“Let this, then, teach us not to have confidence in any outward thing whatsoever without Christ. You are baptized; it is well: so was Simon Magus (Acts 8:13). It is ‘not the putting away of the filth of the body’ that saves the Lord’s Table; it is well, so no doubt, did Judas. He who eats and drinks worthily is made one with Christ, and Christ with him. But ‘he that eats and drinks unworthily, eat and drinks his own damnation’ (1 Cor. 11:29). You are born of holy and godly parents; it is well: so were Ishmael and Esau. ‘They which are the children of the flesh are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed’ (Rom. 9:8). You are of a holy profession; it is well, so was Demas. Holiness of profession does not commend to God, but a heart purified by faith which works through love. You distribute to the poor and do many good things; it is well, so did the Pharisees, and the young man in the Gospel (Mt. 19:20). ‘Though I feed the poor with all my goods, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profits me nothing’ (1 Cor. 13:3). In a word, there is nothing under heaven without Christ that does profit us, so that we should rejoice or have confidence in it.” —Henry Airay, Lectures on Philippians