would be blessed and God would be honoured and His Kingdom would be advanced in the world. The missionaries have gone out at the call of God and at the call of their brethren. It is contrary to the will of God that they should support themselves. They should give themselves constantly to prayer and to the ministry of the word. Those who are called to remain at home are to have a full share in the work. They are to manifest the same degree of consecration and make as great sacrifices as they expect in those who are at the front. Every Christian who is not a receiver should be a giver. God's intention is that every believer should be in one class or the other. Every redeemed soul is to have fellowship with Christ and the chosen servants of Christ in the defense and propagation of the gospel.

Let no one think that giving for the Lord's work is a matter of small consequence. It is far otherwise. One who works hard and economizes and gives to the extent of his ability, may do as much for the spread and triumph of the truth as one who goes out as a missionary. He may manifest as much faith and devotion. In any event, his reward will be sure and it will be great. In ancient times the statute said, “As is his share that goeth down to battle, so shall his share be that tarrieth by the stuff; they shall share alike." The will of God is that those who give and those who receive shall rejoice together. The bountiful and cheerful givers in Philippi were told that their offerings were an odour of sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. They were told also that God would supply every need of theirs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. It was in this way that the Most High would deal with those who contributed to the need of His servant while he was acting as a foreign missionary. What He did then He will do now; for with Him there is no variableness or shadow that is cast by turning.

XVII

FELLOWSHIP IN FURTHERANCE OF THE GOSPEL

I thank my God upon all my remembrance of you, always in every supplication of mine on behalf of you all making my supplications with joy, for your fellowship in furtherance of the gospel from the first day until now; being confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ; even as it is right for me to be thus minded on behalf of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as, both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers with me of grace. -PHIL. I: 3-7.

P

AUL told the Philippians that he thanked God upon all his remembrance of them from their fellowship in furtherance of the gospel. He refers to their coöperation in the widest sense, in sympathy, in suffering, in active labour, or in any other way. At the same time their liberal giving of money was a signal instance of their coöperation, and appears to have been foremost in his mind. In this respect their coöperation began in what he calls "the beginning of the gospel, when he departed from Macedonia." Alluding to that time he said, "No church had fellowship with me in the matter of giving and receiving but ye only; for even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my need."

This fellowship in the furtherance of the gospel continued "from the first day until now"; a period of about ten years. He had just received the gifts which they had sent by the hand of Epaphroditus. Their interest in the gospel and its illustrious representative was profound and permanent. It was not

like the prophet's gourd that sprang up in a night and perished in a night. It persisted in spite of trials and losses. The apostle's absence did not diminish their ardour. From the very beginning they made the cause of Christ their own. They embarked in it heart and soul. They gave of their substance to the extent of their power, yea, and beyond their power. They gave their ownselves first to the Lord, and afterwards they gave their service and their money for the advancement of the interests of His Kingdom. The apostle tells them that in his bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel they were partakers with Him of the grace of God. Their sympathy and loving thoughtfulness cheered and charmed him while a prisoner in Rome. Their supplications to God on his behalf and their generous contributions helped him mightily as he sought to answer objections and to remove obstacles and prejudices, and nerved him for the successful advocacy and propagation of the gospel. Paul was a flaming torch. He was an incarnation of the missionary passion. He went everywhere speaking good words for the Lord Jesus. But behind him and reinforcing him was the whole Philippian church. Because of its moral and material support he did not bate a jot of heart or hope in the presence of manifold persecutions and difficulties, but still bore up and pressed right onward. As he went from continent to continent and from city to city preaching Christ to Greeks and Barbarians, to the wise and to the foolish; as he sought to win the members of the Pretorian Guard to the faith as they were chained to him in turn; as he bore witness to all who resorted to him in his own hired house and to the saints in Cæsar's household; he was sustained by what they had done and were doing for him. The least of them could and did support him in his abundant labours and sufferings. Grace had been given him to labour and to endure; the same grace had been given them.

The one great object of Paul's life was that Christ might be

magnified, whether by his life or by his death. He was possessed absolutely with a sense of the worthiness of the gospel of Christ to be preached everywhere. He felt this for himself with all the power of his great intellect and great soul, and he rejoiced and gave thanks to God when he saw a church showing the same devoted spirit, and showing this by cleaving to him through all the vicissitudes of his work, and following him everywhere with their sympathy and prayer. Other churches were occupied with themselves and their own little and local affairs. Their zeal was as transient as the early cloud and as the morning dew. The Galatians were warmly attached to the apostle and to the gospel he preached for a season. He says that if it had been possible they would have plucked out their own eyes and given them to him. In a short time he lamented that they were so soon removing from him to another gospel. They came to regard him almost as an enemy. It was necessary for the apostle to vindicate himself from the attacks that were made on him. It was not so in Philippi. The believers there understood him; they possessed his spirit; they partook of his boundless enthusiasm; they had a share in all that affected the gospel and him as its advocate and champion.

Paul speaks of "being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work will perfect it until the day of Christ." By this good work he means the implantation of the missionary spirit. It was that spirit that led to the consecration of themselves, their souls and their bodies and substance to the evangelization of the world. As the first-fruits of the European mission the church in Philippi entered most heartily into all Paul's purposes and plans and did what it could to strengthen his heart and his hands. The cordial coöperation of the entire membership convinced the apostle that God was in them to will and to do of His good pleasure. He knew that Christian people may support the missionary enterprise as a substitute for the inward life, or out of sectarian competition, or for some other unworthy motive, but such support does not last long. But when

their interest in promoting the gospel continues for a long period, notwithstanding opposition and persecution, it must be because their lives are hid with Christ in God. So sincere and so earnest were the Christians in Philippi that Paul was confident that they would stand fast till the day of Christ's advent. He who inaugurated the good work would complete the same.

The apostle was grateful, not for what the church had done for him as an individual Christian, but for what it had done for him while labouring for the spread and triumph of the gospel. For himself he says he had learned in whatsoever state he was, therewith to be content. In everything and in all things he had learned the secret, both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in want. Nevertheless he tells them that they did well to have fellowship with him in his affliction. Lightfoot says it was not the actual pecuniary relief, so much as the sympathy and companionship in his sorrow, that the apostle valued. He did not compliment them as he did with a view to securing further gifts; he disclaims any such intention. He did not want a "gift"; he did want "fruit that might increase to their account." It was for their sake and not for his own that he spoke as he did. He assures them that the gift sent him was an odour of sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God.

The

It was for such a church that the great apostle to the Gentiles gave thanks to God continually. This was a mission church and a missionary church. In response to the call of the man of Macedonia Paul crossed over from Troas to Philippi. church was no sooner established than it began to help give the gospel to the cities and countries adjacent. The apostle says that in much proof of affliction the abundance of their joy and deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. Paul was thankful for what they had done and for what he knew they would do. Their history justified his confidence in them for the future. They were his children in the faith and he had boundless confidence in them and boundless love for