Barnes. in them which deserves the name of an instinct, it is their propen- nant; and that is sity to imitation. Now there is nothing which children imitate doing good." or apply more readily than expressions of affection or aversion, of approbation, hatred, resentment, and the like; and when these i Dr. Paley. passions and expressions are once connected, which they soon will be by the same association which unites words with their ideas, the passion will follow the expression, and attach upon the object to which the child has been accustomed to apply the epithet.i 3-5. fornication, one of the things wh. the old Pagan world deemed asiápopa.b covetousness [ii. 115]. let.. named, much less be acted. saints, who should be holy in thought and deed. filthiness, in word, gesture, deed. foolish talking, idle, aimless. jesting, lit. versatility, double meanings. venient/ [iii. 265]. but thanks, edifying discourse, devoutness.& of.. God, of Christ and God,h of Him who is Christ and God.' con Against foolish talking and jesting.-I. Such facetiousness is not absolutely unreasonable or unlawful, which ministers harmless delight to conversation. 1. It is allowable when it exposes vice to contempt (1 Kings xviii. 27). 2. It may be useful for reproving some vices. 3. Errors may be confuted by it. 4. This is also the best way of defence against unjust reproach. II. There is a facetiousness which is much to be avoided,-all profane jesting, all loose speaking, all abusive or injurious jesting, all filthiness, all vain-glorious ostentation. impurity -7. a coincidence worthy of notice, that the denial of a moral obligation in this particular has formed a prominent feature in the ethical systems of the most celebrated modern infidels Bolingbroke, Hume, Voltaire, Helvetius." Hind, R. and Prog. of Christy. i. 272. cLu. xii. 15; 1 Ti. vi. 6-11. 1st ser. 142. You e lbid. See Serm. on Wit, by Bar The use of words.-Be simple, be unaffected, be honest, in your speaking and writing. Never use a long word where a short one will do. Call a spade a spade, and not a well-known oblong instrument of manual husbandry; let home be home, not a resi-d See Trench, Syn. dence; a place a place, not a locality; and so of the rest. Where a short word will do, you always lose by using a long one. lose in clearness; you lose in honest expression of your meaning; row, xiv.; also and, in the honest opinion of all men who are qualified to judge, Bp. Taylor, Golden you lose in reputation for ability. The only true way to shine Grove, Serm. xxiii. even in this false world is to be modest and unassuming. False-Ro. i. 21. hood may be a very thick crust; but, in the course of time, truth g Hammond. will find a place to break through. Elegance of language may not h Ellicott. be in the power of all of us; but simplicity and straight-forwardness are. Write much as you would speak; speak as you think. If with your inferiors, speak no coarser than usual; if with your superiors, no finer. Be what you say; and, within the rules of prudence, say what you are.k i Dr. Is. Barrow. k Dean Alford. a Ro. i. 18. 6, 7. vain words, sophistries. things, sins. disobe- vain words dience (see on ii. 2), disob. to principles and practice of the Gospel. partakers, in their sins here, lest you share in their punishment hereafter.a See Serm. by Bp. Blomfield on Partaking with others in their sins.-We may do this by:-I. Christian Purity. Practising those sins. II. Concurring with them,-either by con- b D. Clarkson. trivance, consent, inclination, joy, sentence, or vote, assistance, "Friendship conjoining in the pleasures of sin, or otherwise. III. Occasioning tracted with the the sins of others. IV. Countenancing them,-by defending, justifying, or extenuating them. V. Not hindering them." Influence of evil companionships.-Cooke, who was executed for a very awful murder at Leicester, in his confession to the town wicked decreases from hour to hour, like the early shadow of the morning; formed with the but friendship clerk, alluded to being connected with a society, formed princivirtuous will in-pally of deistical young men, who frequented a public-house in crease like the that town, in which the writings of Paine, Carlisle, and other shadow of even- infidel authors, were taken in and encouraged. He emphatically ing, till the sun added, "I considered myself a moral young man, attending, as I did, some place of Christian worship three times a-day; till, unfortunately, I got connected with the above and other infidel associations." of life shall set." -Herder. light in the Lord xxvi. 17, 18. 8-10. were, it is past: let the past warn. darkness," darkness itself; not simply living in it. now.. Lord, being a Ro. ii. 19; Ac. disciples of the Lord, taught of Him [ii. 225, 331]. walk.. "The use of the light, let your life bear witness to your Teacher. abstract for the Spirit [iv. 197], Gk., for the fruit of the light. proving, concrete gives testing [iii. 87]. sion, and there fruit.. vigour and The Divine walk of the Christian.