acted otherwise with him, if we forthwith demanded of him more than he, from his standing-point, was able to give, we might entirely repel him, and not only hinder him from making further advances, but even, by such abrupt opposition, unsettle his mind as to what he already possessed. Against such a mode of proceeding these words of Christ warn us; and Paul, in harmony with their spirit, rejoices, that Christ was preached and acknowledged, even though corruptly and defectively.

Although the example of self-denying zeal and love for the cause of Christ must have been recognised by us in the apostle, even before the whole relation of the opponents to himself was clearly laid before us, and while they were regarded merely in the general light of his personal enemies, we are now in a position, this relation having been considered more in detail, to direct our attention to a new aspect under which this example exhibits itself to us. Nothing but a love purified, in a more than common measure, from every selfish element, could embrace and greet with joy the cause of the Lord, when that cause is found in the hands of our personal enemy. But the might of this pure and exalted love here reveals itself to us under another point of view, in this, namely, that the fundamentally true, found in the erroneous view, is acknowledged and welcomed; that the seed of truth is not disdained and assailed on account of the error, even though this error is opposed to the more pure, more perfect view of the truth, which is preached by himself, but rather is welcomely received as one step gained in the progress of truth. Such is the force of love, purified from self, which we here perceive in Paul. How seldom is such found in practice? Even the man who is capable of hailing the work of the Lord, when it was furthered by his personal enemies, is not, therefore, in a condition so far to forget himself, as to receive with good-will and love, and use, for the common cause of the Lord, the fundamental truths which he finds in the errors propagated by his opponents, and propagated, too, in open contradiction to the pure truth which he is conscious of teaching. How much would have been otherwise in the church! how many divisions might have been avoided! how many, who now work in opposition to each other, might

be working together for the propagation of the Gospel! how many who have become hardened in their errors, and who have gradually lost the portion that remained to them of Christian truth, might, from that portion, have been led on to the knowledge of the truth, and been recovered from the bonds of error, if, instead of desiring, with the impatient zeal of a love not sufficiently purged from the selfish element, to have everything at once, the different degrees of faith and of knowledge had been more respected, and cherished with circumspection and love.

The principle here expressed and followed by Paul admits of manifold application. In what kind of operations must it be said, that it is to be especially applied? In that kind, which entirely corresponds with the peculiar labours and agency of Paul; where, namely, the Church has first to be established on the one ground, which is Christ,- we mean missionary labours. There should all, according to the example given us by Paul, direct their eyes solely to Him,—the paramount object should be, that Christ be everywhere known, and that all testify of Him alone. There, therefore, should all contentions about different confessional views disappear; and, amid all differences, all should co-operate only in this,-that Christ be preached. Their disagreements on other points should be offered to Him as a sacrifice. Each should rejoice, that Christ, the centre of all, is made more and more known by others, even by those who, according to his opinion, may have a less perfect knowledge of Him; and that to Him the attention of all is, from every side, directed. We may, also, apply this example of Paul in another respect. There are times, in which the Church, even where it is already established, is called on to renew her missionary agency, in which, although the unconscious influence of the ideas and tendencies first called forth and disseminated by Christianity still continues operative,-times which deny, notwithstanding, their connection with it, and even set themselves in opposition to it. There are, also, times of farspreading apostacy, when the civilisation, which has grown up under the guardianship of Christianity, revolts against it, when this very revolt is produced by the corrupt combinations of Christianity with human ordinances. As, in the history of all

Religions, there are periods in which, reason, grown up to independence, severs itself from that religious tradition under whose guardian care it has attained this growth, so, too, Christianity cannot be exempt from the same destiny. It is subject to the same laws and conditions to which everything human is subject. It manifests its difference from all Religions,—a difference which it owes to its Divine nature and character,—only in the manner in which it emerges victorious from all such conflicts. While, namely, all other Religions find their grave in these trials, they are to Christianity but the points of transition to a resurrection in exalted purity and majesty and renovated power. In such periods, equally as in those of missionary agency, again does the principle find its application,-" that Christ only be preached." The main aim and endeavour should be, that Christ be brought near to the alienated minds of men, so that they may be drawn to Him, and made subject to Him. And here, again, everything cannot at once be effected; but gradually only, will the road to a union among minds, which have to be brought to Him, from principles the most various and opposite, be opened. Here, also, the example of the high-minded denial of self, which Paul gives us, must be our instructor. Every one, who is filled with the same spirit which animated him, will rejoice if only Christ be preached in manifold ways, even when he cannot but perceive, that these modes leave much to be desired.

