an life as being a daily dying and
a continual resurrection in order to get the whole truth of the double
aspect of it.

It may be a question whether the Apostle is here referring to outward or
inward and ethical sorrows, but perhaps we should not do justice to the
thought unless we extend it to cover both of these. Certainly if his
theology was but the generalising of his experience, he had ample
material in his daily life for knowing the fellowship of Christ's
sufferings. One of his most frequently recurring and most cherished
thoughts is, that to suffer for Christ is to suffer with Christ, and in
it he found and teaches us to find strength to endure, and patience to
outlast any sorrows that may swoop upon us like birds of prey because we
are Christians. Happy shall we be if Christ's sufferings are ours,
because it is our union with Him and our likeness to Him, not to
ourselves, our sins, or our worldliness, that is their occasion. There
is an old legend that Peter was crucified head downwards, because he
felt himself unworthy to be as his Master. We may well feel that nothing
which we can ever bear for Him is worthy to be compared with what He has
borne for us, and be the more overwhelmed with the greatness of the
condescension, and the humility of the love which reckon our light
affliction, which is but for a moment, along with the heavy weight which
He bore, and the blessed issue of which outlasts time and enriches
eternity.

But there is another sense in which it is a worthy aim of our lives that
our sufferings may be felt to be fellowship with His. That is a blessed
sorrow which brings us closer to our Lord. That is a wholesome sorrow of
which the issue is an intenser faith in Him, a fuller experience of His
sufficiency. The storm blows us well when it blows us to His breast, and
sorrow enriches us, whatever it may take away, which gives us fuller and
more assured possession of Jesus.

But when we are living in fellowship with Jesus, that union works in two
directions, and while on the one hand we may then humbly venture to feel
that our sufferings for Him are sufferings with Him, we may thankfully
feel, too, that in all our affliction He is afflicted. If His sufferings
are ours we may be sure that ours are His. And how different they all
become when we are certain of His sympathy! It is possible that we may
have a kind of common consciousness with our Lord, if our whole hearts
and wills are kept in close touc