xcitement and
fellowship which comes of intoxicating drink. Other forms of mental
intoxication were provided at Ephesus by a sensual religious
enthusiasm. St. Paul would have the Christians confront such lawless
excitement not merely with the spectacle of discipline and
self-restraint, but also with a counter-enthusiasm, purer but not less
strong. Christians are to find an {206} excitement as strong as
drunkenness, and a fellowship as warm as is to be found in any band of
revellers, in deep draughts of the wine of the Holy Ghost. 'Be not
drunken with wine wherein is riot, but be filled with the Spirit,
speaking one to another in psalms[1] and hymns and spiritual songs
(such as the one he has just quoted), singing and making melody with
your hearts to the Lord.'

Lastly, there is to be a spirit of submission, mutual accommodation and
order. The disciples are to 'subject themselves one to another in the
fear of Christ.' They are, as St. Peter says[2], to be girt each one
with the apron of service to minister to one another's needs, knowing
their responsibility to Christ, and how He looks for obedience and
service in all men. Enthusiasm is apt to be lawless, but the
enthusiasm of the Christians is to be the enthusiasm of an organized
body. It was said of old of the men of Issachar, who gathered round
the standard of David[3], that they had 'understanding of the times to
know what Israel ought {207} to do; the heads of them were two hundred,
and all their brethren were at their commandment.' A similar spirit of
practical religious understanding, with a similar readiness to obey
their leaders, is what St. Paul desires in the new Israel to do the
work of the true Son of David.

A temper then of clear positive understanding as to what God wills to
be done in the immediate future, fired by an ardent and sociable
enthusiasm, and associated with a disinterested readiness to obey one
another in practical affairs--this is what St. Paul means by 'looking
carefully how we walk'; and it is worth while noticing that St. Paul's
conception of carefulness leads in a direction quite opposed to mere
timorous and negative prudence. Exhortations not to be rash, but to
'look before you leap,' are very commonly given by the wise. But it
does not seem to be generally remembered that, at least in the service
of God, most men err by excess not of rashness but of caution, and
'look' so long that they never 'leap.' Truly if rashness ha