ger of being overcome. For our struggling is no common struggling, its object or end is not blood and flesh, not master-ships or servitudes or other connections among the earthly, but supremacies and authorities among the heavenly; our struggling is with a view (as members of the Lord, and participators in his practical efficiency,) to our becoming world-subduers of the darkness of this age, subduers of the world by subduing or dissipating its darkness of this age, of this age which as to spiritual matters is an evil age.* On this account be clothed with that spirit which was in Christ, take upon you the Lord Jesus Christ, take up the panoply of God, that ye may have strength of resistance in the evil day, that ye may accomplish all that is appointed you and maintain your stand.

..

Stand therefore girt about the loins with.. truth, or armed with honesty, and covered with the breast-plate of righteousness, or a conscience clear before God, with your feet shod, or .. prepared for the struggle, by the glad tidings of peace with God, by which ye are relieved from the heavy curse of sin, and the encumbrances of the law. Over all as a defence against danger, at whatever point it attack you, take up the

Here I consider the words included between ras kovotas and εν τοις επουράνιος as parenthetical, and after τους κοσμοκράτορας απ ellipsis of ημας είναι.

shield of faithfulness, the water of baptism into faithfulness, by which ye shall be able to destroy the lusts of the flesh, and quench all the .. burning weapons of the evil one. Receive the helmet of salvation, or a hope of that glory which encircles the head of Jesus; and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, the only weapon of offence in the armoury of Christ.

By the word of God I mean what Christ. said and did, what God by his spirit or miraculous intervention preserved in or recalled to the memory of his apostles, and what, through the same spirit, or God's continued interventions as long as necessary, will be effectually published and established on record, for a light unto the ends of the world. With every kind ·· of prayer and entreaty on every emergency, pray heartily for all the holy, ever awake to this holy occupation, in every way persisting and urgent for all the holy, and for me in par- .. ticular, that power of speech may be given me to open my mouth freely and boldly to make known the mystery of the glad tidings, the mystery that all the nations of the earth are called into a fellowship with the seed of Abra- .. ham. To announce which mystery I am an ambassadour bound by a chain to a soldier, and so far under restraint and hindered from freely

and boldly executing my embassy. Pray therefore urgently for me, that I may be freed from restraint and set at liberty to speak, as behoves me on the subject of my embassy.

I will not however merely write to you on my .. present condition, but, that you yourselves may know my condition and proceedings, the beloved brother, and faithful minister in the service of the Lord, Tychicus, (whom I have sent.. to you for this very purpose, that ye may know my state, and that he may comfort you,) shall make known every thing.

Peace be to the brethren and love with faith-.. fulness, from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Peace or reconciliation from God the Father, and love with faithfulness, or a perfect fellowship with Christ's spirit and body, from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace or the favor of God be with all,.. who love our Lord Jesus Christ, that grace or favor which was decreed to such before the foundations of the world, and which in the mind of God is immutable, is subject to no change, incorruptible.

PHILIPPIANS, CHAP. I. V. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

PAUL and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ.. to all the holy in Christ Jesus, that is, to all who bear our distinctive appellation of holy as faithful members of the holy or anointed Savour Christ Jesus: they send greeting to all the holy in Phillipi. The bishops and ministers are included in this salutation.

Grace, or your gratuitous acceptance, and.. peace, or the peace of mind which accompanies the consciousness of God's favor, be yours from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ.

Constantly, as you are in my mind, constantly am thankful to my God. I pray for you all.. in deprecation of evil, and every such prayer is accompanied with a joyful confidence on my part.

My thankfulness to my God, and confidence.. before him on your behalf, which have existed from the first day I knew you to the present time, are caused by his goodness to you, and

the blessed fruits it is evidently productive of among you; his goodness in admitting you who were afar off as well as those who are near, to a participation of the glad tidings of his gratuitous acceptance. I am thankful to, and.. confident before him, because the blessed fruits, which his goodness is productive of among you, assure me that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it. The promise of God, or his work of love perfected, is eternal life in his Son; he has begun this good work in you, by giving you the assurance of his gratuitous acceptance, or acquittal from death in the body of Christ, or as ye are faithful members by a unity of spirit with Christ of his body. Confident that he will perfect this good work to the day of the Lord, to the full realization of that glorious day, when assurance shall be turned into fact, and these vile bodies shall be made like unto his glorified body, I have ever a grateful confidence before my God in your behalf, because ye have so auspiciously entered with us into a fellowship with Christ.

But thankful as I am in your behalf, it is.. but just. It is but just that the blessedness of you all should thus effect me. For even in my captivity I am faithfully cherished in your hearts and in the defence and establishment