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SERMON XVI.

A CHRISTIAN'S LIFE AND DEATH.

BY THE

REV. JOHN COOK,

MINISTER OF LAURENCEKIRK.

PHILIPPIANS i. 21.

"To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."

The Epistle to the Philippians was written from Rome, where Paul was imprisoned on account of his preaching the Gospel; and the sentiments expressed in the epistle are interesting, as they exhibit the state of mind in which the Apostle was, while he was undergoing bonds and afflictions, and had to look on death

as no unlikely termination of them. He begins by expressing his great and continual interest in the character and welfare of the Christians at Philippi. "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, for your fellowship in the Gospel, from the first day until now; being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."

The Philippians had shewn peculiar attachment to him; he was the first who had gone to them as a preacher of the Gospel (Acts xvi. 12); they had frequently ministered to his necessities when no other Church did so, (Phil. iv. 15,) and now having heard of his imprisonment at Rome, and being desirous of contributing as much as was in their power to his comfort, they had sent Epaphroditus, one of their ministers, to inquire for him, and to give him what they offered for the relief of his wants (Phil. iv. 18). Paul was deeply sensible of their affection, and in this letter, sent to them by Epaphroditus on his return, he acknowledges their gift as most seasonable and most acceptable, and expresses his earnest hope and prayer, that they would continue steadfast in the faith whereby they should be saved. "God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ and this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment. -My brethren, dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved."

The Epistle is full of similar expressions of the warmest affection and Christian regard; it contains no detail of his own sufferings, with which it might have been supposed that his mind was occupied and depressed. He refers, indeed, to the persecutions which he was experiencing, but for the purpose, not of detailing or magnifying them, but of relieving the anxiety and moderating the grief which the Philippians had on his account. He tells them that his sufferings were tending to spread the knowledge of the Saviour, to increase the number of those who believed in him, and to encourage those who believed to greater boldness and confidence objects which he regarded as of superior moment to any personal interests of his own. "I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me, have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the Gospel." Some of those who believed waxed more confident in the faith, and more bold in speaking the word, when they saw the manifest divine grace by which Paul was enabled to bear his trials: and his imprisonment and sufferings being known and talked of in Rome, the metropolis of the world, and even in the palace of the Emperor-many were led to inquire into the occasion of his imprisonment, and so to hear of the Gospel. Thus his enemies, who thought by the severity of his punishment to suppress the Gospel, were defeating their own ends and promoting his; they were, in effect, proclaiming or preaching Christ Jesus.

It was this view of what was taking place in con

sequence of his bonds and afflictions, which had brought cheerfulness and contentment to his own breast, and which he now endeavours to convey to the Philippians that it might also lighten their heaviness and sorrow of heart for him. He saw, that while he was in bonds, and even the more because he was in bonds, Christ his blessed Lord was preached—" and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also, Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death; for to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

The Apostle's state of mind was truly a happy one -one in which he was able to endure manifold afflictions and privations with patience and contentment— to speak of them without a murmur, and without a boast of their magnitude—and to think of them only as tending to promote higher and holier objects, the honour of his Lord and the salvation of sinners. How much may we all desire to be able thus in patience to possess our souls, and thus to contribute to the Saviour's honour! We all are born to trouble, and must contemplate the prospect of death as never afar off; and we all ought, in our body and in our spirit, to glorify him who has bought us with his own blood. May God enable us, then, by his Spirit to profit by our meditation on these words, "To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."

1. Let us consider how these words may be applicable to us. When Paul said, "to me to live is Christ," his meaning was, that while he lived, he was an instrument of promoting the honour and the work of Christ, while, if he were dead, he could do so no more; he was willing to live even in bonds and imprisonment, because he believed he was thereby making known the Gospel of Christ, extending his kingdom, and increasing the number of his people.-The life of each one of us may be dedicated to the same service, and to the same end. It is not given to us to promote the cause of Christ in the same way; he has not been pleased to require of us bodily suffering as a means of publishing his Gospel, and bringing men to the knowledge and belief of his truth; but every one of us is placed in circumstances in which it is not only in his power, but it is his duty to live in such a manner as to glorify God, and to honour and obey Jesus Christ. We know that Christ died, and we know the purpose for which he died-to be the propitiation for our sins, that through faith in his blood we might have the forgiveness of our sins; "he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them;" as "dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ." The great principle of a Christian's life is thus described by Paul-" whether we live, we live unto the Lordwhether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live therefore or die, we are the Lord's." Is there not room for carrying this principle fully and actively into exercise in every situation in which a Christian can be

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