wings will I rejoice." (4) It !Ba slrong guard again,t IJffl. The religiously peaceful are the morally strong, Duty 1s pleasant, obedience is sweet, because the spiritual mind is in harmony with God's mind. Sin is rejected because it threatens to undermine the peaoe. 3. The nbiding source of this peace. "In Christ Jesus." (1) He -is 011,r Pear,e, (Eph. ii. 14.) Not in the mere sense of being our Peace-maker, as if he ba<l retired after be had made it, but be is the continuous Source of our peace. (2) He gives peaa as his legacy to the (Jhurch. (John xiv. 27.) He imparts that central calm that is nt the heart of the endless agitations tha~ shake our merely earthly life.-T. C. Ver. 8.-Subjectsfor (Jhristia,n study. The gospel does more than hold out a refuge to the guilty; it takes all who accept (.)hrist under its supreme and exclusive direction. Therefore, in bis parting words to his converts, the last counsel of the apostle is of a beautifully practical character: "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, what- soever things are venerable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things." I. SUBJECTS OF CHRISTIAN CONTEMPLATION. There is a certain order in the series here exhibited. 1. Things that concern us absolutely. " Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are venerable." (1) Things.true. That is, true as opposed to false; for lying is, according to the apoi;tle, a breach of the social contract (Eph. iv. 25). True as opposed to insincerity; true in speech, true in conduct. Things true stand at the bead of the series, because the truth is the ground of all God's commands, and the ground of our obedience. The love of truth is the intellectual part of piety. It raises the moral temper and tone of the world. As it is by the truth we are sanctified, it is natural that things true should be the subject of constant Christian thought. (2) 'l'hings venerable. A man is very much what he thinks; therefore make venerable themes the subjects of your deepest thought. Grave things strengthen and deepen Christian character and intensify Christian feeling. Character formed on such a basis will be dignified. "Acceptable to God and approved of men" (Rom. xiv. 18). 2. Things that concern us relatively. "Whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure." (I) Things just or righteous. Justice maintains right relations between man and man, holds the balance fairly between conflicting interests, co-ordinates the rights of each with all. Love of justice is the moral part of piety, as the love of truth is the intellec- tual part of it. Justice is peculiar in this respect, that there are no degrees of it, as there are degrees of goodness or generosity; for a man less than just is unjust. A man, again, may do a hundred kindly acts, but if he fail in one act of justice the blemish is fatal to character. There is, therefore, great need that Christian people should be just in all their acts. Religion does not exempt them from the laws which bind men of the world. (2) Things pure. Not merely chastity, but purity in the widest sense. 'fhere must. be pure thinking, pure reading, pure action. " Blessed are the pure in heart." Let the mind dwell on pure themes. 3. Thi-ngs that suggest m(Jf'al approbation from the outside. "Whatsoever things are lovely, . . . of good report." The four things already mentioned describe their character in themselves. These two mark the impression made upon the world. (1) Things lovely. They suggest the kindly graces of character. There is such a thing as being dignified, majestic, and venerable, but not lovely. A Christian ought not to be morose, unkind, or fault- finding. Nothing tends to injure the cause of religion more than an unl?vely temper, an eye severe and unkind, a brow hard and stern. Yet the apostle gives only the fifth place to "things lovely," as if to indicate that personal kindness or good nature is not to supply the room of justice or purity. (2) 'l'hings of good report. Things such as all men agree in commending-courtesy, urbanity, justice, temperance, pmity, truth, respect to parents. Men of the world will not withhold their praise from men distin- guished by these virtues. Christians ought to remember the words," Let not your good be evil spoken of." They are to" \\alk in wisdom toward them that are without." 4. Things to be included in a larger category. " If there be any virtue, if there be any praise." Thie clause is thrown in as an after-thought, to cover possible omissions, for the subjects of Christian contemplation are endless. (1) Virtue. The apostle never uses this old heathen term except in this place, but he seems to say that Christian people are not to negleot the study of that which is best in heathen conception. 170 THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILlPPIANS. [oH, IV, 1-28,
(2) Pmise. He had often despised the praise of men, but he concedes here that aome cousideration ought to be gi,•en eTon to what is worthy of praiso among men. • II. Tm: DUTY AND ADVANTAGE OF OONTEMPL-A'l'ING THESE THINGS. "'l'hink on tht'se things." 1. 7'he mind takes the stamp of what it think, on. '].'here is an assimi- lating process by which the graces or virtuos we have specified are stamped deeply upon Christian character. It is witb. these grllOOS as it is with Christ himself. He Is tho 11IQS6 "in which we behold the glory of God, and so are changed into the snmo imago from glory to glory." 2. There are blessed effBCts upon the world, A life eltemplifyin11 the graces of holy living is the most likely to arrest the careless and the wicked, Th; Ii Ying epistles of Christ are made to be known and read of all rnen.-T. O.
Ver. 9.-The apostl,e hirri,si/,f an ea;amp'le to believers. "Those things, which ye both learned, and received, and heard, and saw in me, do: and the God of pence shall be with von." I. Tm!: APOSTLE'S PltECEPl'S. "Learned and received." The reference is to his oral teaching, which included all the principles out of which these graces or virtues take their origin and growth. ll THE A.P06TLE 1s EX.Al(pLE. As set before them in what they heard of him when absent, and in what they saw of him when he was present. They witnessed his laborious usefulness, bis patient submission to persecution, his spirituality and care for his own spiritual life, and, above all, his splendid decision of character. III. THE EFFECT OF FOLLOWING THESE PBEOEl"ffi AND THIS EXAMPLE. "The God of peace shall he with you." The way of peace lies along the pathway of obedience. The bless:ng of the Lord is upon them who love him and keep his com.mand- ments.-T. C.