The Preacher's Complete Homiletic Commentary of the Books of the Bible: Volume 29 (of 32) The Preacher's Complete Homiletic Commentary of the Epistles of St. Paul the Apostle: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and I-II Thessalonians (part 1 of 5)

The Preacher's Complete Homiletic Commentary of the Books of the Bible: Volume 29 (of 32) The Preacher's Complete Homiletic Commentary of the Epistles of St. Paul the Apostle: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and I-II Thessalonians

+Transcriber's Notes+

- This book uses SMALL CAPS occasionally throughout. You might need to experiment with browsers and fonts to find a combination that shows SMALL CAPS correctly.

- The text of the series shifts among font sizes and between one and two column presentations, in an effort to maximize the amount of text that can appear on the printed page. This transcription will dispense with that formatting because costs are so much lower in the digital world.

- This book is a collection of men's opinions on six epistles of Apostle Paul: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, First Thessalonians, and Second Thessalonians, in the Bible, the inspired Word of God. The book was printed toward the end of the 19th century. Some of the comments might be considered culturally insensitive today.

+THE PREACHER'S+

+COMPLETE HOMILETIC+

+COMMENTARY+

+ON THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE+

+WITH CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES, INDEXES, ETC., BY VARIOUS AUTHORS+

+THE OLD TESTAMENT Volumes 1-21+

+THE NEW TESTAMENT Volumes 22-32+

VOLUME 29

+The Preacher's Complete Homiletic+

COMMENTARY

ON THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE

+Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians,+ AND +I.-II. Thessalonians+

By the REV. GEORGE BARLOW

Author of the Commentaries on Kings, Psalms (CXXI.--CXXX.), Lamentations, Ezekiel, Timothy, Titus, and Philemon

[LOGO]

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY NEW YORK

THE

+PREACHER'S HOMILETICAL COMMENTARY.+

* * * * * * * *

+GALATIANS.+

+INTRODUCTION.+

+Character of the Galatians.+--These people were of Celtic descent. They were the relics of a Gaulish invasion which swept over South-eastern Europe in the early part of the third century before Christ and poured into Asia Minor. Here the Celtic tribes maintained themselves in independence under their native princes, until a hundred years later they were subdued by the Romans. Their country now formed a province of the empire. They had retained much of their ancient language and manners; at the same time, they readily acquired Greek culture, and were superior to their neighbours in intelligence. Jews had settled among them in considerable numbers and had prepared the way of the Gospel; it was through their influence that the Judaistic agitation took so strong a hold of the Galatian Churches. The epistle implies that its readers generally were acquainted with the Old Testament and with Hebrew history, and that they took a lively interest in the affairs of the Churches of Jerusalem and Antioch. None of the New Testament Churches possesses a more strongly marked character. They exhibit the well-known traits of the Celtic nature. They were generous, impulsive, vehement in feeling and language; but vain, fickle, and quarrelsome. Cæsar wrote: "The infirmity of the Gauls is that they are fickle in their resolves, fond of change, and not to be trusted"; and by Thierry they are characterised thus: "Frank, impetuous, impressible, eminently intelligent, but at the same time extremely changeable, inconstant, fond of show, perpetually quarrelling, the fruit of excessive vanity." Eight of the fifteen works of the flesh enumerated in chap. v. 20, 21 are sins of strife. They could hardly be restrained from "biting and devouring one another" (ch. v. 15). Like their kinsmen at this time in the west of Europe, they were prone to revellings and drunkenness. They had probably a natural bent towards a scenic and ritualistic type of religion, which made the spirituality of the Gospel pall upon their taste and gave to the teaching of the Judaisers its fatal bewitchment.

+The authorship of the epistle.+--That it was written by St. Paul has never been seriously doubted. His authorship is upheld by the unanimous testimony of the ancient Church. Allusions and indirect citations are found in the writings of the apostolic Fathers--Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp, and Justin Martyr, or whoever wrote the _Oratio ad Græcos. The internal evidence of Pauline authorship is conclusive by allusions to the history and by the self-portrayal of the writer's character. No forger ever made an imitation in which were so many secret threads of similarity, which bore such a stamp of originality, or in which the character, the passion, the mode of thought and reasoning, were so naturally represented. The apostle's mental characteristics are indelibly impressed on the letter.

+The time of writing the epistle.+--Lightfoot, in disagreement from most earlier interpreters, maintained that this epistle was written between 2 Corinthians and Romans--that is, during the latter part of Paul's journey in Macedonia, or the earlier part of his sojourn at Corinth, towards the close of the year 57 or 58 A.D. Dr. Beet comes to the same conclusion. There is nothing in the letter itself to fix definitely either the place or time of its composition. From chap. i. 9, iv. 13, v. 3 we gather that St. Paul had now been in Galatia twice; the epistle was therefore subsequent to the journey which he took across Asia Minor in setting out on his third missionary tour (Acts xviii. 22--xix. 1). All students are agreed that it belongs to the period of the legalist controversy and to the second group of the epistles. On every account one is inclined to refer the letter to the last rather than to an earlier period of the third missionary tour. Comparison with the other epistles of the group raises this probability almost to a certainty and enables us to fix the date and occasion of this letter with confidence.

+The purpose and analysis of the epistle.+--It is intensely polemical. It is a controversial pamphlet rather than an ordinary letter. The matter of dispute is twofold: 1. Paul's apostleship; and 2. The nature of the Gospel and the sufficiency of faith in Christ for full salvation. This gives the order of the first two and main parts of the epistle. A third section is added of a moral and hortatory nature. The contents of the epistle may be thus analysed:--

I. INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS.--1. The apostolic salutation (ch. i. 1-5). 2. The Galatians' defection (ch. i. 6-10).

II. PERSONAL APOLOGIA: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL RETROSPECT.--The apostle's teaching derived from God and not man, as proved by the circumstances of: 1. His education (ch. i. 13, 14). 2. His conversion (ch. i. 15-17). 3. His intercourse with the other apostles (ch. i. 18-24, ii. 1-10). 4. His conduct in the controversy with Peter at Antioch (ch. ii. 11-14). The subject of which controversy was the supersession of the law by Christ (ch. ii. 15-21).

III. DOGMATIC APOLOGIA: INFERIORITY OF JUDAISM, OR LEGAL CHRISTIANITY, TO THE DOCTRINE OF FAITH.--1. The Galatians bewitched into retrogression from a spiritual system into a carnal system (ch. iii. 1-5). 2. Abraham himself a witness to the efficacy of faith (ch. iii. 6-9). 3. Faith in Christ alone removes the curse which the law entails (ch. iii. 10-14). 4. The validity of the promise unaffected by the law (ch. iii. 15-18). 5. Special pædagogic function of the law (ch. iii. 19-29). 6. The law a state of tutelage (ch. iv. 1-7). 7. Meanness and barrenness of mere ritualism (ch. iv. 8-11). 8. The past zeal of the Galatians contrasted with their present coldness (ch. iv. 12-20). 9. The allegory of Isaac and Ishmael (ch. iv. 21-31).

IV. HORTATORY APPLICATION OF THE FOREGOING.--1. Christian liberty excludes Judaism (ch. v. 1-6). 2. The Judaising intruders (ch. v. 7-12). 3. Liberty not licence, but love (ch. v. 13-15). 4. The works of the flesh and of the Spirit (ch. v. 16-26). 5. The duty of sympathy (vi. 1-5). 6. The duty of liberality (ch. vi. 6-10).

V. AUTOGRAPH CONCLUSION.--1. The Judaisers' motive (ch. vi. 12, 13). 2. The apostle's motive (ch. vi. 14, 15). 3. His parting benediction and claim to be freed from further annoyance (ch. vi. 16-18). (Findlay and Sanday.)

+CHAPTER I.+

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.

Ver. 1. +Paul, an apostle.+--He puts his own name and apostleship prominent, because his apostolic commission needs to be vindicated against deniers of it. +Not of,+ or from, +men, but by,+ or from, +Jesus Christ and God the Father.+ The Divine source of his apostleship is emphatically stated, as also the infallible authority for the Gospel he taught.

Ver. 6. +I marvel that ye are so soon removed.+--So quickly removed; not so soon after your conversion, or soon after I left you, but so soon after the temptation came; so readily and with such little persuasion (cf. ch. v. 7-9). It is the fickleness of the Galatians the apostle deplores. An early backsliding, such as the contrary view assumes, would not have been matter of so great wonder as if it had taken place later.

Vers. 8, 9. +Any other gospel.+--The apostle is here asserting the oneness, the integrity of his Gospel. It will not brook a rival. It will not suffer any foreign admixture. +Let him be accursed.+--Devoted to the punishment his audacity merits. In its spiritual application the word denotes the state of one who is alienated from God by sin.

Ver. 11. +Not after man.+--Not according to man; not influenced by mere human considerations, as it would be if it were of human origin.

Ver. 12. +But by the revelation of Jesus Christ.+--Probably this took place during the three years, in part of which the apostle sojourned in Arabia (vers. 17, 18), in the vicinity of the scene of the giving of the law; a fit place for such a revelation of the Gospel of grace which supersedes the ceremonial law. Though he had received no instruction from the apostles, but from the Holy Ghost, yet when he met them his Gospel exactly agreed with theirs.

Ver. 14. +Exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.+--St. Paul seems to have belonged to the extreme party of the Pharisees (Acts xxii. 3, xxiii. 7, xxvi. 5; Phil. iii. 5, 6), whose pride it was to call themselves "zealots of the law, zealots of God." A portion of these extreme partisans, forming into a separate sect under Judas of Galilee, took the name of zealots par excellence, and distinguished themselves by their furious opposition to the Romans.

Ver. 16. +To reveal His Son in me that I might preach Him.+--The revealing of His Son by me to the Gentiles was impossible, unless He had first revealed His Son in me; at first on my conversion, but especially at the subsequent revelation from Jesus Christ (ver. 12), whereby I learnt the Gospel's independence of the Mosaic law.

Ver. 24. +They glorified God in me.+--He does not say, adds Chrysostom, they marvelled at me, they praised me, they were struck with admiration of me, but he attributes all to grace. They glorified God in me. How different, he implies to the Galatians, their spirit from yours.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 1-5.

Apostolic Credentials.

+I. That apostolic credentials claim distinctively Divine authority.+--"Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father" (ver. 1). It must have been a painful moment when Paul first became aware that spurious teachers questioned the validity of his apostolic call, and a still more painful disappointment when he discovered his Galatian converts so readily gave credence to those who maligned him. His fears were roused, not so much for his personal reputation as for the injury to the religious life of his converts if they cherished suspicions as to the Divine character of the truth they had been taught. The mischief must be dealt with at once. He boldly and emphatically declared that his commission was direct from God and bore the same Divine stamp as that of the other apostles, whose authority even the false teachers had not the temerity to deny. It has been ever the rôle of the subtle adversary of man to strive to eliminate the Divine element from the truth and drag it down to a common human level. Truth then loses its stability, begins to move in a flux of confused human opinions, and the soul is plunged into bewilderment and doubt. Whatever tends to vitiate the truth brings peril to the peace and upward progress of the soul. The power of the teacher increases with an ever-deepening conviction of the Divine authority of his message.

+II. That apostolic credentials recognise the oneness of the Christian brotherhood.+--"And all the brethren which are with me" (ver. 2). Here is the indication that St. Paul was not unduly solicitous about his personal reputation. While insisting upon the unquestioned Divine source of his apostleship, he does not arrogate a haughty superiority over his brethren. He is one with them in Christ, in the belief of and fidelity to the truth, in the arduous labours of pioneer work, in building up and consolidating the Church, and unites them with himself in his Christian greeting. It is the sublime aim of the Gospel to promote universal brotherhood by bringing men into spiritual union with Christ, the Elder Brother. Christ is the unifying force of redeemed humanity. Ecclesiastical ranks are largely human expedients, necessary for maintaining order and discipline. The great Head of the Church has promulgated the unchallengeable law of religious equality: "One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren" (Matt. xxiii. 8).

+III. That apostolic credentials justify the use of a sublime and comprehensive greeting.+--"Grace be to you and peace," etc. (ver. 3). A greeting like this from some lips would be fulsome, or at the best mere exaggerated politeness. But coming from one who was in constant communion with the Source of the blessings desired, and from which Source he had received his call to the apostleship, it is at once dignified, large-hearted, and genuine. Grace and peace are inclusive of the best blessings Heaven can bestow or man receive. They are Divine in their origin and nature--"from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ." Grace is the spontaneous outflow of Divine love in the redemption of the race and is the more precious because unmerited; and peace is the conscious experience of that grace in the believing soul--peace from outward dissension and inward fret, peace of conscience, peace with God and man. The blessings the apostle desires God is ever eager to bestow. "Filling up our time with and for God is the way," said David Brainerd, "to rise up and lie down in peace. I longed that my life might be filled up with fervency and activity in the things of God. Oh, the peace, composure, and God-like serenity of such a frame! Heaven must differ from this only in degree, not in kind."

+IV. That apostolic credentials are evident in the clear statement of the great principles of the Gospel salvation.+--"Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us," etc. (vers. 4, 5). In these words, we have a suggestive epitome of the whole Gospel. Man is delivered from sin and from the present evil age by the self-sacrifice of Jesus; and this method is "according to the will of God," and brings unceasing glory to His name. This is the Gospel in a nutshell and involves all the grand principles of redemption the apostle was commissioned to declare, and which he develops more clearly in the course of this epistle. Deliverance is Divinely provided, irrespective of human effort or merit. The Galatians in seeking to return to legal bondage ignored the root principles of the Gospel and imperilled their salvation. The apostle vindicated the credentials of his high office by faithful remonstrance and plain authoritative statement of the truth Divinely revealed to him. It is a mark of high intellectual power to make the greatest truths clear to the humblest mind. Christian teaching has all the more weight when associated with irreproachable moral character.

+Lessons.+--1. God should be gratefully recognised as the Giver of all good. 2. The special endowments of one are for the benefit of all. 3. It is a solemn responsibility to be entrusted with the preaching of the Gospel.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Ver. 1. The Power of the Gospel.--1. Free grace doth often light upon the most unworthy, not only by giving salvation to themselves, but making them instrumental for the kingdom of Christ, and bringing about the salvation of others. 2. Faithful and called ministers of Christ are to be so far from cowardly ceding, or heartless fainting under the bold, bitter, and unjust aspersions of those who question their calling, and thereby weaken their authority and render the truth of their doctrine doubtsome, that they ought the more to avow their calling against all who question it. 3. The office of an apostle had this peculiar to itself, that the designation was not mediately by the election and suffrages of men, as in the calling of ordinary office-bearers, but immediately from God, so that the function of the apostles ceased with them and did not pass by succession to a pope or any other. 4. The false apostles, that they might shake the truth preached by Paul and establish their own contrary error, alleged that he was no lawful apostle. This Paul refutes by showing he was called by Christ after He was raised from the dead and had taken possession of His kingdom, so that his calling had at least no less dignity and glory in it than if he had been called by Christ when He was on earth.--Fergusson.

Ver. 2. The Church a Witness.--1. The more they are whom God maketh use of to hold out the beauty of truth that we may embrace and follow it, or the deformity and danger of error that we may fly from and hate it, we are the more to take heed how we reject or embrace what is pressed upon us, as there will be the more to bear witness of our guilt and subscribe to the equity of God's judgment if we obey not. 2. We are not so to stumble at the many sinful failings which may be in Churches, as to unchurch them, by denying them to be a Church, or to separate from them, if their error be not contrary to fundamental truths, or if they err from human frailty, and not obstinately and avowedly.--Ibid.

Ver. 3. Christian Salutation.--1. God's gracious favour and goodwill is to be sought by us in the first place, whether for ourselves or others, that being a discriminating mercy betwixt the godly and the wicked. 2. Peace is to be sought after grace, and not to be expected before it. Peace without grace is no peace. There can be no peace with God or His creatures, nor sanctified prosperity, except through Jesus Christ we lay hold on God's favour and grace. 3. Grace and peace we cannot acquire by our own industry or pains. They come from God, are to be sought from Him, and His blessing is more to be depended on than our own wisdom or diligence. 4. They to whom grace and peace belong are such as acknowledge Christ to be their Lord to command and rule them, and yield subjection to Him in their heart and life.--Ibid.

Grace and Peace.

I. +Grace+ is not any gift in man but is God's and in God. It signifies His gracious favour and goodwill, whereby He is well pleased with us in Christ.

II. +Peace+ is a gift not in God, but in us. 1. Peace of conscience--a quietness and tranquillity of mind arising from a sense of reconciliation with God. 2. Peace with the creatures--with angels, with the godly, with our enemies. 3. Prosperity and good success.

III. Whereas Paul begins his prayer with grace we learn that +grace in God is the cause of all good things in us.+

IV. The chief things to be sought after are +the favour of God in Christ and the peace of a good conscience.+

V. As grace and peace are joined we learn that +peace without grace is no peace.+--Perkins.

Vers. 4, 5. The Unselfishness of Jesus.

+I. Prompting self-surrender.+--"Who gave Himself."

+II. His self-surrender was an unmerited and unlooked-for expiation.+--"For our sins."

+III. Creates the hope and possibility of immediate salvation.+--"That He might deliver us from this present evil world."

+IV. Was a suggestive revelation of the Divine character.+--"According to the will of God and our Father."

+V. Should evoke the spirit of grateful praise.+--"To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."

Ver. 4. Christ our Sacrifice.

I. Whereas Christ is the giver of Himself it follows that +His death and sacrifice were voluntary.+

II. Therefore, +all merit and satisfaction for sin are reduced to the person of Christ,+ and there are no human satisfactions for sin, nor meritorious works done by us.

III. +Christ our sacrifice works love in us.+--We must in mind and meditation come to the cross of Christ. 1. The consideration of His endless pains for our sins must breed in us a godly sorrow. If He sorrowed for them, much more must we. 2. This knowledge is the beginning of amendment of life. 3. Is the foundation of comfort in them that truly turn to Christ.

IV. +Christ gave Himself that He might deliver us from this evil world.+--1. We must be grieved at the wickedness of the world. 2. We must not fashion ourselves to the wicked lives of the men of this world. 3. Seeing we are taken out of this world, our dwelling must be in heaven.--Perkins.

The Gift of Christ.

I. +The gift.+--"He gave Himself." Regard Christ: 1. As the object of every prophecy. 2. The substance of every type and shadow. 3. The subject of every promise. 4. He was qualified for the work of redemption. Divine, human, spotless.

II. +Christ's marvellous act.+--"He gave Himself for our sins." 1. To what He gave Himself. To all the privations and sorrows of human life, to obscurity and indigence, to scorn and infamy, to pain and anguish, to an ignominious and painful death. 2. The purpose for which He gave Himself. To deliver us from sin's curse, defilement, dominion, and from the effects of sin in this world and in eternity.