-I. Its description:-1. In beauty to the sentence; it is natu- general-imitation of God; 2. In particular-holy love and pure rally a poetic spotless life. II. Its necessity:-1. For our own salvationmode of expres-without such walk we have no part in heaven. 2. For the salvafore is more com. tion of others--such a walk alone can reprove the evil principles in Gk. than in of the world, and make believers out of unbelievers. What would other languages, the world be without Enochs? III. Its means:-1. Separate youras this lang. grew self from the ungodly; 2. Accept the light of grace that your up under the auspices of darkness may be enlightened; 3. Use the light as you receive it. poetry." Jelf, -Dr. Heubner. Gram. ii. 4. c Jo. xii. 46; 2 Co. iv. 6; 1 Th. v. 5; 1 Pe. ii. 9. The fruit of the Spirit.-As oftentimes, when walking in a wood near sunset, though the sun himself be hid by the height and bushiness of the trees around, yet we know that he is still above d Ga. v. 22, 23; the horizon, from seeing his beams in the open glades before us, πνεύματος for pwròs is rejected illumining a thousand leaves, the several brightnesses of which are as a gloss.-See so many evidences of his presence; thus it is with the Holy Serm. by Tillotson, Spirit: He works in secret; but His work is manifest in the lives of all true Christians. Lamps so heavenly must have been lit from on high.-J. C. Hare. cxlviii. e Ro. xii. 2; Ph. i. 10. works of darkness 11, 12. fellowship, in opp. to "in the Lord." with.. darkness, result of sin does not deserve the name of fruit.' a Ps. i. 1; 1 Co. reprove, by word and deed. shame.. secret, sins wh. fr. v. 11: 2 Co. vi. their nature and infamy shunned the light of day and of judgment.-Ellicott. 14-18. b Olshausen; cf. Ro. vi. 21. The Christian as a reformer.-With regard to the works of c2 Th. iii. 6, 14, 15. darkness, the Christian's duty is twofold: I. Negative. 1. What d Ro. i. 24-27. is not here forbidden: (1) All intercourse with evil-doers; (2) "No man can for- All friendly intercourse with them; (3) All business intercourse; bear saying of that book, that (4) The discharge of duties arising out of family relations; (5) doctrine, or that Civil connection with bad governments; 2. What is forbidden,preaching which direct sin-support of others in sin-support of sin generally. tells him all that II. Positive-" reprove." To do this we must understand:-1. this the truth?' Ourselves; 2. Our position; 3. The wrong-doer; 4. The position The satisfaction of the wrong-doer, d ever he did, 'Is not evidence a p afforded by such Self-reformation.—Mr. Newton, as the commander of a slaveproaches near to ship, had a number of women under his absolute command; and intuitive certain- knowing the danger of his situation on that account, he resolved ty; it is having to abstain from flesh in his food, and to drink nothing stronger witness in than water during the voyage, that by abstemiousness he might subdue every improper emotion. Upon his setting sail, the sight c. of a certain point of land was the signal for his beginning a rule which he was enabled to keep. the ourselves." Fuller. e Rev. E. Pritchett. A. viii. 12. 13, 14. but.. reproved, either by words, or by the com- light parison of your good deeds. are. light,a by the light of a Jo. iii. 20, 21. Christian living. for .. light, Gk., for everything wh. is made b Alford. manifest is light; i.e., these evil deeds are brought into the light. c Is. lx. 1; Ep. ii. saith, substantially but not verbally. awake, Gk., up! Christ 4, 5; Jo. v. 40; ..light, shall shine upon thee. An appeal.-I. What is the sinner's state? Asleep! II. Howd H. T. Miller. did he become so? 1. A bad constitution; 2. Bad training; 3. Bad conduct. III. How is he kept so? The devil rocks his cradle. IV. How may his activities be described? As dreaming. V. Will he ever awake? Yes, either through conviction or condemnation. VI. What is the Gospel call? Awake!d "Here the difficulty of a dead man rising, and the summons to him to rise, are brought into juxtaposition, as if at once to silence our reasonings, and to compel us to cast ourselves on the life-giving power of Christ." Shirley. "There are two sorts of secure sinners; those who vaunt it in the confidence of their own righteousness; and are Refusing the light. I once happened to be on a visit to a great castle situate on the top of a hill. There was a steep cliff, at the bottom of which was rapid river. Late one night there was a woman anxious to get home from that castle in the midst of a thunder-storm. The night was blackness itself; the woman was asked to stop till the storm was over, but she declined; next they begged her to take a lantern, that she might be able to keep upon the road from the castle to her home. She said she did not require a lantern, but could do very well without one. She went. Perhaps she was frightened by the storm-I know not the cause -but in the midst of the darkness she wandered from the path and fell over the cliff. The next day that swollen river washed those who to the shore the poor lifeless body of this foolish woman! How secure through an insensibility many foolish ones are there who, when the light is offered them, of their Own only say, "I am not afraid; I fear not my end!" and how many wickedness."have perished because they have refused the light of God's truth, Bp. Hopkins. which would have guided them on the road to heaven.e 15, 16. see, take heed. circumspectly, i.e., exactly, with strictness. fools, unwise, thoughtless. redeeming .. time," buying up for yourselves the opportunity. evil, the times are sinful, furnishing few opportunities of being or doing good. The redemption of time.