of this unanimity and lowliness. It is possible to
'distribute to the necessity of saints' in such a way as that the
gift pains more than a blow; it is possible to proffer sympathy so
that the sensitive heart shrinks from it. It was 'when the multitude
of them that believed were of one heart and one soul' that it became
natural to have all things common. As in the aurora borealis,
quivering beams from different centres stream out and at each throb
approach each other till they touch and make an arch of light that
glorifies the winter's night, so, if Christian men were 'of the same
mind toward one another,' did not 'set their minds on high things,
but condescended to things that were lowly, and were not wise in
their own conceits,' the Church of Christ would shine forth in the
darkness of a selfish world and would witness to Him who came down
'from the highest throne in glory' to the lowliest place in this
lowly world, that He might lift us to His own height of glory
everlasting.

STILL ANOTHER TRIPLET

'Render to no man evil for evil. Take thought for
things honourable in the light of all men. 18. If it
be possible, as much as in you lieth, be at peace
with all men.'--ROMANS xii. 17, 18 (R.V.).

The closing words of this chapter have a certain unity in that they
deal principally with a Christian's duty in the face of hostility and
antagonism. A previous injunction touched on the same subject in the
exhortation to bless the persecutors; but with that exception, all
the preceding verses have dealt with duties owing to those with whom
we stand in friendly relations. Such exhortations take no cognisance
of the special circumstances of the primitive Christians as 'lambs in
the midst of wolves'; and a large tract of Christian duty would be
undealt with, if we had not such directions for feelings and actions
in the face of hate and hurt. The general precept in our text is
expanded in a more complete form in the verses which follow the text,
and we may postpone its consideration until we have to deal with
them. It is one form of the application of the 'love without
hypocrisy' which has been previously recommended. The second of these
three precepts seems quite heterogeneous, but it may be noticed that
the word for 'evil' in the former and that for 'honourable,' in these
closely resemble each other in sound, and the connection of the two
clauses may be partially owing to that verbal resemblance; whilst w