LORD. And the Countenance of The HOLY ONE by His SPIRIT will be upon Such now and for ever for Good; and we, if amongst them, shall not only have Peace at the last, but find Peace ever present with us, even before we enter on that last scene of this Life, which will open upon all the Realities of Eternity, and That Day of The Glorified SON of GOD will be Revealed, when They, that are His, will arise with Him to the Glories and the Blessedness of His Eternal and Universal Kingdom. No greater Joy had the Apostle than to be Assured of Others becoming like-minded with himself in the faith and love and faithful acknowledgment and service of his Heavenly MASTER; and into that Joy it is our interest and our privilege to seek to enter, and our Sympathies should be warmly directed towards Those, who are pressing forward to make also their Calling and Election Sure.- -The labour of the Righteous tendeth to Life: the fruit of the Wicked to sin. He is in the Way of Life, that keepeth instruction; but he, that refuseth reproof, erreth, said Solomon-Prov. x. 16, 17.-Our SAVIOUR's Admonition is, To labour for That, Which Endureth unto Everlasting Life, and Which He, as The SON of Man, and in His Surpassing Love for Man, is Willing to Give unto All, that by believing on Him, most effectually do the Work of GOD--John vi. 27, 29. Let us labour therefore to enter into That Rest, Which remaineth to the People of GOD!-Heb. iv. 11, 9. Giving all diligence to add to our faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness Brotherly kindness; and to Brotherly kindness charity: for, as we gather from St. Peter, if these things be in us and abound, they will make us, that we shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our LORD JESUS CHRIST. Wherefore may we give diligence thus, to make our Calling and Election Sure! for if we do these things, in submission and devotedness to our Gracious SAVIOUR, we shall not fall; but an Entrance will be Ministered unto us effectually into The Everlasting KINGDOM of our LORD and SAVIOUR ^ JESUS CHRIST-2 Pet. i. 5 to 8, 10, 11. Obedience unto CHRIST should be the ready and joyous service of the heart; for no devotedness can repay the Service He has Mercifully Rendered us; for the Fruits of His Labour in our Cause, and at Such A Sacrifice, we shall be perpetually gathering in the Coming Eternity but our servitude, the yoke of which is so easy, amidst Wages so Rich, both Present and to Come, is limited to this Life; even if its span be of the shortest duration, and its termination the most sudden!-See Eph. vi. 5 to 8. May The GOD of Peace, That Brought again from the Dead our LORD JESUS, after His Expiatory Sacrifice for us upon the Cross, through the Blood Shed by Him under His Everlasting Covenant of Mediation, Make us Perfect in every good work to do His Will, Working in us That, Which is Well-Pleasing in His Sight through our faith and lively hope in JESUS CHRIST-Heb. xiii. 20, 21. Let us not murmur, lest, like the murmuring Israelites, amidst the Abundant Blessings Extended to and Reserved for us, on our continuing in the faith, we be destroyed of the Destroyer !-1 Cor. x. 10. Let us avoid doubtful disputations before them, that are weak!-Rom. xiv. 1. And may we not enter upon them, but with previous inward prayer for DIVINE Grace to Enable us to come out of them with glory to the High Cause we endeavour to espouse; and that we may be amongst the Adopted Children of our FATHER, Which is in Heaven- Matt. v. 45-being Followers of Him, as dear Children; and walking in Spiritual love, as CHRIST hath Loved us, and hath Given Himself for us, An Offering and A Sacrifice to GOD for a Sweet-Smelling Savour-Eph v. 1, 2. In the Song of Moses, when he called the Heavens and the Earth to hear, on publishing the Name of The LORD, and ascribing Greatness unto GOD, he thus bespoke His Praise-' HE is The ROCK! His Work is Perfect; for All His Ways are