III. +The design of Christ's offering.+--"That He might deliver us from the present evil world." From its evil practices, its spirit, from attachment to it, and from the condemnation to which it will be subjected.

IV. +Christ's offering was according to the will of God.+--1. It was the will of God we should be saved. 2. Christ was the appointed agent. 3. The sacrifice of Christ was voluntary.--Helps.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 6-9.

The One Gospel.

+I. Is an introduction into the grace of Christ.+--"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ" (ver. 6). The one true Gospel is the emphatic call of God to man to participate and revel in the grace of Christ as the element and the only means by which his salvation can be secured. The grace of Christ, with its persuasive gentleness and vast redemptive resources, is in vivid contrast to the grim formalism and impossible demands of the yoke of bondage into which the Galatians were being so foolishly seduced. There is only one Gospel that can introduce the soul into the midst of saving influences and bring it into contact with the living Christ. This one fact differentiates the Gospel from all mere human methods and gives it a unique character as the only remedial agency in dealing with human sin and sorrow.

+II. The perversion of the one Gospel is not a gospel.+--"Unto another gospel which is not another" (vers. 6, 7).

1. It is a caricature of the true Gospel.--"And would pervert the gospel of Christ" (ver. 7). The perversion is not in the one Gospel, which is impossible of perversion (for truth is an incorruptible unity), but in the mind of the false teacher. He distorts and misrepresents the true Gospel by importing into it his own corrupt philosophy, as the wolf did with Baron Munchausen's horse. Beginning at the tail, it ate its way into the body of the horse, until the baron drove the wolf home harnessed in the skin of the horse. The Gospel has suffered more from the subtle infusion of human errors than from the open opposition of its most violent enemies.

2. It occasions distractions of mind.--"There be some that trouble you" (ver. 7). A perverted gospel works the greatest havoc among young converts. They are assailed before they reach the stage of matured stability. Their half-formed conceptions of truth are confused with specious ideas, attractive by their novelty, and mischief is wrought which in many cases is a lifelong injury. The spirit that aims at polluting a young beginner in the way of righteousness is worse than reckless; it is diabolical.

+III. The propagator of a perverted gospel incurs an awful malediction.+--"But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel, . . . let him be accursed" (vers. 8, 9). Let him be devoted to destruction, as one hateful to God and an enemy of the truth. The word denotes the condition of one alienated from God by persistent sin. He not only rejects the truth himself, but deliberately plots the ruin of others. He reaps the fruit of his own sowing. It is impossible to do wrong without suffering. The greater the wrong-doing, the more signal is the consequent punishment. All perversions of truth are fruitful in moral disasters. It is a mad, suicidal act for man to fight against God.

+Lessons.+--1. There can be but one true and infallible Gospel. 2. The best human method for moral reformation is but a caricature of the true. 3. The false teacher will not escape punishment.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 6, 7. Remonstrance with Revolters against the Gospel.

I. +The apostle reproves with meekness and tenderness of heart.+

II. +He frames his reproof with great wariness and circumspection.+--He says not, ye of yourselves do remove to another gospel, but ye are removed. He blames them but in part and lays the principal blame on others.

III. +The revolt was a departure from the calling to the grace of Christ.+--1. They were soon carried away. This shows the lightness and inconstancy of man's nature, especially in religion. The multitude of people are like wax and are fit to take the stamp and impression of any religion; and it is the law of the land that makes the most embrace the Gospel, and not conscience. 2. That we may constantly persevere in the profession of the true faith we must receive the Gospel simply for itself. 3. We must be renewed in the spirit of our minds and suffer no by-corners in our hearts. 4. We must not only be hearers but doers of the Word in the principal duties to be practised.

IV. The Galatians revolt to +another gospel, compounded of Christ and the works of the law.+--Here we see the curious niceness and daintiness of man's nature that cannot be content with the good things of God unless they be framed to our minds. If they please us for a time, they do not please us long, but we must have new things. The apostle shows that, though it be another gospel in the estimation of the false teachers, is not another, but a subversion of the Gospel of Christ. There is but one Gospel, one in number, and no more. There is but one way of salvation by Christ, whereby all are to be saved from the beginning of the world to the end.

V. +The apostle charges the authors of this revolt with two crimes.+--1. They trouble the Galatians, not only because they make divisions, but because they trouble their consciences settled in the Gospel of Christ. 2. They overthrow the Gospel of Christ. They did not reach a doctrine flat contrary. They maintained the Gospel in word and put an addition to it of their own out of the law--salvation by works. They perverted and turned upside-down the Gospel of Christ.--Perkins.

The Perversion of Truth--

+I. Supplants the Gospel with a valueless imitation.+--"Another gospel which is not another."

+II. Is contrary to the Divine purpose.+--"From Him that called you into the grace of Christ."

+III. Creates a gulf between the soul and God.+--"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him."

+IV. Unsettles the faith of new converts.+--"There be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ."

Ver. 6. Disappointed Hopes in Christian Work.--1. It is the duty of Christian ministers, not only to hold out the pure truth of the Gospel, but to defend it by convicting gainsayers and reproving solidly those who are carried away with contrary errors. 2. Ministers in all their reproofs are to use much wariness and circumspection, not omitting any circumstance which may justly extenuate the sin or furnish ground of hope of amendment. Hereby the bitter portion of a medicinal reproof is much sweetened, and the guilty patient allured to the more thorough receiving of it. 3. The most quick-sighted may be deceived and disappointed in their expectation of good things from some eminent professors, and so may readily fall short of their hope. 4. As the dangerous consequences which follow upon error ought to be presented unto people that they may fly from it, so there are some errors in doctrine which do no less separate from God than profanity of life doth, of which errors this is one--the maintaining of justification by works. 5. It is ordinary for seducers to usher in their errors by some excellent designations as of new lights, a more pure gospel way, and what not, as here they designate their error by the name of another gospel.--Fergusson.

Ver. 7. The Inviolable Unity of the Gospel.--1. There is but one Gospel, one in number and no more, and but one way to salvation, which is by faith. 2. The effect of error is to trouble the Church's peace; peace among themselves, the patrons of error being zealous of nothing so much as to gain many followers, to attain which they scruple not to make woeful rents and deplorable schisms; inward peace of conscience, while some are perplexed and anxious what to choose and refuse until they question all truth, and others to embrace error for truth and so ground their peace on an unsure foundation. 3. The doctrine which maintains that justification is partly by Christ and partly by the merit of good works is a perverting and total overturning of the Gospel, in so far as it contradicts the main scope of the Gospel, which is to exalt Christ as our complete Saviour, Mediator, and Ransom, and not in part only.--Fergusson.

Ver. 8. The Inviolability of Christianity.

I. +The import and construction of the Gospel cannot be vague and indeterminate.+--The character of the Gospel was alleged to be its truth. This was, to the sophists of that era, a strange and novel pretension. To require faith to a testimony only so far as conformable to fact, only so far as supported by evidence, appeared to them a startling affectation. In the fixed character we recognise the true perfection of the Gospel. It is the same through all ages, not changing to every touch and varying beneath every eye but unfolding the same features and producing the same effects. Unless there was this invariableness in the Christian system, if a fixed determination of its purport is impossible, we should be at a loss in which manner to follow the conduct and imbibe the spirit of the early Christians. Those lights and examples of the Church would only ensnare us into a mien and attitude ridiculous as profane. It would be the dwarf attempting to bare a giant's arm, a wayfaring man aspiring to a prophet's vision. The truth as it is in Jesus is contained in that Word which is the truth itself; there it is laid up as in a casket and hallowed as in a shrine. No change can pass upon it. It bears the character of its first perfection. Like the manna and the rod in the recess of the Ark, it is the incorruptible bread of heaven, it is the ever-living instrument of might, without an altered form or superseded virtue.

II. +Its Divine origin and authority cannot be controverted.+--The history of Saul of Tarsus has often been cited with happy success in confirmation of Christianity. 1. What must have been the strength and satisfaction of conviction entertained by the writer! The conviction has to do with facts. It pertains to no favourite theory, no abstract science, but occurrences which he had proved by sensible observation and perfect consciousness. Wonders had teemed around him; but his own transformation was the most signal wonder of all. Nothing without him could equal what he discerned within. 2. As we estimate the measure and force of his convictions, inquire what weight and credibility should be allowed them. Put his conduct to any rack, his design to any analysis, and then determine whether we are not safe where he is undaunted, whether we may not decide for that on which he perils all, whether the anathema which he dares pronounce does not throw around us the safeguard of a Divine benediction.

III. +Its efficacy cannot be denied.+--It was not called into operation until numberless expedients of man had been frustrated. Philosophy, rhetoric, art, were joined to superstitions, radicated into all habits and vices of mankind. The very ruins which survive the fall of polytheism--the frieze with its mythological tale, the column yet soaring with inimitable majesty, the statue breathing an air of divinity--recall the fascinations which it once might boast and of the auxiliaries it could command. Yet these were but the decorations of selfishness most indecently avowed, of licentiousness most brutally incontinent, of war the most wantonly bloody, of slavery the most barbarously oppressive. And Christianity subverted these foundations of iniquity; and yet so all-penetrating is its energy, that it did not so much smite them as that they sank away before it. It reaches the human will and renews the human heart. And a thousand blessings which may at first appear derived from an independent source are really poured forth from this.

IV. +The authority and force of the present dispensation of Divine truth cannot be superseded.+--It is final. In it He hath spoken whose voice shall be heard no more until it "shake not the earth only but also heaven." No other sensible manifestation can be given, the doctrine is not to be simplified, the ritual is not to be defined to any further extent, nothing more will be vouchsafed to augment its blessings or ratify its credentials. We possess the true light, the perfect gift, the brightest illumination, the costliest boon. Such a dispensation constituted to be co-existent with all future time, must resist every view which would impress a new form or foist a strange nature upon it.

V. +No circumstance or agency can endanger the existence and stability of the Christian revelation.+--When the security of the Gospel is to be most confidently predicted and most strongly ascertained, supernatural power is restrained--a curse encloses it round about, a "flaming sword turning every way guards this tree of life." It shall endure coevally with man. Feeble are our present thoughts, confused our perceptions; we see everything as from behind a cloud and in a disproportion. Our convictions are more like conjectures and our speculations dreams. But we shall soon emerge from this state of crude fancies and immature ideas. Worthy sentiments and feelings will fill up our souls. Each view shall be as a ray of light striking its object, and each song the very echo of its theme. Then shall we adequately understand why apostles kindled into indignation and shook with horror at the idea of "another gospel," and why even angels themselves must have been accursed had it been possible for them to have divulged it.--R. W. Hamilton.

A Supernatural Revelation.--There can be no doubt whatever as a matter of historic fact, that the apostle Paul claimed to have received direct revelation from heaven. He is so certain of that revelation that he warns the Galatians against being enticed by any apparent evidence to doubt it. It would be impossible to express a stronger, a more deliberate, and a more solemn conviction that he had received a supernatural communication of the will of God.--Dr. Wace, Bampton Lectures.

The Best Authority to be obeyed.--A dispute having arisen on some question of ecclesiastical discipline and ritual, King Oswi summoned in 664 a great council at Whitby. The one set of disputants appealed to the authority of Columba, the other to that of St. Peter. "You own," cried the puzzled king to Colman, "that Christ gave to Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven: has He given such power to Columba?" The bishop could but answer, "No." "Then I will obey the porter of heaven," said Oswi, "lest when I reach its gates he who has the keys in his keeping turn his back on me, and there be none to open."

Latitudinarianism.--Referring to Erasmus's temporising policy in the Reformation, Froude says: "The question of questions is, what all this latitudinarian philosophising, this cultivated epicurean gracefulness, would have come to if left to itself, or rather, what was the effect which it was inevitably producing? If you wish to remove an old building without bringing it in ruin about your ears, you must begin at the top, remove the stones gradually downwards, and touch the foundation last. But latitudinarianism loosens the elementary principles of theology. It destroys the premises on which the system rests. It would beg the question to say that this would in itself have been undesirable; but the practical effect of it, as the world then stood, would have been only to make the educated into infidels, and to leave the multitude to a convenient but debasing superstition."

Ver. 9. The True Gospel to be preached and believed.

I. The repetition of these words by Paul +signify that he had not spoken rashly but advisedly,+ whatsoever he had said before.

II. +That the point delivered is an infallible truth of God.+

III. +That we may observe and remember what he had said as the foundation of our religion+--that the doctrine of the apostles is the only infallible truth of God, against which we may not listen to Fathers, Councils, or to the very angels of God.

IV. They are accursed +who teach otherwise than the Galatians had received.+--As Paul preached the Gospel of Christ, so the Galatians received it. The great fault of our times is that whereas the Gospel is preached it is not accordingly received. Many have no care to know it; and they who know it give not unto it the assent of faith, but only hold it in opinion.--Perkins.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 10-12.

The Superhuman Origin of the Gospel.

+I. The Gospel is not constructed on human principles.+--"But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man" (ver. 11). Its character is such as the human mind would never have conceived. When it was first proclaimed it was the puzzle of the religious and the ridicule of the learned--"unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness." It is wholly opposed to the drift of human tendencies. Its supreme aim is to effect a complete transformation of human nature. Not to destroy that nature, but to renew, elevate, and sublimate it. By its principle of self-sacrificing love, its insistence of the essential oneness of the race, its methods in dealing with the world's evils, its lofty morality, and its uncompromising claims of superiority the Gospel transcends all the efforts of human ingenuity. Augustine, the father of Western theology in the fifth century, divided the human race into two classes--the one who lived according to man and the other who lived according to God. The Gospel is the only revelation that teaches man how to live according to God.

+II. The Gospel does not pander to human tastes.+--"For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ" (ver. 10). The adversaries of the apostle insinuated that he was a trimmer, observing the law among the Jews and yet persuading the Gentiles to renounce it; becoming all things to all men that he might form a party of his own. Such an insinuation was based on an utter misconception of the Gospel. So far from flattering, Paul preached a Gospel that humbled men, demanding repentance and reform. It often came in collision with popular tastes and opinions; and though the apostle was a man of broad views and sympathies, he was ever the faithful and uncompromising servant of Christ. Public opinion may be hugely mistaken, and there is danger of over-estimating its importance. It is the lofty function of the preacher to create a healthy public opinion and Christianise it, and he can do this only by a scrupulous and constant representation of the mind of Christ, his Divine Master. The wise Phocion was so sensible how dangerous it was to be touched with what the multitude approved that upon a general acclamation made when he was making an oration he turned to an intelligent friend and asked in a surprised manner, "What slip have I made?" George Macdonald once said, "When one has learned to seek the honour that cometh from God only, he will take the withholding of the honour that cometh by man very lightly indeed."

+III. The Gospel has a distinctly superhuman origin.+--"For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ" (ver. 12). Paul's reception of the Gospel was not only a revelation of Christ to him, but at the same time a revelation of Christ in him. The human vehicle was spiritually prepared for the reception and understanding of the Divine message; and this moral transformation not only convinced him of the superhuman character of the Gospel, but also empowered him with authority to declare it. The Gospel carries with it the self-evidencing force of its Divine origin in its effect upon both preacher and hearer. It is still an enigma to the mere intellectual student; only as it is received into the inmost soul, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, is its true nature apprehended and enjoyed.

+Lessons.+--1. Man everywhere is in dire need of the Gospel. 2. The human mind is incapable of constructing a saving Gospel. 3. The Gospel is inefficacious till it is received as a Divine gift.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Ver. 10. Fidelity in the Ministry.

I. +The proper nature of the ministry is not the word or doctrine of man but of God.+--Ministers are taught to handle their doctrine with modesty and humility, without ostentation, with reverence, and with a consideration of the majesty of God, whose doctrine it is they utter.

II. +The dispensing of the Word must not be for the pleasing of men but God.+--Ministers must not apply and fashion their doctrine to the affections, humours, and dispositions of men, but keep a good conscience and do their office.

III. +If we seek to please men we cannot be the servants of God.+--He that would be a faithful minister of the Gospel must deny the pride of his heart, be emptied of ambition, and set himself wholly to seek the glory of God in his calling.--Perkins.

The Servant of Christ.

+I. There is nothing dishonourable in the idea of a servant absolutely considered.+--On the contrary, there may be much in it that is noble and venerable. Nothing can be more contemptible than an affectation of independence which resents or is ashamed of a servant's name. And many who despise servants should be told that they themselves are so worthless that nobody would think of honouring them with hiring them for service. It was Christ's honour that His Father so employed Him for the work of our salvation, and said, "Behold My Servant, whom I have chosen": and the highest honour of the preachers of the Gospel is that they are the ministers, that is, the servants, both of Christ and His Church. There are cases, no doubt, in which servitude is degrading. The master may be infamous; though even then the servant's condition is not dishonourable unless he be employed in infamous work. Many servants have wrought out most honourable names for themselves in doing good work under bad masters. Matthew Henry has said well that there is nothing mean but sin, and with such meanness and dishonour is every man affected who is not a servant of Christ. There is for us all the choice of only two conditions; there is not a third and neutral one. The alternative is a servant of the Son of God or a slave of sin. It may not be of sin in its most hideous forms, in the form in which it tyrannises over the drunkard, the lewd man, or the ambitious, but even in its milder and less-offensive form, when it may reign only with the power which it exercises over the worshipper of wealth or of human applause; still, it is a degrading vassalage. Let no worldly man, then, affect to pity or scorn the disciple of the Gospel as being one whom superstition enslaves, though it were admitted to be a slavery; he himself labours under one infinitely more oppressive and degrading. Whose appears the greater liberty and the least oppression, he who is governed by the salutary laws of the Gospel, or he who is the sport and victim of his own ignorance and passions, or of the opinion of the world, to which, at the expense of the violation of his own conscience, he feels himself compelled ignominiously to submit? The question needs not an answer. There is everything honourable in the one service, everything dishonourable in the other. Only that man is truly a free man who is a servant of Christ.

+II. The servant of Christ.+--Others profess that they are servants of God; the Christian replies that he is a servant of Christ. There is perhaps nothing by which his faith is more distinctly characterised than this. "Is he not, then, a servant of God?" some one may ask, either in the spirit of a scorning objector or in that of an astonished inquirer who is as yet ignorant of the beautiful mystery of Christian salvation. When others profess that they are the servants of God, and when the Christian replies that he is a servant of Christ, does it signify that he is not a servant of the eternal Father? Such is the question; and our reply is, that in serving Christ he approves himself not only the best servant of God, but the only one whose service is genuine. In serving Christ he serves God, because God has so appointed and ordained. He has ordained that we be the servants of His Son; and if we serve not His Son, then we resist His ordination, so that we serve neither His Son nor Himself.