The Christian character of Paul exhibits itself also, in a peculiar manner, in the way in which he received the gifts transmitted to him by the church at Philippi. There is, in the natural man, a false straining after independence, a pride of self-will, often adorning itself with noble names, which makes men ashamed to accept from others the gifts they stand in need of, lest they be humbled before them; or a still more depraved tendency, which proceeds from the same fundamental vice of the natural man, when, namely, men receive gifts for their own advantage, but are, notwithstanding, too ready to forget them, dread the very recollection of them, and refuse to pay the gratitude due to others, and all from fear of rendering themselves dependent on others, and of degrading themselves in their eyes. But the Christian is pervaded with the consciousness, that all men are

related to each other as members of one body, and that all should continue in this state of mutual dependence, as members under the one Head Jesus Christ. He knows, that the increase of the

whole, from the one Head, which guides, and animates, and sustains all the members, can be truly furthered, only when all the individual members, as organs of that one Head, are ready mutually to support and aid each other, and in love and harmony to co-operate, equally in things spiritual as in things temporal; as Paul himself so finely describes it in the Epistle to the Ephesians: "That we may grow up into Him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ; from whom the whole body, fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working, in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love," (chap. iv. 15, 16.) Christ is here described as He, to whom the whole development should tend; to grow up into communion with Him, to receive Him into ourselves, to be filled with Him, as the end and aim of all; and, at the same time, as He, from whom this development to himself can alone proceed, from whom issue all vital powers and principles, and from whom alone all the members can receive their motives of action and their guidance. Christ works upon the whole body, by working through the instrumentality of the different members, through whom this animating energy diffuses itself, and therefore" the increase" from Him and to Him, can only there truly flourish, where all the members equally yield themselves to Him, and in mutual dependence upon, and mutual co-operation with one another, continue under his guidance, in close union with one another. The Christian, then, bears in mind, that wants, and abilities to satisfy these wants, are distributed in different ways and in various measure among the different members, in order that their mutual dependence upon, and mutual co-operation with, each other may be maintained, so that no one, dissociating himself from union with the whole, should imagine that he can, in any way, subsist for himself alone; and that thus, along with the mutual need of help, mutual love also should be more furthered. The Christian, therefore, will not be ashamed of this relative dependence on others, but will recognise in this

the natural order in the relation of the members one to another. As the giver rejoices in having received from God what may be employed for the relief of others, and regards it as conferred on himself by their common Lord for this very end,— a mean to manifest that love, which the Spirit of God sheds abroad in the hearts of believers, and which is the characteristic by which the disciples of the Lord, as members of His body, are to be recognised, so the receiver rejoices, even more than in the momentary bodily advantages which he derives from the gift, in the Divine feeling, which expresses itself therein, in the love, that element of life to the church, which displays itself in it. He knows that this will turn to the true interest of the giver himself, while, through works of love on earth, he is sowing what he will reap in eternal life, and while he manifests in his works that feeling which prepares him for Heaven. And this Christian conduct exhibits itself to us in the manner in which Paul received the gifts of the church of Philippi, while he writes, (chap. iv. 10, 11), "But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but he lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in respect of want." He then concludes with these words, (ver. 17), "Not because I desire a gift, but I seek fruit that may abound to your account"-fruit, which procures eternal life for the Philippians.

Further, Paul here gives us an example of the true Christian character, in the way in which he bears himself to outward things. The Christian, in the power of the Lord, which strengthens him for everything, shows his independence of the things of the world, and his superiority over them, by his cheerful disposition to bear all those wants, which the Lord, through circumstances, and the requirements of his vocation, imposes upon him. His spirit, filled with the Divine life, cannot be bowed down under earthly wants; in all his renunciations, the Christian proves himself to be master of the world, and as such, feels his inner man the more exalted. But the Christian is, also, far from a self-imposed mortification of the flesh in fancied spirituality, which serves only to gratify the fleshly sense; for Holy Scripture places everything which proceeds not from the Spirit