This text contains a very timely cordial (1) to revive the drooping spirits of the saints in these sad and sinking times. For the "hour of temptation" has already come upon the entire world to try the inhabitants of the earth. Our great Apostle holds forth experimentally in this text the very life and soul of all practical divinity. In it, we may plainly read his own proficiency in the school of Christ and what lesson every Christian who would prove the power and growth of godliness in his own soul must necessarily learn from him. These words are brought in by Paul as a clear argument to persuade the Philippians that he did not seek after great things in the world, and that he sought not "theirs" but "them." He did not long for great wealth; his heart was taken up with better things. "I do not speak," he says, "in respect of want, (2) for whether I have or have not, my heart is fully satisfied, I have enough: 'I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.'" "In whatsoever state I am."