2. But I must now mention the more painful part of the subject, i.e. the sufferings of the Bishops, which is the second mark of their being our living Apostles. The Bishops have undergone this trial in every age. As the first Apostles were hated and persecuted, so have they ever been. Time was, when they were cruelly slain by fire and sword. That time, (though God avert it!) may come again. But, whether or not Satan is permitted so openly to rage, certainly some kinds of persecution are to be expected in our day; nay, such have begun. It is not so very long since the great men of the earth told them to prepare for persecution; it is not so very long since the mad people answered the summons, and furiously attacked them, and seemed bent on destroying them, in all parts of the country.
Yes! the day may come, even in this generation, when the Representatives of Christ are spoiled of their sacred possessions, and degraded from their civil dignities. The day may come, when each of us inferior Ministers—when I myself, whom you know—may have to give up our Churches, and be among you, in no better temporal circumstances than yourselves; with no larger dwelling, no finer clothing, no other fare, with nothing different beyond those gifts, which I trust we gained when we were made Ministers; and those again, which have been vouchsafed to us before and after that time, for the due fulfilment of our Ministry. Then you will look at us, not as gentlemen, as now; not as your superiors in worldly station, but still, nay, more strikingly so than now, still as messengers from Him, who seeth and worketh in secret, and who judgeth not by outward appearance. Then you will honor us, with a purer honor than you do now, namely, as those who are intrusted with the keys of heaven and hell, as the heralds of mercy, as the denouncers of woe to wicked men, as intrusted with the awful and mysterious gift of making the bread and wine Christ's body and blood, as far greater than the most powerful and the wealthiest of men in our unseen strength and our heavenly riches. This may all come in our day; and I can hardly wish it should not come, painful as is the thought of the great wickedness, which those men must show forth, who persecute us; painful as is the thought of the sufferings, which that persecution will cause us. And, after all, if God's loving kindness spares both us and you the trial, still it will have been useful to have steadily thought about it beforehand, and to have prepared our hearts to meet it.
KING, PRINTER, ST. CLEMENT'S, OXFORD.
