t had done when he spoke of it to his Philippian friends.

It is to be noted, in order to bring out more vividly the force of the
figure, that Paul here speaks of the libation being poured '_on_' the
sacrifice, as was the practice in heathen ritual. The sacrifice is the
victim, 'service' is the technical word for priestly ministration, and
the general meaning is, 'If my blood is poured out as a drink offering
on the sacrifice ministered by you, which is your faith, I joy with you
all.' This man had no fear of death, and no shrinking from 'leaving the
warm precincts of the cheerful day.' He was equally ready to live or to
die as might best serve the name of Jesus, for to him 'to live was
Christ,' and therefore to him it could be nothing but 'gain' to die.
Here he seems to be treating his death as a possibility, but as a
possibility only, for almost immediately afterwards he says, that he
'trusts in the Lord that I myself will come shortly.' It is interesting
to notice the contrast between his mood of mind here and that in the
previous chapter (i. 25) where the 'desire to depart and to be with
Christ' is deliberately suppressed, because his continuous life is
regarded as essential for the Philippians' 'progress and joy in faith.'
Here he discerns that perhaps his death would do more for their faith
than would his life, and being ready for either alternative he welcomes
the possibility. May we not see in the calm heart, which is at leisure
to think of death in such a fashion, a pattern for us all? Remember how
near and real his danger was. Nero was not in the habit of letting a
man, whose head had been in the mouth of the lion, take it out unhurt.
Paul is no eloquent writer or poet playing with the idea of death, and
trying to say pretty things about it, but a man who did not know when
the blow would come, but _did_ know that it would come before long.

We may point here to the two great thoughts in Paul's words, and notice
the priesthood and sacrifice of life, and the sacrifice and libation of
death. The Philippians offered as their sacrifice their faith, and all
the works which flow therefrom. Is that our idea of life? Is it our idea
of faith? We have no gifts to bring, we come empty-handed unless we
carry in our hands the offering of our faith, which includes the
surrender of our will, and the giving away of our hearts, and is
essentially laying hold of Christ's sacrifice. When we come empty,
needy, sinful, but cleaving