Judgment: A GOD of Truth and without iniquity, Just and Right is He;'-but then, contemplating the unworthy return So Gracious A CREATOR had Met with from Creatures of His Peculiar Favour, he characterizes them as having corrupted themselves, that their distinguishing mark or Spot is not the Spot of GOD's Children; but that they were a perverse and crooked Generation, and denominates them as foolish and unwise in thus requiting The LORD, by returning evil for Good, and Such Good!-Deut. xxxii. 1, 3 to 6. -To be the Light of the Heathen World is the Privilege of the Christian, and we are Admonished by The SUN of Righteousness, through Whose Reflected Beams we can alone diffuse Such Light, to let It shine before Men, that they may see our good works, and glorify our FATHER, Which is in Heaven-Matt. v. 14, 16. In The Gospel Race we need the most watchful and prayerful guard over our words and deeds; so bringing the Body and its animal passions into subjection; and so controuling our intellectual powers and faculties by Gospel Rules, that when admonishing or instructing Others by word, we may not ourselves be Cast-aways-1 Cor. ix. 27.-St. Paul elsewhere says, Watch thou in all things! Endure afflictions! and, though addressed to Timothy, it applies to us All. And as an Encouragement to our looking to the Goal of such labours in love and through life to pursue It for CHRIST's Sake, he adds; I have fought a good Fight, I have finished my Course, I have kept the faith! Henceforth there is Laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness, Which The LORD, The Righteous JUDGE, will Give me at That Day; and not to me only, but unto All Them also, that love His Appearing -2 Tim. iv. 5, 7, 8.

VERSES 19 to 30.-But I trust in The LORD JESUS to Send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state: for I have no Man like-minded, who will naturally care for your state: for All seek their own, not the Things, which are JESUS CHRIST's: but ye know the proof of him, that as a Son with the Father, he hath served with me in The Gospel : him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me: but I trust in The LORD, that I also myself shall come shortly. Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my Brother and Companion in labour and Fellow-Soldier; but your Messenger; and he, that ministered to my wants; for he longed after you All; and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick; for indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but GOD Had Mercy on him; and not on him only but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice ; and that I may be the less sorrowful. Receive him therefore in The LORD with all gladness! and hold such in reputation because for the Work of CHRIST he was nigh unto death; not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me.

As from JESUS, Who is ONE with The FATHER and The HOLY SPIRIT, Indivisible in THE GODHEAD, Proceeds the Ordering and Controuling All Things belonging to His Church and its Members, as well as a General and Superintending Providence over the affairs of Mankind, Paul justly acknowledged, that on His Will and Sanction entirely depended whether Timothy, his favourite Son of the True Faith taught him by Paul, might be Permitted to visit them; as well he knew, that the youthful Timothy was a Sage in Spiritual Wisdom and a Veteran in the science of Spiritual Warfare, being Clad and Caparisoned from the whole Amoury of GOD. To the faithful representation, by that early Servant of their Common LORD and MASTER, of the real condition of the Philippian Converts, in their profession of the Christian faith, he confidently looked, that he would have its result and actual operation set fairly and justly before him; and from thence, as desirous above all things to arrive at the truth, that he might shape his own conduct and communications in reference to them accordingly, whether in the spirit of encouragement or expostulation or condemnation. St. Paul wrote from Rome, and notwithstanding his unceasing labours, amidst bonds

and imprisonment, to bring Others to the Service of The LORD, he was so little countenanced in his Ministry by any adoption of the real spirit of Missionary exertion in The SAVIOUR's Cause, that he had to look to Timothy almost alone with unlimited confidence for such work; and in him he felt, that that Spirit existed and would be manifested most faithfully and attractively, whenever and wherever it was employed, under DIVINE Sanction and Direction. The selfishness Paul witnessed around him, when he sought to alienate Souls from any covetousness of Earthly riches and comforts, and to set them on a steadfast seeking after the Treasure of Heaven, and the Consolations of The Gospel of Everlasting Peace, must have been painful to him to witness; though, however seemingly discouraging, it yet did not check his own zeal, or divert his efforts towards continuing to preach the Word in season and out of season, that, if possible, he might draw Others to CHRIST, and implant in Some a Missionary zeal to further The MESSIAH's Merciful Designs towards Human Kind. The character of Timothy was proclaimed by the Apostle, both in gratitude to The GIVER of Such a Source of aid and of comfort to himself, as in the anxious desire that his Disciple should be received with the attention and respect he deserved, and be followed in that path of Christian virtue, which he so gratefully and steadfastly trod. Paul speaks of him as a Model of filial devotedness to himself, the Father of the Gentile Church in CHRIST: and how gladdening to the ingenuous heart of the youthful Timothy must have been the converse and counsel of St. Paul, in which he must have experienced indeed That Wisdom, Which Cometh from Above, and have had laid open to him the Endearing Attributes of DEITY, All Concurring in the Aim to Promote the Eternal Happiness of Man, in the Abodes of That Heaven, to Which Paul in vision had been Raised! From the confidence he felt in Timothy Paul knew, that he would act the part of an able Forerunner, and he looked forward with delight at the prospect of being Permitted to witness the fruits of the labour of his Disciple's love in his Ministry amongst the Philippians.