+III. The Christian is Christ's servant, not by hire, but by purchase.+--This is a circumstance which claims our most thoughtful consideration. In the case of a servant who is hired there is a limitation of the master's right, by the terms of the agreement, in respect to the kind and amount of labour to be exacted. There is also a definite term, at the expiry of which the right of service ceases, and the remuneration of the service is exigible by law. There is a vast difference in the case of a purchased servant, or, as otherwise expressed, a slave. He is his master's property, to be treated entirely according to his master's discretion. There is no limitation either to the amount or nature of the work which he may exact. The period of service is for life, and no remuneration can be claimed for the labour, howsoever heavy and protracted. Our servant-condition in relation to Christ is of this character: He does not hire us but has purchased us--purchased us by His blood, and made us His property, to be used according to His sovereign will. But this is far from being all. Our gracious Master often sinks, as it were, the consideration of His past services--His humiliation, His privation, His wounds and agony by which He saved us from punishment and woe--and reasons and deals with us as if we were hired servants and could merit something at His hand, animating us in our work by exhibiting to our hope that crown of glory which He will confer on all who are faithful unto death. Blessed servitude--the servitude of the Christian! Servitude of peace! Servitude of honour! Servitude of liberty! Servitude of victory and everlasting glory! 1. The Christian, as a servant, submits his mind to the authority of Christ--submits it to Him in respect of his opinions; at the utterance of His Word renounces its own judgments and prejudices, and turns away from the teaching of the world's philosophy and priesthood in scorn, saying, "You have no part in me. Christ is the Lord of my conscience; I will listen to Him." 2. As the servant of Christ, the Christian subjects his body to His control and regulation in the gratifying of its appetites, and in providing for its comfort and adornment; his lips in what they speak; his hands in what they do; his ears in what they listen to; his eyes in what they read and look at; and his feet in all their journeying and movements. 3. As the servant of Christ, he regulates his family according to his Master's mind and law. 4. As a servant of Christ, he conducts his business according to Christ's law, with the strictest honesty, and for Christ's end, distributing his profits in a proportion--I shall say a large proportion; nay, I shall say a very large proportion--to the maintenance and education of his family, and some provision of an inheritance for them, and even a considerable proportion for the gratification of his own tastes. Is not that a large allowance for a slave? But oh, some of you! you seize on all--wickedly appropriate all to yourselves, or part, and that with a grudge, a murmur, and a scowl, with but the smallest fraction to the Master's poor and the Master's Church! Slaves indeed! Slaves of Avarice and his daughter, Cruelty! 5. As a servant of Christ, the country of the Christian is Christ's, to be regulated, so far as his influence and vote may extend, by Christ's rule, for Christ's ends.--W. Anderson, LL.D.

Vers. 11, 12. The Gospel and the Call to preach it.

I. It is necessary that men should be assured and certified that +the doctrine of the Gospel and the Scripture is not of man but of God.+--That the Scripture is the Word of God there are two testimonies. 1. One is the evidence of God's Spirit imprinted and expressed in the Scriptures, and this is an excellence of the Word of God above all words and writings of men and angels. 2. The second testimony is from the prophets and apostles, who were ambassadors of God extraordinarily to represent His authority unto His Church, and the penmen of the Holy Ghost to set down the true and proper Word of God.

II. It is necessary that men should be assured in their consciences that +the calling and authority of their teachers are of God.+--To call men to the ministry and dispensation of the Gospel belongs to Christ, who alone giveth the power, the will, the deed; and the Church can do no more than testify, publish, and declare whom God calleth.

III. +The Gospel which Paul preached was not human+--he did not receive it, neither was he taught it by man; and preached it not by human but by Divine authority. 1. Christ is the great prophet and doctor of the Church. His office is: (1) To manifest and reveal the will of the Father touching the redemption of mankind. (2) To institute the ministry of the Word and to call and send ministers. (3) To teach the heart within by illuminating the mind and by working a faith of the doctrine taught. 2. There are two ways whereby Christ teaches those who are to be teachers. (1) By immediate revelation. (2) By ordinary instruction in schools by the means and ministry of men.

IV. +They who are to be teachers must first be taught,+ and they must teach that which they have first learned themselves. They are first to be taught, and that by men where revelation is wanting. This is the foundation of the schools of the prophets. All men should pray that God would prosper and bless all schools of learning where this kind of teaching is in use.--Perkins.

The Gospel a Divine Revelation.

+I. It is not constructed by human ingenuity.+--"The gospel which was preached of me is not after man" (ver. 11).

+II. It derives no authority from man.+--"For I neither received it of man" (ver. 12).

+III. It is not acquired by mere mental culture.+--"Neither was I taught it."

+IV. It is a direct and special revelation from heaven.+--"But by the revelation of Jesus Christ."

Apostolic Assurance of the Supernatural Character of the Gospel.--1. It is the custom of the adversaries of the truth, when they have nothing to say in reason against the doctrine itself, to cast reproach on those who preach it, and to question their call and authority to preach, that so they may indirectly at least reflect upon the doctrine. 2. As none may take upon him to dispense the Word of God publicly unto others without a call from God, so there are several sorts of callings: one of men and ordinary when God calls by the voices and consent of men; another of God and extraordinary, the call of the Church not intervening. 3. It is required of an apostle to have the infallible knowledge of the truth of the Gospel and this not wholly by the help of human means, as we learn at schools and by private study, but mainly by immediate inspiration from the Spirit of God. Paul shows that the Gospel was not taught him of man; and this he saith, not to depress human learning, but that he may obviate the calumny of his adversaries who alleged he had the knowledge of the Gospel by ordinary instruction from men only, and so was no apostle.--Ferguson.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 13, 14.

A Zealous Ritualist--

+I. Is conspicuous for his adherence to religious formalities.+--"For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion" (ver. 13)--of my manner of life formerly in Judaism. Saul of Tarsus was a full-blown ritualist, and a master-leader in the art, setting the pattern to all his contemporaries. He did not play at forms and ceremonies. Their observance was to him a matter of life and death. An intense nature like his could do nothing by halves. The listlessness and pictorial parade of modern ritualism he would have denounced with withering scorn. Religious formality has for some minds an irresistible fascination. It appeals to the instinct of worship which is latent in all, and to the love of æstheticism which is shared by most in varying degrees. The votary deludes himself into the belief that signs and symbols represent certain great truths; but the truths soon fade away into the background, and he is in turn deluded in regarding the outward ceremonies as everything. Formality is the tendency of the mind to rest in the mere externals of religion to the neglect of the inner life of religion itself. It is the folly of valuing a tree for its bark instead of its goodly timber, of choosing a book for its ornate binding irrespective of its literary genius, of admiring the finished architecture of a building regardless of its accommodation or the character of its inmates. "There are two ways of destroying Christianity," says D'Aubigné; "one is to deny it, the other is to displace it." Formality seeks to displace it. Ritualism may be of use in the infantile stage, either of the world or the individual. It is a reversion to the petrifaction of ancient crudities. A robust and growing spiritual manhood is superior to its aids.

+II. Violently opposes the representatives of genuine piety.+--"How that beyond measure I persecuted the Church of God, and wasted it" (ver. 13). Animated by extravagant zeal for the religion of his forefathers, the bigoted Pharisee became the deadliest enemy of the Church of Christ in its infant days. Indifferent to personal peril or to the feelings of the oppressed, he prosecuted his work of destruction with savage energy. He was a type of the Jewish fanatics who afterwards thirsted and plotted for his life, and the forerunner of the cruel zealots of the Inquisition and the Star Chamber in later times. The curse of ritualism is excessive intolerance. Blinded and puffed up with its unwarrantable assumptions, it loses sight of the essential elements of true religion. It sees nothing good in any other system but its own, and employs all methods that it dare, to compel universal conformity. It admits no rival. It alone is right; everything else is wrong, and all kinds of means are justifiable in crushing the heresy that presumes to deny its supreme claims. "Christ and Ritualism," says Horatius Bonar, "are opposed to each other, as light is to darkness. The cross and the crucifix cannot agree. Either ritualism will banish Christ or Christ will banish ritualism."

+III. Is distinguished by his ardent study and defence of traditional religionism.+--"And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in my mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers" (ver. 14). The apostle had studied the Mosaic law under the ablest tutors of his day. He knew Judaism by heart and won a distinguished reputation for learning and for his strict adherence to the minutest details of traditional legalism. He was one of the ablest champions of the Mosaic system. The zealous ritualist spends his days and nights in studying, not the Word of God, but the sayings of men and the rules of the Church handed down by the traditions of past generations. Divine revelation is ignored, and human authority unduly exalted. His studies are misdirected, and his zeal misspent. He is wasting his energy in defending a lifeless organism. No man can honestly and prayerfully study God's Word and catch its meaning, and remain a mere ritualist.

+Lessons.+--1. Ritualism is the worship of external forms. 2. It breeds a spirit of intolerance and persecution. 3. It supplants true religion.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 13, 14. Mistaken Zeal--

+I. May create a reputation for religious devotion.+--"Ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion" (ver. 13).

+II. Breeds the spirit of violent persecution.+--"How that beyond measure I persecuted the Church of God, and wasted it" (ver. 13).

+III. Makes one ambitious for superiority.+--"Profited . . . above many my equals, . . . being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers" (ver. 14).

+IV. Is neither good nor wise.+

+V. Stores up a retrospect of bitter and humiliating regret.+

Review of a Misspent Life.--1. A sincere convert will not shun to make confession of his wicked life, not omitting anything which may tend to a just aggravation of it, not in a boasting manner, but that the freedom of God's grace may be commended. 2. That the Scriptures were indited by the Spirit of God, and the penmen not actuated with human policy, appears from this, with other evidences in the Scripture itself, that they concealed not their own faults, but blazed them to the world when the glory of God did so require. 3. Though the Church of God, as to the inward estate, cannot be utterly wasted, neither can the outward state be so far decayed as to cease to be, yet the Lord may so far give way to the rage of persecutors that the outward face and beauty of the Church may be totally marred, the members partly killed, partly scattered, the public ordinances suppressed, and the public assemblies interrupted. 4. The life and way of some engaged in a false religion may be so blameless and, according to the dictates of their deluded conscience, so strict, as that it may be a copy unto those who profess the true religion and a reproof for their palpable negligence. 5. As our affections of love, joy, hatred, anger, and grief are by nature so corrupt that even the choicest of them, if not brought in subjection to the Word by the Spirit, will lay forth themselves upon forbidden and unlawful objects, so our zeal and fervency of spirit will bend itself more toward the maintenance of error than of truth. Error is the birth of our own invention; so is not truth.--Fergusson.

True and False Zeal.

+I. Zeal is a certain fervency of spirit arising out of a mixture of love and anger,+ causing men earnestly to maintain the worship of God and all things pertaining thereto, and moving them to grief and anger when God is in any way dishonoured.

+II. Paul was zealous for the outward observance of the law+ and for Pharisaical unwritten traditions.

+III. He himself condemns his zeal because it was against the Word,+ and tended to maintain unwritten traditions, and justification by the works of the law, out of Christ. What Paul did in his religion we are to do in the profession of the Gospel. 1. We are to addict and set ourselves earnestly to maintain the truth of the Gospel. 2. We are to be angry in ourselves and grieved when God is dishonoured and His Word disobeyed. 3. We are not to give liberty to the best of our natural affections as to zeal, but mortify and rule them by the Word.--Perkins.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 15-19.

The Imperative Claims of a Divine Commission--

+I. Are independent of personal merit.+--"But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace" (ver. 15). From the beginning the apostle was Divinely destined to fulfil his high vocation. His Hebrew birth and Hellenistic culture combined to prepare him for his future work. When he developed into a hot persecutor of the Christian faith he seemed far away from his life-mission. But a change took place, and it soon became apparent that, not on the ground of any merit of his own, but because it pleased God, the training from his birth was the best possible preparation for his lofty calling. We cannot see far into the future or forecast the issue of our own plans or of those we form for others.

"There is a Divinity that shapes our ends, Rough hew them as we may."

The Divine element in our lives becomes more evident as we faithfully do the duty imposed on us. Joseph recognised this when he declared to his brethren, "It was not you that sent me hither, but God" (Gen. xlv. 8).

+II. Are based on an unmistakably Divine revelation.+--"To reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen" (ver. 16). The dazzling appearance of Christ before his eyes, and the summons of His voice addressed to Saul's bodily ears, formed the special mode in which it pleased God to call him to the apostleship. But there was also the inward revelation of Christ to his heart by the Holy Ghost. It was this which wrought in him the great spiritual change and inspired him to be a witness for Christ to the Gentiles. His Judaic prejudices were swept away, and he became the champion of a universal Gospel. The same revelation that made Paul a Christian made him the apostle of mankind. The true preacher carries within his own spiritually renovated nature evidence and authority of his Divine commission.

"This is what makes him the crowd-drawing preacher, There's a background of God to each hard-working feature; Every word that he speaks has been fierily furnaced In a blast of a life which has struggled in earnest."

+III. Are superior to the functions of human counsel.+--"I conferred not with flesh and blood: neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me" (vers. 16, 17). The counsel of the wise and good is valuable, and ordinarily should be diligently sought and thoughtfully pondered. But when God calls, the commission is beyond either the advice or the opposition of men. Paul had reached a state into which no human authority could lift him, and from which it could not dislodge him. He might legitimately confer with others as to methods of work, but his call to work was imposed upon him by a power to which all human counsellors and ecclesiastical magnates must submit. Channing once said: "The teacher to whom are committed the infinite realities of the spiritual world, the sanctions of eternity, the powers of the life to come, has instruments to work with which turn to feebleness all other means of influence."

+IV. Stimulate to active service.+--"But I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus" (ver. 17). Immediately after his conversion the history tells us, "Straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues" (Acts ix. 20). In Arabia, a country of the Gentiles, he doubtless preached the Gospel, as he did before and after at Damascus, and thus demonstrated the independence of his apostolic commission. A call to preach demands immediate response and impels to earnest and faithful endeavour. It is said that Whitefield's zealous spirit exhausted all its energies in preaching, and his full dedication to God was honoured by unbounded success. The effect produced by his sermons was indescribable, arising in a great degree from the most perfect forgetfulness of self during the solemn moment of declaring the salvation that is in Christ Jesus. His evident sincerity impressed every hearer and is said to have forcibly struck Lord Chesterfield when he heard him at Lady Huntingdon's. The preacher, as the ambassador for Christ, is eager to declare His message, and anxious it should be understood and obeyed.

+V. Are recognised by the highest ecclesiastical authority.+--"Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and . . . James the Lord's brother" (vers. 18, 19). The claims of Paul to the apostleship, evidenced by such supernatural signs and such solid Christian work and patient suffering, were at length acknowledged by the chief leaders of the mother Church in Jerusalem. Good work advertises itself, and sooner or later compels recognition. What an eventful meeting of the first Gospel pioneers, and how momentous the influence of such an interview and consultation! Though the call of God is unacknowledged, ridiculed, and opposed, its duties must be faithfully discharged. The day of ample reward will come.

+Lessons.+--1. God only can make the true preacher. 2. A call to preach involves suffering and toil. 3. The fruit of diligent and faithful work will certainly appear.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 15-17. The Conversion and Vocation of St. Paul.

+I. The causes of St. Paul's conversion.+--1. The good pleasure of God. 2. His separation from the womb, which is an act of God's counsel whereby He sets men apart to be members of Christ and to be His servants in this or that office. 3. His vocation by grace--the accomplishment of both the former in the time which God had appointed.

+II. The manner of his vocation.+--"To reveal His Son in me." 1. By preparation. God humbled and subdued the pride and stubbornness of his heart and made him tractable and teachable. 2. By instruction. (1) Propounding unto him the commandment of the Gospel, to repent and believe in Christ. (2) Offering to him the promise of remission of sins and life everlasting when he believed. 3. By a real and lively teaching when God made Paul in his heart answer the calling. Ministers of Christ must learn Christ as Paul learned Him.

+III. The end of Paul's conversion.+--To preach Christ among the Gentiles. 1. Christ is the substance or subject-matter of the whole Bible. 2. To preach Christ is: (1) To teach the doctrine of the incarnation of Christ, and His offices as King, Prophet, and Priest. (2) That faith is an instrument to apprehend and apply Christ. (3) To certify and reveal to every hearer that it is the will of God to save him by Christ if he will receive Him. (4) That he is to apply Christ with His benefits to himself in particular. 3. To preach to the Gentiles: (1) Because the prophecies of the calling of the Gentiles must be fulfilled. (2) Because the division between the Jews and Gentiles is abolished.

+IV. Paul's obedience to the calling of God+ (vers. 16, 17).--1. God's Word, preached or written, does not depend on the authority of any man--no, not on the authority of the apostles themselves. 2. There is no consultation or deliberation to be used at any time touching the holding or not holding of our religion. 3. Our obedience to God must be without consultation. We must first try what is the will of God, and then absolutely put it into execution, leaving the issue to God. 4. Paul goes into Arabia and Damascus, and becomes a teacher to his professed enemies.--Perkins.

Vers. 15, 16. Conversion as illustrated by that of St. Paul.--In the case of St. Paul there are many circumstances not paralleled in the general experience of Christians; but in its essential features, in the views with which it was accompanied and the effects it produced, it was exactly the same as every one must experience before he can enter into the kingdom of God.

+I. Its causes.+--1. Paul was chosen by God before his birth to be a vessel of honour. "It pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb." Are not all genuine Christians addressed as "elect of God" or chosen of God, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ? Why should not the real Christian give scope to those emotions of gratitude which such reflections will inspire? 2. The more immediate cause was the call of Divine grace. "And called me by His grace." There is a general call in the Gospel addressed to all men indiscriminately. There is, in every instance of real conversion, another and inward call, by which the Spirit applies the general truth of the Gospel to the heart. By this interior call Christ apprehends, lays hold on the soul, stops it in its impenitent progress, and causes it to hear His voice.

+II. The means by which conversion is effected.+--"To reveal His Son in me." The principal method which the Spirit adopts in subduing the heart of a sinner is a spiritual discovery of Christ. There is an outward revelation of Christ--in the Scriptures; and an internal, of which the understanding and the heart are the seat. 1. The Spirit reveals the greatness and dignity of Christ. 2. The transcendent beauty and glory of Christ. 3. The suitableness, fulness, and sufficiency of Christ to supply all our wants and relieve all our miseries.

+III. The effect of conversion on St. Paul.+--"Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood." He set himself without hesitation or demur to discharge the duties of his heavenly vocation. 1. His compliance with the will of Christ was immediate. 2. Universal and impartial. 3. Constant and persevering.--Robert Hall.

