The "breastplate" is righteousness. Apparently Paul follows Isa. 59: 17: "For he (the Lord) put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head."

To the Thessalonians (1 Eps. 5: 8) Paul slightly changes the figure:- Putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for an helmet the hope of salvation; which shows that general rather than very specific analogies answered his purpose and met his views.- Righteousness" may well be taken in the sense of Christian moral rectitude-that righteousness which belongs to the new man in Christ Jesus.' The shoes or sandals for the feet (v. 15) are less clearly defined. The literal translation would be the preparedness of the gospel of grace"-which would seem to mean-having your feet ever ready to go forth bearing the gospel message. Let not your fight against the devil detain you a moment from preaching the gospel. In fact, this is your true war policy, to carry the fight into Satan's kingdom. Never be content to stand on the defensive. Keep your feet shod and be ready for your "marching orders."

In v. 16, not "above all" in the sense of more important than all the rest; but over all the rest outside of them, or perhaps, in addition to all. The Roman shield was a huge thing, in the shape of a door, from which its ancient name is taken; often six feet long-wide as well as long enough to protect the whole person. It was attached to the left arm, thus leaving the right free for use in blows or in hurling missile weapons. Upon this shield the agile soldier was to catch the fire-tipt darts. This office in the Christian's armor, his faith must perform.- -Receive (from Him who can supply it) the helmet, viz., salvation-the assured hope of it in the future world, and to some extent the realization of it in the present. The sword, furnished to our hand by the Spirit of God, is his word of truth. The writer to the Hebrews has the same figure (4: 12); "the word of God, sharper than any double-edged sword," etc.

18. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

19. And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,

20. For which I am an embassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

Bunyan carries out the war imagery so as to include as the best of these death-weapons this "all-prayer.' Paul means that ye pray with every form of prayer and supplication-your heart in warm fellowship with the Spirit of God, ever seeking his inspiration and guidance, whose help is ever needed and never withheld from the humble, believing suppliant. Watch unto such prayer and persevere in it in behalf of all your fellow-soldiers, and not least, for me-t -that I may be fearless and may have scope

for a bold utterance of my message, making known the long unknown gospel. For preaching this gospel to Gentiles he was then an embassador for Christ in chains at Rome. In answer to these prayers he hoped to be soon released so that he might resume his gospel work without hindrance or fear.

21. But that ye also may know my affairs, and how I do, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things;

22. Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that ye might know our affairs, and that he might comfort your hearts.

This letter he sends by Tychicus who can give them all the information as to his state which they might desire.

"That

This sending by a personal friend made it unnecessary to write in detail of himself, or to send individual salutations.ye also" (v. 21) as well as others, implied that he would carry this epistle to other churches for their public reading. Col. 4: 7 shows that Tychicus was to visit the Colossians also, and personally report Paul's circumstances to them as well. "All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you." This brother beloved is named elsewhere-Acts 20: 4 and 2 Tim. 4: 12 and Tit. 3: 12.

23. Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

24. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.

This benediction, always in order because always the fit utterance of the apostle's great and loving heart, has this peculiarity:Grace for those who love the Lord Jesus "in sincerity"--the Greek word strictly meaning incorruption-with a love and a spirit that knows no decline, no decay; that will be immutable; forever fresh and evermore enduring.

EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS.

INTRODUCTION.

IT was in the midst of Paul's second missionary tour that, having traversed Phrygia and Galatia, he was admonished that his inner Guide did not accept his thought of traversing the more northern and western provinces of Asia Minor. Under this suspense his party had reached the port of Troas when a night-vision brought to him a special summons(was it an angel's voice?)-"Come over into Macedonia, and help us." They heard it as from the Lord, and passing the Hellespont, bore the gospel into what was to them the Great Continent of the West. Hitherto, the regions. skirting the eastern shore of the Mediterranean had been the theater of apostolic travel and labor. Now, Macedonia, Greece, Italy, and Rome lay before them. It was a great step in advance toward "going into all the world and preaching the gospel to every creature."

