Ver. 2.-The duties of aged men. The apostle begins with the most Important class in the Church-those who are the lea<lers of the young. Their characteristic deport- ment is to be fourfol<l. 1. SOBRIETY. 1. This habit of mind ia contrasted with the tho'll,lfhtlessness and ltivity of youth. 2. It is combined with (1) watchfulness (l Thess. v. 6) and (2) prayer (1 Pet. iv. 7). 3. 7 here are 1-ofty motives to sobriety. (1 Pet. iv. 7; v. 8.) II. GRAVITY, in the sense of a dignified deportment. I. Old men ought not to letid them,.~elues to the levity and flippancy of the young. 2. If they are grave in speech and gai:t, they wiU have more weight in the community. There must be no undue excita- bility. III. TEMPERANCE, OR SELF-RESTRAINT. I. The aged ought to ahow an exnmple of self- government in regard to the passions, the appetites, and the will. The pleasures of 8ense ought not to allure them, or the love of the world to carry them away. IV. SccnmNJ<:SS IN FAITH, LOVE, AND PATIENCE, Here is the trilogy of graces once more, only that patience takes the place of hope, to which it is nearly allied. 1. There is to be a healthy action of these graces in old age. As if in coutrast with the diseases, weakness, and age of the btody. The aged have seen their best days, and they ouoht to reconcile the decay of nature with the increase o{ grace, so as to make human lif; to its extreme limit resplendent with beauty and truth. 2. Each of the graces has its appropriate place in the cl1aracter of the aged. (1) Faith. It is the subjective condi- tion of it. The old have their hopes sustained by faith; their hearts are cheered by faith ; they remain steadfast through faith. It must be at once the principle of their worship, their piety, and their endurance. (2) Lou,. The old are apt to become contracted and cold in their sympathies. But Christian love keeps the heart young and tender and sincere, and the old illustrate its power in growing tolerance, wisdom, and kinnliness. (3) Patience. They have to bear with mauy iufirrnities of body, with declining faculties, wilh growing rlecrepitnde. But Christian patience must be more than a dull acquiescence with the inevitable; it must be a cheerful acceptance of suffering, that patience may have her perfect work in the closing days of life.-T. C.
Vers. 3--5.-The duties of aged women and yown,g women. As woman had attained through Christianity a position of equality beside man, it was necessary to remind her that her new position involved serious responsibilities. I. THE DUTIES OF AGED WOMEN. 1. In demeanour as becometh holinu,, (1) There is an appeal to their own judgment as to what is decorous and beautiful in the Christian character. They had an experimental knowledge of the gospel, and they understood the nature and extent of its obligations as affecting their sex. (2) There was to be a harmony between their position and their character as godly women- " women professing godliness" (1 Tim. ii. 10). Their holy calling should manifest itself in their deportment, dress, speech, silence, and, above all, "in a meek and quiet spirit." 2. Not slanderer,. (1) Old age has no active employment, but it has an active memory and a hi1sy tongue. Thus there is a temritation for the old, unleBB the grace of God has give11 the tongue of kindness, to become censorious, malignant, and bitter, avengin;:?; themselves the more with their tongues for their very incapacity to avenge themselves in other ways. (2) There is nothing more beautiful or saintly in this world than a true mother in Israel, the presiding genius of her family circle, speaking the words or charity, softness, and kindness to all within her reach. (3) It would be an utter travesty of the gospel for aged Christian women to he slanderers, because they would thus (a) separate friends (Prov. xvi. 28); (b) inflict deadly wounds in character (Prov. xviii. 18); (c) bring dishonour on the gospel; (d) and cause discords iu the Church. 3. Rot enalaved tu much wine. (1) The warning was needed on account of the natioMl habits uf the Cretans. (2) It WB!l a moderate demand that they should give up the 6lavish addictedness to wine so common in Crete. She who follows the habit is a slave, and would soon lose the Bense of her degradation. The early converts would, perhap~, plead the privileges of their age and country, and use wine ll.H a solace in old age; but Titus is to teach them that hoary ha.ire give no OR, D, 1-16.] THE EPISTLE TO TITUS. 81