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 PAUL'S ^ ^GIGALSE ^ 
 
 IDEAL CHURCH AND PEOPLE 
 
 M J^DyuIar QlnntmBufara 
 
 ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY 
 
 ALFRED ROWLAND, LL.B., B. A. 
 
 (LONDON university) 
 
 CINCINNATI : CRANSTON & CURTS 
 
 NEW YORK: HUNT & EATON 
 
 ^S93 
 
PKEFACE. 
 
 In the following pages I have attempted to give my 
 readers a popular exposition of a singularly interesting 
 Epistle. The text of the Revised Version, which has been 
 universally recognised as a valuable result of modern 
 scholarship, has been used for the exegetical section. 
 This is followed by a series of forty sermonettes, in 
 which every part of the Epistle is dealt with practically 
 and homiletically. In these, it has been my earnest en- 
 deavour to present the whole letter as a living utterance 
 from the greatest inspired theologian ever possessed by 
 the Church. It is my hope and prayer that, while the 
 thoughtful reader may find here some guidance amidst 
 the difficulties and controversies of the present day, the 
 homilies may not be without value to those whom God 
 has appointed to be the religious teachers of their age, 
 whether in the pulpit, in the class, or in the home. 
 
 I desire to acknowledge my indebtedness to the works 
 of abler theologians and critics, and especially to " The 
 Pastoral Epistles," by the Rev. Patrick Fairbairu, D.D., 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 and to the valuable papers contributed to " The Expositor " 
 by the Rev. H. R. Reynolds, D.D. If I have brought 
 any of the treasures of more abstruse scholarship within 
 reach of my readers, and if I have been enabled to place 
 material ready to the hands of busy builders in Christ's 
 Temple of Truth and Righteousness, my labour of love 
 will not have been in vain. 
 
 ALFRED ROWLAND. 
 
 Crouch End, London. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Introduction . 
 Expository Notes 
 
 SERMONKTl ZS ON FIKST CHAPTER. 
 I. the apostles claim to authority 
 
 II. the relations of PAUL AND TIMOTHY 
 
 III. A CHRISTIAN SALUTATION . 
 
 IV. TIMOTHY'S CHARGE .... 
 
 V. THE END OF THE COMMANDMENT 
 
 VI. THE PURPOSE OF THE LAW 
 VII. THE SUMMONS TO SERVICE 
 
 VIII. THE GOSPEL IN A SENTENCE 
 IX. PRAISE FOR SALVATION 
 X. TIMOTHY'S CHARGE AND WARNING . 
 
 SERMONETTES ON SECOND CHAPTER. 
 
 L INTERCESSORY PRAYER 
 II. THE ATONEMENT . 
 
 III. ON PRAYER . 
 
 IV. woman's true DIGNITY 
 V. THE POSITION OF WOMAN 
 
 SERMONETTES ON THIRD CHAPTER. 
 
 I. THE IDEAL MINISTER 
 
 IL THE IDEAL DEACON 
 
 III. THE HOUSE OF GOD 
 
 IV. THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS .... 
 
 V 
 
 PAOB 
 
 xi 
 
 35 
 42 
 48 
 52 
 57 
 61 
 69 
 
 75 
 Si 
 
 85 
 
 93 
 
 lOI 
 
 109 
 
 "3 
 119 
 
 127 
 
 138 
 141 
 15? 
 
vi CONTENTS. 
 
 SERMONETTES ON FOURTH CHAPTER. 
 
 PAOK 
 
 I. A GREAT HEEESY 159 
 
 II. OUR CHARTER OF FREEDOM 1 67 
 
 III. COUNSELS TO GOD'S SERVANTS 1 75 
 
 IV. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CHRISTIAN TEACHER . . 183 
 
 SERMONETTES ON FIFTH CHAPTER. 
 
 I. CHRISTIAN REPROOFS I93 
 
 II. HOME RESPONSIBILITIES 197 
 
 III. CHARITY RULED BY WISDOM 202 
 
 IV. DUTIES TOWARDS THE MINISTRY . „ . . .209 
 V. ASCETICISM 221 
 
 VL RETRIBUTION AND REWARD ...,,. 224 
 
 SERMONETTES ON SIXTH CHAPTER. 
 
 I. UNDER THE YOKE 229 
 
 II. CHRISTIAN SLAVES AND THEIR MASTERS . . . .236 
 
 III. A CONTRAST BETWEEN TRUE AND FALSE TEACHING . 242 
 
 IV. CONTENTMENT 247 
 
 V. COVETOUSNESS 252 
 
 VI. THE MAN OF GOD 258 
 
 VIL THE CHRISTIAN CONTEST 265 
 
 VIII. THE FIGHT OF FAITH 270 
 
 IX. MOTIVES TO STEADFASTNESS 273 
 
 X. THE PERILS AND POSSIBILITIES OF THE RICH . . . 279 
 
 XI. PERIL AND PRESERVATION 285 
 
INTKODUOTION. 
 
 Authorship. 
 
 Until the present century the authenticity of this Epistle 
 was never questioned by any one holding a recognised 
 position in the Christian Church. From the earliest 
 times it was universally accepted as the writing of St. 
 Paul, except by Gnostics and Marcionites, who natu- 
 rally repudiated teaching which was irreconcilable with 
 their heresies. In the year 1 807, however, objections 
 to its authenticity were raised in a letter of Schleier- 
 niacher's. These have been exhaustively treated, and, as 
 we believe, satisfactorily disposed of, by competent autho- 
 rities, so that we shall not attempt to deal with them 
 here in detail, although some of them are necessarily 
 touched upon in the following pages. In these intro- 
 ductory remarks we content ourselves with calling the 
 reader's attention to the evident transparency and earnest- 
 ness of our author, which make it incredible that he 
 should be guilty of assuming to be what he was not, 
 and of inventing circumstances and relationships which 
 had no existence in fact. An unprejudiced reader will 
 surely acquit him of that sin of " speaking lies in hypo- 
 
VIU INTRODUCTION. 
 
 crisy," which in the Episfcle he distinctly and solemnly 
 denounces. 
 
 The Time and Place of Writing 
 
 ib is impossible to fix with certainty. The only historical 
 record of St. Paul's life is the Acts of the Apostles, which 
 closes abruptly before the termination of his labours. 
 There is satisfactory evidence for believing that the 
 imprisonment there referred to ended either in the 
 acquittal of the prisoner, or more probably in his dis- 
 charge, through the non-appearance of his prosecutors, 
 for their case had broken down so completely in the 
 provincial court, that any shrewd Roman lawyer would 
 advise them that further proceedings against him would 
 be futile. It is clear from Philippians i. 27, and from 
 Philemon 22, that St. Paul expected some such issue, 
 and hoped at no distant date to resume his labours. The 
 traditions of the Church strongly confirm the belief that 
 this hope was fulfilled, and that several years were spent 
 in evangelistic work, before he was imprisoned a second 
 time, and beheaded in the reign of Nero. This period 
 would give opportunity for writing the Pastoral Epistles, 
 and the interval which elapsed between them and the 
 earlier letters will account for some of the slight differences 
 in style by which they are distinguished. The Second 
 Epistle to Timothy was unquestionably written while the 
 Apostle was in prison, awaiting his trial with far more 
 anxiety as to the issue than appears in former letters, 
 and with none of the alleviations mentioned in the Acts. 
 He represents himself as being jealously guarded, as he 
 
INTRODUCTION. IX 
 
 was not when dwelling " in his own hired house." He 
 refers to the danger his friends incurred in coming to see 
 him, or in appearing to be identified with him, and 
 entreats his beloved son to hasten to Rome, that he 
 might comfort him by his presence, and receive the last 
 instructions of one who had " finished " his course. All 
 this points to a second imprisonment ; and it is to the 
 period immediately preceding it, while the Apostle was 
 still free in his movements, that we unhesitatingly assign 
 the First Epistle to Timothy, who had been left in Ephesus; 
 and the letter to Titus, who was labouring in Crete. 
 Where St. Paul was when he thus wrote, it is impossible 
 to determine. The Revised Version very properly omits 
 the subscriptions which refer to " Laodicea," " Rome," 
 and "Nicopolis;" for all of them are without warrant, and 
 the first and third are obviously incorrect. Laodicea, to 
 which our Epistle is attributed, was in Asia, which Paul 
 had left before writing it, for he reminds Timothy that 
 he had departed into Macedonia. Probably it was from 
 Philippi, or some other city in the Macedonian province, 
 that he despatched this letter. 
 
 The Value of the Pastoral Epistles 
 
 it would be difficult to overrate. They contain the 
 counsels given by the great Apostle to the Gentiles on 
 recurrent difficulties, at the period when his experience 
 and practical wisdom were most mature. In earlier 
 letters he had dealt very fully with the doctrines of 
 Christianity, but here he addresses himself to the govern- 
 
X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ment and organisation of the Church. He wisely reserved 
 what he wished to say respecting the manifestation of 
 religious life until he had treated of its essence; for 
 Church government follows Christian teaching, and is 
 less important than it. In apostolic days the organisa- 
 tion of the Church was of the simplest kind. Besides 
 bishops and deacons there were few (if any) recognised 
 officials. Indeed it is an open question whether the 
 Church would not have saved herself from bitter conflicts 
 if she had been content with her early simplicity, or if 
 she had been willing to permit the religious life of each 
 Christian Church to manifest itself freely under the 
 sunshine of heavenly love, in the form most natural to 
 itself, as God-given life always does in nature. Be 
 that as it may, it is one happy result of the simpler 
 methods, characteristic of the apostolic era, that St. Paul 
 was able to deal with the difficulties which arose then, 
 not by detailed and technical instructions, but by the 
 enunciation of a few great principles, which have proved 
 capable of applications unlimited in their variety, amid 
 the new controversies of each succeeding age. This will 
 have numerous exemplifications in the homiletical portion 
 of this volume. 
 
 The Object 
 
 of the First Epistle to Timothy was to advise the young 
 evangelist, and to strengthen his authority in dealing 
 with the practical difficulties and doctrinal controversies 
 which confronted him in Ephesus, He had been left in 
 charge of the Church in that great city as the represen- 
 
INTRODUCTION. xi 
 
 tative of the Apostle, whose return was very uncertain. 
 His want of previous experience and his gentle tempera- 
 ment rendered the important position assigned to him 
 one of peculiar difficulty. Though he was not effeminate, 
 his piety was of a feminine type. He was more disposed 
 to flexibility than to firmness, and appears to have been 
 lacking in the daring of personal initiative. This was 
 natural, for his constitutional peculiarities had been 
 fostered by circumstances. As the close and constant 
 companion of St. Paul he had hitherto been content to 
 carry out his great leader's instructions with loving 
 fidelity. But now in Ephesus he had for the first time 
 to stand alone amongst jealous opponents, whose age and 
 ability made them formidable. The reception of such a 
 letter as this would be an inspiration to him, under the 
 impetus of which he would be ready to dare and do great 
 things for the cause of Christ. But our Epistle has 
 proved of permanent value to the Church, giving to its 
 teachers in age after age a deeper sense of their respon- 
 sibilities, and affording them a treasury of practical 
 wisdom which enables them to meet on the one hand 
 hierarchical assumptions, and on the other "the opposi- 
 tions of science falsely so called." 
 
 A flood of light is cast by this letter on the personal 
 relationship existing between Paul and Timothy, which 
 was so close, tender, and sacred, that it is best represented 
 by the love between father and son.' The steadfastness 
 of this beautiful friendship was due in part to the win- 
 someness and nobility of the Apostle, who was a born 
 leader of men ; but in part also to the loyal and lovable dis- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 position of Timothy. He seems to have been distinguished 
 alike for sensitiveness and for earnestness. Simple in 
 character, unfailing in consideration for others, self-for- 
 getful almost to a fault, devout and spiritually minded, he 
 was at once a noble evangelist, and the dearest comrade 
 of this great Apostle, who, under the shadow of approach- 
 ing death, yearned for his presence more than for that of 
 any other friend on earth. Our interest in this young 
 evangelist is intensified when we remember that he is 
 the earliest example in the history of the Church of one 
 trained for the service of our Lord by a Christian mother. 
 In this he appears as the first fruit of a splendid harvest- 
 field. 
 
EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 EXPOSITORY NOTES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Ver. I. According to the commandment of God. — As 
 
 God's messenger and ambassador Paul spoke with authority 
 (Gal. i. I ). Our Saviour. — A title seldom given, as it is here, 
 to the Father. The only other instances occur in the Pas- 
 toral Epistles, in Jude, and in the Magnificat. Our hope. — 
 Hope glowed more intensely in the Apostle as he neared 
 the end of his life's journey. 
 
 Ver. 2. My true child. — Timothy's new life had come 
 to him through Paul's words. It was fatherly love 
 which inspired the prayer in this verse. Mercy is 
 here added to the usual form of benediction. In the 
 growing infirmities of old age Paul felt increiisingly the 
 preciousness of Divine mercy, and from his own past 
 experience he knew how necessary it was for Timothy, 
 a gentle-hearted man, who was called to do the work 
 of a hero. 
 
 Ver. 3. As I exhorted thee — not "besought," as in 
 A. V. He did not entreat this as a personal favour, but 
 urged Timothy to it as his appointed duty. The sentence 
 
2 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 thus begun is left incomplete. When I was going into 
 Macedonia. — Whether on this journey he visited Ephesus, 
 leaving Timothy there, or whether his foreboding at 
 Miletus was fulfilled, is uncertain. Certain men — a slightly 
 contemptuous phrase. A different doctrine — from that 
 which I have taught, and thou hast learned. The heresies 
 alluded to are best left indefinite. Error is protean, but 
 in eveiy form it is to be exposed and rebuked. 
 
 Ver. 4. Fables. — The allusion is probably to Jewish 
 myths, such as those preserved in the Talmud. Endless 
 genealogies. — Fanciful and foolish use was made of those 
 which are given in the Old Testament. Philo, for example, 
 founded a whole system of psychology upon them. The 
 which minister — give rise to questionings — disputes of 
 words, which can have no practical use. Rather than a 
 dispensation of God — such as was the subject of apostolic 
 preaching. Which is, finds its sphere, in faith. 
 
 Ver. 5 . But the end, or purpose, of the charge given by 
 God in the Gospel is love (Matt. xxii. 36—40; Rom. 
 xiii. 10; I Cor. xiii. 13). A pure heart — unstained by 
 sensuality or by selfishness. A good conscience — free 
 from guilt and void of offence. And faith unfeigned — with- 
 out hypocritical pretence. From this verse it appears 
 that the false teachers were leading men away from the 
 earnest, loving, Christ-like life to which they were called 
 by the Gospel. 
 
 Yer. 6. Having swerved from the ideal they ought to 
 have been aiming at, they have turned aside unto vain 
 talking. It is easier to quibble over Christ's words than 
 to imitate Christ's life. 
 
 Yer. 7. Desiring to be — announcing themselves as 
 being — teachers of the law. The Mosaic law is in the 
 apostle's mind. They understand neither what they say 
 
EXPOSITOKY NOTES. 3 
 
 — language is vague when convictions are non-existent — 
 nor whereof they confidently affirm = they do not know 
 anything about the real truth which lies under the 
 phrases they use. 
 
 Ver. 8. The law is good. — Its proper use is to testify 
 against the sins which are enumerated, because it was 
 into these that the false teachers and their followers were 
 falling through their moral laxity. The law is used 
 lawfully when it arouses horror of sin and brings the 
 ungodly to penitence. 
 
 Ver, 9. A righteous man here signifies a morally 
 virtuous man, who is the opposite of those next men- 
 tioned. The lawless — careless about law — unruly, or 
 insubordinate, who are defiant of law. The ungodly are 
 those who have no reverence for God, and the sinners are 
 those who openly offend Him. The unholy and profane — 
 alienated both from God and from His law, repudiating 
 all connection with what is holy and sacred. 
 
 Having referred to those who disregard the first table of 
 the law, the apostle goes through the second table, down 
 to the ninth commandment inclusive, taking each in its 
 order. Murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers — 
 transgfressors of the fifth commandment, who migfht be 
 denoted also by the word " smiters," v/hich appears in 
 the margin. Manslayers — violators of the sixth com- 
 mandment. 
 
 Ver. 10. For fornicators, for abusers of themselves 
 with men — including all sins of abomination against 
 both sexes. Men-stealers. — Slave-dealing is the most 
 hideous form of disobedience to the eighth command- 
 ment ; for to steal the man himself, and rob him of the 
 freedom which his Maker gave him, is atrocious. Liars 
 and false- swearers break the ninth commandment. The 
 
4 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 tenth is omitted, possibly because of its more spiritual 
 nature, for the apostle was here dealing with the grosser 
 sins. Sound doctrine means teaching which is healthy 
 and wholesome, as opposed to what is sickly, morbid, or 
 artificial. 
 
 Ver. II. The Gospel of the glory = the good news of 
 the glory of God, which is love, redeeming the sinful 
 through Christ — which was committed to my trust. Paul 
 recalls this fact with the more thankfulness when he 
 remembers how near he once was to becoming such a 
 false teacher as he is here rebulcing. This leads him 
 to a digression, in which he adoringly records his own 
 experience of Divine mercy. 
 
 Ver. I 2. Enabled me. — Giving him strength and light 
 for his work. Christ Jesus — whom he saw and heard on 
 the road to Damascus (Acts ix. 5). Counted me faithful 
 — God foresaw that he would prove so. 
 
 Ver. I 3 . Paul's thankfulness is the greater because of 
 his previous opposition to the Gospel, with which he was 
 now intrusted. Injurious— y/3pto-T'/9 signifies insolence 
 revealed in acts of wantonness and outrage. History 
 does not record all the sins of which conscience reminded 
 this former persecutor. Ignorantly (Luke xxiii. 34), in 
 unhelief — ignorance was the cause of the unbelief. 
 
 Ver. 14. With faith and love. — The ^e accompanied the 
 gift of superabounding grace, and found their home in 
 Christ Jesus. 
 
 Ver. 15. Faithful = worthy of credit, is the saying. 
 These axioms of the Christian faith, circulated as they 
 were among believers, are peculiar to the Pastoral Epistles, 
 and indicate their later date. I am chief — not " I was," 
 nor "I am one of the chief," either of which would have 
 been less startling. This is an expression of the deepest 
 
EXPOSITORY NOTES. 5 
 
 humility, and was perfectly sincere. Compare i Cor. 
 XV. 9. 
 
 Ver. 16. Howbeit indicates the contrast between the 
 Apostle's judgment of himself and the mercy God had 
 displayed towards him. In me as chief, or " first " of those 
 so graciously forgiven. His long-suffering gave time for 
 repentance. Believe on, is a phrase which brings out the 
 idea of reliance. Saving faith is not so much crediting 
 Christ's words as relying on Christ Himself, the Giver of 
 eternal life (John xvii. 2). 
 
 Ver. 17. This doxology to the Father is similar to 
 Rom.xvi. 25-27. The King Eternal="the King of the 
 ages." Incorruptible (Rom. i. 23). Invisible (John i. 
 18; I John iv. I 2). The only God — the word " wise " 
 is interpolated in the A. V. from the doxology in 
 Romans. 
 
 Ver. 18. This charge — not the one given in vers. 3-5, 
 but the charge to fight courageously, which immediately 
 follows. My child — an expression which indicates not 
 only Paul's love, but his consciousness of Timothy's weak- 
 ness, and his expectation that he would succeed him in 
 his work, as a son would follow his father. Prophecies 
 were by no means infrequent in the early Church 
 (Acts xxi. 10, II, xiii. 2). In accordance with those 
 uttered when Timothy was set apart for his work, the 
 apostle here exhorts him : That by them thou, &c. — 
 well rendered by Luther, " that thou therein do a knightly 
 work." 
 
 Ver. 19. Faith and a good conscience are twin-sisters. 
 A man with a bad conscience eagerly abjures the faith. 
 On the other hand, true faith purifies the conscience. 
 Which some having thrust from them. — The allusion is to 
 consciencej which is often silenced and repudiated, as a 
 
6 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 troublesome suppliant may be ; and religious faith ia 
 destroyed with the irrevocableness of a shipwreck when 
 conscience is rejected. 
 
 Ver. 20. Two men in Ephesus are mentioned by name 
 as having been guilty of this. Hymenaeus, who may be 
 identified with the heretic alluded to in 2 Tim. ii. 17, 18, 
 and Alexander, whom we cannot certainly identify. 
 Whom I delivered — either by apostolic authority or in- 
 directly through the action of the Church, under his 
 direction (i Cor. v. 1-5). Unto Satan. — It was not only 
 a Jewish belief that Satan was allowed power to inflict 
 bodily disease, but it was a doctrine alluded to by our 
 Lord and His Apostles (Luke xiii. 1 6 ; 2 Cor. xii. 7). The 
 object of such chastisement, which followed on Church 
 discipline, was the reformation of offenders, that they 
 might be taught not to blaspheme. A pure communion 
 is the essence of the Church's strength. 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 Ver. I. The word therefore carries us back to the 
 charge referred to in i. 18. First of all. — R. V. properly 
 connects this with I exhort. The exhortation was of 
 primary importance, because prayers for men in general, 
 and for kings in particular, were likely to become less 
 earnest during a period disturbed by persecution or by 
 party feeling. Supplications are the cries of conscious 
 want ; prayers, the utterances of solemn devotion which 
 can be addressed to God alone ; intercessions, prayers 
 for others. Thanksgivings are to be associated with 
 
EXPOSITORY NOTES. 7 
 
 all these, because of good already received and evils 
 already averted. For all men — whether Christians, 
 Jews, or heathen, an implicit condemnation of exclu- 
 siveness. 
 
 Ver. 2. After this general exhortation, mention is 
 made of some who had special need. Kings. — The plural 
 form is used to make the command universal. Even the 
 Jews had been taught this duty (Jer. xxix. 7). Reverence 
 for law should be characteristic of a Christian (Rom. xiii. 
 1—7). That we may lead = because, in answer to prayer 
 God will guide our rulers (Prov. xxi. I ). A tranciuil 
 and quiet life. — How different from the fanatical striving 
 for a crown of martyrdom which marked a later period 
 of the Church's history. In all godliness and gravity — 
 the right dispositions towards God and towards men, 
 respectively. 
 
 Yer. 3. Motives for obedience. This is good in itself, 
 displaying the true Christian spirit, and acceptable in the 
 sight of Grod our Saviour (i. i). The argument is, that 
 as God wills that all men should be saved, we ought to 
 pray for all. We are to broaden out our sympathies 
 towards the breadth of God's, and this is most natural to 
 us when we ai'e on our knees. 
 
 Ver. 4. That God's desire to save is unlimited is 
 shown by Rom. viii. 32, xi. 32; Titus ii. ii. But 
 salvation is only possible to those who accept its 
 terms, and come to the knowledge of the truth — the 
 " full knowledge " {e7riyva)at<i, not yycoai?), which includes 
 faith, love, and obedience. 
 
 Ver. 5. For there is one God, one Mediator also. — 
 The unity of God, who made all nations, and of the 
 Mediator, who represented the whole race, is mentioned 
 as an evidence that all men are included in the Divine 
 
8 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 scheme of redemption. Himself man — not merely " a man," 
 but the Representative of humanity, the Second Adam. 
 
 Ver. 6. A ransom for all — redeeming life by life. 
 The testimony that there is one Mediator, who gave Him- 
 self a ransom for all. To be borne in its own times — by 
 the apostles and teachers of the Church. 
 
 Ver. 7. Of these Paul was himself one, and he now 
 alludes to his calling of God as a proof of the universality 
 of Divine grace. I was — not " I am," as in A. V. — 
 appointed preacher — the general term which was appli- 
 cable to all messengers of the Gospel. And an apostle — 
 an office which gave him the authority he claimed. 
 I speak the truth, I lie not. — This solemn adjuration the 
 Apostle found to be necessary, because his claims were 
 repudiated and he himself misjudged. A teacher of the 
 Gentiles — a fact which gave special force to his command 
 that prayer should be made for all men. In faith and 
 truth. — His faith in Christ, and his hold on the truth 
 revealed in Him, were the means by which he fulfilled 
 his commission. 
 
 Ver. 8. Therefore connects this command with vers. 
 1—3, after the digression in vers. 4-7. That the men, 
 as distinguished from the women, who were not to 
 lead public prayer in the Ephesian Church, At the 
 same time, the general term " men " indicates that 
 prayer-leading was not left to officials. In every place. 
 — The Jewish notion of sanctity, so far as it depended 
 on special locality, was abolished. Lifting up — an 
 attitude customary among the Jews in taking oaths, 
 in giving benedictions, and in offering prayers (Psalm 
 Ixiii. 4). Holy hands — unstained by evil deeds (Psalm 
 xxiv. 4, xxvi. 6 ; James iv. 8). Without wrath 
 or disputing — the latter being the outward expression 
 
EXPOSITORY NOTES. 9 
 
 of the former. The A. V. and margin of R. V. 
 has " doubting," i.e., disputing with God, a temper 
 adverse to acceptable prayer (Mark xi. 24 ; James i. 
 
 6, 7). 
 
 Ver. 9. In like manner (I desire) that women — wlio 
 worshipped with men in Christian assemblies, instead of 
 being confined to their own court, as Jewesses were in the 
 Temple. The reference here is to their conduct and adorn- 
 ment in the place of prayer. Their recent emancipation 
 from certain restraints characteristic of Oriental life made 
 these wise counsels absolutely necessary. They were to 
 adorn themselves in a spirit of bashful modesty, in modest 
 apparel, avoiding anything in dress or manner which 
 betokened levity or was likely to arouse unholy desire. 
 With shamefastness — a good old Saxon word, almost 
 obsolete, but revived in R. V. In the edition of 1 6 1 i 
 the word " shamefacedness " was unfortunately sub- 
 stituted. Shamefastness signifies a shrinking from all 
 that was indelicate : and sobriety denotes the habit of 
 mind which ensues on continued self-restraint. Gold or 
 pearls. — Among the Ephesian converts some were evi- 
 dently rich enough to possess these. Costly raiment 
 (Matt. xi. 8). Compare with this verse, Isaiah iii. 1 6-23 ; 
 I Peter iii. 3. 
 
 Ver. 10. Professing godliness, a phrase peculiar to 
 the Pastoral Epistles. Good works — such as Dorcas was 
 distinguished for — are the best ornaments of devout 
 womanhood. 
 
 Ver. 1 1 . Let a woman learn in quietness, with all 
 subjection. — The reference is still to the public assemblies, 
 where women were not to teach (i Cor. xiv. 34). This 
 had been the rule in Jewish Synagogues, and was still 
 useful in the state of society existing in Ephesus and in 
 
10 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 other great Gentile cities. In judging of sucli passages, 
 we shall see their wisdom more clearly if we take the 
 standpoint occupied by modern missionaries among the 
 women converts of India. 
 
 Ver. I 2. But I permit not a woman to teach, i.e., in the 
 public assemblies at Ephesus. Even in those days women 
 did teach, and God blessed their words (Acts xviii. 26). 
 Nor to have dominion over a man. — The reference is not to 
 the husband only, but to the general relation of the sexes, 
 in which the man is the head of the woman, two reasons 
 for which the Apostle proceeds to give, both being drawn 
 from Genesis. 
 
 Ver. 13. It is clear that the Old Testament narra- 
 tive was regarded by Paul as an inspired utterance. 
 Adam was first formed. — Compare i Cor. xi. 9. Adam 
 and Eve were prototypes of manly and of womanly 
 nature. 
 
 Ver. 14. Adam was not beguiled, as Eve was, by the 
 Serpent, although he was misled by her. From this fact 
 the Apostle infers that woman is more susceptible. to guile 
 and persuasion. 
 
 Ver. 1 5 . But she shall he saved through the child- 
 b taring. — For the interpretation of this we must turn 
 to Gen. iii. 1 6. The sentence on woman was twofold. 
 She was to be in subjection to the man, and she was to 
 bring forth children in sorrow. But this was transformed 
 into a means of blessing. As man found his redemption 
 partly in his appointed work, so woman found it partly 
 in the patient endurance of her trial and in the faith- 
 ful discharge of her motherly functions. And the whole 
 world found redemption in the Seed of the woman, who 
 was born that He might bruise the Serpent's head. Yet 
 the condition of redemption, whether of man or of woman, 
 
EXPOSITORY NOTES. I I 
 
 is stated here — if they continued in faith and love, and 
 sauctification with sobriety. 
 
 CHAPTER IIL 
 
 Ver. I . The Apostle now begins to describe the qualifi- 
 cations needed by various officers in the Christian Church, 
 for such a statement would be of inestimable value to 
 Timothy. If a man seeketh the office of a bishop. — It 
 seems strange that thei'e should be any desire for what 
 must have been a post of danger. But the conduct of 
 Diotrephes shows that a love of pre-eminence asserted 
 itself in apostolic days. Some were too little sensible 
 of the responsibilities of office. Others were full of zeal, 
 but wanted the guidance and control here proffered. 
 A bishop was at first the chief pastor of a church, and 
 the title was synonymous with presbyter. The latter 
 title was the earlier in use, having been naturally 
 transferred to the Christian assembly from the Jewish ; 
 but it was superseded by eiria-Koirog, which was already 
 familiar to Greeks from political usage. A good work. — 
 It was to be regarded as a " work," not as a dignity, for 
 it was difficult though honourable. 
 
 Ver. 2. The qualifications mentioned concern the 
 daily life. There is no allusion to the higher gifts of 
 the Spirit, which no Christian should lack, and a bishop 
 least of all. Without reproach. — Stress is justly laid on 
 reputation in the world and in the Church. Character 
 alone was not sufficient. The husband of one wife. — This 
 certainly does not ordain that a bishop must marry, for 
 probably Paul iiimself and Timothy were unmarried ; but 
 
12 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 it is distinctly oppose.d to the rule of celibacy. If the 
 meaning is that the bishop is not to have more than one 
 wife, the question arises, Is this precept levelled at 
 polygamy ? That it is applicable to it no one can doubt ; 
 but polygamy was so seldom practised in Greek and 
 Roman cities, that we incline to the opinion that Paul 
 was thinking of the corrupt facility of divorce which pre- 
 vailed, so that a man might have a woman as his wife 
 while former wives were still living. Given to hospitality 
 (Rom. xii. 1 3 ; Heb. xiii. 2 ; 1 Peter iv. 9). The im- 
 portance of this duty was great in those days, when means 
 of communication were limited, and accommodation for 
 guests was infrequent, and persecution assailed those who 
 harboured the evangelists. Apt to teach = able and 
 willing. 
 
 Ver. 3. These sins appear to lie outside the category 
 of those to which a prominent Christian would be 
 tempted. But we must remember the impulsive vehe- 
 mence of the Oriental character, and the half-Christianised 
 morality of the early Church. The history of some of 
 the early ecclesiastical councils more than justifies these 
 warnings. Not contentious = not cursed by a wrangling 
 temper, which provokes discord. No lover of money (Luke 
 xvi. 14). 
 
 Ver. 4. One that ruleth well his own house. — His 
 household, consisting perhaps of slaves as well as of 
 children, was to be a church on a small scale. In subjec- 
 tion — as opposed to the lawlessness of a family each 
 member of which does what is right in his own eyes. 
 Eli's family was a sad example of what Paul dreaded. 
 With all gravity — the reference here is to the father, not 
 to the children. 
 
 Ver. 6. Not a novice, i.e., a man recently converted, 
 
EXPOSITORY NOTES. 1 3 
 
 whose faith had not become deep-rooted in the soil of 
 knowledge. There was no necessity to appoint these in 
 the Church at Ephesus, for it had been established more 
 than twelve years. With Paul it was not a question of 
 youth, but of inexperience in the Christian life. Puffed up 
 — at the notion of being more exalted than older Chris- 
 tians. He fall into the condemnation of the devil — a 
 passage from which we may infer that the devil was 
 punished for pride. 
 
 Ver. 7. He must have good testimony from them that 
 are without. — It was not enough to be blameless among 
 his fellow-Christians. If he bad been notorious for vice, 
 and had recently been converted, until he had won a reputa- 
 tion for holiness among his former associates, it would be 
 unwise to appoint him to high office in the Church. Lest 
 he fall into reproach — as one suspected of sin ; for this would 
 depress him, and make him more liable to fall into the 
 snare of the devil. A man who is regarded as evil is 
 more likely to become evil. A good reputation is a 
 Divine safeguard, which should be jealously maintained 
 for our own sake and for the sake of others. 
 
 Ver. 8. Deacons — required much the same qualifica- 
 tions as bishops ; indeed, the duties of the two offices 
 were not accurately defined, and sometimes overlapped 
 each other. Grave — serious, not flippant in speech and 
 demeanour. Not double-tongued — ad alios alia loqucntes 
 (Bengel). Passing from house to house in their visita- 
 tions, they might be tempted to this. Not given to much 
 wine — a characteristic not less required of a Christian 
 teacher in our own day. Not greedy of filthy lucre — 
 they had special opportunities for appropriating money 
 intrusted to them for the relief of the poor. 
 
 Ver. 9. Holding the mystery of the faith— the truth 
 
14 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 once hidden, but now revealed, which could only be 
 understood by faith. This, which they had already 
 received, they were to hold, as it only could be held, 
 in a pure conscience — a golden casket for a priceless 
 treasure. For the association of faith and conscience, 
 see also i. 19. 
 
 Ver. 10. These were to be proved by the preceding 
 tests before appointment to office. 
 
 Ver. I I . All women should possess the characteristics 
 mentioned here, but particularly those of them who are 
 prominent in the Church, whether as " wives " (A. V.) 
 of deacons or as deaconesses. Not slanderers — envy and 
 rivalry lead to this sin. Faithful in all things — small as 
 well as great, in the home as well as in the Chui'ch. 
 
 Ver. 12. Care for their own children would prepare 
 for the care of the poor and sick in the Church, with 
 whom they had specially to do. 
 
 Ver. 13. Reward for faithful service is not left out of 
 consideration by New Testament writers. It is a legiti- 
 mate and God-given motive, peculiarly helpful in the 
 formation of right habits. A good standing— not so 
 much in the hierarchical order as in their own spiritual 
 life, and in the bliss accompanying its development here 
 and hereafter. Great boldness is fostered by a clear 
 conscience, and by the consciousness of an unblemished 
 reputation, on which the Apostle has been strongly 
 insisting. 
 
 Ver. 14. These things write I unto thee — in addition 
 to general instructions given vivd voce, hoping = although 
 I hope — to come unto thee shortly = sooner perhaps than 
 I expect, and sooner than these written instructions may 
 lead thee to expect. 
 
 Ver. 1 5. The house of God. — The Church is so de- 
 
EXPOSITORY NOTES. I 5 
 
 siguated because God owns it, built it, dwells in it, 
 and will complete it. The Church of the living God 
 suggests a contrast with the splendid Temple of Diana in 
 Ephesus, which enshrined a dead image. It is much 
 disputed whether the pillar and ground of the truth 
 refers to the Church, as R. V. implies, or to the religious 
 truth, described in the next verse, on which the Church 
 rests. 
 
 Ver. 1 6. The six clauses of this verse appear in the 
 original in a form so metrical and euphonious that they 
 formed not improbably a hymn or a form of creed. The 
 word " God " appearing in A. V. is properly omitted in 
 R. V. as resting on " no sufficient ancient evidence." 
 He who was manifested in the flesh (i John i. 2). 
 Justified in the spirit. — Compare Luke vii. 35. The 
 meaning is that the Lord Jesus was justified in His 
 claims ; was proved to be what He was by the Spirit, 
 who dwelt in Him (John iii. 34), and raised Him from 
 the dead (Rom. i. 4). Seen of angels — who ministered 
 to Him throughout His earthly life (Matt. iv. i i ; Luke 
 xxii. 43). Preached among the nations. — Observe the 
 contrast between the holy angels and the sinful nations 
 — the two extremes meeting in Christ. Believed on in 
 the world. — The result of the preaching (2 Thess. i. 10). 
 Received up in glory — at His ascension (Luke xxiv. 5 i ; 
 Acts i. 9-1 1 ). 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Ver. I. But = notwithstanding the glorious truth just 
 alluded to, the Spirit speaketh expressly. The spirit of 
 
1 6 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 prophecy spoke under the new as distinctly as under the 
 old dispensation, indicating the wisest plans for service 
 (Acts xvi. 6), and warning of impending dangers (Acts xx. 
 23). Both to the apostles and to other teachers a com- 
 ing apostasy had been foretold (2 Peter iii. 2, 3 ; I John 
 ii. 18; Jude I 8). Later times — not equivalent to " the 
 last days " in 2 Tim. iii. i ; the reference is to the period 
 which shortly followed that in which Paul was writing, 
 which was notorious for its heresies. Seducing spirits — 
 which inspired false prophets, in opposition to the Holy 
 Spirit, who led Christians into all truth (John xvi. 13). 
 Doctrines of devils. — not respecting devils, but emanating 
 from them. The apostles taught that heathendom was 
 ruled by unseen but personal powers of darkness. 
 
 Yer. 2. Through the hypocrisy of men that speak 
 lies. — Evil spirits influence men through their fellows 
 (2 Peter ii. i). Branded in their own conscience as with 
 a hot iron. — It was the custom to brand criminals, and 
 these false teachers are represented as bearing the mark 
 of their own guilt on their conscience. But we must not 
 overlook the effect of branding. It not only marked the 
 criminal, but it destroyed his sensibility wherever his 
 flesh was seared. Conscience, often touched, becomes 
 seared into callousness ; and thus it was with these 
 heretics. 
 
 Ver. 3. Forbidding to marry. — The Essenes had done 
 this, and the Gnostics, " in later times " than those of the 
 Apostle, did so too, though on different grounds ; for they 
 maintained that marriage was an institution of the 
 Demiurge. They also commanded to abstain from meats, 
 because they held that materials for the nourishment of 
 the body had their source in the principle of evil. These 
 heresies were as yet only in germ, and still elude the 
 
EXPOSITORY NOTES. 17 
 
 searcli of tlie ecclesiastical historian, but were even then 
 discernible to an inspired apostle. Whicli God created. — 
 It is a cardinal doctrine of Christianity that all things are 
 of God, and will be for man's welfare if received with 
 thanksgiving by them that helieve and know the truth ; 
 an important limitation, for it checks the immoderate or 
 improper use of anything. 
 
 Ver. 4. From the special case just mentioned, Paul, 
 according to his wont, announces a universal principle. 
 Every creature or created thing is good (see Romans xiv. 
 14-20, Acts X. I 5). 
 
 Ver. 5. For it is sanctified. — Its holiness is not in- 
 herent, but depends on the spirit in which it is used. 
 Through the Word of God and prayer. — The reference does 
 not appear to be merely to a special command, such as Gen. 
 i. 29, but to the prayer and thanksgiving used by early 
 Christians over their food, consisting as these did of the 
 words of Scripture. This custom, if devoutly maintained, 
 may transform a common meal into a sacrament. Cony- 
 beare quotes from the Apostolical Constitutions vii. 49, 
 a beautiful specimen of the ancient forms of thanks- 
 giving — " Blessed be Thou, Lord, who hast fed me 
 from my youth ; who givest food to all flesh. Fill our 
 hearts with joy and gladness, that, having always all 
 sufficiency, we may abound unto all good works in 
 Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom be unto Thee, 
 honour, glory, and power, for ever and ever — Amen." 
 
 Ver. 6. These things — iii. 14 to iv. 5. Error is 
 best met by presentation of the truth, not by angry 
 rebuke. Nourished in the words of the faith. — Growth 
 and nurture in the divine life depend on God's Word. Man 
 does not live by bread alone (Matt. iv. 4, i Pet. ii. 2). 
 " The words of the faith " are the truths of the Gospel. 
 
1 8 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 Ver. 7. Fables, or myths, denote abstract speculations, 
 destitute alike of historic reality and of practical useful- 
 ness, which the false teachers propagated. They were 
 profane or unspiritual in matter, and in manner were 
 silly enough for the gossip of old wives. Exercise thyself 
 unto godliness. — Aiming at likeness to God, as an ideal 
 still to be attained (Phil. iii. I 2- 1 4). 
 
 Ver. 8. Bodily exercise is profitable for a little. — In- 
 creasing, as it does, bodily strength, gaining in the arena 
 crowns of honour, fitting for the rescue of others from 
 danger, &c. ; but godliness is profitable for all things, 
 affecting the whole man, for time and for eternity. 
 
 Ver. 9. Faithful is the saying. — That, namely, which 
 has just been mentioned. 
 
 Ver. 10. For to this end. — The reference is to the 
 future life, which constantly rose before the apostle's mind. 
 We. — Paul, Timothy, and those likeminded with them. 
 Labour and strive. — In action and in suffering. The 
 living God is able to comfort, inspire, and bestow that 
 deathless life which is in Himself This, however. He 
 can only do because He is the Saviour — able to deliver 
 from sin and death. All men. — Who are the objects of 
 His yearning love. 
 
 Ver. I I. Command refers to the practical, and teach 
 refers to the theoretical, truths mentioned. 
 
 Ver. 12. Let no man despise thy youth. — Timothy was 
 so to conduct himself that no one would find occasion for 
 doing this, as they would have done if he had been char- 
 acterised by jejune utterances and arrogant assumption. 
 He was now between thirty and forty years of age ; but 
 some presbyters would be older than he, and yet it would 
 be his duty to instruct and rebuke them. Be thou an 
 example (see Titus ii. 7); in word — public teaching and 
 
EXPOSITORY NOTES. 1 9 
 
 private talk ; in manner of life — general conduct ; in 
 love, in faith — the two sources of right speech and act ; 
 in purity — peculiarly needful in Ephesus. 
 
 Ver. 13. Till I come, give heed to reading. — From the 
 connection the reference appears to be to the public 
 reading of Scripture (Luke iv. 16, Acts xiii. 15, 
 Coloss. iv. 16). 
 
 Ver. 14. Neglect not the gift that is in thee. — Even 
 divine gifts perish through disuse. The special gift of 
 Timothy, which fitted him for his appointed work, was 
 given by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the 
 presbytery. This rite was first solemnly performed by 
 Paul himself (2 Tim. i. 6), afterwards by the presbyters. 
 It was a symbol accompanying prayer for the communica- 
 tion of the Holy Ghost (Acts viii. 1 7, xix. 6). 
 
 Yer. 15. Give thyself wholly to them. — Mind, and 
 heart, and will were to be devoted to the service of Christ 
 That thy progress, — At no period of his life should the 
 greatest saint imagine that he has reached all that is 
 possible to him. 
 
 Yer. 16. This closing exhortation is singularly com- 
 prehensive. Take heed to thyself and to thy teaching. — 
 The inner life and the outward service ever call for 
 prayer and watchfulness. In doing this thou shalt save 
 both thyself and them that hear thee — from error and 
 from sin, and thus share the Saviour's joy. 
 
20 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Ver. I. An elder. — Not used here as an official title. 
 The allusion is to age, Timothy himself being compara- 
 tively young. Rebuke was not to be administered by 
 him to an older man in severe dogmatic tone, but with 
 the teuderness which a right-minded son would display 
 to his father if he had done wrong. The younger men as 
 brethren. — Reproof was not to be withheld from any who 
 deserved it ; but tone and manner were to be wisely 
 regulated. 
 
 Ver. 2. The elder women as mothers. — Home relation- 
 ships were the types of those which were to prevail in 
 the Church. Purity was to be sedulously maintained by 
 watchfulness, not only against moral evil, but against even 
 the appearance of it. 
 
 Ver. 3. Honour. — Respect as well as help. Widows 
 indeed. — Those without children or near relatives, whose 
 duty it would be to support them. The Greek word %r]pa 
 expresses the idea of loneliness. 
 
 Ver. 4. Widows — were among the first objects of the 
 Church's solicitude (Acts vi. i), and there are indications 
 here, as well as elsewhere, that this Christian charity was 
 abused by some who ought to have been supported by their 
 own relations. Against this the apostle protests. Wisdom 
 in distributing alms is as necessary as generosity in 
 supplying them. Grandchildren — properly substituted for 
 " nephews " in A. V. ; although the latter phrase formerly 
 indicated " descendants." Let them, i.e., the children 
 and grandchildren, learn first to show piety towards their 
 own family, including their grandparents, especially those 
 
EXPOSITORY NOTES. 2 1 
 
 who were widowed. This is acceptable in the sight of God 
 (Mark vii. lO; Eph. vi. 2). 
 
 Ver. 5. Desolate. — Strengthening the idea in the 
 phrase widow indeed, who was without relations able to 
 support her. Hath her hope set on God, who alone can 
 help her, and who wills to do so through His Church. 
 Continueth in supplications — an allusion probably to Anna 
 as a typical widow (Luke ii. 37). 
 
 Ver. 6. But she that giveth herself to pleasure, living a 
 life of extravagance and self-indulgence, is dead while she 
 liveth — quite a Pauline phrase (Rom. viii. 1 3). 
 
 Ver. 7. That they — the widows — ^may be without re- 
 proach in the judgment of the Church and of the world. 
 
 Ver. 8. The apostle was justly severe in his rebuke 
 of those who neglected their own kin, however good the 
 service they might render to the Church. Fidelity in 
 ecclesiastical duties never compensates for neglect of 
 home claims. He hath denied the faith — the Christian 
 faith, the essential principle of which is love, and which 
 enforces home responsibilities instead of releasing from 
 them. And is worse than an unbeliever, for many Pagans 
 recognised the duties which are here insisted upon. 
 
 Ver. 9. Let none be enrolled as a widow. — This can 
 hardly refer to the list of those who were supported out 
 of Church funds, for it would be manifestly uncharitable 
 to exclude the necessitous on the ground of youth; and it 
 would be unwise also, for it might drive them into sin. 
 Nor would it be just to refuse help to a widow who had 
 possibly never had any opportunity for performing the 
 duties specified in the next verse. There seems to have 
 been a recognised class of widows, who occupied a different 
 and superior position to that taken by most of those who 
 received relief. They had their appointed duties and 
 
2 2 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 received their appointed support. Probably they were 
 employed in training children, in visiting the poor, in 
 aiding those of their own sex, and were similar to, but not 
 to be identified with, the " deaconesses " of the Church. 
 That " widows " became an official designation is evident 
 from Tertullian's allusion to " a virgin under twenty years 
 of age, who was in the widowhood." In the days of Paul 
 this institution existed in germ, although there was not 
 the sharp definition of ecclesiastical classes and offices 
 which subsequently prevailed. Under threescore years old 
 — an age at which she was not likely to marry again — 
 having been the wife of one man. — See our note on iii. 2. 
 
 Ver. 10. Well-reported of for good works. — Like Phebe 
 (Rom. xvi. I, 2), and Tabitha (Acts ix. 36), and others 
 who followed in the footsteps of the women who minis- 
 tered unto the Lord (Luke viii. 2, 3). If she hath brought 
 up children — of her own, or of others. Hospitality to 
 strangers. — An Oriental custom which Christianity made 
 more binding and sacred. Washed the saints' feet. — 
 Compare Luke vii. 44—47; John xiii. i — 15. The 
 afflicted — the poor, the sick, and the troubled. Every 
 good work within the limits of her capacity and oppor- 
 tunity. 
 
 Ver. 1 1 . Younger widows refuse — ^if they apply to be 
 put upon the special list ; although they would certainly 
 not be allowed to starve for want of support. Their 
 temptations were terrible in a city like Ephesus, especially 
 after the miserable training of their girlhood. To under- 
 stand these we must think of a young widow in India 
 rather than in England. 
 
 Ver. 12. Having condemnation — not "damnation," as 
 A. V. Their first faith — means the vow which they would 
 implicitly or explicitly take on entering the order of 
 
EXPOSITORY NOTES. 23 
 
 " widowhood ; " that they would devote themselves ex- 
 clusively to Christ, and to His Church — a virtual engage- 
 ment not to marry again. 
 
 Ver. 13. Idle. — Neglecting appointed duties. Going 
 al)out from house to house — " gadding about," as we say, 
 without good cause ; a temptation which would be 
 strengthened by the introductions to many homes, which 
 their office would give. Tattlers also and busybodies — 
 retailing gossip and interfering with the affairs of others 
 (2 Thess. iii. i i). These words are severe, and ought not to 
 be regarded as universally or even generally true ; but as 
 being vividly descriptive of certain cases which would be 
 instantly recognised by Timothy, and by the Church at 
 Ephesus. 
 
