Vers. 8, 9.-Meditation a,uJ, action. Having insisted on the duties of prayer and thanksgiving and the reward which accompanies them, St. Paul proceeds to point out toe need of meditation on all that is of God, and of practically living out the God-like life upon earth. To such also is attached a special reward. . L THE :t,,"EED OF :MEDITATION. This is universal. All persons meditate on that wliich is to them of absorbing interest. By meditation the stock of our ideas is increased and a mental atmosphere is formed in which we live and move. Every great work and every great life has been produced by much meditation. II. THE BF.ST SUBJECTS FOR JIIEDIT.ATION. •• Whatsover things are true," etc. We need not limit these to the subject-matter of the Christian revelation, although undoubtedly each of these forms of goodness will find its highest expression in that. But since all good things are of God, we may find him reflected in every act of virtue, in every prompting of love, in every aspiration after a higher life, in whatever way these may be manifested. The terms selected include all that is noble tow~rds_ God, all that is purifying to ourselves, and all that commends itself to the better 10st1ncts of men. Meditating on such an exhaustive catalogue of high ideas, how can we become anything else than filled with e.ll that is true and Divine? III. TRUE XEDITATlO!I WILL PRODUCE ACTION. If it does not do this it enervates the will and dissipates the motive forces of the character. A truth acted upon /provides us with an unanswerable evidence that it is a truth. It becomes worked into our nature and forms part of ourselves. IV. TuuE ACTIOJT IS LE.AID-'ED FBOJ,( ELUU'LE RATHER TB.A.N FllOJ,( PRECEPT. "That which ye have ... seen in me, do." Action is in life and not in theory. Note how the same truth is to be found in the Beatitudes. They begin with a deEcription of abstract bles!iedness, such as is to be found in poverty of spirit; they end by translating this idea of blessedness iIJto a living reality in the case of the disciples who were being 1.aught. " Blesstd are they" turns into "Blessed are ye," and their blessedness is to be found in such an active life of righteousness u is to involve pereecutiou for Chrb1t'11 sake. OH, lV, 1-28,] THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 193
V, TIIIIJ REWARD 01' TRUE A0TION PR0OEEDING OUT OF PROFOUND MEDITATION. "The God of peace she.l\ be with you." The peace of God is the reward of prayer and trustfulness; this is e.n inwe.rd gift bringing God into the soul. But true action secures the presence of the God ofpeace, exteroa.lly defending and guiding, as well as internally teaching a.nd blessing.-V. W. H.
Ver, 11.-0ontentment. To be contented with one's lot is a. thing to be desired; to be contented with one's self is a thing to be dreaded. Our lot is that which God has been pleased to choose for us. Our self is that character or disposition which is being da.ily built up by our co-operation with God's grace, I. ST. PAUL'S DIBOONTENT WITH IDMBELF. (l:;ee eh. iii.12--14.) It is his sense of need which aroused the desire for, and therefore secured the possession of, spiritual growth. To be contented with one's own spiritnal state is to prevent the possibility of spiritual progress. All progress springs out of a sense of insufficiency, "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." II. ST. PAUL'S ooNTENT WITH ms LOT. So far ae worldly advantages are concerned it was not an enviable one. But he had received sufficient of his Master's Spirit to know that man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things that he possesseth. This contrast between Divine discontent and Divine content is paralleled by the " Thou shalt not covet" of the Decalogue and the "Covet earnestly the best gifts" of St. Paul.-V. W. H. Vers. 12, 13.-The dijficulties of prosperity. 1. Contentment needs to be cultivated, not only when we possess little, but likewise when we possess much. It may be thought that to be contented with plenty is an easy task. But this is not so. It is often easier to know how to be abased than to know how to abound. We may be in greater danger when our prayers are answered than when the answer is withheld. 2. St. Paul, having learned many things, can teach us many things, Not only does he know theoretically how difficult it is to abound, but he knows it experimentally, and experimentally he has overcome the difficulty. He has been initiated in the experience of both need and abundance, and has known how to bear either lot with safety. 3. This he ha.d been able to do, not through any Stoical superiority to the things of this life, nor yet through any force of natural character, but in the power in which his whole life was now being lived, the strength given by union with Jesus Christ.- V, W. H. Vers. 14-19.-Almsgiving apart of Ohristian life and worship. I. THE RELATION• SHIP BETWEEN THOSE WHO GIVE Ah"D THOSE WHO RECEIVE ALMS IS ONE OF COMMUNION. (Ver. 15,) It is a mistake to suppose that the benefit of almsgiving is all on the side of the recipients. They who possess, possess in order that they may show their brotherhood with those who possess not. To receive is just as much an act of brotherhood as to give. Never regard the bestowing of alms as an act of patronage, or the receiving of them as an act of homage. II. THE BENEFIT OF ALMSGIVING TO THE ALMSGIVER. It is fmit (ver. 17), which abounds to his account. Fruit is the production of life. III. ALMSGIVING IN THE SIGHT OF GoD. A sacrifice well-pleasing to him (ver. 18). He sees in every act of self-denial a reflection of the sacrifice of his dearly beloved Son in whom he is well pleased, IV. ALMSGIVING A PABT OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. Worship is the offering of our- selves and our substance to God. We can only do this through receiving of his grace. We give him back in offerings what be gives us in bounty He returns our offerings multiplied with his blessing and full of his grace (ver. 19). There is a Divine circula- tion of grace as there is a natural circulation of the blood. So long as we are true to Jesus, who is the very heart of God, so long does he pour forth his grace into us the living members of his body. We return that grace to him in the shape of our poor prayers and deeds of service, and we are again quickened by him from the boundless riches of his grace.-V. W. H.
Ver. 1,--Steadfastnus. I. 'l'HE DUTY. 1. It is imporfont. Christian faithfulnesa Plllldl'PIANS, 0 104 'IHE EPISTLE TO THE PHlLirPIANS, [on, 1v, 1-23,