Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obey'd the gospel, not only when I was with you, but much more now while I am absent, continue the work of your own salvation, whatever persecutions you apprehend:

nay I think them disadvantages when put in competition with the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord: for whose sake I abandon all these things, and count them as straw, that I may gain Christ,

and you yourselves know, O Philippians, that when I first preach'd the gospel, at my departure from Macedonia, I receiv'd no manner of assistance from any other church but yours;