SERMOXS. 325 



some* have thought, gnostic impurity to be re- 

 sisted, f unruly, and vain talkers, and deceivers,;]: 

 subverters of whole houses ; teachers of things 

 they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake ;§ men that 

 profess to know God, but in works deny him, 

 being abominable, disobedient, and to every good 

 work reprobate. So that, for aught we see, they 

 might well enough deserve the black character 

 the Proverb brands them with, amongst the T^i» 

 KocTT-uTcc xccKis-oc, thc thrcc || vcry infamous nations 

 that began with C, for such a superfluity of 

 naughtiness. St. Paul here designs a propor- 

 tionate corrective, and sends Titus and his elders 

 amongst them, to bring them into better order, 

 by a three-fold instrument, Vita, Doctrina, Cen- 

 sura ; all in this epistle, and in this chapter. 



1. Vita first, by the example of his holy life, 

 ^In all things showing thyself Tuttoi/ kocxZv f^yuv, a 

 pattern of good works. For, as St. Ambrose** 

 excellently, I?i Episcopo vita formatur omnium; the 

 life of the prelate is, as it were, a form, or mould, 

 in which the conversation of others is shaped and 

 modelled: or, as ft Isidore Pelusiot conceits it, 

 like a seal well cut, which stamps the common 

 Christians under his care, as wax, with the like 

 impressions. And therefore St. Paul, who well 



* Dr. H. Hammond in c. 1. 9. 16. f V. 10, + ^'- 1 J- 



§ V. 16. II Ka-ETTT-a^oxs?, Kg?T£?, KiXtxs;. ^ Ch, ii» 7. 



** Lib. 10. Epist. 82. ad Eccles. Vercel. 



ft Lib. 1. Epist. 319. El rv'CToq U^tvf t5 €i:oif4./ni, »x«.y«n. ?«?» 



Y 3 