Ver. 16. The Qualification of the True Minister--

+I. Begins in an unmistakable revelation of Christ to his own soul.+--"To reveal His Son in me."

+II. Urges him to declare the Gospel to the most needy.+--"That I might preach Him among the heathen."

+III. Raises him above the necessity of mere human authority.+--"Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood."

Ver. 17. The Divine Call to the Apostleship.--1. That extraordinary way whereby the Lord made known His mind to the penmen of Scripture was so infallible in itself and so evident to those to whom it came to be no delusion that they were above all doubt and needed not to advise with the best of men in order to their confirmation about the reality of it. 2. The Lord maketh sometimes the first piece of public service as hazardous, uncouth, and unsuccessful as any wherein He employs them afterwards, that His ministers may be taught to depend more on God's blessing than on human probabilities, and that they may give proof of their obedience. Thus it was with Moses (Exod. ii. 10), and Jeremiah (Jer. i. 19). 3. The apostles were not fixed to any certain charge, as ordinary ministers are. Their charge was the whole world. They went from place to place as the necessities of people required, or as God by His providence and Spirit directed.--Fergusson.

Ver. 18. Requirement of a Preparation for Work.--"I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus." 1. Affording opportunity for thought and self-testing. 2. Gives leisure for study and forming plans for future service. 3. Is often the prelude of a busy and prosperous career.

Vers. 18, 19. The Divine Call acknowledged.--1. That nothing of Peter's supposed supremacy over Paul and the rest of the apostles can be gathered from this place appears from this, that Paul went first to his work before he came to Peter, and that his business with Peter was not to receive ordination from him or to evidence his subjection to him, but from respect and reverence to give him a friendly visit. 2. It ought to be the endeavour of Christ's ministers to entertain love and familiarity one with another, as also to make their doing so evident to others, it being most unseemly for those who preach the Gospel of peace to others to live in discord among themselves. 3. As ministers may and ought to meet sometimes together, to evidence and entertain mutual love and concord, and because of that mutual inspection which they ought to have one of another, so their meeting ought neither to be so frequent nor of so long continuance that their flocks suffer prejudice.--Fergusson.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 20-24.

God glorified in His Servant--

+I. By the undoubted truthfulness of his statements.+--"Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not" (ver. 20). The assertions of the apostle flatly contradicted the allegations of his enemies. They insinuated that Paul was but a messenger of the authorities of the Church at Jerusalem, and that all he knew of the Gospel had been learned from the twelve. So far from this being the case it is evident that for several years he had been preaching the Gospel, and had not seen any of the twelve, except Peter and James, and that only for a fortnight at Jerusalem about three years after his conversion. "In the present case," remarks Professor Jowett, "it is a matter of life and death to the apostle to prove his independence from the twelve." Having said all he can to substantiate his point, he concludes by a solemn appeal to God as to his veracity: "Behold, before God, I lie not." The apostle never makes an appeal like this lightly, but only in support of a vital truth he is specially anxious to enforce (Rom. ix. 1; 2 Cor. i. 17, 18, 23; 1 Thess. ii. 5).

"When fiction rises pleasing to the eye; Men will believe, because they love the lie; But truth herself, if clouded with a frown, Must have some solemn proof to pass her down."--Churchill.

The vigorous and faithful maintenance of the truth brings glory to God.

+II. By his evangelistic activity.+--"Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia" (ver. 21). During this tour very probably the Churches were founded, referred to in Acts xv. 23, 41. "A man's work," says George Macdonald, "does not fall upon him by chance, but it is given him to do; and everything well done belongs to God's kingdom, and everything ill done to the kingdom of darkness." God is the sublime end of all human activity, and our powers can never be more nobly employed than in expounding His will, unfolding His gracious character, advancing the interests of His kingdom, and striving to promote His glory among the children of men. Man is never so great, so luminous, so grand as when he is doing work for God with the light and help of God; and all such work is a revelation of the character and purposes of God open to the eyes of all who will see.

+III. By the reputation of his changed life.+--"And was unknown by face unto the Churches: . . . they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preached the faith which once he destroyed" (vers. 22, 23). The conversion of Saul of Tarsus was one of the most striking events in the early history of the Church. It was a marvel to all who had known his previous life. It was an unanswerable testimony to the power of the Gospel, and an argument that has been used in all ages to illustrate the possibility of the salvation of the worst of sinners. It is said the Duke of Burgundy was born terrible. He would indulge in such paroxysms of rage that those who were standing by would tremble for his life. He was hard-hearted, passionate, incapable of bearing the least opposition to his wishes, fond of gambling, violent hunting, the gratifications of the table, abandoned to his pleasures, barbarous, and born to cruelty. With this was united a genius of the most extraordinary kind; quickness of humour, depth and justice of thought, versatility and acuteness of mind. The prodigy was, that in a short space of time the grace of God made him a new man. He became a prince, affable, gentle, moderate, patient, modest, humble, austere only to himself, attentive to his duties, and sensible of their extent. If we could lay a hand on the fly-wheel of the Scotch express, running fifty or sixty miles an hour, and stop it, we should perform an astounding miracle. But this is what God does in His miracles of conversion. He laid His mighty hand on the fly-wheel of Paul's life, and not only stopped its mad career, but turned it right round in the opposite direction. The persecutor becomes a preacher.

+IV. By the recognition of His Divine call.+--"And they glorified God in me" (ver. 24). The attempt to disparage the authority of Paul was the work of a few malcontents, who sought to ruin his influence in order to extend their own. The Churches of Jerusalem and Judea, though many of them had not seen the apostle, acknowledged and praised God for the Divine work done in him and by him. A few false teachers may work much mischief, but they cannot overturn the work of God, nor prevent its full recognition. The faithful servant may safely leave his reputation in the hands of God. It lifts humanity, especially Christianised humanity, into special dignity, when it is discovered that God is glorified in man.

+Lessons.+--1. The Gospel elevates man by transforming him. 2. The conscientious worker has God on his side. 3. God is glorified by obedient toil.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Ver. 20. Self-conscious Truth.--1. The choicest servants of Christ may be looked upon as liars and unworthy to be trusted, even by those to whom they are sent, and yet they must not give over to preach as knowing that the Word spoken by them doth still get credit from some, and will beget trust to itself from others, and for the rest it will seal up their condemnation and make them inexcusable. 2. It is not unlawful for Christians to take an oath, providing it be with these conditions: (1) That the thing we swear be truth. (2) That there be weighty reasons for taking an oath. (3) That we swear only by the name of God, and not by the creatures, seeing none but God can bear witness to the secrets of the heart.--Fergusson.

Vers. 21-24. _The Self-evidencing Proof of a Divinely commissioned Messenger._--1. Seen in disinterested labours and travels (vers. 21, 22). 2. Seen in a remarkable change of character and conduct (ver. 23). 3. Seen in that the glory of his work is ascribed to God (ver. 24).

Practical Proofs of Apostleship.

I. +Paul went from Jerusalem into Syria and Cilicia.+--1. Because he was ordained specially to be the apostle of the Gentiles. 2. Because Cilicia was his own country, and his love to his country was great. If any apostle above the rest be the pastor and universal bishop of the Church over the whole world, it is Paul and not Peter.

II. +Paul was known to the Christian Jews only by hearsay,+ because it is the office of an apostle not to build on the foundation of another or to succeed any man in his labour, but to plant and found the Church of the New Testament.

III. Seeing the intent of the devil and wicked men is to destroy the faith, +we must have a special care of our faith.+--1. We must look that our faith be a true faith. 2. We must keep and lock up our faith in some safe and sure place--in the storehouse or treasury of a good conscience. 3. Our care must be to increase in faith that our hearts may be rooted and grounded in the love of God.

IV. +Our duty is to sanctify and glorify the name of God in every work of His.+--Neglect in glorifying and praising God is a great sin.--Perkins.

Ver. 24. God glorified in Good Men.--We are taught to honour God in man and man in God. We are taught to avoid, on the one hand, all creature idolatry, and, on the other, that cynical severity, or ungrateful indifference to the Author of all good in man, which undervalues or neglects the excellencies which ought to be held up to admiration that they may be imitated by ourselves and others. Each of these extremes robs God of His just revenue of grateful praise. In what does creature idolatry consist but in honouring and trusting in the natural and acquired excellencies of creatures to the exclusion of God? But is there then no wisdom, no might, no excellence, in man? As it were absurd to deny this, it would be affectation to pretend to overlook it. Admire and deny not this wisdom, acknowledge this efficiency, and affect not to lower its estimate; only glorify God who worketh all in all. If He has chosen any of them to be more eminently His instruments for the furtherance of His purposes of mercy to mankind, He does it by virtue of His sovereignty. If He continues their useful lives, whilst you have their light rejoice in the light and glorify Him from whom it comes as its original and source; and when He chooses to quench these stars of His right hand in the darkness of death, still glorify Him. As to us, this is to remind us of our dependence on Him, who appointed their orbit and invested them with their different degrees of glory; and as to them, though their lustre fades from these visible skies, it is that it may be rekindled in superior glory in the kingdom of their Father.--R. Watson.

* * * * * * * *

+CHAPTER II.+

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.

Ver. 1. +Then fourteen years after.+--From Paul's conversion inclusive. +I went again to Jerusalem.+--The same visit referred to in Acts xv., when the council of the apostles and Church decided that Gentile Christians need not be circumcised.

Ver. 2. +I went up by revelation.+--Quite consistent with the fact that he was sent as a deputy from the Church at Antioch (Acts xv. 2). The revelation suggested to him that this deputation was the wisest course. +Communicated privately to them which were of reputation.+--It was necessary that the Jerusalem apostles should know beforehand that the Gospel Paul preached to the Gentiles was the same as theirs, and had received Divine confirmation in the results it wrought on the Gentile converts.

Ver. 3. +Neither Titus+ [not even Titus], +being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.+--The apostles, constrained by the firmness of Paul and Barnabas, did not compel or insist on his being circumcised. Thus they virtually sanctioned Paul's course among the Gentiles, and admitted his independence as an apostle. To have insisted on Jewish usages for Gentile converts would have been to make them essential parts of Christianity.

Ver. 4. +False brethren unawares+ [in an underhand manner] +brought in privily to spy out.+--As foes in the guise of friends, wishing to destroy and rob us of our liberty--from the yoke of the ceremonial law.

Ver. 5. +To whom we gave place by subjection not for an hour.+--We would willingly have yielded for love, if no principle was at issue, but not in the way of subjection. Truth precise, unaccommodating, abandons nothing that belongs to itself, admits nothing that is inconsistent with it (Bengel).

Ver. 6. +They in conference added nothing to me.+--As I did not by conference impart to them aught at my conversion, so they now did not impart aught additional to me above what I already knew. Another evidence of the independence of his apostleship.

Ver. 9. +They gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship.+--Recognising me as a colleague in the apostleship, and that the Gospel I preached to the Gentiles by special revelation was the same as theirs.

Ver. 10. +Remember the poor.+--Of the Jewish Christians in Judea then distressed. Paul's past care for their poor prompted this request. His subsequent zeal in the same cause was the answer to their appeal (Acts. xi. 29, 30; Rom. xv. 26, 27; 1 Cor. xvi. 3; 2 Cor. ix. 1; Acts xxiv. 17).

Ver. 11. +When Peter was come to Antioch I withstood him to the face.+--The strongest proof of the independence of his apostleship in relation to the other apostles, and an unanswerable argument against the Romish dogma of the supremacy of St. Peter.

Ver. 13. +The other Jews dissembled likewise with him.+--The question was not whether Gentiles were admissible to the Christian covenant without becoming circumcised, but whether the Gentile Christians were to be admitted to social intercourse with the Jewish Christians without conforming to the Jewish institution. It was not a question of liberty and of bearing with others' infirmities, but one affecting the essence of the Gospel, whether the Gentiles are to be virtually compelled to live as do the Jews in order to be justified.

Ver. 14. +Walked not uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel.+--Which teaches that justification by legal works and observances is inconsistent with redemption by Christ. Paul alone here maintained the truth against Judaism, as afterwards against heathenism (2 Tim. iv. 16, 17).

Ver. 17. +Is therefore Christ the minister of sin?+--Thus to be justified by Christ it was necessary to sink to the level of Gentiles--to become sinners, in fact. But are we not thus making Christ a minister of sin? Away with the profane thought! No; the guilt is not in abandoning the law, but in seeking it again when abandoned. Thus, and thus alone, we convict ourselves of transgression (Lightfoot).

Ver. 19. +I through the law am dead to the law.+--By believing union to Christ in His death we, being considered dead with Him, are severed from the law's past power over us.

Ver. 21. +If righteousness came by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.+--Died needlessly, without just cause. Christ's having died shows that the law has no power to justify us, for if the law can justify or make us righteous, the death of Christ is superfluous.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 1-9.

Confirmatory Proofs of a Divine Call--

+I. Seen in a prudent consultation with the acknowledged leaders of the church+ (vers. 1, 2).--The men of reputation referred to in these verses are not so called by way of irony, but because of their recognised authority in the mother Church. Paul was not summoned to Jerusalem, but Divinely directed to take the journey. Neither his teaching nor his office was called in question, nor did he fear the most searching inquiry into his commission. Conscious of his Divine call, he claimed equality of status with the rest of the apostles and explained to them and to the Church the principles and methods of the Gospel he preached. He had nothing to fear, whatever might be the judgment of the Church leaders in Jerusalem. He expected from them nothing but sympathy and encouragement in his work, and he hailed with joy the opportunity of sharing the counsel of men as interested as himself in the success of the Gospel. With his God-given convictions and views, it was impossible for him to meet the apostles on any other ground than that of perfect equality.

+II. Seen in a prompt and stern refusal to compromise principle+ (vers. 3-5).--The object of Paul's visit to Jerusalem was to discuss a vital principle of the Gospel--the right of the Gentiles to the privileges of the Gospel without observing the works of the Jewish law. A misunderstanding at that critical moment might have imperilled the liberty of the Gospel. The presence of Barnabas and Titus was significant--the one a pure Jew, a man of gentle disposition and generous impulse; and the other a Gentile convert, representing the world of the uncircumcised. It is to the credit of the Church leaders at Jerusalem that, with their strong Jewish prejudices, they admitted that the legal rite of circumcision must not be imposed on Gentile converts. They were so convinced that this was the will of God, and that He had already sanctioned this an essential feature of the Gospel, that they dared do no other. An attempt was made, not by the apostles, but by certain "false brethren," to insist that Titus should be circumcised; but this was promptly and stoutly opposed. A concession on this point would have been fatal to the universality of the Gospel--the whole Gentile world would have been trammelled with the bondage of legal ceremonies. It was then that the great battle of Christian liberty was fought and won. The victory was another testimony of the validity and power of the Divine commission with which Paul was entrusted.

+III. Seen in the inability of the wisest leaders to add anything to the Divine authority.+--"But of these who seemed to be somewhat . . . in conference added nothing to me" (ver. 6). When Paul was called to the apostleship he "conferred not with flesh and blood"; now he affirms that flesh and blood did not confer anything on him. In conference and debate with the chiefs of the Church he showed himself their equal, and on the great essentials of the Gospel he was in perfect agreement with them. Though Paul is too modest to say it, so far from his learning anything from them, they were more likely to learn something from him, especially as to the wider scope of the Gospel. "In doctrine Paul holds the primacy in the band of the apostles. While all were inspired by the Spirit of Christ, the Gentile apostle was in many ways a more richly furnished man than any of the rest. The Paulinism of Peter's first epistle goes to show that the debt was on the other side. Their earlier privileges and priceless store of recollections of all that Jesus did and taught were matched on Paul's side by a penetrating logic, a breadth and force of intellect applied to the facts of revelation, and a burning intensity of spirit which in their combination was unique. The Pauline teaching, as it appears in the New Testament, bears in the highest degree the marks of original genius, the stamp of a mind whose inspiration is its own" (Findlay).

+IV. Seen in winning the recognition of a special mission and of equality in the apostleship.+--"They saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, . . . and perceived the grace that was given unto me," etc. (vers. 7-9). Paul won the confidence and admiration of his fellow-apostles. They listened with candour and ever-deepening interest to his explanations, and, whatever might have been their prejudices, they frankly acknowledged his Divine commission. What a memorable day was that when James, Peter, John, and Paul met face to face! "Amongst them they have virtually made the New Testament and the Christian Church. They represent the four sides of the one foundation of the City of God. Of the evangelists, Matthew holds affinity with James; Mark with Peter; and Luke with Paul. James clings to the past and embodies the transition from Mosaism to Christianity. Peter is the man of the present, quick in thought and action, eager, buoyant, susceptible. Paul holds the future in his grasp and schools the unborn nations. John gathers present, past, and future into one, lifting us into the region of eternal life and love."

+Lessons.+--A Divine call.--1. Confers the necessary qualifications to carry out its mission. 2. Demands courage and fidelity. 3. Compels public recognition.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 1, 2. Truth its Own Evidence.--1. Though the minister of Jesus Christ is not to depend upon the approbation of others for confirmation of his doctrine, as if he were uncertain before their testimony is added, yet he is not to be so self-willed as to misregard what others judge or think, but ought to demit himself so far as to give a friendly account of the doctrine, that mistakes arising from misinformation may be removed and the joint consent of others to the truth obtained. 2. As there are always some in the Church of God who have deservedly more reputation than others, so Christian prudence will teach a man to be so far from striving against such that he will endeavour, by giving due respect to them, to receive approbation from such, that he may be in a better capacity to do good to others. 3. Nothing marreth the success of the Gospel more than difference of judgments and strifes and debates among eminent preachers, many resolving to believe nothing till preachers agree among themselves, and many stumbling-blocks are cast before people by the venting of passions, jealousies, animosities, and revenge. Paul endeavoured to get the consent of the other apostles to the doctrines preached by him, lest by the calumnies of his adversaries his preaching should be useless.--Fergusson.

Vers. 3-5. The Power of Truth.

+I. Superior to ceremonial observances+ (ver. 3).

+II. Detects and exposes the wiliest tactics of false teachers+ (ver. 4).

+III. Is uncompromising in its attitude towards the subtlest errors+ (ver. 5).

Vers. 4, 5. False Brethren and their Treatment.

+I. The Church of God on earth, even at the best, hath wicked men and hypocrites in it.+

+II. They who teach Christ, joining some other thing with Him in the cause of salvation, are said to creep in,+ because in appearance they maintain Christ; yet because they add something to Christ, they neither enter nor continue in the true Church with any good warrant from God.

+III. No man can set down the precise time when errors had their beginning,+ for the authors thereof enter in secretly, not observed of men.