From Neapolis, the port on the western shore, a journey inland of nine miles brought them to Philippi-"the chief city in that part of Macedonia, and a colony" (Acts 16: 12). This important city, built by Philip of Macedon and named for him, became celebrated as the place of the decisive battle which (B. C. 42) crushed the party of Brutus and Cassius, and gave the undisputed scepter of Rome to Augustus and Anthony. Subsequently when Augustus rewarded his veterans with the finest lands and cities of Italy, he colonized some of the dispossessed Roman citizens in this city, Philippi, thus making it a Roman colony, and many of its people Roman citizens. With his usual historic accuracy Luke not only tells us this was a colony" (16: 12), and represents the men who arrested Paul and Silas as calling themselves "Romans (v. 21), but he gives the rulers of the city the Roman title (Archons, v. 19) and the magistrates yet another Roman title, occurring elsewhere but rarely in his history (strategoi). The tact and manly independence shown by Paul in asserting his rights as a Ro

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man citizen, and the consternation of the magistrates when they learned this fact (v. 37, 38) have their explanation in the estimate of Roman citizenship, prevalent in this colonial city. Here then more directly than ever before the gospel came into contact with Roman civilization.

Of the labors and experiences of Paul and Silas in this city, Luke (Acts 16: 12-40) has given some of the salient points. Here they found a group of devout people who were accustomed on the Sabbath to go outside the city walls to a place of prayer by the side of the river Strymon. Thither went they also, and sat down there and spake to the company, chiefly if not exclusively women "who resorted thither." In that group was a woman of some note by the name of Lydia, of Thyatira (Asia Minor), a dealer in purple cloths probably from her native city. Her heart the Lord opened to attend to Paul's words. In the result, she shortly opened her house and home in Christian hospitality and welcome to these stranger missionaries.

Here occurred another special experience. A certain damsel, having the spirit of divination-a demoniac of the general character of those whom Jesus so often encountered, but having as her specialty the gift (or pretense) of divining and telling men's fortunes-was led, apparently by this malign spirit, to follow Paul and Silas, day after day, proclaiming "These men are the servants of the Most High God, and are showing us the way of salvation." Such help to his cause was not at all to Paul's mind. Harassed and grieved by the annoyance and scandal which demoniac testimony might bring upon their cause, he turned and said to the spirit (not to the damsel, but to the demon spirit)— mand thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her:" and he came out. The sequel of this exorcism was a furious persecution, a cruel scourging, and a close, severe imprisonment. The result of these scenes in the prison added yet another valuable accession to the group of believers the Roman jailer and his household. Paul and Silas having been very politely and urgently requested to leave the city, at length, though very deliberately and in a dignified manner, consented to do so and passed on. But the gospel was effectually planted in that city.

"I com

These events may be dated proximately in A. D. 51, not long after the great council at Jerusalem (Acts 15) :—If we may rely upon the accuracy of Luke's narrative in his varying use, now of the first person ("we"), and now of the

third ("they"), to determine his presence or absence, he was with Paul at Philippi, but was not with him when he and his party left the city and passed on to other cities of Macedonia and Greece. Indeed, Luke appears next in the company of Paul (Acts 20: 5) when “ we sailed away from Philippi." It is therefore supposable, and indeed, highly probable, that Luke spent most or all of the intervening seven years at or near Philippi preaching the gospel and ministering to that church-which labors may account for the remarkably wholesome tone of the Christian life in this church-a tone which is apparent throughout this epistle.

That this epistle is genuine, i. e., written by Paul and to this very church at Philippi, not even the most skeptical of critics have found any plausible reason to doubt. Truly the signs of an epistle of Paul are all here—in the introduction; in the personal allusions; in the outbreathings of a great and loving soul, and in the concluding salutations.

Nor is there room for difference of opinion as to the date of its writing-near the close of his two years' confinement at Rome-i. e., A. D. 62. He was then still enduring this confinement (1: 12-14), but hoping to be released soon (2:24).

As to the occasion of the epistle: It was not some sad defection-nascent or developed, calling for sharp rebuke or earnest argument, as in the case of the Galatian churches; it was not some flagrant immoralities, such as appeared in Corinth, calling for his prompt and vigorous hand of excision. But apparently, the occasion was not single but manifold, including the gratitude he felt and wished to express for their manifested love and sympathy and for their supplies of his personal wants;-the love of his heart for a people so loving and so lovely; his joy in every remembrance of them in his daily prayers in their behalf; the comfort he felt as his thought rested upon this one church which had caused him apparently no pain but only pleasure, and in which, unlike every other, he saw nothing to rebuke but much to commend. -It should, however, be observed that his Philippian flock was suffering a measure of persecution (1: 29, 30), and that there was occasion for exhorting them to moderation, gentleness, humility, and great self-abnegation (2: 2-5), and not least, to unity of Christian feeling, and against admitting to their confidence the Jewish and Judaizing bigots of that age (3: 2–7).

The points of special interest and value to us in this