 Ver. 14. I desire therefore. — (Chap. ii. 8, note). — 
 Marry — i.e., a second time (as in i Cor. vii. 39), it 
 opportunity and inclination concurred. Bear children. — 
 The word implies not merely the birth of children, but 
 their nurture ; and the apostle's desire would be fulfilled 
 by those who were wisely bringing up their step-children. 
 Rule the household. — What a contrast all this presents to 
 the conventual morality of later times ! The adversary. — 
 The opponent of Christianity on the look-out for occasion 
 of reviling. 
 
 Ver. I 5 . Some — young widows in Ephesus — are turned 
 aside after Satan — into heresy, or into immorality, or into 
 marriage with heathen. 
 
 Ver. 16. The duty insisted upon in verse 4 is here 
 enforced, especially on believing women, on whom the 
 claims of the family were prior to those of the Church. 
 
 Ver. 17. A new subject is begun here, namely, the 
 proper treatment of worthy and of unworthy teachers. 
 The elders that rule well — men of eminent ability, 
 
24 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY, 
 
 earnestness, and devoutness — be counted worthy of double 
 honour, not necessarily " of double income " — especially 
 those who labour, the original implies that these worked 
 specially hard as preachers, in the word — hortatory dis- 
 course, and in teaching — instruction catechetical and 
 didactic. It is clear that in apostolic days all elders did 
 not discharge the same duties. Some ruled, who did not 
 teach; and others taught who did not rule. Such variety 
 and flexibility are unhappily lost in the present day. 
 
 Ver. 1 8. The apostle illustrates his point by quoting 
 Deut. XXV. 4, a passage which he explains more fully in 
 
 1 Cor. ix. g. The labourer is worthy of his hire. — This 
 phrase is not found in the Old Testament. It was a 
 proverbial expression quoted by our Lord (Luke x. 7). 
 
 Ver. 19. An elder here denotes an official, a "pres- 
 byter." Against such an one Timothy was not to heed 
 unsupported charges, which might originate in envy or 
 in revenge, and yet might disturb his own mind, and 
 his relations with him, painfully and needlessly. The 
 old law of evidence was a wise one, and was always to 
 be followed in cases of this kind (Deut. xvii. 6, Heb. x. 
 
 2 8). Our Lord Himself confirmed it (Matt, xviii. I 5-1 7). 
 
 Ver. 20. Them that sin — among the elders, to whom 
 the apostle is referring — reprove in the sight of all. — 
 Their public position required this public repudiation of 
 their wickedness, at least in the case of all sins which 
 were gross enough to be scandals. We need not suppose 
 that all their failings were so dealt with, or that past 
 misconduct was dragged into publicity ; for the present 
 tense implies that they were continuing in wrong-doing. 
 (" They that sin " = " they that are sinning.") 
 
 Ver. 2 1 . This solemn charge, in which Timothy is 
 reminded of God's presence and help, was peculiarly 
 
EXPOSITORY NOTES. 2$ 
 
 suited to stimulate him to watchfulness and encourage 
 him to faithfulness. The elect angels may mean those 
 among the heavenly hierarchy who are employed in con- 
 nection with the human race. Without prejudice — i.e., 
 without hasty or preconceived judgment; doing nothing 
 by partiality — using a magnify ing-glass for some men's 
 faults, and a microscope for those of others. 
 
 Ver. 2 2. Lay hands. — The allusion is to the ordination 
 of presbyters, which was to be the outcome of previous 
 thought and prayer, instead of being done hastily: neither 
 be partaker of other men's sins. Timothy would naturally 
 feel himself responsible for having extended the range 
 of a bad man's evil influence, if he raised him thought- 
 lessly to any position of prominence. Keep thyself pure. 
 — Emphasis is laid upon the pronoun, for the evangelist's 
 own character and reputation were more important in 
 proportion to his influence over others. 
 
 Ver. 23. This unexpected counsel has about it all the 
 marks of authenticity. Only in a genuine private letter, 
 such as this, would a writer interject a word of loving 
 thoughtfulness, which suddenly occurred to his mind, in 
 the midst of more important subjects. Timothy, with 
 his ascetic tendency, had given up the use of all bever- 
 ages but water, no doubt with a wish to protest against 
 the excesses of others. But his rigid abstinence was, in 
 Paul's opinion, affecting his health, and was possibly 
 being made use of by those who taught the heresies 
 mentioned in iv. 3 in favour of their theories. 
 
 Ver. 24. The next two verses contain a general state- 
 ment of fact which would help Timothy in his appoint- 
 ments of suitable officers in the Church. Some men's 
 sins are evident. — These men are constantly condemning 
 themselves, and for them no special foresight is required, 
 
26 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 because a glance reveals what manner of men they are — 
 their sins going before unto judgment — like heralds pro- 
 claiming their character — " crying sins," we still call 
 them ; and some men also they follow after. — Their sins 
 are not known till after condemnation has been pro- 
 nounced. 
 
 Ver. 25. Happily what is true of evil deeds is also 
 true of good deeds. They will all be manifested, though 
 not all in the same waj'', nor at the same time. There 
 are good works that are evident — known from the hour 
 of their being done — and such as are otherwise cannot be 
 hid. In God's good time they also will be revealed 
 (Matt. X. 26). 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Ver. I. From the officers of the Church the apostle 
 turns to various classes of people represented in the 
 Christian community. Servants under the yoke — i.e., 
 slaves in general ; and not those only who were treated 
 with exceptional severity. Slarery itself was a heavy 
 yoke to bear. Converted slaves might naturally suppose 
 that their relationship to their masters was greatly altered 
 by their Christian profession. They might resent autho- 
 rity, or try to escape from the yoke. But the apostle, in 
 spite of his well-known love of liberty, urged them to 
 submission and obedience ( i Cor. vii. 2 i ; Eph. vi. 5 ; 
 Col. iii. 2 2 ; Titus ii. 9). A servile war might have 
 been easily provoked, but it would have proved disastrous 
 to liberty. Worthy of all honour. — A repetition of the 
 phrase used in ver. 17, which confirms our interpretation 
 
EXPOSITORY NOTES. 2'J 
 
 of it. Tlie doctrine = the Divine Gospel (Titus ii. i o). 
 More than their own reputation was concerned. Their 
 disorderliness and rebellion would cause their faith to be 
 blasphemed (2 Sam. xii. 14). 
 
 Ver. 2. If slaves had believing masters — they were not 
 to despise them, withholding signs of respect and acts of 
 obedience ; but to serve them all the more readily, be- 
 cause in that case they that partake of the benefit, who 
 had the advantage of their service, are believing in Christ, 
 and beloved of God (Philemon i o- 1 6). 
 
 Ver. 3. This verse implies that false teachers had 
 already been misleading the Christian slaves. Sound 
 words are healthy words, free from morbid sentimeutalism. 
 
 Ver. 4. He is puffed up, knowing nothing. — Pride is a 
 source of intellectual and moral blindness. A man who 
 is sure that he knows is incapacitated for learning. 
 Doting about questionings. — Having a diseased appetite 
 for idle speculations and fruitless controversies. Envy of 
 other men, whose influence or ability may be greater. 
 
 Ver. 5. Men corrupted in mind and bereft of the truth. 
 — Moral corruption is an abyss from which steal up 
 the mists which hide spiritual truth — supposing that god- 
 liness is a way of gain — hypocritically abusing their 
 Christian profession and gifts for selfish ends, and 
 making their connection with the Church a lucrative 
 business. Simon Magus was a type of these (Acts 
 viii. 18-24). 
 
 Ver. 6. Still godliness is not without its reward. The 
 false teachers were in error, because they confined their 
 view to material advantages, and to the present life. 
 But godliness with contentment — which springs from it 
 — is great gain. 
 
 Ver. 7, The transient nature of worldly things is 
 
28 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 given as one reason why we should be content with 
 what we have of them. They are never a property, but 
 only a loan to be given up at call. We "brought nothing 
 into this world (Job i. 2 1 ) — for neither can we carry 
 anything out (Psalm xlix. 17 ; Luke xii. 20). 
 
 Ver. 8. A second reason for contentment is that our 
 real wants are fewer than many imagine. Having food 
 and covering — the latter is a better word than " raiment," 
 in A. v., because it includes the idea of shelter. We 
 shall be therewith content — that is, if we are reasonable 
 men. 
 
 Ver! 9. The third reason urged for contentment is 
 that its opposite leads to misery and sin. They that 
 desire to he rich — whose wills are set on that as an end 
 — fall into a temptation to gain wealth unjustly, and a 
 snare, which holds them in captivity to evil. 
 
 Ver. 10. A root of all kinds of evil. — Though covet- 
 ousness is more prolific of evils than most sins, it is not, 
 as A. V. asserts, " the I'oot of all evil," and the apostle 
 did not state that it was. Have pierced themselves 
 through (see Luke ii. 35) with many sorrows, anxieties, 
 disappointments, and pangs of conscience. 
 
 Ver. 1 1 . Again Paul turns to Timothy. But thou, 
 man of God. — The title would remind him that he was 
 set for the defence of the faith, as truly as one of the old 
 prophets, who were pre-eminent for their freedom from 
 luxury and from covetousness. And follow after. — We 
 avoid evil by following good (Rom. xii. 2 i ). The strong 
 man armed can only be driven out by one stronger than 
 he (Luke xi. 22). Righteousness = integrity. Godliness = 
 the tendency of life towards God. Faith and love — the 
 primal virtues of a Christian. Patience — which conquers 
 all that frets and disturbs the soul. Meekness — which 
 
EXPOSITORY NOTES. 29 
 
 does not permit the wrong-doing of others to embitter 
 the heart. 
 
 Ver. 1 2. Fight the good fight — a familiar figure in Paul's 
 writings (i. 18; 2 Tim. iv. 7; Ephesians vi. 10—17) — 
 of faith, not only on behalf of the faith, but with the 
 strength inspired by faith. Lay hold on the life eternal 
 — as an athlete lays hold, with eagerness and vigour ; 
 whereunto thou wast called — a fact which would not only 
 inspire him to effort, but would cheer him with the cer- 
 tainty of winning, because God Himself had proffered 
 the prize. And didst confess. — The reference is probably 
 to the time when Timothy was solemnly set apart to his 
 work. 
 
 Ver. 13. This confession reminds the apostle of that 
 witnessed by Christ Jesus who before, i.e. in the presence 
 of, Pontius Pilate. See John xviii. 33—37. God is 
 described as He who quickeneth all things, to remind 
 Timothy that life and death were in His hands, and 
 that death need never be feared, because eternal life lay 
 beyond it. 
 
 Ver. 14. The appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ — was 
 expected with eager hope by the apostles. Though the 
 horizon of the Church has been enlarging with her 
 advance through the ages, yet the coming of Christ is 
 still her hope. 
 
 Ver. 15. He shall shew. — The Father will give that 
 glorious manifestation of His Son, in His own time and 
 way. This mention of God calls forth a psalm of thanks- 
 giving from His servant who adores Him as the blessed 
 and only Potentate — Himself the source of highest joy to 
 His creatures, the King of kings and Lord of lords in 
 this world and in all worlds. 
 
 Ver. 16. Who only hath immortality — being exalted 
 
30 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 far above all transient things ; dwelling in light unap- 
 proachable (Psalm civ. 2; i John i 5). Whom no man hath 
 seen, nor can see — a phrase which involves the idea of His 
 incomprehensibility (John i. 1 8 ; Coloss. i. i 5 ; i John 
 iv. 1 2). To whom be honour and power eternal — for 
 to Him alone these by right belong. Here the Epistle 
 might have been closed, but there were yet one or two 
 truths too important to be left untouched. 
 
 Ver. 17. Having alluded to those who were seeking 
 wealth, the apostle has a message for those who possessed 
 it. Charge them that are rich in this present world — ■ 
 though they might also be rich towards God. In order 
 to be so they needed this exhortation — that they be not 
 high-minded (Jer. ix. 23); who giveth us richly all things; 
 so that we have no occasion for boastfulness, as though 
 our own skill, or industry, had won them for us. They 
 are the gifts of our Father's love, to enjoy, but not to 
 rest our hopes in. 
 
 Ver. 1 8. The right way of using wealth is here set 
 forth. To do good is to promote the happiness of others 
 — to be rich in good works requires a rich man to under- 
 take what he might prefer leaving to others who are in 
 a different social position. Those ready to distribute are 
 free and generous in their gifts, and those willing to 
 communicate gladly share with others what God has be- 
 stowed on them. 
 
 Ver. 19. This will promote the eternal interests of 
 God's faithful servants. It is true that eternal life is 
 the gift of God, and cannot be won by any meritorious 
 works on our part ; but the degree of its blessedness 
 will be affected by everything which enlarges and en- 
 nobles life here. If indeed a man is charitable for the 
 sake of getting recompense hereafter, he must fail in his 
 
EXPOSITORY NOTES. 3 1 
 
 aim, because his selfish motive vitiates his charity and 
 makes it worthless. But love grows by use, and growth 
 is not interrupted by death. (Compare Luke xvi. 9.) 
 
 Ver. 20. Again Paul sums up his letter with an 
 earnest appeal. That which is committed unto thee — 
 the Gospel of Christ Jesus, as opposed to the profane 
 babblings already referred to ; the knowledge which is 
 falsely so-called, which soon became more distinctly, 
 but more erroneously, called " the knowledge," in the 
 " Gnostic " heresy. 
 
 Ver. 2 I . Some professing — to seek salvation in know- 
 ledge, lose that which can only come through faith. 
 
SERMONETTES ON FIRST CHAPTER. 
 
00 
 
 THE APOSTLE'S CLAIM TO AUTHORITY. 
 (I Tim, I I.) 
 
 The beginning of this Epistle is so formal and solemn 
 that it is evidently intended to give a tone of authority 
 to all that follows. If Paul had merely wished to express 
 his affection for his " own son in the faith," or had in- 
 tended giving him judicious advice which would have 
 been important for himself alone, he would not have 
 begun by calling attention to a fact which Timothy 
 already knew, that he was an " apostle " who had been 
 summoned to service by a call that was divine. He 
 begins by describing — 
 
 I. His Oi-tice as being that of "an apostle of Jesus 
 Christ." He often laid stress upon his apostleship, and 
 not without good reason, for if it had not been recognised 
 he would have been powerless to mould the Churches, 
 which by God's blessing he had been enabled to form. 
 The truth of the Gospel was in his view not a matter of 
 conjecture, but of revelation. It did not vary according 
 to the prejudices of the hearers, or the imagination of the 
 preachers, but it was an authoritative declaration of man's 
 sinfulness, of divine mercy, of an accepted atonement, 
 of an actual resurrection ; doctrines and facts which were 
 
 4 
 
36 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 largely outside the range of ordinary observation and 
 experience. The historical events referred to were, no 
 doubt, matters of testimony ; but their meaning and their 
 effects on the spiritual life of believers, and on the future 
 destiny of the world, were made known by the Holy 
 Spirit to chosen men who were empowered and commis- 
 sioned to bear witness to others. Such authority as the 
 apostles had was based on their personal intercourse with 
 the Lord Jesus, which in the case of Paul was given after 
 His resurrection from the dead. He had seen the Lord, 
 spoken to Him, received teaching and authority from 
 Him, and regarded himself as being, and boldly claimed 
 to be, His delegate, or ambassador, appointed to speak in 
 His name. " He that receiveth you, receiveth Me," said our 
 Lord, and it was with firm though humble confidence in 
 this assurance that the apostles spoke and wrote. 
 
 No doubt there was something unique about the apos- 
 tolate — so that no Christians can fairly claim to have 
 succeeded the apostles in their peculiar oflSce, which was 
 essential to the Church before the Gospels and Epistles had 
 been collected. But there is still an authority legitimately 
 belonging to all who have tasted, handled, and felt of the 
 good Word of Life ; which enables them to speak with 
 confidence, and to claim boldly the attention and belief 
 of their fellow-men. Communion with God, for example, 
 is, in its own sphere, as much a reality as the operation 
 of any natural force, whose effects we may trace upon 
 visible things. God draws the soul of the believer near 
 to Himself, and keeps it near as truly as the sun, by the 
 force of gravitation, keeps the earth from flying into 
 
THE APOSTLES CLAIM TO AUTHORITY. 37 
 
 space, and losing itself in the awful void. With as much 
 certainty and confidence as a man can say, "I have 
 warmed myself at the lire," the Christian may say, " Truly 
 our fellowship is with the Father; and this is our testi- 
 mony concerning Him, God is light and God is love." 
 
 Apostles are still wanted by the world, and Christians 
 ought not to speak either with faltering voice or with 
 apologetic tone. The confidence of the Church must be 
 strengthened before the world will submit to its teaching. 
 The whole tone of society in the present day, the atmos- 
 phere we are all breathing, imperceptible as it is, tends 
 to weaken the vigour of our confidence in the certitude 
 of things believed. Doubtless it affects us in different 
 degrees according to our tendency either to intellectual 
 pi"ide or to affectionate trust (for Thomas as well as 
 John is still found among the disciples), but it influ- 
 ences us all more or less. In Colorado there grows a shrub 
 called popularly the Poison Oak, which is regarded with 
 horror by the inhabitants. Some people are completely 
 prostrated by merely breathing near it, and a scratch 
 from one of its prickly leaves will produce boils and 
 sores which they find extremely difficult to cure ; though 
 others, curiously enough, seem uninjured by it: just as 
 I have known some stricken down by erysipelas who have 
 merely sat in a room where arnica and water stood un- 
 perceived in a saucer, while others may freely apply it 
 as a healing lotion. We do not know why the virus 
 is harmful to one and harmless to another, and none 
 of our scientists are able to explain the secret, or to 
 foretell, without experiment, who will be harmed and 
 
38 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 who will not. But the fact is unquestionable ; and in 
 the higher sphere the phenomenon repeats itself in tlie 
 observed influence of a sceptical tone in society, which 
 leaves one unscathed but prostrates another under the 
 bane of infidelity. Yet out of this good will come, 
 however little we foresee it, just as from the fatal poison 
 oak is gained the rhus toxicodendron which, used aright, 
 has cured many a hurt and sprain. Watching against 
 the insidious influence of unbelief, let us hold fast our 
 confidence, as the apostles did who dared to speak with 
 authority, and to this end let us put up their prayer, 
 " Lord, increase our faith." 
 
 II. St. Paul refers here not only to his office as " an 
 apostle of Jesus Christ," but also to the basis on which 
 HIS APPOINTMENT RESTED — namely, " the commandment 
 of God our Saviour." 
 
 This reference may be to the well-known incident 
 which occurred in Antioch, when the Christians were 
 assembled for fasting and prayer, and the Holy Ghost 
 said (probably through a conviction overwhelmingly felt 
 by them all), " Separate me Barnabas and Saul, for the 
 work whereunto I have called them. And when they 
 had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands upon them, 
 they sent them away ; " and thus began Paul's first 
 missionary journey. But this special call was dependent 
 upon an earlier event which occurred in Damascus, when 
 the Lord said to Ananias respecting Saul, " He is a chosen 
 vessel unto Me, to bear My name before the Gentiles, and 
 kings, and the children of Israel." 
 
 Nothing could give a man more courage than belief 
 
THE APOSTLES CLAIM TO AUTHORITY. 39 
 
 in such a divine call. It sustained that noble hero, 
 General Gordon, amidst difficulties and perils which made 
 his life an epic poem ; indeed, in all ages the men 
 who have had that belief have dared and done the 
 mightiest deeds. Turn over the pages of history and 
 you will see that the invincible Ironsides — the daunt- 
 less pilgrim founders of the new world — the noblest 
 evangelists and fathers of the early Churches, were all 
 victorious because each said to himself, " I am here by 
 the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus 
 Christ, which is our hope." And going back farther still 
 in Church history, we see Jeremiah standing amidst his 
 persecutors like a brazen wall and a defenced city ; 
 Daniel defying the wrath of the king, without a sign 
 of braggadocio, or of any seeming consciousness of his 
 nobility ; and Elijah opposing the court, the hierarchy, 
 and the fanatical people — without a tremor, because he 
 looked beyond them all, and spoke of "the Lord God 
 of Israel, before whom I stand." In order that this 
 conviction may be ours we must not run before we are 
 sent J we must never throw ourselves into work without 
 prayer ; we must carry out our plans with a prayerful 
 belief that they are God's, and that if they are not we 
 should willingly see them broken into fragments. If we 
 take up work which is given to us of God, being revealed 
 to us as ours because it is near, suited to our capacity, 
 responsive to desires kindled by prayer, and necessary 
 to be done, we shall have strength for its duties, counsel 
 amid its perplexities, and success far beyond our expec- 
 tation and desert. 
 
40 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 III. Here we may encourage ourselves, as Paul did, by 
 remembering the giver of this office and work. The 
 expression " God, our Saviour " is frequent in the pas- 
 toral Epistles, but is only met with elsewhere in Jude's 
 doxology, and in Mary's Magnificat. Probably Paul 
 used it here with a special view to certain false teaching 
 which was springing up in the Christian Church at this 
 period. Presumptuous and self-willed men were begin- 
 ning to regard Christianity (as some regard it now) as 
 being only a higher form of moral instruction and of 
 spiritual discipline than was to be met with in the Pagan 
 and Jewish religions, or in the philosophical schools. 
 Here they were reminded that men want " salvation " as 
 well as instruction, and that this salvation is of God and 
 not of man ; that the mode of pardon is divinely pro- 
 vided ; and that redemption from iniquity, and finally 
 from mortality, finds its source in the love and power of 
 our Divine Father. 
 
 Equally suggestive is the phrase, "the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, our hope; " reminding us, as it does, not only that 
 the reception of Christ into the heart inspires us with 
 hope of blessing, but also that all that is hoped for is in- 
 dissolubly linked with Christ Himself. It is not our own 
 desert ; it is not any Church organisation or ordinance ; 
 it is not any creed, which expresses human conceptions 
 of truth ; still less is it any fellow-man ; but it is our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us and rose again, who 
 is our hope. 
 
 Thus we are brought, at the very beginning of this 
 Epistle, to recognise our Lord as coequal with the Father 
 
THE APOSTLES CLAIM TO AUTHORITY. 4I 
 
 in the bestowal of divine and spiritual gifts. He is the 
 hope of the Church. We may fear lest the stream dry 
 up and leave us thirsty ; but then we think of the rains 
 which feed its sources, and when we are fearful lest the 
 clouds should fail, we remember the limitless ocean 
 whence they are fed, and in its exhaustlessness we find 
 rest to our souls. Out of His fulness, which ia infinite, 
 have we all received, grace for grace. 
 
( 42 ) 
 
 n. 
 
 THE RELATIONS OF PAUL AND TIMOTHY. 
 
 (I Tim. i. 2.) 
 
 Although this Epistle was an authoritative utterance to 
 be implicitly obeyed, it was characterised by the graceful 
 and loving freedom which might be expected in a letter 
 to a friend so familiar and so beloved as Timothy. 
 
 This young evangelist was now at Ephesus, carrying 
 on, amidst many difficulties, the work which the great 
 Apostle to the Gentiles had begun, but was no longer 
 able personally to carry on. Tares sown by the enemy 
 amidst the wheat were beginning to appear on eveiy 
 side, threatening to choke the growing life of the Church 
 and to spoil the expected harvest. Hence the work 
 Timothy had to do was one of peculiar difficulty and 
 delicacy. 
 
 He not only had to run great risk from the hostility 
 of the fanatical population of Ephesus, which was notorious 
 for its idolatry and profligacy, and proud of being the 
 centre of the worship of Diana, but within the Church 
 he had to face many who by false doctrine, and others 
 who by immoral conduct, threatened its ruin. And, 
 since treachery within is always more dangerous than 
 
THE RELATIONS OF PAUL AND TIMOTHY. 43 
 
 hostility without, it was against this that Timothy was 
 armed by the authority and counsel conveyed by our 
 Epistle. He needed the authority it gave him (coming 
 as it did from the founder of the Ephesian Church — the 
 leading teacher of the Gentile Christians), for the evan- 
 gelist was but young, and lived in an age when youth 
 was less appreciated than it is now, and he was opposed 
 by headstrong and able men, who were ready at one time 
 to despise him, at another to try and drive him from his 
 post. And the advice hereby given was invaluable to 
 him, for he had few Christians to consult, if any ; and a 
 sense of loneliness and despondency is apt to assert itself 
 when one has reason to say with Elijah, " I, even I only, 
 am left." To Timothy this feeling was peculiarly natural, 
 for he was of a meek, rather than of an aggressive temper; 
 amiable rather than authoritative; and far more accustomed 
 to follow another's lead than to hew out a path for himself 
 and for others. From the reading of this Epistle he would 
 rise refreshed and encouraged, for he knew that these were 
 the words of one who was not only beloved and trusted 
 as a father, but who was commissioned of God to make 
 known the Divine will. 
 
 Hence Paul salutes him as his " own son in the faith," 
 or, as the Revised Version more correctly renders it — 
 " my true child in the faith," The meaning is this — 
 Timothy might have been a genuine child of the kingdom 
 though he had been brought into it by some one else 
 than Paul, but he was Paul's "true child." The phrase 
 was intended to assert explicitly that this young evan- 
 gelist was one of the apostle's own converts ; and grown 
 
44 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 man though lie now was, the relation between them was 
 so peculiarly tender, and their intimacy had been so 
 great, that Paul writes as a father would to his own 
 son. 
 
 To understand this relationship think first of — 
 I. Timothy's Conversion. — He had been prayerfully 
 taught in the Jewish faith by his mother and grand- 
 mother, and was therefore, with them, prepared to receive 
 the Gospel. At last he heard it. Two strangers entered 
 Lystra, one majestic in presence, the other mighty in 
 speech. They were Jews, but they held that Messiah had 
 already come, and they preached of Jesus — of His miracles 
 and words ; of His cross and passion; and, strangest of all, 
 of His resurrection from the dead, and ascension to God's 
 right hand. The seed of the kingdom fell into good soil, 
 and it sprang up and brought forth fruit, for Timothy had 
 the " honest and good heart " of which the Lord spoke. 
 And then more startling events occurred. A cripple was 
 healed in the name of Jesus ; the whole town was in 
 an uproar of excitement, and the apostles could scarcely 
 keep back the priests and the people from worshipping 
 them as Jupiter and Mercurius. They preached not 
 themselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord. Then, with one 
 of those strange transitions, so frequent with a fanatical 
 Eastern people, adoration was changed into attack, and 
 there is good reason to believe that the lad Timothy 
 saw the brutal assault on Paul, when he was stoned 
 and left for dead outside the city walls. At his im- 
 pressionable age, such a spectacle of noble heroism and 
 of undeserved cruelty, would set the heart of the young 
 
THE RELATIONS OF PAUL AND TIMOTHY. 45 
 
 disciple on fire, and from that moment the two were knit 
 together in an indissoluble bond. No wonder Paul wrote 
 to him as " my true child " in the faith. 
 
 II. Timothy's setting apart for special work did 
 not take place until seven years after this. God does 
 not call us to high service until we have proved our 
 fidelity in what is lower. Paul departed from Lycaonia, 
 leaving at least one pious family enriched beyond all ex- 
 pectation, eager to study the Scriptures in the new light 
 received, and to rejoice in Jesus as their hope. Then, 
 as opportunity offered, a little evangelistic work was done 
 in the district by the young convert, so that when Paul 
 revisited the place he found that Timothy had grown in 
 knowledge and grace ; in fitness for service, and in good 
 repute amongst all the brethren. "We may be sure that 
 it was to Timothy's own trembling delight that he was 
 delegated to be the companion and fellow-worker of the 
 great apostle. The sacred ambition of his life was ful- 
 filled. He was solemnly set apart for the work (for 
 no man in those days lightly undertook it), and by the 
 laying on of the hands of the presbytery he was desig- 
 nated as one on whom the Holy Spirit rested. 
 
 Now and then we get a glimpse at Timothy's happy 
 COMPANIONSHIP with Paul, which was never afterwards 
 broken for any length of time, and which was the more 
 remarkable because of the difference between the ages of 
 the two men. But it is good for the aged to keep the 
 heart young by their association with youth ; and it is 
 even better for those who are in the spring-time of their 
 life to yield reverence and love, and considerate kindness, 
 
46 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 to those who are older and more experienced than them- 
 selves : indeed it is an ill sign when there is resentment 
 of home authority, repudiation of responsibility to the 
 aged, and a wish to have only the companionship of 
 those who live for the pleasures of this life. Let youth 
 and experience walk hand in hand, that we may keep in 
 our hearts, even amid advancing years, the spring of 
 immortal youth. 
 
 " They err who measure life by years, 
 With false and foolish tongue ; 
 Some hearts grow old before their life, 
 Others are always young." 
 
 Concliision. — Those of us who, like Timothy, are teachers 
 of others, may learn from the reception of this letter that 
 we need continuous instruction in order to accomplish 
 our ministry. It is not enough that we should begin 
 our work with memories stored with truths, and with 
 hearts consecrated to the Master's service. New circum- 
 stances, and growing responsibilities, necessitate what 
 Timothy received — new instructions ; and it is our privi- 
 lege to go to the written Word, and into the presence of 
 the Great Teacher Himself. We may have in our mea- 
 sure the experience of Moses who, on the mount of com- 
 munion with God, received not only the moral law but 
 also special directions about the details of his work. 
 Therefore when he came down amongst the people he 
 remembered the command — " See that thou make all 
 things after the pattern showed thee on the mount." Our 
 perplexities about Christian doctrine, our difficulties in 
 
THE RELATIONS OP PAUL AND TIMOTHY. 47 
 
 dealing with those who have drifted away from the truth, 
 our questionings as to whether we should work here or 
 there, whether we should do this or that, we may take, 
 indeed we must take, into the light of God's presence. 
 The more we lead men the more we ourselves must be 
 led of God. 
 
( 48 ) 
 
 III. 
 
 A CHRISTIAN SALUTATION. 
 (I Tim. i. 2.) 
 
 The salutation whicli Paul gives to his own son in 
 the faith is an exquisite example of \\hat a Christian 
 greeting should be. It is no idle compliment, but an 
 earnest prayer. It expresses loving wislies, not for out- 
 ward and transient blessings, but for those which are 
 inward and abiding. The fellow-Christian who helps us 
 thus towards God does more for us than he who raises us 
 to fortune. His intercessions with God are of more value 
 than introductions to men. 
 
 I. The Manifestation of Divine Love desired on 
 Timothy's behalf is threefold, consisting of " grace, mercy, 
 and peace," for the sympathetic mind of Paul analysed 
 and displayed it, much as a prism will catch a ray of 
 sunshine, and reveal more clearly the wonderful beauty 
 that is latent in it. 
 
 I . Grace is the free favour of God, pouring itself forth 
 upon the soul which is yearning for it, and filling it with 
 gladness and praise. The conscious enjoyment of this is 
 the essence of heaven, the world in which, more fully 
 than is possible on earth, the saints walk all day in the 
 
A CHRISTIAN SALUTATION. 49 
 
 light of God's countenance ; and it is only because earth- 
 born clouds of doubt and sin come between us and Him, 
 that this is not ours already in all its blessedness. So 
 that a prayer for God's " grace " to be with us is really a 
 prayer that our sins and doubts may be dispersed ; for as 
 with nature's sunlight, it is not any alteration in the sun, 
 but a change in the earth's atmosphere, or in the earth's 
 attitude towards the sun, that brings brightness in the 
 place of gloom, daylight in the stead of darkness. 
 
 2. The association of the idea of mercy with grace is 
 striking, and is peculiar to these Epistles to Timothy and 
 to the Second Epistle of John. As it occurs in no other 
 Pauline letters, some critics have used its occurrence here 
 as an argument against Paul's authorship, forgetting that 
 such a change in his ordinary form of salutation would 
 be about the last thing any forger would be likely to 
 make, for the deviation would have been as uncalled for 
 as it would have been obvious. But it was characteristic 
 of Paul, who was profoundly conscious of his own need 
 of " mercy," to pray for it on behalf of his comrade, who 
 was engaged in similar work. It is not to the erring 
 Galatians nor to the backsliding Corinthians, but to this 
 honoured servant of the Christian Church, that he prays 
 for God's " mercy " to be evermore extended ; for from 
 his own experience he knew how much that mercy is 
 needed by those who are sensible that their character 
 comes far short of their ideal, and that their work for 
 Christ is marred by their faults and follies. We may 
 occupy the highest position in the Church, yet instead of 
 being thereby exalted above the need of mercy, we must 
 
50 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 the more humbly cast ourselves upon it. Nothing but 
 the realisation of the Divine forbearance will embolden 
 us to continue in spiritual service, which is awful in its 
 responsibilities, and likely to be ill done by us through 
 our sinfulness and ignorance. The noblest saint falls 
 back in life and death on Divine mercy as his one and 
 only hope. 
 
 3. Peace flows from the "grace" and "mercy" of God. 
 It is a secise of reconciliation with Him — of rest in Him, 
 which will give calmness in hours of trouble and peril, 
 and will spread a sacred and happy influence over those 
 around us. He whose heart is consciously right with 
 God, should be in his home and in his business a restful, 
 not a restless centre. As good Bishop Patrick says — 
 " Peace is the proper result of the Christian temper. It 
 is the great kindness which our religion doth us, that it 
 brings us to a settledness of mind and a consistency 
 within ourselves." 
 
 II. The Source of these blessings is pointed out 
 in the assurance that they flow from " God our Father 
 and Jesus Christ our Lord." 
 
 I . If God is our father we may surely expect such bless- 
 ings, for they are just what in our lower sphere we fathers 
 (whose fatherhood is but a broken reflection of His) would 
 gladly give our children. We are not happy unless they 
 are living in our " favour ; " we are eager to show them 
 " mercy " directly and whenever they come to us in peni- 
 tential grief; and if there is one blessing we desire for 
 them above others, it is that their minds may be at 
 " peace." God is our Father, and therefore He is not 
 
A CHRISTIAN SALUTATION. 5 I 
 
 unconcerned about us. He never leaves us, as we too 
 often leave the waifs and strays, who are miserable and 
 hopeless in our streets. 
 
 2. But grace, mercy, and peace can only come to us through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord, because we are undeserving and sin- 
 ful. They are like the cool water at the bottom of the well ; 
 but One stronger than we must roll away the stone, as 
 Jacob did, before the thirsty can drink. Never forget the 
 association here and elsewhere of the Divine Son with the 
 Divine Father, as the coequal source of the blessings 
 which come from God alone. And if you want to con- 
 firm your faith in that doctrine, listen to His own words 
 — " All things are delivered unto Me of my Father." 
 And again — " All things that the Father hath are mine.'' 
 And once more — " For as the Father hath life in Himself, 
 so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself." 
 " Grace, mercy, and peace be yours from God our Father 
 and Jesus Christ our Lord." 
 
 5 
 
( 52 ) 
 
 IV. 
 
 TIMOTHY'S CHARGE. 
 (I Tim. i. 3, 4.) 
 
 Our translators have supplied two words at the close of 
 the fourth verse, in order to complete the sentence which 
 the apostle left unfinished ; but it would have been better 
 had they inserted them earlier, for the meaning is more 
 clear if we read, " As I besought thee to abide still at 
 Ephesus when I went into Macedonia, so I beseech thee 
 now to remain there." It is an example of the way in 
 which Paul's living thoughts leaped ahead of the words 
 which might have clothed them. 
 
 I. The Period to which he refers in the phrase, 
 " when I went into Macedonia," cannot be certainly 
 fixed. There was indeed one occasion mentioned in Acts 
 XX. I, when, in consequence of the peril in which he was 
 placed through the uproar raised by Demetrius, he did leave 
 Ephesus for Macedonia ; but in the chapter preceding that 
 narrative we read that he had already sent Timothy and 
 Erastus thither ; and we know that he joined them there, 
 because in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, written 
 thence, he mentions Timothy as being then with him. It 
 
TIMOTHY S CHARGE. 5 3 
 
 seems indeed impossible to assign Timothy's special mission 
 in Ephesus to any period covered by the Acts of the 
 Apostles ; and we are certainly warranted in believing 
 that after Paul's first imprisonment (which probably ended 
 in acquittal or in the dropping of the case by the pro- 
 secution) he spent several years in apostolic labour, re- 
 visiting among other churches those which he had planted 
 at Crete and Ephesus, leaving Titus in the former and 
 Timothy in the latter. It is hardly necessary to say that 
 the subscription to this Epistle, " the first to Timothy 
 was written from Laodicea," is unauthorised and obviously 
 incorrect. 
 
 II. The Mode of Address to Timothy demands a 
 word or two. " I besought thee " — ^not I commanded 
 thee. No doubt this is expressive of the gentleness and 
 affection with which Timothy was regarded, but it is also 
 an indication of the kind of authority which was exer- 
 cised by the apostles over their fellow-workers. There 
 was nothing dictatorial about it, nothing of the military 
 discipline which is so popular and effective in an aggres- 
 sive section of the Church in our day. Influence then 
 was that of character ; authority was the outcome of 
 inspiration ; and even the chosen twelve were better 
 pleased to rule by love than fear. It must be admitted 
 that this may give rise to abuses and perils. If in a 
 Church there arises a spirit of self-assertiveness ; if some 
 Diotrephes, loving to have the pre-eminence, resolves to 
 oppose everything he is not permitted to lead ; if there 
 is such an absence of self-sacrifice that none but the 
 pleasant work will be undertaken; — then the Church 
 
54 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 will be discordant and its beauty and power will vanish. 
 It is only " where the Spirit of the Lord is " that 
 there can be the safe and the full enjoyment of 
 liberty. 
 
 III. The Purport of Paul's entreaty was that Timothy 
 should check the progress of false doctrine in the Ephe- 
 sian Church. There was a ferment going on in the 
 minds of men at that time, such as usually accompanies 
 or follows a great religious movement. False notions of 
 God, and of His law, arising from an imperfectly under- 
 stood Judaism, combined with a speculative heathen 
 philosophy, were threatening to destroy the simplicity 
 of the Gospel. These became more clearly revealed 
 as " heresies " in the next two centuries ; but already 
 their germs were at work, and Paul specially refers 
 here to " fables and endless genealogies," to curious 
 myths, and to those absurdly complicated calculations of 
 the Rabbis about the position of letters in the sacred 
 text, and the exact degree of value which might be 
 attached to certain deeds or relations, good or evil. A 
 sort of cabalistic system was being constituted in the 
 Church, by an incongruous mixture of Jewish fancies 
 with heathen speculations, and this threatened disaster — 
 just as the ivy, climbing slowly but surely, thrusts in a 
 root here and a tendril there, till the once strong wall 
 has every stone loosened, and in the storm it falls. 
 
 IV. The Reason given for opposing such teaching 
 is, that it " ministered questions rather than godly edi- 
 fying." The Revised Version adopts another reading, 
 and rightly so, for there is no doubt that the text was 
 
TIMOTHYS CHARGE. 5 5 
 
 corrupted, and the word olKoSofitav — " edifying," was 
 substituted by some copyist for olKovo/xlav — " dispensa- 
 tion." The meaning is, that these questionings did not 
 subserve God's " dispensation " — His specific plan for 
 admission to His kingdom, His method of salvation un- 
 folded in the Gospel ; for that dispensation consists " in 
 faith." And as a matter of experience we know that 
 questions which merely excite the fancy, or even the 
 intellect, tend to make the objects of faith distasteful. 
 For example, a course of sensational novel reading, 
 which peoples the mind with unrealities, does extrude 
 earnest thoughts on spiritual realities. Or again, a man 
 whose mind, whether as a worker in business or as a 
 student in science, is perpetually occupied with things 
 visible, may almost imperceptibly lose his faith in things 
 invisible, the existence of which is not provable by the 
 more sensuous processes with which he is familiar. 
 Or, to turn to Church life. Those who lay stress on 
 ceremonies — believing in baptismal regeneration, and in 
 the real sacrifice of the altar — weaken the faith of them- 
 selves and of others in what is spiritual, so that the 
 Gospel loses moral power most in countries where cere- 
 monialism is ramj)ant. And this which is true of the 
 rites of the Church is equally true of its organisations, 
 and we have constantly to be on our guard lest the 
 occupation of the mind with the details of Church work 
 should divert us from the cultivation of personal Chris- 
 tian life. 
 
 But the apostle here condemns chiefly the unhealthy 
 practice of giving prominence to unimportant questions, 
 
56 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 whether it be in the sphere of philosophy or of religion. 
 Any subject which leads to vain conflict and barren con- 
 troversy, and has no healthy bearing on our labours as 
 God's servants, should not be allowed to usurp too much 
 attention ; for we may know all the subtleties of con- 
 troversial theology, and may be familiar with the last 
 theory of scientific research, and yet fail and come short 
 of the glory of God. When a settler has to grow his 
 own corn to provide himself with daily bread, he will let 
 speculation on the strata beneath the surface wait till he 
 has found time to sow and to reap. 
 
( 57 ) 
 
 V. 
 
 THE END OF THE COMMANDMENT. 
 (i Tim i. 5-7.) 
 
 These verses are occupied with a description of what 
 God's dispensation was meant to produce, and indicate 
 how it came to pass that many failed of it. " The com- 
 mandment " or charge which Timothy had received had 
 this as its end or purpose — the promotion of " love out 
 of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith 
 unfeigned." By love is meant the right relation of the 
 whole nature both to God and to man ; for love to man is 
 in the highest sense a consequent of love to God. 
 
 I. Three conditions of this love are specified. 
 
 I. A pure heart. — This is essential to any vision of 
 God. Unless we are purified our afiections will naturally 
 fasten upon selfish objects, or even upon those which are 
 evil. It is possible, for example, to be so absorbed in 
 one's family as to have no outgoing of sympathy to the 
 needy outside it, and no uplifting of desire towards Him 
 who deserves to be loved with all our heart, and soul, and 
 strength. Or we may be so absorbed in ourselves as to 
 resent all the claims for help and service which ought to 
 be joyfully hailed. Nay, the heart may be so impure 
 that love is none other than lustj and then that which 
 
58 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY, 
 
 ought to be an angel's hand raising us to heaven, •will 
 become the devil's hand drawmno: us down to hell. 
 "The pure in heart shall see God;" and of heaven we 
 read, " Neither shall there enter into it anything that 
 defileth nor worketh abomination." " Keep thy heart 
 with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." 
 
 2. A good conscicTice is often insisted upon in Scripture 
 as one of the inestimable blessings enjoyed by God's 
 children. Conscience is ihe activity of consciousness 
 towards the ethical aspect of things. It is a faculty of 
 the mind which reflects on actions as being morally evil 
 or good. Conscience may be defiled till it is useless as a 
 mud-stained mirror ; it may be hardened, or, to use this 
 apostle's phrase, " seared as with a hot iron," so as to be 
 insensible as flesh would be after all the nerves in it had 
 been destroyed — and that is the precursor of condem- 
 nation. But conscience is " good " if it is healed and 
 purged by the Saviour's touch ; if, instead of condemning 
 us, it gives us confidence towards God ; if it is reliable 
 and unbiassed in its decisions on all questions brought 
 before its tribunal ; and if it not only directs the will, but 
 spurs it into instant activity. Happy is he who can say, 
 
 "I feel within me 
 A peace above all earthly dignities — 
 A still and quiet conscience." * 
 
 ^. Faith unfeigned is the third condition of God- 
 accepted love. Though mentioned last, " faith " is the 
 germ grace — the seed principle. To us fallen men there 
 is no way to a "good conscience" and a "pure heart" 
 * Shakespeare. 
 
THE END OF THE COMMANDMENT. 59 
 
 but that of " faith " in Jesus Christ — that faculty which, 
 laying hold of Him the Mediator, brings us into fellowship 
 with God and all unseen realities. But such faith is not 
 a lazy assent to the doctrines of the Gospel, nor is it a 
 formal profession of adherence to the cause of Jesus Christ; 
 and to be of value in the sight of the Searcher of hearts 
 it must be " faith unfeigned," the opposite of pretended 
 belief and confidence not really felt. For there is a faith 
 which is but a mask of unbelief, like the painted face on 
 the Egyptian mummy-case — hiding coruption ! May God 
 save us from that and the condemnation which follows it. 
 The Apostle now turns from the conditions of love to — 
 II. Its Counterfeits, exhibited in those who, professing 
 to aim at it, miss their mark and swerve aside to " vain 
 janglings" — that is, to empty talking and disputation. 
 Too often the Church has had members who have been 
 destitute of moral and spiritual perceptivity, but have 
 made themselves at home in speculations and contro- 
 versies. And the worst tempers are to be found among 
 the members of the more talkative and disputatious sects. 
 Those who object to prayerfully toiling up the ladder of 
 Christian virtues not infrequently come to grief by trust- 
 ing to their pretentious wings. Paul heartily abhorred 
 " vain babbling " — talk on religious subjects which was 
 sometimes made a substitute for holy living ; and in the 
 Epistle to Titus, as well as here, some sharp stern words 
 are uttered against it. He was probably not alluding to 
 the Judaisers, who were wont to lay too much stress on 
 the law, for he could not justly describe them thus, 
 " understanding neither what they say nor whereof they 
 
60 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 affirm." He evidently was thinking of others who made 
 use of genealogies, and traditions, and fanciful allegorisings 
 which did away with, or at least put out of sight, the 
 moral element in the Gospel. St. John, writing about 
 this same district at a later period, says, in allusion to 
 those propagators of error — " no lie is of the truth ;" and 
 to show how the moral nature became deadened by such 
 theories, he has to remind his readers of the very ABO 
 of the Gospel, saying, " Little children, let no man deceive 
 you ; he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He 
 is righteous." And similarly, our ascended Lord, looking 
 upon the churches in the neighbourhood of Ephesus, says, 
 " I know the blasphemy of them which say they are 
 Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan." 
 
 False teaching is not to bo lightly regarded or easily 
 welcomed, as if it could have no evil effect on moral and 
 spiritual life. For example, the philosophy of material- 
 ism, which represents our thoughts and afiections as 
 nothing but the emanations of movements in our physical 
 bodies and brains, is ultimately destructive of moral 
 responsibility and of belief in a coming immortality. 
 " Continue thou in the things wherein thou hast been 
 taught." Do not foolishly give up the faith which was 
 associated with all that was sacred in your childhood. 
 Remember that there is a sphere of existence outside the 
 range of your senses, beyond the proof of your reason, of 
 which you know nothing unices you accept the glimpses 
 given of it in this Divine Revelation. Beware lest, like 
 these Ephesian heretics, you swerve from the faith, having 
 turned aside unto vain jangling. 
 
( 6i ) 
 
 VI. 
 
 THE PURPOSE OF THE LAW. 
 
 (i Tim. i. 8-11.) 
 
 The value of God's gifts largely depends upon the use 
 we make of them. There are powers within our reach 
 which may with equal ease destroy our welfare or increase 
 it. War, for example, perverts and distorts the skill, the 
 strength, and the courage of men, so that they prove 
 destructive of the results of industry and the sanctity of 
 life. It is one of the tendencies of our fallen nature thus 
 to misuse Divine gifts, and " the Gospel of the blessed 
 God " seeks to extirpate it. Every reader of the Epistles, 
 every student of Pharisaic teaching, and every one who 
 understands the work of the Judaisers, is aware that even 
 the Mosaic Law was grossly abused. Against that abuse 
 our Lord and His disciples so steadfastly set themselves, 
 that they were falsely charged with opposition and hostility 
 to the law itself; and it was one of the main purposes of 
 Paul's teaching to set that attitude of theirs in its proper 
 light, and his Epistle to the Romans very distinctly and 
 clearly does so. Jesus Christ Himself declared respecting 
 the law — " I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil ; " and 
 by the example He set before the Church, by the love He 
 
62 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 evoked, and by the spirit He gave, He made the law more 
 noble and far-reaching than it ever had been before. But 
 from its nature it was powerless to justify men, though it 
 did much to instruct and restrain them. It could not 
 cleanse the conscience, though it was a spur to it. It 
 was like the pedagogue, or tutor, who in Roman society 
 checked the wrongdoing of his patron's son, warned him 
 against evil associations, guarded him from danger, and 
 conducted him to the gymnasium, where education was 
 given. " The law," says Paul, " was our pedagogue to 
 lead us to Christ." The law is good if a man use it law- 
 fully. The apostle next endeavoured to explain more 
 fully the Purpose of the Law, and his explanation may 
 be summed up under three heads : — 
 
 I, The Law was not meant as an Inspiration. — 
 " The law is not made for a righteous man." The state- 
 ment is true, whether you think of a man " righteous " 
 by nature or by gi'ace. Those edicts and prohibitions 
 were not intended for one who was eagerly inclined to 
 obey their spirit. Such a revelation of God's will would 
 not have been needed if Adam had continued in his 
 righteousness, for things forbidden with pains and penalties 
 after his fall were not at first attractive to him. 
 