+IV. The false brethren urged circumcision to bring the converts+ +into bondage.+--They that be of a corporation stand for their liberties. What a shame it is that men should love bondage and neglect the spiritual liberty which they have by Christ.

+V. The false brethren urged the apostles to use circumcision but once;+ but they would not yield so much as once, because their act would have tended to the prejudice of Christian liberty in all places. Julian, sitting in a chair of state, gave gold to his soldiers one by one, commanding them to cast frankincense so much as a grain into the fire that lay upon a heathenish altar. Christian soldiers refused to do it, and they which had not refused afterwards recalled their act and willingly suffered death. We are not to yield the least part of the truth of the Gospel. This truth is more precious than the whole world beside. There is no halting between two religions.

+VI. The apostles gave no place by way of subjection.+--They willingly suffered their doctrine to be tried, yet they were not bound to subjection. We are to give place by meek and patient bearing of that which we cannot mend, but we are not to give place by subjection.

+VII. If circumcision be made a necessary cause of salvation, the truth of the Gospel does not continue,+ and falsehood comes in the room.--Perkins.

Ver. 4. A Spy.--Captain Turner Ashby was a young officer in the Confederate army, the idol of the troops for his general bravery, but especially for his cleverness in gathering information of the enemy. On one occasion he dressed himself in a farmer's suit of homespun that he borrowed and hired a plough-horse to personate a rustic horse-doctor. With his saddlebags full of some remedy for spavin or ringbone, he went to Chambersburg, and returned in the night with an immense amount of information. His career was one full of romantic episode.

Ver. 5. Fidelity to Truth.--1. Though much may be done for composing Church differences by using meekness and forbearance towards those who oppose themselves, yet we are not for peace' sake to quit the least part of truth. Thus Paul, who for lawful ceding became all things to all men, would not give place by way of subjection, so as to yield the cause to the adversaries; neither would he do anything, in its own nature indifferent, that would be an evidence of yielding. 2. A minister, when called to confess and avow truth, hath not only his own peace with God and keeping of a good conscience to look to, but also the condition of his flock, who will be shaken or confirmed in the truth by his faint or bold and faithful confession. 3. It is not enough that people have the name of the Gospel among them or some truths mixed with errors; but all, and especially ministers, should endeavour to have the Gospel in purity and integrity, free from any mixture of contrary errors.--Fergusson.

The Truth not to be yielded.--Shortly after James I. came to the throne of England he set up a claim to all the small estates in Cumberland and Westmorland, on the plea that the Statesmen were merely the tenants of the Crown. The Statesmen met, to the number of two thousand, at Ratten Heath, between Kendal and Staveley, where they came to the resolution that "they had won their lands by the sword and were able to hold them by the same." After that meeting no further claim was made to their estates on the part of the Crown.

Vers. 6-9. Recognition of a Special Mission.

+I. By men of reputation who confessed their inability to augment its authority+ (ver. 6).

+II. Acknowledging that the commission was distinctly Divine+ (vers. 7, 8).

+III. Confirmed by cordially admitting the messenger into the fellowship of highest service+ (ver. 9).

Vers. 8, 9. Divine Blessing the Highest Sanction of Ministerial Authority.--1. It is not the pains of ministers, or any virtue in the Word preached, from whence success flows, but from the effectual working of the Spirit. Paul ascribed the success both of his own and Peter's ministry to this. 2. Whom God doth call to any employment, and chiefly whom He calls to the ministry, He fitteth with gifts and abilities suitable thereto. James, Cephas, and John did not acknowledge Paul to be an apostle called by God, but on perceiving that grace and gifts, ordinary and extraordinary, were bestowed upon him. 3. We ought not to withhold our approbation, especially when it is craved, from that which by evident signs and reasons we perceive to be approved of God, though the giving of our approbation may disoblige those who pretend much friendship towards us.--Fergusson.

The Efficacy of the Christian Ministry.

+I. That grace or power to regenerate is not included in the Word preached,+ as virtue to heal in a medicine. To regenerate is the proper work of God.

+II. That grace is not inseparably annexed and tied to the Word preached,+ for to some it is the savour of death unto death.

+III. The preaching of the Word is an external instrument of faith+ and regeneration, and the proper effect of it is to declare or signify.

IV. The apostles at Jerusalem +acknowledged Paul to be an apostle because he had the gifts of an apostle,+ and because his ministry was powerful among the Gentiles.

V. As all minsters in their places are pillars, they are hereby admonished +to be constant in the truth against all enemies whatsoever.+

VI. As ministers are pillars, we are taught +to cleave to them and their ministry+ at all times--in life and death.--Perkins.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verse 10.

Christianity and Poverty.

+I. Christianity has ever been the friend of the poor.+--1. The poor who are made so by accepting Christianity. Accepting Christ often means the loss of friends, of status, of fortune. The discovery of this result among the first Christians might have much to do in the formation of a common fund. There are many Jews and heathen to-day who are convinced of the truth of Christianity but hesitate to make a public avowal of their belief because of the apparent impossibility of gaining a livelihood and the certainty of social ostracism. Christian missionaries are not in a position to guarantee their support, nor do they wish to encourage, a system that might easily degenerate into wholesale bribery. There are converts who run all risks and deliberately accept Christ and poverty. All such the Christian Church, often at great sacrifice, does its best to befriend.

2. The poor who are made so by unavoidable calamity.--Judea was devastated by famine in the reign of Claudius Cæsar, and the apostles promptly organised relief for the sufferers in the Jewish Churches (Acts xi. 27-30). Christianity has ever been ready to help the distressed and unfortunate. The hospitals, alms-houses, and other benevolent institutions that abound are substantial monuments of the practical benevolence of the Christian Church. Christianity is the best friend of the people.

+II. Christianity inculcates a zealous and unselfish charity.+--"Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same I also was forward [zealous] to do." Paul had already rendered noble service in this direction, and was prompted by the Spirit of the Gospel to continue to do so. He was zealous in good works, though he stoutly denied any merit in them to justify the sinner. His first concern was to help the Jewish poor, though many of them impugned his apostolic authority and strove to ruin his influence. As champion of the Gentiles he employed the wealth of his converts in supplying the needs of his famishing Jewish brethren. Christian charity is superior to the jealousies of sects and parties, and even to personal insult and wrong. Behind the hand of the generous alms-giver is the heart of love.

+III. Christianity elevates and enriches the poor.+--It enjoins temperance, industry, honesty, and perseverance--the practice of which has raised many from poverty to wealth. The man who has prospered should never forget the claims of the poor. It is said that a certain man dreamed that the Saviour appeared to him and upbraided him with giving so little to His cause. The man replied, "I can't afford it." "Very well," said the Saviour; "let it be so. But do you remember, that when that business panic happened, how you prayed to Me to keep you out of difficulties? and I heard your prayer and tided you over the trouble. And do you remember also, when your little child was sick, how you prayed that her life might be spared, and again I heard your prayer and restored her? But now let it be an understanding between us that henceforth when you are in trouble I do nothing for you, seeing you can't afford to help Me." The man's conscience was touched, and he exclaimed, "Lord, take what I have; it is Thine."

+Lessons.+--1. Christianity is the source of the highest philanthropy. 2. Is the unfailing hope and comfort of the poor. 3. Has achieved its greatest triumphs among the poor.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Ver. 10. Remember the Poor.

I. +The Church of Jerusalem was in extreme poverty.+--1. Because the poorer sort received the Gospel. 2. Because the richer were deprived of their riches for their profession of the name of Christ.

II. It is the office of pastors and teachers, not only to preach and dispense the Word, but also +to have care of the poor.+

III. +Satisfaction, recompense, and restitution are the way to life+ by the appointment of God.--1. He must restore who is the cause of any wrong or loss to others and all that are accessory. 2. Restitution is to be made to him that is wronged and bears the loss if he be known and alive; if he be dead, to his heirs; if all be dead, to the poor. 3. The things to be restored are those which are of us unjustly received or detained, either known to us or unknown. 4. As to the order of restitution, things certain must first be restored, and things uncertain after.

IV. It is not enough for us to give good words and wish well, but we must in our places and calling +do our endeavour that relief may be sealed to our poor.+--1. The charge was great to maintain the altar of the Lord in the Old Testament; the poor come in the room of the altar. 2. The poor represent the person of Christ. 3. Compassion in us is a pledge or an impression of the mercy that is in God towards us, and by it we may know or feel in ourselves that mercy belongs unto us. The observing of the commandment of relief is the enriching of us all.--Perkins.

Christian Duty to the Poor.--1. It is frequently the lot of those who are rich in grace to be poor in the things of the present life, and driven into such straits as to be forced to live upon some charitable supply from others, God seeing it convenient hereby to wean them from worldly contentments that heaven may be more longed after and more sweet when it comes. 2. Though those who are our own poor, within the bounds where we live, are chiefly to be relieved by us, yet in cases of extremity the poor who live remote from us are also to be supplied. 3. Ministers ought to press upon the people, not only duties which are easy and cost them nought, but also those that are burdensome and expensive, especially that they would willingly give of those things they enjoy for the supply of others who want.--Fergusson.

The Poor Representative of Christ.--One evening at supper, when one of the boys had said the grace, "Come, Lord Jesus, be our Guest, and bless what Thou hast provided," a little fellow looked up and said, "Do tell me why the Lord Jesus never comes. We ask Him every day to sit with us, and He never comes!" "Dear child, only believe, and you may be sure He will come, for He does not despise our invitation." "I shall set a seat," said the little fellow, and just then there was a knock at the door. A poor frozen apprentice entered, begging a night's lodging. He was made welcome, the chair stood empty for him, every child wanted him to have his plate, and one was lamenting that his bed was too small for the stranger, who was quite touched by such uncommon attentions. The little one had been thinking hard all the time. "Jesus could not come, and so He sent this poor man in His place: is that it?" "Yes, dear child; that is just it. Every piece of bread and every drink of water that we give to the poor, or the sick, or the prisoners for Jesus' sake, we give to Him."--Memoir of John Falk.

Remembrance of the Poor recommended.

+I. The nature of the assertion.+--1. Remember the work of the poor. 2. The deprivations of the poor. 3. Our remembrance of the poor should be founded on a personal acquaintance with their circumstances. "Indeed, sir," said a person of large property, "I am a very compassionate man; but to tell you the truth, I do not know any person in want." He kept aloof from the poor.

+II. Obligations to comply with the recommendation.+--1. The dictates of humanity require it. 2. The demands of duty. 3. The rights of justice. 4. The claims of interest.

+III. Answer objections.+--Such as: 1. My circumstances are impoverished and I have nothing to spare. 2. Charity must begin at home. 3. I have a right to do what I will with my own. 4. The poor do not deserve to be remembered.--Beta.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 11-21.

A Fearless Defence of Fundamental Truth--

+I. Does not hesitate to impeach a distinguished Church dignitary of inconsistency.+--"But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed," etc. (vers. 11-14). Peter had been accustomed to mingle with the Gentile converts on the ground of perfect social equality. Influenced by the fierce bigots of legalism, who insinuated that the circumcised occupied a superior status to the uncircumcised, he withdrew from the social circle of the Gentiles and confined himself to that of his Jewish brethren. The pliability of his impulsive nature led him into this as into other mistakes. To create a social distinction between Jew and Gentile was to undermine the Gospel. Paul saw at a glance the threatened peril, and it needed all his tact and courage to confront it. Though it meant a public impeachment of the sincerity and consistency of one of the most venerated apostles, the champion of the Gentiles did not hesitate. Alone, even Barnabas having for the time being deserted him, he stood up boldly for the truth of the Gospel.

+II. Is the opportunity for an authoritative restatement of the truth imperilled+ (vers. 15-18).--In these verses the apostle again sets forth the fundamental doctrine of justification by faith, without the works of the law. The Judaisers contended that to renounce legal righteousness was in effect to promote sin--to make Christ the minister of sin (ver. 17). Paul retorts the charge on those who made it and showed that they promote sin who set up legal righteousness again (ver. 18). The reproach of the Judaisers was in reality the same that is urged against evangelical doctrine still--that it is immoral, placing the virtuous and vicious in the common category of sinners (Findlay). "The complaint was this," says Calvin,--"Has Christ therefore come to take away from us the righteousness of the law, to make us polluted who were holy? Nay, Paul says--he repels the blasphemy with detestation. For Christ did not introduce sin but revealed it. He did not rob them of righteousness, but of the false show thereof."

+III. Is made more impressive by showing the effect of the truth on personal experience+ (vers. 19-21).--In these words the apostle indicates that his own deliverance from the law was effected by being dead to the law--being crucified with Christ; and that his own spiritual life was originated and sustained by a living faith in a loving and self-sacrificing Christ. "Legalism is fatal to the spiritual life in man. Whilst it clouds the Divine character, it dwarfs and petrifies the human. What becomes of the sublime mystery of the life hid with Christ in God, if its existence is made contingent on circumcision and ritual performance? To men who put meat and drink on a level with righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, or in their intercourse with fellow-Christians set points of ceremony above justice, mercy, and faith, the very idea of a spiritual kingdom of God is wanting. The religion of Jesus and of Paul regenerates the heart, and from that centre regulates and hallows the whole ongoing of life. Legalism guards the mouth, the hands, the senses, and imagines that through these it can drill the man into the Divine order. The latter theory makes religion a mechanical system; the former conceives it as an inward, organic life."

+Lessons.+--1. The leaven of error is not easily suppressed. 2. True religion has never lacked a race of brave defenders. 3. Experimental religion is the best guarantee of its permanence.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 11-13. Christian Consistency--

+I. May be spoilt by yielding to an unworthy fear+ (ver. 12).

+II. Should be strictly maintained for the sake of others+ (ver. 13).

+III. Should be defended with intrepid courage+ (ver. 11).

Ver. 11. An Astute Defender of the Faith.

+I. Here we have an example of true virtue,+ in St. Paul resisting evil to the utmost of his power. In like manner must every one of us resist evil, first in himself and then in them that appertain to him.

+II. An example of boldness and liberty in reproving sin.+--1. This liberty in reproving is not the fruit of a bold and rash disposition, but is the fruit of God's Spirit, and is so to be acknowledged. 2. This liberty is to be ordered by a sound mind whereby we are able to give a good account of our reproofs, both for the matter and manner of them. 3. Our admonitions must be seasoned and tempered with love.

+III. An example of an ingenuous and honest mind.+--When Paul sees Peter he reproves him to the face. Contrary to this is the common practice in backbiting, whispering, and tale-bearing, whereby it comes to pass that when a man is in fault every man knows it save he who is in fault. We see that excellent men, even the chief apostles, are subject to err and be deceived.--Perkins.

Vers. 12, 13. The Power of Example.--1. So weak and inconstant are the best of men that, being left to themselves, the least blast of temptation will make them break off the course of doing well in the very midst, and without respect either to conscience or credit, openly desert it. 2. To separate from a true Church and break off communion with its members cannot be attempted without sin, not though we eschew the offence and stumbling of many. 3. Of so great force is the bad example of men, eminent, gracious, and learned, that not only the weak and infirm, but even those who are strong and richly endowed with both grace and parts, will sometimes be corrupted by it. It is usual for us unawares to esteem such as more than men and being once so far engaged in our esteem of them we do not so narrowly examine their actions as we do those of other men. 4. An inundation of evil examples, though held forth by private Christians, is so impetuous and of such force to carry others along with it, that even the very best of men can hardly stand against it.--Fergusson.

An Erring Apostle.

+I. Peter's sin was simulation.+--Among the Gentiles at Antioch he used Christian liberty in eating things forbidden by the ceremonial law; yet after the coming of certain Jews from Jerusalem, he separates himself from the Gentiles, and plays the Jew among the Jews. This act of Peter was not a sin in itself, but the circumstances made it a sin. 1. He not only abstained from meats forbidden by the ceremonial law but withdrew himself from the Gentiles and kept company apart with the Jews. 2. He abstained not among the Jews at Jerusalem, but at Antioch among the Gentiles, where a little before he had openly done the contrary, using his Christian liberty. 3. He used this abstinence when certain Jews came from Jerusalem to search out the liberty of the Gentiles. 4. While Peter seeks to avoid the small offence of some Jews, he incurs a greater offence of all the Gentiles. 5. This act of Peter tended to the overthrowing of Paul's ministry and the suppressing of the truth of the Gospel.

+II. The cause of Peter's sin was fear of offending the Jews.+--It was a sin because he feared man more than God. It was a sin, not of malice, but infirmity. A sin of infirmity is when there is a purpose in the heart not to sin, and yet for all this the sin is committed, by reason the will is over-carried by temptation, or by violence of affection as by fear, anger, lust.

+III. The effect of Peter's sin.+--He drew the Jews and Barnabas to the like dissimulation. Here we see the contagion of an evil example. 1. Ministers of the Word must join with good doctrine the example of a good life. 2. Practice in the ministry is a part of the teaching. 3. All superiors are warned to go before their inferiors by good example. 4. The consent of many together is not a note of truth. Peter, Barnabas, and the Jews, all together are deceived; Paul alone has the truth. Ponormitane said, "A layman bringing Scripture is to be preferred before a whole council." Paphnutius alone had the truth, and the whole council of Nice inclined to error.--Perkins.

Vers. 14-16. Justification by Faith, not by Works.--1. Though private sins, which have not broken forth to a public scandal, are to be rebuked in private, public sins are to receive public rebukes, that public scandal may be removed, and others scared from taking encouragement to do the like (ver. 14). 2. Though the binding power of the ceremonial law was abrogated at Christ's death, and the practice in some things left as a thing lawful and in itself indifferent, yet the observance, even for that time, was dispensed with more for the Jews' sake, and was more tolerable in them who were born and educated under that yoke, than in the Gentiles, to whom that law was never given, and so were to observe it, or any part of it, only in case of scandalising the weak Jews by their neglecting of it (ver. 14). 3. Though every man by nature is a child of wrath and enemy to God, yet those born within the visible Church have a right to Church privileges and to enjoy the external means of grace and salvation (ver. 15). 4. The doctrine of justification by faith and not by works was early opposed, and no doctrine so much opposed, because no truth is more necessary to be kept pure, as if it be kept pure several other truths are kept pure also, and if it fall other truths fall with it (ver. 16).--Fergusson.

Ver. 16. Justification by Faith.

+I. Man is justified by the mere mercy of God.+--And there is excluded by justification all merit of congruity, all meritorious works of preparation wrought by us, all co-operation of man's will with God's grace in the effecting of our justification.

+II. Man is justified by the mere merit of Christ.+--That is, by the meritorious obedience which He wrought in Himself, and not by anything wrought by Him in us.

