The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Timothy — Section 51

under Jewish instigation, the mob stoned Paul and dr1Lggrd him ont of the city, suppoaing that he was deRd. Such were th,· per8!'Cntions, the last especially sharp aud extreme, under which Paul bore up, of wLkh T111,othy had a distinct impreHsioo, and which were fitted to embolden him still. (3) Comfo1·table issue of fhe su_lferings. •• Aud out of them all the Lord delivered me.'' He was cared for by the great Head of the Church, to whom all power in earth had been committRd, to whom it belonged to order the earthly destiny of bis servants. The Lord, who had more work for him to do, delivered him out of all the machinations of his enemies-gave him up to sorrowing friends when he was left for dead by his enemies. 2. Timothy forewarned. (1) Regard- ing perse,cutions. "Yea, and all that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer pen;ecut1on." To live godly is to take the rule of our life from God. 'l'liis can only be carried out in communion with Christ Jesus. Were all living according to the Divine rule around us, we should be abundantly encouraged. But seeing we Ii ve in the midst of 80 many who hate goodness and do not like to be reminded. of God, we must expect to suffer persecution, i.e. to he misjudged, to be opposed, to be assailed, if our godliness is active and aggressive against evil, as it should be. We must have a mind to live godly, whatever consequences it entails. It was because he lived according to the Divine rule that Paul was stoned. As the principle involved was universal, Timothy, in proportion to the vitality of his godliness, must expect to suffer persecution. (2) Regarding evil men, and especially one class of them. "But evil men and iml'ostors shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being dec•ed." Of the evil men that make persecutions, the worst specimens had not yet been seen. The rule is that goud men wax better and bet1er, the good men of one generation outstripping the good men of former gfnerations. This may not apply to particular specimens, for we do not find any to outstrip Paul. But it is true of good men as a class that, with better helps, more experience to go by, better education, better books, better methods, better orga11ization, they are of more value to the soci .. ty to which they belong. We have lay- men in our Churches now whose Christian enlightenment and activity is above what any previous generation has seen. While the good are b.etter, the bad are worse. This applies especially to the class specified, who, with reference to what has before been said, are called impostors, or tricksters in religion. The original ref.. reoce of the word is to those who chanted their spells in a sort of howl We have worse specimens of withstanders of the troth than Jannt's and Jambres were, or their successors in the early timlls of Christianity. Infidels are a worse class of men now tho.n they were half a century ago. 'l'he incantations used in the free-thinking press are of a more dangerous naturll than any potions or howlings that were resorted to by ma~icians of old. Our free-thinkers are deceivers; they habitually subject Scripture to the most unfair treatrn, nt. And deceiving, they are also deceived; conscious of tht-ir own trickery, they do not su bjcct the sta1ements of their friends to ex.amination, but are known for their amazing credulity. 3. Timothy incited to p,uent duty founded on put early training. (1) Early teach- ing. "But abide thou in the thin)(s which thou hast learned." Timothy was no longer in the position of the child taught, but in the position of a teacher of others. To ou<e in that position it might have been thought that the appropriate thing would have been advice about his reading-and he does appear to have had books and [Jarchments from the apo11tles--but the advice which he gives him here is to co_ntinue in the th~ngs which he had learned, i.e. as a child. And there was rt,ally nothing better for him ; nothing except this, that the Me~siah whom Lois and Eunice taught him to look forward to was now come, and that there had been done to him and by him all th&t the Old Testament Scriptures had said of him. And 80 to those who are grown up, and .have power to thi11k and to read and to grasp things with a firm grasp, there is never anything better I l,ao the old story of Jesus and hi~ love, learned at a mother'11 knee. (2) Early teaching aW119 with early oonvicliona. '' And hast been assured of." We should read," Thou didst learn, and wast assured of.'' It is Timothy's early convictions that we ar<= to think of. He uot only got the teaching from Lois and Eunice, but it became matter of personal conviction to him. He could set to his 0\\'11 seal to what he had been taught. He knew the worth of a mother's religion in the peace, restraint, hope, it brought into his own 110uL It was a legitimate argument for Paul to use with Timothy, not to turn his back on hia early convictions, to hold to the God of his cbild- twod. When lifo waij Lived according tu God'ti idea~, such as Ti01othy'11 was, he was not CR, m, 1-17,] THE SECOND EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. ----------------------------- ----- to be inconsistent and to make the latter part disagree with the former. "There is but one way of making all our days one, because one love, one hope, one joy, one aim, bind, them a.II together; and that is by taking the abiding Christ for ours, and abiding in him all our days. Our true progress consists, not in growing away frvm Jesus, but in growing up into him; not in passing through e.nd leaving behind the first convictions of him as Saviour, but in having these verified by the experience of years, deepened and cle1Lred, unfolded and ordered into e. larger though still incomplete whole." (3) P~- sonal eurment in teaching. "Knowing of whom [ what persons] thou hast learned them." "Timothy was supposed to have e. complete set of recollections from his mother woven into his very feeling of the truth itself. It was more tiue, becanse it bad been taught by her, '!'here was even a sense of her loving per8onality in it, by which it had always been, e.nd was always to be endeared, On the other han•i, it will be a.lwa.ys found the.t every kind of teaching in religion which adds no personal interest or attrac- tion to the truth, sheds no light upon it from e. good and beautiful life, is nearly or quite worthless. And here is the privilege of a genuinely Christian father and mother in their teaching, that they pass into the heart's feeling of their child, side by side with God's truth, to be for ever identified with it, e.nd 10 be, themselves, lived on aml over with it, in the dear eternity it gives him." (4) When teaching begin,. "Anrl that from a babe thou bast known." Those who carcy the idea of individual respon- sibility through everything have a difficulty here in the dating of religious instruction from the very earliest e.ge. James Mill, the author of the' History of India,' taking the education of his more remarkable son, John Stuart Mill, into bis own hands, proceeded on the principle that a religious upbringing would be an int~rference with free development, and systematically kept al,l religious ideas out of his rnind till be considered him e.ble to form e.n independent and unbiassed judgment upon the subject of religion. Our objection to that course is lhat it is a virtual selling of the child to the devil. If God e.nd truth are not presented to the mind till a matured judgment can be formed, it is not as though there had not been experience, but the mind is already warped and religion is placed at a fearful disadvantage. Eunice proceeded on the right principle when she seized the earliest opportunity of ir,fluencing the mind of Timothy in favour of religion. (5) Sc,-iptural teaching. (a) Name. "The sacred writings." The name is suggestive, in the first place, of a written revelation, which has the advantage over oral tradition (the form of revelation which obtained for the first two or three thousand years) in that it does not lie so open to the action of prejudice. Men may come with all manner of prejudices to it, but it is there to witness for itself to every unprejudiced mind. The name is suggestive, in the second place, of many writers being employed in the communication of Divine truth, which is much better tha11 one with his. particular idiosyncrasy entering into his writings, inasmuch as all classes of minds can be thus suited, e.nd if they are not attracted by one mode of stating the truth, they may be attracted by another. The name is suggestive, in the third place, ~f writings connected with religion, such as there do not seem to have been in connec- ,ion with the religions of Greece and Rome. The Bible can be employed for the instruction of children, inasmuch as it is truly a child's book as well as a man's book. What is needed, e.t the first stage at least, is truth in the concrete form ; and this is to be found in the Bible, which, with some things hard to be understood, bas yet many a simple statement and story that is fitted to fill the child's ime.gina tion and to touch the child's heart. Eunice had only the Old Testament Scriptures to draw upon: the Christian pa.rent has now an immense advante.;;e, in the addition of the New Testament, and especially of the four Gospels, and in the greater facilities which e. printed Bihlc gives him for getting Bible images and lessons into the mind of the child. (b) Property. •• Which are able to me.ke thee wise unto salvation." They form a directory to sab a- t ion, containing e.11 the information e.nd pleading with the soul wl,ich are necessary. To one inexperienced in the we.ys of the world it is e. great advantage to he.ve a friend at he.nd, e.ble on every occasion to give a sound l\dvice, to exposu fallacies, to pur forward weighty considerations. Inexperienced in the ways of tbe world we certainly are, liable to be deceived by appearances, to be buoyed up with false hopes. In giving us the Scriptures, God acts the part of a friend, giving us the best advice, opening our eyes to reality, so that,. with all our inexperience, it is e.s though we possessed boundless atorea of wisdom. They a.re able to make wise unto salvation, but they may not; for  66 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY, [en. m.1-l'i