The Pulpit Commentary — Titus — Section 29

liberty to BUch a habit. (3) We see bow the gospel purifies the habits and usages of social life. 4. Teacher, of good things. (1) The apostle thus prescribes the right use of the tongue to those who were to be "no slanderers." (2) Their teaching wail not to be in public addresses, which were forbidden (1 Tim. ii. 12), but in private life. (3) The substance of their teaching was not to be" old wives' fables," not superstitious ceremonies, or things of evil report, but things sound, pure, and honest. II. TRE DUTIES OF YOUNG WOMEN. They are regarded as under the instruction anrl guidance of the aged women. In Ephesus, Timothy was exhorted to teach the younger women, but it is probable that the state of the Cretan community required that the instructions of Titus should be supplemented by the more practical and continuous guiC:ance of the elderly women. The young women were to be schooled to their duties in a wise manner. 1. They were to be lovers of their hus"bands. (1) The wife would find in tLis love the source of her strength, the husband the solace for his cares, and the children the guarantee for their happiness and welfare. (2) A loving wife is .(a) a blessing to her husband (Prov. xii. 4); (b) brings him honour (Prov. xxxi. 23); (c) secures his confidence (Prov. xxxi. 11); (d) earns his praises (Prov. xxxi. 28). 2. Lovers of their children. (1) The love of a. mother may be instiuctive, but religious fanaticism and brutal separation can make her more unfeeling than the brutes. Rousseau would not keep bis children in his house, but sent them to a public hospital ; a sign, said Burke, that "bears love their young and lick them into shape, but bears are not philosophers." In India. infants a.re often destroyed by a mother's hands, nnder the influence of religious delusion. (2) The first duty of a. Christian woman is to make her home happy, which is impossible except on a. basis of love to husband and children. (3) Religion revives natural affection as it revives all the weakened faculties of our nature, and gives it new power for good. The religious training of the young is impossible without t.be experience of a mother's love. 3 Discreet. Young women, in a new position or Christian privilege, might be tempted to rashness, enthusiasm, and impulsive conduct. 1'hey were to be wise and careful in their conduct both at home and abroad. 4. Chaste. In act, speech, thought, and dress, finding their true happiness in their husband's society. There are many high motives for a pure woman- hood (1 Cor. vi. 19; 1 These. iv. 7). 5. Workers at home. (1) The wife's business is in her household, not in the great world of society. Religion gains no honour when home duties are neglected. (2) Her husband's interests a.re preserved by her industry at home. (3) Gadding abroad and busying one's self in other people's affairs tends to the spreading of evil. 6. Good. Such women are to be kindly and thoughtful in their family relationships, especially to servants, and not niggardly or exacting. "Their thriftiness must not degenerate into avarice." 7. Obedient to their OW1I husbands. (1) This is their great duty, and thus they become types of the Church's submission to Christ. (2) Obedience would recommend the gospel to unbelieving husbands, for attention to this precept would prevent "the Word of God from being blasphemed." Grace does not deliver us frow the obligations of nature (1 Cor. vii. 4-16).-T. C. Ver. 6.-The duty of yo'IJ/ll,g men. The apostle next thinks of those who are to be the strong stays of the Church in the coming generation. "Young men exhort to be sober-minded." I. THE NATURE OF THIS DUTY. 1. Young men ooght to be tho'Ul.lhtful, not rash and impulsive. 1'he Lord says to them, " Cunsider your ways." 2. 7'hey should be circum- 1pect, not heady and reckless, using that Word which "giveth to the young man knowledge and discretion." 3. They should not be self-indulgent, but self-denying. Nut " lovers of pleasure, but lovers of God." "Turn a way mine eyes from viewing vanity." 4. They should be settled in feeling and conduct, not vacillati,,g or giddy. "Let your hearts be fixed" (~s. cviii. L). "He that wavers 1s as a wave of the sea "(Jas. i. 6). II. REASONS FOR BOBER-MINDIWN~:ss. 1. Jt i., according to the dictate, of righl reaaon. It is a great thing to receive the spirit of a "sound mind." Young meu a.re never in a right mind till they sit clothed 11,t the feet of Je:;us. 2. Consider the s11ares and sorrows and drawbacks of life. 3. Consider that drath may early reach the yo11n_q. 4. Consider the number of young men who are ruiued by the want of soher-mindedncss. 6. The youiig must answer in thej,,,/gmentfor their follies i11 tl,i., /((e.-'l'. C.  81 THE EPISTLE TO TITU& [oa. n. 1-16,