tness
of Philippian Christian life, and the shadows that lie on it here and
there; and then, while the Praetorian sentinel looks on in wonder, or
perhaps joins in as a believer, they pray together for Philippi, and
pour out their praises to the Father and the Son, and anticipate the
day of glory.

It is all over now; it all happened very long ago. But though that
blessed group of our elder brethren "are all gone into the world of
light" these many more than eighteen hundred human years, that Letter
is our contemporary still. "The word of God _liveth_ and _abideth for
ever_" (1 Pet. i. 23); it is never out of date, never touched by the
pathetic glamour of the past, with the suggestion of farewells, and
waxings old, and vanishings away. To us to-day, so near the twentieth
century, the Epistle to the Philippians is immortal, modern, true for
our whole world and time.

And what is its secret, its elixir of undying life? It is the Name of
Jesus Christ. It is that these pages are the message of "the chosen
Vessel" about that Name.

Our studies in the Epistle shall close with that reflexion. The
incidental topics and interests of the document are numerous indeed;
but the main theme is one, and it is Jesus Christ. From first to last,
under every variety of reference, "Christ is preached."

Let me quote from a Sermon preached many years ago, the last of a
series in which I attempted to unfold the Epistle to a Christian
congregation in the beloved Church of Fordington, Dorchester, then my
Father's cure and charge.

"The mere number of mentions of the Saviour's name is remarkable. More
than forty times we have it in this short compass; that is to say, it
occurs, amidst all the variety of subjects, on an average of about once
in every two or three verses. This is indeed perfectly characteristic,
not of this Epistle only but of the whole New Testament. What the
Apostles preached was not a thing but a Person; Christ, Christ Jesus,
Christ Jesus the Lord.

"But let us not look only on this frequency of mention. Let us gather
up something of what these mentions say 'concerning the King.'

"The writer begins with describing himself and his associates as the
servants, the absolute bondmen, _of Jesus Christ_. And truly such
servants witness to the worthiness of their Master.

"He addresses those to whom he writes as saints, as holy ones, _in
Jesus Christ_. Their standing, their character, their all, depends on