 If you walk through a private garden with the children 
 of its owner, as one of themselves, you do not see anywhere 
 the unsightly notice-boards, which are necessary in a place 
 open to the public, asking you to move in this direction 
 or in that, and to avoid trespassing hither or thifcher. 
 Amongst the children, and as one of them, you are con- 
 sciously above the need of such laws as those. Restric- 
 
THE PURPOSE OF THE LAW. 63 
 
 tions and warnings are always meant for those inclined 
 to break them. Another example might be drawn from 
 society. The laws on our statute-books, the police who 
 tramp through our streets, the vast organisation repre- 
 sented by prisons and courts, by judges and magistrates, 
 would no longer be necessary, and would never have been 
 called into existence, if every man loved his neighbour 
 even as himself. It is those who are disobedient in 
 nature who make law a necessary institution. Similarly 
 in the home. When your first child comes as a gleam 
 of sunshine into your home, you parents do not begin to 
 make a theoretical code of restrictions ; but when the 
 children grow older, and there are conflicts of will between 
 them, and the household is likely to be disorderly by their 
 thoughtlessness and faults, you begin to say, '' You must 
 not do this or that ; it is to be from this time forward 
 forbidden." But as the years roll on and good habits are 
 formed by the young people, and from the love they bear 
 you they instinctively know what you wish and readily do 
 it, even these wise rules practically fall into desuetude. 
 Because they are ruled by a right spirit they are set 
 free from law. Now this, in simple form, is what Paul 
 meant by his frequent allusions to what the law was, and 
 was not, intended to do. As God's free children " we 
 are not under the law, but under grace." " The law is 
 not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and 
 disobedient." 
 
 This leads to our second assertion, namely, that the 
 law which was not meant for an inspiration was — 
 
 II. Intended for the Restraint of the Disobedient. 
 
64 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 — A lawless man is everywhere the least free. Carried 
 hither and thither by his ungoverned passions ; swayed 
 now this way, now that, by his inexcusable carelessness 
 and neglect, he nevertheless finds himself perpetually 
 clashing against a will mightier than his own. Some- 
 times it is the law of his country which seizes him by the 
 throat and holds him in restraint. Sometimes it is disease, 
 the direct result of his own sin, which falls like a curse 
 upon himself, and even upon his children. Sometimes it 
 is conscience which protests and rebukes, until his whole 
 life is made miserable. And these are but premonitions 
 of what is coming when the Judge of all the earth 
 will appear to give every man according to his works, and 
 the thunders of outraged law will supersede the gentle 
 voice of Christ's Gospel. Paul describes some of these 
 guilty ones in the 9th and loth verses. He speaks first 
 generally of the " lawless and disobedient " — those self- 
 willed spirits who spurn authority and control, whether it 
 be of man or of God. In fact the two forms of disobedi- 
 ence are usually associated in one and the same person, 
 and the defiance of authority in the home is too often the 
 prelude to a life of practical godlessness. Depend upon 
 it, he who refuses to recognise a higher will than his own 
 in childhood is beginning the course which may end in the 
 condemnation of the devil. 
 
 Roughly, yet forcibly, the apostle sums up manifesta- 
 tions of lawlessness under the first and second tables of 
 the law. He speaks of "the ungodly and sinners" who 
 openly set at defiance the chief law, which teaches us to 
 love the Lord our God with all our heart, and soul, and 
 
THE PURPOSE OF THE LAW. 65 
 
 strengtli : men who never have a sense of humbling awe 
 in His presence and put no trembling trust in His mercy. 
 " Unholy and profane," they are defiled in mind and con- 
 temptuous of spiritual things. To them nothing is pure 
 and nothing sacred. 
 
 Terrible is the list of offences against human relation- 
 ships which follows ; though the first of the phrases in our 
 version is at once too strong and too narrow. " Murderers 
 of fathers " should be " smiters of fathers and smiters of 
 mothers." The allusion may be to such crimes in the 
 literal sense of the word, of which now and again we are 
 horrified to hear, and which are commonest with those 
 who are under the influence of drink — the cause of in- 
 numerable crimes ! Or it may refer with equal force to 
 those who smite their parents with the tongue, loading 
 them with scorn and reproach, instead of encircling them 
 with considerate love. " Cursed be he that setteth light 
 by his father or his mother, and let all the people say 
 Amen." " Manslayers " — those who, by their exactions 
 and oppressions, indirectly destroy the lives of men — as 
 well as murderers, who are regarded as the pariahs of 
 society. " Whoremongers and they that defile themselves 
 tvitJi mankind," are terms which are meant to include all 
 transgressors of the seventh commandment, a law which 
 our Lord Jesus so broadened out in its application that 
 even indulgence in lustful thought and all pandering to 
 evil passions in amusements, or in literature, come under 
 the cognisance of that Divine law, and will receive condign 
 and certain punishment hereafter, however much such sin 
 succeeds here in disguising itself, and passing without 
 
66 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 reproach from the world. " Liars and perjured persons " 
 are forms of that false witness against one's neighbour 
 which the ninth commandment so strongly condemns ; and 
 nothing is clearer as an evidence of the rule of Christ's 
 spirit than the transparent truthfulness of character, which 
 wins the admiration of the world, and suns itself in the 
 favour of God. 
 
 This list is formidable enough, and the fact that the 
 apostle does not confine himself to the phraseology of the 
 Mosaic decalogue, is a sign that we do not evade the 
 penalties of the law by keeping its letter. The law pro- 
 claims God's condemnation of all vice, whatever the forms 
 it takes. And to make this still more evident, Paul adds 
 that if there he any other sins he has overlooked (for he 
 does not profess to mention them all), or if there be any 
 vices too bad to mention, or any not existing in his day 
 which might afterwards raise their serpent heads, the law 
 of God proclaimed itself the foe of these also. It is, there- 
 fore, with a lowly acknowledgment of our own weakness, 
 and a clear perception of the subtle ramifications of sin, 
 that about these commands we pray, " Lord, have mercy 
 upon us, and write all these Thy laws in our hearts, we 
 beseech Thee." 
 
 III. The apostle asserts that the purpose of the 
 
 LAW is amongst THE THINGS REVEALED IN THE GoSPEL 
 OF THE BLESSED GoD. — The " sound doctrine " he men- 
 tions is the teaching of our Lord and His apostles ; 
 which, as the phrase denotes, was thoroughly " sound " 
 or wholesome, especially as opposed to the weak and dis- 
 tempered doctrines propounded by the false teachera 
 
THE PURPOSE OF THE LAW. 67 
 
 whom Timothy had to oppose. Men who laid great stress 
 on abstinence from things proper enough in themselves 
 were too often careless about the great moralities of life ; 
 and those who were busy with protitless speculations and 
 controversies were by no means high types of Christian 
 character. Moral perfection, the beauty of holiness, is 
 set forth in our Lord's Sermon on the Mount, the " sound 
 doctrine " of which was utterly opposed to sickly senti- 
 mentalism, or to vain j anglings of controversialists. And 
 this was in accordance with the glorious Gospel of the 
 blessed God, or rather with " the Gospel of the glory of 
 God," whose glory — that is, whose moral perfections and 
 character — are seen in all their lustre in the Person and 
 work of Jesus Christ. That Gospel tells us how those 
 condemned by the law may be justified, and it gives a 
 motive force, even love to God, who is made known in 
 Jesus Christ, which lifts us above the law, and creates 
 a life of self-renouncing love which is a life of liberty. 
 
 How beautiful, and how full of suggestion, is the title 
 (used in the Epistle to the Ephesians also) " the blessed 
 God " — the God who is infinitely happy, and who would 
 have all His creatures so. Philosophers dream and write 
 about God as " the impassive and unthinkable essence ; " 
 as " the great unknown and unknowable ; " as " the 
 tendency outside ourselves which makes for righteous- 
 ness." These ideas are but a revival of the teaching of 
 those Eleatics and Epicureans whom Paul encountered 
 confidently; for he believed as his Lord taught him to 
 do, in a Heavenly Father, who was consciously " blessed " 
 — happy in Himself and in His revelation of Himself to 
 
68 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 us ; and because He loved us, because He could not be 
 happy without us, He gave His only begotten Son to 
 redeem us, that, freed from the bondage of corruption 
 and mortality, we might in eternal felicity live in His 
 presence. 
 
 " Oh, for this love, let rocks and hills 
 Their lasting silence break, 
 And all harmonious human tongues 
 Their Saviour's praises speak." 
 
( 69 ) 
 
 vn. 
 
 THE SUMMONS TO SERVICE, 
 (i Tim. i. 12-14.) 
 
 The allusion to "the glorious Gospel of the blessed God" 
 is like the striking of a chord on the cathedral organ, 
 which is accompanied by an outburst of praise. Paul 
 was not troubled (as his critics are) about the inter- 
 ruption of his argument, but with all his heart he burst 
 out in the midst of it with the words, " I thank Christ 
 Jesus our Lord ! " His CALL to service, to which he ever 
 alluded so gratefully, requires our thoughtful considera- 
 tion. 
 
 I. It was a Sign of Divine Grace. — The apostle 
 might have given here a doctrinal exposition of the way 
 in which transgressors of the law might be justified; but 
 instead of this he adduces his own experience as an 
 example of it. He, who had once sought the righteous- 
 ness which was of the law, had seen a light above tliat 
 of the noonday sun shining upon him, and in the glory 
 of heaven had appeared Jesus of Nazareth, his Saviour 
 and Lord. From that moment he understood that while 
 the law was for condemning sinners, the Gospel was for 
 saving them, ministering to every penitent the forgive- 
 
70 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 ness of sins. And in God's abounding grace he found 
 himself not only forgiven, but summoned to service ; 
 " made a chosen vessel " to bear God's treasure unto the 
 Gentiles. He never ceased to be filled with wonder, that 
 the Lord had " counted him faithful" or esteemed him to 
 be worthy of trust; and his highest ambition was to 
 respond to this gracious confidence. For that is one 
 of the best results of being trusted — it develops a sense 
 of responsibility, and appeals to all that is noblest in the 
 nature. Trust your child with some important message, 
 or duty, and he will be more careful over it than over 
 what is trivial. If you would have your servants loyal, 
 regard them as faithful ; do not suspect and watch them, 
 as if they were dishonest. The mistress who keeps every- 
 thing under lock and key, the employer who is always 
 suspiciously dogging the footsteps of his young clerks, 
 sometimes provoke the wrongdoing that they fear. God 
 trusts us, and we should trust others ; and though it may 
 give us many a disappointment, it will justify itself in 
 the long run. " Be ye, therefore, merciful, even as your 
 Father who is in heaven is merciful." 
 
 The apostle was put in trust of the Gospel ; in other 
 words, he was commissioned to make known God's way of 
 salvation through Christ, and upon him largely rested the 
 responsibility of winning men to God, and then combining 
 them in Christian communities. A higher work could not 
 be sought for than this, and no ambition is more sacred and 
 divine than that which prompts one to pray for it. Thank 
 God for all the noble service which has been done in Christ's 
 army by men, who, like our brave oflScers in lower warfare, 
 
THE SUMMONS TO SERVICE. 71 
 
 have dared and done valiantly for the truth. Paul does 
 not here speak expressly of his official apostolate, but 
 designedly uses a phrase which was applicable to all 
 Christian work ; to that of Timothy, and to that of the 
 humblest teacher or worker the Church now possesses. 
 He speaks expressly of " the ministry " — " the service," 
 as the Revised Version has it — which might vary in 
 form, but had as its essence the doing of something for 
 Jesus Christ. And those who have any experience of 
 this service feel that they need the superabounding grace 
 of God to guide and sustain them in the work to which 
 they have been divinely called. Throw yourself boldly 
 and unreservedly into Christian service of any kind, and 
 you will feel more than ever how much you need the 
 wisdom and strength which are not of man, but of God. 
 The oil from the olive tree must flow to the golden 
 candlestick, or the light will die out. The well must 
 be fed from heaven, indirectly through many a hidden 
 channel, or it will soon be exhausted. And of Christ 
 Jesus we may say, " All my springs are in Thee." In the 
 law we find restraint, in the Christ we find inspiration. 
 Many of us can thank God, as the apostle did, when he 
 said, " The grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant to 
 me." It is He who " hath enabled me," who hath given 
 me power, to receive the charge, and even in some slight 
 measure to meet its awful claim. 
 
 II. But lest it should be thought that there was any- 
 natural innate worthiness of such a trust on Paul's part, 
 he goes on to show that this summons to service came 
 
 TO ONE WHO WAS UTTERLY UNDESERVING. 
 
72 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 I. It was like Paul, and therefore another indication 
 of the authenticity of this Epistle, to call prominent atten- 
 tion to what he had been before his conversion. Like David 
 he could say, " My sin is ever before me." His former 
 career seemed to haunt him like a spectre ; and though 
 he knew it was all forgiven by the Lord, he found it 
 almost impossible to forgive himself for those worse than 
 wasted years. And if this were so with one who was 
 divinely quickened on earth, how much more troubled 
 they will be hereafter who will not only see the evil past, 
 as they never saw it before, but who will not have, as he 
 had, the consciousness that in God's great mercy it is 
 forgiven. 
 
 The remembrance of past sin with Paul was not a 
 source of sorrow only, but it was a source of thanks- 
 giving. It was something like one of those wonderful 
 clouds we see at sunset. At first it looms ominously on 
 the horizon, as if the blackness of darkness were resting 
 on the distant hill, but at last the sunlight streams forth, 
 the edges of the cloud become dazzlingly bright, and 
 soon the whole is suifused with purple, and crimson, and 
 gold ; the dark cloud is glorified, and we feel the evening 
 would have lost half its beauty if the cloud had not been 
 there. 
 
 Paul's description of his previous career is painted in 
 colours black enough. " I was before," says he, " a 
 blasphemer ; cursing the sacred name of the Nazarene, 
 and compelling others who loved Him, by my threats, to 
 blaspheme Him too. I was a persecutor, standing by 
 approvingly when others stoned Stephen, one of the 
 
THE SUMMONS TO SERVICE. 73 
 
 noblest of God's servants; and not sparing even weakly 
 women who loved the Lord, who more than any other 
 raised up and dignified womanhood ; and I was injurious, 
 a doer of outrage, shrinking from no act of violence and 
 cruelty, if only I might crush the cause of the Nazarene. 
 Yet God's mercy abounded even towards me. It was not 
 like a river, but like a sea, deep, wide, and exhaustless. 
 How then can I praise Him enough ! " Let the thought 
 of that infinite love lead you to repentance, lest you be 
 found at last not only to have disobeyed Divine law, but 
 to have rejected Divine mercy. 
 
 2. It was not with a desire to lessen the enormity of 
 his guilt that he adds, " / obtained mercy, because I did 
 it ignorantly in unbelief." None knew better than he 
 did that his ignorance was culpable, because he had 
 within his reach the means of conquering it ; but he was 
 anxious to show that he had never been like the worse 
 section of the Pharisees, who knowingly rejected the 
 counsel of God against themselves, and so had put them- 
 selves outside the pale of mercy. 
 
 Paul was a persecutor, not because he was indifferent 
 to the claims of God, but because in his ignorance he 
 thought he ought to do many things contrary to the 
 name of Jesus. His position had been like that of the 
 men concerning whom the Lord prayed, " Father, forgive 
 them, for they know not what they do ; " or, like that of 
 those to whom Peter said, " And now, brethren, I wot that 
 through ignorance ye did it." None of us can judge of 
 the limits of responsibility in the case of any man, nor 
 can we tell how far ignorance is a weight to be thrown 
 
74 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 into tlie scale of mercy ; only the righteous Judge who 
 knows everything, and overlooks nothing, can determine 
 that ; but the Judge of all the earth will do right -, and 
 the Father hath committed all judgment unto the Son, 
 because He is the Son of Man. Yet Divine mercy is the 
 necessity of every man, even of the unconsciously guilty ; 
 and this proud, ignorant Saul, before he was pardoned, 
 needed to bow himself at Jesus' feet, and say with tears, 
 " Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do ? " 
 
 III. Finally, it is evident that DiVlNE GRACE WHICH 
 
 GAVE THE CALL AND FORGAVE THE SINNER, HAD AS ITS 
 SIGNS IN THE HEART OF THE CONVERT " FAITH AND LOVE." 
 
 " The grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant, with 
 faith and love which is in Christ Jesus" — that is, they 
 found their sphere of action in Christ. It was not merely 
 that the former persecutor was led to see the transcendant 
 excellence of Jesus, but such faith in Him, such love 
 towards Him were aroused in his heart, that the perse- 
 cutor became the apostle, who said, " The love of Christ 
 constraineth us ; because we thus judge, that one died 
 for all, therefore all died ; and He died for all that they 
 which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, 
 but unto Him who for their sakes died and rose again." 
 
 Conclusion. — The Lord is calling us as He called Saul 
 from the darkness of our ignorance into the light of His 
 love ; from the evils of the past to the bliss of pardon 
 and sanctity; from the indolence which has reigned so 
 lono-, to a life of self-renouncement for His dear sake. 
 
( 75 ) 
 
 vin. 
 
 THE GOSPEL IN A SENTENCE. 
 (I Tim. i. 15.) 
 
 It has been pointed out by critics that the expression " a 
 faithful saying " does not occur in any other of the Pauline 
 epistles except in those to Timothy and Titus. This, 
 however, is no proof that these letters are not authentic, 
 for they were written at a later period in the apostle's 
 life. We know from experience how naturally we come 
 to use certain phrases, which continually obtrude them- 
 selves in our conversation and letters for a time, and then 
 they fall into desuetude, and in old age such repetition of 
 familiar phrases is more frequent than before. Paul was 
 not so subject to the inspiration of God's Spirit as to be 
 exempt from the ordinary processes of brain activity, and 
 we see no cause for surprise in the fact that a phrase he 
 never used in his earlier ministry readily flowed from his 
 pen in his later years, and that three times in his Epistles 
 to Timothy, and once in his Epistle to Titus, he speaks 
 of some " faithful saying." 
 
 Besides this, as years go on and new truths become 
 familiar and are being conveyed by one to another, 
 especially among those whose range of language is 
 not great, as would be the case with Paul's hearers, 
 
76 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 there is a tendency to the crystallisation of thought in 
 familiar phrases. It is so with happy sayings struck out 
 in political warfare, such as Lord John Russell's "rest 
 and be thankful," or Disraeli's allusion to " extinct vol- 
 canoes," or Bright's reference to the " cave of Adullam," 
 or John Morley's " end them or mend them ; " and the 
 same sort of process is seen in scientific phraseology, "the 
 survival of the fittest," " natural selection," and so forth. 
 By choice sentences like these thought held in solution is 
 crystallised, and is more rapidly conveyed from one person 
 to another ; or, to use another figure, the gold of thought 
 long in a state of fusion is finally stamped by a master 
 mind, and then passes from hand to band as the current 
 coin of God's kingdom. This was the process which soon 
 asserted itself in the early Churches, and was the more 
 natural and necessary, because the diffusion of truth was 
 oral rather than written. Short sentences, struck off in 
 an inspired moment, were laid hold upon by retentive 
 memories, and repeated by one Christian to his neigh- 
 bour, and thus the truth was not only preserved but was 
 propagated. 
 
 The earliest example we have of this is alluded to by 
 Paul in his address to the elders of this Ephesian Church, 
 when referring to a phrase which is now recorded in our 
 Gospels, but was evidently familiar to his hearers, he 
 said, " Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how 
 He said. It is more blessed to give than to receive." 
 Another specimen of these current sayings is given in 
 the second chapter of the Second Epistle to Timothy, 
 where we read — " It is a faithful saying. For if we be 
 
THE GOSPEL IN A SENTENCE. J J 
 
 dead with Him, we shall also live with Him ; if we suffer, 
 we shall also reign with Him ; if we deny Him, He also 
 will deny us ; if we believe not, yet He abideth faithful, 
 He cannot deny Himself." Every one can see how such 
 familiar sayings would instruct the unbeliever and en- 
 courage the believer. 
 
 With all the advantages which arise from the possession 
 of a Christian literature, we cannot afford to be without such 
 faithful sayings ; indeed, the diffuseness and vagueness of 
 modern Christian thought is in part due to contentment 
 with general information rather than with definite and 
 concentrated truth. Texts of Scripture familiar to the 
 memory, and dear to the heart, may often come in for 
 our guidance and comfort in time of necessity ; but too 
 often Christian in the Valley of Humiliation finds that 
 the sword of the Spirit is out of his hand in the very 
 crisis of his conflict. And hymns, in their measure, have 
 a similar value to that of verses of Scripture. They are 
 for the most part the utterances of our best men at their 
 best times — when they have risen triumphant over their 
 doubts, and above the cramping eflect of denominational 
 barriers, and may bring help and inspiration to all who 
 love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Let us not be 
 unmindful of the spiritual help to be found in the faithful 
 sayings of the Church. 
 
 One of the noblest and earliest of these is before us in 
 a verse which contains and conveys the Gospel in a 
 sentence — " This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all 
 acceptation, that Cbrist Jesus came into the world to 
 save sinners, of whom I am chief." 
 
78 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 I. The Mission of the Son of God is here set forth — 
 He " came into the world." This expression would be 
 an extravagance if it referred only to ordinary human 
 parentage. But read in connection with other inspired 
 utterances it implies, if it does not expressly assert, the 
 conscious pre-existence of our Lord. Similarly, we read 
 in the Epistle to the Hebrews, " When He bringeth in 
 the first begotten into the world He said, And let all 
 the angels of God worship Him ; " and, in the Gospel 
 according to John, our Lord Himself declares, " I came 
 forth from the Father, and am come into the world ; " 
 again, " I leave the world, and go to the Father ; " and 
 once more, " I am come that they might have life." The 
 pre-existence of our Lord in a higher state was unques- 
 tionably an accepted axiom among the early Christians, 
 a commonplace of primitive Christian belief; and we, 
 believing in His deity, offer Him our lowly adoration 
 as well as our thanks and love. 
 
 II. The Purpose of His Mission could not be set 
 forth more clearly and concisely than in the words, He 
 came " to save sinners." His object was not to become 
 the temporal king of the Jewish people, nor yet to give 
 the light of scientific, or philosophical, or even ethical 
 knowledge to the Gentiles ; but to redeem men from the 
 condemnation of the law, and to deliver them from their sins. 
 To reverence Him as a kingly man, or to honour Him 
 as a great Teacher only, is but an imperfect acknowledg- 
 ment of His claims. He demands the giving up of sin, 
 the recognition and acceptance of His atonement, and the 
 absolute submission of the whole life to His will. His 
 cleansing of defiled lepers, His delivery of the dead from 
 
THE GOSPEL IN A SENTENCE. 79 
 
 the grave and its corruption, and His casting out of evil 
 spirits, were miracles which set forth what He came to do 
 in the spiritual experience of His followers. The woman 
 who washed His feet with penitential tears, the publican, 
 who at His coming welcomed salvation to his house, and 
 vowed to set right, as far as he could, the result of past 
 exactions and unrighteousnesses, showed what He ex- 
 pected of those who would be His followers. He came 
 not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance, and 
 therefore the message came by an angel to Joseph, " Thou 
 shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people 
 from their sins." 
 
 III. The Exemplification of this purpose, given by 
 Paul, is drawn from his own experience. He says, re- 
 specting himself, of sinners, " I am chief" The word 
 " sinners " is the same as occurs in the ninth verse, where 
 it denotes those for whom the law was a necessity, for 
 rebuke and restraint. Whom the law came to condemn, 
 Jesus came to save. And in Galatians ii. i 5 the same 
 word is applied to the Gentiles who were outside the 
 covenant of promise, living without God and without 
 hope in the world. It seems strange that Paul, who 
 even at his worst had been an ascetic and punctilious 
 Pharisee, should speak of himself as "chief" amongst 
 sinners. But if we had as deep an insight into our own 
 case as he had — if we recognised as clearly as he did the 
 far-reaching effects of sin, especially of such sin as his, 
 sin which misleads, perverts, and ruins others — we 
 might think thus of ourselves. When, under the in- 
 fluence of chloroform, some critical operation is performed, 
 and the patient wakes up to find that it is over, a great 
 
80 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 feeling of thankfulness rises up in his breast at the 
 whisper, " thank God it has been successful," for he 
 knows that life is saved ; but he would feel still more 
 thankful if he knew what the skilful surgeon does, that 
 there was only a fractional part of an inch in this direc- 
 tion or in that between him and death. Paul knew 
 better than we do what he had been saved from here and 
 hereafter, and his intensity of feeling about sin was an 
 element in his spiritual greatness. May God give ua 
 also humbling views of ourselves and adoring thoughts of 
 Him who has saved us ! 
 
 Conclusion. — The truth that Jesus Christ came into 
 the world to save sinners, is " worthy of all acceptation." 
 "It is a faithful saying," worthy of implicit credence, ol 
 absolute reliance, for it will not give way though you 
 lean the whole weight of your soul's salvation on it. It 
 is worthy of acceptance hy all men — by despairing sinners 
 clutching at the straws of their own resolves, regardless 
 of the outstretched hand of the one Saviour ; and by 
 self-sufficient moralists who shut their eyes to their need 
 and danger, knowing nothing of the awful depths beneath 
 them. And it is worthy of every hind of acceptation; 
 worthy of being embraced by every faculty of mind, and 
 heart, and will. You may understand it as a theological 
 doctrine, but that is not enough ; you may love it as a 
 familiar pleasant-sounding phrase, but that is not enough. 
 It deserves the homage of your entire nature. As the 
 disciples cast garments and palm branches in the way of 
 the coming Saviour, so let us prostrate our thoughts, our 
 affections, our wills, and our lives before Him who in 
 infinite love "came into the world to save sinners." 
 
IX. 
 
 PRAISE FOR SALVATION, 
 
 (i Tim. i. i6, 17. — "I obtained mercy.") 
 
 The narration of personal experience may be very helpful 
 to those who are wanting instruction or sympathy. Men 
 are better able to grasp truth in the concrete than in the 
 abstract. To see a sinner saved from sin is more helpful 
 than to read of salvation. No one recognised this more 
 clearly, or acted on it more wisely, than Paul ; and some 
 of the most instructive parts of his Epistles ai-e those in 
 which he recounts his own religious experience. We 
 may similarly help others, especially our own children, 
 and those who are within the sacred circle of friendship ; 
 but the narration of experience may be as harmful as 
 beneficial, if it becomes frequent or formal. There is 
 danger of egotism, till our own personality covers the 
 whole horizon of our thought. There is risk of affected 
 singularity, as if we wished to be distinguished from others 
 and considered superior to them. A fatal tendency to 
 exaggerate our feelings by the use of phrases too large 
 for our actual experience may assert itself. And espe- 
 cially with young Christians the spiritual life may be 
 seriously injured by public display — as a seed germinat- 
 
82 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 ing in darkness will be killed by exposure to air and 
 light. There are those to whom Jesus says, "Go ye and 
 teach all nations ; " but there are others to whom He 
 says, " Return to thine own house, and show how great 
 things God hath done for thee." What is helpful at a 
 time of leligious revival may be harmful as a regular 
 and formal branch of Church work ; and in nothing is 
 heavenly wisdom more needed than in the right use of 
 personal religious experience. Paul had this wisdom in 
 abounding measure. Referring to himself he says — 
 
 I. That salvation came to one most undeserving. — 
 "Chief of sinners though I am," he exclaims, " I obtained 
 mercy," " that in me," in the very depths of my nature, 
 in my whole future destiny, Jesus Christ might " show 
 forth all long-suffering." Paul wondered that he had 
 not been struck down dead when he blasphemed the 
 name of Jesus in the synagogue, or when he watched 
 with eager exultation the stoning of the martyr Stephen; 
 and when the light came from heaven which smote him 
 to the earth, leaving him blind and helpless, he mar- 
 velled that it was not death, but life which, in His 
 infinite mercy, the Lord Jesus brought to him. And 
 this salvation was not for himself alone; nor was it 
 merely that by his preaching he might advance the cause 
 he had hated ; but he was conscious — 
 
 II. That his conversion w^as a pattern for all the 
 future. — One reason God had for making this bold 
 sinner a vessel of Divine grace, was that he might be 
 a living exemplification of mercy, so that in all tlie 
 future the most guilty might say, " If God saved Saul, 
 
PRAISE FOR SALVATION. 83 
 
 He can save me." He was not only to be a herald, and 
 a preacher of glad tidings, but was to exemplify them in 
 his own life and character ; and ever since that time the 
 conversion of Paul has been, as much as his teaching, an 
 inspiration to the Church. Remembering what he was, 
 and what he became, we may be encouraged to bow at 
 Jesus' feet and say, " Lord, what wilt thou have me to 
 do ? " and still the message comes for every weary heart, 
 " If thou believest as Paul, thou shalt be saved as Paul." 
 
 III. That such conversion should express itself in 
 PRAISE to God is evident from the noble doxology which 
 follows — " Now unto the King eternal, immortal, incor- 
 ruptible, invisible, the only (wise) God, be honour and 
 glory for ever and ever. Amen." 
 
 Paul was always ready for a song of praise, and could 
 sing as heartily in prison at Philippi as at the prayer- 
 meeting beside its river. The thought he had just 
 uttered concerning God as the sovereign dispenser of 
 grace, who had foreseen from the first what the perse^ 
 cutor would be, and who would still show in all the 
 world's future His merciful kindness to those who be- 
 lieved in Jesus, naturally evoked this sublime expression 
 of adoring grateful worship. There is no exact parallel 
 to this doxology in the New Testament. It is not often 
 that God is spoken of as " King," and the expression 
 rendered by our translators " the King eternal," but 
 more correctly in the margin of the Revised Version 
 " King of the Ages," is quite peculiar to this verse. 
 What a helpful assurance this is that our God, our 
 Saviour, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the 
 
 7 
 
84 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 supreme Lord of all the successive ages which stretch 
 from the forgotten past into the Infinite future ; that He 
 controls all stages of development in the natural realm, 
 in the creation and dissolution of worlds, and in the 
 kingdom of grace ! The insects whose world is crushed by 
 a footstep may as well expect to comprehend the works 
 and plans of man, as we profess to understand the infinite 
 purposes of the King of the Ages — the incorruptible, the 
 invisible, and the only God. To Him be honour and 
 glory, for ever and ever. Amen. 
 
( 85 ) 
 
 TIMOTHY'S CHARGE AND WARNING. 
 (i Tim. i. 18-20.) 
 
 The "charge" to which Paul alludes does not refer 
 to what he said in the third and fifth verses, but 
 points on to what follows — to that good warfare which 
 Timothy was summoned to undertake against evil. From 
 his own experience and ofiice, the apostle turns to en- 
 courage his young fellow- labourer ; for the true Christian 
 thinks more of others than of himself, and uses his own 
 attainments to enrich them and not to glorify himself. 
 The desert sand drinks in the rain and the rock rejects 
 it ; but the fertile soil holds it, not for itself but for 
 the life and well-being of what is dependent upon it; 
 and this should be a type of those who receive spiritual 
 benediction. 
 
 I. The Charge, of which Timothy was reminded, 
 I. Had been indicated hy inspired prophets in the 
 Church. In those days God gave some to be "prophets" 
 as well as some to be " apostles " and " teachers." There 
 were prophets at Antioch who announced the way in 
 which missionary enterprise should be undertaken, men 
 through whom the Lord said, " Separate me Barnabas 
 
86 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 and Saul." Agabus had a similar gift, as had also the 
 daughters of Philip, the evangelist. These prophets were 
 able to take (not always, but often) far-seeing glances 
 into the future ; although, judging from the little infoi'- 
 mation we have upon the subject, they appear to have 
 foreseen what would happen to individual Christians 
 rather than to the Church or to the world in general. 
 This verse intimates that at a certain period in Timothy's 
 history — probably when he was specially set apart for 
 Christian work — such prophecies had been uttered over 
 him, and as he was but a lad, and by no means physically 
 robust, we can understand that these inspired utterances 
 would be necessary to bring about his election, to which 
 the worldly wise might object. Very significantly Paul 
 says these prophecies " went before on thee ; " that is, 
 they were not only uttered upon, or over him, but they 
 went forth " before " him in his future course, revealing 
 it and inspiring him to follow it — just as the conscious- 
 ness of having a courier in front would direct and 
 encourage the traveller. Hence Paul adds that " by 
 them," or in them, Timothy might wage a " good war- 
 fare;" he was to feel like one clothed and armed in those 
 prophetic hopes, in those believing prayers. 
 
 And do not we know souiething of this ? No man 
 has ever done great work in the world unless he has a 
 deep moral conviction that he is predestined to do it; and 
 this was never exemplified better than in General Gordon, 
 who, in more than one campaign, felt that he was invin- 
 cible and resistless till his work was done. And in our 
 lowlier spheres we should be the more watchful, earnest, 
 
timothy's charge and warning. 87 
 
 and hopeful, because others have had great hopes about 
 us, and because we have been set apart to be God's 
 servants by many an act of dedication. It is a great 
 thing to have prophecies going before us, and the prayers 
 of dear ones encircling us so that in them we may war a 
 good warfare. 
 
 2. For this charge involved conflict. — The hopes and 
 prayers of others could not save Timothy from spiritual 
 dangers, nor avert from him spiritual foes, nor relieve him 
 from personal responsibilities. And here it is worthy of 
 notice, that in his Epistles this apostle nearly always 
 draws his illustrations of a Christian's duties from mili- 
 tary and not from sacerdotal life. The responsibilities of 
 the Roman soldier and not of the Levitical priest seemed 
 to him the more fitting emblems of the work we have to 
 do. Knowing what ho did of the powers of evil in the 
 world, and of the strength of sin in the heart, we do not 
 wonder that he urges us to take to ourselves the whole 
 armour of God. 
 
 3. And for success in this warfare "faith and a good 
 conscience" are essential. — " Faith" fitly goes first, because 
 without it we have no hold on the invisible God — the 
 source of strength and the giver of victory ; but a " good 
 conscience" must evermore accompany it, because the 
 struggle is a moral one, in which we want not only an 
 enlightened mind and a determined will, but also that 
 sensitiveness to good and evil which will tell us when to 
 be on our guard and when to advance with courage. 
 " Faith," without a " good conscience," is like a garrison 
 summoned to defend one g-ate of the fortress, while a 
 
88 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 traitor is opening the other gate to relentless foes. This 
 leads the apostle to give Timothy — 
 
 II. The warning which is contained in the last two 
 verses, 
 
 1. He speaks of some who had put away a good con- 
 science, stifling its voice and thrusting it from them, 
 with this result, that they had made shipwreck of faith. 
 And this experience has often repeated itself in the 
 history of the Church. Balaam put away a " good con- 
 science " when he paltered with his convictions to his 
 soul's undoing. Saul, the king, did so when he disobeyed 
 the distinct command of God, until he was no longer 
 able to hear the Divine voice and resorted to the witch 
 of Endor. Judas Iscariot did so when he resisted the 
 promptings of the Holy Spirit and betrayed his Lord 
 and Master ; and in each case the sacrifice of con- 
 science brought about " the shipwreck of faith." Like 
 the bleached timbers on a rocky coast — those fearsome 
 histories appear for our warning, lest our end should be 
 as theirs. When our religious faith fails to influence 
 our practice, and becomes only a subject for the play of 
 fancy and speculation; when our views of truth and duty 
 become dim or wavering, and we are content that it 
 should be so, we are in danger — the anchorless vessel is 
 drifting in upon the rocks of infidelity and despair. The 
 loss of spiritual life follows on the sacrifice of moral 
 purity. May God keep us undefiled, that we may never 
 make shipwreck of faith ! 
 
 2. Uxamples of this are pointed out to Timothy: 
 " Hymenaeus and Alexander." — The latter was a very 
 
TIMOTHYS CHARGE AND WARNING. 89 
 
 common name, so that we cannot confidently identify 
 this man with " Alexander, the coppersmith," who, Paul 
 declares, in the Second Epistle, did him much evil ; but 
 Hymenaeus was so uncommon a name that we may be 
 sure it was he of whom the apostle says, in the Second 
 Epistle, that he and Philetus were in grievous error, 
 denying the doctrine of the resurrection, and declaring 
 that it was past already. A blunted conscience evidently 
 accompanied a darkened mind. A moral fall was in- 
 volved in an heretical lapse ; for the mutual dependence 
 of these is far more close than many think. 
 
 3. Paul did what he coidd to save and warn them, say- 
 ing of them, " Whom I have delivered unto Satan, that 
 they may learn not to blaspheme." A difficult passage, 
 chiefly because we know so little of apostolic modes of 
 Church discipline. This chastisement probably involved 
 a formal removal from the Church of Christ, with all the 
 shame and mortification which accompanied it ; for, as 
 we see in the case of Corinth, the whole Church con- 
 firmed the decision of the apostle. But this peculiar 
 phraseology, "whom I have delivered unto Satan," implies 
 more than that. It certainly did not mean that they 
 were given over to perdition, for the object of the 
 punishment was their salvation, " that they might learn 
 not to blaspheme," that is, not to misrepresent and calum- 
 niate the truth of God. 
 
 Here, as well as elsewhere, Satan is spoken of not as 
 an independent hostile power, but as one who is allowed 
 to work evil for a given purpose, which is often beyond 
 the range of men to discover. Thus Job was left in the 
 
pO EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 power of tlie adversary for a season ; and similarly, the 
 Lord Jesus said to Peter, " Simon, Simon, Satan hath 
 desired to have you, that he might sift you as wheat; but 
 I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not." Paul 
 himself speaks of the " thorn in the flesh " as being " the 
 messenger of Satan to buffet" him. And when in the 
 light of these passages we read this solemn declaration 
 and couple it with I Cor. v. 5, where Paul says of the 
 incestuous offender, " With the power of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruc- 
 tion of the flesh, that the Spirit may be saved in the days 
 of the Lord Jesus," we come to the conclusion that the 
 apostles were gifted with, and sometimes used, the solemn 
 power of inflicting disease on the body in order to awaken 
 in the offender, or in others, convictions of sin and long- 
 ings for salvation. In the terrible cases of Ananias and 
 Elymas, we see evidences of a power to punish given to 
 those who could heal diseases and cast out devils, a power 
 which no doubt was demanded by the exigencies of the 
 Church, and certainly died with the apostles, who could 
 not transmit it. 
 
 But underlying its exercise was a principle of Divine 
 discipline, which is applicable in every age ; for there is 
 no loss we sustain, no affliction we suffer, but may work 
 for our spiritual welfare, warning us against evil, and 
 stimulating us to holier endeavour and more earnest 
 prayer. 
 
 " Let us be patient, these severe afflictions 
 
 Not fiom tlie ground arise, 
 But oftentimes celestial benedictions 
 
 Assume this dark disguise." 
 
SERMONETTES ON SECOND CHAPTER. 
 
( 93 ) 
 
 I. 
 
 INTERCESSORY PRAYER. 
 
 (i Tim. ii. 1-4.) 
 
 Prayer is a first necessity of tlie Christian life. From 
 the moment when the soul turns in penitence to God, 
 and angels say, " Behold he prayeth," until the hour 
 when, at the gates of Paradise, the dying saint exclaims, 
 " Lord Jesus, receive my spirit," communion with God is 
 the vital breath of His child. In proportion to the 
 keenness of our spiritual perception, and the exercise of 
 our religious energies, is the consciousness of our need for 
 prayer. Without it we are like soldiers in the arid 
 desert, who grow more and more weary as they think of 
 distant wells separated from them by relentless foes, and 
 we are ready to exclaim, " My soul thirsteth for God, for 
 the living God. As the hart panteth after the water- 
 brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, God." Any 
 doubts, any companionship, any pleasures which either 
 deaden our sense of the necessity of prayer, or prevent 
 our enjoyment of its blessedness, are to be regarded and 
 dealt with as our deadly foes. 
 
 When we pray we become conscious of the reality of 
 unseen things until they completely outweigh in importance 
 
94 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 worldly affairs, and then it becomes possible to us, and 
 even natural to us, to live as " strangers and pilgrims." 
 In prayer we are also made more sensible of the presence 
 and of the infinite love of our Heavenly Father, and 
 become convinced that what He has ordained must be 
 wise and good, and thus in tribulation our troubled hearts 
 are quieted. And when we speak to Him we are more 
 ready to recognise how much there is which lies, and 
 must lie, beyond our finite comprehension, and we learn 
 to leave contentedly some mysteries unexplained, feeling 
 that God would not be infinite if we were able to com- 
 prehend Him. These and many other blessings are ours 
 through the exercise of prayer. 
 
 But Scripture constantly afiirms that there is more 
 than subjective good to be gained through fellowship 
 with God ; that if we ask we receive, and this not only 
 for ourselves but for others. The world is blessed by 
 the prayers of the saints. They constitute the ladder of 
 light on which the angels of God ascend and descend. 
 Hence Paul exhorts that prayers should be made for all 
 men. 
 
 The connection with what precedes is tolerably clear. 
 Timothy had been exhorted to wage a good warfare on 
 behalf of the truth, but prayer for himself and others was 
 essential to victory, because it alone would bring into the 
 field of conflict the unseen powers of heaven. Even the 
 Pagan Greeks were said to be inspired in their fight 
 against the Trojans by the thought that the gods were with 
 them ; but theirs was only dim and superstitious remem- 
 brance of the truth that Heaven fights for those who pray — • 
 
INTERCESSORY PRAYER. 95 
 
 as Elisha found when the Syrians encircled the city. Prayer 
 offered by the Church in Ephesus, in Eome, in Jerusalem, 
 received answers in the spiritual victories of believers, 
 and in the effects produced through their witness-bearing 
 upon the hearts of the people. And this exhortation, 
 that in the Christian assemblies prayers should be offered 
 " for all men," has come running down the groove of the 
 centuries to our own time, in order that we also may pay 
 good heed to it. 
 
 I. The variety of prayer is indicated by the use of 
 these differing phrases, " supplications, prayers, interces- 
 sions, and giving of thanks. No doubt these terms 
 overlap each other, and are not intended to be too 
 rigidly defined. But it is clear that the apostle refers 
 (l) to those simple expressions of want which begin 
 with a cry for pardon; (2) to that communion with God 
 which involves an habitual listening for His voice, and a 
 natural talking with Him about everything ; and (3) to 
 those importunate intercessions for others which are most 
 of all accordant with the spirit of the Great Mediator. 
 While (4) " thanksgiving " should be so cultivated that 
 even Christians living in a heathen city, with diflSculties 
 and dangers around them which we little comprehend, 
 would nevertheless find it natural. 
 
 We may think of these phrases separately in order to 
 get a clearer notion of the meaning of each ; but one 
 shades off into another ; and you can no more exactly 
 define each than you can say of the colours of a sea at 
 sunset, " the blue begins just here, and the glow of 
 crimson and the sheen of the gold just there." 
 
96 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 The more you pray the more you will discover the 
 variety of soul-utterances to God ; the calm contempla- 
 tion ; the agonising supplication ; the childlike talk with 
 the Heavenly Father ; and the seraphic praisefulness. 
 These are only known through experience. When the 
 untaught, unmusical lad takes up a violin, it is as much 
 as he can do to produce one steady tone, but in the 
 trained hands of the accomplished musician that same 
 instrument wails, and pleads, and sings. Much more 
 varied are the utterances of the human soul, when a full 
 answer is given to the prayer of the disciples, " Lord, 
 teach us to pray." 
 
 II. The subjects of prayer specially referred to in 
 this passage are not the necessities of the saints them- 
 selves, but the wants of other men, and especially of all 
 those who had authority and who exercised influence over 
 society. 
 
 The wide and generous sympathies inculcated by early 
 Christian teachers must have appeared very startling, 
 both to the Jewish people and to the Gentile world. 
 The apostles, taught by their Divine Master, held that 
 God had " made of one blood all nations of men for to 
 dwell on all the face of the earth," and that these were 
 mutually dependent and could unitedly bring about the 
 true welfare of the whole race. As the body had its 
 many members which were animated by one life, each 
 limb and organ having its own function, yet all together 
 ministering to the good of the one man ; so was it, in 
 their eyes, with society at large, as well as with the 
 Church of God. 
 
INTERCESSORY PRAYER. 97 
 
 The lesson has not been properly learnt yet. If it 
 had been, wars and rumours of wars would have 
 ceased long ago ; society would have been so consciously 
 stable that commerce would not have been afraid to 
 venture into new enterprises ; untold numbers of brave 
 lives would have been spared, and millions of troubled 
 hearts would have been delivered from their agony of 
 dread or of grief. We Christians ought to pray " for 
 kings, and for all that are in authority," not only in this 
 country but in other lands, that evil ambitions may be 
 crushed out of their hearts ; that designs prompted by 
 greed, or by ambition, or by revenge, may be thwarted ; 
 and that the good of the peoples at large, rather than of 
 a few sections of society, may be promoted by the universal 
 prevalence of peace, righteousness, and love. 
 
 The word " kings " in this verse is used quite gene- 
 rally, just as it was by our Lord when He said to His 
 disciples, " Ye shall be brought before governors, and 
 kings, for My sake and the Gospel's." The " kings " 
 were heathen, and yet were to be included in the 
 Church's prayers, with a charity that hoped all things, 
 and with a faith that believed the assurance, " The king's 
 heart is in the hands of the Lord, as the rivers of water : 
 He turneth it whithersoever He will." In this respect 
 the conduct of Christians was a contrast to that of the 
 Jews, for it was in apostolic days that the Jews refused 
 to offer sacrifices and prayers for foreigners. Listen to 
 what Tertullian says in his Apology respecting the prac- 
 tice of these early Christians. " We Christians, looking 
 up to heaven with outspread hands, because they are 
 
98 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 free from stain ; with uncovered heads, because there is 
 nothing to make us blush ; without a prompter, because 
 we pray from our hearts ; do intercede for all emperors, 
 that their lives may be prolonged, their government be 
 secured to them, that their families may be preserved in 
 safety, their senates faithful to them, their armies brave, 
 the people honest, and the whole empire at peace, and 
 for whatever other things are desired by the people or 
 the Csesar." If that was the custom under heathen rule, 
 how much more is it our duty under a Christian govern- 
 ment ! Therefore let us pray that our national affairs 
 may be guided with wisdom ; that amidst the tortuous 
 channels of foreign policy, where so many cross currents 
 and hidden rocks abound, the ship of state may be 
 firmly and safely steered ; that questions likely to pro- 
 voke anger and suspicion may be settled on fair prin- 
 ciples of justice ; and that in all home legislation 
 inequalities and injustices of every kind may be swept 
 away, the needs of a chronic pauperism met, temp- 
 tations to drunkenness and profligacy lessened where 
 they cannot be removed ; and thus " God, even our own 
 God, will bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall 
 fear Him." 
 
 We may fairly widen the application of these words 
 still further. Some of our truest " kings" are uncrowned. 
 A man who directs and rules the thought of a nation 
 has more power than one who gives expression to it ; 
 and we have seen instances in which a man has lost far 
 more than he has gained by exchanging the position of 
 an editor for that of a legislator. Writers for the press, 
 
INTERCESSORY PRAYER. 99 
 
 teachers in schools and universities, leaders in society, 
 organisers and chiefs of political parties, secretaries of 
 workmen's organisations, scientific explorers and ex- 
 pounders ; these are among the " kings " of the earth 
 for whom we pray that they may bring all their riches 
 and power into the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 III. The Issue of such Prayers is thus described — 
 " That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, in all 
 godliness and honesty," or rather " in all godliness and 
 gravity" as those who are not pei'turbed by earthly 
 strifes, but see in the state of society around them the 
 germs of the righteousness and peace which are of 
 heaven. 
 
