and their fellow-Christians can rightly
receive, even praise from men. If Epaphroditus were 'received in the
Lord,' there would be no foolish and hurtful adulation of him, nor
prostration before him, but he would be recognised as but the instrument
through which the true Helper worked, and not he, but the Grace of
Christ in him would finally receive the praise. There are very many
Christian workers who never get their due of recognition and welcome
from their brethren, and there are many who get far more of both than
belongs to them, and both they and the crowds who bring them adulation
would be freed from dangers, which can scarcely be over-stated, if the
spirit of Paul's warm-hearted praise of Epaphroditus were kept in view.

Epaphroditus but passes across the illuminated disc of the lantern for a
moment, and we have scarcely time to catch a glimpse of his face before
it is lost to us. He and all his brethren are gone, but his name lives
for ever, and Paul's praise of him and of his work outshines all else
remembered of the city, where conquerors once reigned, and outside whose
walls was fought a battle that decided for a time the fate of the world.

PREPARING TO END

'Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To
write the same things to you, to me indeed is not
irksome, but for you it is safe. 2. Beware of the
dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the
concision: 3. For we are the circumcision, who
worship by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ
Jesus, and have no confidence in the
flesh.'--PHIL. iii. 1-3 (R.V.).

The first words of the text show that Paul was beginning to think of
winding up his letter, and the preceding context also suggests that. The
personal references to Timothy and Epaphroditus would be in their
appropriate place near the close, and the exhortation with which our
text begins is also most fitting there, for it is really the key-note
of the letter. How then does he come to desert his purpose? The answer
is to be found in his next advice, the warning against the Judaising
teachers who were his great antagonists all his life. A reference to
them always roused him, and here the vehement exhortation to mark them
well and avoid them opens the flood-gates. Forgetting all about his
purpose to come to an end, he pours out his soul in the long and
precious passage which follows. Not till the next chapter d