-I. Why time should be redeemed: 1. It is the most choice and precious thing in the world; 2. When all sides. L. cironce passed, it never returns; 3. It must be one day accounted cum, for; 4. The shortness and uncertainty of human life; 5. Because look. of the work we have to do, and the difficulty of doing it; 6. Be-b Beza. cause we have already lost so large a proportion of the time c Pr.xvii. 24; Ecc. allowed us. II. How it may be redeemed: 1. Observe a method in the distribution of your time; 2. Be moderate in your recreations; 3. Cut off, as much as may be, unnecessary visits; 4. Examine, every evening, how you have spent the day. a e Bp. Villiers. opportuni ties a Pr. iv. 23-27; 1 Th. v. 22. Circumspect, looking around on about; specio, spectum, to ii. 14. d Ec. ix. 10; Jo. gustine, clxvii. walk as warily in would do Redeeming the time.-There was once a young shoemaker, who became so much interested in politics, that his shop was filled with loungers, talking, and discussing, and disputing about one thing and another, from morning till night; and he found it often necessary to work till midnight, to make up for the hours lost in talk during the day. One night, after his shutters were closed, and he was busy on his bench, a boy passing along, put his mouth to the key-hole, and mischievously piped out, "Shoemaker, shoemaker, work by night, and run about by day." "Had ton. a pistol been fired off at my ear," he said, "I could not have "Nothing lies on been more startled. I dropped my work, saying to myself, True, our hands with true; but you never shall have that to say of me again.' I never forgot it. To me it was the voice of God, and it has been a word Wretched and sullied and bemired." Leigh such uneasiness & 8 time. thoughtless crea in season throughout my life. I learned from it not to leave till tures! In the to-morrow the work of to-day, or to be idle when I ought to be only place where covetousness working. From that time I turned over a new leaf." This were a virtue, we shoemaker was Samuel Drew, who subsequently wrote on the turn prodigals." Immortality and Immateriality of the Soul. -Addison. be filled with the Spirit a Col. iv. 5; i. 9, 10; Ro. xii. 2; 1 Th. v. 18; Ma. XXV. 1, 2; 1 Ch. xii. 32. 17, 18. wherefore, for this cause: ref. back to 15: i.e., bec. ye ought so to walk. unwise, fools, senseless. be.. wine, a case of departure fr. strict walking. wherein, i.e., in wh. practice. excess, profligacy, dissoluteness. filled, in opp. to "be drunk." The evil time.-A time of-I. Ignorance respecting Divine 6 Pr. xx. 1; xxiii. things. II. The dominion of disorderly lusts. III. Ecclesiastical 29, 30; Is. v. 22; lukewarmness. IV. Restless excitement.-Dr. Brandt. Lu. xxi. 34. c"Not evolve, but is not in God's Leaving off an evil habit by degrees.-Webb, the noted pedesEv Tμebvσkcoba trian, who was remarkable for vigour both of body and mind, ov-the crime lived wholly upon water for his drink. He was one day recomgift, but in the mending his regimen to one of his friends who loved wine, and abuse of it; and urged him with great earnestness to quit a course of luxury by the very arrange- which his health and his intellect would be equally destroyed. ment of the sen- The gentleman appeared convinced, and told him, "that he would conform to his counsel, and though he could not change his course of living at once, he would leave off strong liquor by degrees." By degrees!" said the other with indignation, "if you should unhappily fall into the fire, would you caution your servants to pull you out by degrees?" tence, besides the spirit of it, implies the lawful use of wine." Alford. d Lu. xi. 13; Ac. xi. 24. singing Ac. xvi. 25. 19-21. yourselves,a Gk., one another: social meetings: religious worship. psalms, either the Pss. of the O. T.; or a sac. song similar to them in character.d hymns, Christian songs of praise. and.. songs, including pss. and hymns. singing Lord, the heart moving devoutly with the voice. giving Pliny the thanks, all things work together for God. unto.. Christ, Younger, born A.D. 61 (ab. the gifts to be regarded in relation to God, the source; the Father, time this Ep. was the relation; Christ, the procuring cause. submitting, etc., written) bec.gov. not striving for precedence, or mastery. in.. God, all, and A.D. 106. He jour- thus, obeying God. of Bithynia in wont to meet to neyed thither Nature and office of sacred music.