conduct redounding to the injury of the gospel. (3) It secures godliness. "Godly•" t.hat is, with God, in God, for God. This godly life is a life dedicated t.o God and spe~t in his fear. III. THE SPHERE IN WHICH THIS GRACE or Goo PROIIU0E8 IT8 F.XTENBIVE AND INTENSIVE EFFECTS. "In this present world." 1. True piety does not disrfgard or despise the d1tties of common life. 2. It is in a hostile world this grace is to operate with smh p1trffying results. It is c:ctlled "this wickP<l world" (Gal. i. 4); for the devil is its god, Hud sin is its prevailing character. 3. It is a world that cannot be overcome but by.faith. (I John iv. 4, 5.) !. It is a transitory world, in conti-ast with the world to ooTM, of which the apostle immediatel.1· speaks. IV. THE ATTITUDE OF THE BELIEVER IN RELATION TO THE FUTURE GLORY, "Looking for the blessed hope and manifestation of our crreat God and Saviour Jesns Christ." This attitude of blessed expectation tells pow:;·fully 11pon the life of j!race. The believi,r's position is that of waiting for aud looking unto the corning of the Lord. ThP patriarchs waited for his first coming; we wait for his second coming. 1. The believer's waiting attitude is lit up by a blessed hope. (1) This is "the hope of glory" laid up for us in heaven, which is associated with the Son of God, when we shall see him as be is. (2) It is a blessed hope, because of all the blessings it brings to the bPliever. 2. The believer's waiting attitude has respect to the manifestation of the Lord'., glory. This is connecterl with bis second coming. It is the glory of "onr great God and Saviour Jesus Christ," and not of the Father, because: (1) In all the five places in which the manifestation is spoken of, it is Christ, not the Father, who is referred to. The term "Epiphany" is never, indeed, applied to the Father. (2) This is the grammatical interpretation of the sentence, and is accepted by the Greek fathers ~enera.lly. (3) The immerliate context applies only to the Son. (4) The term" great God" would seem to be uncalled for as applied to the Father, but stands in Scripture the perpetual and emµhatic witness of the Deity of Christ.-T. C. Ver. 14.-The purport and e:rtent qf Christ's Saviourship. Mark- I. THE PERSON WHO GA VE HIMSELF FOR us. "Our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ." Here the atonement is connected with the Deity of the Saviour, as if to show that the true Godhead of the Son gave infinite value to his sufferings. 11. THE ATONING WORK. "Who gave himself for us." 1'wo things are here implied. 1. Priestly action. For he "gave hirn~elf" freely, the language beinla( horrowed from Levitica.l worship.· That typical economy ·could not unite priest and victim as they were united in Christ. The Father is often said to have given his Son; but the Son here gives himself, the priestly action exhibiting at once immeasurable love and voluntary obedience. He is himself" the unspeakable Gift "-the best of all gifts to man. 2. lt was a vicarious action. For he "gave himself for us," the words in the original signifying rather for our benefit than in our stead; but, from the nature of the case, the gift was substitutionary, that it might be for our benefit. When we were "in a.11 iniquity," and so exposed to Divine wrath, our Surety permitted that iniquity to be charged to himself. UL THE DESIGN OP THE ATON"ING WORK OF CHRIST. "To redeem us from all iniquity, and purify us to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." It was a two- fold design. 1. A redemption from all iniquity. (1) The redemption signifies deliver- ance by the payment of a price. Here there is a clear causal connection between Christ's blood as the ransom price and the redemption. This is Scripture usage (1 Pet. i 18; Rev. v. 9; Gal. iii. 13). (2) The scope of this redemption. It is "from all iniquity." _This is to b~ understood ~~der a double a~pect. . (?) The iniq~ity inclu~es all sin, considered as guilt and as entail mg the curse of the D1vme Law. His redeemmg sacrifice dissolved the connection between our sin and our liability to punishment on account of it. (b) The iniquity includes a.II Hin a.s morally evil, and in this sense the redemption delivef-s his people from all impurity. 2. The purification of a peculia, people for himself. (1) The primary signification is sacrificial; for the term "purify," like the cognate terms "sanctify," "sprinkle," "wash," "cleanse," points to the effect produced by sacrifice upon those defiled by sin. These a.re now, by the blood of Christ, readmitled to fellowship with God. Thus believers, like l~ra.el of old, obtain _a new Hta11dinj!.. (2) The design of redelllption is to consecrate a people for holy 1!8"1C8, for OH, D, 1-16.] THE EPISTLE TO TITUS. 35
priestly worship, in separation from the world. Thus they are "a peculiar people,~ not Mingu lar or eccentric, but his peculiar treaHure, held to he most precious, 11nd kepi with &II Divine care. (3) This people is separated to good works-" zealous of goorl works," because partakers of the Spirit of holiness (Rom. i. 4), and of the s"oetificatior. of the Spirit (1 Pet. i. 2). This blessed fruit is worthy of a d,·dicatc,l people. They must be zealots lor practical holine1a, for they find their best motives in two advents. -T.O.
Ver. 15.-Pastoral work and authority. "The.•e things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority." The business of the minister is concerning all the thin):(, commanded in this chapter both as to doctrine and duty. I. 'l'HEBE DOCTRINES AND DUTIES WERE TO BE "SPOKEN OF," 80 AS TO BE BROUGHT Tf, DEAR WlTH POWER ON THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF THE PEOPLE. II. THEY WERE TO BE MADE MATTERS OF OBLIGATION lN THE CONSCH:~CE; for Titus waH to practise exhortation. Ill. REBUKE WAS 'TO Blli APPLIED WITH ALL AUTHORITY WHERE F.XllOBTATI0N FAILED OF 1TB EFFi,;CT, [V, 'l'ITUS WAS TO LIVE 80 CIRCUMSPECTLY THAT THE CRETA:."8 COULD NOT DESPISE HIM. '' Let no man despise thee." Contempt would he the natural effect of observed ioconsistency in the life of the young evangelist.-T. C.