ge the objective facts of Christian revelation, and the
second and fourth ('any consolation of love, any tender mercies and
compassions') put emphasis on the subjective emotions of Christian
experience. We may lay the warmth of all of these on our own hearts, and
shall find that these hearts will be drawn into the blessedness of
Christian unity in the precise measure in which they are affected by
them.

As to the first of them, it may be suggested that here, as elsewhere in
the New Testament, the true idea of the word rendered 'comfort' is
rather 'exhortation.' The Apostle is probably not so much pointing to
the consolations for trouble which come from Jesus, as to the stimulus
to unity which flows from Him. It would rather weaken the force of
Paul's appeal, if the two former grounds of it were so nearly identical
as they are, if the one is based upon 'comfort' and the other on
'consolation.' The Apostle is true to his dominant belief, that in Jesus
Christ there lies, and from Him flows, the sovereign exhortation that
rouses men to 'whatsoever things are lovely and of good report.' In Him
we shall find in the measure in which we are in Him, the most persuasive
of all exhortations to unity, and the most omnipotent of all powers to
enforce it. Shall we not be glad to be in the flock of the Good
Shepherd, and to preserve the oneness which He gave His life to
establish? Can we live in Him, and not share His love for His sheep?
Surely those who have felt the benediction of His breath on their
foreheads when He prayed 'that they may all be one; even as Thou,
Father, art in Me and I in Thee,' cannot but do what is in them to
fulfil that prayer, and to bring a little nearer the realisation of
their Lord's purpose in it, 'that the world may believe that Thou didst
send Me.' Surely if we lay to heart, and enter into sympathy with, the
whole life and death of Jesus Christ, we shall not fail to feel the
dynamic power fusing us together, nor fail to catch the exhortation to
unity which comes from the lips that said, 'I am the vine, ye are the
branches.'

The Apostle next bases his appeal for unity on the experiences of the
Philippian Christians, and on their memories of the comfort which they
have tasted in the exercise of mutual love. Our hearts find it hard to
answer the question whether they are more blessed when their love passes
out from them in a warm stream to others, or when the love of others
pours into them. To love and