THE FIRST EPISTLE OF ST PAUL TO TIMOTHY. CHAPTER III. VERSES 2, 3. 2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; 3 Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous. V. 2. VIGILANT] Neephaleon, 'abstinent'; Wiclif and Tyndale have 'sober'; the Vulgate has sobrium. There can be no reason to give to neephaleon here a figurative sense; and if such a sense were supposed, it would be more suitably expressed by 'self-collected' than by 'vigilant.' Codices Aleph, A, and D read neephalion (i instead of e), a mere orthographic difference. SOBER] Sophrona, of sound mind'. The order of terms is instructive. The Christian overseer is to be neephaleon, 'abstinent '--strictly sober in body, in order that he may be sober in mind. Wiclif has 'prudent'; Tyndale 'discrete'; the Vulgate has prudentem. = sober-minded. V. 3. NOT GIVEN TO WINE] Mee paroinon, not near wine' a banqueter. The composition of this word is para, 'near,' and oinos, wine'; and the ancient paroinos was a man accustomed to attend drinking-parties, and, as a consequence, to become intimately associated with strong drink. As the Christian bishop (= overseer) had been previously enjoined to be neephalion, it is probable that the apostle intended by this word paroines not so much the absence of personal insobriety, as absence from convivial entertainments where drinking was systematically practised, frequently terminating in quarrels and blows. The Christian minister must not only be himself sober, but he must withhold his presence and sanction from places and associations dangerous to the sobriety of himself and others. Section 54 of the Law Book of the Ante-Nicene Church' has the following canon :-" If any one of the clergy be taken (even) eating in a tavern, let him be suspended, unless he is forced to bait at an inn upon the road." [See Note on parallel passage, Titus i. 7, 8.] CHAPTER III. VERSE 8. Likewise must the deacons be grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre. NOT GIVEN TO MUCH WINE] Mee oino pollo prosechontas, 'not addicted much wine.' The previous Note on ver. 7 will show that the apparent distinction in the counsel to bishops 'not given to wine,' and to deacons 'not given to much wine,' has no foundation in the terms of the original. The inference that some use of intoxicating liquor is sanctioned by this interdiction of 'much wine' will be found, on examination, premature and illusive. 1. Excessive drinking, even of uninebriating drinks, was a vice prevalent in the days of St Paul, and corresponded to gluttony, also common,—the excessive use of food, but not of an intoxicating kind. Prizes were often offered with the object, not of producing inebriation, but of testing the powers of incontinent imbibition to the utmost. Not a few of the early officers of Christian churches were, probably, selected from men who had been notorious for such practices (called methusoi, 'topers,' by St Paul in writing to the Corinthians, 1st Epistle, vi. 10, 'and such were some of you,' ver. 11); and the apostle here reminds them that such conduct is inconsistent with their high calling' as faithful servants of the Lord Jesus. He is directing his exhortation against a common vice, and is not pronouncing any opinion upon the nature of intoxicating liquors. 2. To argue that by forbidding 'much wine' St Paul approves some use of wine of any and every sort, is to adopt a mode of interpretation exceedingly dangerous, and wholly inconsistent with common usage. (1) It is highly dangerous; for once lay it down that what is not forbidden is approved, and the Bible becomes a book of the wildest licence: "Thou shalt do no murder' becomes a permission to do anything short of murder; and 'Let not the sun go down upon thy wrath' is a reason for indulging in anger of any kind from sunrise to sunset! (2) It is inconsistent with usage. When the apostle Peter says that the enemies of Christ wondered that believers did not go to 'the same excess of riot' as themselves, he did not mean that Christians were guilty of any minor excess. The next clause in this verse illustrates the same point,―mee aischrokerdeis, 'not greedy-of-filthy-lucre,' or 'not meanly-avaricious,' says the apostle, but without any intention of justifying avarice or trade craftiness in the smallest degree. So in the present day a Christian may condemn some excess, without implying that a less indulgence would be commendable; nay, times without number, teetotalers have blamed men for going so much' to the public-house, without signifying any approval of occasional visits. Besides, it is morally impossible that St Paul could have intended to approve of some use of all sorts of wine then made and used. Many wines were drugged; did he recommend these? In his day, also, even sober heathens disapproved of the use of fermented wine unless considerably diluted with water,—was the Christian moralist less indifferent than pagans to sobriety? Various wines, too, were so nauseous to a modern taste, that no apostolic patronage, however explicit, would have induced English wine-drinkers to swallow them. 3. If it is asked why St Paul did not directly forbid all use of wine?