The Apostle then mentions Another of his faithful Attendants, and Supporters, Epaphroditus, nearer his own age, whom he characterizes as a Brother and Fellow-Soldier in the Christian warfare; from whom, with the affectionate manner of a Brother in spirit, he derived the assiduous and useful attentions of a Servant : and with a heart opened gladly to receive the Truth, and the unspeakable advantage of having It taught by the lips of Paul, Epaphroditus, by the Enlightening Influence of The HOLY SPIRIT, Profited to his Soul's conviction and conversion to the true spirit of a Fellow-Labourer in his Heavenly MASTER's Cause; resting on CHRIST and His Gracious Offering his hope of being Received by Him amongst the Armies of the Faithful. Though bodily ailment had overtaken him, which for a time suspended his wished-for mission to the Philippians, and which probably had been aggravated, if not superinduced, by the persecution, too prevalent in that Age and Place, he yet fed himself with the hope, that health might be Restored to him and he be Permitted to go on his way; rejoicing, as he doubtless would, after Paul's admonitory and encouraging example, that he had been Called to suffer persecution for Righteousness' sake and for The Gospel of JESUS CHRIST. The loss by death of such an Assistant would to Paul at that time have been an added trial, however gainful it would have been to the Sanctified and disembodied Spirit of his Friend; Sorrow added to sorrow was peculiarly the Experience of The MAN of Sorrows. But All He Bore; and we are reaping the Inestimable Benefit of His Inimitable Patience. Paul in prison, or chain-bound to a Roman Soldier, felt peculiarly the need of a confidential Familiar and considerate Companion, such as Epaphroditus; to have lost him at that critical juncture would have been a twofold calamity; which in the experience he had had of Others, whom he had laboured unsuccessfully to convert, he saw no prospect of

alleviating; as he found None like-minded with Epaphroditus, and might in vain have endeavoured to supply his place, if he had died. But amidst his sickness, severe as it was, as bringing him to the borders of the grave, it bore heavily on the generous disposition of Epaphroditus, that he might be prevented fulfilling the august Office of being an Ambassador of CHRIST, under the distinguishing appointment and commendation of Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles. He had before been selected, and doubtless had faithfully discharged his Heavenward Mission; and the Philippians would appreciate his Calling and rejoice to have him, as well as Timothy, among them; though sorrowing for a time, that Paul himself, in his benevolent feelings towards them, was for a season personally kept from them; and deprived of their consoling companionship. The reception which Paul calls upon them to give this, his other chosen Messenger, is in the spirit and Brotherly affection and attention, that Gospel Principles, and the knowledge of The LORD and SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST, as Virtually his MASTER, would inculcate; and to sustain him in his Office as a Messenger of The Truth, and an Example of Christian faith; for Epaphroditus had exhibited the highest Christian fortitude, holding even his life as even a secondary object of desire to his anxious wish of being instrumental in propagating The Gospel, with all Its Present and Future Inestimable Privileges, wherever he might be amongst Those upon whom the Light of Christianity might be allowed to Shine; and to aid in bringing them to the adoption of Its Guidance, and to the Appropriation of Its Virtues and hallowing Qualities. Some allusion is made to Paul's experience of backwardness on the part of the Philippians to help him probably in his Missionary career; a remonstrance, doubtlessly called for in justice, but which ought to have been felt and to have led to correction.- -Timothy was evidently the Apostle's favourite Missionary, for, as he writes to the Thessalonian Converts, he says, When we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone; and sent Timotheus, our Brother and Minister of GOD, and our FellowLabourer in The Gospel of CHRIST, to establish you and to comfort you concerning your faith-1 Thess. iii. 1, 2.- -Human Nature, both as it was and

as it would be in future ages, was before the piercing and Prophetic eye of the Apostle; for as he writes to the same his dearly beloved Timothy, he says, This know, that in the last days perilous times shall come, for Men shall be Lovers of their own Selves, covetous, Boasters, proud, Blasphemers, disobedient to Parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false Accusers, incontinent, fierce, Despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, Lovers of pleasures more than Lovers of GOD; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof-2 Tim. iii. 1 to 5.-The Apostle renews his hope of being Enabled again to visit the Philippians with increased and increasing ardour for their confirmation in the Faith, and their complete accordance with the Discipline and Doctrine of The Gospel of JESUS CHRIST.

