and cloud which are earth-born. I, as
working, have need to tremble and to fear, but I, as wrought upon, have
a right to confidence and hope, a hope that is full of immortality, and
an assurance which is the pledge of its own fulfilment. The worker is
nothing, the Worker in him is all. Fear and trembling, when the thoughts
turn to mine own sins and weaknesses, hope and confidence when they turn
to the happier vision of God! 'Not I'--there is the tremulous
self-distrust; 'the grace of God in me'--there is the calm assurance of
victory. Forasmuch, then, as God worketh all things, be _you_ diligent,
faithful, prayerful, confident. Forasmuch as Christ has perfected the
work for you, do _you_ 'go on unto perfection.' Let all fear and
trembling be yours, as a man; let all confidence and calm trust be yours
as a child of God. Turn your confidence and your fears alike into
prayer. 'Perfect, O Lord, that which concerneth me; forsake not the work
of Thine own hands!'--and the prayer will evoke the merciful answer, 'I
will never leave thee, nor forsake thee God is faithful, who hath called
you unto the Gospel of His Son; and _will_ keep you unto His everlasting
kingdom of glory.'

COPIES OF JESUS

'Do all things without murmurings and disputings;
15. That ye may be blameless and harmless,
children of God without blemish in the midst of a
crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye are
seen as lights in the world, 16. Holding forth the
word of life.'--PHIL. ii. 14-16 (R.V.).

We are told by some superfine modern moralists, that to regard one's own
salvation as the great work of our lives is a kind of selfishness, and
no doubt there may be a colour of truth in the charge. At least the
meaning of the injunction to work out our own salvation may have been
sometimes so misunderstood, and there have been types of Christian
character, such as the ascetic and monastic, which have made the
representation plausible. I do not think that there is much danger of
anybody so misunderstanding the precept now. But it is worthy of notice
that there stand here side by side two paragraphs, in the former of
which the effort to work out one's own salvation is urged in the
strongest terms, and in the other of which the regard for others is
predominant. We shall see that the connection between these two is not
accidental, but that one great reason for working out our salvation is