+III. A sinner is justified by mere faith.+--That is, nothing within us concurs as a cause of our justification but faith, and nothing apprehends Christ's obedience for our justification but faith. This will more easily appear if we compare faith, hope, and love. Faith is like a hand that opens itself to receive a gift, and so is neither love nor hope. Love is also a hand, but yet a hand that gives out, communicates, and distributes. For as faith receives Christ into our hearts, so love opens the heart and pours our praise and thanks to God and all manner of goodness to men. Hope is no hand, but an eye that wistfully looks and waits for the good things faith believes. Therefore, it is the only property of faith to clasp and lay hold of Christ and His benefits.

+IV. The practice of them that are justified is to believe.+--To put their trust in Christ. 1. Faith and practice must reign in the heart and have all at command. We must not go by sense, feeling, reason, but shut our eyes and let faith keep our hearts close to the promise of God. Faith must overrule and command nature and the strongest affections thereof. 2. When we know not what to do by reason of the greatness of our distress, we must fix our hearts on Christ with separation, as he that climbs up a ladder or some steep place: the higher he goes the faster he holds.--Perkins.

Vers. 17, 18. False Methods of Salvation--

+I. To seek justification in any other way than through Christ.+--"If, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves are found sinners" (ver. 17).

+II. Reflect unjustly on the character of the only Saviour.+--"Is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid" (ver. 17).

+III. Aggravate our sin by restoring in practice what we have abandoned in theory.+--"For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor" (ver. 18).

Ver. 19. The Christian Dead to the Law.

+I. The state in which the apostle describes himself to be.+--"I am dead to the law." Not the moral law of God. Every rational creature in the universe is under its dominion, the believer as well as others. He must escape from existence before he can escape from the law of God. The apostle means he is dead to it as a covenant between God and himself. There still stands the law before him in all its primitive authority, purity, and majesty; he honours it and strives to obey it, and often rejoices in the thought that the time will come when he shall have his soul in a state of perfect conformity to it, but this is all. Its life-giving, death-bringing powers are utterly at an end, and he knows they are at an end. He is dead to all hope from the law, dead to all expectation of heaven or of salvation from it. He builds no more hope on his obedience to it than as though the law had ceased to exist, and no more fear has he of condemnation from it. The believer, dead to the legal covenant, rests from it. The connection between him and it is over, and with it are over the feelings within him, the painful, perturbing, apprehensive, slavish feelings arising out of it.

+II. The means whereby the apostle has been brought into the state he describes.+--"I through the law am dead to the law." Suppose a man anxious to pass from one country to another, from a dangerous and wretched country to a safe and happy one. Directly in his road stands a mountain which he cannot pass over, and which he at first imagines he can without much difficulty climb. He tries, but scarcely has he begun to breast it when a precipice stops him. He descends and tries again in another direction. There another precipice or some other obstacle arrests his course; and still ever as he begins his ascent he is baffled, and the little way he contrives to mount serves only to show him more and more of the prodigious height of the mountain, and its stern, rugged, impassable character. At last, wearied and worn, heart-sick with labour and disappointment, and thoroughly convinced that no efforts of his can carry him over, he lies down at the mountain's foot in utter despair, longing still to be on the other side, but making not another movement to get there. Now ask him as he lies exhausted on the ground what has occasioned his torpor and despair; he will say that mountain itself: its situation between him and the land of his desires, and its inaccessible heights and magnitude. So stands the law of God between the Christian and the land he longs for. The impossibility of making our way to God by means of the law arises from the extent of its requirements, and the unbending, inexorable character of its denunciations. We can do nothing but die to it, sink down before this broad, high, terrific mountain in utter despair. While through the law the believer dies to all hope from the law, through the cross of Christ he also dies to all apprehension from it.

+III. The design of this deadness to the law in the Christian's soul.+--"That I might live unto God." This living unto God dethrones self, discovers to the man the base, degrading idol to which he has been bowing down, makes him ashamed of the worship he has paid it, and places on the throne of his heart his Saviour and his God. His renunciation of his self-righteousness has gradually brought on other renunciations of self. The law driving him to Christ has been the means of driving him out of self altogether. It has brought him into the sphere of the Gospel and among those soul-stirring principles, feelings, and aspirations connected with the Gospel. There is no greater mistake than to imagine that the Gospel has destroyed the law or loosened in any degree its hold on men. The Gospel rests on the law. But for the law and its unbending, unchangeable, external character the Gospel had not existed, for it would not have been needed. Dead to the law and alive unto God are two things that go together; the one springs out of the other. The more completely we die to the law as a covenant, the more fully, freely, and happily shall we live unto God.--C. Bradley.

Dead to the Law by the Law.

+I. The person justified is dead to the law.+--Here the law is compared to a hard and cruel master, and we to slaves or bondmen, who so long as they are alive are under the dominion and at the command of their masters; yet when they are dead they are free from that bondage, and their masters have no more to do with them. To be dead to the law is to be free from the dominion of the law. 1. In respect of the accusing and damnatory sentence of the law. 2. In respect of the power of the law. 3. In respect of the rigour of the law, exacting most perfect obedience for our justification. 4. In respect of the obligation of the conscience to the observance of ceremonies.

+II. The justified person is dead to the law by the law.+--By the law of Moses I am dead to the law of Moses. The law accuses, terrifies, and condemns us, and therefore occasions us to flee unto Christ who is the cause that we die unto the law. As the needle goes down and draws in the thread which sews the cloth, so the law goes before and makes a way that grace may follow after and take place in the heart.

+III. The end of our death to the law is that we may live to God.+--We live to God wisely in respect of ourselves, godly in respect go God, justly in respect to men. That we may live godly we must: 1. Bring ourselves into the presence of the invisible God and set all we do in His sight and presence. 2. We must take knowledge of the will of God in all things. 3. In all we do and suffer we must depend on God for success and deliverance. 4. In all things we must give thanks and praise to God.--Perkins.

Ver. 20. The Believer crucified with Christ, and Christ living in the Believer.

+I. The believer is conformed to the death of Christ.+--1. The nature of this crucifixion. It is figurative, not literal; yet real, and not chimerical. It not only signifies suffering and dying to sin, but also to effect this by the efficacy of Christ's cross. 2. The objects to which the Christian is crucified, and the principles which thereby expire: (1) The law considered as a means of justification. (2) The world--its applause, treasures, gratification. (3) Self. 3. The sufferings which accompany this crucifixion. Severe conviction and mortification. The complete surrender of heart is attended with many pangs. The continuance of the struggle is grievous.

+II. The believer participates in the life of Christ.+--1. The principle of the life--Christ living in the soul. 2. The evidences of this life--holy tempers, spiritual conversation, benevolent actions. 3. The instrument by which this life is introduced and maintained in the soul--faith.

+Lessons.+--1. This subject furnishes a test to try the reality of our religion and the measure of our attainments. 2. Exposes the delusion of Pharisees, hypocrites, and antinomians. 3. Exhibits the dignity, felicity, and exalted hopes of the real believer.--Delta.

The Religious Life of the Apostle--

+I. Was characterised from the beginning by promptitude of action.+

+II. Was marked by a constant solicitude for his own personal salvation.+

+III. Was eminent for its spirit of devotion.+

+IV. Was one of high fellowship with the Divine.+

+V. Had its foundation and power in a living faith in Christ.+

Truths to live on.--Some one has said, "Give me a great truth that I may live on it." And the preacher may well say, "Give me a great truth that I may preach it." There are many great truths in this verse. And yet how simply are they put! The first great truth taught in this verse is the oneness between Christ and those who believe in Him. What St. Paul means is this, that having died with Christ on the cross, he has in Christ paid the penalty of sin, and it is no longer his old self that lives and rules, but Christ lives in him. And is not this the Christ I want? Not only a Christ to copy, not a Christ outside me, but a Christ living and reigning within. The believer lives by faith, and faith lives on the promises, for faith is a loving trust. The presence or absence of faith rules the whole destiny of every man. The man who believes will live one way. The unbeliever will live in another way. If you have this simple trust in Christ, you may appropriate the last clause of the verse, "He loved me, and gave Himself for me." When did that love begin? Never. When will that love end? Never.

"Every human tie may perish, Friend to friend ungrateful prove, Mothers cease their own to cherish, Heaven and earth at last remove; But no changes Can attend the Saviour's love."

For those Christ loves He will undertake altogether. He gives them His peace, His joy, His smile, His arm, His hand, His home. For He gave Himself. There are all treasures in Him. Strength for every need, wisdom for every question, comfort for every sorrow, healing for every wound, provision for every day. "For me," so insignificant, unworthy, so bad; for me, whose iniquities have darkened the blue heavens; for me, a slave of sin.

"Why was I made to hear Thy voice And enter while there's room, While thousands made a wretched choice, And rather starve than come? 'Twas the same love that spread the feast, That gently forced me in, Else I had still refused to taste, And perished in my sin."

--F. Harper, M.A.

The Love of the Son of God to Men.

+I. The existence of this amazing affection.+--Let not the strangeness of the love stagger us into doubt or disbelief, but let us receive and rest in the revealed fact. Viewed from the side of the Divine, it is affection from a superior towards those vastly inferior. Viewed from the side of the human beings beloved, it is an affection altogether undeserved. The contrast between His dignity and our demerit is the background on which His love stands out conspicuously.

+II. The proof of affection He gave.+--Not left to assertion or speculation, but proved by a public act. What he did expresses what He felt. He showed it openly by self-denial and self-surrender. He gave not His substance or possessions, not another being, but to procure our salvation and express His love He delivered up His own person.

+III. The personality or individuality of the affection.+--He died for all and for each. His love to each human being might be inferred from that to the whole race, but it is affirmed directly. Each singly had a distinct place in His loving death. Each was a unit before Him, and had a personal interest in His affection.--W. Smiley, B.A.

The Life of Faith.

+I. The life which the apostle lived in the flesh.+--1. His whole life was a life of religious decision. He made his choice and never faltered in it. He saw what he had to do, and he began to do it at once. He allowed no parley with the enemy. Nor was this resolution fleeting; it continued through life.

2. His life was marked by a solemn regard and care for his own personal salvation.--There are two sources of religious danger of which we are not always sufficiently aware--zeal for doctrinal truth, and active employment in promoting the spread of truth. How possible it is that, through the treachery of our hearts, even these may be allowed insensibly to sap the very foundations of that solemn fear, as to our own selves, which ought to influence us! Remember that truth is not the substance of salvation but its instrument. Water others, but neglect not your own vineyard.

3. His life was truly a life of devotion.--His was a life of prayer. Philosophy asks for a reason for the efficacy of prayer, and waiting for an answer, never prays at all. Religion hears that God will be inquired of by us, thankfully bends the knee, touches the golden sceptre, and bears away the blessing. We always want; we must always pray. And wish we for a model of high aspiration in prayer? Let the apostle elevate and expand our languid desires.

4. His life was one of heavenly-mindedness.--He lived indeed in the flesh, but his life was in heaven. Heavenly-mindedness is the result of three things--an assurance of present acceptance with God, habitual intercourse with Him through His Son, and the extinction of the worldly spirit. Our fears and aversions result from principles directly opposite.

5. His life was one of cheerful submission to providential appointments.--His was no life of envied ease. In every city bonds and afflictions awaited him. These dispensations operated on a tender and delicate mind, for in him were united great energy and great tenderness. Yet this man, hunted like a beast of prey, always preserves and exhibits a contented cheerfulness. There was no sorrow for himself, none allowed to others for him. The principle itself reason could not furnish; but when furnished it is seen to be most reasonable.

6. His life was one of laborious usefulness.--He lived not to himself, but to Christ Jesus his Lord, in the promotion of His will in the moral benefit and eternal salvation of men. This was the life he lived in the flesh, even to spread the light and influence of the Gospel to all.

+II. The principle and source of his life.+--1. It is Christian faith. Its object, the Son of God. It receives His words as true, and regards Him as an atoning sacrifice. "He gave Himself for me."

2. In its nature it is confiding and appropriating.--How does faith connect itself with the results stated? (1) It regenerates as well as justifies. (2) It produces vital union with Christ. (3) It is habitual in its exercise. (4) It is realising. It gives a spiritual apprehension of invisible and eternal realities.--R. Watson.

Self-abolished and Replaced.--Caroline Herschel, the sister of the great astronomer, was through all her life the most attached servant of her brother. She called herself "a mere tool, which my brother had the trouble of sharpening." She learned the details of observing with such success that she independently discovered eight comets. Her devotion was most complete. Wherever her brother was concerned she abolished self and replaced her nature with his. Having no taste for astronomy, her work at first was distasteful to her; but she conquered this and lived to help his work and fame.

Ver. 21. The Perils of False Teaching.

+I. It seeks to base personal righteousness on an effete legalism.+--"If righteousness come by the law."

+II. It defeats the gracious purposes of God.+--"I do not frustrate the grace of God."

+III. It renders the sacrifice of Christ nugatory.+--"Then Christ is dead in vain."

Frustrating Divine Grace.--1. The joining of works with faith in the manner of justification is a total excluding of God's free grace and favour from any hand in the work. Grace admits of no partner. If grace does not all, it does nothing; if anything be added, that addition makes grace to be no grace. 2. That the apostle doth exclude in this dispute from having any influence in justification the works, not only of the ceremonial but also of the moral law, appears from this--that he opposes the merit of Christ's death to all merit of our own, whether by obedience to the one law or the other. 3. If there had been any other way possible by which the salvation of sinners could have been brought about but by the death of Christ, then Christ would not have died. To suppose Christ died in vain or without cause is an absurdity. If justification could have been attained by works or any other means, then His death had been in vain, and it were an absurd thing to suppose He would have died in that case.--Fergusson.

Justification by Works makes Void the Grace of God.

I. +Grace must stand wholly and entirely in itself.+--God's grace cannot stand with man's merit. Grace is not grace unless it be freely given every way. Grace and works of grace in the causing of justification can no more stand together than fire and water.

II. The apostle answers the objection +that if a sinner is justified only by faith in Christ then we abolish the grace of God.+--He shows that if we be justified by our own fulfilment of the law then Christ died in vain to fulfil the law for us.

III. +We have here a notable ground of true religion.+--That the death of Christ is made void if anything be joined with it in the work of our justification as a means to satisfy God's justice and to merit the favour of God. Therefore the doctrine of justification by works is a manifest error.--Perkins.

* * * * * * * *

+CHAPTER III.+

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.

Ver. 1. +Who hath bewitched you?+--Fascinated you, as if overlooked by the evil eye, so that your brain is confused. The Galatians were reputed to possess acute intellects: the apostle marvelled the more at their defection. +That you should not obey the truth.+--Omitted in R.V. +Before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified.+--In preaching, a vivid portraiture of Christ crucified has been set before you as if depicted in graphic characters impossible to mistake.

Ver. 3. +Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?+--What monstrous folly is this! Will you so violate the Divine order of progress? The flesh may be easily mistaken for the Spirit, even by those who have made progress, unless they continue to maintain a pure faith (Bengel).

Ver. 4. +Have ye suffered so many things in vain?+--Since ye might have avoided them by professing Judaism. Will ye lose the reward promised for all suffering?

Ver. 5. +He that worketh miracles among you.+--In you, at your conversion and since.

Ver. 6. +Even as Abraham believed God.+--Where justification is there the Spirit is, so that if the former comes by faith the latter must also.

Ver. 8. +Preached before the Gospel unto Abraham.+--Thus the Gospel in its essential germ is older than the law, though the full development of the former is subsequent to the latter. The promise to Abraham was in anticipation of the Gospel, not only as announcing the Messiah, but also as involving the doctrine of righteousness by faith.

Ver. 10. +As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.+--This the Scripture itself declares. It utters an anathema against all who fail to fulfil every single ordinance contained in the book of the law (Deut. xxvii. 26).

Ver. 13. +Christ hath redeemed us from the curse.+--Bought us off from our bondage and from the curse under which all lie who trust to the law. The ransom price He paid was His own precious blood (1 Pet. i. 18, 19). +Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.+--Christ's bearing the particular curse of hanging on the tree is a sample of the general curse which He representatively bore. Not that the Jews put to death malefactors by hanging, but after having put them to death otherwise, in order to brand them with peculiar ignominy, they hung the bodies on a tree, and such malefactors were accursed by the law. The Jews in contempt called Him the hanged one. Hung between heaven and earth as though unworthy of either.

Ver. 17. +The covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law cannot disannul.+--From the recognised inviolability of a human covenant (ver. 15), the apostle argues the impossibility of violating the Divine covenant. The law cannot set aside the promise.

Ver. 19. +Wherefore then serveth the law?+--As it is of no avail for justification, is it either useless or contrary to the covenant of God? +It was added because of transgressions.+--To bring out into clearer view the transgression of the law; to make men more fully conscious of their sins, by being perceived as transgression of the law, and so make them long for the promised Saviour. +It was ordained by angels in the hand of a Mediator.+--As instrumental enactors of the law. In the giving of the law the angels were representatives of God; Moses, as mediator, represented the people.

Ver. 20. +Now a Mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.+--The very idea of mediation supposes two persons at least, between whom the mediation is carried on. The law then is of the nature of a contract between two parties--God on the one hand, and the Jewish people on the other. It is only valid so long as both parties fulfil the terms of the contract. It is therefore contingent and not absolute. Unlike the law, the promise is absolute and unconditional. It depends on the sole decree of God. There are not two contracting parties. There is nothing of the nature of a stipulation. The Giver is everything, the recipient nothing (Lightfoot).

Ver. 22. +The Scripture hath concluded all under sin.+--The written letter was needed so as permanently to convict man of disobedience to God's command. He is shut up under condemnation as in a prison.

Ver. 24. +The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ.+--As a tutor, checking our sinful propensities, making the consciousness of the sinful principle more vivid, and showing the need of forgiveness and freedom from the bondage of sin.

Ver. 26. +Ye are all the children of God.+--No longer children requiring a tutor, but sons emancipated and walking at liberty.

Ver. 28. +Ye are all one in Christ Jesus.+--No class privileged above another, as the Jews under the law had been above the Gentiles. Difference of sex makes no difference in Christian privileges. But under the law the male sex had great privileges.

Ver. 29. +If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs.+--Christ is Abraham's seed, and all who are baptised into Christ, put on Christ (ver. 27), and are one in Christ (ver. 28), are children entitled to the inheritance of promise.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 1-5.