 IV. The Acceptability of such Prayers in the sight 
 of God is expressly asserted. This custom of prayer (not 
 this state of society) is " good and acceptable in the 
 sight of God our Saviour, who will have all men to be 
 saved and to come to the knowledge of Uie truth." In 
 other words, if His love embraces all, our prayers should 
 include all ; for it is through His Church that His pur- 
 poses are accomplished, and through its neglect men may 
 be lost whom He is longing to save. 
 
 This verse has sometimes been pressed into the service 
 of universalism, and Calvin, therefore, sought to limit the 
 meaning of the phrase " all men," to all sorts of men ; 
 that God willed to save kings as well as peasants. Gen- 
 tiles as well as Jews. But there is no need for that 
 unjustifiable limitation. The last clause in the verse, 
 which speaks of coming to a full knowledge of the truth as 
 being God's will concerning us, is sufficient to indicate the 
 
lOO EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 essential condition of being saved, and for their acceptance 
 of this men are themselves responsible. But we Chris- 
 tians are to exhibit tlie truth, to strive to win men's 
 affections to it, to pray earnestly that they may submit 
 themselves to it, in order that God's message of good-will 
 may have practical effect upon all, in the devout belief that 
 God is not willing that any should perish, but that all 
 should turn from their wickedness and live. " And the 
 Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth 
 say. Come. And let him that is athirst come. And who- 
 soever will, let him take the water of life freely." 
 
( loi ) 
 
 n. 
 
 THE ATONEMENT. 
 (I Tim. ii. 5-7.) 
 
 Paul gives this as his reason for believing that God 
 " willeth all men to be saved," and that His people should 
 pray for their salvation — that we are all related to one 
 God and to the one Mediator. God is " one God," not 
 two or more gods, as the neighbours of Timothy in 
 Ephesus believed. There is not one God for the Gentiles 
 and another for the Jews ; one God for Englishmen and 
 another for Arabs and Russians ; one God for the rich and 
 another for the poor ; one God who works evil and another 
 who does good ; but before the same Eternal King we all 
 stand on equal footing, and to Him we may all turn with 
 the same confidence. 
 
 I. The Necessity for a Mediator is, however, dis- 
 tinctly implied. " There is one God and one Mediator 
 between God and man — Himself man, Christ Jesus." The 
 true humanity of our Lord we thankfully recognise. In 
 Him God has come near to us, and revealed Himself to 
 us, therefore Jesus said, " I and the Father are one." 
 And again, " He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." 
 Christ is a true Mediator, because He blends two natures 
 
102 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 in His own, the Divine and the human. When a man is 
 down in a horrible pit, a rope dangling above him would 
 be a mockery if it were far out of his reach ; and a ladder 
 set in the miry clay beside him would be equally useless, 
 if the ground above were at an unreachable distance from 
 its highest rung. The only means of communication, 
 which can bring him salvation, must reach the sunlit 
 plain above him, and yet be within his grasp. So is it 
 with the " one Mediator." As the God-man He reigns 
 in the highest, yet reaches the lowest, and as the Son 
 of man rather than the Son of David or the Son of 
 Abraham, He touches every man, whatever his race or 
 condition. 
 
 II. The Essence of the Atonement appears in the 
 statement that He, the Mediator, Christ Jesus, " gave 
 Himself a ransom for all." 
 
 The Bible, which is the only explicit declaration we 
 have about God's dealing with sin, constantly asserts, 
 not in isolated texts, but in its whole tenor, that men 
 were out of harmony with God, and that but for the in- 
 terposition of Jesus Christ they would have perished in 
 their sins. But in His infinite love the Eternal Word 
 became man, and in His Divine-human life He accepted 
 for Himself the conditions which had bound sin and death 
 together, and broke the spell of sin and exhausted the 
 curse of death. The idea of substitution, however little it 
 commends itself to the judgment of some who have often 
 very imperfectly considered it, is unquestionably involved 
 in this. The Greek word translated here " ransom," means 
 the redemption price paid for the deliverance of a slave or 
 
THE ATONEMENT. 103 
 
 captive, and when Jesus "gave Himself" (not money or 
 power) a ransom for all, He was like one wlio takes the 
 place of a prisoner that the prisoner may go free. If the 
 captive refuses freedom he perishes, but the love of his 
 would-be deliverer is none the less. Man's escape from 
 the dominion of sin and death is not possible through 
 evolution or development, but through Divine interposi- 
 tion, which is revealed in the Christ, " who gave Himself 
 a ransom for all." 
 
 Most of those who have rejected this great doctrine 
 have done so because they have had pressed home upon 
 them only one phase of it — as if that were in itself a 
 complete and satisfactory account of a profound mystery. 
 The Atonement has sometimes been spoken of as a sort of 
 legal transaction, having no essential bearing upon moral 
 character, which will procure acquittal for the sinner at 
 the bar of judgment without setting him free from the 
 usurpation of sin. Hence thouglitful men have said — " I 
 cannot receive that doctrine ; I should not be content to be 
 exempted from punishment which I deserved on the ground 
 that it was transferred to some one else who did not 
 deserve it. It would neither be just nor generous." And 
 the reply is conclusive and deserved, as condemning the 
 partial view of the Atonement as if it were the whole. 
 But the cross of Jesus Christ tells us far more. It de- 
 clares that God so loves us that He cannot rest till He 
 delivers us from sin ; that He would make any sacrifice 
 for such an end, and that by the exhibition of His love 
 and the transforming power of His Spirit, he would con- 
 form us to the likeness of His Son, that we may be 
 
I04 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 partakers of His death and of His life, becoming dead 
 to sin and alive to righteousness. 
 
 I. The Godward side of the Atonement is as important 
 as it is mysterious, but it is not to be insisted upon as if 
 it were all. The Scripture asserts again and again in 
 types and in texts that it is in virtue of the death of 
 Christ that God can justly forgive ; that except for His 
 sacrifice the Divine love could not reach us ; that by Him 
 satisfaction was made to the law of God, and that pardon 
 was not, and could not be, a bare act of grace. All who 
 accept that assurance and turn in penitence and confidence 
 to God, are at once fully and freely forgiven. 
 
 These statements are beyond proof. They concern a 
 sphere of existence about which we know absolutely 
 nothing except what is revealed in Scripture. They have 
 to do with the relations between the Eternal Father and 
 the Only Begotten Son, about which the wisest of us are 
 profoundly ignorant. We do not understand how the 
 law of the Father required the sacrifice of the Son, nor 
 how the death of the God-man affected the purpose of the 
 Father ; but are we to say, therefore, that there is no 
 connection between them ? Is that the only mystery in 
 life ? Why, what do you know of your own existence in 
 its deeper relations ? You cannot understand how two 
 natures can inhere in one and the same person — the one 
 being affected by the other in subtle and yet intimate 
 ways ; yet you believe that you yourself have those two 
 natures — the physical, which will soon be left in the 
 grave ; the psychical, which is so dependent on it, yet so 
 independent of it. If you do not understand the relation 
 
THE ATONEMENT. IO5 
 
 between your own double personality ; if you do not know 
 how the brain affects thought, how thought uses the brain, 
 how can you hope to bring within the compass of your 
 definitions the relations between the Father and the Son ; 
 between the death on the cross which was visible and the 
 effect of it on Divine righteousness, which is invisible. 
 A God I could comprehend would be no God to me. 
 
 Yet it has been a frequent and grievous mistake of 
 popular theology to dwell upon this aspect of the Atone- 
 ment only as if it contained the whole truth. But we 
 must also remember that Christ's giving of Himself as a 
 ransom for all was meant to have its influence on human 
 hearts. This leads us to contemplate — 
 
 2. The man-ward side of the Atonement. Before the 
 advent of our Lord, men had come to doubt and even to 
 deny that God loved them. They regarded Him as a hard 
 and austere Being, who required to be placated by gifts and 
 sacrifices. It did not occur to them as possible that God 
 would Himself make the atonement ; that He had never 
 ceased to love them, and was ready to bear and do any- 
 thing which might redeem them from sin and restore 
 them to Himself. But " He so loved the world that He 
 gave His only begotten Son." " He spared not His own 
 Son, but delivered Him up for us all." He commendeth 
 His love to us in that " while we were yet sinners, Christ 
 died for the ungodly." 
 
 The Cross of Calvary assured the world that the Divine 
 love, even for sinners, was capable of the utmost self- 
 sacrifice, which taught many to say, " We love Him because 
 He first loved us." 
 
Io6 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 But there is yet another phase of Christ's atoning work 
 which must not be lost sight of. We have seen that it 
 vindicated Divine law, and revealed Divine love so as 
 to touch the hearts of those who saw it, but it was meant 
 also to exert an ethical influence over men. 
 
 3. The moral iwiocr of the, Atonement. Many sneer at 
 professing Christians as men who persuade themselves 
 that they are relieved from tlie punishment of sin, but 
 who show no signs whatever of being redeemed from its 
 power. They jeer at those also who talk with effusive 
 sentiment of the love of God, but who fail to display a 
 righteous and manly character. But love such as God 
 calls for, and the sacrifice of Calvary demands, is really 
 a strong and active affection ; indeed, we are told that 
 " love is the fulfilling of the law." It draws us from 
 sin to righteousness, breaks the power of evil, heals our 
 wounds, and washes away our stains ; and, through " the 
 blood of the Lamb," we are able to walk as those clothed 
 in white robes. Christ bore our sins in His own body 
 on the tree, in order that we might be dead to sin and 
 alive unto righteousness. " He gave Himself a ransom 
 for all." 
 
 I have thus indicated the three directions in which 
 your thoughts should run if you wish to understand the 
 Scripture doctrine of the Atonement. It is at once a pro- 
 pitiation for sin, a claim on our love, and the mightiest 
 moral force the world has known ; but we do not com- 
 prehend it by all our searching. Our knowledge is only 
 like that of one who has explored a tiny island which is 
 surrounded by an infinite sea of mystery, and, when we 
 
THE ATONEMENT. IO7 
 
 reach the limits of our furthest shore, we can only ador- 
 ingly say, "Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom 
 and knowledge of God ! how unsearchable are His judg- 
 ments, and His ways past finding out!" Our one comfort 
 is that, in every time of darkness and storm, we, like the 
 disciples on the Sea of Galilee, can see the Lord Jesus 
 walking on the waves of mystery ; and we can even walk 
 a little way with Him so long as by faith we hold His 
 mighty, loving hand. 
 
 III. The pkopagation of this fundamental truth 
 through the world is to depend upon human testimony, 
 Paul says that he himself was a living witness of it, for 
 none who knew what he had been and had now become 
 could doubt that God was willing that all men should be 
 saved and come unto the knowledge of the truth. And 
 he had been also appointed as a " preacher and apostle " 
 of these glad tidings to the Gentiles, in order that by 
 proclaiming the " truth " he might help them to " faith " 
 in God. 
 
 This, brethren, is our duty too. It may be that we 
 have not any remarkable gifts like Paul's, but we may 
 reveal to others the power of Christ to save from sin, if 
 only we ourselves experience that power. A holy life is 
 more mighty than the most eloquent sermon, and through 
 it each one of us, however lowly in position, may make a 
 good confession, and testify to God's saving power "in 
 due time," in its own time — while mercy is within reach 
 of all. 
 
 But since we are only strong when we wait upon God, 
 
I08 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 and can only witness for Him when, like Moses, we come 
 forth from His immediate presence, let us carry in our 
 hearts this exhortation of Paul's — " I will, therefore, that 
 men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without 
 wrath and doubting." 
 
( 109 ) 
 
 in. 
 
 ON PRAYER. 
 (i Tim. il 8.) 
 
 In this verse the apostle recurs to the subject of prayer, 
 upon which he had spoken at the beginning of the 
 chapter. Prayer is such an essential habit in any real 
 Christian life, and is so necessary to the spiritual progress 
 of the Church, that it could not be too often referred to, 
 the more so as God is ever listening for it. A dumb 
 child in the family must be a continual grief to his 
 father, and a child who is silent from indifference or 
 from aversion would rend his heart still more ; yet we, 
 knowing this, are slow to believe that God is grieved and 
 angry over the prayerless. The Revised Version renders 
 the Greek more correctly by the phrase, " I desire there- 
 fore " that men pray everywhere, for no " will " or resolve 
 of Paul's could make men pray. He could counsel, but 
 he could not command this expression of longing towards 
 God, and still less can any minister or parent give the 
 spirit of prayer. We can determine the times to be set 
 apart for such worship, and we may provide forms of 
 prayer to be employed by those who choose to use them, 
 but praying is no more to be commanded than loving. 
 
I I O EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 The child may learn the simple phrases which have been 
 used for generations by little ones when they have gone 
 to the throne of grace, but the mother who yearns over 
 the child as he kneels can do no more than say, " I 
 desire you to pray ; " and must leave it to the Great 
 Inspirer of all holy desire to give speech to the dumb 
 soul, longing to the unawakened heart, and so to answer 
 the petition, " Lord, teach us to pray." 
 
 I. The Universality of Prayer was a Divinely-given 
 conception of the apostle's. Not only did he desire prayer 
 to be oflfered for all men by Christians, as he says in the 
 first verse, but that " all men, everywhere," should pray 
 — till heaven be linked with this world by bonds as 
 numberless as the rays of sunlight, which make a golden 
 ladder between the earth and the sun. No doubt the 
 primary reference is to the Christian assemblies, from 
 which intercessions were continually to arise ; but more 
 is implied than this — namely, that all places are sacred, 
 that from cathedrals and from hovels, from happy 
 gatherings in our homes, and from secret places of 
 wrestling and agony, from quiet rooms where the sick 
 are wasting, and from noisy haunts of bustling activity, 
 praises and prayers should rise toward God. 
 
 " From every place below the skies, 
 The grateful song, the fervent pruyer, 
 The incense of the heart, may rise 
 To heaven and find acceptance there." 
 
 " I will, therefore, that men pray everywhere" 
 
 II. The Spirit of Prayer is indicated very clearly in 
 the words which follow. Allusion is made in them to 
 
ON PRAYER. Ill 
 
 the outward form of prayer — or rather to the attitude of 
 supplication which was usual among the Jews — as we 
 may judge from such passages as that in which David 
 says, " Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry 
 unto Thee ; when I lift up my hands towards Thy holy 
 oracle." But there is a deeper significance in Paul's 
 words than an allusion to attitude, when he speaks of — 
 
 1. Holy hands being lifted up in prayer. He implies 
 that if our hands are defiled by iniquity, or are stained 
 with blood, or are desecrated by the handling of ill-gotten 
 gold, we have no right to pose as the priests of the 
 world. If we regard iniquity in our hearts, the Lord 
 will not hear us. The defiled conscience and the unre- 
 pented sin are insurmountable barriers between us and 
 God, until we remember the gracious words, "If we 
 confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us our 
 sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 
 
 To the qualification for priesthood, which is found in 
 cleansed hands, must be added that of — 
 
 2. Loving hearts. In praying we ought to be " with- 
 out," that is, " delivered from," " wrath and doubting," or 
 rather from wrath and disputatiousness — being free from 
 all revengeful feeling and quarrelsomeness. Has not 
 forgetfulness of this often prevented answers to prayers ? 
 When, for example, there prevails in a Church bitterness 
 of feeling between those who lead the devotions, when 
 suspicion and distrust destroy the fellowship of believers, 
 or when anger and resentment are being harboured, how 
 can we sincerely join in the Lord's Prayer, every clause of 
 which is a test of our likeness to Him, and say, " Forgive 
 
I I 2 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 US our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass 
 against us," No amount of stress laid upon the subse- 
 quent petition, " Thy kingdom come," will make up for 
 the paralysing effect of using that earlier prayer as an 
 empty form. " If then, thou remember that thy brother 
 hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift before the 
 altar, and go thy way ; first be reconciled to thy brother, 
 and then come and offer thy gift, or thy prayer," I will, 
 therefore, that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy 
 hands, without wrath and disputatiousness. 
 
( 113 ) 
 
 IV. 
 
 WOMAN'S TRUE DIGNITY. 
 (i Tim. ii. 9, 10.) 
 
 It seems at first sight rather an abrupt descent into a 
 lower sphere when Paul turns from the prayers of the 
 Church to the dress of the women ; and there are not 
 wanting those who would expunge from the New Testa- 
 ment, if they could, much that was written by the apostle 
 on this and on some kindred subjects. Probably if they 
 knew, as he did, the state of society in which these 
 women were living and their miserable upbringing, all 
 their right-minded sisters would now approve, without 
 stint or hesitation, every word that he wrote. That Paul 
 thought of women then, exactly as he would have thought 
 of women now, no impartial student of those times would 
 affirm ; because, as a matter of fact, women themselves, 
 from the training they received and from the estimation 
 in which they knew themselves to be held, were naturally 
 inferior to what they are now that centuries have passed 
 since their emancipation and ennoblement by Christianity. 
 If we lived in Turkey or in India, we should be better able 
 to appreciate the wisdom of Paul's counsel in respect to the 
 women of his day ; and I am not prepared to mitigate or 
 
114 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 to apologise for his brave and wise words. Remember it 
 was due to him more than to any other apostle that women 
 had been so far emancipated as they were when this Epistle 
 was written, for it was he who had taught that in Christ 
 ■ Jesus there was neither male nor female. But he grieved 
 over some of the evils which at first arose from the great 
 changes effected in their social position. Seclusion had 
 been rigorously maintained by the customs of those Eastern 
 cities. The picture in the Royal Academy, which repre- 
 sents a young girl, with slippers in her hand, drawing aside 
 the curtain of the seraglio, and stepping across the body 
 of a black slave, who is sleeping with naked sword in 
 his hand, fairly represents the slave-like treatment of 
 women in Ephesus in Paul's days. Indeed, even among 
 the Jews, the women who came to the synagogue were 
 (and still are) kept out of sight in a carefully screened 
 gallery. It was therefore not to be wondered at that the 
 Christian women emancipated from such treatment felt 
 themselves not only at liberty to assert their new-born 
 rights but bound to do so, and that they claimed a pro- 
 minence and a freedom which were good neither for them- 
 selves nor for the Church. And we must not forget that, so 
 far as women had greater publicity in the heathen cities, it 
 was at the risk of the virtuous reputation which Christians 
 would be the most anxious to preserve. The priestesses of 
 the temples, for example, were notoriously immoral, and the 
 Hetairae were not only a recognised, but even a respect- 
 able class in Pagan society. You can see, therefore, 
 what boundless possibilities of evil were opened up by 
 the prominence women were claiming for themselves in 
 
WOMAN S TRUE DIGNITY. II5 
 
 Christian assemblies in those cities. There were dangers 
 threatening their moral character, exemplified in Corinth, 
 and others which afiected their reputation, which Paul 
 recognised in Ephesus. This glance at the condition of 
 Ephesian society, which will not bear close description, is 
 sufficient to indicate some of the reasons Paul had for 
 his teaching here on the true dignity of woman. 
 
 I. He speaks of it first negatively, declaring that her 
 dignity does not depend upon outward adornment ; and 
 this is always and everywhere true. It is probable that 
 the women who came to the Christian assemblies in 
 Ephesus arrayed themselves in costly attire, and some- 
 times made unbecoming display of their personal charms 
 till the custom was becoming the sensation, if not the 
 scandal, of the city. And, though Paul was well aware 
 that the ladies would resent his interference in such a 
 matter, he boldly condemned, just as Peter did, and in 
 almost the same language, their love of dress and display. 
 " Adorn yourselves," said he, " in modest (or seemly) 
 apparel ; not with powdered hair, or gold, or pearls, or 
 costly array." 
 
 Now, these plain words are not without just applica- 
 tion now. Of course, they are not to be too literally 
 interpreted ; but the principle underlying them is sound 
 and Christian. No one professing godliness ought to 
 spend time, and taste, and money to the extent many do 
 on mere personal adornment, as if the body was every- 
 thing and the mind nothing, or as if the chief end of a 
 woman's life was to win admiration not respect, to please 
 man and not God. Even from a lower standpoint it is a 
 
 9 
 
Il6 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 mistake, and I ventui*e to think that many a marriage 
 has been prevented, and many a possibly happy home is 
 fraught with anxiety, because of an expenditure on dress, 
 which cannot be reasonably or rightly met. There are 
 lives which might have been unspeakably happier if only 
 they had been united, if the two young people had been 
 content to face the world together with plain fare and 
 simple habits. Anything which fosters love of dress, 
 vanity, and display, whether it be found in companionship 
 or in amusement, ought resolutely and for Christ's sake 
 to be put away. Listen to John Euskin, " I say further, 
 that as long as there are cold and nakedness in the land 
 around you, so long can there be no question at all but/*^ 
 that splendour of dress is a crime." Slovenliness and 
 carelessness no Christian should ever be guilty of, but 
 the true follower of the Lord cannot let the mind be 
 much occupied by mere questions of appearance and 
 dress. 
 
 IL Woman's dignity is next set forth positively. — 
 " I will," says Paul, " that women adorn themselves in 
 
 1. " Modest apjjarel, with shamefastness and sohriety" 
 — It is curious that in modern reprints of the English 
 version the foolish and unmeaning word " shamefaced- 
 ness" should have crept in, for it was evidently substi- 
 tuted by some wiseacre among the printers instead of the 
 expressive and beautiful word " shamefastness." In the 
 English Hexapla, I see that Wyclif, Tyndale, and Cranmer, 
 and the original Authorised Version of 1 6 1 i , all use that 
 word, which is restored in the Revised Version. It ex- 
 presses, as well as any word can, the idea in the Greek, 
 
WOMAN S TRUE DIGNITY. I I 7 
 
 which denotes the inward feeling which will not permit 
 any overpassing of womanly modesty and reserve, and 
 which will turn with loathing from that which is evil as 
 that which cannot be looked upon or thought about. 
 And this is conjoined with " sobriety " or with self-rule, 
 which exercises absolute control over every passion and 
 every pleasure. No one can overrate the influence of 
 these. Society owes its tone more to women than to 
 men. What they frown upon will be tabooed; what they 
 thoughtlessly tolerate will grow in evil influence. There- 
 fore, let every woman keep up the tone of the conversa- 
 tion in which she takes part ; let her exact the respect 
 and even the reverence which is due to her sex, and dis- 
 courage at the very beginning the flippancy and famili- 
 arity too common in society ; and let her loathing of 
 every form of vice be so evident that from her pure pre- 
 sence it will shrink away abashed as from an angel of 
 light. 
 
 2 . But in addition to this influence, which may he almost 
 unconsciously exercised, the Christian woman is to adorn 
 herself with "good worhs" She often does this behind 
 the veil which is drawn over every home. There are 
 those whose " good works " are noble in their self- 
 sacrifice and far-reaching in their issues of whom the 
 Church hears little. Mothers teaching and warning 
 their children ; wives pleading again and again with 
 wayward, erring husbands ; and patient with them still 
 though all else have lost hope; sisters leading their 
 brothers with the strong hand of affection in the paths 
 of purity and truth. Many a man can sympathise with 
 
I 1 8 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 that soldier who said, " I can stand before the enemy, 
 but I cannot stand before my sister's prayers." And 
 who does not know of more public work done by 
 Christian women — such as that of our visitors and 
 Sunday-school teachers ; of saintly pleaders with the 
 drunkards and the profligate ; — of noble women whose 
 writings have purged the atmosphere of moral corrup- 
 tion ; of heroines like Florence Nightingale and Sister 
 Dora, who have trodden closely in the footsteps of the 
 Lord. These have been clothed with " good works." 
 They have been their robe of adornment, their " habit " 
 which gives them likeness to the angels. 
 
 *' Oh, what makes woman lovely ? Virtue, faith, 
 And gentleness in sufifering ; an endurance 
 Through scorn or trial : these call beauty forth, 
 Give it the stamp celestial, and admit it 
 To sisterhood with angels ! " 
 
( 119 ) 
 
 V. 
 
 THE POSITION OF WOMAN. 
 
 (i Tim. ii, 11-15.) 
 
 This was — 
 
 I. A Bold Declaration on the part of the apostle. 
 " Let the woman learn in silence (or rather in quietness) 
 with all subjection, for I suffer not a woman to teach, nor 
 to usurp authority over the man, but to be in quietness ;" 
 but the course he followed in this matter was wise, in 
 the condition of life then prevailing. In our days there 
 is no doubt a change of those conditions, which would 
 make the rigorous application of such a rule unwise and 
 unjust. Women, in larger numbers now than then, are 
 of necessity independent, and are compelled to earn their 
 own livelihood, and make their own homes ; and being, 
 in some respects, the weaker, they should have no 
 artificial barriers put in the way of their doing so. 
 There are disabilities, the relics of feudal times, which 
 slowly, yet surely, are being swept away, though much 
 still remains to be done. Under our Euglish laws, for 
 example, a woman may be compelled to pay taxes, 
 though she has no right to influence the election of those 
 who impose them — as her gardener or coachman may do ; 
 
120 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 she may have won property, or wage, whicli until lately 
 she had no right to call her own. Acts of cruelty perpe- 
 trated upon her by her husband bring upon him but a 
 trifling punishment, and gross wrong which will ruin 
 her whole future may be committed, at less risk to the 
 criminal than if he shot a pheasant in a neighbouring 
 wood. Injustice is not out of our statute-books yet, and 
 no one would have led a crusade against it more vigorously 
 than Paul. While the law is thus open to improvement, 
 and society too, there has been such advance made among 
 women that they are far more fitted intellectually and 
 morally than in Paul's day for taking part in the work 
 of the Church. We readily admit and heartily rejoice 
 over this fact, and acknowledge that the Church's work 
 would be paralysed if left to men only. But the general 
 law laid down by Paul still holds good. The public 
 work of life, whether in the world or in the Church, is, 
 broadly speaking, not woman's but man's. His is the 
 life of turmoil, hers of quietude. She is receptive ; he 
 is aggressive : and it is not so much in her conspicuous 
 activity as in her yielding affectionateness that her true 
 strength is found. Does any one say this is claiming for 
 man what is best, and giving to woman what is inferior ? 
 I point you to the words of the Lord Jesus, at the 
 beginning of His Sermon on the Mount, to prove that in 
 the judgment of God the very reverse is true. When He 
 said, " Blessed are the meek, blessed are the pure in 
 heart, blessed are the peacemakers," did He not mean 
 that in those qualities the highest bliss is to be found ? 
 Nay, His own example, and His death on the cross, 
 
THE POSITION OP WOMAN. 121 
 
 suffice to teach us that it is through submission and self- 
 abnegatiou that the highest throne is won. In the 
 apostle's view it was woman's province to exhibit the 
 loftiest ideal of the Divine life ; and if she imperiously 
 claims to be the teacher and ruler of man, she reverses 
 the Divine order, and loses her distinctive vocation in the 
 economy of God. This the apostle proceeds to show — 
 
 II. By a Scriptural Argument. — He goes back to 
 Eden for a justification of his teaching — for he was 
 accustomed to regard the facts of the Old Testament 
 as symbolical and parabolical sources of perpetual instruc- 
 tion — and he finds in the creation and in the fall of our 
 first parents an illustration of the relations of the sexes. 
 " Adam was first formed," says he, " then Eve." Man's 
 priority in creation, standing as he did alone and in 
 immediate relation to God, was an indication of his 
 place and power, as having the headship over her 
 whom God made to be his helpmeet. But if the help- 
 meet becomes the head, and the head weakly yields, 
 there comes an overthrow of the Divine order, as there 
 did come in Paradise. 
 
 The next verse plainly states how the violation of 
 primeval order brought about disaster, and this is evi- 
 dently adduced as an example of the evil which would 
 arise if in the management of affairs woman should quit 
 her proper sphere. Practical shrewdness and discern- 
 ment ; the firm and regulative judgment which should 
 characterise the ruler, are less hers than man's. Her 
 very excellencies, connected as they are with the finer 
 sensibilities and the stronger impulses of a noble and 
 
122 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 loving nature, disqualify her for the headship, whereas 
 the balance in man's nature is the other way ; in the 
 direction of the intellectual and the governing. For- 
 getting this, Eve affected to decide a testing question for 
 herself and her husband, and she was overreached by 
 a more subtle and ruthless intelligence — " the serpent 
 beguiled her ; she was deceived." But it is here asserted 
 that " Adam was not deceived," and was therefore more 
 guilty, because with his eyes open to the wrong he 
 yielded to conjugal love. In other words, the will and 
 the judgment were sacrificed to the affections — the 
 essence of moral fall. 
 
 Now this may seem a far-fetched argument to some, 
 but it would not be easy to find a more vivid illustration 
 of the essential difference between the masculine and the 
 feminine natures, and it is this difference which is the 
 basis of the apostle's argument for the counsel he has 
 been giving here. But between those so different in 
 nature there need be no contest as to inferiority and 
 superiority, any more than between the beauty of the 
 flower or the beauty of the mountain on whose side it 
 blooms. 
 
 " The woman's cause is man's. They rise or sink 
 Together. Dwarfed or godlike, bond or free ; 
 If she be small, slight-natured, miserable, 
 How shall men grow ? . . . Let her be 
 All that not harms distinctive womanhood ; 
 For woman is not undeveloped man. 
 But diverse. Could we make her as the man, 
 Sweet love were slain, whose dearest bond is this. 
 Not like to like, but like in difference : 
 
THE POSITION OF WOMAN. 1 23 
 
 Yet in the long years liker must they grow ; 
 
 The man be more of woman, she of man ; 
 
 He gain in sweetness, and in moral height, 
 
 Nor lose the wrestling thews that throw the W(jrld ; 
 
 She mental breadth, nor fail in childward care, 
 
 More as the double-natured poet, each ; 
 
 Till at the last she set herself to man, 
 
 Like perfect music unto noble words."* 
 
 Paul closes his remarks on woman by alluding to — 
 III, A Blessed Assukance. — " Notwithstanding she 
 shall be saved in childbearing ; " or, as the R. V. has it, 
 " through the childbearing." Perhaps there was some 
 hint here of the blessing that comes through pain and 
 travail, of whatsoever kind it be ; and also of the great 
 and noble work possible only to motherhood. But the 
 more correct translation gives us rather the thought of 
 whatmay be called pre-eminently ^^ the childbearing" — 
 when Jesus Christ, the world's Saviour, was born of a 
 woman, and appeared in the likeness of sinful flesh — for 
 it was thus that the great promise was fulfilled which 
 brought a gleam of hope into the darkness of Eve's 
 despair, " the seed of the woman shall bruise the ser- 
 pent's head." In Him, the perfect Man, Christ Jesus, is 
 all the winsomeness and gentleness of womanhood, com- 
 bined with more than the strength and earnestness of 
 manhood, and it is the highest ideal we can set before us 
 as men and women, each of us in our own sphere, to 
 proclaim and display the perfect and Divine beauty of 
 our Lord ; the one chiefly in the quietude of home, the 
 other chiefly in the activities of the world, ever praying 
 
 * Tennyson. 
 
124 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 to the God of all grace for "faith and charity, and holi- 
 ness with sobriety." Through Christ we receive salva- 
 tion, and in likeness to Christ we find our glorification ; 
 so that if we fail to recognise Him, and live for Him, we 
 fail for ever to attain God's highest ideal of manhood, or 
 of womanhood. 
 
 How many fail thus ! yet there is not one whom God 
 does not seek to arouse to a consciousness of those higher 
 things, and some are feeling unsatisfied because they have 
 them not. They sit with hearts empty, as she sat in the 
 picture I saw so lately, entitled " Love's labour lost." A 
 beautiful young girl, whose childhood is swiftly passing 
 away, sits clasping her knees as she gazes with the strange 
 far away look of one lost in thought. The puppets and 
 pleasures that have contented her till now, can satisfy 
 her no longer. The basket of toys is untouched, the efforts 
 of the girl-attendants to amuse her are unheeded; the 
 singers and musicians entering the room do not receive a 
 single glance, and the pet fawn is wondering that no 
 caress is given to her now. The girl has been aroused 
 to something more — higher and better — than these, and 
 if you have had an inward awakening nothing will satisfy 
 you but Christ, for in the flush of your girlhood or in 
 the dignity of your womanhood — in the hopes of your 
 youth or in the activities of your manhood, He still says, 
 " If any one thirst let him come unto Me and drink. 
 Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him 
 shall never thirst : but the water that I shall give him 
 shall be in him a well of water, springing up into ever- 
 lasting life." 
 
SERMONETTES ON THIRD CHAPTER. 
 
( ^^7 ) 
 
 I. 
 
 THE IDEAL MINISTER, 
 (i Tim. iii. 1-7.) 
 
 The apostle wlio most boldly maintained the brotherhood 
 of believers, clearly recognised the necessity for order and 
 office in Christian communities. Even in those early 
 days, when organisation was naturally inchoate, there 
 existed bishops and deacons, who had special functions to 
 fulfil — to whose qualifications for office Paul calls Timothy's 
 attention in the passage before us. Every one who 
 thoughtfully considers the working of a human society, 
 whether it be political or commercial, social or religious 
 in its basis, will see the necessity that exists for distri- 
 bution of work ; and unless such distribution is to be 
 continually changing and leaving affairs in a constant 
 state of flux, offices must be thereby created. The old 
 adage, " What is every one's business is nobody's business," 
 expresses the popular recognition of the truth — that it 
 is wise policy for each member of a community to have 
 appointed and recognised duties ; and since we do not 
 shake off the coils of human nature when we become 
 Christians, this holds good in the Christian Church also. 
 We can understand, therefore, how it came to pass that 
 
128 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 bishops and deacons had their recognised offices and 
 responsibilities at a very early period in Church history. 
 
 But these men were bound by the fundamental 
 principles of their faith to think humbly of themselves 
 and of their offices ; for this was a law in Christ's King- 
 dom, " He that humbleth himself shall be exalted, and he 
 that exalteth himself shall be abased." Their influence 
 (as this passage indicates) depended upon character and 
 reputation, and was not the result of office, nor was it the 
 effect of extraordinary gifts or talents. " A good report 
 among those that were without," was a more important 
 qualification than the fact of ecclesiastical appointment, 
 and their duties were such as required Divine grace rather 
 than human ordination for their performance. We read 
 nothing here or elsewhere in the New Testament of 
 sacrificial services, and of sacramental rites, which only a 
 caste could perform ; nor was a peculiar right to hear 
 confessions and pronounce absolution, given to any in 
 the Church of Christ. Hence no stress is laid upon the 
 vestments of bishops, but much is said about the habits- 
 of their lives ; and their blameless relations in the Church, 
 in the home, and in the world, are insisted upon, to the 
 exclusion of any mention of appointment by ecclesiastical 
 superiors. Nothing is said as to the origin of their offices 
 nor as to the mode of their appointment to them, and 
 we are left to infer their peculiar duties from incidental 
 allusions, so simple and so free were the apostolic arrange- 
 ments in comparison with those which prevailed in the 
 third and even in the second century of our faith. The 
 development of a pastor into a priest, and of a priest into 
 
THE IDEAL MINISTER. I 29 
 
 a Pope, would require a discourse from an ecclesiastical 
 Darwin to explain fully ; but tbe process would be simple 
 enough when human nature was allowed to triumph over 
 the new principles of Christ's Kingdom. On the one hand, 
 the strong will and the greater ability of an ambitious 
 pastor would soon win for him priority over his weaker 
 brethren ; and on the other hand, there has always been 
 a lamentable tendency in men and women to assign 
 to others those responsibilities which are really laid by 
 God upon each of us. Priestcraft is the outcome of 
 unregenerate human nature, and is utterly contrary to 
 the spirit of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 
 
 It is not needful that we should spend our time in 
 demonstrating that " bishop " and " presbyter " were two 
 words used in the New Testament to denote one and the 
 same office. Alford uses the term " overseer " instead of 
 bishop in his translation, in order, to use his own words, 
 " to avoid the chance of identifying it with a present and 
 different office," that, namely, of one who is set over the 
 clergy, not over a congregation. But the word " overseer " 
 has no sacred or ecclesiastical associations connected with 
 it, so that we prefer using the word " pastor " as the true 
 modern equivalent of " bishop " or " presbyter," expressing 
 as it does the idea of watchful, loving, responsible over- 
 sight. Dealing, as these letters do, with the duties of a 
 Pastor, they are properly called " the Pastoral " Epistles. 
 If it be asked why two words were used in the New 
 Testament to express the same office, the answer is 
 simple. IIpeo-^vTepoi had been employed for generations 
 to denote the presiding heads of the synagogal communi- 
 
I30 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 ties, and would naturally be used by Jewish Christians 
 to describe those occupying a similar position in their 
 churches. Whereas eTrto-zcoVot was a Greek word, which 
 denoted primarily the officers sent by the Athenians to 
 take the oversight of subject cities, and was then trans- 
 ferred from the civil to the spiritual sphere, to denote the 
 men who had the oversight of Christian communities. We 
 must never lose sight of the fact that there was a combina- 
 tion of Jewish and Greek influences in the earlier years of 
 Christianity. When Paul was writing to Titus, he uses the 
 two words Trpea^vrepo^; and eTr/tr/coTro? interchangeably, 
 because in Crete the converts were drawn from among 
 both Jews and Greeks. When in his first missionary 
 tour he set some over the churches in which the nucleus 
 was Jewish, he speaks of " presbyters " only. Here writ- 
 ing to Timothy in the great Gentile city of Ephesus, he 
 speaks of " eTTicr/coTrot," that is, bishops or pastors. In 
 this passage he expounds the counsel he had already 
 given to the Ephesian " presbyters," when he stood on 
 the shore at Miletus, and said, " Feed the flock of God 
 which is among you, taking the oversight thereof ; not by 
 constraint, but willingly ; not for filthy lucre, but of a 
 ready mind ; neither as being lords over God's heritage, but 
 being ensamples to the flock." 
 
 " This is a true saying " — re-echoed by the Church in 
 all ages — " if a man seeketh the office of a pastor he 
 seeketh a good work." Now a pastor is only a somewhat 
 more prominent example of other Christians, who in mis- 
 sions and Sunday schools and homes do what is essentially 
 the same work. They therefore ought to exhibit charac- 
 
THE IDEAL MINISTER. 131 
 
 teristics similar to those demanded of him. Hence this 
 particular example may serve purposes of general instruc- 
 tion. 
 
 I. The moral characteristics of the ideal pastor are 
 strongly insisted upon. Strangely enough, nothing is 
 said about his piety, his love to God, his communion with 
 Him, his delight in Him, his devotion to Him ; but this 
 is naturally presupposed, as the basis of the rest. It is 
 not alluded to here, partly because Timothy did not 
 require to be reminded that personal religion is the first 
 essential in all spiritual work, and partly because he was 
 less able to judge of inward piety in others than of the 
 qualities mentioned here. Every Christian teacher, how- 
 ever lowly or however prominent his sphere, must speak 
 with God before he speaks /or God. Like Moses, he must 
 ascend the mountain of communion before he gives utter- 
 ance to God's commands among the people ; and we may 
 well pray that in and through us (unworthy and sinful 
 though we are) the woi'ds of Cowper may be fulfilled — 
 
 " When one that holds communion with the skies 
 Has filled his urn where these pure waters rise, 
 And once more mingles with us meaner things, 
 'Tis ev'n as if an angel shook his wings ; 
 Immortal fragrance fills the circuit wide, 
 That tells us whence his treasures are suj^plied." 
 
 Communion with God is pre-supposed. But moial 
 characteristics strengthened by this communion are men- 
 tioned here as being expected of all Christians and pre- 
 eminently of those who would be leaders among them. 
 
 I. Self-rule is one of the principal of these, and it is 
 
 10 
 
132 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 to display itself in all directions. The bishop is to be 
 sober, exercising habitual self-restraint, not only in respect 
 of intoxicating drinks, but also in respect of indulgence 
 in pleasures of all kinds, setting an example of dominion 
 over the carnal and sensuous. How woeful the effects of 
 carelessness about this every experienced Christian knows 
 too well ! In one of the large churches of Lisbon, while 
 listening to the sonorous voice of the priest who was 
 intoning service, our guide whispered, " Ah, sir, you 
 should see him in the evening; he is drunk every night." 
 The fact explained to some extent the scorn and contempt 
 felt by the more intelligent people in that city for the 
 Christian faith, represented, or rather misrepresented, by 
 such men. Happily, in this respect, the change from the 
 condition of things prevailing a century ago in England is 
 marvellous, and there is not a branch of the Christian 
 Church where such indulgence would now for an instant 
 be tolerated. 
 
 But temper is to be as much under control as other 
 passions, for the Christian teacher must be no " brawler," 
 no striker, " but patient." Outbursts of ill temper are 
 as harmful as grosser vices in their effect upon a church, 
 and we need much grace to " keep our tongues between 
 the hedge of our teeth " (as old Homer says), and to be 
 patient under provocation, not answering railing for 
 railing, but contrariwise blessing. Ours should be what 
 Matthew Arnold beautifully calls " sweet reasonableness," 
 the willingness to treat others with perfect equity, which 
 is moderated and pervaded by tender sympathy with 
 weakness, and a due allowance for extenuating circum- 
 
THE IDEAL MINISTER. I 33 
 
 stances or peculiarities of temperament. To speak gently, 
 and yet firmly ; to do the right thing, and yet to do it 
 in the most courteous way, requires abounding grace ; 
 and because we all fail at times in this we must be 
 patient and gentle with each other — not among the 
 " brawlers," who like the excitement of discord, nor 
 among the " strikers," who hit hard blows on sensitive 
 hearts without remorse or pity. 
 
 2. Again, sound judgment is a qualification much 
 needed by every pastor and teacher. This is no doubt 
 one reason of Paul's for urging on Timothy, as he does 
 in the sixth verse, that a pastor in the Church should 
 not be a "novice," i.e., a recent conver-t — a word of 
 warning still required by those who thrust into perilous 
 prominence Christians who have only just tasted that the 
 Lord is gracious. It is no wonder that these fulfil Paul's 
 prediction, and becoming puffed up with pride fall into 
 the condemnation of the devil, who fell through vain- 
 glory. If the young life of a plant is exposed to the 
 glare of the sunshine, death will supervene. And in the 
 life of every creature — insect, and bird, and beast, and 
 most of all in the life of man — the period of development 
 must precede the period of manifestation. Let us all 
 learn before we attempt to teach. The true religious 
 leader should have the warm heart, and may be thankful 
 if he has also the ready tongue ; but he needs besides 
 these some experience of life and a practical knowledge 
 of men. Many a student has failed in the ministry 
 because, with all his knowledge of books, he had no 
 knowledge of his fellows. Most of the qualities men- 
 
134 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 tioned here by Paul may be summed up in what has been 
 called sanctified common sense, and it is needed in the 
 Church as much as in business. 
 
 3. Another characteristic of tJie ideal minister should be 
 open-heartedness and open-handedness. The phrase " given 
 to hospitality " in A. V., or more correctly " a lover of 
 strangers," denotes what was relatively more important 
 then than now. Many disciples were engaged in evan- 
 gelistic work. Passing from city to city they found few 
 conveniences for their shelter, and in such public places 
 of resort as were open ungodliness and laxity of morals 
 prevailed to a hideous degree. For their safety, morally 
 as well as physically, it was necessary that the Christians 
 should receive them into their homes, and in this work 
 the pastors and deacons properly took the lead. 
 
 The exercise of this grace of hospitality called for an 
 
 unsuspiciousness of temper which might lead to imposition 
 
 then just as it does now. But painful and vexatious as 
 
 this may be, and often is, it is better to be deceived 
 
 occasionally by a rogue than to become hard in dealing 
 
 with deserving sufferers. Our Lord was kind to us and 
 
 even died for us while we were yet sinners, and as His 
 
 disciples we must be ready to give, hoping for nothing 
 
 again, being kind to the unthankful and to the unworthy. 
 
 Byron well says — 
 
 " Suspicion is a heavy armour, and 
 With its own weight impedes more than it protects ! " 
 
 II. A few words ought to be added upon the subject 
 of THE Relations of the Minister to those around 
 HIM, his right relation with God being pre-supposed. 
 
THE IDEAL MINISTER. 135 
 
 I . He is to he the husband of one wife. A phrase which 
 has been very frequently discussed. It is to be taken 
 surely in its restrictive meaning, and is aimed against 
 the polygamous practices which then widely prevailed, 
 fostered as they were by facility of divorce. In some of 
 the islands of the South Seas a similar problem has to be 
 faced by modern missionaries. Before conversion a chief 
 sometimes has several wives ; but afterwards this is no 
 longer tolerable ; yet unless suitable provision can be made 
 for their protection and support, the dismission of his 
 wives, right in one sense, may be the cause of other 
 evils. But the law of God is clear on the subject, and 
 missionaries would certainly counsel that no one should 
 be recognised as a native teacher if he had more than one 
 wife. This is what Paul urged. At the same time the 
 celibacy of the clergy is implicitly condemned by the 
 apostle, and wisely so. For there is no doubt that 
 Christians are taught more by domestic experience, by 
 the sorrows, the joys, and the anxieties of home life, than 
 by mere intellectual speculations, however lofty and spiri- 
 tual they may seem to be. 
 
 2. Then allusion is made to the pastor's own house as 
 distinguished from God's house. It is more easily managed, 
 because there is in it intenser love and a more limited 
 sphere. So it is urged that any leader in the Church 
 should rule well his own house, having his children in 
 subjection with all gravity. On which Dr. Reynolds has 
 beautifully said — " The child-life of the pastor's home 
 should suggest the sacredness of a temple and the order 
 of a palace." And is not this true for us all ? Is it not 
 
136 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 in tlie home that we are the most tested, and is it not 
 there we can best glorify God ? And is it not in ruling 
 the home that we may by God's grace win the kind of 
 authority we ought to exercise for Christ in the Church 
 and in the world ? Look on your home as God's training- 
 ground for you, remembering that in it you may under- 
 stand the depths and heights of spiritual fellowship, and 
 in it you may already enjoy foretastes of the bliss of 
 Heaven. 
 
 3. Tlie relation the pastor should hold towards the 
 world. — Much stress is laid in this passage on being 
 " blameless," and having " a good report of them that 
 are without " — those, namely, who are outside the king- 
 dom of Christ. We cannot afford, as Christ's represen- 
 tatives, to defy the world's opinion about us so far as 
 moral reputation is concerned. The world is a poor 
 judge of doctrine, of motive, and of religious hopes and 
 thousfhts : but it is a keen, and on the whole an accurate 
 judge of character ; and when the members and leaders of 
 the Church are recognised by the world as honest, sincere, 
 trusty, pure men and women, Christ will win the day against 
 His foes. Care much then for the cultivation of character, 
 but be jealous also of reputation ; for among the wiles of 
 the devil which Paul speaks of here, is the attempt to 
 injure the reputation of Christians, especially of ministers 
 of Christ's Gospel — because if one of them breaks down in 
 good repute there is exultation as over a standard-bearer 
 slain. Let us be more watchful over our own reputation 
 and over that of our brethren, and let us seek after con- 
 sistency in trivial things, for the qualities mentioned here 
 
THE IDEAL MINISTER. 137 
 
 appear to be comparatively small. It is not obvious un- 
 faithfulness in duty, nor deficiency in special gifts, nor 
 gross crime in behaviour, against which we are warned ; 
 but the ungoverned temper, the unbridled tongue, the 
 foolish indiscretions, the careless walk which mar Christ- 
 like beauty and destroy Christian influence so often and 
 so sadly. And when we cry, in view of our short- 
 comings, " Who is sufficient for these things ? " let us 
 cheer ourselves by saying, " Our sufficiency is of God," 
 praying for grace not only to speak of heaven, but to 
 lead the way, thus fulfilling Pollok's description of the 
 Christian teacher — 
 
 " He was humble, kind, forgiving, meek ; 
 Easy to be entreated, gracious, mild ; 
 And, with all patience and aflfectlon, taught, 
 Rebuked, persuaded, solaced, counselled, warned, 
 In fervent style and manner. All 
 Saw in his face contentment, in his life 
 The path to glory and perpetual joy." 
 
( 138 ) 
 
 II. 
 
 THE IDEAL DEACON, 
 (i Tim. iii. 8-13.) 
 
 Whether the duties performed bj the deacons in th( 
 Apostolic Church were Uke those undertaken by officers 
 so designated in the Episcopal, or in the Nonconforming 
 Churches of our day, the characteristics required are 
 worthy of consideration, because no one holding any 
 office in Christ's Church should be destitute of them. 
 
 I. Deacons should be of Noble Character (v. 8). — 
 This is essential, and if money, or talent, or love of pre- 
 eminence are substituted for it, a deserved curse will fall 
 upon the community preferring these. 
 
 1 . They were to he grave, i.e., of serious deportment ; 
 not sharing in the follies and gaieties of pleasure-loving 
 cities like Ephesus, but revered as men living in a higher 
 and purer atmosphere. 
 
 2. iVb^ double-tongued, saying one thing to this man 
 and another to that, and thus giving rise to misunder- 
 standings and differences. Gossip is sometimes as harm- 
 ful as slander. 
 
 3. Not given to much wine. Such temperance should 
 be a characteristic of any true Christian, and is absolutely 
 essential to one who would lead and represent the Church. 
 
 4. Not greedy of filthy lucre, or " base gain." Some 
 
THE IDEAL DEACON. 139 
 
 gain is the fair and God-appointed stimulus to toil. 
 Success in business, when it is won by integrity and 
 diligence, is a sign of fitness for service in the Church 
 rather than a disqualification for it. But when a man 
 makes money the chief object of life, and will gain it 
 even by evil means, and holds with a tight hand what he 
 wins, he is unfit for office as a Christian, for he is one of 
 those who are " lovers of money more than lovers of God." 
 
 II. Deacons should be Strong in the Faith (v. 9). — 
 " Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience." 
 The faith means the truth apprehended and believed by 
 the Church. It is called the mystery, because it had 
 once been hidden, though it was now revealed. It is to 
 be held in intelligent and firm conviction, not formally or 
 loosely ; and to be held, moreover, in a pure conscience, 
 which will not palter with convictions, nor change the 
 truth of God to please men, nor lower the Christian ideal 
 of life in order to get on in the world. 
 
 III. Deacons should be trusted by the Church (v. 
 10). — "Let these also first be proved," for their qualifi- 
 cations ought to be evidenced and recognised, in order 
 that they may have the confidence of their brethren. 
 When any citizen of Athens was appointed by lot, or 
 chosen by suffrage, to hold public office, he was obliged, 
 before entering on its duties, to submit to hoKitJ-acria, 
 a scrutiny into his life and conduct, and it is the verb 
 representing that noun which the apostle uses here. He 
 means that if a man were chosen to office who was known 
 to be unworthy, any member of the community might 
 object to him, for it is of the first importance that con- 
 fidence should be felt in those who lead the Church, 
 
(40 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 The next verse may refer either to the "wives" of the 
 deacons or to those holding office as deaconesses, for both 
 would, no doubt, co-operate in Christian service ; and 
 consideration of the greater separation then prevailing 
 between the sexes will show that there must have been 
 some work which only women could do. The fidelity of 
 Christian women in the early years of Christianity is 
 attested in the bloody pages of persecution. In all ages, 
 as well as on Calvary, women have stood nearest to the 
 Cross ! They were to be grave, of serious deportment ; 
 not slanderers, but ruling their tongues in the Church and 
 outside it ; sober or temperate, exercising habitual self- 
 control ; and faithful in all things — in short, to have 
 about them the purity and sanctity of true Christian 
 womanhood. (The next verse repeats the qualification 
 mentioned in verse 4.) 
 
 IV. Deacons may look for the Recompense of 
 Reward (ver. 13). — The phrase purchase to themselves a 
 good degree, or, as in Revised Version, " gain to themselves 
 a good standing," includes the idea of obtaining high 
 reputation amongst the brethren; and that is not with- 
 out its value. But it implies also, advance in faith, in 
 courage, and in wisdom, as the result of active and faith- 
 ful service. And this is the preparation for and the 
 pledge of the honour which will be given in the last 
 great day, honour which will vaiy among the saints 
 according to the measure of their capacity and fidelity. 
 
 Therefore let each make the best and most of his 
 power in Christ's service ; seeking his own place in the 
 fellowship of the Church, and then filling it till the call 
 comes to rest and reward in heaven. 
 
( 141 ) 
 
 III. 
 
 THE HOUSE OF GOD. 
 (i Tim. iii. 14, 15.) 
 
 A WISE use of letter-writing is among the gifts which 
 Christians should sedulously cultivate. Some may be 
 reached by a letter who prove unapproachable in conver- 
 sation, and many a message of warning and of comfort 
 has thus been delivered by the wise-hearted. Indeed, we 
 have known invalids whose lives were so full of suffering 
 that they seemed debarred from all usefulness, who, 
 through their letters to the sad and sinful, have proved 
 among the noblest and most successful of the Lord's 
 witnesses. Experience of Divine grace has not only 
 consecrated them but has made them the means of en- 
 riching others ; and many of us can thank God for 
 written words of love and wisdom, which in a time of 
 need have brought us comfort and counsel. Timothy 
 was thus helped, for this letter first addressed to him, 
 which now lies open before us, was just what he needed 
 to teach him how he ought to behave (or conduct himself) 
 in the house of God. 
 
 Young men are not always ready as Timothy was to 
 
142 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 welcome such counsel, even though it comes from those 
 whose experience has been deeper and wider than their 
 own. In a difficult and delicate position they sometimes 
 fail to see their responsibility, and the seriousness of the 
 issues which may result from a false or foolish step, and 
 thus personal reputation may be lost and the interests of 
 the Church suffer. A willingness to receive instruction, 
 a recognition of our own proneness to error, a reverent 
 regard for men older and wiser than ourselves, are among 
 the attributes of the genuine disciples of the meek and 
 lowly Jesus, for the words are as true now as ever, 
 " The meek will He guide in judgment, the meek will 
 He teach his way." There was grace in Timothy which 
 enabled him wisely to receive and use good counsel, just 
 as there was grace in Paul which fitted him to guide 
 and cheer his friend. The apostle spoke of what he 
 himself knew through fellowship with God and through 
 experience of the difficulties Timothy was meeting, and 
 it was the fact that he was no dreaming theorist which 
 gave such peculiar weight to his counsels. It is said 
 that Hannibal, one of the ablest generals of ancient or of 
 modern times, once heard an address delivered upon the 
 art of war, and was asked afterwards what he thought of 
 it. With his usual rugged abruptness he replied, " Well, 
 I've heard many an old poltroon, but I never heard such 
 a poltroon as this, for he is talking about war when he 
 knows nothing about it." That is the spirit in which 
 counsels would naturally be received from one whom Paul 
 calls a novice ; but when they come from one who has 
 lived near God and done brave and successful service, 
 
THE HOUSE OF GOD. 143 
 
 the wise man will listen and obey with reverence and ^ 
 promptitude. And we may be sure that it was thus 
 Timothy read and re-read these words of counsel about 
 prayer, about pastors and deacons, about arrangements — 
 social and religious — to be made in the Church, respecting 
 which the apostle says here, " These things write I unto 
 thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly ; but if I tarry 
 long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave 
 thyself in the house of God." 
 
 It is evident from this verse that Paul was quite 
 uncertain about his own future. He hoped to go to 
 Ephesus " shortly," z'.e., more quickly, sooner than, 
 the foregoing counsels might have led the reader to 
 expect. But it was possible that he might be delayed 
 or altogether prevented from going, and meantime abuses 
 might spring up, and errors assert themselves. Timothy 
 is therefore fairly warned against such dangers. It is 
 always a harder task to set things right when they have 
 once gone wrong than it is to keep things right from ■■'■ 
 the first. This is very true in matters of character. 
 Teach and warn your children in the home or in the 
 class, and by God's blessing they may never know the 
 depths of iniquity of which we often hear ; but once 
 let innocence be defiled and character injured, and how 
 pitifully hard is the work of rescue ! The duty of the 
 Church is chiefly to save from sin, and therefore God- puts 
 under her care so large a proportion of the children in 
 this land that they may be taught and warned and led 
 to a knowledge of the Great Redeemer ; yet the Church 
 must not overlook the further and harder duty of going 
 
144 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 out to seek and to save tliem tliat are lost. Like Paul, 
 remember, fellow-Christians, that time is short, that 
 opportunity is fleeting ; therefore speak, write, and act 
 for Christ and His cause now, before the night cometh 
 in which no man can work. 
 
 Let us consider for a short time — 
 
 The hotise of God, under which figure the apostle 
 here speaks of the Church of Christ. What is implied 
 in it? 
 
 * I. The House of God is the Dwelling-place of God. 
 The phrase, " the house of God," is borrowed from the Old 
 Testament, in which it is frequently applied to the temple 
 at Jerusalem — the place where God met with His people, 
 and revealed Himself at the mercy-seat ; and sometimes 
 it is used by the prophets to denote the covenant people 
 themselves, giving pledge and promise of New Testament 
 usage. For it is no longer in and through a material 
 building that God reveals Himself, but in living temples. 
 Our Lord taught us this in relation to Himself when, 
 referring to His body which would be broken on the 
 cross. He said, " Destroy this temple, and in three days I 
 will raise it up." Through the humanity of our Lord, 
 God made Himself known. In Him dwelt the fulness of 
 the Godhead bodily. But the human body of the Lord 
 Jesus has passed away, and now is substituted for it His 
 mystical body — the Church, in which God dwells, and 
 through which He makes Himself known. It is this 
 Church of Christ, consisting of all believers the world 
 over, realised as it was in the community at Ephesus, of 
 which Paul says it is " the house of God," because He 
 
THE HOUSE OF GOD. I45 
 
 dwells in it, and makes His presence felt in every im- 
 pulse of righteousness and in every outburst of spiritual 
 serA^ice. 
 
 How grand is the phrase, " the Church of the living 
 God ! " Paul loved to contrast " the living God " with 
 those dead gods of heathenism, which had ears yet could 
 not hear, and hands yet could not help ; and to contrast 
 Him, too, with those dead abstractions of philosophy which 
 then, as now, would substitute a vague impersonal force 
 for a Father who loves us, and who yearns over us even 
 in our wrongdoing. 
 
 Is that true and living God consciously realised as 
 present in our midst ? Is He adored and served with un- 
 questioning obedience and devotion ? It is His indwelling 
 which makes the Church His House, and distinguishes it 
 from every other community of which the world knows 
 anything. The royal palace is not necessarily a building 
 of finer proportions, nor enriched with more beautiful 
 surroundings, nor filled with more costly treasures than 
 others around it (Sutherland House is more palatial 
 than Buckingham Palace), but the distinction of the 
 royal palace is that it is the seat and habitation of the 
 king or queen. Oh that we may rejoice in the presence 
 of our King, and that to all of us He may be in deed 
 and in truth " the living God ; " for only as we know 
 Him, and reveal Him to the world, do we fulfil our 
 destiny as a Church. 
 
 There are Churches where He is no longer felt to be 
 the Inspirer and Purifier of His people ; Churches which 
 are defiled and desecrated by worldliness. They are like 
 
146 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 an old abbey I saw on the banks of the river the other 
 day. Originally it was built and set apart for God's 
 worship, but centuries afterwards it became the haunt of 
 men whose boast it was that they believed in no God, 
 and over the door of the place in which God's will was 
 once done, they wrote the motto of their club — " Do 
 what you wish." May we be saved from putting our 
 wishes in the place of God's will, and from substituting 
 for His word the visionary speculations of those who 
 know nothing of Him whom Paul calls " the living 
 God." 
 
 II. The House of God should be the Abode of 
 Love. — The Church is not only the place where the 
 Father dwells, but where His sons and daughters live in 
 mutual confidence under the sway of supreme love to 
 Him. It is this loving confidence which is the essence 
 of a home. A splendid house with luxurious appoint- 
 ments is not a real home if love is not in it. But if 
 children love each other, and revere their parents, the 
 home may be happy without a single luxury. Nor is 
 the home broken up, though according to the modern 
 fashion of suburban life, change from house to house is 
 frequent. Similarly it is of the essence of the Church, 
 that unity, peace, and concord shall be among its mem- 
 bers ; for when discord and strife, self-seeking and 
 jealousy, begin to assert themselves, the fellowship cannot 
 be called " the House of God," for He is the God of 
 peace, and His nature is love. It is here the Church 
 has so often failed. No doubt its lapses from the faith 
 of the Gospel have been disastrous in their effects j but 
 
THE HOUSE OF GOD. 1 47 
 
 its failure to exliibifc the Christian temper and spirit 
 has been still more fatal to its influence over the world. 
 Noisy contentions, factious disputes, sectarian bitterness, 
 mutual suspicion ; these have paralysed the Church's 
 strength, and have made it the butt of the worldling's 
 ridicule. Yet the world wants to see, and to enter into 
 an ideal fellowship such as Christ often spoke of Con- 
 tests between capital and labour, fierce struggles for 
 pre-eminence in society, contempt of the poor and hatred 
 of the rich ; wars and rumours of wars, distracting 
 thought and unsettling commerce ; cruel selfishness so 
 greedy of gain that it will rob the poor because he is 
 poor ; ay, and hideous revolting corruption making our 
 cities like Sodom and Gomorrah in their wickedness ; — 
 all these things call for the God of purity and love to 
 reveal Himself, and He will do so through a purified 
 Church, which will not only proclaim His laws of right- 
 eousness but will exhibit in its fellowship the blessedness 
 of a pure brotherhood, in which each has learnt to love 
 the Lord his God with all his heart, and with all his soul, 
 and with all his strength, and his neighbour as himself 
 
 III. The House of God should be the sphere of 
 Service. — The Church is our Lord's instrument of work- 
 ing. He does not personally descend from Heaven to 
 right the wrongs which prevail, nor does He send His 
 angels to proclaim the woe that will follow sin, and the 
 blessedness which will follow pardon; but He uses the 
 Church, the Ecclesia — that is, the people He has called — 
 the saints who have been summoned into fellowship by 
 
 the clarion voice of His love. But the Church is merely 
 
 II 
 
148 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 the aggregation of individuals. It is strong in proportion 
 as each member is active and earnest, and therefore when 
 the Lord left His house for the far country He " gave to 
 every man his work." As every disciple was made an 
 "apostle," though not numbered among the Twelve — as 
 every fisherman who followed Jesus became a fisher of 
 men, so every one loving the Master is to be serving 
 Him. It is admitted in theory by all communicants, 
 but it is contradicted in fact by multitudes. Instead of 
 fulfilling the description given of the faithful Christian 
 " always abounding in the work of the Lord," many a 
 man deserves the epitaph " always avoiding the work of 
 the Lord." Do not lose sight of your personal responsi- 
 bility in the largeness of the community of which you 
 form a part ; do not avert your eyes from work in your 
 new surroundings because you think you have been 
 fairly faithful in the old sphere. The day of life is not 
 yet over for you, and the Master looks for fidelity till the 
 evening shadows fall ; and that servant will be blessed 
 who is ever ready to hear the " well done " from His lips. 
 
 But our text chiefly lays stress on the fact that — 
 , IV. The House of God is to be the Maintainer 
 OF God's Truth. — There seems to be little doubt that 
 Paul meant what the grammatical structure of the sentence 
 states — that the Church, which is the House of God, is 
 also "the pillar and ground (or basement) of the truth." '~ 
 The mixture of metaphors is not at all uncommon in the 
 New Testament, notably in St. Peter's Epistle, where in 
 one breath he speaks of believers as " living stones " and 
 as " a holy priesthood." Some, however, suggest that the 
 
THE HOUSE OP GOD. 1 49 
 
 reference here is to Timothy, not to the Church ; but 
 though the apostles are once called " pillars," no one is 
 ever called the " basement " or foundation of truth, save 
 the Lord Christ Jesus. Others put a full stop after the 
 words " the living God," and begin the new sentence thus — 
 "The pillar and ground of the truth, and confessedly 
 great is the mystery of godliness." This is unnatural, 
 abrupt, and unfair, and has been resorted to chiefly by 
 Protestant commentators because they object to the 
 statement that the Church is the foundation of truth. 
 Rome bases her claim to universal homage on this and a 
 few kindred passages, maintaining that she, as the true 
 Church, is the fontal source and the infallible organ of 
 Divine truth. But let us never pervert Scripture, even 
 though it be to combat extravagant and impious preten- 
 sions. We must not do evil that good may come ; nor is ^ 
 there any need to do so in this case, for no man's teaching 
 is or was more crushingly antagonistic to Papal pretensions 
 than Paul's. What we have to remember and call atten- 
 tion to is this— that " the truth " is not of the Church's 
 making nor of the Church's finding, but of God's reveal-_ 
 ing. It is not from her, but through her from heaven, 
 that the revelation comes, and if she perverts, or combats, 
 or ignores what she receives, she at once ceases to be the 
 pillar and basement of the truth. This verse, therefore, 
 constitutes not the claim of the Church but the test of the 
 Church ; for it is by her fidelity to revealed truth that 
 she is to be judged. God has manifested Himself through 
 the Word, which presents to us His well- beloved Son — 
 the image of the Invisible, who by His death won for us 
 
I 5 O EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 salvation, and by His life gives us promise and hope of 
 the glorious future. We have no uncertainty to preach ; 
 no mere speculations to unfold ; no variable God, change- 
 ful with each age in character and demands, to present. . jf 
 We are not like the god-maker in Pompeii, who used to o 
 make all the parts of the image except the face, but left 
 that till he knew what the purchaser would like ; and 
 then he would give with equal expertness Minerva, or 
 Juno, or Venus, or the great Jove himself. God for- 
 bid that this process should be carried into our pulpits 
 and literature ; for if it does, the day will come to Eng- \ 
 land, as it did to Athens, when men will erect their altar 
 "to the unknown God." May He make every Church to 
 be " the pillar and ground of the truth," " the basement " 
 on which it securely rests amid the fluctuations of human 
 thought, and " the pillar " bearing it aloft that all may 
 see and recognise it. 
 
 The Church, then, is to be what Christ was, the witness 
 of the truth. It is through human experience that the 
 world will know it. God's truth cannot become influential 
 and living if it is left in texts and creeds, in symbols and 
 in formulas. It must enter into men's consciousness ; it 
 must become a living experience ; it must find expression 
 in character and action, and reveal itself in love, worship, 
 and obedience. Why, even scientific truths would soon 
 become valueless, and we should be glad to bury the dead 
 theories out of our sight, if they were in statement and 
 proposition only. They need the living, thinking, earnest 
 men as the pillar and basement of them ; and if men of 
 science were actuated by base motives or by party spirit, 
 
THE HOUSE OP GOD. 15 I 
 
 and proved unfaithful to their trust, that trust would pass 
 into other hands. In religious truth the Jews were thus 
 supplanted by the Gentiles ; and in view of that punish- 
 ment of unfaithfulness, we are called upon to realise 
 our responsibility, as those who may themselves know, 
 and may then fearlessly maintain, the truth as it is in 
 Jesus. 
 
( 152 ) 
 
 IV. 
 
 THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS. 
 (i Tim. iii. i6.) 
 
 The greatness and importance of the truth which the 
 Church was to maintain is given as a motive to fidelity 
 on the part of Christians. Their position was like that 
 of the lighthouse-keepers. If they neglect their duty and 
 no light gleams over the sea, many, of whom they know 
 nothing, may be hurried on to wreck and death. 
 
 " Without controversy," i.e., confessedly among all who 
 have heard it, " great is the mystery of godliness." The 
 word " mystery " with Paul never means a revealed doc- 
 trine hard to be understood, as it does commonly now, 
 but what was hidden from man until God revealed 
 it. For the truths of a divine religion are revealed. 
 They must be accepted as statements of fact, for they 
 can neither be discovered by research nor proved by 
 reason. Above the strife of parties and the j anglings of 
 false teachers is this " mystery," this " opened secret of 
 the Divine life," just as above the scarred rocks on the 
 mountain side are the snow-clad summits in the sunshine 
 — smooth, and pure, and calm. And that mystery is 
 incarnate in the Christ of God, as He is revealed now 
 
THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS. 153 
 
 through His Church, but once in His proper humanity, 
 to which reference is made here. 
 
 The word " God " in the passage (as is stated in the 
 margin of the Revised Version) has no suflBcient evidence. 
 Abruptly, with a pronoun, Paul begins the sentence, 
 much as the 87th Psalm begins, " His foundation in the 
 holy mountain," what follows being enough to indicate to 
 whom the Psalmist refers. Here the understood ante- 
 cedent is evidently Christ Jesus, and the abruptness of 
 the expression may be accounted for by the supposition 
 that it was a part of a creed or hymn familiar to the 
 early Christians. The great revelation of the Divine life, 
 of the religious life, is Christ Jesus, of whom the apostle 
 states three contrasted facts. 
 
 I. The Contrast between Flesh and Spirit. — " He 
 was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit." It 
 could not be properly said of a mere man that he was 
 " manifested " in the flesh, for the expression implies pre- 
 existent being, just as from the appearing of a flower we 
 argue that life had existed previously unseen in seed or 
 bulb. The phrase is equivalent to that in John i., " The 
 Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." 
 
 But He was "justified (against gainsayers, as being 
 what He claimed to be) in the Spirit." The reference 
 may be to the Holy Spirit who revealed Him to John in 
 baptism, who proclaimed Him to be the Beloved Son, 
 who raised Him from the dead, so that He was declared 
 to be the Son of God according to the Spirit by His 
 resurrection, and who on the day of Pentecost convinced 
 men of His claims. Or the allusion may be to the fact 
 
154 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 that it was not what Jesus Christ appeared to be " in the 
 flesh," which every one could see, but what He was by the 
 working of His Spirit, namely. His inner life, revealed 
 through His teaching, and miracles, and influence, which 
 caused Him to be recognised as the Son of God. For it 
 is not what appeals to our natural observation, to our sen- 
 suous nature, or to our purely intellectual faculties, which 
 awakens the conviction that He is our Lord, but it is His 
 Divine touch, felt upon heart and conscience, which leads 
 us, like Thomas, to fall at His feet and say, " My Lord 
 and my God." 
 
 II. The second suggested Contkast is between the 
 Angels and the Nations. — " He was seen of angels and 
 preached unto the Gentiles." These are again natural 
 opposites. Angels are the blessed inhabitants of a higher 
 sphere; Gentiles are the more corrupt and debased in- 
 habitants of this lower world. The former now see Jesus 
 as He is; they observed His progress from the first ; they 
 heralded His birth ; they ministered to Him in the wilder- 
 ness ; they proclaimed His resurrection ; they welcomed 
 Him to glory. Yet He, who was the angels' Lord, 
 stooped so low as to be proclaimed to the Gentiles as 
 their Saviour and their brother, able to raise even them 
 to sit with Him in heavenly places. 
 
 And it is His glory that His claims have been admitted 
 by opposing and divergent nationalities, by the most 
 varied types of men, as rightful King of all the world. 
 Vast as is the empire of Buddhism, victorious as has been 
 the sword of Mohammedanism, the votaries of either of 
 those two faiths are found almost exclusively among 
 
THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS. 155 
 
 peoples who have much in common ; but the religion of 
 Jesus Christ meets the needs of Eastern and of Western, 
 of Jew and of Gentile, of Latin and Teuton, of degraded 
 savages and educated Englishmen alike. Of Him it is 
 said, " He shall have dominion also from sea to sea and 
 from the river unto the ends of the earth." 
 
 III. The last Contrast drawn here is between the 
 Earthly and the Heavenly. — " He was believed on in 
 the world, received up into glory." What a contrast 
 between the celestial brightness and purity in which he 
 is enshrined, and the disease, the death, and the sin 
 prevailing in the world. Revelations, startling in their 
 horror, are now and again given of the depths of de- 
 pravity which are close beside us in this so-called civilised 
 and Christian land ; glimpses are seen of obscenities and 
 wickednesses like those which destroyed the Roman em- 
 pire, and brought fire from heaven upon the cities of the 
 plain. I know not how we Christians could still work 
 hopefully if it were not that Jesus, the Almighty purifier, 
 the one Saviour, can be believed on, and is believed on 
 by us in the world — as One able and willing to bring 
 salvation to the lost and degraded. Though He has 
 ascended on high and been received into glory, He 
 has not forgotten us, who, trusting in Him, are fighting 
 against evils within and around. Keep up a brave 
 heart, for the Lord is nigh ; throw your whole energies 
 into His cause, for the final victory is sure ; make no 
 terms with sin, for it crowned your Lord with thorns ; 
 grasp hands with all His servants, for we are one in 
 
156 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 Him ; trust absolutely to His aid for success, for without 
 Him we are powerless. 
 
 " We would be one in hatred of all wrong, 
 One in our love of all things sweet and fair, 
 One with the joy that breaketh into song, 
 One with the grief that trembles into prayer, 
 One in the power that makes Thy children free, 
 To follow truth, and thus to follow Thee. 
 
 Oh clothe us with Thy heavenly armour, Lord, 
 Thy trusty shield, Thy sword of love divine. 
 Our inspiration be Thy constant word ; 
 We ask no victories that are not Thine. 
 Give or withhold, let pain or pleasure be, 
 Enough to know that we are serving Thee." 
 
SERMONETTES ON FOURTH CHAPTER. 
 
( 159 ) 
 
 I. 
 
 A GREAT HERESY, 
 (i Tim. iv. 1-3.) 
 
 '' The spirit. " referred to in the first verse of this chapter 
 is unquestionably the Holy Spirit of God, who had been 
 promised to the Church as its abiding teacher and com- 
 forter. In all their agencies and appointments the 
 apostles sought His direction. It sometimes came in 
 outward events, sometimes in strong impulses, and some- 
 times in the distinct utterances of men who were recog- 
 nised by their brethren as inspired prophets. Examples 
 of these modes of communication will readily recur to the 
 mind of any one who is familiar with the Acts of the 
 Apostles. When Paul planned to go into Bithynia, " the 
 Spirit suffered him not ; " by which we understand that 
 circumstances arose contrary to his wish and expectation, 
 which made the intended visit impossible, and that this 
 outward indication of the Divine will was accompanied 
 by the conviction that God would have another course 
 adopted. In the Church at Antioch, on an earlier occa- 
 sion, some Christians during the assembly for prayer were 
 led to speak under Divine impulse, in the name of God, 
 saying, " Separate me Barnabas and Saul to the work 
 
l6o EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 whereunto I have called them." But in whatever mode 
 the mandate came, implicit and unquestioning obedience 
 was always rendered ; and we may be sure that if 
 we were as true to indications in Providence, and to 
 inspired impulses, as those men were, the guidance of 
 God's Spirit would be far more of a reality than it is. 
 The trained ear of a musician can discover meanings and 
 suggestions in a harmony which to an ordinary listener 
 is nothing but a pleasant sound. And the conscience of 
 one who habitually lives near God and listens for Him 
 is sensitive to His whispers, and finds the meaning and 
 value of the promise, " I will guide thee with Mine eye." 
 Among the functions of the Holy Spirit was the occa- 
 sional revelation of coming events ; for there were in this 
 sense "prophets " in the Christian Church, as truly as there 
 had been under the Jewish dispensation. Nor were these 
 always prominent and well-known men. Ananias, who 
 clearly foresaw what he had to do in Damascus, and what 
 would be the issue of his action in the subsequent history 
 of Saul of Tarsus, was comparatively an obscure disciple. 
 And Agabus, who is spoken of as foretelling a famine 
 which soon afterwards came, and as warning Paul very 
 definitely of the bonds which awaited him in Jerusalem, 
 was a man of whom nothing more is known. Glimpses 
 of the future came to some whose one qualification was 
 that they stood on heights of spiritual communion — -just 
 as from the summits of the Rigi we have seen flashes of 
 distant scenes through the broken clouds, which would be 
 utterly hidden from one standing on a lower level. It 
 was probably through one of the unknown prophets of 
 
A GEEAT HERESY. l6l 
 
 the early Church that the distinct prophecy had been 
 given to which Paul here alludes, which pointed out the 
 speedy coming of a great heresy, the main outlines of 
 which were definitely foreshadowed. " Now the Spiiit 
 speaketh expressly, that in later times some shall depart 
 from the faith ; '' for there would arise a dark and subtle 
 power, which would work with disastrous energy in the 
 kingdom of Christ ; and this would come about not in 
 very distant days, but in seasons later than the apostle's 
 own, though sufficiently near for the influence of a faith- 
 ful minister like Timothy to exercise upon it salutary 
 influence. 
 
 Let us look at this great heresy, which has often 
 and in various forms repeated itself even down to oar 
 own day. 
 
 I. As to THE SouECE OF THE Heresy Paul speaks in 
 no wavering tones. 
 
 I . He traces it thraugh the human agents to demon poiver. 
 
 The Scriptures affirm that this world is the scene of 
 conflict between evil and good, and that outside the 
 range of our senses is, on the one side, the Holy Spirit of 
 the Kving God, and on the other side are principalities 
 and powers, the rulers of the darkness of the world. 
 The alternations of night and day, of storm and calm, are 
 not more real than are the vicissitudes of this great con- 
 test going on in the hearts of men. 
 
 Allusion is made here to " seducing spirits ; " but 
 mysterious and mighty as may be their power, they are 
 not omnipotent, nor are they resistless, but have control 
 over those only who (to use Paul's phrase) '" give heed " 
 
1 62 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 to them. Whether we are tempted to false thoughts, or 
 to impure acts, or to anything else that is evil, it is not 
 in vain that the summons is heard, " Resist the devil, 
 and he will flee from you." The " doctrines of devils " 
 are not facts about demons, known as demonology, but 
 the phrase is equivalent to " teaching which emanates 
 from demons," false and evil spirits, who are ever seeking 
 to keep us in alienation from the life of God, and this 
 is done when we are induced to " depart from the faith," 
 to lose our hold of Christ, as the world's true teacher, 
 as man's only Redeemer. 
 
 2. But while we must guard against the evil thoughts 
 which sometimes, as we are conscious, do not arise from 
 ourselves, we have to give heed to this warning against 
 the human agents of wickedness, of whom the apostle 
 says, " They speak lies in hypocrisy, having their con- 
 science seared with a hot iron." 
 
 If there was one iniquity which more than another 
 aroused the anger of our Lord, it was hypocrisy. A man 
 who is false and unreal has no part in the kingdom of 
 light, but is silently, if not openly, fighting against it. 
 The Pharisees who opposed our Lord, and the false 
 teachers who withstood His apostles, were alike in this 
 sin ; and a man who falsifies what he knows to be true, 
 whether in the world or in the pulpit, is doing the work 
 of the devil, for on Divine authority we know that the 
 devil is a liar, and the father of lies. 
 
 And the evil man here described has his " conscience 
 seared with a hot iron" — a phrase which blazes with 
 the apostle's holy indignation, but expresses a tremendous 
 
A GREAT HERESY. I 63 
 
 fact. Just as seared flesh has lost its sensibility, the 
 once delicate nerves in it being destroyed, so there are 
 consciences which nothing can affect. Appeals to honour 
 and to shame are alike useless. The man can do most 
 grievous wrongs without shrinking, indeed without de- 
 finite consciousness of the evil in them ; and even to the 
 hour of his death he seems absolutely free from remorse. 
 There are usurers who do not consider for an instant the 
 misery they cause ; profligates who are simply absorbed 
 in the indulgence of passion, and have no conception that 
 it will ultimately bring awful and resistless punishment. 
 Corrupt to the core, their inmost nature is blurred and 
 blasted by falsehood and sin ; their conscience is " seared 
 with a hot iron," and the good Spirit of God has said to 
 all holy influences around, " They are joined to idols, let 
 them alone." 
 
 The fatal influence exercised by such men was seen in 
 the early Church, and is felt around us still, for no one 
 can fail to be a power either for good or evil. Dr. 
 Chalmers admirably puts it in these words : " Every man 
 is a missionary now and for ever, for good or for evil, 
 whether he intends or designs it or not. He may be a 
 blot radiating his dark influence outward to the very 
 circumference of society ; or he may be a blessing, spread- 
 ing benediction over the length and breadth of the 
 world ; but a blank he cannot be. There are no moral 
 blanks ; there are no neutral characters. We are either 
 the sower that sows and corrupts, or the light that 
 splendidly illuminates and the salt that silently operates; 
 but, being dead or alive, every man speaks." 
 
164 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 II. The Nature of the Heresy thus originated, and 
 propagated, next demands notice. 
 
 After the strong language used by Paul about 
 " doctrines of devils," we should have expected the men- 
 tion here of some grosser evils than those which are 
 specified ; for, however foolish and mistaken these ascetic 
 notions were, they do not seem to some of us to have been 
 very harmful morally. And we are the more tempted to 
 take this view under the influence of the modern opinion, 
 which I believe to be radically false, that doctrine is of 
 no consequence at all. 
 
 These teachers, whom Paul so strongly condemns, are 
 described as "forbidding to marry and commanding to 
 abstain from meats." The Therapeutse in Egypt, and 
 the Essenes in South Palestine, had before this made a 
 practice of abstaining from marriage and from the use 
 of flesh and wine ; and they maintained that the use of 
 these, if not sinful, was at least inconsistent with the 
 higher degrees of excellence in spiritual life. As the 
 effect of Christianity was to give a tremendous impulse to 
 all spiritual thought, it is no wonder that soon after the 
 second century began the Gnostics not only maintained 
 but exaggerated the practices of the Essenes. And the 
 teaching of Roman Catholicism in praise of celibacy, and 
 of vigil, fasting, and penance, a teaching diligently pro- 
 pagated by Ritualists in the English Episcopal Church, 
 comes perilously near the heresy which Paul scathingly 
 denounced, if indeed it is not identical with it. 
 
 Now Scripture does not deny that occasionally, and for 
 purposes of moral discipline or for the accomplishment of 
 
A GREAT HERESY. 1 65 
 
 special Christian work, abstinence from ordinary human 
 relationship and from the use of ordinary food, may be 
 for our good. We can understand and appreciate the 
 sacrifice of one who resolves on a celibate life that he 
 may be more free for evangelistic service in some un- 
 wholesome climate, or of one who gives up wine, or even 
 food, for the subjugation of appetite. The danger in our 
 day is not towards unwholesome asceticism but towards 
 unwholesome indulgence. Not fasting, but feasting, is 
 the peril of the modern Church. 
 
 Why then did Paul speak so strongly as he does here 
 against asceticism ? Not so much, I think, because the 
 practice was likely to minister to pride and self-suffi- 
 ciency, nor because it was certain to develop into the 
 follies of those who regarded dirt as a sign of grace and 
 the laceration and torture of the flesh as a means of expi- 
 ating sin, but because this teaching was the offspring of 
 a fundamental error which threatened the very existence 
 of the kingdom of Christ. That error, which appeared 
 and reappeared like the fabled PhcBuix, was this : that 
 there was an evil creator as well as a good creator, and 
 that while the flesh with all matter belonged to the evil 
 one, only the spirit belonged to the latter. That was the 
 pliilosophical reason given for neglecting the body, for 
 eschewing all fleshly relations, and for abstaining from 
 the material satisfaction of appetite ; and against it the 
 apostles protested with all their might, and no wonder. 
 For if this were true, God was not the good creator of all 
 things. If this were true, God had not come really in 
 the flesh, seeing that flesh was the product of an alien 
 
1 66 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 and hostile power. Hence many came to deny tlie true 
 humanity of our Lord ; they said His body was only a 
 phantasm, not a reality, which implied that His tempta- 
 tions, His sufferings. His death and resurrection took place 
 in appearance only. Paul was not " striving about 
 words to no profit " when he struck out vigorously against 
 this pernicious doctrine; and before you dismiss such 
 language in the New Testament as exaggerated, try to 
 see what really lay behind it. Even Satan may appear 
 as an angel of light, especially when seen down the vista 
 of eighteen centuries. 
 
( i67 ) 
 
 II. 
 
 OUR CHARTER OF FREEDOM. 
 
 (i Tim. iv. 4, 5.) 
 
 In meeting the heresy which he foresaw, the apostle 
 asserted one of the noblest principles in our heritage as 
 Christians — " Every creature of God is good, and nothing 
 to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving ; for it 
 is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer." In other 
 words, a common meal may become a sacrament to us if 
 it be rightly received ; and to a true follower of Christ no 
 relationship will prove more saintly than that between 
 husband and wife ; nothing more pure than fatherly and 
 motherly love ; nothing more promotive of spiritual life 
 than the duties and responsibilities of sons and daughters 
 to their parents. All things and all relationships may 
 become holy to us. This was the teaching of Paul, and 
 of his Lord and ours. 
 
 You see, then, that Paul wisely meets the error by 
 stating the truth, which must conquer it. In presence of 
 the gigantic fabric of falsehood, which had its foundation 
 in philosophy, in Paganism, and even in Judaism, he was 
 like some great general who stands face to face with 
 a strong fortress in an enemy's country. Such a general 
 
I 68 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 might adopt one of two courses. He might hurl his 
 army against the strongly-built walls, and try to win the 
 place by force. He might succeed at great cost, but 
 only to be cast out in turn by the coming of a larger 
 hostile army. Or he might erect another fortress stronger 
 and higher, which would dominate the other, and make 
 it untenable ; and when the enemy was gone from it, 
 his own citadel would still stand and hold all the country 
 round. This is what Paul did. 
 
 I. The Explanation of this Peinciple. — The apostle 
 maintained a truth, which being received will always save 
 the Church from the old error, in whatever form it comes. 
 He declared that everything was made by God, and that 
 everything God made was good, and only became bad 
 when it was used in a wrong spirit. Our Heavenly 
 Father would have us take His gifts as constituting a holy 
 eucharist, bringing blessing to us and evoking praise and 
 thanks to Him. You would not wish your children to sit 
 at the meal you had prepared, saying — " I am afraid 
 this is poisonous," or " This is not meant for me ; " and 
 such a suspicious, fearful, graceless spirit is what God is 
 grieved to see in us amid the relationships of life or in 
 the use of His bounties. " Every creature of God is good, 
 and nothing is to be refused if it be received with thanks- 
 giving." A truth which condemns alike the ascetic in the 
 Romish Church, and the Plymouth Brother, who thinks 
 that business is worldly, social joys pernicious, and news- 
 papers fatal to one's spiritual welfare. Be brave and be 
 trustful in the use of all that God has given you. 
 
 It was characteristic of the religious faith of the 
 
OUR CHARTER OF FREEDOM. 1 69 
 
 Hebrews that it maintained the doctrine, that all things 
 were of God ; that there was one Creator, all-wise and all- 
 good. This struck at the root of the dualism of ancient 
 religions, which attributed some things to the evil and 
 some things to the good creator. It bade defiance to the 
 gods of Olympus with their fabled jealousies and rivalries ; 
 and it made war upon the popular belief in inferior deities, 
 who as fays and goblins so long survived in the imagination 
 of Christendom. All things are of God, and every creature 
 (i.e., everything created) of God is good. This was the 
 bold declaration of men inspired by the Holy Spirit ; and 
 our hearty acceptance of this will give us perennial joy, 
 and will reconcile us to many things which vex us now. 
 
 II. The Application of this Peinciple. 
 
 I . In its application to the natural world it is doubtless 
 generally believed amongst us. Flowers and fruits, and 
 golden corn and waving trees, all originated in God's 
 thought; and are the products of His laws. 
 
 " Not a flower 
 But shows some touch, in freckle, streak, or stain, 
 Of His unrivalled pencil. He inspires 
 Their balmy odours, and imparts their hues, 
 And bathes their eyes with nectar ; and includes, 
 In grains as countless as the seaside sands, 
 The forms with which He sprinkles all the earth. 
 Happy who walks with Him ! whom what he finds 
 Of flavour, or of scent, in fruit or flower, 
 Of what he views of beautiful or grand 
 In nature, from the broad majestic oak 
 To the green blade that twinkles in the sun, 
 Prompts with remembrance of a present God." 
 
 So Cowper sings, and to his words we all say, Amen. 
 
170 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 But do not these words of Paul warrant us in going 
 further ? Is not the ever-living, ever-present God, who 
 makes the flowers and rules the world, the ordainer of 
 our lot, the appointer of our circumstances ? And if this 
 be so, does not belief in it give sacredness to earthly 
 duties, and dignity to those which are most trivial ? 
 
 2. Makp- apijlication of this truth to the occtq^cctions of life. 
 
 There are times when we feel as if we could do better 
 work than falls to our share. In the depressed, condition 
 of commerce especially, well-educated men are forced to 
 take up employment which leaves their best and most 
 cultivated powers unused. Thousands who are capable 
 of swaying the multitude by noble speech, are using their 
 pens to win the barest livelihood ; and many women 
 with well-trained intellects and splendid capacity, some- 
 times ask themselves why they should have sunk down 
 till they are little more than household drudges. Well, 
 if this life be all ; if it be only on earth that our faculties 
 are to be exercised ; if this be the place of reaping and 
 not of sowing, the scene of reward and not of training; 
 we should perhaps be justified in believing either that an 
 evil destiny as well as a good God was at work, or else in 
 complaining that the absolute and only Ruler of all things 
 was not just and equal in His ways. But we believe that 
 what He has ordained, as well as what He has created, 
 will prove to be good and best in the long run ; that 
 drudgery is as divine as dignity ; and that training for 
 the hereafter is more valuable than triumph here. 
 
 Everything depends on how you receive and do your 
 work. You may go to your office as a grumbling slave, 
 
OUR CHARTER OF FREEDOM. I/I 
 
 or you may go as Christ's happy servant. You may find 
 in it a place of torment, where your temper will be 
 fretted and your spirit lacerated by slights and by 
 vexations and by injustices ; or you may find in it a 
 sphere of self-conquest, where you will win victory over 
 yourself, and reveal the dignity and serenity of a citizen 
 of heaven. You may look into your work till you wonder 
 that you should be so humiliated as to have such a thing 
 to do, or you may look through your work until you see 
 the blessedness of service for the noblest Master. Make 
 George Herbert's quaint and beautiful prayer your own : — 
 
 " Teach me, my God and King, 
 In all tilings Thee to see ; 
 And what I do in anything, 
 To do it as for Thee ! 
 
 " A man that looks on glass 
 On it may stay his eye ; 
 Or, if he pleaseth, through it pass, 
 And then the heaven espy. 
 
 " All may of Thee partake ; 
 Nothing can be so mean 
 Which, with this tincture, for Thy sake, 
 Will not grow bright and clean. 
 
 "A servant with this clause 
 Makes drudgery divine ; 
 Who sweeps a room, as for Thy laws, 
 Makes that and th' action fine. 
 
 " This is the famous stone 
 That turueth all to gold : 
 For that which God doth touch and owa 
 Cannot for less be told." 
 
172 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 No occupation (unless there be sin in it) is to be 
 spurned, no creature of God is to be rejected, but we are 
 to say with the apostle, " I know, and am persuaded of the 
 Lord Jesus, 'that there is nothing unclean of itself.' " Evil 
 is not in the thing, but in the spirit which wrongly receives, 
 or uses, the thing. As Jesus Himself taught, nothing 
 from without can defile a man, but that which is from 
 within does defile him, and all that he touches and does. 
 The man with an unclean heart will see impurity in what 
 is innocent ; the man with a false heart will transform an 
 act of religious worship into a sin ; the man with a thank- 
 less, godless heart will use as a gratification of appetite 
 what might be a holy sacrament. 
 
 III. The testing power of this Principle. — Nothing 
 is to be rejected if it be received with thanksgiving. But 
 that implies that you ought to reject what you cannot 
 receive with thanksgiving to God. If there is something 
 in using which remembrance of God would make you 
 ashamed ; or something which may lead you to excess or 
 to evil desire, or to intoxication, or to any sin ; or some- 
 thing about which you feel you cannot say, " God, I 
 thank Thee for this," then it is to be rejected ; but if it be 
 otherwise, use your liberty freely as the children of God. 
 Prayer and thanksgiving to God may be to you what the 
 legendary Eastern king found his formula to be, for when 
 a cup of poison was put within his reach, and he took it 
 into his hand, he named the name of God and made 
 the sign of the cross over it, according to his constant 
 custom, and the poisoned chalice was suddenly shattered 
 in his hand, and all the poison was spilled. Name 
 
OUR CHARTER OF FREEDOM. 1 73 
 
 God's name over everything doubtful, and no poison of 
 sin shall hurt you. There is still a sense in which the 
 promise of the Lord is true for all His disciples, " They 
 shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing 
 it shall not hurt them." 
 
 IV. The twofold reason given for this Principle. — 
 In the 5 th verse the apostle explains more fully how com- 
 mon things are made sacred. I say advisedly made sacred, 
 for the word he uses means just that. It does not signify 
 that the things are declared to be holy, but that they are 
 actually made holy by the word of God and prayer. 
 
 1 . Now the " word of God " is not the utterance of 
 His name over food as a sort of talisman ; for absurdities 
 of the nature of transubstantiation have no foundation in 
 the New Testament. The allusion is to " the word," or 
 command of God, which expressly gave permission and 
 authority to man to use whatever was suitable for him 
 in the vegetable and in the animal kingdom — " Every 
 moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you ; even as 
 the green herb have I given you all things." That 
 divine ordinance makes all things sacred for the use of 
 man ; but man's loyal and grateful acceptance of it must 
 be combined with the ordinance, in order to make his use 
 of things a right and not a usurpation. Hence the apostle 
 says, everything is made sacred by the word of God — 
 
 2. And Prayer, and these which God has joined let 
 no man put asunder. In the former phrase you see the 
 top of the ladder which reaches heaven, in the latter you 
 see the foot of it resting on the earth — and to a prayerless 
 man it is only a vision of glory beyond his reach. God's 
 
174 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 word to you bestows tlie gift, but your word to God 
 must appropriate the gift, or else it is not sacred and 
 divine. 
 
 No doubt what is here required of us is the spirit 
 of thankfulness, but the expression of it should not be 
 withheld ; and it is to be feared that the growing disuse 
 of the old custom of " grace before meat " is leading some 
 children to forgetfulness of the Giver, though they are 
 taught to repeat the prayer, " Give us this day our daily 
 bread." That time-honoured, sacred custom should find 
 place in all your homes ; and while on the one hand you 
 do not make it a long inappropriate prayer for spiritual 
 blessing, on the other hand see that it is not treated as 
 if it were a charm, or incantation, to be gabbled through 
 without thought or meaning. Let us not forget or de- 
 spise the Christian custom of thanksgiving, which even 
 in the earliest days was general in its observance ; in- 
 deed, we could not do better than adopt a grace which 
 was used so early that it was known to Timothy's 
 disciples, and with it we close : — 
 
 " Blessed be Thou, Lord, who hast nourished me 
 from my youth, who givest food to all flesh. Fill our 
 hearts with joy and gladness, that we, always having all 
 sufficiency, may abound unto every good work, in Christ 
 Jesus our Lord, through whom to Thee be glory, honour, 
 and power for ever. Amen." 
 
( 175 ) 
 
 III. 
 
 COUNSELS TO GOD'S SERVANTS. 
 (i Tim. iv. 6-10.) 
 
 The wise counsels given here to Timotliy have their 
 value in every age, and in every land, for those who are 
 called upon to teach and warn their fellows. Foremost 
 among these counsels (when thrown into a hortatory 
 form) is this — 
 
 I. Make known the Truth, and the Truth will 
 STRENGTHEN YOU. — " If thou put the brethren in remem- 
 brance of these things thou shalt be . . . nourished." 
 The verb used by Paul does not signify, as our transla- 
 tion of it does, the reminding people of what they knew 
 already, but had forgotten ; it simply means that the 
 doctrine unfolded in the previous verses was to be pre- 
 sented in a suitable way to the minds of others. 
 
