SOBER, Sobriety: This is commonly taken for the Vertue opposite to Intemperance. Sometimes also it is put for Moderation, Modesty, and that Vertue that knows how to chuse the Mean or Mediocrity in Rom. xii. 3.every thing. For I say, through the Grace given unto me, to every Man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every Man the Measure of Faith. St. Paul would have 1 Tim. ii. 9.Women dress themselves in modest Apparel, with Shame-facedness and Sobriety, as Decency requires. Also the Word Sobriety is taken for Vigilance:1 A Bishop must be vigilant, sober. Elsewhere it is taken for Prudent, Moderate:2 For God has not given us the Spirit of Fear; but of Power, and of Love, and of a sound Mind, or Sobriety. When Antiochus Epiphanes was told of the Murther of the High-priest Onias, he was so moved at it, that he shed Tears; remembring the Wisdom and the Moderation of that Great Man: Because of 2 Macc. iv. 37.the sober and modest Behaviour of him that was dead.
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