The Deceptive Glamour of Error--

+I. Diverts the gaze of the soul from the most suggestive truth.+--"Before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified" (ver. 1). The cross of Christ was the great theme of Paul's preaching. He depicted it in such vivid colours and dwelt on every detail of the story with such intense earnestness and loving emphasis, that the Galatians were arrested, excited, charmed. They were smitten with a sense of sin. They seemed to be actors in the scene, as if their own hands had driven in the nails that pierced the sacred Victim. They were bowed with shame and humiliation, and in an agony of repentance they cast themselves before the Crucified and took Him for their Christ and King. While they looked to Jesus they were secure, but when they listened to the deceptive voice of error, their gaze was diverted, and the deep significance of the cross became obscured. Then backsliding began. Like mariners losing sight of their guiding star, they drifted into strange waters. The cross is the central force of Christianity; when it fades from view Christianity declines. "As the sun draws the vapours of the sea, and then paints a rainbow on them, so Christ draws men and then glorifies them. His attraction is like that of the sun. It is magnetic too, like that of the magnet to the pole. It is not simply the Christ that is the magnet; it is the crucified Christ. It is not Christ without the cross, nor the cross without Christ; it is both of them together."

+II. Confuses the mind as to the nature and value of spiritual agencies.+--1. Concerning the method of their first reception.--"Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" (ver. 2). Making it appear that spiritual blessings were acquired by outward observance rather than by inward contemplation and faith. Confusing the true method of moral regeneration, it arrests all growth and advancement in the spiritual life. It throws back the soul on the weary round of toilsome and hopeless human effort.

2. Concerning the purpose for which they were given.--"Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" (ver. 3). It was a reversal of the Divine order. Having begun in the Spirit, so they must continue, or they would be undone. It was absurd to look for perfection in the flesh, especially when they had discovered its helplessness and misery. Pharisaic ordinances could do nothing to consummate the work of faith and love; Moses could not lead them higher than Christ; circumcision could never effect what the Holy Ghost failed to do. Spiritual results can be brought about only by spiritual agencies.

3. Rendering suffering on behalf of the truth meaningless.--"Have ye suffered so many things in vain?" (ver. 4). The Galatians on their conversion were exposed to the fiercest persecution from the Jews and from their own countrymen incited by the Jews. No one could come out of heathen society and espouse the cause of Christ in those days, nor can he do so to-day, without making himself a mark for ridicule and violence, without the rupture of family and public ties, and many painful sacrifices. But if the truth may be so easily abandoned, all early struggles against opposition and all the educative influence and promised reward of suffering must go for nothing. It is disappointing and disastrous when a youthful zeal for religion degenerates in maturer life into apathy and worldliness, when the great principles of right and liberty, for which our fathers fought and suffered, are treated by their descendants with supine indifference.

+III. Creates misconceptions as to the Divine method of ministering spiritual blessing.+--"He that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" (ver. 5). One of the most subtle effects of error is to suspend the mind in a state of hesitation and doubt. It is a dangerous mood. Confidence in the truth is shaken, and for the moment the soul has nothing stable on which to lay hold. It is the opportunity for the enemy, and damage is done which even a subsequent return to the truth does not wholly efface. Paul saw the peril of his converts, and he suggests this test--the Spirit of God had put His seal on the apostle's preaching and on the faith of his hearers. Did any such manifestation accompany the preaching of the legalists? He takes his stand on the indubitable evidence of the work of the Spirit. It is the only safe ground for the champion of experimental Christianity (1 Cor. ii. 14, 15).

+Lessons.+--1. Every error is the distortion of some truth. 2. The cross is the central truth of Christianity. 3. The highest truths are spiritually discerned.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Ver. 1. Faithful Reproof.--1. The minister when he is called to insist upon the clearing up of truth, whether positively by showing what is revealed in Scripture or controversially by refuting errors, should mix his discourse with exhortation and reproof, to excite and quicken the affections of his hearers. 2. False teachers, who by fair words deceive the simple, are spiritual sorcerers, and error is spiritual witchcraft. As sorcerers by deluding the senses make people apprehend that they see what they see not, so false teachers, by casting a mist of seeming reason before the understanding, delude it, and make the deluded person to believe that to be truth which is not. 3. Though Christ and His sufferings are to be vividly represented and pictured by the plain and powerful preaching of the Gospel, yet it does not follow they are to be artificially painted with colours on stone or timber for religious use. The graven image is a teacher of lies (Hab. ii. 18).--Fergusson.

The Folly of Disobedience.

+I. We are wise in matters of the world, but in matters concerning the kingdom of heaven the most of us are fools,+ besotted and bewitched with worldly cares and pleasures, without sense in matters of religion; like a piece of wax without form, fit to take the form and print of any religion.

+II. The truth here mentioned is the heavenly doctrine of the Gospel,+ so called because it is absolute truth without error, and because it is a most worthy truth--the truth according to godliness.

+III. The office of the minister is to set forth Christ crucified.+--1. The ministry of the Word must be plain, perspicuous, and evident, as if the doctrine were pictured and painted out before the eyes of men. 2. It must be powerful and lively in operation, and as it were crucifying Christ within us and causing us to feel the virtue of His passion. The Word preached must pierce into the heart like a two-edged sword. 3. The effectual and powerful preaching of the Word stands in three things: (1) True and proper interpretation of the Scripture. (2) Savoury and wholesome doctrine gathered out of the Scriptures truly expounded. (3) The application of the said doctrine, either to the information of the judgment or the reformation of the life.

+IV. The duty of all believers is to behold Christ crucified.+--And we must behold Him by the eye of faith, which makes us both see Him and feel Him, as it were, crucified in us. 1. By beholding Christ crucified we see our misery and wickedness. 2. This sight brings us true and lively comfort. 3. This sight of Christ makes a wonderful change in us. The chameleon takes the colours of the things it sees and that are near to it; and the believing heart takes to it the disposition and mind that was in Christ--Perkins.

Attractiveness of Worth.--In the Paris Salon some few years ago there was a bust of the painter Baudry by Paul Dubois, one of the greatest modern sculptors. Mr. Edmund Gosse was sitting to contemplate this bust when an American gentleman strolled by, caught sight of it, and after hovering round it for some time came and sat by his side and watched it. Presently he turned to Mr. Gosse inquiring if he could tell him whose it was, and whether it was thought much of, adding with a charming modesty, "I don't know anything about art; but I found that I could not get past that head." Would that we could so set forth Christ that His Word might be fulfilled, "I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me"! (John xii. 32).

Vers. 2-5. Searching Questions.--1. As to the mode of receiving the Spirit (ver. 2). 2. As to the folly of expecting advancement by substituting an inferior for a superior force (ver. 3). 3. As to the uselessness of suffering (ver. 4). 4. As to the exercise of spiritual and miraculous power (ver. 5).

Ver. 4. Suffering for the Truth.--1. They may suffer many things for truth who afterwards fall from it. As the example of others, particular interest and general applause will make even hypocrites suffer much, so continued suffering will make even the godly faint for a time. The best, being left to themselves, in an hour of temptation, will turn their back upon truth, so that no profession, no experience or remembrance of the joy and sweetness found in the way of truth, nor their former sufferings for it, will make them adhere to it. 2. Whatever have been the sufferings for truth, they are all in vain, lost and to no purpose, if the party make defection from and turn his back upon the truth. 3. Though those who have suffered much for the truth should afterwards fall from it, we are to keep charity towards them, hoping God will give them repentance and reclaim them. All our sharpness towards them ought to be wisely tempered, by expressing the charitable thoughts we have of them.--Fergusson.

The Uses of Suffering.--1. They serve for trial of men, that it may appear what is hidden in their hearts. 2. They serve for the correction of things amiss in us. 3. They serve as documents and warnings to others, especially in public persons. 4. They are marks of adoption if we be content to obey God in them. 5. They are the trodden and beaten way to the kingdom of heaven.--Perkins.

Ver. 5. Miracles confirmatory of the Truth.--1. The Lord accompanied the first preaching of the Gospel with the working of miracles that the truth of the doctrine might be confirmed, which being once sufficiently done, there is no further use for miracles. 2. So strong and prevalent is the spirit of error, and so weak the best in themselves to resist it, that for love to error they will quit truth, though confirmed and sealed by the saving fruits of God's Spirit in their hearts.--Fergusson.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 6-9.

The Abrahamic Gospel--

+I. Recognised the principle that righteousness is only by faith.+--"Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness" (ver. 6). The promise to Abraham contained the germ of the Gospel and was the only Gospel known to pre-Christian times. Though dimly apprehending its vast import, Abraham trusted in God's Messianic promise, and his unfaltering faith, often severely tried, was in the judgment of the gracious God imputed to him as rectitude. "In this mode of salvation there was after all nothing new. The righteousness of faith is more ancient than legalism. It is as old as Abraham. In the hoary patriarchal days as now, in the time of promise as of fulfilment, faith is the root of religion; grace invites, righteousness waits upon the hearing of faith."

+II. Was universal in its spiritual provisions.+--"The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed" (ver. 8). Twice is Abraham designated "the friend of God." The Arabs still call him the friend. His image has impressed itself with singular force on the Oriental mind. He is the noblest figure of the Old Testament, surpassing Isaac in force, Jacob in purity, and both in dignity of character. His religion exhibits a heroic strength and firmness, but at the same time a large-hearted, genial humanity, an elevation and serenity of mind, to which the temper of those who boasted themselves his children was utterly opposed. Father of the Jewish race, Abraham was no Jew. He stands before us in the morning light of revelation a simple, noble, archaic type of man, true father of many nations. And his faith was the secret of the greatness which has commanded for him the reverence of four thousand years. His trust in God made him worthy to receive so immense a trust for the future of mankind (Findlay).

+III. Shares its privilege and blessing with all who believe.+--"They which are of faith, the same are the children of . . . are blessed with faithful Abraham" (vers. 7, 9). With Abraham's faith the Gentiles inherit his blessing. They were not simply blessed in him, through his faith which received and handed down the blessing but blessed with him. Their righteousness rests on the same principle as his. Reading the story of Abraham, we witness the bright dawn of faith, its springtime of promise and of hope. These morning hours passed away; and the sacred history shuts us in to the hard school of Mosaism, with its isolation, its mechanical routine and ritual drapery, its yoke of legal exaction ever growing more burdensome. Of all this the Church of Christ was to know nothing. It was called to enter into the labours of the legal centuries without the need of sharing their burdens. In the "Father of the Faithful" and the "Friend of God" Gentile believers were to see their exemplar, to find the warrant for that sufficiency and freedom of faith of which the natural children of Abraham unjustly strove to rob them (Findlay).

+Lessons.+--1. The Gospel has an honourable antiquity. 2. Righteousness is the practical side of true religion. 3. Faith is the way to righteousness.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 6-9. Righteousness through Faith.

+I. The Divine method of blessing in past ages+ (ver. 6).

+II. Modern believers are spiritual successors of the most eminent examples of faith in ancient times+ (ver. 7).

+III. The unchanging Gospel taught in Holy Scripture+ (ver. 8).

+VI. Ensures the enjoyment of promised blessings+ (ver. 9).

Vers. 6, 7. Imitators of Abraham's Faith.

+I. We must have knowledge of the main and principal promise touching the blessing of God in Christ,+ and all other promises depending on the principal; and we must know the scope and tenor of them that we be not deceived.

+II. We must with Abraham believe the truth and power of God+ in the accomplishment of the said promises, or in the working of our vocation, justification, sanctification, glorification.

+III. We must by faith obey God+ in all things, shutting our eyes and suffering ourselves to be led blindfold, as it were, by the Word of God. Thus did Abraham in all things, even in actions against nature. But this practice is rare among us. For there are three things which prevail among us--the love of worldly honour, the love of pleasure, and the love of riches; and where these bear sway there faith takes no place.--Perkins.

Vers. 8, 9. All Nations blessed in Abraham.--1. The covenant of grace with Abraham extended not only to his carnal seed, but to all believers, even among the Gentiles. 2. The blessings promised to Abraham were not only temporal, but heavenly and spiritual: the temporal were often inculcated on the ancient Church, not as if they were all or the main blessings of the covenant, but as they were shadows of things heavenly. 3. The promise to Abraham contained the sum of the Gospel--the glad tidings of all spiritual blessings, and that the Gentiles should have access, in the days of the Gospel, to these blessings. The Gospel is therefore no new doctrine, but the same in substance with that taught to Abraham and to the Church under the Old Testament. 4. Eminent privileges bestowed on particular persons do not exempt them from walking to heaven in the common pathway with others. Abraham, the father of believers, in whom all nations were blessed, enjoyed the blessing, not because of his own merit, but freely and by faith as well as others.--Fergusson.

The Abrahamic Gospel intended for All.

+I. The nation of the Jews shall be called and converted to the participation of this blessing.+--When and how, God knows; but it shall be done before the end of the world. If all nations be called, then the Jews.

+II. That which was foretold to Abraham is verified in our eyes.+--This nation and many other nations are at this day blessed in the seed of Abraham. 1. Give to God thanks and praise that we are born in these days. 2. We must amend and turn to God that we may now be partakers of the promised blessing. 3. We must bless all, do good to all, and hurt to none.

+III. All men who are of Abraham's faith shall be partakers of the same blessing with him.+--God respects not the greatness of our faith so much as the truth of it.--Perkins.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 10-14.

The Conflict between the Law and Faith.

+I. The law condemns the least violation of its enactments.+--"Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things . . . in the law to do them" (ver. 10). The law is a unity; to violate a part is to violate the whole. It is like a perfect bell, every stroke resounds through every atom of the metal. If the bell is fractured in the least degree, the dissonance is evident in every part. Law is so all-pervasive and so perfect that to break one law is to be guilty of all. It is intolerant of all imperfection and makes no provision to prevent or repair imperfection except by a rigid obedience to every statute. If obedience could be perfect from this moment onwards, the past disobedience would not be condoned; we should be still liable to its penalties, still be under the curse. To pledge ourselves to unsinning obedience is to pledge ourselves to the impossible. All our efforts to obey law--to conform our life to the law of righteousness, the purity and beauty of which we perceive even while in a state of lawless unnature--are futile. It is like running alongside a parallel pathway into which we are perpetually trying to turn ourselves, but all in vain. We cannot escape the condemnation of the disobedient.

+II. The law cannot justify man.+--"But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith" (ver. 11). The law reveals our sin and our utter helplessness to rid ourselves of its misery. The law forces out the disease that is spreading under the skin. Such is its task. But healing it does not bring. "The law," says Luther, "is that which lays down what man is to do; the Gospel reveals whence man is to obtain help. When I place myself in the hands of the physician, one branch of art says where the disease lies, another what course to take to get quit of it. So here. The law discovers our disease, the Gospel supplies the remedy." We become aware in critical moments that our evil desires are more powerful than the prohibition of law and are in truth first stirred up thoroughly by the prohibition. And this disposition of our heart is the decisive point for the question, "Whether then the holy law, the holy, just and good commandment makes us holy, just, and good men?" The answer to this is, and remains a most decided, "No."

+III. The law ignores faith.+--"The law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them" (ver. 12). Its dictum is do, not believe; it takes no account of faith. To grant righteousness to faith is to deny it to legal works. The two ways have different starting-points, as they lead to opposite goals. From faith one marches through God's righteousness to blessing; from works, through self-righteousness, to the curse. In short, the legalist tries to make God believe in him. Abraham and Paul are content to believe in God. Paul puts the calm, grand image of Father Abraham before us for our pattern, in contrast with the narrow, painful, bitter spirit of Jewish legalism, inwardly self-condemned.

+IV. The law, the great barrier to man's justification, is done away in Christ.+--"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law" (ver. 13). Christ brought us out of the curse of the law by Himself voluntarily undergoing its penalty and submitting to the utmost indignity it imposed--hanging on a tree. It was this crowning scandal that shocked the Jewish pride and made the cross an offence to them. Once crucified, the name of Jesus would surely perish from the lips of men; no Jew would hereafter dare to profess faith in Him. This was God's method of rescue; and all the terrors and penalties of law disappear, being absorbed in the cross of Christ. His redemption was offered to the Jew first. But not to the Jew alone, nor as a Jew. The time of release had come for all men. Abraham's blessing, long withheld, was now to be imparted, as it had been promised, to all the tribes of the earth. In the removal of the legal curse, God comes near to men as in the ancient days. In Christ Jesus crucified, risen, reigning, a new world comes into being, which restores and surpasses the promise of the old.

+V. Faith ends the conflict of the law by imparting to man a superior spiritual force.+--"That we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith" (ver. 14). Faith is a spiritual faculty, and its exercise is made possible by the operation of the Holy Spirit. The law of works is superseded by the higher law of the Spirit. It is in the human soul that law has its widest sweep and accomplishes its highest results. The soul can never rise higher in its experience and efforts than the law by which it is governed. The law of sin has debased and limited the soul, and only as it is united by faith to Christ and responds to the lofty calls of His law will it break away from the corruption and restraints of the law of sin and rise to the highest perfection of holiness. "In every law," says F. W. Robertson, "there is a spirit, in every maxim a principle; and the law and the maxim are laid down for the sake of conserving the spirit and the principle which they enshrine. Man is severed from submission to the maxim because he has got allegiance to the principle. He is free from the rule and the law because he has got the spirit written in his heart."

+Lessons.+--1. It is hopeless to attain righteousness by law. 2. Faith in Christ is the only and universal way of obedience. 3. The law is disarmed by obeying it.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 10-12. The Inexorability of Law.

+I. The law renders no help in fulfilling its requirements but curses the incompetent+ (ver. 10).

+II. The law, though strictly observed, is powerless to justify+ (ver. 11).

+III. The law does not admit of faith; it offers life only to the doer+ (ver. 12).

Ver. 11. Man is justified by Faith alone.--One day wishing to obtain an indulgence promised by the Pope to all who should ascend on their knees what is called Pilate's Staircase, the poor Saxon monk, Luther, was humbly creeping up those steps when he thought he heard a voice of thunder crying from the bottom of his heart, as at Wittenberg and Bologna, "The just shall live by faith!" He rises in amazement, he shudders at himself, he is ashamed of seeing to what a depth superstition had plunged him. He flies from the scene of his folly. It was in these words God then said, "Let there be light, and there was light" (Gen. i. 3).--D'Aubigné.

Ver. 12. The Difference between the Law and the Gospel.

+I. The law promises life to him who performs perfect obedience,+ and that for his works. The Gospel promises life to him who doeth nothing in the cause of his salvation, but only believes in Christ; and it promises salvation to him who believeth, yet not for his faith or for any works else, but for the merit of Christ. The law then requires doing to salvation, and the Gospel believing and nothing else.

+II. The law does not teach true repentance,+ neither is it any cause of it, but only an occasion. The Gospel only prescribes repentance and the practice of it, yet only as it is a fruit of our faith and as it is the way to salvation.

+III. The law requires faith in God,+ which is to put our affiance in him. The Gospel requires faith in Christ, the Mediator God-man; and this faith the law never knew.

