of the sea, than that we should injure one of these little ones who believe on him."*

In answer to the inquiry, "Who art thou, Lord?” he replies, "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest." You will observe, he does not style himself here, the Christ, or the Son of God—“ I am Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus was the proper name of our Lord, a common appellation among the Jews; and the addition of Nazareth had usually been made as expressive of contempt. In contempt, He was usually styled "the Nazarene." Our Lord was determined to confound Paul by the meanest of his appellations; and resolved to efface the ignominy attached to this appellation, and to cause himself to be adored by Saul under the very names by which he had been most vilified and contemned. "It is hard," he adds, "for thee to kick against the pricks." He compares Paul to the bullock unaccustomed to the yoke, who, in order to free himself, wounds himself by kicking against the goads. Thus fruitless is all opposition to the cause of Christ. It will be injurious, it will be destructive to ourselves, if not desisted from; but can never eventually injure the cause against which it is directed. The heathen may rage, and yet "the Lord hath set his King upon his holy hill

*Matt. xviii. 6.

of Zion," and there he will for ever continue to sit.

To all who oppose him, he will prove a burdensome stone, "a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence."+ "Whosoever shall fall upon it shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder."+

To those who judge by the eyes of flesh, persecuting the servants of Christ may possibly appear a very easy task; but to those who remember who is engaged to be their Protector, it will appear in a very different light-it will appear the most dangerous employment in which they can be engaged.

The time will come, my brethren, when we shall perceive we might as safely have insulted the prince upon his throne, as persecuted Christ in the person of the meanest of his members.

"It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." How many Pontius Pilates and Herods, in different ages, has this crime doomed to destruction! We may trace the effects of it in the astonishing scenes that are now passing in the world. We may behold it in the subversion of thrones, and the misery and desolation of kingdoms. For, though the immediate instrument employed in inflicting these calamities is the insatiable ambition of an individual, they must in general be traced to higher sources-the unrepented crime of persecution. Who, that reads the prophecies, but sees that it is the weight of christian blood-the Isaiah viii. 14. Luke xx. 18.

*Psalm ii. 6.

blood of the martyrs of Jesus, that now presses and weighs down the nations on the Continent, and makes them reel and stagger like a drunken man: "They have shed the blood of saints and of prophets; and the Lord has given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.'

Let us guard against whatever approaches to this crime. If you will not walk in the ways of religion yourself-if you will not take the yoke of Christ upon you, at least be careful to abstain from vilifying and reproaching his servants. Respect the piety you are not disposed to imitate.

"What wilt thou have me to do?" He makes no stipulation; his surrender of himself is absolute; the words he utters are expressive of absolute submission. Such a surrender of ourselves into the hands of Christ, such a submission from us [also] is absolutely necessary.

He is directed what to do; and he complies punctually with the direction. "He was not disobedient to the heavenly vision."+ For a further account of our Saviour's address, see Acts xxvi. 16-18.

He was blinded by the light. (Acts xxii. 11.) He gave himself up to solitude and prayer. He would doubtless reflect on the following things:

1. On what he had seen.

2. On what he had done.

3. On what lay before him.

*Rev. xvi. 6.

† Acts xxvi. 19.

149

XV.

THE LAMB SLAIN, THE OBJECT OF RAPTURE TO THE HEAVENLY HOSTS.

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REV. v. 6. And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain.

In the preceding chapter John is presented with a magnificent vision: a door is opened in heaven, through which he passes, and beholds the throne of God, and the Almighty sitting upon it. The several orders of creatures which make their appearance there, celebrate a solemn act of worship to him "which was, and which is, and which is to come, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."*

As the holy apostle was now on the point of being instructed in those mysteries of providence, whose accomplishment was to reach from the time of this vision to the consummation of all things, involving the remotest destinies of the church and of the world, so the manner in which it is imparted is such as must give us the highest idea of its importance. It formed the contents of a roll of a book, in the hand of him that sat on the throne," written within and on the backside, and

* Rev. iv. 8, 10, 11.