from his love, but to do them good in the latter end. "Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.' How much consolation and joy should Christians experience in suffering affliction of any description whatever, when they can appeal to their Lord and Saviour, and say it is for "thy sake," Matt. v. 11. So far from being separated from the love of Christ by such sufferings, they are by them made more conformable to his image. In suffering for evil, men are conformable to the image of the first Adam.

We are killed.-In speaking of those sufferings, which shall not separate believers from God, the Apostle here refers to death, the highest point to which they can be carried. As to the time, he speaks of it as "all the day long; that is, they are constantly exposed to the greatest measure of suffering in this life, and are frequently exercised with it. As to the manner, he says, We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. —The enemies of the people of God have often given them up to death with as little reluctance as sheep are driven to the slaughter. There is pity even for the murderer on the scaffold, but for Christ and his people there is none. The cry still is against the servants, as it was against the Master, crucify, crucify. Even in death they find no sympathy. This is attested by history in every age and country; witness the repeated and dreadful persecutions of Christians during the three first centuries, when they were treated not like men but as wild beasts, and the cry of the multitude was, "The Christians to the lions." When there is a respite from persecution, it is through the kind providence of God, when he restrains the malice of him who was a

murderer from the beginning, and the evil passions of men who are the willing instruments of Satan.

V. 37.-Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through him that loved us.

The sufferings of believers above enumerated, which, as the Apostle had just shown, verify the truth of the ancient predictions of the word of God, shall not separate them from the love of Christ; but, on the contrary, are to them the sources of the greatest benefits. Through them they are more than conquerors.—This is a strong expression, but in its fullest import it is strictly true. The Christian not only overcomes in the worst of his trials, but more than overcomes his adversaries, and all those things which seem to be against him. It is possible to overcome, and yet obtain no advantage from the contest, nay, to find the victory a loss. But the Christian not only vanquishes, he is also a gainer by the assault of his enemy. It is better for him than if he had not been called to suffer. He is a gainer and a conqueror, both in the immediate fruits of his sufferings, as God over-rules them for his good, bringing him forth from the furnace as gold refined, and also in their final issue; for "our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." The term conquerors reminds us that the life of a believer is a warfare in which he is called to combat, both within and without. We may remark, too, the difference between the judgment of God, and the judgment of men, respecting the victory of believers. In the world persecutors and oppressors are judged as the conquerors; but here those are pronounced to be such, who are oppressed and persecuted. They are the servants of him

whom the world put to death, but who said to his disciples, "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

Through him that loved us.-The Apostle says that we are more than conquerors, not through him that loves us, but through him that loved us, using the past time, thus directing our attention to Christ dying for us. His love to us is the character by which Christ is often described, as if it were that by which he should be best known to us, and as if in comparison there was none but he alone who loved us. "Who loved me," says the Apostle, "and gave himself for me." "Who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood." "Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.' This expression shows that the confidence spoken of in this place, is a confidence wholly grounded on Christ's love and power, and not on our own firmness. It is not by our own loyalty and resolution, but through him that loved us, that we are more than conquerors. In the Apostle Peter we see the weakness of all human affection and resolutions. All the glory then of this victory which we obtain is to be ascribed solely to God; for it is he who is at our right hand, and who supports us in all our afflictions. In the 17th chapter of the Book of Revelation, the Lamb, who is Jesus Christ, is represented as combating against the enemies of his Church. He is our shield, our rock, and our refuge. It is declared that we are "kept (as in a garrison) by the power of God," 1 Pet. i. 5, in order that we may not presume on our own strength, or attribute to ourselves the glory of our preservation; but that we may keep our eyes fixed upon him, who with his outstretched arm conducts us to the heavenly Canaan.

V. 38.-For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life,nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come.

In the preceding verses, Paul had proclaimed the triumph of believers over every thing within and without them, that seemed to endanger their security. He had spoken of tribulation, and distress, and persecutions, and famine, and nakedness, and peril, and sword, over all of which he had pronounced them more than conquerors. He now proceeds, in the same triumphant language, to defy enemies still more formidable; asserting that all the conceivable powers of the universe shall not be able to separate them from the love of God which is in Jesus Christ.

For I am persuaded.-Here Paul introduces his own persuasion of the love of God to his people, that in so doing others may imitate him. This appears more fully in the next verse, by his making the constancy of God's love a privilege not peculiar to himself, but common to all his people. He sets before believers this persuasion to confirm them in the conviction, that they need not fear the want of God's support to enable them to overcome all trials, and surmount all dangers. For this persuasion is not conjectural, but an assured confidence, such as he expresses when he says, "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day," 2 Tim. i. 12.

Here we see the nature and quality of faith as opposed to the doctrine of the Church of Rome, which holds it to be merely a general belief of all that God has said, without confidence in his promises, or assurance of his grace. But the object of the gospel, which is called "the gospel of peace," is, that those who have fled for refuge to the

The

hope set before them, should have strong consolation, Heb. vi. 18, and peace in their conscience. words "I am persuaded," used by the Apostle, show that faith is a persuasion, and a union and conformity of heart to the word which we believe. Our reception of the promises, then, is a special application of them, when we take home to ourselves the grace and love of God, as the Apostle does when he says, verse 39, that nothing shall be able to separate us, to prove that he speaks in the name of all believers, and that in this triumph of faith he employs language common to them all. The objection that the language he used was appropriate only to Apostles, would set aside his intention and object altogether. The Church of Rome, however, objects, that in order to this application of faith, the gospel should speak to each individual by his name, and say "thou art saved, thou art pardoned.” But if, as they admit, the law by its general propositions obliges every one to obey it, while it names no person individually; and in saying, "cursed is every one who continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them," condemns every man who does not yield obedience to its commands, why should they deny that the propositions of the gospel comprise every believer in particular, or affirm, that in saying, He that believeth in Jesus hath eternal life, it does not speak to all who believe in Jesus, and declare that each one of them hath eternal life? When the law says, Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, ought any one to doubt that these commandments are addressed to him? But in the gospel we find the same manner of speaking. "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart