In whatever way the love of Christ is in truth brought before our hearts, we get by it a lever that raises at once our aims and spirit above the world. It was the kindness of the Philippians in apostles necessities during his imprisonment for the Gospel's sake, that awakened, as it were anew, his sense of the wonderful love of Christ, and set the springs of his admiration and gratitude flowing anew. Hence he says, " If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy that ye be like minded," &c. This -is the ground of his exhortation and entreaty, and it is according to the vividness of our apprehension of these heavenly motives that we are in possession of the secret springs of power to answer in any sense to this earnest entreaty. The more the heart is found dwelling on these things, the more the force of the moral exhortation is enhanced, and the greater the power to obey it.