g_rcedy of filthy !?ere." Of.the three ~isqualifications, the first hllB respect to a tempta- tion connected with the desire for public favour, the second bas respect to e. temptation connected with the enjoyment of hospitality, the third bas respect to e. temptation connected with the use of office. Those who serve God in the management of the temporal affairs of e. congregation mnst be free from obsequiousness, from intemperate habits, from avarice. "Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience." Their duty to the truth, regarded as the object of faith which was formerly concealed from men, was not to teach it, but to enshrine it in a holy life, characterized by the power which bas to do with the production of it. "And let these also first he proved ; then let them serve as deacons, if they be blameless." The deacons, no mure than the bishops, were to be put suddenly into office. Opportunity was to be given for their being proved, and, if found to be blameless in the estimation of those who had opportunity of watching their conduct, they were to be appointed to service. III. QUALIFICATIONS OJI' DEACONESSES. "Women in like manner." The apostle has not yet given all the qualifications of the deacons; we must, therefore, think of these women as closely associated with the diaconate. We might think of the wives of the deacons, but, as nothing has been said about the wives of bishops, and as by the inser- tion of the phrase, "in like manner," we are led to think of the election of women to office, it is better to think of deaconesses. We have an example uf a deaconess in Phrebe of Cenchrea, mentioned in Rom. xvi. 1. They were probably aBsistants in the si.me way as the deacons, in so far as they had the care of the sick and the destitute. "Must be grave, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things." It was fitting that those who were engaged in such service should be women who were serious, or free from frivolity. They were not to go about from house to house as bearers of evil reports. They were to lie temperate, or free from all unholy excitement. And they were to be faithful in all things, not abusing their charge. IV. QuALIFICATIONB OF DEACONS RESUMED. "Let deacons be husLands of one wife, ruling their children and their own house well." In these two particulars the apostle req1!ires the same qualifications of the deacons as of the bishops. "For they that have served well as deacons gain to themselves a good staniling, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus." The old translation is preferable here--" purchase to themselves a good <lcgree." The idea is that they obtain for themselves a step, or get higher up. In tho3e days this might mean their elevation to the episcopate. They also obtain Christian boldness, such as was especially required in those days of peril. For getting up, and the encountering of greater difficulties, go together.-R. F.
Vere. 14--16.-Uplwlder of the truth, and grandeur of trnth upheld. I. REASON FOR LllVJNG 'J'ntoTBY WRITTEN INSTRUCTIONS. .. These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly; but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how men ought to behave themselves in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground , ,f the truth." Paul hoped to come to Timothy at Ephesus shortly; there was a possibility, however, of his hope not being realized. In the event of his tarrying long, Timothy had written inotructions for his conduct as an ecclesiastic. It would be held to be of great consequence that any one who officiated in the temple of Diana should be in a fit state of body and of mind, and should be conversant with the ceremonial. It was of far greater consequence that Timothy should know what was suitable behaviour for the house of God. This was not the temple of a dead idol, but-passing: over from the material structure to what was typified by it-the Church of the living God. It was "a living and spiritual community, a life-stream of believers in an ever- livin" God." It was fitting, then, that there should be those arrangements which are moet°conducive to the life of the c.. mmunity. This Church of the living God is declared to be th,i pil~,r and ground of the truth. There was a singular appropriateness in the language. The columns in the temple of Diana were one hundred and twenty-seven in number sixty feet high, each the gift of a king. M.assive in their for::n, substantial in their b;eement, they gave promise uf the structure being upheld in its int.,grity down through the centuries. And such it seemed to Paul was the Church-a c,ilurnnar structure, substantio.lly based, by which the truth is to be upheld from age to ~E'- II is a great honour which G:.xl has laid on such imperfect believers ns we lll'e; and. """ should see to it that we d~ not belie the representation, that we do nothing to blJI.• L TUIOTBY. • 66 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO 'l'IMOTHY. [oe. ru. 1-16.