-both a special and a general answer may be returned. (1) The particular answer is, that the term oinos (wine) included a great variety of drinks made from the juice of the grape; and as many of these were free from an intoxicating quality, and others were so weakened by water as to be practically non-inebriating unless voraciously consumed, a universal proscription would have ignored important distinctions that were well known to exist. (2) The general answer is, that, for wisest ends, the apostle refrained from condemning by name much which the development of Christian light and the operation of Christian love would hereafter show to be terms. inconsistent with the principles of the Christian system; and which, therefore, would be renounced by true and enlightened disciples. Slave-holding, arbitrary government, bigamy and polygamy, lots and gambling, were not prohibited. Numerous objectionable customs of ancient times were not forbidden, in express The apostles, it is clear, trusted to the effectual working of that Spirit of truth and grace which dwelt in the Church, for the gradual elevation of human character, and the progressive extinction of institutions and habits that were in any degree discordant with the Divine principles of the Gospel. To obey the Father in all things; to be like the Son in purity; to love as brethren; to do good, at all sacrifices, as we have opportunity; to suffer, rather than inflict, wrong; to resist unavoidable temptation, and shun what we can; to make earth spiritually one with heaven, these were first principles which, conscientiously lived out, would cover and comprehend all circumstances, and, in the long run, banish evil from the world. Detailed and specific prohibitions, as under the Jewish theocracy, are not of the genius of Christianity; at any rate, we know they were not given; and what is most needed now, is an honest wish to apply the unchangeable canons of Christian morality to every case of conscience as it arises, making such use of the Old Testament as may enable us to perceive more clearly what is most practically advantageous to us in this glorious endeavour. Actuated by this spirit, the question will be-not whether intoxicating wine is prohibited by name in the New Testament, but whether Scripture and Experience afford us such a knowledge of its natures and results as, on Christian principles, binds us to renounce and discountenance its use? CHAPTER III. VERSE II. Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. SOBER] Neephalious, 'abstinent.' The A. V. here renders by 'sober' the same word rendered 'vigilant' in ver. 2. Among the Romans the use of intoxicating wine (anciently called temetum) was rigorously forbidden to all women, who, on this account, were termed abstemia (from abs, from,' and temetum, 'wine'). The first inhabitants of the seven-hilled City attached more importance to female sobriety than is done by some professedly Christian nations. In Rome the primitive temperance and chastity were, in lapse of time, superseded by luxurious indulgence and intemperance,- -so that it was not without cause that in the apostle's days women were enjoined to practise the strictest sobriety. Not satisfied with the use of passum, a sweet raisin-wine, which had been anciently permitted, fashionable ladies had come to rival men in drinking-orgies; and Juvenal draws a disgusting picture of the zest with which they made even innocent must to pander to their debauched and morbid tastes. In Austria to this day, the ancient law of female abstinence has been fostered, with the happiest result: so that, in the whole kingdom, probably, there are not to be found as many female drunkards as exist in an English town. CHAPTER IV. VERSES 3-5. 3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. 4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: 5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. The 'meats' (brōmata) referred to by the apostle, include the fruits of the earth, and whatever is fit to be eaten; but to quote this text, as some have done, in opposition to the Temperance cause, is a lamentable perversion of Divine truth. (1) Intoxicating liquors are not 'meats,' the amount of nourishment in them being infinitesimally small. * (2) In their manufacture a great destruction of good food inevitably occurs. (3) By their consumption, the means of procuring suitable and sufficient food are denied to tens of thousands of families in our country alone. (4) Abstinence from them would at once stimulate the demand and supply of food to an extent hitherto unknown. Every 'creature of God' (ktisma, created thing) 'is good' in the place where He has placed it, and for the purpose for which He has designed it; nor is anything He has fitted for food to be refused-cast away-churlishly or superstitiously; but to be accepted with thanksgiving, being sanctified to the user by the Word of God and by prayer. The fundamental idea of this passage is, that the brōma or ktisma is innocuous, safe, and adapted to the human organism by the Creator. In regard to intoxicating drink, this idea is not only not realized, but is essentially reversed. There is an expressive proverb that drinkers well know, but are very apt to forget-"God sends us food, and the devil sends us cooks." This evinces that the common mind quite understands the difference between God's work and brewers' work-between nature and art-between that which demonstrates the Divine wisdom, and that which simply proves human perversity and depravity. Who would tolerate the language made explicit, which, by an abuse of the words of this passage, makes God not only a 'Creator,' but a brewer and a gin-spinner? Stripped of its varnished pretence of piety, this is virtually what the objector contends for, when he foolishly asserts that "alcohol is a creature, and therefore to be received with thanksgiving." The analyses and experiments of science prove, beyond all reasonable doubt, that alcohol is not 'meat' or food; and not less so that Nature, in her laboratory, abstains from producing this special article and seductive poison. 