ments of Christian truth, and exhortations to Christian duty; and they are of such a character, and are so simply and naturally blended with the general trains of thought which are unfolded, as to bring before our view the heart of the Apostle, the inmost sentiments and feelings of his mind, disclosing themselves without any effort or reserve.

In illustration of these remarks, let us take the Epistle to the church at Philippi.

The circumstances connected with the formation of that church must be familiar to every one who has attentively read the Acts of the Apostles. Called into Macedonia by a special intimation from above, Paul and Silas visited Philippi, and preached the Gospel there with considerable success. It was in that city that they were cast into prison, and afterwards honourably released; God having interposed on behalf of his servants by that mighty earthquake which affected the jailer, and led him to inquire of the persecuted followers of Jesus the way of salvation and peace. From Philippi, Paul and his faithful companion went to Thessalonica and Berea ; and afterwards he proceeded to Athens, and thence to Corinth. The course which the Apostle subsequently took, until the interruption of his widely extended evangelical labours, by his imprisonment at Rome, is traced in the Acts of the Apostles; and it appears probable, that during this interval he paid two other visits to the church at Philippi. From Corinth he sailed to Syria, touching at Ephesus in the course of the voyage; (Acts xviii. 18—20;) and having landed at Cæsarea, and saluted the church there, he went to Antioch, from which city he had set out on each of the two great missionary tours which he had now completed. Having spent some time with the believers in Antioch, he entered upon his third evangelical mission; traversed Galatia and Phrygia; and then came to Ephesus, where he remained more than two years, preaching, with great power and success, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus. When the tumult raised by Demetrius had rendered it desirable for him to leave Ephesus, he took an affectionate farewell of the church, and "departed to go into Macedonia." The brief narrative of St. Luke does not enable us to affirm positively that he now visited Philippi; but it is highly probable that that city was comprehended in the evangelical labours with which he now favoured the churches of Macedonia. The statement of the sacred historian is in these general terms,-" And when he had gone over those parts, and had given them much exhortation, he came into Greece;" but even this general statement seems to imply, that every place of importance was visited by the Apostle; and it would be a most improbable supposition that a church so justly endeared to him as that at Philippi, would be omitted. Besides, it is evident that the plan of St. Paul was, after he had visited the churches of Macedonia and Greece, to return by sea to Syria; so that he did not now anticipate another opportunity, at least for a considerable time, of seeing the believers at Philippi; and we cannot, therefore, suppose that he would fail to visit, at this period, that interesting church, which he himself had planted, and which had ever manifested towards him so strong an attachment. The malice of the Jews, however, who lay in wait to intercept him as he was about to sail into Syria, led him to change his purpose, and he returned again to Macedonia, and a third time came to Philippi, from which place he sailed to Troas, on his way to the capital of Judea. (Acts xx. 3, 6.)

But the time was approaching when this eminent servant of Jesus Christ was to experience a painful interruption of his more active labours. The prejudices of the Jews, and especially of those who dwelt in Jerusalem,

seem to have been particularly directed against him, since they regarded him as an enemy to their national customs, to the strict observance of their law, and the peculiar sanctity of their temple. Called by the Lord Jesus Christ to preach the Gospel chiefly among the Gentiles, St. Paul had given prominence to that distinguishing feature of the Christian economy, that under it the grand condition of a church-relation to God, on the part equally of Jews and Gentiles, is the reception of the Saviour by faith; and he had affirmed that the Gentiles who came into the Christian church were under no obligation to observe the peculiar rites of the Jewish dispensation. These views, though sanctioned by all the other Apostles, and solemnly confirmed at the council held in Jerusalem, (Acts xv.,) were not pleasing even to some of the Jewish believers. They would fain have regarded Christianity as a continuation of Judaism, exhibiting indeed, to the faith of men, the Messiah as actually manifested, and as having accomplished the work of our redemption, but requiring of all the Gentiles, who should come to him for blessing, and for admission to the visible church, to be incorporated, as in former ages, with the family of Abraham by circumcision, and to undertake the observance of the whole ritual law. Those Jews who rejected the Gospel were especially displeased at the constitution of the Christian church, and were greatly incensed against that eminent teacher who had, in so many countries, brought together in religious fellowship Jews and Gentiles, on the simple condition of faith in Jesus, and the open confession of his name. They even perverted the doctrine of Paul, and represented him as teaching the Jews that it was unlawful for them to circumcise their children, or to observe the ceremonies of the law. When, therefore, Paul appeared at Jerusalem, and went up to the temple, he was assailed with all the violence of popular rage; and the Captain of the Roman guard had to interpose to rescue him from the hands of the infuriated multitude. Paul was now brought before the Sanhedrim; but as this council was divided in opinion on his case, when it was first submitted to them, and as several of the Jews had formed a conspiracy to take away his life, when he should be again brought before them, the Captain of the Roman guard sent him under a strong escort to Cæsarea, where the Roman Governor of Judea was accustomed to reside. Here he was detained more than two years; but he was allowed to hold intercourse with his Christian friends, and doubtless contributed greatly to their establishment in the faith, and advancement in knowledge and holiness. That dispensation of divine Providence, which permitted this restriction of St. Paul's labours, may appear to us mysterious; but it was certainly intended to accomplish important purposes. Among other incidental advantages which resulted from it, it gave him an opportunity of bearing testimony to Christ, and unfolding his Gospel, before Kings and Governors, and many persons of the highest distinction; and it showed, as the various sufferings of his previous career had done, his patient endurance in the cause of the Redeemer. Having claimed his right as a Roman citizen, and appealed from the partial and prejudiced judgment of the Jewish Sanhedrim, to which tribunal Festus had proposed again to submit his case,-to the decision of the Emperor himself, he was sent to Rome; and thus his cherished purpose of visiting that great metropolis, and of holding personal intercourse with the Christians who resided there, and to whom he had already addressed an elaborate letter, was at length accomplished. It is instructive to turn to the close of the Epistle to the Romans, and to mark the plan which the Apostle had formed in his own mind, relative to visiting

Rome, after that journey to Jerusalem, which brought upon him so long and painful a confinement; (Rom. xv. 23—33;) and then to reflect on the actual course of events, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. He came to Rome; but he came a prisoner,-to await the judicial sentence of the imperial tribunal. Two years at least elapsed before his case was decided; but during this period he was allowed considerable liberty. He was permitted to hire a residence for himself, in which he received all who came to hear from his lips the doctrines of Christianity. He was, indeed, always attended by a soldier, who kept him; (Acts xxviii. 16;) but he enjoyed fraternal intercourse with the Christians around him, and was largely engaged in unfolding those truths, which in other days he had rejoiced to proclaim throughout extensive districts. It is at this point in the Apostle's history that the narrative contained in the Acts breaks off: our further information must be gathered from other sources.

It appears, from the Epistle to the Philippians, that Epaphroditus had been sent by that church to Rome, to express to the Apostle their sympathy with him in his imprisonment and sufferings, and to convey to him a present, as a token of their continued remembrance, and as a grateful acknowledgment of the benefits which they had derived from his labours. This conduct was in accordance with the spirit and temper they had ever manifested towards him. On former occasions they had cheerfully, and without solicitation, contributed to his support and comfort; and if, during an interval, they had ceased to do this, it arose from the want of opportunity, and not from any decline of their Christian affection. During his stay in Rome, Epaphroditus became seriously ill; and it appears that the tidings of his affliction, and of the fears which were entertained relative to his recovery, had painfully affected the Philippian church. But God interposed in mercy; Epaphroditus was restored; and the heart of the Apostle was revived by again beholding him in health. Almost immediately afterwards, St. Paul sent him back to Philippi, and committed to his charge this letter, so rich in evangelical counsels, and in expressions of deep and warm affection. The circumstances now adverted to are mentioned by the Apostle with beautiful simplicity and tenderness: "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." (Phil. ii. 25-28.)

It further appears, from the Epistle, that it was written when the case of St. Paul was about to be brought on and decided. He now felt that, as the result of his appeal to Cæsar, he might either be liberated from confinement, so as again to publish extensively the Gospel of Christ; or he might be called to die a martyr's death, and to seal his testimony with his blood. Feeling, indeed, a strong impression, that the state of the churches required, for a while, his continuance on earth, he looked forward to this issue of his impending trial with a degree of cheerful hope, though not with any certain and absolute assurance, as the result of a direct revelation from above.* With these prospects before him, he purposed to send

*This view of St. Paul's feelings and prospects at the time of writing the Epistle to the Philippians, is derived from comparing chap; is 20-27, with chap. ii. 23, 24.

Timothy to Philippi, as soon as his case was decided; and his hope was, that he himself, also, should be permitted shortly to visit the believers of that city.

Now, let an individual preserve a vivid impression of these circumstances; let him place himself in imagination with Paul in Rome, surrounded by Timothy, Epaphroditus, and many of the members of the church in that city, some of whom were found even in the palace of the Roman Emperor; let him endeavour to enter into the feelings of the Apostle, in whose heart solicitude for the churches generally, and devotion to the cause of Christ, were ever prominent, and were now more especially called forth by the crisis which was approaching; let him then transfer himself in thought to Philippi, and sympathize with the warm affection of the believers there towards the eminent Apostle, from whose lips they had first heard the Gospel, and whose bonds in Christ they had deplored, not only as being painfully restrictive to himself, but as depriving many of the churches of his personal oversight and instructions; let him imagine with what feelings those who had sent Epaphroditus to Rome, with an assurance of their continued remembrance, and a grateful contribution to the Apostle's support, would receive back their messenger, and read the letter which he brought from their father in Christ; and then let him sit down to the perusal of this Epistle, as a whole, and he will read it with the liveliest interest, and will receive a most vivid and powerful impression of the strength of the internal evidence of its genuineness. Not only will he feel that there is an inexpressible charm in the artless and natural manner in which St. Paul adverts to his own circumstances, and feelings, and prospects, together with the conduct of the Philippians towards himself, but he will feel as sure that he is reading the words of the great Apostle of the Gentiles, as if he himself had been the bearer of this letter from Rome to the church that eagerly awaited the instructions and counsels of their beloved but absent teacher.

