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SERI.
XV.i
A
RATIONAL DEFENCE
OF
THE GOSPEL.
261
Agrippa, but
all
those
that
hear
me,
were
not
only al-
most,
but altogether
such
as
I
am,
except
only these
bonds, these sufferings. which
I
endure
for
Christ's
sake.
Acts
xxvi. 29.
4.
I
am
not ashamed
to
contend
for
it
as
a
good soldier
of
Christ;
to defend
it
when
it
is
attacked,
and
to
vin-
dicate
the
cause
of
my
Lord
and
Master. Where it
is
assaulted
I
endeavour
to secure
it,
though
with
many
reproaches from the
carnal
prejudices
of
mankind.
I
oppose
them
all;
for
they oppose
my
Saviour
and
his
cross,
and
I
build
my
everlasting hopes there.
I
am
set
for the defence
of
the gospel
of
Christ.
Phil.
i.
17.
and
I
will
contend earnestly
for the faith once
delivered
to
the
saints.
Jade,
ver.
3.
And
he gave us
an instance
of
it,
that
when
Peter,
who
was
an apostle; seemed
to
dimi-
nish.
some
of
the
glory
and
the
liberty
of
the
gospel, he
withstood
him to
the face.
Gal.
ii.
11.
"
There
shall
no man silence
me,
or
stop
my
mouth,
when
I
am
preach-
ing
a crucified
Saviour,
and
when
I
express
my
faith in
the liberty and
latitude of
the
gospel
of
Christ.
For
if
I
durst
withstand
an
apostle
under
his
criminal conceal-
ments, and
in
his
diminution
of
the
honour
of this
doc-
trine, surely
I
dare oppose
all the world besides."
5.
Lastly,
I
am
not
ashamed
to suffer
and
die
for
it
as
a
martyr. Load
me
with
reproaches,
ye
Jews,
my
coun-
trymen,
and load
me
with
chains,
ye
magistrates
of
Rome
;
of
none
of
these am
I
ashamed or afraid,
but
with
all
boldness
I
am
always
ready
that Christ
should be
magnified
in my life,
or
zny
death;
Phil.
i.
14,
20.
And
as for my friends
that
are
full
of
sorrow lest
Paul should
be sacrificed
for
the faith
of
Christ,
What mourn
ye,
and
break
my
heart
for
?
I
am
not
only
ready
to be
bound,
but
to die
fór
the sake
of
Christ.
I
count
nothing
dear
to
me,
no,
nor
my life
precious
to
myself,
that
I
may
finish
with
joy
the course
of
my
ministry
of
this gospel
that
I
may testify the grace
of
my
God.
Acts
xx. 24.
and,
xxi.
13.
I
might add
also,
that
St.
Paul intends
and means
more than
he
expresses
by
a very
usual figure
of
speech
:
I
am
not
ashamed
of
it,
that
is,
I
glory
in
it,
I
make
my
boast of
it.
If
there
be any
doctrine worth boasting
of
it
is
the gospel
of
Christ.
If
I
have
any profession to
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