148 EORJE PAULINtE. 



oonnection with a train of thought going before, and witli 

 a train of thought apparently generated by the circumstances 

 under which the epistle is written." In two epistles, pur- 

 porting to be written on different occasions, and in different 

 periods of the author's history, this propriety would net 

 easily be managed. 



VII. Chap. 1 : 29, 30 ; 2 : 1, 2 : " For unto you is given 

 in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also 

 to suffer for his sake ; having the same conflict which ye 

 satv in me, and now hear to be in me. If there be there- 

 fore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any 

 fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfii ye 

 my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being 

 of one accord, of one mind." 



With this compare Acts 16 : 22 : "And the multitude," 

 at Philippi, "rose up together against them," Paul and 

 Silas : " and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and com- 

 manded to beat them. And when they had laid many 

 stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the 

 jailer to keep them safely. Who having received such a 

 charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their 

 feet fast in the stocks." 



The passage in the epistle is very remarkable. I know 

 not an example in any writing of a juster pathos, or which 

 more truly represents the workings of a warm and affec- 

 tionate mind, than what is exhibited in the quotation before 

 us.* The apostle reminds the Philippians of their being 

 joined with himself in the endurance of persecution for tin? 

 sake of Christ. He conjures them by the ties of their com- 

 mon profession and their common sufferings, to " fulfil his 

 loy ;" to complete, by the unity of their faith, and by their 

 mutual love, that joy with which the instances he had re- 

 ceived of their zeal and attachment had inspired his breast. 



* The original is very spirited : 'El tlq ovv 7rapaK?i'!]Gig kv XpcaT^j 

 n n Tvapaiiv^iov uyaTrrjg, el ng Kocvuvia Uvd'uarog. el tcvi OT^Xayxva nci 

 olnTipfiol. 7x\r,p6)aaTE iiov rijv ;fapav. 



