It has been argued that "as the tongue is not to be cut out or unused, although it is so strongly denounced, therefore wine, though styled ‘a mocker,' is not to be renounced." The reply is twofold :—

1. That St James uses the word 'tongue' figuratively, and as the mere organ of that evil disposition which he describes as 'a deadly poison.' A child can perceive that the tongue-the physical instrument—is not meant, and that were it cut out the evil disposition would remain, and find expression another way. But when it is said wine is a mocker,' the figure does not lie in the 'wine' but in the word 'mocker,' the force of the figure consisting in the fact that wine itself, actually and directly, exerts an effect upon the drinker entitling it to the name of 'mocker'; so that by the removal of the wine the whole of this effect must cease, and so much of sin and misery be spared. If instead of 'wine' we should say 'the cup is a mocker,' we should have a figure corresponding to the one in this text, as 'cup' would stand in the same relation to ‘wine' which 'tongue' holds to the 'evil heart,' whose venom it gives forth. Hence,—

2. This text, rightly understood, carries with it a conclusion directly opposite to that of the objector; for as the 'poison' complained of is not to be tolerated or tampered with, so neither is the wine whose quality is described in analogous terms. Get rid of the real moral agent—the bad disposition—and the tongue will become pure; so get rid of the real physical agent—the wine—and the cup that contains it will be harmless.

CHAPTER IV. VERSE 17.

Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

The original word translated 'good' is kalon, 'beautiful' = excellent; and to him who knows what is suitable to be done, and does it not, the omission is counted as sin. (1) No positive act of evil is required—simply the neglect of what is good. The first and worst neglect of Men is the neglect of the Truth; and it is now, as in the days of the Redeemer, the great condemnation, that though truth has come into the world, men love darkness rather than light. The first duty of man is truth-seeking, the second truth-doing. (2) No positive command is required, Divine or social; it is enough that the act would have been excellent or useful to render the neglect sin to the neglecter. (3) Knowledge is, of course, presupposed, for he who does not know what is kalon, cannot consciously do it; but men are responsible for the possession of this knowledge, especially where it is easily attainable. St Paul had said that "whatever is not of faith," i. e. is not done from a sense of right, "is sin"; and St James here presents the counterpart truth, that it is also sin to know what is morally loveable and not to do it. This principle effectually disposes of the objectors who refuse to recognize the duty of abstinence, unless an explicit and universal command can be shown for it! Others fondly think that so long as they do not 'admit' the duty of abstinence, it is no duty to them!—as if idle 'opinions' could overrule the law of God! St James affirms a doctrine quite different from this. According to him, a perception of the excellence of abstinence-its suitableness and utility—constitutes a rule of duty which cannot be neglected without sin. Much care and charity is called for in applying this rule to others, but non-abstainers cannot be too candid and faithful in applying it to themselves. Nor will the plea of want of knowledge avail for the past, unless the ignorance has been unavoidable, without prejudice, and honest.

THE FIRST

GENERAL EPISTLE OF ST PETER.

CHAPTER I. VERSES 13.

Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

The

BE SOBER] Neephontes, 'being abstinent.' Codex B reads nephontes. ancient tradition which identifies St Peter with the Nazarites, gives peculiar force to this use of neephontes; as also does the figure employed--that of racers who brace themselves up to their task, and who, exercising a complete control over their appetites, hope on as they run, looking for the prize. In full accordance with this view are the injunctions against former lusts' (ver. 14); to the practice of holiness and fear (ver. 15-17); the figure of a holy priesthood offering up spiritual sacrifices' (chap. ii. 5); 'a royal priesthood' (ver. 9); and the warning against 'fleshly lusts which war against the soul,' (ver. 11). Why should Christians, as a race of priests, be found less careful than were the priests of Levi, who were forbidden to use wine and strong drink when in attendance in the temple, lest they should transgress and displease God? If fleshly lusts are to be avoided, what else but common wisdom is it to renounce their most subtle and dangerous excitement? [On the opposition of the neephonist soul to strong drink, see the quotation from Philo, in Note on I Thess. v. 6].

