a good work in you will perform it until the day of JESUS CHRIST." He does not know how to say enough of the joy he had in thinking of them; of the earnest welcome they gave to the Gospel at first, and of their steadiness, continuing still to profess it, for all the persecution and tribulation they had to endure. How the Philippians first received the Gospel, we know from the sixteenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. It began from the house of a woman named Lydia, whose heart the Lord opened first of all to attend to those things that were spoken of Paul. But after a short time, the multitude rose up against him: he was beaten and imprisoned, with much shame, but GoD opened the prison doors by an earthquake, and the heathen jailor being converted and baptized, and the heathen magistrates alarmed, the Apostle was, for that time, allowed to depart free and safe. Thus the Philippians "received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost." And as they received it, so they kept it, rejoicing to communicate with the Apostle, both in his bonds and in his poverty. These were the men to whom the Apostle was speaking, when he said, He was confident of this, that he which had begun a good work in them would perform it until the day of JESUS CHRIST." The comfort and encouragement of these words is quite plain, as I said before: to be praised so earnestly by such a man as St. Paul, speaking by the HOLY SPIRIT of GOD, and to have him express such strong hopes of their continual improvement and final salvation, must have been as comfortable, as encouraging, as any words they could hear in this world.

But if they duly considered the words, they must have perceived them to be words of warning also. For, first of all, after all they had done, the Apostle gives them to understand, that he considered them as only having made a beginning. Yet they had done what most men would consider as very great things indeed. They had clung to St. Paul, or rather to his Master, through several years of shame and danger, and had been more earnest and forward than any other church in contributing to supply his necessities. Should the like trying times occur again, which of us all would not praise himself, and think he had done great things, if he came any where near their exertions? Yet, behold, their exertions were but a beginning.

Another point of warning hinted in the words of the text is

this that the whole credit of the good work wrought in the Philippians is ascribed by St. Paul to GOD ALMIGHTY, none of it to themselves. HE which hath begun a good work in you, HE, and no other, I trust, will perform it. Plainly, he wished them to be thoroughly aware, how very dangerous and destructive it would be, should they once begin to value themselves on their own growth in grace, and count it their own work, and not the work of HIM who alone can sanctify souls. The tone of the whole verse is as if he had said, "I see in you a good and hopeful beginning, such a beginning as fills me with joyful expectation; but remember, I beseech you, that it is but a beginning, and remember, too, that it is not your's, but God's. For on your

bearing these things in mind will depend the fulfilment of the good work, your perfection and glorification in the day of JESUS CHRIST."

The lesson which this verse especially seems to hold out to all Christians is this: That it should be our comfort, as it is our duty, to consider the past favours of GOD ALMIGHTY as so many pledges for the future, so many tokens of His kind intentions towards us.

St. Paul was confident, that the good work of GoD, in those his beloved Philippian converts, would be performed, that is, carried on to end in glory, in the day when all works shall have an end. Why was St. Paul confident of this? Besides other reasons which he might have, this very thing made him confident; namely, that God had begun to work in them. St. Paul felt thus with regard to the Philippians; and why should not all Christians feel the same, in respect of themselves, and of their brethren, in whom they see or feel the mercies of GOD? Why should we stand loitering and lingering, accounting this duty too hard, that temptation too strong, such a commandment too high and spiritual, such an example too perfect to be followed? Why should we not, one and all, thank GoD, and take courage, both in respect of ourselves and others, recollecting what reason we have to be sure of God's gracious mind and purpose?

The ground of such thankful confidence must be, that all improvement, all spiritual blessings, come of GoD, and not of ourselves. For every man may judge, if he will, by every day's sad experience, how vain it would be to trust in himself. If your

growth in grace, such as it is, were your own work, you would indeed have little reason to hope for any long continuance of it. For you know how frail your own works are, how unsteady your good resolutions, how soon, when you are left to yourself, you allow your good habits to wear away, and evil ones to get the dominion over you. Every one who watches his own heart at all must know enough of this, from continual experience, to hinder him from having the least confidence in any good beginnings of his own.

But now we know that we are not in our own hands, but in His hands, who never can change, Who is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. "GOD is not as man, that He should lie, nor as the son of man, that He should repent. Hath He said, and shall He not do it? or hath HE spoken, and shall He not make it good?" We are sure, then, that when He begins, HE will also make an end; His power cannot fail, nor His will contradict itself: when, therefore, in His power and mercy He has plainly begun to work men's spiritual good, we have all the reason we can have in this world to hope the very best for them; all the reason in the world to take courage in doing them all the good we can.