-I. The design of public through Ephe- worship may be learned from the word worship itself: 1. There sus, and next yr., is in the constitution of our nature a necessity for the expression writing to the Emp. Trajan ab. of emotion; 2. Audible worship is enjoined; 3. We have Divine the Christians, he example-Jesus prayed audibly-and sang with His disciples at says: "They were the Last Supper; 4. There is Apostolic example; 5. We have the gether on a stated example of the early Church, and of the universal Church to this day bef. it was day; 6. Without audible prayer and praise there can be no social light, and sing worship. II. What part does music perform in this worship? among themselves alternately III. Social worship is the expression to God of common affections a hymn to Christ, by united worshippers, and the utterance of feeling one by as a God, etc."- another." See Lardner, vii. 23. c Olshausen, Steir. d Meyer. Influence of singing, etc.-We have all heard of the influence of national and party songs, in keeping alive patriotic sentiment and the spirit of partizanship. This may be ill. by the effect of Dibdin's sea-songs in stimulating our sailors; of Jacobite songs; e Ps. xxxiv. 1; Is. of the national songs of var. sensitive peoples, notably the Swiss Ixiii. 7; Col. iii. and French. It was in recognition of this fact that Andrew 17; He. xiii. 15; see Serm. by Bar- Fletcher, of Saltoun (A.D. 1653-1716), said, in a letter to the row, viii., ix. vol. i. | Marquis of Montrose, "I knew a very wise man that believed that, if a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation." Hence, although P.'s precept was primarily directed to the praise and worship of God; there can be no doubt that, at a time when books and preachers were scarce, and persecution was rife, the early hys. of the Church would aid greatly in preserving some knowledge of and diffusing Christian doctrine; as well as in maintaining the spirit of the Christian party. a Col. iii. 18; 1 22-24. submit," be subject. to.. husbands, a legitimate duties of and exclusive relation. Lord, i.e., Christ. for.. wives Church, the husband's will (but he must live in the fear of God) to be final in the family, as Christ's in the Church. saviour, to whom both husband and wife must look for salvation. therefore.. Christ, finding the truest liberty and happiness in obedience. everything, qualified and explained by what follows. Does 1. In Duties enjoined upon the wife.-I. Subjection. Look at-1. The creation-woman was made after, out of, and for, man. 2. The fall-the woman occasioned it. 3. The history of woman. not everything point to her subordination? II. Reverence. words-speaking of, to, or before her husband. 2. In actions. III. Meekness. IV. Modesty-not adorning herself with dress. V. Economy and order in household management-freedom from extravagance. VI. Attention to all that concerns the welfare and comfort of the children, if there be any. For this purpose she must be a keeper at home.< 66 Pe. iii. 1, 2; Tit. ii. 4, 5; 1 Co. xiv. 34; Ge. iii. 16. b 1 Co. xi. 3; Col. i. 18. J. A. James. "I pity from my the unheart has a bad wife. happy man who She is shackles on his feet, a palsy to his hands, a burden on his shoulder, smoke to his eyes, his vinegar to teeth, a thorn to his side, a dagger to his heart."Osborne. A faithful wife. As I was conversing with a pious old man, I inquired what were the means of his conversion. For a moment he paused: I perceived had touched a tender string. Tears gushed from his eyes, while, with deep emotion, he replied, My wife was brought to God some years before myself. I persecuted d N. Y. Observer. and abused her because of her religion. She, however, returned nothing but kindness, constantly manifesting an anxiety to promote my comfort and happiness; and it was her amiable conduct, when suffering ill-treatment from me, that first sent the arrows of conviction to my soul." d husbands a Col. iii. 19; 1 See 25-28. love,a love will rule kindly. Christian love will duties of impose no unrighteous laws (P. is writing to Christian husbands and wives). even.. it, the husband's love to be deep, true, Pe. iii. 7. tender, self-denying, special. that, etc., as Christ sought the Serm. by Donne, highest good of the Ch., so the husband should promote the future lxxxv. as well as the present welfare of his wife. that.. himself, etc., b Ep. v. 2; Ga. as Christ will have rejoicing in the perfection and glory of His Ch., . 20; 1 Ti. ii. as the end for wh. He laboured and suffered, so the husband, who has laboured to promote his wife's salvation, will have joy. so.. bodies, providing for food, clothing, health, etc. he..himself, this follows fr. the nature of the marriage contract, fr. identity of interests, &c. Ultimate perfection of the Church.-There are four separate aspects under which the Church is set forward in this passage. I. As the peculiar object of the Saviour's affection,-" Christ loved the Church." This love was-1. Special; 2. Endearing. II. As the subject of a precious and priceless redemption. Christ gave Himself for it by-1. The obedience He rendered; 2. The sufferings He bore; 3. The accursed death which He died. III. In connection 5,6. c Col. i. 21, 22; Jude 24, 25; Re. xxi. 10, 11; Song iv. 7. "The Church is called the fulness of Christ.' ourable it would be to Christ were He to want any of His fulness! O, how dishon And how could He be complete |
