And this was not his case
alone, but the faithful people of God have ever walked the same
course. The apostle Paul was of the same spirit; "I know not (saith
he) the things that shall befall me, save that the Holy Ghost
witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me:
but none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto
myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry
which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the
grace of God." O blest spirit! here is the work of faith. Alas! when
we come to part with anything for the cause of God, how hardly comes
it from us! "But I (saith he) pass not, no, nor is my life dear unto
me." Here, I say, is the work of faith, indeed, when a man is content
to do anything for God, and to say if imprisonment, loss of estate,
liberty, life, come, I pass not, it moveth me nothing, so I may finish
my course with comfort. Hence it was that the saints of God in those
primitive times "took joyfully the spoiling of their goods." Methinks
I see the saints there reaching after Christ with the arms of faith,
and how, when anything lay in their way, they were content to lose
all, to part with all, to have Christ.
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