'Nature," said Count Chaptal, the great French chemist, half a century ago, 66 never forms spirituous liquors; she rots the grape upon the branch, but it is art which converts the juice into [alcoholic] wine." Professor Turner, in his 'Chemistry,' also affirms the non-natural character of alcohol. "It does not exist ready formed in plants, but is a product of the vinous fermentation "a process which must be initiated, superintended,, and, at a certain state, arrested by art. The term 'sanctified' shows that the apostle is here writing against those who attached a ceremonial uncleanness to certain meats, or against 66 * In an Analytical Report on Wines, published in the Lancet of October 26, 1867, it is said, "In every 1,000 grain measures of the clarets and burgundies tested, the mean amount of albuminous matter present was only 1 grain, while in 1,000 grains by weight of raw beef there are no less than 207 grains of such matter; that is, the quantities being equal, beefsteak is 156 times more nutritious than wine. These figures clearly demonstrate the fact that the nutritive properties of the wines referred to are exceedingly small, and the same statement applies equally to the Hungarian and Greek wines analyzed; and, doubtless also, though not quite to the same extent, to the heavier and richer wines, the ports and sherries." We find even so interested a witness as the great wineimporting firm of Gilbey admitting in their annual circular, dated October, 1867, that the fermentation of grape-juice "throws off much of the body and richness of the fruit, so much so, indeed, that it must be admitted the similarity of the juice of the grape before and after fermentation is scarcely discernible" ! the early Gnostics, who ascribed all moral evil to material things. In opposition to both theories, Paul teaches that nothing which is intrinsically adapted for food is unclean' or 'evil,' and that it becomes, on the contrary, 'sanctified,' set apart to a sacred use, if its reception is accompanied by devotion and praise. In this teaching everything is in beautiful accordance with the Temperance principle, but entirely out of harmony with the drinking system in all its parts; for alcohol is not a food, is not a creature of God (in the sense here intended), its acceptance has never been Divinely commanded, and its tendency to disturb and to destroy the temple of man's body is not diminished by any thankfulness with which it is mistakenly received. CHAPTER V. VERSE 22. Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins keep thyself pure. That we may not partake of other men's sins, we must not place in their path, but remove from it, all occasions of transgression. An acquaintance with human nature and social life will not leave us ignorant upon this point; and who does not know that the great bulk of the sins and crimes and sorrows of our nation originate in the use of intoxicating liquors, and the temptations to that use everywhere diffused by fashion and law? In the vigilant and earnest effort to keep our. selves 'pure,' we must give a personal application to the knowledge we acquire of human infirmities, and the sources of human error and failure. Self-confidence must be repressed, and every impulse towards self-security, where others have fallen. How often has the Christian professor exclaimed, in regard to intemperance, 'Is thy servant a dog that he should do this thing?'-nay, yet he has done it, and done it because wine is a mocker and strong drink is raging.' Personal purity cannot, prudently, dispense with any available guard; and it is an office of Divine grace to indicate what these precautions are, and to incite to their employment. Hence a knowledge of the deceitful influence of strong drink and the havoc it has wrought should suffice for its exclusion, by way of negative protection to that pureness of heart and life which is above all price. Especially in regard to sexual impurity is the avoidance of alcoholic drink a defence that cannot be too highly esteemed. Gross licentiousness could hardly be publicly visible were its alliance with the fiery spirit of the vat dissolved. CHAPTER V. VERSE 23. Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities. DRINK NO LONGER WATER] Meeketi hudropótei, 'no longer drink water' = no longer be a drinker of water as thy only beverage.' 'To drink water,' and 'to be a water drinker,' had a special signification among the Greeks, as among ourselves, in the sense of not using inebriating drinks. BUT USE A LITTLE WINE] All' oinō oligō chrō, but make use of a little wine,' probably, as suggested by some commentators, wine mixed with water-the only way in which sober pagans took even fermented liquors; at a time, too, when such |