Great was the anxiety of the apostle that his children in Christ should keep themselves unspotted from the world, and that they and he should purify themselves from “every defilement (pantos molusmou—in 1 Cor. viii. 7 the verb is rendered in A. V. 'defiled') of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness (epitelountes agiōsuneen -completing the work of holiness in all its parts) in the fear of God." Such a desire after exemption from all stain of sin would, if universal and deep-seated, go far to secure its own realization, for it would instinctively lead to the avoidance of all things that expose the Christian to the dreaded contamination. It is remarkable that the defilement is spoken of as pertaining to 'flesh and spirit'; and whether the allusion is to the flesh and spirit as the sources of the defilement, or as the recipients of it, the caution conveyed ought to make believers shun intoxicating liquor, because that is adapted, more than any other external agency, to stimulate those lusts of the flesh and impurities of the spirit that bring the soul into deadly peril. Most true it is, that so long as the Christian is in the world, he will be exposed, more or less, to its evil; but this consideration, instead of diminishing, ought to increase his aversion to alcoholic beverages, as a wholly superfluous and artificially superinduced element of danger, and (as experience proves) of destruction, to innumerable souls.

THE EPISTLE OF

ST PAUL TO THE GALATIANS.

CHAPTER V. VERSES 13, 14.

13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. 14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Instead of alla dia tees agapees, but by love,' Codex D has alla tee agapeetou Pneumatos, but in (or by) the beloved Spirit.' And after the words ho gar pas nomos, for the whole law,' the same Codex reads in humōn, 'in you.'

Christians are called 'unto liberty' (ep' eleutheria),—liberty from the condemnation and power of sin, and liberty from the yoke of ceremonial observances; but this liberty is conditioned by the proviso that it is not to be used for an occasion to the flesh' (eis aphormeen tee sarki). It is a liberty that is to be made no excuse for indulging and pampering fleshly appetites; but using love as its instrumental and efficient power, it is to be exercised and manifested in acts of service by Christians to one another. For the whole moral law, as it relates to our human duties, s summed up in the precept to love our neighbour as ourself. To what extent, even among professing Christians, the use of alcoholic liquors is made an occasion of the flesh,' we need not conjecture; but it may be affirmed with confidence, that a general resolution by Christians to prefer the good of others to the gratification of a merely sensuous taste, would result in an avoidance of strong drink more extended, and a discouragement of drinking customs more effectual, than Christendom has ever yet beheld. Those who plead that they 'are at liberty to drink,' cannot vindicate such a liberty on any Christian principle till they have shown that it is not claimed for mere self-indulgence, and is consistent with the utmost usefulness in the sphere assigned them by a gracious Providence.

CHAPTER V. VERSES 19-21.

19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the

21

which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

V. 21. DRUNKENNESS] Methai, 'intemperances '-copious indulgences in drinks, some of which would have the power of inebriating, though intoxication is not the essence, but only the extreme of the vice condemned by the apostle. The essential of the vice is, that men drink for pleasure, regardless of the law of God or the claims of man.

REVELLINGS] Kōmoi, 'revelries '-the acts of disorder and profligacy attendant on the methai previously named. Concerning the corruption of morals engendered by this conduct, and the degree in which it abounded, both Pliny and Philo, contemporaries of St Paul, have left pictures of the gross sensuality of that age. Pliny writes (book xiv. c. 28), "If any one will take the trouble duly to consider the matter, he will find that upon no one operation is the industry of man kept more constantly on the alert than upon the making of wine, as if nature had not given us water as a beverage, -the one, in fact, of which all other animals make use. We, on the other hand, even go so far as to make our very beasts of burden drink wine!-so vast are our efforts, so vast our labours, and so boundless the cost which we thus lavish upon a liquid which deprives man of his reason, and drives him to frenzy and to the commission of a thousand crimes. So great, however, are its attractions, that a great part of mankind are of opinion that there is nothing else in life worth living for. Nay, what is even more than this, that we may be enabled to swallow all the more, we have adopted the plan of diminishing its strength by pressing it through filters of cloth, and have devised numerous inventions whereby to create an artificial thirst. To promote drinking we find that even poisonous mixtures have been invented, and some even are known to take a dose of hemlock before they begin to drink, that they may have the fear of death before them to make them take their wine.* Others, again, take powdered pumice for the same purpose; and various other mixtures, which I should feel quite ashamed any further to enlarge upon. We see the more prudent among those who are given to this habit, have themselves parboiled in hot baths, from whence they are carried away half dead. Others, again, cannot wait till they have got to the banqueting couch-no, not so much as till they have got their shirt on, -but, all naked and panting as they are, the instant they leave the bath they seize hold of large vessels filled with wine, to show off, as it were, their mighty powers, and so gulp down the whole of the contents, only to vomit them up again the very next moment. This they will repeat, too, a second, and even a third time. And then, too, what vessels are employed for holding wine !-carved all over with the representations of adulterous intrigues, as if, in fact, drunkenness itself was not sufficiently capable of teaching us lessons of lustfulness."