There is one characteristic of the Epistle to the Philippians, which cannot fail to strike every thoughtful reader. It is an Epistle which pre-eminently shows the heart of the Apostle. It reveals to us the interior workings of his mind, the sentiments which he habitually cherished, the principles on which he acted, and the emotions which impelled and sustained him in his career of exertion and suffering. It would exceed the limits of this paper to examine it throughout, under the aspect now presented; but we may be allowed to call the attention of the reader to one or two illustrations of this general statement.

It is impossible to open the Epistle, without perceiving the strength and tenderness of the love which St. Paul felt towards those whom he had been the instrument of bringing to the knowledge of Christ, and over whose advancement in the Christian life he had assiduously watched. In his heart pastoral affection was a powerful and active principle. He loved his people; he sympathized in all their joys and sorrows; and he felt towards them a benevolent and self-sacrificing regard, similar to that which filled the heart of the Redeemer himself. When absent from them in the flesh, his mind dwelt on their state and prospects; he remembered them without ceasing in his supplications to God; and while he earnestly applied himself to his present duty, and recognised the hand of God in guiding his steps, and appointing at different periods the spheres of his hallowed toil, he "longed after" those to whom he had formerly unfolded the Gospel, "in the bowels of Jesus Christ." This pastoral affection breathes throughout the Epistle

to the Philippians; it manifests itself not only in direct and positive statements, but in a number of incidental expressions and allusions; and pervades every exposition of truth, and every exhortation to duty.

It is instructive and pleasing to mark, also, the gratitude which the Apostle felt for acts of Christian affection, and to observe the sentiments with which that gratitude was ever associated in his mind. He did not think it beneath him to acknowledge in this letter the kindness shown to him by the Philippian believers, in sending Epaphroditus with expressions of their love, and a contribution to his support. The chief reference to this subject is towards the close of the Epistle; and it is scarcely possible to read the observations found in chap. iv. 10-19, without perceiving what we may be allowed to term the Christian refinement and nobleness of the Apostle's feelings. His gratitude was at the utmost distance from servility. He was willing, if necessary, to suffer privation and want in the cause of the Redeemer; and he felt, at the same time, what was due to his character and labours, as an ambassador of Christ; and was ready, on all proper occasions, to affirm the right of Christian Ministers to the support of their people. But he did not go to the opposite extreme to servility ;-he did not receive acts of Christian kindness to himself, merely as acts of duty on the part of his people. He felt the gratitude of a noble spirit; his susceptible and generous heart could appreciate the love which prompted the offerings of the Philippians; and he especially rejoiced to behold in these offerings an evidence of their continued attachment to the truth which they had embraced, and their continued love to Christ and to his cause.

It is instructive, also, to observe, in this Epistle, a deep solicitude for the glory of Christ, and the interests of his kingdom, blending itself, in the mind of the Apostle, with humble resignation to the will of God, in respect to his own position and services. He placed himself at the divine disposal, as to the restriction or enlargement of his sphere of labour, the measure of suffering which he might be called to endure, and the duration of his career on earth. But while he did so, he felt that the cause of the Redeemer was inexpressibly dear to his heart; that it was to him the sole end of life,— that to which all his efforts were directed, and which only could render a further continuance on earth desirable,-to show forth the glory of Christ, to lead men to him as the only refuge of the guilty, and to establish the churches in faith and holiness. The Philippians seem to have expressed, through Epaphroditus, their sorrow for his confinement, and their solicitude as to the loss which might result from it to the cause of the Gospel. But what exalted Christian principle shines forth in that part of the Epistle, in which St. Paul adverts to his existing circumstances and prospects! and in how affectionate and instructive a manner does he allude to the kind solicitude of the Philippians relative to himself! Let the reader carefully peruse chap. i. 12-26; and he cannot fail to perceive, how the most heroic devotion to the Redeemer, and a noble indifference to his own dignity and honour, were united in the mind of the Apostle, with a tender sensibility, that could appreciate the love of the Philippians, and that sought to present to them the dispensation of Providence which they deplored, under the most favourable and cheering aspect.

The Epistle to the Philippians serves also to develope that fixed and intense regard to holiness, which was one leading element in the Apostle's character. It is such a letter as only a mind that habitually cultivated moral purity, and viewed it with settled esteem and love, could have conceived. By a transition the most easy and beautiful, St. Paul passes from the expression