For example: when by the Providence of GOD a child is born in a Christian country, it is a sign that God would have him baptized, and new-born in the Church of CHRIST. When he is baptized, that is a token that God means him all the blessings of the Gospel. Nobody need despair of him, nor think his pains thrown away in labouring to teach or correct that child, to restrain him in evil or encourage him in good. Child or man, how froward soever he may be, he is one whom our LORD has sealed for His own, so far as to reckon him one of His own chosen people and Church on earth; nay, more, He has made him a member of HIMSELF: and this surely is sign enough of God's gracious purpose towards him, and reason enough for all who love CHRIST to hope against hope in endeavouring to bring him to GOD.

Again our SAVIOUR has trusted His Church with the seal of Confirmation also, for a further token of His having begun and still continuing, in each of her faithful children, the work of their spiritual improvement. The SPIRIT which is given to believing

and obedient souls, by laying on of the Bishop's hands, is the SPIRIT of ghostly strength, of Christian knowledge, and of the the fear of the LORD. And whenever, at any future time, a cloud comes over your mind, and you are inclined to doubt whether, towards you, GOD has not forgotten to be gracious, (I speak now to those only who have been, by GoD's Providence, duly confirmed,) let me beseech you, in those dark and dispiriting thoughts, to turn your minds to that moment when the hand of GoD'S chosen servant was stretched out over you, to bless you in His Name; and the prayer pronounced, that you might continue His for ever. Be sure, it was a special token of His mercy of His mercy, who cannot change. Accept it as such, and make it a reason for cheerful hope, and watchful, humble obedience. Whatever your backslidings have since been, your having been confirmed by laying on of the Bishop's hands is one token of God's pardon and grace to you, the moment you turn to Him in true repentance. Without repentance, I do not deny that the same Confirmation makes your case worse; as do all the means of grace, abused. But still on God's part the saying holds true, and nothing but our own sloth or wickedness can baffle it; that the good work, begun in Baptism and Confirmation, must be taken as a pledge of mercy and salvation at last.

Now what has been said of Confirmation, is still in a higher degree true concerning the holy Supper of the LORD: of which it is clearly His blessed will, that all who have been confirmed should speedily become worthy partakers. Such as duly receive those holy mysteries are instructed by the Church "most heartily to thank God, for vouchsafing to feed them with the spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood of His SON our SAVIOUR, and for assuring us thereby of His favour and goodness towards us, and that we are in truth members united to the spiritual Body of His Son, which is the blessed company of all faithful people; and are also heirs through hope of His everlasting Kingdom, through the merits of the most precious death and passion of His dear SoN." And in humble confidence they are further instructed to pray, that our heavenly FATHER, who has just given us such a mark of His favour, would go on to "assist us with His grace, that we may continue in that holy

fellowship, and do all such good works as He has prepared for us to walk in."

I have repeated to you almost the whole of this Collect, showing you most exactly the meaning of the Apostle, when he teaches you to regard the past mercies of the ALMIGHTY as pledges of further mercies to come. The Holy Communion, the greatest of those mercies on earth, because it is what brings you nearest to our blessed SAVIOUR-is also the most distinct pledge of continued and increasing mercies to come. Because God has just given us the very Body and Blood of His Son, therefore we come boldly to the throne of grace, asking for help to do those good works which He has prepared for us to walk in.

Thus you see how the means of grace, offered, one after another, to Christian people in the Church of GoD, ought to serve as so many reasons for depending on HIM for more and more grace: so many fearful condemnations to those who go back, or do not go forward. And this holds true of every person, whether he chooses to attend to God's offers, and employ His means of grace, or no. It is still equally true, surely, that our Blessed LORD means you mercy every time He invites you to His holy Table; every time He causes you to be reminded of your Baptism, which you very likely have all but forgotten, or of Confirmation, which you may probably have slighted or profaned. These are, all of them, His gracious beginnings; and where they are, you may be quite certain HE is waiting to do you good, the moment you will turn to HIM. His mind is towards you, as it was towards His ancient people; to whom His words were such as these: "Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed, and make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will ye die, O house of Israel?”

The means of grace, such as I have now mentioned, are common to the whole Church. But let us now consider a case of a more private and personal kind, between GoD and each man's own conscience. Let us suppose any one, after years, it may be, of carelessness and irreligion, touched with some feeling of his sins, some thought of his spiritual condition. Every such thought and feeling, depend on it, is a sure sign that God intends that man to repent in earnest. If you let such misgivings pass un