CHAPTER II. VERSES 13, 14.

13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; 14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.

If a parenthesis be placed before 'whether' and after by him,' or even a comma after 'him,' a good sense will be realized, and the contradiction of the doctrine, that as to some ordinances ('idolatry,' to wit) we must obey God rather than men, will disappear. The word translated ordinance' is literally 'creature' (ktisis); but the context shows the absurdity of understanding it without limitation. Tested by the rule of this text (that the institution Christians must contentedly accept, is

one that represses evil-doing and encourages those citizens that do-well), the licensed liquor traffic must be condemned as a mistake on the part of Government, which frustrates the very end and aim of righteous law. The purpose of all social arrangements should be, as Mr. Gladstone has hinted, to make it hard to do wrong and easy to do right.

CHAPTER II. VERSE 21.

For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps.

EXAMPLE] Hupogrammos, 'a word-or-writing copy = pattern for imitation. This of course implies 'in like circumstances.' In John xiii. 15, we have hupodeigma, a sample set under' one's eyes for imitation or for warning, as the nature of the case or the context may determine.

No passage has been more abused than this, when employed to justify the gratification of our lusts. Men need no solemn exhortations to induce them to do what is pleasant to the sensuous nature, but only to that which will mortify their pride or curb their appetites; and in such connection, and for such ends, were these Divine injunctions given. 'Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example,'—suffered patiently, piously, ungrudgingly, for you, that you might do the same for others. We are to think, feel, and walk as He did; observing His principles of self-denial, even where our circumstances may not be the same. "But," as Professor John Brown, D.D., pithily remarks, "His circumstances and ours are often very different; so that an action which was right in Him might be wrong in us. Knowing the hearts of men, for example, he spoke to hypocrites in

a way that it would be presumptuous in us to speak to any man. We should err if we were to draw the conclusion that we ought to have as little to do with politics as Jesus Christ had; for our place, as citizens of a free commonwealth, is very different from His, who had no political standing at all in the existing forms of rule, whether Jewish or Roman."-('Expository Discourses,' x.) Our Lord had a higher mission than seeking mere political reform by a hopeless local agitation, for instance, against the corruptions and outrages of the slave-system then prevalent. In this respect He was no 'example' to Englishmen and Americans, who, having by Providence been invested with political influence and privileges, have righteously combined and organized their power for the total overthrow of the 'sum of all villanies,' thereby paving the way for the possible practice of Christ's law of universal brotherhood.

CHAPTER IV. VERSES I-5.

I Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; 2 That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:

3

4 Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you: 5 Who shall give account to him that is feady to judge the quick and the dead.

V. 3. EXCESS OF WINE] Oinophlugiais, 'vinous excesses. Codex B reads oinophlugiois, and Codex Aleph (first hand) has oinophrugiois, probably a copyist's

error.

REVELLINGS] Kōmois, debaucheries,' the rioting and immoralities consequent on indulgence in wine.

Per

BANQUETINGS] Potois, 'drinkings' = drinking-matches, social tippling. haps no better English equivalent could be suggested than 'wine-parties,'—a name given to certain social gatherings very frequent among the undergraduates of our national universities.

V. 4. THE SAME EXCESS OF RIOT] Teen auteen tees asōtias anachusin, 'the same outpouring (redundancy) of dissoluteness.' Asōtia, translated ‘excess' in Ephes. v. 18, is here rendered 'riot.' Anachisis signifies the act of emptying out, as of a river pouring itself into the sea.

1. The apostle, in the above passage, draws a dark picture of the times, but the testimony of contemporary writers corroborates its truth. The profligacy of the Gentile world was boundless, and associated in all its exercises with the intoxicating liquors then in use. [See the testimony of Pliny and Philo in the Note on Gal. v. 19-21.]