-Towards the conclusion of his Epistle he acknowledges his sense of the Christian feeling of affection and liberality, which the Philippians had manifested towards him, and communicated by Epaphroditus on his leaving them, after his first Missionary sojourn among them; saying, I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things, which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a Sacrifice Acceptable, Well-pleasing to GOD-iv. 18. Paul eventually and by degrees was Blest with other congenial Spirits in the Great and Gracious Work of his and their adored MASTER and LORD; for in writing to Philemon, whom he characterizes as a Fellow-Labourer, he addresses also Apphia and Archippus, describing the Former as beloved, and the Latter as his Fellow-Soldier, having a Church in his house-Phil. iv. 2.-The Apostle had urged upon the Corinthian Converts Christian submission to the doctrine of Stephanus and Such as he, whom

Paul asserted to be the First-Fruits of Achaia, and as having addicted themselves to the Ministry of the Saints in CHRIST JESUS-1 Cor. xvi. 15, 16; and who, like Epaphroditus, regarded not their Lives, so that they might promote the Glory of GOD, and the Salvation of Souls, according to the Illumination of DIVINE Grace Poured upon their hearts and minds through the preaching of the Apostle. And in like manner should the true Ministers of CHRIST be received and esteemed.

CHAPTER III.

VERSES 1 to 7.-Finally, my Brethren, rejoice in The LORD! To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous; but for you it is safe. Beware of Dogs! beware of evil Workers! beware of the Concision! For we are the Circumcision, which worship GOD in the Spirit; and rejoice in CHRIST JESUS; and have no confidence in the Flesh: though I might also have confidence in the Flesh: if any other Man thinketh, that he hath whereof he might trust in the Flesh, I more; Circumcised the eighth day; of the Stock of Israel; of the Tribe of Benjamin; an Hebrew of the Hebrews: as touching the Law, a Pharisee: concerning zeal, persecuting the Church: touching the righteousness, which is in the Law, blameless. But what things were gain to me; those I counted loss for CHRIST.

To know The LORD, as A GOD of Mercy and Love, through the Reconciling Influence of His Blessed SON's Intercession, is to rejoice in Him with reverence; and in that joy there is a depth and a height, that infinitely surpass every other experience of gratification; and it is inseparable from a lively faith in CHRIST, as The SOURCE of DIVINE Love to Man. St. Paul's effort to impress his own sound views of Redeeming Love and Sanctifying Grace, (full charged Therewith as were his heart and Soul, and regarding Them as the most Essential and Salutary Subjects for contemplation and appropriation,) led him naturally to repeat his sentiments upon Them, with an anxious desire, that They should deeply and perseveringly be weighed and estimated by those he addressed, either personally or in writing. No labour of this or of any other kind, in Such a Cause, was oppressive to him, or not willingly engaged in, for the Great Object of leading Souls into the Way and the Truth, that they might share with him the Promise of Eternal Life in CHRIST JESUS. He then cautions and seeks to fortify his InfantColony of Christian Converts against the fierceness, the violence and the savage and cruel opposition of those around them, hostile to the meek and purifying and hallowing Influence of The Gospel of JESUS CHRIST, and whom the Apostle characterizes as 'dogs' fierce and destructive in pursuit of their prey. Then to illustrate the simile, he urges watchfulness and prudential dealings in reference to the Workers of wickedness; and distinctly points out the Apostates from the oncereceived faith in CHRIST under the term Concision,' as separating themselves from the Faithful in their Communion, and setting up a Religion of their own, and setting at nought That of JESUS CHRIST and His Apostles. Paul then asserts, as the Criterion of The True Gospel and faith in The MESSIAH, his own Doctrine and Communion Therein, in which he continues to rejoice under every adversity and opposition; and is confident, that All, who adopt it heartily, will experience the same delight and dependance on DIVINE Favour both in Time and in Eternity. St. Paul's worship is a Spiritual worship, absorbed in the contemplation of DIVINE Goodness and Forbearance and Pardoning Mercy and Adopting Love, in and through the Sacrificial Offering of The Incarnate SON of GOD, and His Interposing and Imputed Righteousness on Man's behalf, and in the Nature of Man, which He so Mysteriously and Benevolently Adopted. The Apostle, amidst his own unequalled labours in the Cause of CHRIST, disclaimed any the least ground of merit in himself, as constituting any claim to Eternal Happiness in Heavenly Holiness. The Merits of his LORD and MASTER, The REDEEMER, were alone the All-Sufficient Justification to the