toucheth the apple of his eyer ;" and that "it were better for you to have a millstone hanged about your neck, than that you should cause one of his little ones to stumble8." Be sen- sible then of your guilt and danger : embrace the doctrine which you have been labouring to destroy': and, instead of opposing, labour to advance, the interests of the Redeemer's kingdom.]
r Zech. ii. 8. s Matt, xviii. G. l Gal. i. 28.
Phil. ii. 1,2. If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
THE Church of Christ is one great family ; all its members being children of one common Parent, and partakers of one common interest. To consult the good of the whole is the duty of each ; no one re- garding his own personal gratification, but all com- bining for the common welfare. This was a favourite topic with the Apostle Paul. The care of all the Churches having been committed to him, he had constant occasion to inculcate the necessity of union amongst the multifarious and discordant characters of which the different societies were composed. The manner in which he inculcates it in the words before us, is very remarkable, and deserves particular atten- tion. In opening the passage to your view, we shall be led to notice,
I. The object of his desire —
He was now in prison at Rome : but his sufferings caused no diminution in his concern for the welfare of the Church of God. He saw with grief the efforts which were made by the enemies of Christ to turn aside the Philippians from the faith they had em- braced ; and he therefore urges them the more care- fully to preserve amongst themselves an unity of sentiment and affection, in order that they might