e, I know that I shall abide and continue
with you all for your furtherance and joy of
faith.'--PHIL. i. 21-25.

A preacher may well shrink from such a text. Its elevation of feeling
and music of expression make all sermons on it sound feeble and harsh,
like some poor shepherd's pipe after an organ. But, though this be true,
it may not be useless to attempt, at least, to point out the course of
thought in these grand words. They flow like a great river, which
springs at first with a strong jet from some deep cave, then is torn and
chafed among dividing rocks, and after a troubled middle course, moves
at last with stately and equable current to the sea. The Apostle's
thoughts and feelings have here, as it were, a threefold bent in their
flow. First, we have the clear, unhesitating statement of the
comparative advantages of life and death to a Christian man, when
thought of as affecting himself alone. The one is Christ, the other
gain. But we neither live nor die to ourselves; and no man has a right
to think of life or death only from the point of view of his own
advantage. So the problem is not so simple as it looked. Life here is
the condition of fruitful labour here. There are his brethren and his
work to think of. These bring him to a stand, and check the rising wish.
He knows not which state to prefer. The stream is dammed back between
rocks, and it chafes and foams and seems to lose its way among them.
Then comes a third bend in the flow of thought and feeling, and he
gladly apprehends it as his present duty to remain at his work. If his
own joy is thereby less, his brethren's will be more. If he is not to
depart and be with Christ, he will remain and be with Christ's friends,
which is, in some sort, being with Him too. If he may not have the gain
of death, he will have the fruit of work in life.

Let us try to fill up, somewhat, this meagre outline of the warm stream
that pours through these great words.

I. The simplicity of the comparison between life and death to a
Christian thinking of himself alone.

'To me' is plainly emphatic. It means more than 'in my judgment' or even
'in my case.' It is equal to 'To me personally, if I stood alone, and
had no one to consider but myself.' 'To live' refers mainly here to
outward practical life of service, and 'to die' should, perhaps, rather
be 'to be dead,' referring, not to the act of dissolution, but to the
state after; not to the entrance chamb