and of acceptance with him-wherein he hath made us accepted in the BELOVED.

But without multiplying quotations, I observe, that the latter part of the text militates against any such exposition of it. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do, of his good pleasure. No exhortation could be better guarded. The apostle, with his usual caution, takes care that a false construction might not be put on his words; and that the people, to whom he writes, might not receive any wrong impressions. Instead of being self-confident, or of thinking that as believers they were amply furnished already for the duties and trials of the Christian life, he exhorts them to continue in obedience, with fear and trembling. Fear is often brought in by this apostle, as a necessary temper of mind for the Christian, while he abides in the flesh; because he has many enemies. It was expedient that these and that all other believers should be diffident of their own abilities, and fear to trust in themselves. No persons are in so great danger as they who apprehend none, or who look upon themselves sufficient to overcome every enemy. This remark is exemplified in Peter's denial of his Master. Had he entertained this necessary fear, it might have kept him from the place of danger. Being suspicious of himself, he would rather have chosen to stay a little behind, than to go among the servants of the high priest.

The believers at Philippi had also reason to fear, lest animosities and divisons should take place among them, to the great injury of the cause of Christ; lest they should be beguiled by false

teachers, who were then lying in wait to deceive; lest they should be overtaken by temptation, or led away by their own corruptions, to sin against the Lord; and lest they should be found to entertain a fondness for their own righteousness: all which would tend to hinder or mar their course of obedience.

The apostle adds, For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do, of his good pleasure. This sentence is explanatory of the former part of the text, and immediately calculated to unhinge the Philippians from self-confidence: i. e. I do not mean to set you to do something, by which you may be justified, either in whole or in part, before God; this is the sole work of Jesus: nor yet would I have you to think, that as believers, and justified persons, you are already furnished with grace, sufficient for all the duties and trials that are before you. Rather, you are not sufficient of yourselves, to think any thing as of yourselves; but your sufficiency is of God, who worketh in you to will and to do, those things, that are spiritually good. The apostle does not say, who hath wrought in you, but who now worketh in you, as the called according to his purpose.

Here we are plainly taught, that a will to choose, and the ability to perform that which is good, are of God. The sinner, while in unbelief, is an enemy in his mind by wicked works, and continually under the influence of a principle of enmity against God. He sees no excellency in Christ, no beauty in holiness. The things that suit his depraved taste, are infinitely opposite to the Divine Majesty if he therefore gratifies himself, he must offend the Deity. In this condition he acts freely,

choosing such things as are adapted to his corrupt mind. And in this manner would he continue to act to the end of life, however shocking the event, if God should not stop him in his career, as he did Saul the persecutor, or convert him, as he did the dying thief. For nothing short of the exceeding greatness of that power, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, is sufficient to alter this depraved heart. And even after the sinner is enabled to believe in the Son of God, such is the law in his members; such the power of indwelling corruption, that the will is frequently embarrassed, and spiritual desires languid. Every Christian knows by experience, that he is too apt to forget his first love, and to drag on heavily from one duty to another. The world and the things thereof tend to divide his heart and affections. At such a time he is sensible what his duty is, and he attends to it; but he is conscious of a sad alteration in the temper of his mind; which he bewails in language like that of David, My soul cleaveth to the dust : quicken thou me according to thy word. He finds that he cannot quicken himself, nor remove this stupidity under which he groans: were it in his power, it should soon be done. But he feels that it is God who worketh in him, by his Spirit and grace, to will, and from the same source is his ability to de whatever God calls him to. I have learned, says St. Paul, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed, both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. But lest the Philippians should think he contradicted the doctrine he had before

taught them, he adds, I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me. That is, by implication, I can do none of these things without help from Jesus. He tells us in another place, to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. From hence we learn, that what St. Paul here writes to the Philippians was a matter of his own experience, as well as a solemn truth.

It may now be asked, If neither of the preceding articles is the sense of the text, what does he mean? I answer,

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4. That it appears to me that his design is to

up the believers at Philippi, to a sacred regard to those duties he had been speaking of in the context; and besides these, to all the duties of the Christian life: or, in other words, as they had always obeyed, not as in his presence only, but much more so in his absence, he exhorts them to continue in their obedience, by studiously observing those things that accompany salvation; q. d. as ye have always obeyed, so continue to obey; remembering that it is God who worketh in you. While you are careful to attend to the external plan of duty that is before you, bear in mind that your sufficiency is of God; and let this be your encouragement, that he worketh in you, and that his Spirit is given to help your infirmities.

The immediate reason of this exhortation, and which confirms the above exposition of it, you have in the three verses that follow the text. Do all things without murmurings and disputings: meaning all the things that he had mentioned in the context, and that are included in the text; such as, that they should be like minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind; that nothing

should be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind each should esteem other better than themselves; that they should not look every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others; that they should cultivate a mind like that which was in Christ Jesus, i. e. of humility and condescension. Having particularly mentioned these duties, he sums up the whole of Christian practice in this short exhortation, Work out your own salvation; and then proceeds to give the reason of it-That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world: holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain. Here the apostle tells us, in the most plain terms, why he so warmly exhorted the believing Philippians to obedience. Not that they might recommend themselves to God, and obtain the pardon of their sins, this being a thing impossible by any human endeavours; but that they might be blameless and harmless, as became the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation. They were among a people who were in opposition to the gospel, and watched for their fall; the apostle therefore exhorts them to behave in such a manner that these their enemies might have nothing to lay to their charge. This he urges by the consideration, that Christians should shine as lights in the world. As God had shined in their hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of his own glory in the face of Jesus Christ; so it became them to be as lights to others, in all holy conversation and godliness. Holding forth the word of life: meaning,