October 31

"Christ is preached."—Phil. 4, 18.

'WHAT an heroic and undaunted character was Paul! Though surrounded by many that were ashamed of Christ, he maintained the resolution to his dying day, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ." When surrounded by all the licentiousness of Corinth, and exposed to the philosophers at Athens, he said, "I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified." When writing to the Galatians who were lost in Judaism and superstition, he declared his boast was the cross of Christ; when at Philippi among the great and the mighty he exclaimed, "Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." He refers in the context to the different motives that actuated some to preach the Gospel—verse 15. Christ must be preached

IN THE GLORY OF HIS PERSON. How wonderful is the union of two distinct natures in one Divine person! Christ had a nature the same as the Father, and a nature the same as man. He thought it not robbery to be equal with God, though he took on him the form of a servant. He had a nature that gave the law, and a nature that obeyed it. As God he was as high as the Father, as man he was as low as the sinner. Every attribute belonging to the Deity is ascribed to Christ; and every property connected with humanity belonged to him, yet without sin. As God he fed five thousand individuals with a few small loaves and fishes, as man he was hungry; as man he wept over the grave of Lazarus, as God he commanded the dead to come forth; as God he said to the repenting thief on the cross, "To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise," as man he exclaimed, "I thirst;" as God he said, "I and my Father are one;" as man he said, "My Father is greater than I." It was necessary that he should be God and man in one Divine person; man that he might suffer, and God that he might give efficacy to his sufferings; man that he might bear the Divine wrath, God that he might be sustained under it. This is the Saviour Paul exhibited, and this same Jesus we preach unto you.