 I. It is to he noted that neither here nor elseivhere was 
 Timothy called upon to he a dictator, hut a teacher: he 
 was to give counsels rather than commands. Indeed this 
 was the attitude assumed by the apostles themselves, who 
 felt that dictatorial authority in matters of conscience 
 was their Lord's alone. 
 
 Religious truth demands the willing assent of mind 
 
176 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 and of conscience, and is valueless if it is imposed as 
 a creed by force or fraud. Like the germ of life in a 
 seed of corn it must be received into a kindly soil ; 
 for only when soil and seed work together is a harvest 
 possible. You may build a wall or a house on any 
 soil — clay, or rock, or chalk — delving away till a smooth 
 surface is prepared to receive the bricks and mortar 
 superimposed upon it, and the stability of your building 
 will not be much affected by the nature of the ground. 
 But it is not thus you can get a harvest. A harvest 
 cannot be had on every soil, because it is the product of 
 life, and life needs to be in contact with certain forces 
 before it can multiply itself. So in the higher sphere. 
 You can make a child learn a creed and repeat it without 
 fault, but that mental structure is only like the dead 
 work of the builder. Truth needs to be welcomed by 
 love, and thought, and will, as the seed must be received 
 into good soil, and then the increase comes. Hence it is 
 that the responsibility of each as to the reception or the 
 rejection of Christian truth is personal ; and the lesson 
 for us teachers is important — that we should present the 
 truth affectionately, clearly, and prayerfully, but we must 
 throw the onus of dealing with it upon each hearer. 
 " Nor for that we have dominion over your faith ; but 
 are helpers of your joy." This should be the motto of 
 every Christian teacher. 
 
 2. Observe also the reflex action of such teachiTig. If 
 you put others in mind of these things you will yourself 
 be " nourished." This is but throwing into another form 
 the familiar truths, " There is that scattereth, and yet 
 
COUNSELS TO GODS SERVANTS. 1 77 
 
 increaseth ; " " Give and it shall be given you ; " " To him 
 that hath " (who so possesses as to use to the utmost) " to 
 him shall be given, and he shall have abundance." How 
 true this is, especially in mental and spiritual experience. 
 We give our sympathy, without stint, to some one in 
 trouble, and our tenderness of feeling is thereby intensified. 
 We use what little knowledge we have of God's Word, or 
 of Christian experience, and our knowledge grows. The 
 disciples were taught this in a concrete form when they 
 were asked to give up to others the few loaves and fishes 
 which were insufiicient even for themselves ; and not only 
 was the multitude fully satisfied, but the givers took up 
 for themselves of fragments left over twelve basketsfull. 
 Never stint others, for fear of impoverishing yourself, and 
 "thou shalt be a good servant of Jesus Christ, nourished 
 in the words of the faith, and of the good doctrine which 
 thou hast followed until now." 
 
 II. Reject the False and Tkivial for the Teue 
 AND Real. 
 
 I. Timothy is warned against ^'profane and old wives' 
 fables," or in modern parlance, against stories which are 
 the veriest chatter of old women. Probably Paul alludes 
 to the fables and endless genealogies of which he else- 
 where speaks. Every one who knows anything about the 
 later Jewish writings can recall instances of these ramb- 
 ling and unprofitable enlargements of Scripture teaching, 
 which were obnoxious to a man of sterling common 
 sense and spiritual intelligence, such as Paul. Foolish 
 and trivial discussions and fanciful theories have often 
 been allowed to overlay the truth of God, to its complete 
 
178 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 hiding, or at least to its sad enfeeblement. They are 
 like a heap of decaying refuse covering the verdant grass, 
 whose pale and enfeebled shoots show what its effect has 
 been even after it has been cleared away. Let the truth 
 about sin, and about Christ the Saviour from sin, be kept 
 in the light ; and beware lest it be covered over and 
 forgotten under oratorical prettinesses, or philosophical 
 speculations. 
 
 2. The man of God has something tetter to do than 
 to amuse his imagination or the imagination of others, and 
 must " exercise himself rather unto godliness." God does 
 not ask us to give up pleasures or even follies for the mere 
 sake of cultivating an ascetic temper, but in order that 
 we may be the more free for higher pursuits and a nobler 
 service, knowing that those who would attain unto godli- 
 ness must " exercise " themselves thereunto. To spend 
 the week in thoughtlessness and triviality, and then to 
 sit with inert mind under the preaching of the trath on 
 Sunday, with an occasional spasm of repentance, or a 
 feeble attempt at the repetition of a prayer, is only to 
 mock God with unreality. As the Greek athlete would 
 " exercise " himself^ and spend his time in learning and 
 in practising privately what would be of use in the 
 arena, so the Christian is to apply his mind to reading 
 and to prayer, to self-conquest, and to service for others, 
 and thus to exercise himself unto godliness. And the 
 word Paul uses, drawn as it is from the athlete's train- 
 ing, is suggestive of something further. The veriest 
 tyro, even in the modern gymnasium, knows that he 
 must often attempt to do what he thinks he cannot do. 
 
COUNSELS TO GOD'S SERVANTS. 1 79 
 
 and rise from a failure or a fall to try the jump or the 
 climb once more. Let it be so with those who exercise 
 themselves unto godliness. You think you cannot teach, 
 that you cannot pray ; but " exercise thyself " unto it, 
 and with God's blessing the stammering tongue shall 
 speak and the fluttering heart be ruled. 
 
 III. Keep the Body in its true place as subordi- 
 nate TO the Spiritual Life. — The Eevised Version is to 
 be preferred to the Authorised in its rendering of the 
 eighth verse, "bodily exercise is profitable for a Little, but 
 godliness is profitable for all things." The apostle's 
 reference is not to the asceticism which by flagellations 
 and vigils kept the body under, but to the gymnastic 
 exercises of the athlete, of which he had been reminded 
 by the verb used in the preceding verse. He was one 
 who would heartily approve of such exercise as would 
 develop and maintain physical vigour, which is essential 
 to the right and cheerful doing of most work. " Bodily 
 exercise is profitable for a little," although, in comparison 
 with spiritual exercise, it is not so far-reaching in its 
 result. The Greek gained a measure of good, a certain 
 amount of profit within a limited sphere, for his agility 
 and healthiness were promoted ; but Christians had 
 other results to look for besides and beyond keeping 
 in sound condition the body, which for a time they 
 dwelt in. 
 
 Now, this teaching has its value for ns in the pre- 
 sent day. Games and sports which call for physical 
 exercise or for physical restraint are profitable. The 
 young lad at school, or the clerk in an ofi&ce, or the 
 
 13 
 
l8o EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 student at the university is largely benefited by the 
 cricket-field and the boating club ; for not only is every 
 physical power God-given and sacred, and therefore to be 
 developed, but athletic training demands abstinence from 
 late hours, from intoxicating liquors, and from excess of 
 any kind. Many who have gone out to the mission- 
 field have found their training in the cricket-field a 
 help and not a hindrance. But though bodily exercise 
 is profitable, and each of us should try to have the 
 " mens sanis in corpore sano" it is only profitable for a 
 little when compared with what is within our reach if we 
 exercise ourselves " unto godliness," for the body will 
 soon perish, but the soul will live for ever ; the physical 
 strength will soon pass away, but the powers of loving 
 and serving, won through prayer, will fit us for serving 
 among the angels. 
 
 " Godliness is profitable unto all things, having pro-' 
 mise of the life that now is and of that which is to 
 come." " This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all 
 acceptation." Yes, even our present life is made deeper, 
 richer, and holier through knowing and loving our God. 
 Its bitterness is sweetened, its disappointments are made 
 bearable, its pleasures are made sacred, and in itself it 
 appears to us only as the germ of that which is to come. 
 
 " Breather into men of breath, 
 O Holder of the keys of death, 
 Giver of the hfe within. 
 Save us from death, the death of sin ; 
 That body, soul and spirit, be 
 For ever living unto Thee." 
 
COUNSELS TO GOD'S SERVANTS. l8l 
 
 IV. Let hope in the Living God be your inspira- 
 tion IN Labour and Suffering. — " For therefore we 
 both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the 
 livinf^ God, who is the Saviour of all men, especially of 
 those that believe." 
 
 This verse explains what Paul meant by living a life 
 of godliness. " Life " is not mere existence, however pro- 
 longed, nor mere enjoyment of existence ; but existence 
 used for others, in the strength and under the blessing of 
 God. The true saint " labours and suffers reproach " — 
 or rather, " toils and strives " — in the service of his 
 God ; and he is not troubled when ill-requited, nor 
 disheartened by seeming failure, because he trusts in the 
 living God, in whom he has an endless heritage of peaceful 
 and most blessed life. For " He is the Saviour of all 
 men." By His watchful and beneficent Providence He is 
 constantly preserving them, and continuing to them the 
 use of the life that now is ; and if in a yet higher sense 
 He is not their " Saviour," it is not from lack of power, 
 or of will, to save, but because they refuse His offers until 
 He cries, " Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have 
 life." And if He does so much for sinful men, what will 
 He not do for those who have trusted in His Word and 
 cast themselves on His mercy ? 
 
 Work and strive, then, in His service, as one who 
 believes in His readiness to give all that pertains to life 
 and to godliness ; and speak and plead with others as 
 one who believes that in His love, in the Saviour's 
 atonement, in the heaven He has prepared, salvation ia 
 proffered to all. 
 
I 82 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 " Let all men know that all men move 
 Under a canopy of love, 
 As broad as the blue sky above ; 
 That doubt and trouble, fear and pain. 
 And anguish, all are shadows vain ; 
 That death itself shall not remain." 
 
( 183 ) 
 
 IV. 
 
 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 TEACHER. 
 
 (I Tim. iv. 11-16.) 
 
 With true affection, and with heavenly wisdom, Paul 
 exhorts his son in the faith to be mindful of his conduct 
 and character. What was expected of Timothy may be 
 fairly demanded of us, who, in the tone and tendency 
 of the social life around us, possess incalculably greater 
 advantages than he. And what is required of every 
 Christian, even the lowliest, ought most of all to charac- 
 terise those who are the teachers of others, in the class, 
 in the Church, and in the home. Tt is through them, 
 through their words and characters, that the truth is to 
 be made known, and in respect of all that we have learnt 
 of God and of His ways, the exhortation comes to each, 
 " These things command and teach." There are truths 
 which warrant not only clear enunciation, but also bold 
 enforcement, because they are not of man but of God, 
 and we are His channels of communication with the 
 world. Warnings against sin, rebukes of cynical scepti- 
 cism, denunciations of vice in its multitudinous forms, 
 calls to repentance, invitations to the Saviour, as our only 
 
184 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 hope, all these should be uttered with no wavering sound. 
 In your homes, when the children are about you ; in the 
 class, towards which your responsibility is so tremendous ; 
 through the press, whose influence is wider than ever ; 
 obey the mandate, " These things command and teach." 
 But words from a teacher without character are like bullets 
 without powder, and will fall as harmlessly, dropping far 
 short of their mark. 
 
 Here, as well as elsewhere, the apostle exhorts to — 
 I. The Maintenance of Moral Dignity. — Timothy 
 was at this time in the full vigour of his manhood, al- 
 though he was young for the responsibilities which rested 
 upon him in Ephesus ; and the solemn charge just given 
 him would make him more than ever painfully conscious 
 of his youth and inexperience. He had to rebuke those 
 who were older than himself, in days when age received 
 more honour than unfortunately it does now ; and the 
 false teachers, who made it difficult even for Paul — older 
 in years and higher in dignity than Timothy — to maintain 
 his authority, would take every possible advantage of the 
 inexperience of this young evangelist, regarding him as 
 an upstart, and refusing to submit to his authority. 
 
 I. The tendency of Timothy was to yield rather than 
 to command, to sacrifice truth for the sake of 'peace, and 
 to lessen his own authority hy morbid self- depreciation. 
 Probably this is not so common amongst us as self-confi- 
 dence ; but it is a serious fault, and may be a grievous 
 hindrance to usefulness. Unless you believe yourself to 
 be capable of doing something better than you are now 
 doing you will hesitate to attempt it. If you cannot trust 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CHRISTIAN TEACHER. I 8 5 
 
 God to help you through an onerous duty you will be in 
 danger of evading it. Much noble service has been lost to 
 the Church and to the world by a foolish self-depreciation. 
 I remember one who became a very successful man telling 
 me that his early youth was blighted by this morbid 
 tendency, and that he owed all his prosperity to a wise- 
 hearted, loving, motherly woman, who took pity on the sen- 
 sitive, shrinking lad, and made him believe in himself, as 
 one gifted by God to do something in the world. While 
 guarding yourself against conceit and vanity, do not fall 
 into the error of self-depreciation. " Let no man despise 
 thy youth." Be manly, and brave, and firm, lest you sacri- 
 fice interests which God has intrusted to your charge. 
 
 2. But the way to overcome the disadvantage of youth 
 in the opinion of others^ and to gain influence over them, 
 is clearly suggested here. It is not to be done by noisy 
 s 'If-assertion, by the evident desire to be prominent, but 
 by becoming, through Divine grace, an exemplar of real 
 Christian worth. Whether this appears among the bro- 
 thers and sisters at home, or among godless companions 
 in the office, or among those associated in religious worship 
 and work, it always tells, winning for its possessor love 
 and esteem, and endowing him with an influence which 
 sometimes amazes himself. "Be thou an example of the 
 believers, in word, in conversation (or behaviour), in 
 charity, in faith, in purity." (The phrase "in spirit" is 
 properly omitted from the Revised Version.) 
 
 (i .) It is through our " word " that we chiefly manifest 
 to others the nature of our inner life, and the tone and 
 temper thus exhibited either weakens or strengthens our 
 
1 86 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 influence for good. (2.) But words must he in harmony 
 vnth conduct, and he would be a poor maintainer of Christ's 
 cause whose words were admirable while his general be- 
 haviour was frivolous or faulty. (3.) Nor is it enough 
 to watch over our words and behaviour, but we must 
 pay regard to motive and impulse, because we have to 
 do with and to bear witness for the great Searcher of 
 hearts, and should see that love and faith are the twin 
 motive powers of our life — love which really cares 
 for the interests of others, faith which lays hold upon 
 the strength and wisdom of an unseen yet ever present 
 God. (4.) And added to all these must be unquestioned 
 'purity, which will make us so scrupulous about moral 
 improprieties that the breath of slander will fade away 
 instantly from the polished shield of our reputation, and 
 will keep the inner life clear and chaste, while it gives us 
 the fulfilment of the Lord's words, " Blessed are the pure 
 in heart, for they shall see God." 
 
 II. Again — Preparation for Christian Work is in- 
 culcated here as well as maintenance of moral dignity. 
 The apostle appears to have expected an early return to 
 Ephesus, and hence writes — 
 
 I. ^^ Till I come give attention to the reading, to the 
 exhortation, to the teaching." The reference is primarily 
 to the public duties of the Christian teacher. The " read- 
 ing" of Holy Scripture in religious assemblies, which 
 had been transferred from the synagogue, formed no in- 
 considerable part of the public worship of those days, as 
 any one can imagine who reflects on the cost and rarity 
 of manuscripts. " Exhortation " was often heard — appeals 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CHRISTIAN TEACHER. I 87 
 
 to affection and to enthusiasm, which led many a believer 
 to give himself up entirely to the service of the Lord. 
 And coincident with this was steady consecutive " teach- 
 ing" by means of which God's Word was expounded, 
 applied, and illustrated. The helps which may fit us to 
 do this are now innumerable ; and he is without excuse 
 who, for want of due preparation, puts silly stories in the 
 place of practical exposition, or lets off rhetorical fireworks 
 when the world wants the steady light of Christian truth. 
 2. But the work to which Tiviothy was called required 
 in the first 'place " a gift" which the apostle says was 
 given him instrumentally — " by prophecy, with the laying 
 on of the hands of the presbytery." The word used for 
 " gift " denotes that it came from the Holy Spirit, with 
 whom it is always associated in Paul's writings. Even 
 from his youth Timothy had been destined to peculiar 
 evangelistic work, and God gave him grace proportioned 
 to this calling. " Prophets " in the Church had proclaimed 
 this, and it was from their lips that the young evangelist 
 had the assurance of his gift and calling ; and this had 
 been confirmed by "the laying on of the hands of the 
 presbytery," by which rite he had been set apart for his 
 special work. The prophetic voice had been God's call to 
 liis responsive soul, and the laying on of the hands of the 
 presbytery had denoted the concurrence of the Church, 
 who sent him forth in their name and with their prayers. 
 The gift bestowed was not the gift of miracles, for that 
 was never given except through the apostles, and they 
 had no power to intrust the function to others. Hence 
 "the seven," who were themselves endued with super- 
 
165 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 natural power, could not convey it to others ; but when 
 Philip would gladly have so enriched his converts, he 
 could only ask for Peter and John to do so. But the 
 presbytery, consisting of humble and obscure pastors, 
 could set apart for service those whom God endued and 
 called ; indeed Paul and Barnabas were sent forth by 
 unknown men to the work to which God had called them. 
 These two — the gift of God and the recognition of it by 
 the Church — should ever be combined in the pastor who 
 is working for Christ. 
 
 3. But he is foolish and sinful who relics on tlie 
 •possession of a gift, or the recognition of it hy others. 
 Neglected, the gift will perish, and the life of promise 
 will end in miserable failure. Therefore, in the acquire- 
 ment of knowledge and in the impartation of it, " neglect 
 not the gift that is in thee." But " be diligent in 
 these things — give thyself wholly to them, that thy pro- 
 gress may be manifest unto all." The phrase rendered 
 " give thyself wholly to them," might be more literally 
 translated " be in them " — have your life in such 
 thoughts and truths ; let them constitute the atmosphere 
 you breathe, and then your religious work will not be a 
 something artificial and foreign to your nature, but the 
 necessary outcome of your inward life. 
 
 4. Give heed, then, unto thyself and unto the doctrine. 
 Cultivate such gifts as you have, and use them with- 
 out stint in your Master's service ; and see to it that 
 the teaching you give is not the chance utterance of a 
 thoughtless mind, but the product of earnest thinking, 
 and of believing prayer. Thus only will you " continue in 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CHRISTIAN TEACHER. I 89 
 
 them." For without the renewal of strength which comes 
 from waiting upon God, however rich and vigorous your 
 mind may be, your work will prove but a spasm ending 
 in rigidity and death. 
 
 III. Finally, Paul looked to see in Timothy (and 
 God looks to see in us) keadine6S for the promised 
 
 REWARD. 
 
 1. It is no small blessing which is promised in 
 the I 5 th verse, " that thy projiting " {or rather thy 2^ro- 
 gress) " may appear unto all." Not only will you be 
 conscious of growth in knowledge and experience, by the 
 faithful use of what is already yours, but 'those around 
 you will rejoice over it too, both those who love you, 
 and all who meet you in the walks of life. You shall 
 be a living epistle, known and read of all men. 
 
 2. Nay, more than tJiis, " Thou shall loth save thyself 
 and them that hear thee." No joy in heaven will be 
 greater than this, that you will meet there those who 
 were first helped to see their sin, and to come to 
 the Saviour's feet by your words. And nothing is more 
 likely to aid you in your own progress heavenward than 
 the desire and effort to help others thither. Great as is 
 the temptation to become perfunctory and professional 
 in the service of Christ, yet, on the other hand, the help- 
 fulness of such work to our own spiritual life is mar- 
 vellous, for it brings us near to God, and near to our 
 fellows, and makes us more like in spirit to Him who 
 came to seek and to save that which was lost. A 
 traveller who was sinking from exhaustion in a snow- 
 storm on the mountain saw his companion suddenly drop 
 
I90 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 helpless at his side ; straightway his own peril was 
 forgotten, and, flinging himself beside him, he chafed 
 his hands and rubbed his chest ; and by the effort which 
 brought life back to the dying he kept himself alive 
 — he saved both himself and the friend beside him. 
 For your own sake, and for the sake of others, spend and 
 be spent in this glorious service, and not only will your 
 own life be the fuller here, but heaven itself will be made 
 incomparably more full of joy. 
 
 I charge you in the name of the Saviour, who died for 
 all ; by the love you feel towards those around you, and 
 by your hopes of welcome and reward in the land of the 
 leal, be not content to be saved alone, lest by indolence 
 and selfishness even your own salvation be risked. 
 
SERMONETTES ON FIFTH CHAPTER. 
 
( 193 ) 
 
 I. 
 
 CHRISTIAN REPROOFS. 
 
 (l TiM.V. I, 2.) 
 
 I. The Necessity and the Nature of Christian 
 Reproof are both suggested in the first verse of this 
 chapter. Though age was always to be reverenced, even 
 those in advanced life were to be rebuked when their 
 conduct was inconsistent with their Christian profession. 
 A jealous regard for the reputation of fellow-members 
 would necessitate this ; for the spirit of the Gospel is 
 exactly the converse of the spirit of Cain, who asked, 
 " Am I my brother's keeper ? " If, therefore, we see a 
 Christian friend pursuing a course which is likely to 
 injure the Church ; or if in his daily conduct there 
 appears some fault hardly suspected by himself; or if 
 there be in him, or in his manner, something that may 
 lead to the loss of his reputation ; by our love to him, as 
 well as by our zeal for Christ, we are bound to speak. 
 
 This requires not only a sincere regard for our 
 brother's welfare, but also at times considerable moral 
 courage. Some find it by no means easy to point out 
 faults even to their own children ; but they fairly 
 tremble at the idea of being faithful to those who are 
 
194 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 in a better social position than themselves, or to those 
 whose age, experience, or learning give them in other 
 departments of life influence and authority. Hence not 
 only kings, but many others in high position, are in 
 danger, because few dare speak to them of sins or of 
 follies which would be plainly condemned if they were 
 poorer; and, therefore, they require more than others 
 to examine themselves with all fidelity and earnest- 
 ness. And we must evermore pray for grace that in 
 these matters we may be faithful to each other, and 
 that, instead of cherishing angry feelings, or whispering 
 cowardly words of slander, we may obey the Lord's com- 
 mand — " Go and tell thy brother his fault between thee 
 and him alone." 
 
 All who have sought to do this are conscious of its 
 difficulty. Speak as you may, you will not improbably 
 offend ; for your brother needs as much grace to listen 
 as you need to speak. Yet if your spirit be right ; if 
 your motive be really good ; if you honestly desire to 
 help him or to serve the Church, and not to relieve your 
 own ill-temper, you may win him to a true brotherh- 
 ness and to an ever-growing mutual esteem. Spea,k not 
 unseasonably, at times when your words are likely to 
 irritate more, but use the opportunities which are given 
 of God. 
 
 " Reprove not in tlieir wrath incensed men, 
 Good counsel comes clean out of season then ; 
 But when his fury is appeased and past, 
 He will conceive his fault and mend at last. 
 When he is cool and calm, then utter it — 
 No man gives physic in the midst o' th' fit." 
 
CHRISTIAN EEPROOFS. I95 
 
 II. The Mode and Spirit in which Christian Reproof 
 SHOULD BE GIVEN in specified cases is suggested by the 
 apostle here : — " Rebuke not an elder, but entreat hira 
 as h father ; and the younger men as brethren ; the 
 elder women as mothers ; the younger as sisters ; with 
 all purity." 
 
 The word translated " rebuke " means to reprimand 
 sharply, to chide in a rough or arrogant manner, or in a 
 domineering temper; and this is condemned by all the 
 teaching of our Lord about humility and charity. For 
 there is no doubt that while many hesitate to be faithful, 
 others delight in fault-finding. In everything and in 
 everybody they see what may be condemned and shut 
 their eyes to what may be commended. Unhappy souls, 
 whose views of life are distorted and discoloured by the 
 spectacles they wear ! In pointing out faults, we are to 
 be reverent and cautious, as well as earnest and manly ; 
 and in discharging this duty of the Christian life we are 
 called upon in the first place to be — 
 
 I . Bcvcrent towards age. It is unfortunate that the Re- 
 vised Version has confirmed the erroneous interpretation 
 often put upon Paul's words, as translated in the Autho- 
 rised Version. "Rebuke not an elder" should be, " Rebuke 
 not an elderly person." The reference is not to any sort 
 of Church official, nor is the suggestion made that such 
 can do no wrong, or that if they do they are to be left 
 unrebuked. Imperfections are common enough amongst 
 leaders of the Churches, and do more harm in proportion 
 to the dignity of the offender. The apostle makes no refer- 
 ence here to official standing, but to age. This is obvious, 
 
 14 
 
ig6 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 from the fact that he speaks first of older and younger men, 
 and then of older and younger women. The want of reve- 
 rence for age and experience was never more common than 
 now, and even in the highest council of the nation has some- 
 times received shameful exemplification and encourage- 
 ment. Ours should be the spirit of Samuel, who, even 
 when he had to convey a message from God, modestly 
 hesitated, waiting for a good opportunity to deliver it, and 
 then spoke with the reverence due to Eli's age. Do not 
 sharply rebuke one older than yourself, but exhort him as 
 a son might exhort the father whom he loves. This is 
 Paul's message to us on that subject. But besides reve- 
 rence to the aged — 
 
 2. Love .towards the hreihrcn should be conspicuous 
 in every word of reproof. Not anger, nor hatred, nor 
 suspicion, but love — for they are our brothers in Christ. 
 And with this must be combined — 
 
 3. Purity toioards women, in thought, as well as in 
 word and act. Nowhere was the exhortation more 
 necessary than in Ephesus, and no one needed it more 
 than Timothy, whose interviews with them were of 
 necessity frequent. But it should be the chief ambition 
 of every right-hearted young man, to maintain a chivalrous 
 tone in all conversation with women, and concerning 
 them ; and to put down with a strong firm hand not 
 only all that may savour of impurity, but all that may 
 tend to lower that lofty ideal of womanhood, which God 
 seeks to create in the heart of every child, through the 
 love of mother and of sister ; and desires to keep there, 
 as in a holy shrine, intact and unstained for evermore. 
 
( 197 ) 
 
 II. 
 
 HOME RESPONSIBILITIES. 
 
 (i Tim. v. 4, 8, i6.) 
 
 In dealing with the important subject of the charity of 
 the Church, Paul refers thrice in this passage (in the 
 4th, 8th, and 1 6th verses) to the claims of kinship. It 
 is in harmony with Scripture throughout, that he esti- 
 mates these claims far higher than ecclesiasticism has 
 done. There seems to have been a notion in the Church, 
 which has appeared and reappeared in different ages 
 with varying force, that in proportion as the family is 
 ignored, the Church will become paramount in the 
 thought of Christians. Hence the praise of virginity, 
 the practice of celibacy among the clergy, and so forth. 
 But this is utterly opposed to the Divinely-given instinct 
 of man ; and is rebuked and condemned by none more 
 strongly than by our Lord and His apostles. Home is 
 the pivot on which humanity turns ; and the Church, 
 instead of being its antagonist, or its substitute, is simply 
 its enlargement, and is of value to the world in propor- 
 tion as it is homelike. 
 
 We are reminded here — 
 
 I. That home responsibilities are to be accepted 
 
198 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 AS THE APPOINTMENT OF GOD. — The sacredness of family 
 relatiousliip is constantly insisted upon both in the Old 
 Testament and the New. All transgressions against it 
 were severely punished under the Mosaic economy, and 
 were condemned still more solemnly by our Lord. And 
 the filial duties referred to here, as acts of requital 
 which common gratitude and natural affection would 
 dictate, are always spoken of as they are in the fourth 
 verse as being " acceptable to God." Amid the thunders 
 of Sinai, and on the tables of stone, this was proclaimed, 
 as one of God's • first commandments, " Honour thy 
 father and thy mother." And when the everlasting 
 Word was incarnate, when the Great Teacher stood 
 amongst men, of whom a voice from heaven said, 
 " This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, 
 hear Him," this command was emphatically reiterated, 
 and all that tended to make it of no effect was swept 
 aside and condemned. We cannot fail to remember the 
 stern words in which our Lord rebuked the teaching of 
 the priests upon that subject. In the spirit of eccle- 
 siasticism, which is not yet dead, they urged that the 
 Temple ought to stand before the home, and that parents 
 might be left to starve, if only property was devoted to 
 pious uses. Covetous men were ready enough to take 
 advantage of this doctrine, and often cheated the priests 
 while they robbed their parents. They only uttered as a 
 sort of mystic incantation the word " Corban " over their 
 property, and then would say to their needy parents, " But 
 it is devoted to God, so that I cannot give it to you ; " 
 and, according to Pharisaic doctrine, they were free from 
 
HOME RESPONSIBILITIES. I 99 
 
 filial responsibility. Sternly did our Lord condemn those 
 who thus made void the Word of God by their tradition. 
 It is exactly in harmony with this teaching of Jesus 
 Christ that the apostle says of professedly Christian sons 
 and daughters, " Let them first learn to show piety at 
 home " — for this is their prime duty, and nothing else 
 can take its place ; and by whomsoever rendered it is 
 " acceptable to God." 
 
 A word of exposition on the first clause in the fourth 
 verse is desirable, " If any widows have children or 
 nephews, let them {i.e., not the widows, but the children 
 or nephews) learn first to show piety (filial love) at 
 home." The word nephews is used by our translators 
 in its old English sense, and is rendered in the Eevised 
 Version by its nearest modern equivalent, " grandchil- 
 dren," for in the writings of Chaucer, Sir Thomas More, 
 and John Locke, " nephews " is used to denote grand- 
 children. And similarly, when it is said they are to 
 requite their '■'"parents" more is included than fathers or 
 mothers, for the apostle's word is equivalent to the Scotch 
 "forbears," for which the English language has no exact 
 synonym. The idea is that we owe a debt of gratitude 
 to those from whom we have derived existence, and to 
 whom we owe the support, care, and education we have 
 received. We are bound to see that to the utmost of our 
 ability their wants in old age are met. 
 
 II. That among our God-given responsibilities is 
 
 THE DUTY OF LABOURING FOR THE SUPPORT OF THE WEAK. 
 — Among the blessings of our human relationships is this : 
 that honest work is necessitated. We have seen instances 
 
200 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 in wliich a young fellow who has spent all his salary on 
 cigars, dress, and amusements, has after his marriage 
 buckled to work, and displayed an energy and ability 
 for which none had given him credit before. Many a 
 brave young wife and self-sacrificing mother has been 
 ennobled through her home duties, having completely 
 abandoned the foolish and trivial pursuits to which she 
 was once addicted. And what numberless instances 
 there are of men, whose diligence and self-abnegation are 
 beyond praise, who have become what they are by first 
 feeling the responsibility of caring and working for a 
 widowed mother ! Even till the hour when death comes 
 to close the eyes which have always looked on you 
 with love, you will surely see to it that she shall lack 
 nothing which you can give. Time is but short, and 
 our fast fleeting opportunities call for deeds of kind- 
 ness and for words of love. Well has Bishop Heber 
 said, " When the veil of death has been drawn between 
 us and tlie objects of our regard, how quick-sighted do 
 we become to their merits, and how bitterly do we re- 
 member words, or even looks of unkindness, which may 
 have escaped in our intercourse with them ! How careful 
 should such thoughts render us in the fulfilment of those 
 oflSces of aff*ection which may yet be in our power to per- 
 form J for who can tell how soon the moment may arrive 
 when repentance cannot be followed by reparation." 
 
 III. Paul emphatically declares that those who fail 
 
 IN THESE EESPONSIBILITIES HAVE DENIED THE FAITH AND 
 ARE WORSE THAN INFIDELS. 
 
 Stern as the words are, they are true ! Even the 
 
HOME RESPONSIBILITIES. 201 
 
 heathen, certainly the better class of them, were wont to 
 acknowledge filial duties, and would have condemned 
 cynical disregard of parents and refusal to fulfil natural 
 duties towards them. This is an offence against humanity, 
 and therefore, in the deepest sense, an offence against 
 Christ. But a Christian professes to have higher motives 
 in duty than others. He declares that he does what is 
 I'ight in order to please his Lord and Master ; he announces 
 that he is a follower of One who pleased not Himself; 
 who came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, 
 and even to give His life as a ransom for many. Foi 
 him to fail in this primal duty is to add hypocrisy to the 
 crime ; and if he provides not for his own to the utmost 
 of his ability — be they little children intrusted to his 
 care, or weakly brothers and sisters unable to fend for 
 themselves, or aged parents whose work is done, and who 
 look for a little recompense for their former self-denial — 
 then he hath denied the faith he professes, and is worse 
 than an unbeliever. 
 
 Let us never forget that the test of character is to be 
 found in family relationships rather than in those which 
 are ecclesiastical ; and that it is in the home first and 
 chiefest of all that Christ's disciples are to adorn the 
 doctrine of God their Saviour. 
 
( 202 ) 
 
 III. 
 
 CHARITY RULED BY WISDOM. 
 (i Tim. v. 3-16.) 
 
 A VERY important subject is dealt witli in this passage, 
 namely, the principle upon which charity should be 
 bestowed ; and as on most other subjects, so on this, 
 the world and the Church have much to learn from the 
 inspired apostle. 
 
 In Jerusalem, the first Christians, in an outburst of 
 generosity, were indiscriminate and lavish in their gifts ; 
 and although their conduct is sometimes regarded as an 
 example of what ought always to be, we are inclined 
 to question that dictum ; to affirm that such virtual 
 communism was nowhere suggested to other Churches, 
 but was rather condemned by the apostles ; and further, 
 that the effects upon the Church in Jerusalem were not 
 good, but bad, one of these being the extreme poverty 
 from which that community afterwards suffered, which 
 continually called for help, and received it through Paul's 
 collection from the Churches in Philippi and Corinth, in 
 Galatia and Antioch. 
 
 One phase of this gi*eat question, and a most important 
 one, is dealt with here, namely, the relief of widows by 
 
CHARITY RULED BY WISDOM. 20 3 
 
 the charity of the Church. Probably widowhood was 
 more common in those Eastern Churches than amongst 
 us, and this accounts for the prominence given to the 
 wants of widows in the New Testament. The polygamous 
 practices which Oriental custom maintained in spite of 
 the statutes of Roman law against them, would often cast 
 a whole harem on the charity of friends at the death 
 of one man. Hardships and wars would no doubt be 
 answerable for greater mortality among men than women. 
 And besides this, those who were desolate and friendless, 
 as widows were, would be among the most eager to hear 
 a gospel of love, and sacrifice, and sympathy, and would 
 be the most prepared and likely to welcome it. For 
 these, and for other reasons, there were many widows in 
 the early Eastern Churches ; and while Paul urged strongly 
 that they should be supported wherever possible by their 
 own relations, and not allowed to become a burden on 
 the community, no one recognised more readily than he did 
 that all who were not thus supported should find aid and 
 sympathy in the Church. It is of these he is writing 
 here, when he says, " Honour widows " (the main idea of 
 the word " honour " in this verse, and in the 1 7th verse, 
 being the giving of adequate support) " Honour widows 
 that are widows indeed " — those, namely, who are in a 
 truly widowed and forlorn condition, and whose behaviour 
 is consonant with their circumstances. 
 
 Here and there the meaning of the apostle is a little 
 obscure to us, owing to our comparative ignorance of 
 the social customs of his day, but the main principles 
 of his counsel are clear enough, and are of the utmost 
 
204 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 value. They may be briefly expressed in this sentence 
 of Southey's, " That charity is bad which takes from 
 independence its proper pride, and from mendicity its 
 salutary shame." 
 
 The first of these main principles of Church charity 
 is — 
 
 I. That those received to permanent support 
 
 SHOULD BE ONLY SUCH AS ARE AGED OR WEAK. In 
 
 the ninth "verse we read, "Let not a widow be taken 
 into the number under threescore years old ; " or (as tho 
 R. V. more correctly has it) " Let none be enrolled as a 
 widow under threescore years old," The allusion is to 
 some list or register of widows kept by the Church ; and 
 the only question is what list is referred to? Was it a 
 list of women who had been admitted to some kind 
 of official position and service ? or of those formally 
 recognised as entitled to oversight and support ? As 
 Paul is speaking of something given to them, and not 
 of service done by them, we prefer the latter interpreta- 
 tion, and regard the whole passage as a wise endeavour 
 to prevent abuse of the Church's benefactions. If 
 this community at Ephesus was going to follow the 
 example of the Church at Jerusalem, and give daily 
 ministration to all widows, it would tend, in the 
 apostle's judgment, to encourage indolence and extortion. 
 Therefore he would have a list kept and carefully re- 
 vised of those who were to be permanent beneficiaries ; 
 and although others not on the list might of course 
 receive occasional and even large relief, only the deso- 
 late and infirm were to rely on charity for a con- 
 
CHARITY RULED BY WISDOM. 205 
 
 stant livelihood. A woman over sixty in Asia Minor 
 (though it would be otherwise in our healthier, cooler 
 climate) could no longer work, nor do much for the 
 Church either, except by her prayers and supplications 
 (another proof that officials are not referred to). Widows 
 thus infirm and aged were to receive constant and 
 generous support. But nothing was to be done, even 
 under the sacred name of charity, which would paralyse 
 personal exertion or weaken the sense of responsibility in 
 relatives and friends. 
 
 Paul's second principle is this — 
 
 II. That those whose character is Christian have 
 
 SPECIAL CLAIMS ON THE SUPPORT OF THE ChURCH. He 
 
 is not referring here to the relief of distress which is the 
 duty of every Christian, but to the use of the charitable 
 funds given by the Church for distribution among her 
 members. 
 
 In vivid contrast with those holy women who deserved 
 support is one described in the sixth verse: "She who liveth 
 in pleasure is dead while she liveth." The apostle's idea of 
 life did not consist in what one had, but in what one was, 
 and a life which depended upon and consisted in what 
 belonged to this world, was to him nothing better than a 
 living death. The very opposite idea is expressed by the 
 heathen, Sophocles, for in his Antigone he says, " When 
 a man abandons pleasure I do not reckon that such an 
 one lives ; but I consider him a living corpse." But 
 Paul says, " Live in pleasure, without care of the infinite 
 beyond, and you are dead while you live ! " 
 
 How beautiful is the picture of the true Christian 
 
206 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 matron, as depicted by the few touclies of this master- 
 hand in verses 5 and I O. Think of her motherliness, one 
 who has brought up her children aright ; perhaps not with 
 the results she fondly hoped for, but with fidelity, earnest- 
 ness, and prayer, which God will surely recompense. Or 
 perhaps Paul alludes to one who, not having children of her 
 own, has nevertheless the mother-heart for other people's 
 children — protecting the endangered, rescuing the lost, and 
 shedding sunshine over the pathway of them all. Very 
 beautiful, too, are the thoughts suggested of her lowly, loving 
 ministry. Entertaining strangers, for the Lord's sake ; not 
 necessarily because she was rich, but because she was kind. 
 Washing the saints' feet, an Oriental mode of entertain- 
 ment which had become very sacred to Christians since 
 the Lord's act of loving condescension in the upper room, 
 when He said, " If I then, your Lord and Master, have 
 washed your feet, you ought also to wash one another's 
 feet." In other words, " Account nothing unworthy of 
 you, but stoop to what is lowliest, and do it lovingly as 
 to your Lord, diligently following every good work." 
 And the secret of the life thus described is given in the 
 fifth verse — such an one "trusteth in God, and continueth 
 in supplications and prayers night and day." Happy is 
 the man who has such a praying mother, and happy is 
 the home where such a priestess dwells, lifting up holy 
 hands! Thank God for the quiet, effectual prayers of 
 Christian women, whose voices may not be heard in the 
 Church, though they move the heart of Omnipotence. 
 " Pray without ceasing." 
 
 III. The last principle which should guide us in the 
 
CHARITY RULED BY WISDOM. 207 
 
 selection of those who may live on the charity of the 
 
 Church is this, THAT THEY SHOULD BE REJECTED WHO 
 WOULD BE MORALLY INJURED BY DEPENDING ON IT. 
 
 At first sight the apostle seems rather hard upon the 
 younger women ; although it is evident from the 1 5th 
 verse that he was not speaking from theory, but from 
 actual and painful experience, and that some in the Church 
 at Ephesus had already fallen into the evils to which 
 he refers, having lost their first simple faith in Jesus 
 Christ, and their former consecration to Him. He im- 
 plies that ecclesiastical arrangements had aggravated 
 their temptations, and he strongly urges that younger 
 widows who might properly receive special help and solace 
 for a time, ought not to be put on the roll of the Church 
 for perpetual relief. His reason is given plainly enough. 
 " They learn to be idle," says he, " wandering about from 
 house to house ; and not only idle, but tattlers also, and 
 busybodies, speaking things which they ought not." 
 Surely we can see the wisdom of Paul's counsel. Right 
 as it was to support the aged and infirm, it would be 
 morally injurious to support by charity these younger 
 women. Idleness is always a fruitful parent of sins, of 
 which gossip, meddlesomeness, and unprofitable talk 
 are not the greatest ; and the best preventive of this 
 would be to throw Christian women as far as possible on 
 their own resources, to let them take a good opportunity 
 for settling in life, to exert themselves for their own 
 maintenance, or to care for another household, as the 
 brave and patient servants of Jesus Christ. Any one who 
 knows the pernicious effects produced by ill-regulated 
 
208 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 charity, any one who reflects on the vices common to the 
 idle classes of society, any one who has noticed the moral 
 deterioration of young people who have nothing to do 
 but to while away their time, will thank God for these 
 wise counsels. 
 
 Let us not fail to take these lessons home to our- 
 selves, applying them faithfully and wisely to our 
 differing circumstances. Abjure idleness, and for your 
 own sakes throw yourselves with all your heart into 
 some service for others, which will exact your thought 
 and occupy your time. Accept cheerfully and thank- 
 fully your home duties. Do not despise them because 
 they are menial, nor cease to pray over them because 
 they are earthly, but remember that husband and wife, 
 parents and children, mistresses and servants, may all 
 within the sphere of family life, glorify God in their 
 bodies and spirits, which are His. And in your own 
 hours of loneliness and grief, let your hope be in the 
 living God, whose heart is more loving, and whose help 
 is more constant, than are the heart and help of those 
 who love you best. To Him be glory and praise for ever. 
 
( 209 ) 
 
 IV. 
 
 DUTIES TOWARDS THE MINISTRY. 
 (i Tim. v. 17-22.) 
 
 The duties which Timothy owed to the ministry of the 
 Church are delineated in this passage, and they are in- 
 cumbent on all Christians. True ministers of the Word 
 may not claim exclusive prerogatives as if they were 
 endued with official sanctity and priestly functions which 
 no one else shares ; but they ought to be esteemed 
 very highly in love for their work's sake, and for their 
 Master's sake, if in any degree the utterance of their 
 Lord is true, " He that receiveth you, receiveth Me." The 
 days when an official assumption of dignity was reverently 
 recognised among us have passed away, probably never to 
 return ; but the power of character was never more cor- 
 dially recognised than now, and a right-hearted brotherly 
 Christian pastor has not often to complain of lack of love 
 and esteem among his people. But it will always be 
 beneficial to consider fairly these words of the great 
 apostle upon the subject. 
 
 The first duty he mentions as owing to the Christian 
 ministry is that — 
 
 I. Its faithfulness should be honoured. — " Let 
 
2IO EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double 
 honour," There seems very little reason to doubt that 
 the functions of a presbyter were not the same in all 
 Churches, and they certainly changed in the course of the 
 Church's development. The duty of ruling, that is of 
 presiding over and arranging for the services of the 
 Church, was naturally assigned to some of the more 
 experienced and judicious Christians ; but the gift of 
 preaching (in the modern sense of the term) to the 
 edification of the people was not indispensable to this. A 
 man might be a keen discerner of character, an admirable 
 organiser, rich in knowledge and experience of Christian 
 truth, and able to talk wisely and lovingly to the tempted 
 or to the anxious without being a God-given exhorter 
 or preacher. So long as apostles and itinerant evan- 
 gelists were journeying from place to place, and the 
 special gift of tongues which was then given to the 
 Church remained, this absence of preaching power on 
 the part of the elders would be of comparatively little 
 importance. But when peculiar spiritual gifts began 
 to be withdrawn, and visits from apostles and evangelists 
 became less frequent, and churches became larger and 
 more numerous ; recognised and regular teaching was 
 more requisite, and it would primarily be looked for 
 from the elders. Hence those of them who possessed 
 the gift of teaching naturally acquired more prominence 
 than the others, and such men, in order to meet the 
 demands of the Church, would often have to sacrifice 
 a trade or profession, and give their time wholly to its 
 service. This brief explanation will help us to under- 
 
DUTIES TOWARDS THE MINISTRY. 2 I I 
 
 Btand Paul's counsel, " Let the elders that rule well be 
 counted worthy of double honour, especially them who 
 labour in the Word and teaching," 
 
 It has been often and rightly pointed out, that the 
 primary reference of Paul here is to the support which 
 should be given by the Church to those who devote to it 
 the time and thought which would otherwise be spent 
 in earning a livelihood in other ways. " Honour " means 
 " consideration," in what is now the legal sense of the 
 word. But it is hardly necessary to explain that the 
 words are not to be literally taken, as if a double 
 salary were to be given to elders who undertook the 
 two kinds of duty or who laboured with special earnest- 
 ness. There was no such rigid scale of giving and 
 receiving in the early Church, nor should there ever be, 
 for it is one of those matters which should be largely left 
 to Christian love and to Christian liberty. But no one can 
 read this utterance of Paul's, and several other passages 
 like it, without seeing that the objection raised some- 
 times to a " paid ministry " has no countenance from 
 him. In his first letter to the Corinthians he frankly 
 Bays, " Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which 
 preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel." At its best, 
 the ministry must be a sacrifice ; for even the leaders in 
 it would prosper more in a worldly sense as leaders in any 
 other profession, while as for others, who constitute the 
 vast majority, God only knows the miserable struggle 
 with poverty, the constant anxiety to meet the necessary 
 expenses of the home, the depression which comes from 
 physical want, the life-long self-denial of those who 
 
 IS 
 
212 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 are among the bravest and best of God's servants. It 
 is true that loving and spiritual service can never be 
 repaid by any money consideration, and it is also true 
 that the sympathy, the loyalty, and the prayerfulness 
 of his people are a minister's best reward ; but it is the 
 solemn duty of the Church, which demands his whole 
 time and strength, at least to save him from want, 
 and, as far as possible, from the anxiety and fret of 
 worldly care. 
 
 In order to enforce what he is urging, the apostle 
 now draws an argument from the scriptural command, 
 " Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out 
 the corn." The allusion is, of course, to the pecu- 
 liar and clumsy mode of threshing adopted in the 
 East. Oxen were driven hither and thither over the 
 reaped corn, in order that, by their feet or by the 
 implement they dragged behind them, the grain and 
 chaff might be separated. It was customary among 
 heathen peoples to fix a muzzle over the mouth of an 
 ox BO employed, and even to fasten a sort of basket 
 round the mouth of a slave engaged in grinding corn, 
 lest in their hunger they should eat. But God's law, 
 as given by Moses, distinctly forbade this, as it did 
 every other cruelty and injustice. In the season when 
 the results of work were being rejoiced over, it was 
 ordained that slaves and strangers, and even " dumb 
 driven cattle," were to share in the bounty of God. 
 This was only one example out of many of the way 
 in which our Heavenly Father inculcated kind and 
 considerate behaviour to the brute creation, and the 
 
DUTIES TOWAKDS THE MINISTRY. 213 
 
 duty was emphasised by the Lord Jesus and His 
 apostles. 
 
 " I would not enter on my list of friends 
 The man who wantonly seta foot upon a worm " — 
 
 should therefore be the feeling of every Christian ; and 
 in ourselves and in our children we should patiently and 
 prayerfully cultivate kindness and consideration for the 
 dumb creatures around us. Now, says the apostle, if 
 this is God's law for those who are our servants, much 
 more is it God's law for those who are our brethren, 
 especially for those who are laying themselves out for the 
 public good or for the spiritual welfare of others. If 
 that was fitting, how much more this ! 
 
