The reader will, I trust, find no difficulty in examining this subject for himself. He will be able to trace, in detail, the three characters of the _life_-sufferings of our blessed Lord, and to distinguish between them and His _death_-sufferings--His sufferings for sin. He will see how that when man and Satan had done their utmost, there yet remained a character of suffering which was perfectly unique, namely, suffering at the hand of God on account of sin--suffering as the sinner's substitute. Until He came to the cross, He could ever look up and bask in the clear light of His Father's countenance; in the darkest hour, He found a sure resource above. His path down here was a rough one. How could it be otherwise, in a world where all was directly contrary to His pure and holy nature? He had to "endure the contradiction of sinners against Himself;" He had to endure "the reproach of them that reproached God." What had He not to endure? He was misunderstood, misinterpreted, abused, maligned, accused of being mad, and of having a devil. He was betrayed, denied, deserted, mocked, buffeted, spit upon, crowned with thorns, cast out, condemned, and nailed between two malefactors. All these things He endured at the hand of man, together with all the unutterable terrors which Satan brought to bear upon His spirit; but, let it be once more emphatically repeated, when man and Satan had exhausted their power and enmity, our blessed Lord and Saviour had to endure a something compared with which all the rest was as nothing, and that was the hiding of God's countenance--the three hours of darkness and awful gloom, during which He suffered what none but God could know. Now, when Scripture speaks of our having fellowship with Christ's sufferings, it refers simply to His sufferings for righteousness--His sufferings at the hand of man. Christ suffered for sin that we might not have to suffer for it.--He endured the wrath of God that we might not have to endure it (this is the ground of our peace); but as regards suffering from man, we shall always find that the more faithfully we follow in the footsteps of Christ, the more we shall suffer in this respect; but this is a matter of gift, a matter of privilege, a favor, a dignity. (See Phil. i. 29, 30.) To walk in the footsteps of Christ--to enjoy companionship with Him--to be thrown into a place of sympathy with Him, are privileges of the very highest order. Would that we all entered more fully into them! But, alas! we are too well content to do without them--too well satisfied, like Peter, to "follow afar off"--to keep aloof from a despised and suffering Christ. All this is, undoubtedly, our heavy loss. Had we only more fellowship with His sufferings, the crown would glisten far more brightly in our soul's vision. When we shrink from fellowship with Christ's sufferings, we rob ourselves of the deep joy of His present companionship, and also of the moral power of the hope of His future glory.