THE GENERAL

EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS.

CHAPTER XIII. VERSE 16.

But to do good and to communicate forget not for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

God is well-pleased with well-doing and almsgiving because He is Himself ever doing good and communicating blessings to His creatures; and in imitation of Him we should not forget to present Him with such sacrifices, the most grateful and becoming that can be offered. We may conclude from this passage, that wise efforts such as the Temperance Reform really is, for the prevention of poverty and suffering,-a -are well-pleasing to the Most High; for they seek the welfare of body, mind, and spirit, and they never fail to realize their ends whenever they are permitted to operate. In the offering of such sacrifices, all Christian churches and Christian professors would be most consistently engaged; and if so employed, how immensely would the well-being of the human family be promoted !

THE

GENERAL EPISTLE OF ST JAMES.

CHAPTER I. VERSES 13-15.

13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

Obs. 1. As God cannot tempt men to evil, we may be fully assured that He cannot approve the use of that which is intrinsically an insidious temptation to evil, involving the ruin of millions of our species. Dr Thomas Reid, Professor of Moral Philosophy, nearly a century ago, pointed out the true causation of the drinker's lust and the drunkard's appetite :-"Besides the appetites which Nature hath given us, for useful and necessary purposes, we may create appetites which Nature never gave. The frequent use of things which stimulate the nervous system produces a languor when their effect is gone off, and a desire to repeat them. By this means a desire of a certain object is created, accompanied by an uneasy sensation. Both are removed for a time by [the use of] the object desired; but they return after a certain interval. Such are the appetites which some men acquire for the use of tobacco, for opiates, and for intoxicating liquors" (Works, Hamilton's Ed., p. 553). God creates no deceitful meats or drinks.

2. As subjective temptation lies in human lust (i. e. illicit or ill-regulated desire of any degree), it becomes our plain and positive duty to avoid whatever stimulates this lust; but who can name a stimulus to the chief vices of mankind comparable to intoxicating drink?

3. The craving for drink is most prolific in bringing forth sin, and of sin the issue is death, physical and moral, temporal and eternal. Strong drink is a deceitful but ceaseless destroyer; and as every lust of the flesh finds in it its appropriate fuel and fire, its aggregate influence on human seduction and ruin baffles alike calculation and conception.

CHAPTER III. VERSE 8.

But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

AN UNRULY EVIL] Akatascheton kakon, an 'uncoercible evil.' Codexes Aleph, A, and B reads akatastaton kakon, 'a disorderly (or seditious) evil.'

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.

1 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. 3 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: