tliligcnco are required thereto. Here it is an art which we may oh~crvc r~w no rn•irh study, o.nd of the students thereof few are great proficients; so that 'Qut fit, Mccrenas •J• Homco'.ll question, 'How comes it to pass that nobody liveth content with the k,t o.ssigned by God?' wanted not sufficient ground. However, it is not like the quadra- turo of lhe circle, or the philosopher's stone, o.n art impossible to be learned, and which will baffle o.ll study; there are examples which show it to be obtainable ; there are rules nnd precepts by observing which we may arrive to it" (Barrow). The apostle for ono had learned, The force of the language is, "I/or my part, have learned." "With noble self-consciousness," is the remark of Meyer. He had been exceptionally placed for learning this lesson, There were few, if any, who could compare with him in the changes he had seen in providence, in the states through which he had been made to pass. And he had rightly improved his experiences. He had learned to be independent of his outward state, in looking to the sufficiency of his inward enjoyments in God's favour .and love and the prospects of everlasting bliss. He had learned further to be independent by looking to his outward state, whatsoever it was for the time being, as appointed him by God, as therefore better than he could choose for him- self, as the best possible for him in view of his discipline and usefulness. 3. Contrasted states. "I know how to be abased, and I know also how to abound : in everything and in all things have I learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in want." He condescends and dwells on particular states with variety of expression. As the result of his learning, he knew how to be abased, i.e. by any adverse state, and not merely by want. And he knew also how to abound, which is more specific, being the opposite of being in want. The knowing is next amplified, being made to extend to everything and all things (distributively and collectively). It is further amplified in being made to refer to acquired knowledge which is hidden from the uninitiated. He had learned the secret. The two states are now plainly described as a being filled and a being hungry, an abounding (in the means of subsistence) and a being in want (of the means of subsistence). 'vVe do not know so much about Paul being in the former state, bnt about the latter state there are affecting notices. "Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place" (1 Cor. iv. 11); "In hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness" (2 Cor. :ri. 27). He knew how to maintain the right attitude to both states, and we are to understand the right attitude to be independence. He was so independent that he was" neither exalted by abundance nor crushed by want," as Pelagius properly remarks. There is a content- ment (to use the narrower word) which extends even to a state of abundance. For in a state of abundance men are apt to make themselves poor by enlarging their desires. The apostle had "stayed affections," and that was the secret of his content- ment in both states. 4. Sourre of support generally. "I can do all things in him that strengtheneth me." 'l'he apostle rises from the special to the general, and points triumphantly, but humbly, to what supported him, not only in want, but in every state. The Strengthener here is the same who is said to make us more than conquerors, viz. Christ. (1) How Ohrist comes to have strength to give to his people. We are not to conceive of this strength as that belonging to him by original right as the Son of God. If we had not fallen from our original condition that would have been thei source of strength to us, as it is to unfallen angels. The creature naturally finds strength in the Creator, and we should have found unfailing strength in him by whom, God made the heavens and the earth, by whom also he made us. But Christ, as the Saviour, had no blessing for his people until he had acquired it. All the ~uength • that we need for our being raised out of sin into holiness had to be laboured for, struggled for, bled for. The work for which Christ was set apart needed strength for· its accomplishment. And this he was constantly augmenting until, at the last, in the depths of suffering, in conflict with all the powers of darkness, under the eclipse of the Divine countenance, he struggled out into perfect spiritual strength. He became strona, not by ease, but by " resisting unto blood, striving against sin." His own strength was not the result of his atoning work; it was rather that which accomplishe,l it. But that he should give strength to his people, that follows on his atoning work, and does not go before it. We are taught to think of it as part of the reward which the Father gave him for finishing his e.ppoh\~\ work. Raised to the right hand of THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS.
God, he reC'C'irC'd gifts for men, even for the rebellious; and one of thc~c rrifts is ~trencrtb to _rnpr(lrt. u~ in the doing o! God's wi;l. He hRS acquired for us t,hnt strcngtl~ in wlnC'h he lumseH overcame. 'Ihnt, then, 1s tho h1trd-won manner in which Christ hM h>c(lme _the Source of strength: Ho has ri81;n out of the great glorious work or n•dempt10n to be strongt.h to 111s people. He 1s our Strength, because our Redeemer. (!;) . Wnat the nature of the stl'e'l'flt~ is which Christ gives ~o his people. Thero is :1scnbed to the holy a kmd of ommsc1ence: " Ye have an unction from the Holy One an~ know all things." That does not mean that we know all things in the sense i~ which God knows them, but that we know them so far ns our duties ani concerned and are delivered from all that would obscure our vision. There is, in the same·way' ascribed t.o us here a kind of omnipotence: " I can do all things." That does not mea; that we can " Rift the hills or roll the wat.ers, Flash the lightning, weigh the sun."