Philo, in his treatise on 'Drunkenness,' refers to "the contrivances displayed in the examination of different kinds of wine to produce some, the effects of which shall speedily go off, and which shall not produce headache; but, on the contrary, shall be devoid of any tendency to heat the blood, and shall be very fragrant, admitting either a copious or a scanty admixture with water, according as the object is to have a strong and powerful draught or a gentle and imperceptible one." And describing those who are ‘insatiably fond of wine,' he states, “After

* Wine was believed to be the only antidote to the poison of hemlock.

they have drunk they are still thirsty, and they begin drinking at first out of small cups; then, as they proceed, they tell their servants to bring them wine in larger goblets; and when they are pretty full and getting riotous, being no longer able to restrain themselves, they take bowls and goblets of all the largest sizes that they can get, and drink the wine unmixed in huge draughts, until they are either overcome by deep sleep, or till what they have poured into themselves is vomited out again through repletion."

It may not be easy to decide whether the apostle had any motive in bringing up the rear of all the sins enumerated with 'drunkenness' and 'revellings'; but it is incontrovertible that to them may be traced, as to a fountain, many of the other evils, or at least their prevalence. Very solemn is the declaration that, equally with these transgressions and crimes, will drunkenness and revelling exclude their subjects from the kingdom of God. How can it be otherwise?—for what more than they grieves the Holy Spirit, and effectually excludes the possible existence of that state of mind and heart which can alone render heaven a place of enjoy. ment to the human soul?

CHAPTER V. VERSES 22-24.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

V. 23. TEMPERANCE] Enkrateia, 'self-restraint.' Conybeare and Howson render by 'self-denial.' This fruit of the Spirit—the one last named—stands in opposition to the associated vices named in ver. 21. [See Note on Acts xxiv. 25.] Against such virtues and graces there is no law, for they are the evidences of that spiritual decalogue which Christ writes upon all hearts that He makes His own. Those who are Christ's-who belong to Him by a regenerating influence— ‘ have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts'; they no longer do what is pleasing to the flesh because it is so, but what is pleasing to Christ, who loved them and gave Himself for them.

CHAPTER VI. VERSES 7, 8.

7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

As the seed, so the produce; as the sowing, so the reaping. The correspondence is invariably preserved. So in the fable, when dragons' teeth were sown, armed men sprang up. As true Science, therefore, consists in tracing effects to their causes, so true Wisdom lies in avoiding the causes of evil, and seeking to substitute the causes of happiness and goodness. To foster the causes and expect different consequences is the extreme of irrationality, and must bring with it perpetual disappointment. Of such unreason, however, the world is guilty when it clings to strong drink and drinking fashions, and all the while hopes and expects that

intemperance will cease! On a visitation of cholera or typhus to a locality, the development of the seeds of the pestilence in any particular individual cannot be predicted, but there can be little uncertainty as to the fact that it will be developed amongst some persons most recipient of its influence. So the connection of drinking with drunkenness cannot be asserted of any particular person who begins to drink, but may be positively affirmed of some in any moderate aggregation of such beginners. The legitimate conclusion is the rejection of strong drink, not the fatalistic, pseudo-philosophical dogma that drunkenness must necessarily exist. If a nation will create and cultivate a taste for alcoholic liquors-will foster it by fashion and feed it by licence, the curse of intemperance must surely visit it, whatever is then done to avert it. The nexus cannot be broken, but the artificial appetite and habit may.

CHAPTER VI. VERSE 9.

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

Well-doing is sowing good seed; such seed will spring up. The sower, if he do not faint, will reap the fruit; therefore let him not be weary in 'well doing.' 'Whatsoever ye sow, of that,' not of some other kind, 'ye will reap.' Good as certainly results from good as evil from evil. Convinced that we have what is good, let us then plentifully sow it, in confidence of a fruitful harvest in reserve. This promise will, as a rule, be fulfilled in a measure even upon earth; and what this world does not yield, 'the world to come' will unfailingly supplement and supply. The well-doing spoken of is not restricted to direct Christian teaching, and the Temperance Reform has produced some of the most striking illustrations of this great providential law which modern times have witnessed. Let all who desire the weal of humanity engage in this sphere of well-doing, and the land will be covered with the precious harvest of their labours.

CHAPTER VI. VERSE IO.

As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

OPPORTUNITY] Kairon, 'season.' This is the condition of active usefulness. 'Let us do good,' ergazōmetha to agathon, let us work what is good' to all, primarily to those who are of the household of the faith. No principle of benevolent action can be wider than this-every opportunity, every kind of good, every class of person. If, therefore, abstinence affords an opportunity of service to our fellow-creatures, it is a means of 'working good,' not to be despised or neglected without a clear violation of this law of Christian conduct. To say, 'I don't believe abstinence would supply such a means of good' is no justification of indifference unless we have first given it a fair and careful trial.