 Then he turns from Scripture to a common proverb 
 which our Lord quoted on two occasions, namely, when 
 addressing the twelve apostles and when commissioning 
 the seventy. The common sense of mankind had drawn 
 a conclusion which thus received the stamp of Christ's 
 approval as being exactly in conformity with the Divine 
 law, " The labourer is worthy of his reward." And 
 we ought to make a note here of the source whence 
 Paul draws his illustration. Conversant as he was 
 with Judaism, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, familiar 
 with the Mosaic institutes in all their details, he never 
 illustrates ministerial duties from the Jewish priests, 
 but for purposes of illustration he freely makes use 
 of the builder, the soldier, the racer, and here even 
 of the ox and the common day labourer. And this 
 reminds us that what is true of God's chosen servants is 
 
214 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 equally true of tlie ordinary workman or of the ill-paid 
 clerk. There is unrighteousness in this respect in ware- 
 houses and shops, on tram-cars and in workrooms. Too 
 often the overstocked labour-market is taken advantage 
 of by wealthy men in a way, and to a degree, which is 
 cruel, shameful, and sinful. It is not simply that the 
 body of the employed is injured, but the mind and the soul. 
 Young fellows who work bravely and steadily cannot afford 
 to marry and have a home of their own, while sometimes 
 girls are known to sell themselves, body and soul, for 
 bread. God will call this nation to a reckoning soon, and 
 bring woe here and hereafter on all those who defraud 
 the hireling and oppress the widow and the orphan. 
 Nor is it money only, but it is time too, of which multi- 
 tudes are robbed; and the long hours spent in painful 
 toil by tired men, and weakly women, and growing lads 
 and girls, call loudly for redress. In more senses than 
 one we need to listen to the Divine message, " The 
 labourer is worthy of his hire." 
 
 It is time that we turned to another duty owing to the 
 ministry, for the apostle reminds us that — 
 
 II. Its Reputation should be Cherished. 
 
 I . We ought to he slow to helieve evil. " Against an 
 elder " (here used in the official sense and not with re- 
 ference to age) "receive not an accusation, but before 
 two or three witnesses," or (as the Revised Version 
 has it), " except at the mouth of two or three witnesses." 
 The reference is obviously to a well-known Mosaic law. 
 Timothy was not to be credulous of evil reports, he was 
 to pay no attention to mere gossip, and still less was 
 
DUTIES TOWARDS THE MINISTRY. 21 5 
 
 he to show any encouragement to slanderers. He was 
 not appointed specially as a judge ; but in contentious, 
 such as unhappily arose in the Church, his authority would 
 often be appealed to. Indeed, Paul himself strongly urged 
 Christians to settle their differences among themselves, and 
 not to bring their disputes before heathen tribunals ; and 
 any one who knows the scandal caused, and the practical 
 injustice done in modern days, even in English law courts, 
 through following the contrary course, will see how wise 
 this counsel was. Timothy, then, often had to make in- 
 quiries which were delicate and difficult ; and from haste, 
 or from prejudice, he might be tempted to decide on defec- 
 tive evidence ; so he was urged to insist on united and 
 concurrent testimony before crediting a charge against 
 a Christian, especially against an elder, whose election to 
 office by the Church was itself a weight in the scale of 
 favourable judgment. But how broad the counsel is, and 
 how needed still. Again and again noble reputations 
 have been ruined by slander, and the injustice and 
 wickedness of the charges have only been demonstrated 
 when it was too late to repair the wrong. Men of lofty 
 integrity and of stainless purity have lived under a cloud 
 for years, because of some disgraceful slander, greedily 
 caught up and propagated, not only by the world, but by 
 professing Christians. 
 
 '* A whisper broke the air, — 
 A soft light tone, and low, 
 Yet barbed with shame and woe ; 
 Now, might it only perish there, 
 Nor further go ! 
 
2l6 EPISTLE TO TTMOTHY. 
 
 " Ah, me 1 a quick and eager ear 
 
 Cauglit up tlie little meaning sound I 
 
 Another voice has breathed it clear, 
 And so it wandered round 
 
 From ear to lip, from lip to ear, 
 
 Until it reached a gentle heart, 
 And that — it broke."* 
 
 Be jealous of the reputation of your brethren and sisters, 
 and not least of the fair fame of those who speak for 
 Christ, lest the Lord Himself be wounded, and His cause 
 injured through them. 
 
 But while we are to be slow to believe evil — 
 2. We ought to he hrave in the rebuke of evil. No fear 
 of man, no mincing words to please fastidious ears, no 
 wish to smother up iniquity, should be ours. " Them 
 that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear." 
 The reference is not to Christians who have been 
 thoughtlessly hurried into occasional and instantly re- 
 gretted acts of transgression, but to those given to 
 sinning, known to be sinners ; and for such there 
 was to be no toleration. It is no easy matter to know 
 how best to secure the means of moral discipline. Ex- 
 posure sometimes does good, and sometimes harm. It is 
 one of those difficulties in which we may pray for, and 
 expect, the wisdom that comes from above. We ought 
 to be tender with those who (to use Paul's phrase) are 
 " overtaken in a fault ; " and there are wrongs done which 
 are best settled between ourselves and the offender alone, 
 as Jesus told us. We should consider the nature of the 
 sin, the tone of society in regard to it, the necessity 
 * L. E. Landon. 
 
DUTIES TOWARDS THE MINISTRY. 217 
 
 or otherwise of making an example of some offender, 
 as when Ananias and Sapphira were so awfully dealt 
 with. But what we are bound to see to is this, that there 
 shall be no manner of room for doubt, either on the part 
 of the world or of the Church, that we Christians " can- 
 not bear those that are evil." And if there be any who 
 have made a loud profession of religion while they are 
 notoriously sinners, we are bound by fealty to our Lord to 
 rebuke such an one before all, that others also may fear. 
 Our third duty towards the ministry is that — 
 III. Its aspirants should be approved. — " Lay hands 
 suddenly (or hastily) on no man." The custom of the 
 laying on of hands dates back to patriarchal times. Jacob 
 laid his hands on Ephi-aim and Manasseh when he blessed 
 them. It was an appropriate indication of the subject of 
 prayer, a solemn act of designation and of dedication ; and 
 in the apostolic days it was need to sanction and ratify the 
 elective act of the Church. Hence, in the previous chap- 
 ter, reference is made to the gift which was Timothy's 
 " through the laying on of the hands of the presbytery." 
 The apostle's meaning is this, Timothy was not to be rash 
 in his appointments, he was to take pains to discover the 
 godliness of every man called to exercise any kind of 
 religious influence over others. This is applicable still, 
 and to Sunday school teachers as much as to pastors. 
 The Church, by prayer and by thought, should see that 
 the distribution of its work is made according to the vary- 
 ing gifts of each, and that it is intrusted to none whose 
 lives are out of harmony with their Christian profession. 
 In such work we are not to be ruled by caprice, ex- 
 
2l8 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 eluding one we dislike ; nor by partiality, appointing oar 
 personal friends, or those having some claims upon us. 
 " I charge thee " (says Paul) " before God, and the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe 
 these things without prejudice, doing nothing by par- 
 tiality." 
 
 What could be a stronger inducement to the keeping 
 of these commands than the realisation of the fact that 
 an unseen God and holy angels are near us, and that all 
 our works, and even our purposes, are open and naked 
 before Him with whom we have to do ! All sinister 
 motives are banished by the coining of this light ; all 
 inferior considerations sink to nothingness in presence of 
 these awful realities ; all respect of persons, and fear of 
 man, fade in the thouo-ht that we are standinof in the 
 sight of God. We have not to approve ourselves to man, 
 but to God ! The applause that follows success, the hiss 
 that waits on failure, are lost in the tones of that voice 
 which is as the sound of many waters. What have we 
 Christians to fear from the world ? what have we to gain 
 from it ? We shall all appear before the judgment-seat 
 of Christ, and there some brilliant work will become dim, 
 and some obscure work will appear radiant with heavenly 
 beauty. " Let us therefore labour, that, whether present 
 or absent, we may be accepted of Him." 
 
 And there is yet another word here for every Chris- 
 tian, especially for those who work for the Master, 
 namely this — " Be not partakers of other men's sins ; 
 keep thyself pure," for the emphasis in the original is to 
 be laid just there. It is easy enough to see other people's 
 
DUTIES TOWARDS THE MINISTRY. 219 
 
 faults, and even to rebuke them ; but beware lest any 
 have occasion to turn on you and say, " Physician, heal 
 thyself." Purity in the sense of chastity is, no doubt, 
 included here, for an impure life is fatal to a Christian 
 and ruinous to his influence for good — nay, even if such 
 evil is only harboured within, it will prove the paralysis 
 of spiritual life. But Paul refers chiefly to the blame- 
 less, holy deportment, which is the truest witness that 
 Christ is dwelling within us, and which adds an authority 
 to spoken words which none can gainsay or resist. If 
 we would have this we must come to Christ for cleansing, 
 because even those in heaven had not stainless robes on 
 earth, but they washed them and " made them white in 
 the blood of the Lamb." And if we would keep un- 
 spotted from the world, and walk steadfastly amid the 
 slanderers and the scorners bearing the white flower of a 
 blameless life, we (like John) must abide near Jesus and 
 learn to lean upon His breast. 
 
 This attitude of soul was the desire of Longfellow for 
 his brother who was being set apart for the ministry, 
 and we close with his words, praying that they may 
 be fulfilled in each of us — 
 
 " Christ to the young man said — * Yet one thing more ; 
 If thou wouldst perfect be, 
 Sell all thou hast and give it to the poor, 
 And come and follow Me ! ' 
 
 Within this temple Clirist again, unseen, 
 
 Those sacred words hath said, 
 And His invisible liands to-day have been 
 
 Laid on a young man's head. 
 
2 20 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 And evermore beside him on his way 
 The unseen Christ shall move, 
 
 That he may lean upon His arm and say — 
 ' Dost Thou, dear Lord, approve ? ' 
 
 Beside him at the marriage feast shall be, 
 To make the scene more fair ; 
 
 Beside him in tlie dark Gethsemane 
 Of pain and midnight prayer. 
 
 lioly trust ! endless sense of rest 1 
 
 Like the beloved John 
 To lay his head upon the Saviour's breast, 
 
 And thus to journey on ! " 
 
( 221 ) 
 
 V. 
 
 ASCETICISM. 
 (i Tim. v. 23.) 
 
 This verse has given rise to much controversy between 
 total abstainers and their opponents. To the former it 
 seems incredible that an inspired apostle should, under 
 any circumstances, have recommended the use of intoxi- 
 cants, and they have ingeniously attempted to show that 
 the wine was not fermented ; while their opponents some- 
 times use the verse as a commendation of the use of 
 wine as a beverage, A careful examination of what Paul 
 really meant is, therefore, in all respects desirable. It 
 is quite clear that Timothy was a total abstainer, or this 
 advice would not have been given ; and it is equally 
 clear that to recommend wine as a medicine is not 
 identical with approving its use habitually as a beverage. 
 The apostle was writing as a personal friend, and urged 
 Timothy to use what was then considered to be the 
 proper regimen for such debility as he suffered from ; so 
 that if modern research proved that the medical opinion 
 of that day was mistaken, we could not convict Paul of 
 unwisdom in counselling his friend to do what was then 
 believed to be necessary for the restoration of his health. 
 
22 2 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 In our opinion the duty of total abstinence is not insisted 
 upon anywhere in Scripture as incumbent upon all Chris- 
 tians, however sternly drunkenness is denounced. But it 
 does not therefore follow that it may not be a duty now, 
 in view of the appalling ravages made by strong drink in 
 our own time and country. As a means of personal safety, 
 and as an encouragement and example to those who are 
 in obvious danger, total abstinence may fairly be urged ; 
 but the argument that all alcoholic drinks are, under all 
 circumstances and for all persons, so pernicious that no 
 Christian can consistently touch them, seems, in the light 
 of this passage and of others like it, untenable. Witliout 
 further discussing this great question, we may learn much 
 from our text on the nature and limits of Christian 
 asceticism. 
 
 I. A Christian is called upon to care for his 
 PHYSICAL HEALTH. — The body is not to be despised or 
 neglected. It is the temple of the Holy Ghost, to be 
 thought of, and dealt with, reverently. The mortifications 
 and scourgings of saints whose glory it was to be un- 
 kempt and unwashed was the result of Manichgeism rather 
 than of Christianity ; and the gloom and savagery of 
 theology at some periods of Church history were the pro- 
 ducts of this inhuman system. Mens sanis can only exist 
 in corpore sano. Disordered nerves and deranged functions 
 have much to do with gloomy views of God and hopeless 
 views of men. For the sake, therefore, of one's moral 
 and religious life, all that can be done to keep the body 
 and brain in healthy condition and exercise, should be 
 done religiously. Proper food, regular meals, sufficient 
 
ASUETICTSM. 223 
 
 sleep, and wholesome recreation are to be attended to by 
 the disciples of Jesus Christ. Because Timothy was apt 
 to forget this he needed more than once the friendly 
 counsel of wise-hearted Paul. 
 
 II. A Christian is bound to control animal appe- 
 tite. — Drunkenness, for example, is dealt with in Scrip- 
 ture not as a regrettable weakness, or as a slight peccadillo, 
 but as a grievous sin ; and this apostle, in his Epistle to 
 the Corinthians, says, " Be not deceived, neither forni- 
 cators . . . nor drunkards . . . shall inherit the king- 
 dom of God." In our text he does not say " use wine 
 constantly," but " use a little wine for thy stomach's sake, 
 and thine own infirmities," i.e., as a medicine, because 
 you need it ; not as a beverage because you like it. Well 
 has Calvin written, " If the temperate and abstemious 
 are enjoined not to injure their health by too great re- 
 serve, no slight punishment awaits the intemperate who 
 by surfeiting and drunkenness impair their energy. Such 
 persons are not to be admonished, but rather, as brute 
 animals, to be driven from their pabulum." Sin lies not 
 in meats and drinks, but in those who misuse them to 
 their own undoing. " Lead us not into temptation, but 
 deliver us from evil." 
 
 " If thou well observe 
 The rule of not too much, by temp'rance taught, 
 In what thou eat'st and drink'st, seeking from thence 
 Due nourishment, not gluttonous delight, 
 Till many years over thy head returns : 
 So mayst thou live, till, like ripe fruit, thou drop 
 Into thy mother's lap, or be with ease 
 Gathered, not harshly plucked, in death mature." 
 
( 224 ) 
 
 VI. 
 
 RETRIBUTION AND REWARD. 
 
 (i Tim. v. 24, 25.) 
 
 Scripture does not attempt to prove the existence of 
 a future life, or the coming of a day of judgment. 
 These are assumed throughout as facts to which divinely- 
 implanted instinct and conscience steadily point. If it 
 were not for this belief, religious men would be in doubt 
 about the wisdom and justice of God, so often does vice 
 appear to triumph. External happiness and misery are not 
 in this life always the consequences of virtue and vice 
 respectively, although sometimes they are ; and this Paul 
 frankly admits in our text. Its connection with what 
 immediately precedes is difficult to see. Probably the 
 counsel in verse 23 was interjected as a parenthesis, and 
 the apostle now supplements what he had said in verse 
 20 about the sins of men. 
 
 I. The issues of evil deeds. 
 
 I . Some are visible here. They are " open beforehand " 
 (Revised Version " evident "). There is no doubt about 
 them. Like the blood of Abel they cry for vengeance. 
 " Judgment" both from God and man deals with them, and 
 in their condemnation the Church should take the lead. 
 
KETRIBU7T0N 4ND REWARD. 22 5 
 
 Among them are those sins which society regards as 
 offences against itself — mm*ders, adulteries, thefts, and 
 such-like. But we should be wrong if we imagined that 
 these are always regarded by God in the same light as 
 they appear to men. The vilest sins may be untouched 
 by human law, and even tolerated by human opinion, 
 whereas a convicted criminal may be at the same time a 
 pardoned sinner. 
 
 2. Some are revealed hereafter. "They follow after." 
 The men who commit them finish their earthly course, 
 and leave behind them a good reputation ; but their 
 sins, unperceived or uncondemned by society, in silent 
 procession follow after into the invisible world, and in 
 the day of judgment will stand face to face with the 
 sinner. The sins may have been secret, or so veiled that 
 they were not recognised in their hideousness ; but the 
 day of revelation and retribution is coming, and " let not 
 that man think he shall escape the righteous judgment 
 of God." 
 
 ' ' There is no strange handwriting on the wall, 
 Through all the niidnigTat hum no threatening call ; 
 Nor on the marble floor the stealthy fall 
 Of fatal footsteps. All is safe. Thou fool, 
 The avenging deities are shod with wool ! " 
 
 II. The issues of Good Works. — The same principle 
 is applied to these as to evil deeds. The encouragement 
 is as trustworthy as the warning. Every life has its 
 manifestation hereafter as well as here, where at best it 
 can only be partial. We are reminded that by-and-by 
 there will be a manifestation of the sons of God — " Then 
 
226 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom 
 of the Father." 
 
 1. The msible harvest. Those who live and work for 
 a Heavenly Master are not left without reward, (i.) In 
 their own souls there is recompense — peace and joy, and 
 spiritual growth. They are blessed in blessing others, or 
 even in trying to do so. (2.) In the results on others — 
 the ignorant taught, the despairing encouraged, the lost 
 saved. " He that winneth souls is wise." 
 
 2. The coming harvest. This will be far greater. We 
 cannot tabulate spiritual results. They reach far beyond 
 our vision, and elude our analysis. But our Lord has 
 taught us in Matt. xxv. that those who have quietly 
 served Him will be amazed at what they did in His name, 
 so great will be the issues of their work. " He that goeth 
 forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless 
 come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. 
 Let us learn the following lessons from our text : — 
 
 1 . Convicted sinners are summoned to repentance. Their 
 condemnation by men is a warning of heavier condem- 
 nation. 
 
 2. Secret offenders may well tremble. The day of re- 
 velation is not far off, and none will escape it. 
 
 3. Successful workers for Christ shotdd he unfeignedly 
 thankful. Results achieved should inspire new effort 
 and sacrifice. 
 
 4. Discouraged servants of the Heavenly Master may take 
 to themselves hope and courage. " No toil for Him shall 
 be in vain." 
 
SERMONETTES ON SIXTH CHAPTER. 
 
 16 
 
( ^29 > 
 
 I. 
 
 UNDER THE YOKE. 
 
 (i Tim. vi. i.) 
 
 The phrase " under the yoke " fitly expresses the pitiable 
 condition of slaves, to whom Paul here addresses himself. 
 A " yoke " is laid on the neck of a creature when it 
 has been taught the uselessness of resistance to superior 
 force. Henceforth the poor animal which is said to have 
 been " broken in " must obey another will than its 
 own, and is at the absolute disposal of its master and 
 owner, Avho may use it, sell it, kill it, as he chooses. Of 
 all the hideous iniquities which have cried to Heaven for 
 redress, slavery, which places a man in such a position to 
 his fellow, is one of the worst. It is as pernicious to the 
 owner as it is to the slave. Dr. Thomson has well said — 
 " It darkens and depraves the intellect ; it paralyses the 
 hand of industry ; it is the nourisher of agonising fears 
 and of sullen revenge ; it crushes the spirit of the bold ; 
 it is the tempter, the murderer, and the tomb of virtue ; 
 and either blasts the felicity of those over whom it 
 domineers, or forces them to seek for relief from their 
 sorrows in the gratifications and the mirth and the mad- 
 ness of the passing hour." We need only turn to the 
 
2 30 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 tear-stained annals of American slavery to confirm such 
 statements as these ; and when to scenes like those 
 depicted in " Uncle Tom's Cabin " we add the awful 
 destruction of life of which Arab traders in Africa are 
 guilty, we can well believe that the blood of our brothers 
 and sisters has cried piteously to the God of righteous- 
 ness, of love, and of freedom. Ancient slavery was not 
 less dreadful than that of modern times. Even Homer 
 felt constrained to say, " The day that reduces a man to 
 slavery takes from him the half of his virtue." It is as 
 important as it is interesting to consider how Christianity 
 dealt with this terrible wrong, — the more so because all 
 was not done which we might have expected. 
 
 In the- days of our Lord, and of His apostles, slavery 
 was a time-honoured and widely ramified institution. It 
 was recognised in the laws as well as in the usages of 
 the empire. So numerous were those " under the yoke," 
 that Gibbon, taking the empire as a whole, considers 
 it a moderate computation to set down the number of 
 slaves as equal to the number of freemen. In Palestine 
 the proportion would probably be less, but in Rome and 
 other great cities the proportion would be far greater. 
 There was scarcely any menial work undertaken in the 
 empire except by slaves, and much of the skilled labour 
 was done by servile hands. Christianity, with its pro- 
 clamation of equality and brotherhood, came face to face 
 with this gigantic system of legalised property in human 
 fliesh, and we want to know how the Gospel dealt with it. 
 
 I. Let us fikst see what Christianity did not do 
 FOR THE SLAVES.— That the followers of Him who cared 
 
UNDER THE YOKE. 23 I 
 
 most for the poor and needy, and who longed to break 
 every yoke, pitied these slaves in their abject and humi- 
 liating condition, goes without saying. But they certainly 
 did not urge the slaves to escape, or to rebel, nor di;! 
 they make it an absolute necessity to church membership 
 that a slave-owner should set all his slaves free. The 
 Epistle to Philemon is an unmistakeable proof of this ; 
 for though Paul plainly told that slave-owning Christian 
 what he thought good feeling should dictate, he did not 
 give him an apostolic command. Indeed, throughout the 
 Epistles hardly an allusion is made to the civil aspect of 
 slavery, and hardly a hint is given of the desirability of 
 freedom. We may be quite sure that such a man as 
 Paul would not be insensible to the evils of slavery, and 
 further, that it was not from any deficiency in moral 
 courage that he did not urge manumission ; but told some 
 slaves to remain in the condition in which they were, and, 
 by God's help, to triumph over the difficulties and sorrows 
 peculiar to their lot. 
 
 Strange as this may seem at first sight, was it not 
 wise ? Did it not prove in the long-run by far the best 
 thing for the slaves themselves, leading to a more com- 
 plete extirpation of slavery than if more drastic methods 
 had been tried at first ? If emancipation of all slaves 
 had been put in the forefront of the claims of Christianity, 
 the new religion would at once have been placed under 
 the ban of the empire, as a system which, under the 
 guise of religion, really aimed at the overthrow of society, 
 and the kindling of the flames of servile war ; and there 
 would have been no hope of mercy from his owner for 
 
23 2 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 any slave who had ventured to find hope and comfort in 
 the fellowship of Christ's Church. The eternal verities 
 of our faith would not have gained a hearing amongst 
 the infuriated people, who would have considered that 
 their legal interests and hereditary rights were being 
 threatened. And if it be urged that, short of this, the 
 apostles ought at least to have commanded every slave- 
 owner to emancipate his slaves, as an essential to his 
 profession of faith, it may be answered (judging from the 
 experience of the poor whites amid a slave population), 
 that the manumitted slaves cast out of one class would 
 have found no welcome in another, ; and that it would 
 be for their good to remain legally in bondage, but 
 practically free, in the service of a believing master. 
 II. Let us see, then, what Christianity did for the 
 
 SLAVES. 
 
 I. It taught masters their responsibilities. — They were 
 not only to avoid the lash, but even to "forbear threaten- 
 ing," and were always to do such things as were just and 
 equal, remembering that they also had a Master in heaven. 
 
 And these lessons are needed still by all employers of 
 labour, and by all mistresses of servants, for although 
 they have no longer the despotic power of the masters 
 to whom Paul wrote, they have opportunities for use- 
 fulness which an angel might desire, in the rebuke 
 of faults, in kindly watchfulness over companionships, 
 in the provision of wholesome literature, and in the 
 encouragement of industry and thrift, of purity and 
 honesty. A Christian master in those early days was 
 taught to treat even his slaves as rational beings, — 
 
UNDER THE YOKE. 233 
 
 aj, as brotliers and sisters, who were dependent on 
 his care, and both the discipline and instruction of the 
 Church thus ameliorated the condition of many a bonds- 
 man. 
 
 2. It inculcated on the slaves a course of conduct which 
 woidd often lead to their legal freedom. — Under Eoman 
 law liberty was held out as an encouragement to slaves 
 to be honest, industrious, sober, and loyal ; and therefore 
 any Christian slave who obeyed the laws of Christ would 
 be on the high-road to emancipation. Liberty thus won 
 by character was a better thing than liberty won by force 
 or by fraud ; and was more accordant with the genius of 
 Christianity. 
 
 3. It gave dignity to those who had been despised and 
 who had despised themselves. — We cannot wonder that the 
 oppressed listened with wondering thankfulness to the 
 message of the Gospel. Treated only as chattels, thinga 
 to be bought and sold, they heard that within the limits 
 of their lowly sphere they might be the witnesses of Jesus 
 Christ, the bearers of heaven's light into those dark places 
 where cruelty and lust were brooding ; and they would go 
 back from a Christian assembly to their menial toil, feel- 
 ing, " God is my Master, and I will do my work for Him 
 — He is watching me. He is helping me, — and even His 
 well-beloved Son was content for me to die the death of 
 a slave." The work, which had once been a drudgery, 
 became a sacred service ; and this your toil and mine 
 may surely be. 
 
 4. But, besides all this, Christianity laid down principles 
 which necessitated the ultimate destruction of slavery. — 
 
234 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 It taught that all men had a common origin, that God 
 liad made of one blood all nations ; and that men of every 
 class were to join together in the wonderful prayer, 
 " Our Father which art in heaven." It revealed the 
 infinite condescension and unspeakable love of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for all — whose life, and 
 words, and sacrifice had taught the truth that it was a 
 nobler thing to minister than to be ministered unto. It 
 proclaimed a coming Judgment-day, when secret things 
 would be laid bare, when no man would escape because 
 of his greatness, nor be overlooked because of his mean 
 condition. No one could really believe such truths as 
 tliese without dealing rather as a brother than as a despot 
 witli those who served him. Thus the lot of the slave.s 
 was everywhere ameliorated, till it was safe and wise to 
 ring the death-knell of the system. And many a fervent 
 Christian in those days would cheer the slaves who lis- 
 tened to him as she did of whom the poet sings — 
 
 " And oft the blessed time foretells 
 Wlien all men shall be free ; 
 And musical as silver bells 
 Their falling chains shall be." 
 
 Thus, gradually and wisely, liberty triumphed over 
 bondage. Christianity did not come into society as an 
 external force, but as an internal life which worked 
 silently and surely. It was as leaven hidden in the meal, 
 which transformed every particle as it was reached, until 
 by God's blessing the whole was leavened. 
 
 Learn, then, to trust to principles rather than to organi- 
 
UNDER THE YOKE. 235 
 
 sation. Let life be more to you than law, and change 
 of life more than change of law. Care for character first, 
 believing that circumstance will care for itself. And 
 finally, in conflict with evils deep and widespread as an- 
 cient slavery, be patient, and have unwavering faith in 
 the God of riafhteousness and love ! 
 
( 236 ) 
 
 II. 
 
 CHRISTIAN SLAVES AND THEIR MASTERS. 
 (i Tim. vi. i, 2.) 
 
 In some of liis Epistles Paul had written words which 
 might have created a spirit of insubordination and revolt 
 among the Christian slaves ; but such injunctions as these 
 before us would tend to avert that danger. Not only in 
 Ephesus, but in Corinth, in Rome, and in other great cities 
 there were Christians who were disposed to spurn out- 
 ward restraints on the ground of their spiritual calling, 
 to disregard the duties of the stations they had to fill, 
 and to forget that it was not always right to claim their 
 rights. Slaves were naturally most in danger of this, 
 and therefore earnest exhortations were addressed to 
 them more often than to their masters. It was not that 
 masters were less guilty of wrong-doing, nor was it that 
 the apostle was afraid to rebuke those in high social 
 position, but as a matter of fact there would be very few 
 slave-owners in the early Church. Not many great, not 
 many mighty, were called. God chose the poor of this 
 world to be rich in faith. And none were more ready 
 than were the slaves, and those just above them, to wel- 
 come a Saviour who looked lovingly on the degraded and 
 
CHRISTIAN SLAVES AND THEIR MASTERS. 237 
 
 miserable, and who proffered them salvation from evil in 
 time and in eternity. 
 
 Some slaves had positions of comparative comfort, 
 others of abject, hopeless misery. Many masters were 
 despotic, others were kindly, and a few, like Philemon, 
 were Christian. The apostle here speaks of the duties 
 of slaves, first, to masters who were unbelievers, and, 
 secondly, to those who were believers. 
 
 I. A Slave who belonged to a heathen master 
 was, nevertheless, to render him all the obedience and 
 honour due to his position, because otherwise the Chris- 
 tian doctrine would be " blasphemed." And it certainly 
 would have been if a Christian slave had riiaintained that, 
 as a follower of Christ, he was justified in disobedience, 
 in the assertion of his equality, and in the endeavour to win 
 it by violence. Even now it is too little remembered by 
 Christians who fill the more obscure spheres that they are 
 living witnesses for Christ, to His honour or to His shame. 
 Some worldly men will frankly tell you that, from their ex- 
 perience, they would rather not have professing Christians 
 in their offices or warehouses, because, on the whole, they 
 are less thorough, less punctual, less obliging, than those 
 who make no such profession. And who has not heard 
 mistresses complain of servants who assume airs and 
 expect privileges on the ground that they are members 
 of a church ? Injury is thus done by a few inconsistencies 
 which neutralise the faithful service of the many. For to 
 say that incompetence and untrustworthiness are usual with 
 Christian men and women is to state what is untrue. Faith- 
 ful work is constantly being done by those who have but 
 
238 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 scant encouragement and miserably inadequate remunera- 
 tion, and is done with clieeriness and thoroughness, because 
 Christians feel that in it they are serving the Lord Christ. 
 Keep up the good repute of the Christian name in any 
 sphere you fill, and remember that, " whatsoever good 
 thing any one does, the same shall he receive of the 
 Lord, whether he be bond or free." 
 
 The annals of the Church do not contain records of all 
 the brave services rendered by obscure disciples, but the 
 Lord has His " book of remembrance," in which they 
 are all written. Many a heathen master was rebuked amid 
 his career of profligacy by the saintly lives of Christian 
 slaves who had given themselves up to the Lord of purity ; 
 and probably the hearts of many were touched through 
 the prayers of those they had despised. We have read 
 of a negress in the Southern States who was caught pray- 
 ing by her master, and cruelly beaten for her pains. 
 Stripped and tied fast to the post, as the blood-stained 
 whip ceased for a moment to fall on the quivering flesh, 
 she was asked if she would give over praying. " No, 
 massa, never ! " was the answer ; " I will serve you, but I 
 must serve God." Again the lashes rained down on her 
 bleeding back ; but when once more they ceased, the 
 voice of the follower of Jesus was heard praying, " 
 Lord, forgive poor massa, and bless him." Suddenly 
 the whip fell from his hand ; stricken with the finger of 
 God, he broke down in penitence. Then and there the 
 prayer was answered, — the godless master was saved 
 through the faithfulness of the slave he had despised. 
 We may be sure that more than one such convert was 
 
CHRISTIAN SLAVES AND THEIR MASTERS. 239 
 
 rejoiced over by angels centuries ago in homes where 
 Paul's message was heard and heeded. 
 
 II. But the Apostle addresses also the slave who 
 BELONGED TO A BELIEVING MAvSTER. — We who have been 
 brought up in a land whose boast it is that every slave 
 becomes free directly his foot touches its shore can 
 hardly understand how any Christian man could be a 
 slave-owner. We hold the belief of John Milton : — 
 
 " God gave us only over beast, fish, fowl, 
 Dominion absolute ; that right we hold 
 By His donation ; but man over man 
 He made not lord ; such title to Himself 
 Reserving, human left from human free." 
 
 But we must not overlook the insidious and powerful 
 influence of custom, which makes a sin so familiar that 
 we do not trouble to investigate it. We deal with it as 
 a sentinel does with one he has allowed to pass without 
 challenge; — bethinks it all right, and lets him pass again 
 and again, until at last he is horrified to find he has been 
 giving admission to a foe. John Newton, for example, 
 after his conversion (which was as genuine as it was 
 remarkable), carried on for years the inhuman traffic of 
 slavery, and felt his conscience at rest so long as he did 
 what he could for the bodily comfort of the slaves. He 
 was quite insensible to the sinfulness of slavery until it 
 pleased God to open his eyes, which had been blinded by 
 custom. And at the close of last century an American 
 gentleman left a plantation well stocked with slaves to 
 the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and was 
 
240 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 evidently unconscious of any inconsistency. It is not 
 to be wondered at that, in the early days of Christianity, 
 disciples of Jesus were similarly deceived. Instead of 
 condemning them, let us ask ourselves whether custom is 
 not blinding us to other sins. Are there no pleasures and 
 amusements indulged in by professing Christians which are 
 condemned by the holy law of God, but enjoyed without a 
 thought of the evil in them ? Are there no transactions 
 on 'Change, are there no tricks in trade, which, though 
 constantly going on and shared in by members of the 
 Church, are coutraiy to the honesty and truthfulness 
 which the Lord demands of all His followers. Brethren, 
 let us judge ourselves, that we may not be condemned 
 with the world. 
 
 We can understand, then, how it came to pass that 
 some believing masters held slaves. How were they to 
 be dealt with ? Their slaves were not to despise them 
 because they were brethren, as if the declaration of spiri- 
 tual equality had destroyed civil distinctions, as if mem- 
 bership in the same church warranted a servant in being- 
 disobedient, impudent, careless, or self-indulgent. On 
 the contrary, they were " the rather " to do them service, 
 because those who were faithful and beloved would have 
 the benefit of such service. 
 
 It is evident that obedience to these commands would 
 make the religion of Jesus Christ appreciated even in the 
 households of the godless, while in the homes of Christian 
 masters it would modify the curse of slavery, transforming 
 into silken bonds of loving loyalty the iron fetters which 
 ate into the flesh. 
 
CHRISTIAN SLAVES AND THEIR MASTERS. 24 1 
 
 And in the varied occupations of life at tlie present 
 day such results may be seen. Menial employment 
 may be ennobled. Duty done for a master or employer 
 may prove the service of God. The drudge of the house 
 may become loved and trusted as a sister in Christ, who, 
 while never presuming on her profession of religion, is 
 constantly doing more than wages can ever repay, and 
 who, as the servant of others, is proving herself to be 
 the servant of Jesus Christ who answers her prayer. 
 
 " Oh, use me, Lord, use even me. 
 
 Just as Thou wilt, and when and where, 
 Until Thy blessed face I see, 
 
 Thy rest. Thy love, Thy glory share." 
 
( 242 ) 
 
 III. 
 
 A CONTRAST BETWEEN TRUE AND FALSE 
 TEACHING. 
 
 (i Tim. vi. 3-5.) 
 
 At the close of the second verse Paul urges Timothy not 
 to be silent, but to " teach and exhort " the Christians in 
 Ephesus on the subject of slavery. Even questions like 
 that, which affected social and civil life, were not to be 
 left untouched. But the enunciation of general principle 
 was to be preferred to the advocacy of any special scheme 
 for social amelioration. A good rule for Christian 
 teachers still. 
 
 It is evident from these verses that the apostle had 
 more belief that many have now in the interdependence 
 of sound doctrine and good character. Belief affects 
 action, and action affects belief. For example, if a pro- 
 fessing Christian allows himself to doubt the efficacy of 
 prayer, he will either give up praying or will become a 
 mere formalist, which in God's sight is much the same 
 thing ; and, on the other hand, the discontinuance of 
 prayer will strengthen his belief that prayer is useless. 
 And this is only a special example of a general truth. 
 Hence it is that the association of false doctrine with 
 
TRUE AND FALSE TEACHING. 243 
 
 wrong conduct, and of sound doctrine with practical godli- 
 ness, is so manifest and so constant in these epistles. 
 
 Reference is made here to — 
 
 I. The Wholesomeness of Christ's Teaching. — The 
 apostle speaks of " wholesome words," a translation which 
 we prefer to that given in the Revised Version (" sound 
 words "), because it conveys the idea of imparting health 
 to men and to society. Christ's teaching is the ozone of 
 the moral atmosphere. 
 
 1. It concerned itself vjith practical questions. — ^The 
 Sermon on the Mount (which is the chief specimen given 
 us of His teaching) proves this to demonstration. Its 
 effect was to create within His disciples a distaste for 
 idle speculations, and for questions the discussion of which 
 could not profit ; and in this it was diametrically opposed 
 to the teaching of the Rabbis and of most philosophers, 
 ancient and modern. As Jesus Himself put it : a candle 
 was not lighted by Him in order to be looked at or 
 talked about ; but that it might give light to all that 
 were in the house. In other words, the Christian religion 
 is to be used rather than to be discussed, and is meant to 
 throw light upon all the obscurities of life's pathway until 
 it leads up to the light of heaven. 
 
 2. His teaching was embodied in His perfect life. — This 
 made it the more helpful These slaves, for example, to 
 whom the apostle had been speaking, wanted to know 
 what they were to do under the provocations and hardships 
 of their lot. And nothing could help them more than the 
 knowledge of Him whose gentleness was never at fault ; 
 who, when He was reviled, reviled not again ; when He 
 
 17 
 
2 44 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 suffered, He threatened not, but committed Himself to 
 Him that judgeth righteously. And, depend upon it, 
 the more we also bring thoughts of Christ into our life, 
 the less shall we have of uncertainty and of weakness. 
 
 3. His teaching tended to the increase of godliness. — 
 " The doctrine which is according to godliness," means 
 the teaching which makes men more like God — in holi- 
 ness and righteousness and love. 
 
 But in sharp contrast with this is presented — 
 II. The Unwholesomeness of False Teaching, the 
 eflFects of which were visible in the character of those who 
 accepted and taught it. 
 
 1. Self-sufficiency was written on the forehead of each 
 of them. As Paul says, " He is proud," literally " carried 
 away with conceit," " knowing nothing." Indeed those 
 two, ignorance and conceit, are twin sisters, and you 
 seldom find the one without the other. The learned man 
 speaks so simply that you wonder at the honours he has 
 received ; but the shallow scholar makes the hearers gape 
 at his parade of incomprehensible words. The truly 
 great man seems, when you meet him, simple and un- 
 affected as a child ; but bustling self-importance is the 
 garb of small authority. A footman is generally more 
 awe-inspiring than his master. And this was true of 
 pretentious teachers in Paul's days, of whom, he says, 
 they are " carried away with conceit." 
 
 2 . Love of verbal disputes was another characteristic of 
 theirs. The word translated " doting " indicates a dis- 
 tempered and sickly condition, which turns away from 
 the " wholesome " food of the Gospel j just as a child 
 
TRUE AND FALSE TEACHING. 245 
 
 with a poor appetite refuses bread and butter, and can only 
 daintily pick and choose among delicacies, and the more 
 he has of them the worse his appetite becomes. 
 
 It is a bad sign when society has unwholesome appe- 
 tites, caring more for art than for truth — more for 
 manner than for matter ; for these are signs of decad- 
 ence such as preceded the fall of the Roman empire. 
 And in the Church it is a very serious symptom of spiri- 
 tual weakness and disease to be eager over the " word- 
 fighting " which Paul alludes to here, quibbling about 
 forms and ceremonies, fighting for or against modes of 
 expression, until pugnacity dethrones brotherliness. No 
 wonder that we are warned against discussions, " whereof 
 come envy, strife, railings, evil-surmisings, perverse dis- 
 putings of men of corrupt minds." 
 
 3. A carnal appetite was displayed by these opponents 
 of our Lord's wholesome words. 
 
 Our translation, " supposing that gain is godliness," is 
 incorrect and misleading. No one supposes, or ever 
 supposed, that worldly gain is godliness, or leads to it ; 
 but many in all ages have been guilty of what Paul 
 suggests, namely, of " using godliness as a way of gain." 
 In other words, these men, corrupted as they were in 
 mind, in the whole inner life, and " bereft of the truth," 
 only professed the Christian faith so far as it was service- 
 able to their worldly interests. • Any one who knows 
 what depraved Jews, like Simon Magus, did, both before 
 and after the Gospel era — working on the credulity and 
 superstitions of the people to their own advantage — can 
 understand what Paul condemned here and elsewhere. 
 
246 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 And in these days, when the winnowing fan of persecution 
 is no longer felt on the floor of God, separating the chaff 
 from the wheat, we must be on our guard, and diligently 
 examine ourselves, that the higher life we profess to live 
 may be animated by the highest motives. In order that 
 it may be so with us, let us seek to live near our Lord, 
 who is the inspirer of all holiness and the giver of true 
 life. 
 
 Not only will He teach us, as he taught Paul, how to 
 deal with all the difficulties and anxieties which face us 
 in social and religious life ; but the consciousness of His 
 presence will keep us safe, as the down on the seabird's 
 breast enables the bird to shake off the spray and keep 
 itself warm and dry, though it floats over the waters of 
 a stormy sea. 
 
( 247 ) 
 
 IV. 
 
 CONTENTMENT, 
 
 (i Tim. vi. 6-8.) 
 
 The apostle having urged Timothy to withdraw from 
 fellowship with those who wished to use godliness as a 
 means of getting on in the world, goes on to declare 
 that when godliness is sincere — cherished for its own 
 sake — it brings its own reward. He aimed this vigorous 
 protest against the restless discontent and unhealthy 
 ambition which will use any means, even hypocritical 
 pretence to piety, to gain its ends. This is obviously 
 quite a different thing from the wholesome enterprise 
 wnich naturally brings a man more important work, 
 and prepares him to do it. The motive of such enterprise 
 determines whether it be a virtue or a sin. To be 
 honest merely because it seems the best policy to be 
 so, is not real honesty ; and the first strong temptation 
 which offers advantage as a price of dishonesty, will get 
 into its grip the man who acts on that maxim. To do 
 right because it pays, is not righteousness in the judg- 
 ment of God. Here, therefore, the apostle gives us 
 teaching which may find practical application in the life 
 of every one of us. In effect he says to each — 
 
248 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 I. Seek the Blessedness of Godly Content- 
 ment. 
 
 I . No doubt contentment apart from godliness is a good 
 thing. — Seneca and Lucretius, and other Pagan philo- 
 sophers, were never tired of singing its praises ; and 
 Socrates, when he walked through the streets of Athens, 
 and saw around him the evidences of wealth, art, and 
 culture, exclaimed, " How many things there are which I 
 can do without." (i.) To some this feeling of contentment 
 tvith their present condition seems constitutional. There are 
 men and women who have an easy-going disposition, 
 which makes the best of everything. They are not 
 greatly troubled by events which would crush others who 
 are less happily endowed. They rise and fall on the 
 waves of a stormy sea, ever buoyant, while their neigh- 
 bours ai'e like the piles driven fast into place, ragged and 
 torn b}^ their hopeless contest with the fret and wear of 
 the water. (2.) Others again are content, not so much 
 from happy temperament, as from the fact that the lines 
 have fallen itnto them in pleasant places, and they have a 
 goodly heritage. Belonging to the rich and leisured 
 classes, they have no temptation to win a position, or to 
 make money, by unworthy means, for these are already 
 theirs without effort ; and it is a happy thing for England 
 that many men who have no necessity to labour spend 
 their leisui'e and talents in discharging public duties on 
 the principle of noblesse oblige. Would that there were 
 more of these, like the late Lord Shaftesbury, "the good 
 Earl," as he was distinctively called, who all his life 
 through fought against injustice and ignorance. 
 
CONTENTMENT. 249 
 
 " If Heaven's approval and the people's praise, 
 Poverty's blessing, and the joy sublime 
 Of ministry tliat lifts the curse of crime, — 
 If these avail to dower our days with worth, 
 How happy was thy life, who wealth and birth 
 Mad'st not a perch for pleasure, pride, pretence, 
 But vantage ground for high beneficence !" 
 
 2. It is not contentment, however, which is inculcated 
 here so much as '' godliness ivith contentment" — Many a 
 man has been content without being godly, who miglit 
 have been saved liad his content been disturbed and de- 
 stroyed. " Godliness " is more comprehensible to us who 
 know God in Jesus Christ, for in Him we see God among 
 men living and labouring in the circumstances by which 
 we are surrounded. To be godly is to be Christlike, and 
 besides the stainless pui'ity, the changeless love of that 
 most wonderful life, there was about it the sweet serenity 
 which Paul here inculcates, arising from unfaltering trust 
 in Divine wisdom and love. The Son of Man had not 
 where to lay His head ; women from Galilee followed 
 Him, and ministered unto Him, but though He seemed 
 dependent on their charity and thoughtfulness, yet there 
 was no discontent or murmuring. It is harder to receive 
 kindness graciously than to do it generously, but no 
 feeling of pride ever led Him to refuse any well-meant 
 effort to please or to help Him — Almighty Son of God 
 though He was. And by His lowly life He has taught 
 us the truth of His own words, " A man's life consisteth 
 not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." 
 This leads us to another lesson enfolded in these verses — ■ 
 
2 50 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY, 
 
 II. Entertain a Lowly Estimate of Yourselves. 
 
 " We brought nothing into this world." Of all God's 
 creatures, the human child is most helpless, most de- 
 pendent upon kindly care ; and one of the lessons taught 
 by the coming of an infant into the home is the lesson of 
 human dependence. What have we, indeed, through life 
 that we did not receive ? The very powers which enable 
 us to win position or wealth are as much divine gifts as 
 the wealth itself. A successful man is apt to say, " Well, 
 everything I have I fairly won. I am not indebted to 
 any one, I am not one of those who merely step into 
 the possession of property amassed by another. What- 
 ever I have I made." Yes ; but remember that it was 
 God who gave thee power to get wealth. The strong 
 physique, which has borne so well the wear and tear 
 of life ; the steady nerves, which in a crisis do not 
 fail you ; the resolute will, which never quails, — all 
 these are a heritage, a gift from God, perhaps granted 
 through a long line of ancestors, who have lived honestly, 
 soberly, and godly in an evil world. No one here has 
 reason for boasting or pride, but only for reverent grati- 
 tude to Him who has crowned us with loving-kindness 
 and with tender mercy. 
 
 III. ESTLMATE JUSTLY THE VaLUE OF EaRTHLY ThINGS. 
 
 However precious worldly things may seem, it is certain 
 *' we can carry nothing out " of the world when we leave it. 
 It is a narrow bed which will form the last resting-place 
 even for the owner of a province or the ruler of a nation. 
 The R. V. gives us a more correct, though more obscure, 
 reading here — " For we brought nothing into this world, 
 
CONTENTMENT. 2 5 I 
 
 for neither can we carry anything out." In other words, 
 not only do we enter and leave the world in a state of 
 destitution, as the A. V. suggests, but " our entering it is 
 ordered with regard to our leaving it," The lesson ex- 
 emplified in death, when we must leave everything, is 
 exemplified also at our birth ; so that from the very first we 
 are taught to keep in view this great lesson of the sub- 
 ordinate value of worldly things. Our real blessedness 
 lies not in what we have, but in what we are. Of course, 
 there are some things needful for us while we dwell in 
 this fleshly tabernacle — the " food and raiment " referred 
 to here ; but, having these for ourselves and for those 
 entrusted to our care, we may be therewith content ; 
 not ambitious to die like one of those of whom men say, 
 " He was worth tens of thousands," while God said, " He 
 was poor and miserable." So short is the time in which 
 we can use our present possessions that we may well 
 pray for grace to use them to the utmost for the com- 
 fort and help of our fellows, and for the glory of God. 
 Sad is the career and dai'k is the destiny of those who 
 lay up treasures for themselves, and are not rich towards 
 God. 
 
( 252 ) 
 
 V. 
 
 COVETOUSNESS, 
 
 (i Tim. vi. 9, 10.) 
 
 " They that will be rich," is more clearly rendered in 
 the R. V. " they that desire to be rich," i.e., who wishfully 
 plan to be so at any cost. Every one knows that this 
 purpose is morally and spiritually fatal. Some of us are 
 personally acquainted with men whose worldly success 
 has unquestionably been their religious ruin. They have 
 " fallen into temptation," to pride, worldliness, and selfish- 
 ness ; " and into a snare," getting so entangled that they 
 seem unable to escape without using sinful means. Then 
 as riches have increased they have fallen into " many 
 foolish and hurtful lusts," indulgences, and pleasures, in 
 which they have wasted their substance, and lost their 
 moral fibre ; and these " drown men in destruction and 
 perdition," as a bag of gold, tied round the swimmer's 
 neck, sinks him in the sea. Well may Bengel call this 
 tristis gradatio ; and nothing but the grace of God, 
 which brings salvation, can arrest one who has started on 
 that downward course. 
 
