Vere. 9, 10.-Oounsels to ,lave,. Thie Epistle w&B circulated in Asia Minor, where there were some eighty thousand slaves. "Exhort slaves, or bond-servantH," etc. The gospel cured slavery, as it cured polygamy, by a slow and steady development of the doctrine and spirit of the crosH-that we are all one in Christ Jesus, that we are not our own, and that we ought to love others even as ourselve.,. And no man would like to be a slave himself. I. OBEDIENCE. They were slaves, and they haa =krs. While that relationship remained, let them show the conquest.~ of the gospel in their endeavours to please, and in their not "gainsaying," or answerillg again. Masters would see in such conduct the divinity of the gospel; and slaves would not suffer in vain-it would give the dignity of" ministry" even to their lives. II. BEAUTY. Not "purloining," which slaves are tempted to do. Having been purloined or "stolen" themselves, it would not seem very harmful to them to steal things from their masters. But they were to "adorn the gospel "-to show how "beautiful " it could make their rude life, and the rough, hard lot of a slave. So we all have here the gospel in its beauty. "Adorn," and in its breadth, "all things."-W. M. S. Ver. 11.-0hriat for every man. The gospel is universal It knows nothing of race, or country, or clime. It is the grace of the Father to every child. It reveals the nature of God himself, which is love. I. HERE 18 A QUESTION TO BE CONBIDEBED. It is said by the apostle that it " has appeared unto all men." le this so? Are there not multitudes ignorant of the gospel -multitudes who have never heard the joyful sound? Unquestionably. But for all that, it has appeared for all men, and this is the true meaning of the expression. Its invitation is to all. Its provisions are for all, and it rests with us to go into all the world and preach a gospel which has room yet for the world at its banquet-table of grace. IJ. HERE 18 A SALVATION TO BE BROUGHT. This explains e~erything. It brings salvation. Some will not accept it. Some will only use it as a miraculollll charm, without applying it to the conscience and the character. What is it, then, to he saved? To be delivered from the condemnation of the Law is not all. We are to be saved from ourselves, from every tyrannous yoke of habit, every corrupting cancer of evil, every relic of selfishness and sin; and this is illustrated and explained in the succeeding verses. So that salvation is 1111 broad in its application 1111 it is beautiful in its results.- W. M. S. Ver. 12.-7nle self-denial. Here we see that the cross of Christ has its influence within ourselves 1111 well as on the moral government of God. We are not left pasnve in a mere receptivity of blessing; we are actively to co-operate with the Spirit of God in working out our salvation. I. HERB 18 SELF-DENIAL. But wl1at are we to deny? Our better selves? No; we are to please our conscience, to satisfy our sense of moral order and beauty, to gratify the spiritual being. All depends, in our consideration of self-denial, upon which self we are to deny, the lower self or the higher self. Ungodliness is to be denied; for nothing can minister to the true ends of our being that is not of God. Without "godliness" we are graceless, and all seeming beauty is meretricious and unreal. Worldly lusts are numerous. Lust is love in wrong dirt'ctions. It is not merely excess or a question of degree; it i~ a question of kind. Love may be pure, or it may be the lust of the eye, which is sensuality. The pride of life is the lust of pride in mere carnal enjoyment and ambitious aim. We must deny the thorns and the tares of the one to leave room for the harvest of holiness. Bnt- II. NEGATIONS ARB NOT ENOUGH. We are not good by what we give up simply, but by what we take up. The cross has its creative as well as its destructive inftuence. "l am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; " and how P "Soberly;" giving room for reason to take the place of passion, and for conscience to conquer the excitement. of 38 THE EPISTLE TO TITUS. [oH. n. 1- -16.
intoxicated desire. 11 Righteously; " so tba.t it ma.y be seen tba.t wickedness is wrong- our life II wrung," tha.t is, twi!lted from the" straight." "Godly;" that is, not governed by la.WI! of custom, or expediency, or self-pleasing, but by God's will, a.nd the Spirit of God in the heart. For a.s nature is beautiful because therein we see the ideal of God- no art being really beautiful tha.t is not true to nature-so no life is pure and holy that has not G0d's thought and purp.1se in it. And we a.re to do a.II this amid temptation and hesitation, in" this present.. world."-W. M. S.
Ver. 13.-The coming d,a!I• We a.re to live with a great, sky of immorta.litv a.hove us; for no mere secularism has motive power enough to sustain a noble life. It breaks down always t.hrough the consciousness tha.t nothing matters much, for death ends all; Ill! the sceptic in Ecclesiastes is supposed to feel when he says, "All things come alike to all : there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicke.t." L THE UPWARD LOOK. "Looking for tl,a.t blessed hope.'' What is that hope? This--that one day all inequalities vvill be adjusted, a.II wrong redressed, all faithful sen·ice rewarded, and a.II true character revealed. IL THE REVEALING DAY. "At the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Bow his appearing will take place we know not. Nor when. Nor where. But a.II Scripture teaches that there is a day for" the manifestation of the sons of God," and for the judgment on worldly and wicked men. Our. apostle prays that" we may find mercy of the Lord in that day." The exile bas the hope of seeing his native land. The child at school looks for and longs for home. And this with us is a blessed hope, becau-e it makes us happy and restful here and now, and makes us joy1ul even m tnbu,ation; for we look for "a city which bath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God."-W. M. S.