time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee_.--Acts
xxiv., 24, 25.


My brethren, tho the kingdoms of the righteous be not of this world,
they present, however, amidst their meanness, marks of dignity and
power. They resemble Jesus Christ. He humbled Himself so far as to
take the form of a servant, but frequently exercised the rights of a
sovereign. From the abyss of humiliation to which He condescended,
emanations of the Godhead were seen to proceed. Lord of nature, He
commanded the winds and seas. He bade the storm and tempest subside.
He restored health to the sick, and life to the dead. He imposed
silence on the rabbis; He embarrassed Pilate on the throne; and
disposed of Paradise at the moment He Himself was pierced with the
nails, and fixt on the cross. Behold the portrait of believers! "They
are dead. Their life is hid with Christ in God." (Col. iii., 3.) "If
they had hope only in this life, they were of all men most miserable."
(I Cor. xv., 19.) Nevertheless, they show I know not what superiority
of birth. Their glory is not so concealed but we sometimes perceive
its luster! just as the children of a king, when unknown and in
a distant province, betray in their conversation and carriage
indications of illustrious descent.

We might illustrate this truth by numerous instances. Let us attend to
that in our text. There we shall discover that association of humility
and grandeur, of reproach and glory, which constitutes the condition
of the faithful while on earth. Behold St. Paul, a Christian, an
apostle, a saint. See him hurried from tribunal to tribunal, from
province to province; sometimes before the Romans, sometimes before
the Jews, sometimes before the high-priest of the synagog, and