Authenticity and Genuineness
REV. WILLIAM T. BULLOCK, M. A.—The canonical authority, Pauline authorship and integrity of this epistle have been unanimously acknowledged down to the present century. Marcion (A. D. 140) in the earliest known Canon held common ground with the church touching the authority of this epistle: it appears in the Muratorian Fragment; also among the acknowledged books in Eusebius; in the lists of the Council of Laodicea, A. D. 365; and the Synod of Hippo, 393; and in all subsequent lists, as well as in the Peshito and later versions. Even contemporary evidence may be claimed for it. Polycarp in his letter to the Philippians, A. D. 107, refers to this Epistle of Paul as a well-known distinction belonging to that church. It is quoted by Irenmus and Tertullian. A quotation from it is found in the epistle of the churches of Lyons and Vienne, A. D. 177. The testimony of later writers are innumerable.— Smith's Dict. of the Bible, p. 2492.
The Issue of Death to the Christian
DR. EDWARD YOUNG.—
Death is the crown of life:
Were death denied, poor man would live in vain;
Were death denied, to live would not be life;
Were death denied, even fools would wish to die.
Death wounds to cure; we fall; we rise; we reign!
Spring from our fetters; fasten in the skies;
Where blooming Eden withers in our sight.
Death gives us more than was in Eden lost.
The king of terrors is the prince of peace.
—Night Thoughts, III.
The Strait Betwixt Life and Death
PLATO.—The fellowship between soul and body is not, as I earnestly and solemnly affirmed, better than the dissolution of it. —De Leg., VIII., i.
PLUTARCH—We ought to weep over the new-born infants, upon whom evil is to come; but those dying and ceasing from their labors we should send forth from their homes with rejoicings and congratulations.—De and. Poet., c. 14.
ÆLIAN.—Cercidas, when he was about to die, said that he hoped to meet in a future life Pythagoras the philosopher, Hecatæus the historian, Olympus, and the poet Homer; and when he had said this his spirit fled. Var. Hist., XIII., 19.
SENECA.—It pertains to a great mind to be willing to come back to life for the sake of others; which distinguished men often do.—Epist., 104.
Christian Conversation
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—If men live as “becometh the gospel," they live well. Their lives are honest and honorable; they are men of truth and uprightness. No man on a dying bed ever yet regretted that he had framed his life by the rules of the gospel, or felt that his conduct had been conformed too much to it.—Note, In loco.
Confirmation
Phil. 2:2626For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick. (Philippians 2:26).—For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick. For indeed he was sick nigh unto death.
DR. WILLIAM PALEY.—In this passage, no intimation is given that the recovery of Epaphroditus was miraculous: it is plainly spoken of as a natural event. This instance, together with that in the Second Epistle to Timothy, "Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick," affords a proof that the power of performing cures, and by parity of reason, of working other miracles, was a power which only, visited the apostles occasionally; and did not at all depend upon their own will. Paul undoubtedly would have healed Epaphroditus, if he could; nor would he have left Trophimus at Miletum sick, had the power of working cures awaited his disposal. Had this epistle been a forgery, forgery on this occasion would not have spared a miracle: much less would it have introduced St. Paul professing the utmost anxiety for the Safety of his friend, yet acknowledging himself unable to help him; which, he does, almost expressly in the case of Trophimus: him have I left sick; and virtually in the passage before us, in which he felicitates himself on the recovery of Epaphroditus in terms which almost exclude the supposition of, any supernatural means being used to effect it. This is a reserve which nothing but truth would have imposed. — Hourœ Paulina, p. 106, Carter's Edition,
Christ Supremely Excellent
LUCIAN.—These people (the Christians) bow the knee to their crucified Sophist, and live in conformity to his laws. All things else they despise in the lump, holding them vain and worthless, without having a sufficient reason for being attached to these opinions.—De Mort. Peregr., c. 13.
Pressing Toward the Mark
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—In the Grecian races, one running to secure the prize would not stop to look behind him to see how much ground he had run over, or who of his competitors had fallen or lingered in the way. He would keep his eye steadily on the prize, and strain every nerve that he might obtain it. If his attention was diverted for a moment from that, it would hinder his flight, and might be the means of his losing the crown.—In loco.
POLYBIUS.—Some men, like bad racers, abandon their designs, when they are arrived even almost at the end of their course: while others, on the contrary, obtain a victory against their rivals, by exerting in that very moment more strenuous efforts than before.—Polyb., XVI., extr. 6.
DIOGENES LAERTIUS.—" Thou art now an old man; rest from thy labors,
Diogenes."—If I have run long in the rate, will it become me to slacken my pace when come near the end? Should I not rather stretch forward?—Diog. Laert., lib. vi., c. 2, sect. 6.
Gluttons
CICERO.—That spendthrift and glutton, born for his belly, not for praise and glory.—In Pison., c. 17.
DEMOSTHENES.—Men who measure their happiness by their bellies.—De Coron.
PERSEUS.—O souls bowed down to earth, and void of aught celestial.—Pers. Sat., II., v. 61.
The Vile Body Changed Into the Glorious
DWIGHT —
Shall spring the faded world revive?
Shall waning moons their light renew?
Again shall setting suits ascend
And chase the darkness from our view?
Shall life revisit dying worms
And spread the joyful insect's wing?
And, oh, shall man awake no more
To see thy face, thy name to sing?
Faith sees the bright eternal doors
Unfold to make her children way;
They shall be clothed with endless life,
And shine in everlasting day.
Moderation
Phil, 4:5.—Let your moderation be known unto all men.
PYTHAGORAS. —A mean in everything is best. Moderation is to be observed in food, in drink, and in exercise.—Aur. Car., v. 33.
HORACE.—There is a mean in all things: there are certain limits within or beyond of which moral rectitude cannot exist.—Hor., lib. i., Sat. 1.
Dwell Upon What Is Good
Phil. 4:88Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. (Philippians 4:8).—Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
XENOPHON.—Socrates was accustomed to inquire and discourse continually on these subjects— what was pious, what was impious; what honorable, what base; what just, what unjust; what wisdom, what folly; what courage, what cowardice; what a state, or political community, what the character of a statesman, a politician; what the government of men, what the character of one equal to such government. It was on these and other matters of the same kind that he used to dissert; in which subjects those who were knowing, he esteemed men of honor and goodness; and those who were ignorant, to be no better than the basest of slaves.—Soc. Mem., I. I
Contentment
EPICTETUS.—I would be able to say to God—Have I ever accused thee, or censured thy dispensations? I have been sick because it was thy pleasure, and so have others; but I willingly. I have been poor, it being thy will; but with joy. I have not been in power, because it was not thy will; and power I have never desired. Hast thou ever seen me out of humor on this account? Have I not always approached thee with a cheerful countenance, prepared to execute thy commands? Let death overtake me while I am thinking, while I am reading, while I am writing such things as these.—Epict., III., 5.
Cæsar's Household
ST. JEROME.—Paul, being by the emperor cast into prison, became the more known to his family; and he turned the house of Christ's persecutor into a church.—In Philem.
THEODORUS METOCHITA.—Among those converted in Caesar's household were Nero's baker and one of his concubines.—As quoted by Dr. Adam Clarke.