 True, Paul did not say, as our translators make him 
 say, that " the love of money is the root of all evil " — 
 
COVETOUSNESS. 253 
 
 that it is the one sin from which all others spring ; but 
 he was surely right in declaring, as he did, that it is a 
 root of all kinds of evil ; for envy, hatred, murder, theft, 
 falsehood, and all sorts of sin may be among its bitter 
 fruits. This sin of covetousness is so possible to us all, 
 whether our possessions are few or many, that we ought 
 to think of it, and to watch and pray lest we enter into 
 temptation. 
 
 I. The Dangers of this Temper of Mind are obvious. 
 
 I. It leads many to deception and dishonesty. — For 
 example : in certain classes of manufacture it is notorious 
 that labels of quantity or of quality are misleading ; and 
 though it is said that this is understood in the trade, and 
 tacitly allowed for by the purchaser, yet, as the goods 
 pass from hand to hand in our complicated civilisation, 
 it is unquestionable that some a,re deceived, either in the 
 home or in the foreign market. In shops, too, there is 
 often a similar want of straightforward honesty. A clever 
 salesman will present goods in such order as to disqualify 
 the taste or touch for sound judgment. Or perhaps, 
 at his first sale, he points out defects in order to win 
 the confidence of the customer, and then abuses the 
 confidence so created in order to pass off" inferior goods. 
 And this wrongdoing is not confined to tradesmen. It 
 finds place in professional life, and in political life too, 
 until a want of strict integrity in those who represent 
 you, or serve you, comes almost to be expected. This is 
 a sin against God. It is destructive of mutual confidence, 
 of Christian integrity, of the good repute of a nominally 
 Christian nation ; and it is the Church's duty through 
 
254 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 its teaching and through the lives of its members, to 
 banish it from all the spheres of human activity. 
 
 2. To get advantage to oneself is a false aim for any 
 Christian life. — The mistress, who has no care for her 
 servants except to get as much work out of them as she 
 can ; who gives them no counsel, no sympathy, and no 
 care : the employer, who has no consideration for those 
 who work for him, and no thought for their well-being — 
 these, and all like them, are failing of their duty and 
 responsibility in the sight of God ; and their sin is the 
 greater in proportion to the weakness of those dependent 
 upon them. Think of young women, homeless, almost 
 friendless, glad to escape from the hot workrooms to breathe 
 the night air of the streets, and who have no other 
 place of recreation provided ! Think of men, obliged to 
 live near their work, who, because landlords have a 
 monopoly of accommodation, are forced to pay exorbi- 
 tant rents, and to suffer the results in immorality which 
 follow on overcrowding. Think of the makers of cheap 
 furniture who are dependent on wholesale houses, and are 
 sometimes forced to sell at a nominal price, because they 
 must take that or starve ; until, squeezed dry, they ai-e 
 flung out to ruin. Think of others, ignorant of their legal 
 rights, who are ruthlessly robbed by those who say " it is 
 fair to use to the utmost one's superior shrewdness ; " 
 and in all such doings you will understand where Paul 
 would apply his teaching in our day. The curses of God 
 deservedly fell on ancient Babylon, and will surely fall on 
 this modern Babylon if, as the prophet says, we make 
 merchandise of the bodies and souls of men. And we 
 
COVETOUSNESS. 255 
 
 Christians are called upon, while living among those who 
 do such things, to obey the command : " Be ye therefore 
 merciful, even as your Father in heaven is merciful." 
 
 If you know how insidious these and other perils are, 
 you may well pray : " Lead us not into temptation, but 
 deliver us from evil." 
 
 II. Defences against such Evils are within our 
 knowledge, and many are finding moral security through 
 using them. 
 
 I. Watch against the tendency to extravagant living. — 
 The absence of simplicity in some households leads to 
 more evils than you think. It creates a demand for 
 articles which cannot be had for the money, and hence 
 arise misleading statements and adulterated goods ; for 
 supply follows demand. It leads to those long credits 
 which are answerable for much of the unsoundness in 
 trade, some purchasers hoping to be able by-and-by to 
 meet expenses which they had no more right to incur 
 than a shop-boy would have to borrow from his employer's 
 till what he expects soon to repay. Be bi^ave enough to 
 be simple in your habits. Seek to live without ostenta- 
 tion. Be willing to give up the society of those mean 
 acquaintances who think you their inferior because you live 
 on a smaller income than they. Those who judge you 
 for what you have — who will look coldly on you if you 
 think it right to reduce your expenditure — are friends 
 you can do better without. I would rather have one friend 
 who stood by me because of what he saw in me, than have 
 thousands who flattered me because I did well for mysel£ 
 2. On the other hand, see to it that you do not how down 
 
256 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 to worslii}') the golden calf. — No idolatry is more prevalent 
 than this. If a boy or girl at school is poorly dressed 
 the child is soon made to feel it, and perhaps will say, on 
 returning home for the holidays, with brimming eyes in 
 remembrance of some bitter taunt, " I do wish you were 
 rich, papa " — and such petty persecution runs through 
 life ; indeed, even the Church is tainted by this evil 
 spirit. Men worship not the Christ, whose riches are 
 those of love and truth, whose throne is the Cross, and 
 whose crown is of thorns ; but they worship the Herod, 
 who sits among them "gorgeously apparelled," and it 
 is for the Church to rise up in the greatness of her 
 spiritual might to cast down the tyrant and exalt the 
 Christ. 
 
 3. Cultivate love for higher things than the world offers. 
 — Good will conquer evil by its own inherent force. We 
 need what Dr. Chalmers beautifully called " the expulsive 
 power of a new affection." Even love for the home, 
 care for the children whom you have to mould and guide 
 — though at the sacrifice of time which might be spent in 
 money-getting — will help in the conquest of covetousness. 
 A love of study, which demands the steadfast setting apart 
 of some time for broadening and deepening your mental 
 culture, is not without effect. The love of God's Word — 
 leading to familiarity with men mentioned there, who 
 cared little for outward possessions, and inducing fellowship 
 with Him who, though He was rich, for our sakes became 
 poor ; earnest prayer for a new heart and a right spirit 
 —all these will foster within you the feeling of the men 
 who stood alone among the crowds on the plain of Dura, 
 
CO VETO USNESS. 257 
 
 and said to the despot, " We will not serve thy gods, nor 
 worship the golden image which thou hast set up." 
 
 4. Pray, hrdhren, for the spirit of heroism in common 
 life. — You will need it if you would keep poor for Christ's 
 sake, for truth's sake, for righteousness' sake, believing the 
 old proverb, " Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, 
 than great revenues without right." 
 
 Conclusion. — Some of you have already, with God's 
 blessing, made your way in the world. By steady, 
 earnest, honest work, you have attained a position, which 
 naturally fell to you, and was not directly sought. Now 
 you are rich enough to run some risk, to face some loss. 
 God has given you the honour of being leaders in His 
 army of I'ighteousness, and those who are weaker and 
 poorer than you are looking to you to take the lead in 
 a crusade against unrighteousness. Will you fail them ? 
 Remember the words of Christ — " To him that over- 
 cometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even 
 as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in 
 His throne." 
 
 " Set up Thy standard, Lord, that we, 
 Who claim a heavenly birth, 
 May march with Thee to smite the lies ' 
 That vex Thy groaning earth. 
 
 Yea, come ! then, tried as in the fire, 
 
 From every lie set free, 
 Thy perfect truth shall dwell in us, 
 
 And we shall live in Thee." 
 
( 258 ) 
 
 VI. 
 
 THE MAN OF GOD. 
 (i Tim. vi. ii.) 
 
 It would be interesting to collate from the New Testament 
 all the titles which are given to the followers of Jesus 
 Christ. We should discover that some were assumed by 
 themselves, while others were given by their opponents, 
 either in derision or simply by way of distinction. But 
 they all suggest various phases of their dignity and re- 
 sponsibility, and therefore of ours also. The designation 
 " Christians," which is now the most popular and general, 
 was bestowed by the quick-witted inhabitants of Antioch, 
 among whom, at a very early period, the followers 
 of Christ made themselves felt as a distinct power. 
 We read, " The disciples were called Christians first in 
 Antioch." The name was probably meant as a joke, 
 but it was accepted as an honour. For they were 
 Christ's men — " Christians " — whose highest glory it was 
 to be marked as Christ's followers and representatives. 
 Not " Jesuits," you observe — the followers of Jesus, the 
 man; but "Christians," the followers of the Christ, who was 
 " anointed of God," to be the world's Saviour, Priest, 
 
THE MAN OF GOD. 259 
 
 and King. It is certainly curious that the title thus 
 given from without has almost superseded the names 
 which were assumed within the precincts of the Church. 
 Of these latter, " disciples " was the earliest ; %nd in the 
 Gospels this name is almost exclusively used to denote 
 the ordinary followers of our Lord. To them He was 
 what He had appeared to be to Nicodemus, " a Teacher 
 come from God." But gradually they knew more of what 
 their Lord was, and recognised more distinctly His unique 
 position, until they were not satisfied with this name. 
 Plato and Socrates, Buddha and Confucius, had their 
 " disciples," who sat at their feet, and learnt of them ; 
 but Jesus Christ was infinitely higher than they. He 
 came to reveal God not only in His words, but in His 
 Divine Person, and they who were His were called upon 
 not merely to give an assent to His teaching, but to 
 believe in Him as their Lord and Saviour. To any one 
 who inquired for salvation the answer of the Church 
 was not, " Believe in this or that dogma," but " Believe 
 on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." As 
 this became more clearly recognised, the old name " dis- 
 ciple " was superseded by the higher name " Believer," 
 which is generally used in the Acts of the Apostles. 
 
 But soon the effect of this belief in Christ became 
 more manifest in lives that were consecrated and holy, 
 and hence in the Epistles the Christians were reminded 
 that they were " called to be saints," and are addressed 
 as " saints," not because they were perfectly holy, but 
 because they were consecrated to the Master. And with 
 
 this title sprang up the word " Brethren ; " because, the 
 
 i3 
 
26o EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 reality of Christian love in the Church, and the close 
 relationship which originated in the recognition of God's 
 Fatherhood, could only be expressed by that tender and 
 true title. These names, then, " disciples," " believers," 
 " saints," " brethren," all present diflFerent phases of the 
 Christian life, and we may use them as tests to our- 
 selves, for all of them should be true of us. If we are 
 " disciples," we learn of Jesus. If we are " believers," we 
 trust implicitly in Him. If we are " saints," we have 
 given ourselves to Him in joyful self-surrender ; and if 
 we are " brethren," we love each other with pure heart 
 fervently, trying to bear one another's burdens, and so 
 fulfil the law of Christ. 
 
 The apostle uses here a different title from any of 
 these — one more ancient, but in the New Testament 
 more rare. Only in this verse, and in 2 Tim. iii. 17, 
 does the phrase occur, " the man of God." Here we are 
 reminded of the relationship which characterises such 
 an one. 
 
 I. His Relations to God are suggested by the title 
 itself, " man of God." This had formerly been distinc- 
 tive of a prophet, and especially of Elijah, the great 
 reformer, who so realised the truth underlying it that 
 he began many a message by the favourite formula, " The 
 Ijord God of Israel, before whom I stand." In Ephesus, 
 Timothy had to take up as decided a stand against pre- 
 vailing evils as Elijah had maintained in the kingdom of 
 Israel ; and he too was to find strength and wisdom 
 in the presence of God, whence he might come forth to 
 the people as God's representative and spokesman. But 
 
THE MAN OF GOD. 26 1 
 
 the title ought not to be confined to any official in tlie 
 Church, for it is applied by Paul himself quite generally 
 in his Second Epistle. Any devout man may be called 
 a " man of God," if he is — 
 
 1. Living near God and coming forth to his duties, as 
 Moses came from the mount of communion, reflectini'- 
 the light of heaven. The habit of prayer is an essential 
 of the Christian life, and in it we find our safeguard and 
 inspiration. We can go and speak to God about our 
 difficulties and perplexities, as the disciples went to 
 their Master when the crowd was dismissed, saying, 
 " Lord, declare unto us this parable." Let it not be 
 spasmodic and fitful fellowship that contents you, but 
 seek to enjoy the familiar walk and talk of which the 
 Gospels give such happy exemplifications. 
 
 2. Beprescnting God is the outcome of communion with 
 Him. Reflection of light can only result from the inci- 
 dence of light. A mirror shut up in a pitch-dark cellar 
 is not to be distinguished by the eye from a flagstone, 
 but placed in the sunlight it may reflect a whole heaven 
 of beauty. If you would let your light shine before men, 
 you must put yourself in true relation to the Sun of 
 Righteousness. Those who are nearest to God most truly 
 represent God. Walk in the light, and you will be 
 recognised as the children of light. 
 
 And, again, no one would be called a " man of God " 
 unless he was — 
 
 3 . Seeking God's ends. It was because Timothy was by 
 profession and in character "God's man" that the apostle 
 assumes that his course would of necessity be different 
 
262 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 from that of the worldly — that he would flee the things 
 they loved. If a man occupies even a subordinate posi- 
 tion in a business house, he is expected to care for its 
 interests and engage in its affairs. Every one would 
 discredit the assertion of one who said he represented a 
 drapery establishment if, day after day, he was engaged 
 in buying and selling timber or coal, and left all soft 
 goods unregarded. And his assertion would be the 
 more incredible if he was engaged in some trade which 
 was not only different from, but antagonistic to, the one 
 he professed to represent. But this only puts in a con- 
 crete, and almost in a coarse, form the idea of the apostle, 
 that a man of God must of necessity flee from, and have 
 nothing to do with, the evils which God hates. 
 
 II. His Relations to Sin are those of unconquerable 
 repugnance. 
 
 1 . The nature of these sins is exemplified in the words 
 uttered just before by Paul against the love of money, 
 the hurtful lusts of the human heart, and the foolish and 
 evil practices to which these lead. 
 
 2. The means of escape from these are twofold. Some- 
 times we may meet and conquer a temptation, and 
 sometimes we may more wisely flee from it. If a tempta- 
 tion comes in the course of daily duty, fight it ; but if it 
 lies outside that prescribed course, avoid it. Here the 
 apostle says of sins, " flee " from them ; but James says, 
 " Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." Our Lord 
 fought in the wilderness, and therein left us an example ; 
 but it was He who taught us to pray, " Lead us not into 
 temptation." Concerning many worldly allurements, the 
 
THE MAN OF GOD. 26 
 
 o 
 
 message of God's Word, especially to the young, is, " But 
 thou, man of God, flee these things." 
 
 Paul also deals with — 
 
 III. His Relations to Virtues. — Negative precepts 
 distinguished the old dispensation, but the new dispensa- 
 tion is not content with them. Compare the Sermon 
 on the Mount with the giving of the law on Sinai, and 
 you will see abundant evidence of this. In harmony 
 with the positive nature of the better dispensation, the 
 apostle tells us not only to flee certain evils, but to 
 follow after virtues. We are not merely to turn our 
 backs on old pleasures, but we are to find new ones ; we 
 are to conquer the habit of living for self, by learning to 
 live for others, for Christ's sake ; and we shall flee the 
 more rapidly from what God hates if we are eagerly 
 following after what He loves. The virtues mentioned 
 here are arranged in pairs. 
 
 1. Righteousness and godliness include all conduct 
 towards God : obedience to His law, trust and reverence, 
 devoutness and prayer. 
 
 2. Faith and love are the two essentials to such a life, 
 for righteousness is the offspring of faith, and godliness 
 is the offspring of love. 
 
 3. Patience and meekness have regard to our dealings 
 with our fellow-men, especially with those who persecute 
 or wrong us, and they are among the most diflScult graces 
 to exhibit. Perhaps their emphatic position in this text 
 is given to them because of this — the more so as there was 
 such novelty in this Christian ideal, that what had seemed 
 to be defects to heathen moralists were elevated by Chris- 
 
264 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 tianity in the most startling way into rare graces. 
 " Patience" with those who misunderstand or malign us, 
 and " meekness " in bearing affronts and enduring wrongs, 
 we all have opportunities for exercising in business, in 
 the home, and in other relationships of life. The fretful 
 invalid, the exacting mistress, the disagreeable school- 
 fellow, the irritating brother or sister, the thoughtless 
 customer, or the unreasonable client, — all these call for 
 the exercise of the self-control and forgiveness which are 
 here commended, and which we learn best on our knees 
 in sight of the cross of Calvary. 
 
 " Let me not fret because of evil men ; 
 
 Snidoth Thou each angry ripple of my soul ; 
 Reviled, oli let me not revile aLjain, 
 
 And ever let Thy hand my rising warmth controL 
 
 Let not my peace be broken when the wrong 
 Conquers the right, but let me still wait on ; 
 
 The day of right is coming, late, but long, 
 
 Long right beneath the sway of the all-righteons One. 
 
 When love no refuge finds but silent faith, 
 
 When meekness fain would hide its heavy liead, 
 
 Wlien trustful truth, shunning the words of wrath, 
 Waits for the day of right, so long, so long delayed ; 
 
 Beneath the load of crosses and of cares, 
 
 Of thwarted plans, of rude and spiteful words ; 
 
 Oh bear me up, when tliis weak flesh despairs. 
 
 And the one arm which faith can lean on is the Lord's." 
 
( 265 ) 
 
 YII. 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN CONTEST, 
 (i Tim. vi. 12.) 
 
 Theee is some reason to suppose that Timothy was not 
 naturally brave and adventurous — that it would be more 
 difficult for him than for many to take up a bold, uncom- 
 promising stand against prevailing evils. His companion- 
 ship with heroic Paul would greatly tend to develop what 
 was thus lacking in him. In some respects their rela- 
 tion is parallel to that which afterwards existed between 
 Luther, the uncompromising reformer, and Melancthon, 
 the sensitive, scholarly divine. Love is often more readily 
 excited by seeing in another graces which are coveted, 
 but not possessed, than by the discovery of similarity 
 of tastes, and this may account partly for Timothy's 
 passionate loyalty to Paul, in whom he recognised the 
 soldierly qualities which were not innate to himself. 
 It is highly probable that Timothy, then an enthusi- 
 astic youth, was an eye-witness of the brutal treatment 
 to which the great apostle was exposed in Lystra 
 (Timothy's native town) when he was stoned and cast 
 out like a dog, as one believed to be dead. Exhortations 
 to bravery from such a man as that would come with 
 
266 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 redoubled force. Nor were they without effect. A 
 credible legend informs us that Timothy sealed his testi- 
 mony with his blood during the celebration of the great 
 festival of Artemis. This goddess whose worship had its 
 centre in Ephesus, where Timothy faithfully laboured, 
 must be distinguished from the well-known Artemis of 
 the Greeks, the sister of Apollo — the goddess of the 
 chase — the maiden divinity who was never conquered 
 by love. The Ephesian Artemis was an ancient Asiatic 
 divinity, to whom the Greeks gave that name ; but she 
 was a personification of the fructifying and all-nourish- 
 ing power of nature. Her emblem was the moon, and 
 her worship was almost as gross and licentious as that of 
 the Roman Venus. It was the followers of this goddess 
 who sought to kill Paul, when they crowded into the 
 theatre and for the space of three hours cried, " Great is 
 Diana of the Ephesians ! " When her splendid festival 
 was being held, and Timothy, as leader of the Christians, 
 publicly protested against the scenes of license and frenzy, 
 the infuriated mob turned upon him and beat him to 
 death with their clubs. He knew what it was to " fight 
 the good fight of faith, and lay hold on eternal life." This 
 exhortation reminds us — 
 
 I. That the Christian Life is a Contest. — The word 
 used by Paul refers to the contests in the arena rather 
 than to those on the battlefield ; but either figure would 
 very fitly represent the struggle which the new life must 
 wage with evils around and sins within. It is a " good " 
 contest, because its motive is far higher than that which 
 prompted the carnal and ambitious wrestlings in the 
 
THE CHRISTIAN CONTEST. 267 
 
 ancient games. It is better to conquer yourself than to 
 conquer some one else ; and it is infinitely nobler to find 
 your reward in Christly character than in fading crowns. 
 In order to gain the prize set before us struggle is essential, 
 and if within you there has been no conflict in which 
 conscience has conquered passion, or in which God's will 
 has triumphed over yours, the real life has yet to begin 
 within, and except a man be born again, " he cannot see 
 the kingdom of God." 
 
 We are also reminded here — 
 
 II. That the Christian Life begins with a Call. — 
 Paul is not referring to an office which Timothy had 
 been called to fill by the Church, or by the apostle, but 
 as the context shows to his life as a " man of God," 
 as an avowed disciple of Jesus Christ. Speaking of his 
 spiritual contest, he says, " Whereunto thou art also 
 called ; " and this could only mean called by the voice 
 of God. There is no doubt that some of the meta- 
 physical discussions which have been carried on by theo- 
 logians on the subject of " a Divine call " have done 
 enormous harm ; but the Divine call as a practical reli- 
 gious experience is the sublimest and mightiest motive 
 of which the human heart is capable. It is the begin- 
 ning of spiritual life ; it wakes up the soul to conscious- 
 ness, as the archangel's trump will hereafter wake the 
 realms of death. The history of the Church shows that 
 nothing will do so much to nerve a man to hei-oic endur- 
 ance as the deep persuasion that he has a Divine call. 
 If, for example, you know that God has called you from 
 sin, you dare not go back to it ; if you are certain God 
 
2 68 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 gave you your work, you will do it without waiting for 
 reward, and without being discouraged by failure ; and 
 it is because His voice is calling that it is at your peril 
 you stop your ears or harden your heart. But follow- 
 ing on this is the fact — 
 
 III. That the Christian Life demands Confession. — 
 When Paul reminds Timothy that he had " professed a 
 good profession before many witnesses," he is alluding to 
 his open and formal confession of the Christian faith. In 
 those days there was a very broad line to be crossed 
 before entering the Church ; for the convert left his 
 former faith, his former associates, and his former prac- 
 tices ; and these were publicly abjured. Changed as 
 the condition of society unquestionably is, there is a 
 difference between the Church and the world ; and there 
 must be until the world is really Christ's, which it is 
 far from being yet. And in some form or other, there 
 ought to be a profession of faith on the part of those who 
 really love and serve Christ Jesus. If, therefore, you are 
 on His side, but secretly, or if you have allowed your 
 former profession to die out, carefully consider this 
 question, lest at last you come under the condemnation of 
 those who are ashamed of Christ amid their daily asso- 
 ciations ; for Jesus says, " He that is not with me, is 
 against me." To ask yourself why you are not an avowed 
 Christian will lead to self-examination such as many 
 perish for want of; for the answer to that question may 
 be, " It is because I am not a Christian at all ; " and that 
 will bring you, with God's blessing, to instant penitence 
 and earnest prayer ; or the answer may reveal a moral 
 
THE CHRISTIAN CONTEST. 269 
 
 weakness and cowardice of which you have had no sus- 
 picion, and of which you may be well ashamed. 
 
 But not only is confession of Christ helpful because of 
 the self-examination which precedes it, but also because 
 it is a something to which appeal may afterwards be 
 made with spiritual effect, as it is here. The act of 
 publicly avowing love to Christ is an epoch in our 
 spiritual history ; a season of Divine inspiration, when we 
 are lifted above the ordinary low level on which we live, 
 and when we realise the blessedness and the responsibility 
 of taking our stand on the Lord's side. Well would it 
 have been with all of us if the standard then raised aloft 
 had never been lowered in the presence of the foe ! There 
 is much to inspire some of us in the memories of the past, 
 and much to inspire us all in the thought of what lies 
 before us ; for Paul reminds us — 
 
 IV. That the Christian Life receives its Crown. — 
 Even here it is possible to " lay hold upon eternal life," 
 which is the gift of God, through Jesus Christ, His Son. 
 The apostle does not speak of it as the result of the 
 contest, but as the substance of it, for we may have it 
 here in its germ. " He that believeth on me," says our 
 Lord, " shall never die." The death which many dread 
 is but the putting off of the tabernacle in order that the 
 heavenly temple may be entered. If the life we now live 
 in the flesh is a life of faith on the Son of God, we 
 already possess the eternal life whose enfranchisement 
 from the body will be Heaven ! " He that hath the Son 
 hath life ; but he that hath not the Son hath not life, 
 but the wrath of God abideth on Him." 
 
( 270 ) 
 
 VIIT. 
 
 THE FIGHT OF FAITH. 
 (i Tim. vi. 12.) 
 
 There is no donbt that our Revised Version correctly 
 renders Paul's phrase when it introduces the definite 
 article in the first clause of this verse, " Fight the good 
 fight of the faith." In other words, Paul says, " Keep 
 up the struggle which faith in Christ necessitates, against 
 all temptation, in spite of all opponents." But we must 
 not forget that faith is the very essence of this con- 
 flict, and that its vigour is essential to victory. This 
 may be well called a " good fight," to which our Lord 
 summons us, for it aims at the destruction of sin, which 
 is the ultimate source of all our sorrows and fears. It 
 results, not as human wars do in the impoverishment of 
 the people and in the entry of cruel death and mourning 
 into innocent homes, but in the elevation of the nations 
 and in the eternal life of all who submit to the Conqueror. 
 There is no uncertainty about the issue ; all who follow 
 Christ may feel the inspiration which comes to soldiers 
 who know that their standard has never been trailed in 
 the dust of defeat. Christ Jesus goes forth " conquering 
 
THE FIGHT OF FAITH. 27 1 
 
 and to conquer." But we need faith in Him to wage 
 that warfare. 
 
 I. Faith Discovers our Foes. — We do not see them 
 by mortal sense or by intellectual ability. Pleasures may 
 be enervating us, prosperity may be injuring us, without 
 any consciousness on our part that it is so ; while we still 
 welcome them with the fatuousness of a commander who 
 flings open the gates of the citadel to what he believes 
 to be a column of relief, but who finds out, when it is 
 too late, that he has given himself into the power of the 
 adversary. Whatever drags down your aspirations after 
 holiness, and chains you to the present life, will appear 
 to faith (which is spiritual sight) an enemy to be 
 reckoned with. You want a higher standpoint than 
 that of human opinion in order to see what God sees, 
 and to know how and when you must strike. And many 
 a one has found the mount of prayer to be, what the 
 famous knoll was to Lord Raglan when he galloped to 
 its summit in the crisis of the battle of the Alma — a 
 vantage-ground whence to see the foes we have to fight. 
 
 II. Faith Arms us for the Conflict. — In moral 
 contests nothing will take the place of faith, by which 
 we realise habitually the presence of God. Good impulse 
 sometimes helps us ; tender memories are not without 
 effect ; wholesome friendships, cherished reputations, have 
 their place and power; but the one thing which will 
 keep a man safe in every hour of real temptation is the 
 conviction that He is near of whom Joseph said, " How 
 can I do this great wickedness and sin against God ? " 
 
 III. Faith Wins the Victory. — When our great Leader 
 
2/2 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 was in the wilderness, tempted of the devil, He triumphed, 
 not by any assertion of His Divine power, but by His 
 unfaltering confidence in God. " Make these stones into 
 bread, for this is essential to your support," suggested 
 the adversary. " No," said our Master ; " for my Father 
 has said, ' Man shall not live by bread alone.' " " Take 
 the kingdoms of the world, for they are thine." "No; 
 God's way of giving them to me is the best." " Cast Thy- 
 self down from this Temple, and angel-given deliverance 
 will strengthen your faith." " No ; I will trust, but I 
 will not presume." It was the shield of faith which 
 quenched all the fiery darts of the wicked one ; and what 
 was true for our Lord is true for all His followers. Let 
 your prayer always be, " Lord, increase our faith," remem- 
 bering that, whether for defence or for aggression, faith 
 is the one thing needful. Cast yourself in trust upon 
 Him, and He will not only forgive your sins, but in 
 His good time will give you full deliverance and eternal 
 victory. 
 
 " God never yet forsook at need 
 The soul that trusted Him indeed." 
 
( 273 
 
 IX. 
 
 MOTIVES TO STEADFASTNESS. 
 (i Tim. vi. 13-16.) 
 
 When earnest Christians realise that they are about to 
 leave the world, they are concerned that those who will 
 fill their places should be loyal to the principles they 
 have tried to maintain. Nothing would cause more grief 
 to a devout pastor than the foreboding that his work 
 would be undone by his successor ; and a Christian father 
 would go down weeping to the grave if he knew that his 
 own son would fling to the winds all which he had held 
 dear. Paul felt as a pastor and as a father towards 
 Timothy, and this accounts for the repeated and pathetic 
 exhortations to fidelity which occur in these two letters. 
 
 The " commandment " which the young evangelist was 
 to keep must be taken, in its broadest sense, as referring 
 to the great principles of righteousness and truth which 
 Christ Jesus had embodied and maintained. Although 
 of celestial origin, this commandment would not appear 
 to men " without spot," if its representatives were men 
 of blemished reputation. Hence Paul adjures Timothy 
 thus : " I give thee charge that thou keep this command- 
 ment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of 
 
274 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 our Lord Jesus Christ " — that glorious epiphany which to 
 the eager expectation of the early Christians seemed ever 
 close at hand. 
 
 Two motives to such steadfastness are suggested in the 
 verses before us : the one being drawn from the example 
 of Christ, the other from the greatness of God. Glance 
 at each in its order. 
 
 I. The Example of Christ is suggested in the allusion 
 made to — 
 
 I . His good confession hefore Pontius Pilate. It is well 
 for us when we either suffer, or compel, all the incidents 
 of life to lead our thoughts back to Christ. It was 
 partly in order to make this possible that the details of 
 His life and ministry are so fully given in the Gospels. 
 Temptations, troubles, friendships, joys, conflicts, all that 
 go to make up our experience, find counterparts in Him, 
 who in all points was made like unto His brethren, though 
 He was without sin. How it would help this young 
 evangelist, for example, when he was laughed at for his 
 strictness, or when he was blamed for his inexorable 
 adherence to the truth of Christ, to remember that even He 
 who was the Eternal Son of God endured the contradiction 
 of sinners against Himself, and that without a moment's 
 hesitation He witnessed a good confession, though He 
 knew the price of it would be agony, shame, and death ! 
 There was a difference, however, between the Lord's con- 
 fession and Timothy's, or ours. This is denoted by a 
 change of verb made by Paul, which is not noticed at all 
 in our Authorised Version ; and in the Revised Version 
 the distinction is hardly marked, because the two words 
 
MOTIVES TO STEADFASTNESS. 275 
 
 " confess " and " witness " employed by the Revisers are 
 loosely used in English. Timothy " confessed " the 
 good confession, Christ Jesus " witnessed " the good con- 
 fession. Bengel, in clearer Latin, puts it thus : " Testari 
 confessionem erat Domini, confiteri confessionem Timothei " 
 — " To witness a confession is the Lord's, to confess it is 
 Timothy's." Christ " witnessed " because He was identified 
 with the truth He confessed, and was the source of every 
 such confession after, Timothy " confessed," for his confes- 
 sion was responsive and secondary, and found its inspira- 
 tion in that of his Lord. 
 
 2. Christ's achieved victory is another source of encour- 
 agement to His faithful followers. The Cross of Calvary 
 was the immediate result of our Lord's good confession ; 
 but that was not its final result. Unseen as yet by 
 mortal eye, His manifestation is coming ever nearer to 
 the world ; and meanwhile it is seen and rejoiced in by 
 one after another of the saints who pass away into the 
 world of spirits. God, who quickeneth all things, has 
 raised Him from the dead, and amongst the glorified 
 and redeemed He already appears as Prince and Saviour ; 
 and hereafter every eye shall see Him, and they also which 
 pierced Him. The victory of Christ is the encouragement 
 and inspiration of all who are engaged in the conflicts of 
 truth with error, of holiness with sin. 
 
 Notice how this description of the expected appearing 
 
 of Christ leads to the noble doxology which celebrates — 
 
 II. The Gkeatness and Glory of God, " who is the 
 
 blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord 
 
 of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in the 
 
 19 
 
276 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 lii^^lit which no man can approach unto ; whom no man 
 hath seen, nor can see ; to whom be honour and power 
 everlastinof. Amen." If He be for us, who can be against 
 us ? Whether or no this sublime doxology, couched as 
 it is in lyrical form, was already in use in the psalmody 
 of the Ephesian Church, as some suggest that it was, we 
 cannot tell ; but that it would fitly express the feelings 
 of devout hearts then and now is unquestionable. Nor 
 is it simply to be admired for its beauty. It had special 
 force in the connection before us. Timothy is fittingly 
 reminded that — 
 
 1. God is eternal. All time is at His disposal. The 
 delay which seems long and weary to us is nothing to 
 Him ; nothing in comparison with the awful eternity 
 which lies before Him. As Mrs. Browning sings — 
 
 " Eternity stands always fronting God ; 
 A stern colossal image, with blind eyes, 
 And grand dim lips, that murmur evermore, 
 ' God— God— God ! '" 
 
 " He only hath immortality," and all others have it as 
 His gift. The gift of God to men is eternal life, through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
 2. God is the hlessed and only Potentate. If you sub- 
 stitute for " blessed " its synonym in modern English, 
 you get the beautiful truth, that ours is a " happy " God, 
 — full of joy in Himself, the source of joy to all His 
 creatures. He is a Father who has a smile on His face, 
 and a heart welling over with love and kiudness ; He is 
 One to whom the youngest and the most feeble may 
 come with certainty of welcome. 
 
MOTIVES TO STEADFASTNESS. 277 
 
 3. " God quickencfh all things." He can so quicken 
 us that out of sadness and difficulties and torpor He 
 can raise us to newness of life. The other day, when 
 making our way up a narrow stream, on both sides of 
 which the banks were richly clothed with reeds and 
 grasses, with willows and flowers, our attention was 
 attracted by the most exquisite May-flies, dazzling with 
 gold and blue, flitting hither and thither in the sun- 
 shine ; and when we remembered what they had been — 
 so trivial as to be unnoticed by mortal eye, so unsightly 
 that, had they been unearthed, a broken twig would 
 have been equally attractive — we had new thought of 
 Him who " quickeneth all things ; " who is " the happy, 
 the only Potentate," who makes everything beautiful in 
 its time ; and who, through Jesus Christ, proffers to us 
 the immortality which is His. 
 
 4. God is iiicomprehensible — as yet to us — in Himself 
 and in His doings ; " dwelling in the light which no 
 man can approach unto." It is a beautiful thought, that 
 He is not hidden from us through absence of light, but 
 through excess of light. We cannot bear to look with 
 naked eye upon the sun, and if we tried to do so long 
 we should be blinded. Much more are we incapable of 
 perceiving the majesty and glory of the God we humbly 
 adore ; but we wait for the promised day when in His 
 light we shall see light. Therefore, amid the gradual 
 development of His purposes, we have only to witness a 
 good confession, leaving all the results to Him. Main- 
 tain righteousness and truth ; be loyal to conviction and 
 to the promptings of the Holy Spirit 5 and then be content 
 
2/8 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 tliat the issues depend on Him wliose plans are wiser 
 and more far-reaching than yours. For, finally — 
 
 5. God is Almighty, "the only Potentate, the King of 
 kings and Lord of lords," the King of those who reign, 
 the Lord of those who rule. All authority is in His 
 hands. The apostles recognised this even in regard to 
 emperors, proconsuls, and procurators, tliough they were 
 such as Pontius Pilate ; and out of the evils done by 
 these He brought forth good. It was so once, it is so 
 still ; and amidst the confusion and turmoil of changing 
 governments the hearts of God's people may be at rest. 
 
 Let us not lose sight of Him to whom in this passage 
 the great apostle ascribes honour and power everlasting. 
 We too often regard ourselves as the rulers of the world, 
 and forget our absolute dependence ; but, in relation to the 
 blessed and only Potentate, we are far more insignificant 
 than insects are in relation to us. That common fly, 
 which you could crush with your finger, and which 
 feeds unnoticed on your crumbs, probably has no know- 
 ledge of you, no consciousness of your vast superiority ; 
 and unless you are enlightened by God's Spirit, you may 
 live and die in equal ignorance of Him who is equally 
 near, who quickeneth all things, " who is the blessed and 
 only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords." 
 But to have no knowledge of God is to be without hope 
 of heaven. 
 
( 279 ) 
 
 THE PERILS AND POSSIBILITIES OF THE 
 RICH. 
 
 (i Tim. vi. 17-19.) 
 
 Once before in this chapter Paul had referred to the 
 spiritual dangers which lurked in riches. In that pre- 
 vious exhortation, however, he was thinking of those who 
 made wealth their idol, and were ready to sacrifice prin- 
 ciple and character on its behalf But here he is alluding 
 to those who were in the Church, and who wished to use 
 what they possessed for God's glory and man's welfare. 
 This evidently implies that none were shut out from 
 fellowship because they were wealthy ; or only welcomed 
 on condition that they were prepared to share and share 
 alike with their brethren ; as some have supposed was 
 the case from the incident recorded in the fourth chapter 
 of the Acts of the Apostles. There were Church mem- 
 bers who were rich, or who were at all events rich rela- 
 tively to their brethren ; and they were faithfully warned 
 against the sins to which they were most strongly 
 tempted. 
 
 These earnest and frequent warnings in Scripture 
 are the more necessary, because even Christian com- 
 munities have too often been faithless in this matter. 
 
2 8o EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 The sins of the rich are sometimes glozed over with 
 honeyed words, while the sins of the poor are condemned 
 and punished severely enough. Indeed, so far is this 
 true that even here, in England, where we fairly boast 
 of the even-handed justice dealt out by our courts, a 
 rich man will frequently get off with a fine and a repri- 
 mand, while for a similar offence a poor man is cast into 
 prison. In all ages the tendency has been that way, and 
 Shakespeare, as usual, spoke truly when he said — 
 
 " Through tattered clothes small vices do appear : 
 Robes and furred gowns hide all. Plate sin with gold, 
 And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks : 
 Arm it in rags, a pigmy straw doth pierce it." 
 
 Against this the Church is bound to utter her protest ; 
 and amongst her own members, and through her brave 
 teachers, she must warn the rich as faithfully as the poor, 
 for if Christ's words are true, their spiritual perils are 
 greatest. 
 
 I. The Dangers of the Rich are manifold, but only 
 two or three are suggested here. 
 
 I . The danger of self-conceit is hinted at in the words, 
 " Charge them that are rich in this world that they be 
 not high-minded." The vulj^ar boasting of wealth, and the 
 ostentatious display of it, aio indications of this ; but the 
 sneers of society and the growth of better taste have 
 diminished such habits somewhat, although, of course, 
 these are not Christian motives, and have no moral value. 
 To refrain from bragging about money because it is 
 considered " bad form " to do so, savours more of the 
 world than of Christ. 
 
THE PERILS AND POSSIBILITIES OF THE RICH. 28 I 
 
 Again, the self- sufficiency that leads a successful man 
 to attribute all his gains to his own shrewdness and 
 diligence, and to speak contemptuously of those who 
 never get on in the world, as if God had nothing to do 
 with his physical energy and mental calibre, with the 
 education and training of his youth, or with the unex- 
 pected opportunities of his manhood, is another sign 
 of " high-mindedness." And the pride which refuses to 
 associate with those whose income is smaller, and which 
 will hold aloof from intelligent and religious men and 
 women, in order to cultivate acquaintance with those 
 whose minds are shallow, whose characters are doubtful, 
 but whose establishments are costly, and whose influence 
 in the money market is great, — this is contrary to all that 
 we know of the life and will of Christ Jesus, and He can- 
 not for a moment tolerate it in His professed followers. 
 He made Himself of no reputation, and took on Him the 
 form of a servant ; — though He was rich, for our sakes He 
 became poor. 
 
 2. Another danger threatening rich men is that of 
 trusting to uncertain riches. Many live for them, think 
 of little else beyond making money, or spending it, or 
 investing it ; forgetting how often and how swiftly riches 
 take to themselves wings and fly away. It is on this 
 evanescence that Paul lays stress when he speaks of the 
 folly of trusting to them. 
 
 He hints at the conquest of this by exercising confidence 
 in the living God, who giveth us all things richly to enjoy. 
 The remembrance of the fact that God gave you money 
 
282 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 adds sacredness to it, a sense of responsibility in the use 
 of it, and arouses the gratitude and praise which are 
 His due. 
 
 11. The Opportunities of the Rich are as noteworthy 
 as their dangers. 
 
 1 . They can " do good " to others, and many a noble 
 institution for the physical recreation of the poor, for the 
 education of the ignorant, for the cure of the sick, for the 
 salvation of the heathen, has its source in the generous 
 and wise gifts of those whom God has prospered. But 
 beside this — 
 
 2. T/iei/ can do nohle things. The words used by Paul, 
 which are both rendered " good " (in the R. V. as well 
 as in the A. V.), have not the same meaning in Greek. 
 They would be better translated, " Charge them that 
 they do good, and that they be rich in noble deeds." The 
 latter word used by Paul signifies what is honourable and 
 lovely in itself It fell from the lips of our Lord when 
 He described Mary's act of devotion in pouring the pre- 
 cious ointment on His head in spite of the disciples, who 
 said, " To what purpose is this waste ? " Rich men can 
 afford to make wise and noble experiments in philanthropy 
 and in Christian enterprise. Suppose, for example, that 
 a wealthy Christian man is dissatisfied with the present 
 mode of conducting foreign missions. He is of opinion 
 iliat too much is wasted in management, that others 
 besides preachers should be sent. Why should he not, 
 for Christ's sake, himself undertake a great and costly 
 experiment at his own charge, establishing on his own 
 account a little community of Christian men and women 
 
THE PERILS AND POSSIBILITIES OF THE RICH. 283 
 
 in some centre of heathenism, and doing this even at the 
 risk of failure, in hope of opening out a new mode of 
 evangelisation ? Men give their tens of thousands for a 
 park or for a library, for a home for the insane, or for a 
 noble educational institution — and so far they do well ; 
 but we have seldom heard of such a great gift on behalf 
 of direct Christian work. Yet we are to charge the 
 wealthy that they are to be rich in such noble works, and 
 that they do them with eagerness, being " ready to distri- 
 bute," " willing to communicate." 
 
 III. The Recompense of the Rich who are thus 
 faithful is not obscurely taught in the words which 
 describe them as laying up in store for themselves " a 
 good foundation against the time to come, that they may 
 lay hold on eternal life." 
 
 Of course, Paul does not mean that they gain eternal 
 life by their good works. No one insists more strongly 
 than he does on the fact that salvation is the gift of 
 sovereign grace to the sinful and undeserving. But from 
 its nature this grace becomes a talent, with which we are 
 to do service for God. We must not let it escape from us 
 like a balloon flying heavenward from the loose grip of 
 the holder. And since the nature of the future recom- 
 pense is found in the development of life, all that makes 
 that life more full of possibility and of result lays up in 
 store a good foundation against the time to come. The 
 fact is, brethren, that the connection between this life and 
 that is far closer than many imagine it to be. Not more 
 intimate is the connection between harvest and seed- 
 sowing than the connection between heaven and earth 
 
284 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 " He that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly ; 
 and he that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. 
 He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap 
 corruption ; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of 
 the Spirit reap life everlasting." 
 
( 285 ) 
 
 XI. 
 
 PERIL AND PRESERVATION, 
 (i Tim. vi. 20, 21.) 
 
 Every Christian teacher has received, as Timothy did, 
 a sacred trust, namely, the Truth of God as revealed in 
 and through Jesus Christ. This we are bound to hand 
 down unimpaired to the generation which follows us, 
 guarding ourselves on the one side against stereotyping 
 living truth in lifeless forms ; and, on the other side, 
 against making vague compromises with the Protean 
 spirit of error. Paul was anxious about this. He 
 thought of Christian truth as being a priceless treasure 
 carried in the midst of Christ's army ; and now that he 
 was about to lay down his sword, leaving it to be wielded 
 by younger hands, he cried, " Timothy, keep that 
 which is committed to thy trust ! " The enemies of the 
 truth vary, and the weapons of defence vary too. There- 
 fore we must be slow to condemn those who use different 
 phraseology and different modes of teaching from those 
 of their fathers. " Butler's Analogy," for example, was 
 a noble argument in its day, and was a suitable defence 
 against the sort of attack which was made on our faith 
 over a century ago ; but it is not adapted for defence 
 
2 86 EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 
 
 against modern scepticism. Indeed, a suit of armour 
 from the Tower of London would be of equal value against 
 modern arms of precision. The modes and weapons of 
 defence may vary, but the essential truth is the same, 
 aud the old fidelity to it is as necessary now as ever. 
 
 I. Tee Pekil against which the Apostle warns Timothy 
 vas the intellectual pride and subtle speculation which, 
 
 afterwards, in the second and third centuries, became for- 
 mulated into a sort of philosophical system. It was then 
 known as Gnosticism, because it exalted " gnosis " — know- 
 ledge — above faith, and was of a decidedly presumptuous 
 and pragmatical tendency. Already the semi-religious 
 speculation was appearing in germ in the East, whence 
 it spread disastrously through Greece and Egypt ; and 
 Paul was justified in speaking of it as consisting " in 
 profane babblings," and in the opposition of a gnosis, or 
 knowledge, which was falsely so called, because it invali- 
 dated the higher knowledge which comes to the Church 
 through Christ and the Holy Spirit of God. 
 
 The effect of such knowledge has ever been to cause 
 men to err concerning the faith ; to lose simplicity and 
 devoutness ; to wander into the pleasant meadows of 
 Doubting Castle, till they are seized and imprisoned by 
 Giant Despair ; and unless they there learn to pray, and 
 bethink them of the key of promise, they are left at last 
 to fumble and stumble among the tombs. " He who 
 wandereth out of the way of understanding shall abide 
 in the congregation of the dead." 
 
 II. Preservation from such peril is to be found in 
 God's answer to the prayer which Paul breathed over 
 
PERIL AND PRESERVATION. 287 
 
 Timothy — " Gi-race be with thee." We cannot by searching 
 find out God. Intellectual acuteness has never yet suc- 
 ceeded in discovering Him. But to all who are penitent 
 and lowly, conscious of sin, and crying for light, perhaps 
 having no language but a cry, He makes Himself known. 
 In spiritual experience, as in nature, the Sun conquers 
 the mists which the earth generates. Before we can serve 
 the Master we must see Him ; and to every one who longs 
 to do so He says, " Behold, I stand at the door and 
 knock." He does not say, " Before you receive my grace 
 you must know many things ; " but He says, " If you re- 
 ceive my grace you shall know what you know not now 
 — God, and Truth, and Heaven ! " 
 
 The frank and free forgiveness of sin must be the 
 starting-point for holiness. Instead of saying, " Go and 
 sin no more, and then I will not condemn thee," with 
 Godlike magnanimity our Lord exclaims, " Neither do I 
 condemn thee ; go and sin no more." The consciousness 
 of pardoning love is our incentive to the holiness which 
 nothing can mar, and to the fidelity which temptation 
 and death shall never shake. 
 
 " His grace will to the end 
 
 Stronger and brighter shine ; 
 Nur present things nor things to come 
 Shall quench the spark divine." 
 
 " Grace be with thee. Amen." 
 
XVixyjxxixxixxixxjv,xixxjVvyjxxixyjx^-<'ix.-<'ixyixxixxjxxixx|x\ 
 
 THE BRIDGE OF HISTORY OVER THE GULF OF 
 TIME: A Popular View of the Historical Evidence 
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 THE PATHWAY OF VICTORY. 
 
 By ROBERT B. GIRDLESTONE, M. A. 
 
 i6mo. Cloth. Sj pages, 30 cents. 
 
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 CRANSTON & CURTS, = Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis. 
 

 fl ]V[ine of Valuable Infot^mation. 
 
 INDIA AND MALAYSIA. 
 
 By BISHOP J. M. THOBURN, D. D. 
 
 8vo. Cloth. ^62 pages. Illustrated, $2 00 
 
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 CRANSTON & CURTS, = Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis. 
 

 Date Due 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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