2. That separation from all drinking associations which Christianity rendered imperative, would go far to secure a state of sobriety little short of that now connected with the Temperance movement; and the spirit of this passage favours the use of all expedients by which the blot of intemperance may be expunged or better still-averted. The surprise of the heathen that Christians did not exhibit 'the same' profusion of ruinous depravity as themselves, is not to be regarded as an admission that any profligacy was practised by true Christians, or permitted by their religion. Because excess in vice was interdicted, no inference in favour of any indulgence in what was evil or dangerous could be properly drawn by them or by us. The flagon may be denounced as a curse without an implicit approval of the glass as being good or safe.

CHAPTER IV. VERSE 7.

But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.

BE YE THEREFORE SOBER] Sophroneesate oun, 'be ye sober-minded, therefore.' AND WATCH UNTO PRAYER] Kai neepsate eis tas proseuchas, 'and be abstinent in order to the prayers.' Codices Aleph, A, and B omit the tas, 'the,' before proseuchas, 'prayers.' That neepsate is here to be taken to refer to physical sobriety, is probable from its association with sōphronizō, denoting mental sobriety, and from the natural antithesis of such a state to the vices depicted in ver. 3. Bishop Jebb considers 'watching unto prayer' as='vigilantly guarding against whatever is unfriendly to devotion'; and the term selected (drink not), upon the

face of it, suggests that 'strong drink' is specially unfriendly, by destroying watchfulness. "The language," says Dr John Brown, "is peculiar. First, what is meant by watching? In the original signification it refers to a physical state of the body and mind rather than to a moral state of the mind. It is descriptive of that state in which all the faculties are awake and active." This, of course, is the fit state for watching. Hence Sir B. Brodie, in his Psychological Inquiries,' lays it down as a law that night-nurses should abstain from the narcotic alcohol. And it hardly needs argument to show that what antagonizes physical alertness, and dims the physical eyes, is altogether incompatible with the spiritual sensibility and moral watchfulness, the conditions of enlightened, true, and acceptable prayer. Wine, that tends to drowsiness in the brain,' cannot promote vigilance and piety in the soul. If neephō is thought to be used frequently in the sense of 'to be calm, cool, self-collected,' there is an implied reference to the state of body and mind consequent on abstinence from exciting drinks. The passage may be paraphrased, “The end of all things draws near; therefore, be sober in mind and abstemious in life, in order that you may be the better able to engage in the exercises of devotion suitable to so solemn a crisis." [As to neepho, see Note on 1 Thess. v. 6—8.]

CHAPTER V. VERSE 8.

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.

BE SOBER] Neepsate, 'be abstinent.' The English translators here render by 'be sober' the word they had rendered (chap. iv. 7) 'watch.'

Be vigilant] Greegoreesate, 'be wakeful.' This corresponds to the language of St Paul (1 Thess. v. 6), 'let us watch (greegorōmen) and be sober (neephōmen)'; and though the order is different, the sense is the same. St Paul mentions mental wakefulness, and then abstemiousness as the physical condition of it; St Peter first names the physical condition, and then the mental result.

FOR YOUR ADVERSARY] Antidikos, accuser,' a legal term originally applied to the plaintiff in a suit.

THE DEVIL] Diabolos, 'devil,' the tempter and calumniator of the good. SEEKING WHOM HE MAY DEVOUR] Zeetōn tina katapiee, 'seeking whom he may swallow (drink) down.' The contrast between neepsate (from nee pino, 'not to drink') and katapiee (from katapino, 'to drink down') has not escaped the observation of Dr Adam Clarke, who thus comments :-"It is not every one that he can swallow down. Those who are sober and vigilant are proof against him; these he may not swallow down. Those who are drunk with the cares of this world, and are unwatchful, these he may swallow down. There is a beauty in this verse, and striking apposition between the first and last words, which I think have not been noticed ;-Be sober, neepsate, from nee, not, and piein, to drink-do not swallow down-and the word katapiee, from kata, down, and piein, to drink. If you swallow strong drink down, the devil will swallow you down. Hear this, ye drunkards, topers, tipplers, or by whatsoever name ye are known in society, or among your fellow-sinners, strong drink is not only your way to the devil, but the devil's way into you. Ye are such as the devil particularly may swallow down."