+IV. The promises of the Gospel are not made to the work, but to the worker;+ and to the worker not for his work, but for Christ's sake, according to His work.

+V. The Gospel considers not faith as a virtue or work, but as an instrument,+ or hand, to apprehend Christ. Faith does not cause or procure our salvation, but as the beggar's hand it receives it, being wholly wrought and given of God.

+VI. This distinction of the law and the Gospel must be observed carefully,+ as the two have been often confounded. It has been erroneously stated that the law of Moses, written in tables of stone, is the law; the same law of Moses, written in the hearts of men by the Holy Ghost, is the Gospel. But I say again that the law written in our hearts is still the law of Moses. This oversight in mistaking the distinction of the law and the Gospel is and has been the ruin of the Gospel.--Perkins.

Vers. 13, 14. Redemption and its Issues.

+I. Redemption was effected by Christ enduring the penalty of violated law+ (ver. 13).

+II. Redemption by Christ has brought blessing to all nations.+--"That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ" (ver. 14).

+III. The spiritual results of redemption are realised only by faith.+--"That we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith" (ver. 14).

Ver. 13. The Curse and Sentence of the Law lies on record against sinners, it puts in its demand against our acquittance, and lays an obligation upon us unto punishment. God will not reject nor destroy His law. Unless it be answered, there is no acceptance for sinners. Christ answered the curse of the law when He was made a curse for us, and so became, as to the obedience of the law, the end of the law for righteousness to them that believe. And as to the penalty that it threatened, He bore it, removed it, and took it out of the way. So hath He made way for forgiveness through the very heart of the law; it hath not one word to speak against the pardon of those who believe.--John Owen.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 15-18.

The Divine Covenant of Promise--

+I. Is less susceptible of violation than any human covenant.+--"Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed [approved], no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto" (ver. 15). Common equity demands that a contract made between man and man is thoroughly binding and should be rigidly observed; and the civil law lends all its force to maintain the integrity of its clauses. How much more certain it is that the Divine covenant shall be faithfully upheld. If it is likely that a human covenant will not be interfered with, it is less likely the Divine covenant will be changed. Yet even a human covenant may fail; the Divine covenant never. It is based on the Divine Word which cannot fail, and its validity is pledged by the incorruptibility of the Divine character (Mal. iii. 6).

+II. Is explicit in defining the channel of its fulfilment.+--"Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made; . . . to thy seed, which is Christ" (ver. 16). The promise is in the plural because the same promise was often repeated (Gen. xii. 3, 7, xv. 5, 18, xvii. 7, xxii. 18), and because it involved many things--earthly blessings to the literal children of Abraham in Canaan, and spiritual and heavenly blessings to his spiritual children; and both promised to Christ--the Seed and representative Head of the literal and spiritual Israel alike. Therefore the promise that in him "all families of the earth shall be blessed" joins in this one Seed--Christ--Jew and Gentile, as fellow-heirs on the same terms of acceptability--by grace through faith; not to some by promise, to others by the law, but to all alike, circumcised and uncircumcised, constituting but one seed in Christ. The law, on the other hand, contemplates the Jews and Gentiles as distinct seeds. God makes a covenant, but it is one of promise; whereas the law is a covenant of works. God makes His covenant of promise with the one Seed--Christ--and embraces others only as they are identified with and represented by Him (Fausset).

+III. Cannot be set aside by the law which was a subsequent revelation.+--"The covenant, . . . the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul" (ver. 17). The promise to Abraham was a prior settlement, and must take precedence, not only in time but also in authority, of the Mosaic law. It was a bold stroke of the apostle to thus shatter the supremacy of Mosaism; but the appeal to antiquity was an argument the most prejudiced Jew was bound to respect. "The law of Moses has its rights; it must be taken into account as well as the promise to Abraham. True; but it has no power to cancel or restrict the promise, older by four centuries and a half. The later must be adjusted to the earlier dispensation, the law interpreted by the promise. God has not made two testaments--the one solemnly committed to the faith and hope of mankind, only to be retracted and substituted by something of a different stamp. He could not thus stultify Himself. And we must not apply the Mosaic enactments, addressed to a single people, in such a way as to neutralise the original provisions made for the race at large. Our human instincts of good faith, our reverence for public compacts and established rights, forbid our allowing the law of Moses to trench upon the inheritance assured to mankind in the covenant of Abraham" (Findlay).

+IV. Imposed no conditions of legal obedience.+--"If the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise" (ver. 18). The law is a system of conditions--so much advantage to be gained by so much work done. This is all very well as a general principle. But the promise of God is based on a very different ground. It is an act of free, sovereign grace, engaging to confer certain blessings without demanding anything more from the recipient than faith, which is just the will to receive. The law imposes obligations man is incompetent to meet. The promise offers blessings all men need and all may accept. It simply asks the acceptance of the blessings by a submissive and trustful heart. The demands of the law are met and the provisions of the covenant of promise enjoyed by an act of faith.

+Lessons.+--1. God has a sovereign right to give or withhold blessing. 2. The Divine covenant of promise is incapable of violation. 3. Faith in God is the simplest and sublimest method of obedience.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 15-18. The Promise a Covenant confirmed.

+I. The promises made to Abraham are first made to Christ, and then in Christ to all that believe in Him.+--1. Learn the difference of the promises of the law and the Gospel. The promises of the law are directed and made to the person of every man particularly; the promises of the Gospel are first directed and made to Christ, and then by consequent to them that are by faith ingrafted into Christ. 2. We learn to acknowledge the communion that is between Christ and us. Christ died upon the cross, not as a private person, but as a public person representing His people. All died in Him, and with Him; in the same manner they must rise with Him to life. 3. Here is comfort against the consideration of our unworthiness. There is dignity and worthiness sufficient in Him. Our salvation stands in this, not that we know and apprehend him, but that He knows and apprehends us first of all.

+II. The promise made to Abraham was a covenant confirmed by oath.+--Abraham in the first making and in the confirmation thereof must be considered as a public person representing all the faithful. Here we see God's goodness. We are bound simply to believe His bare Word; yet in regard of our weakness He ratifies His promise by oath, that there might be no occasion of unbelief. What can we more require of him?

+III. If the promise might be disannulled, the law could not do it.+--1. The promise, or covenant, was made with Abraham, and continued by God four hundred and thirty years before the law was given. 2. If the law abolish the promise, then the inheritance must come by the law. But that cannot be. If the inheritance of eternal life be by the law, it is no more by the promise. But it is by the promise, because God gave it unto Abraham freely by promise; therefore, it comes not by the law. This giving was no private but a public donation. That which was given to Abraham was in him given to all that should believe as he did.--Perkins.

Vers. 15-17. Divine and Human Covenants.

I. A covenant, as between man and man, is honourably binding (ver. 15).

II. The Divine covenant made to Abraham ensures the fulfilment of promises to all who believe as Abraham did (ver. 16).

III. The law cannot abrogate the Divine covenant of promise (ver. 17).

Ver 18. Law and Promise.--1. So subtle is the spirit of error that it will seem to cede somewhat to truth, intending to prejudice the truth more than if it had ceded nothing. The opposers of justification by faith did sometimes give faith some place in justification and pleaded for a joint influence of works and faith, of law and promise. 2. The state of grace here and glory hereafter is the inheritance of the Lord's people, of which the land of Canaan was a type. There are only two ways of attaining a right to this inheritance--one by law, the other by promise. 3. There can be no mixture of these two, so that a right to heaven should be obtained partly by the merit of works and partly by faith in the promise. The only way of attaining it is by God's free gift, without the merit of works.--Fergusson.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 19, 20.

The Inferiority of the Law.

+I. It did not justify but condemn the sinner by revealing his sin.+--"It was added because of transgressions" (ver. 19). Law has no remedial efficacy. It reveals and emphasises the fact of sin. It has no terror while it is obeyed. When it is violated then it thunders, and with pitiless severity terrifies the conscience and inflicts unsparing punishment. There is no strain of mercy in its voice, or in the inflexibility of its methods. It surrenders the condemned to an anguish from which it offers no means of escape. It is said that, after the murder of Darnley, some of the wretches who were concerned in it were found wandering about the streets of Edinburgh crying penitently and lamentably for vengeance on those who had caused them to shed innocent blood.

+II. It was temporary in its operation.+--"Till the seed should come to whom the promise was made" (ver. 19). The work of the law was preparatory and educative. Centuries rolled away and the promised Seed was long in coming, and it seemed as if the world must remain for ever under the tutelage of the law. All the time the law was doing its work. God was long in fulfilling His promise because man was so slow to learn. When Christ, the promised Seed, appeared, the law was superseded. Its work was done. The preparatory gave place to the permanent; the reign of law was displaced by the reign of grace. The claims of the law were discharged once for all.

+III. Its revelation was through intermediaries.+--"It was ordained by angels in the hand of a Mediator" (ver. 19). In the Jewish estimation the administration of the law by angels enhanced its splendour, and the pomp and ceremony with which Moses made known the will and character of Jehovah added to the impressiveness and superiority of the law. In the Christian view these very methods were evidences of defect and inferiority. The revelations of God by the law were veiled and intermediate; the revelation by Grace is direct and immediate. Under the law God was a distant and obscured personality, and the people unfit to enter His sacred presence; by the Gospel God is brought near to man and permitted to bask in the radiance of His revealed glory, without the intervention of a human mediator. The law, with its elaborate ceremonial and multiplied exactions, is a barrier between the soul and God.

+IV. It was contingent, not absolute, in its primal terms.+--"Now a Mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one" (ver. 20). Where a mediator is necessary unity is wanting--not simply in a numerical but in a moral sense, as a matter of feeling and of aim. There are separate interests, discordant views, to be consulted. This was true of Mosaism. It was not the absolute religion. The theocratic legislation of the Pentateuch is lacking in the unity and consistency of a perfect revelation. Its disclosures of God were refracted in a manifest degree by the atmosphere through which they passed. In the promise God spoke immediately and for Himself. The man of Abraham's faith sees God in His unity. The legalist gets his religion at second-hand, mixed with undivine elements. He projects on the Divine image confusing shadows of human imperfection (Findlay).

+Lessons.+--1. The law is powerless to remove the sin it exposes. 2. The law had the defect of all preparatory dispensations. 3. The law imposes conditions it does not help to fulfil.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 19, 20. The Law is for Transgressors.

+I. We are taught to examine and search our hearts by the law of God.+--1. When any sin is forbidden in any commandment of the law, under it all sins of the same kind are forbidden, all causes of them and all occasions. 2. A commandment negative includes the affirmative, and binds us not only to abstain from evil, but also to do the contrary good. 3. Every commandment must be understood with a curse annexed to it, though the curse be not expressed. 4. We must especially examine ourselves by the first and last commandments. The first forbids the first motions of our hearts against God, and the last forbids the first motions of our hearts against our neighbour.

+II. The law of God to be reverenced.+--1. Because it was ordained or delivered by angels. 2. We are to fear to break the least commandment, because the angels observe the keepers and breakers of it, and are ready to witness against them that offend. 3. If thou offend and break the law, repent with speed, for that is the desired joy of angels. 4. If thou sin and repent not, look for shame and confusion before God and His angels.

+III. God, the Author and Source of law, is one.+--1. He is unchangeable. 2. His unchangeableness the foundation of our comfort. 3. We should be unchangeable in faith, hope, love, good counsels, honest promises, and in the maintenance of true religion.--Perkins.

Ver. 19. The Use of the Law.

+I. It is a standard to measure our defects.+

+II. It is a sword to pierce our conscience.+

+III. It is a seal to certify that we are in the way of grace.+--Tholuck.

No Trust in Legal Prescriptions.--St. Paul, with the sledge-hammer force of his direct and impassioned dialectics, shattered all possibility of trusting in legal prescriptions, and demonstrated that the law was no longer obligatory on Gentiles. He had shown that the distinction between clean and unclean meats was to the enlightened conscience a matter of indifference, that circumcision was nothing better than a physical mutilation, that ceremonialism was a yoke with which the free, converted Gentile had nothing to do, that we are saved by faith and not by works, that the law was a dispensation of wrath and menace introduced for the sake of transgressions, that so far from being, as all the Rabbis asserted, the one thing on account of which the universe had been created, the Mosaic code only possessed a transitory, subordinate, and intermediate character, coming in, as it were in a secondary way, between the promise of Abraham and the fulfilment of that promise in the Gospel of Christ.--Dean Farrar.

The Use of the Law under the Gospel.

+I. The law never was intended to supersede the Gospel as a means of life.+

+II. The most perfect edition of the Gospel, so far from having abolished the least tittle of the moral law, has established it.+

+III. The use of the law.+--1. To constitute probation. 2. The law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. 3. The law serves to give beauty and symmetry to the hidden man of the heart. 4. To vindicate the conduct of our Judge in dooming the impenitent to eternal death.

+Lessons.+--1. Since the law as a covenant has been superseded by a covenant better adapted to our guilty and helpless circumstances, let us make a proper use of the mercy, acquaint ourselves with its demands, and abound in the holiness it enjoins. 2. Mark those who set aside the law, shun their company, and pray for their repentance.--Iota.

Ver. 20. The Unity of God and His Purpose regarding Man.--1. The covenant with Adam in his innocency was immediate, no mediator intervening to make them one; there was no disagreement betwixt them because of sin. 2. No man can attain heaven, or reap any advantage, except he be perfectly holy. God made no covenant of works with men on Mount Sinai, nor could they have reaped benefit from such a covenant as they were a sinful people, standing in need of a midsman betwixt God and them. 3. The Lord in all His dispensations is always one and like to Himself without shadow of turning. If any plead a right to heaven by the merit of their works, God will abate nothing of what He did once prescribe and require of man in the covenant of works.--Fergusson.

An Effectual Mediator.--Edward III., after defeating Philip of France at Creçy, laid siege to Calais, which, after an obstinate resistance of a year, was taken. He offered to spare the lives of the inhabitants on the condition that six of their principal citizens should be delivered up to him, with halters around their necks, to be immediately executed. When these terms were announced the rulers of the town came together, and the question was proposed, "Who will offer himself as an atonement for the city? Who will imitate Christ who gave Himself for the salvation of men?" The number was soon made up. On reaching the English camp they were received by the soldiers of Edward with every mark of commiseration. They appeared before the king. "Are these the principal inhabitants of Calais?" he inquired sternly. "Of France, my lord," they replied. "Lead them to execution." At this moment the queen arrived. She was informed of the punishment about to be inflicted on the six victims. She hastened to the king and pleaded for their pardon. At first he sternly refused, but her earnestness conquered, and the king yielded. When we submit our hearts as captives to the Father, and feel that we are condemned and lost, we have an effectual Mediator who stays the hand of justice.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 21-25.

The True Use of the Law--

+I. Was not intended to bestow spiritual life.+--"If there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law" (ver. 21). The law was not against the promises. It was a Divine method in dealing with man, and one Divine method never conflicts with another. It was intended to mediate between the promise and its fulfilment. It is not the enemy but the minister of grace. It did not profess to bestow spiritual life; but in its sacrifices and oblations pointed to the coming Christ who is "the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth" (Rom. x. 4).

+II. Was to reveal the universal domination of sin.+--"The Scripture hath concluded all under sin" (ver. 22). The Bible from the beginning and throughout its course, in its unvarying teaching, makes the world one vast prison-house with the law for gaoler, and mankind held fast in chains of sin, condemned and waiting for the punishment of death. Its perpetual refrain is, "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Its impeachment covers the whole realm of human life, thought, and desire. "Every human life," says Martensen, "that has not yet become a partaker of redemption is a life under the law, in opposition to the life under grace. The law hovers over his life as an unfulfilled requirement; and, in the depth of his own being, remains as an indismissible but unsatisfied and unexpiated claim on him, which characterises such a human existence as sinful and guilt-laden."

+III. Was to teach the absolute necessity of faith in order to escape its condemnation.+--"But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed" (ver. 23). The law was all the while standing guard over its subjects, watching and checking every attempt to escape, but intending to hand them over in due time to the charge of faith. The law posts its ordinances, like so many sentinels, round the prisoner's cell. The cordon is complete. He tries again and again to break out; the iron circle will not yield. But deliverance will yet be his. The day of faith approaches. It dawned long ago in Abraham's promise. Even now its light shines into his dungeon, and he hears the word of Jesus, "Thy sins are forgiven thee; go in peace." Law, the stern gaoler, has after all been a good friend if it has reserved him for this. It prevents the sinner escaping to a futile and illusive freedom (Findlay).

+IV. Was to act as a moral tutor to train us to the maturity and higher freedom of a personal faith in Christ.+--"Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ," etc. (vers. 24, 25). The schoolmaster, or pedagogue, among the Greeks meant a faithful servant entrusted with the care of the boy from childhood, to keep him from evil, physical and moral, and accompany him to his amusements and studies. "If then the law is a pedagogue," says Chrysostom, "it is not hostile to grace, but its fellow-worker; but should it continue to hold us fast when grace has come, then it would be hostile." Judaism was an education for Christianity. It trained the childhood of the race. It humbled and distressed the soul with the consciousness of sin. It revealed the utter inadequacy of all its provisions to justify. It brought the despairing soul to Christ and showed that the true way to righteousness was by personal faith in Him.

+Lessons.+--1. Law is the revealer of sin. 2. Law demands universal righteousness. 3. Law is a training for faith.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 21, 22. The Law not contrary to the Divine Promise.--1. It is the way of some to make one Scripture contradict another, yet their bold allegations will be found always false, and truth to be every most consonant and never contrary to itself. 2. So exact and full is the righteousness required in order to life, and so far short do all mankind come of it, that no works of our own, done in obedience to the law, can amount to that righteousness. 3. Though all men by nature be under sin, it is a matter of no small difficulty to convince any man of it. The work of the law, accusing, convincing, or condemning the sinner, is compared to the work of a judge detaining a malefactor in prison which is not effectuated but with force and violence. 4. The law by its threatenings prepares and necessitates the soul to embrace salvation by faith in the Christ revealed in the promise.--Fergusson.

Ver. 22. The Great Prison; or, All concluded under Sin.--1. Satan does indeed draw and drive men into sin--this is the accursed work of his restless, Sabbath-less life; and when he has got them there he binds them fast and will not let them flee from his toils. He builds a high wall of sin all round them so that they shall not look over it into the goodly land beyond, and here he shuts them up together, sinner with sinner, a never-ending ghastly multitude, that they may encourage and pamper each other in wickedness, and that no example, no voice of holiness, may ever reach and startle them. But God never drove, never drew, any man into sin. He is calling us to come out from the deadly land, from the loathsome, plague-breathing dungeon. So, when the Scripture concludes, or shuts all men up together under sin, it is not by driving them into sin, but for the sake of calling them out of it. 2. With all the light of the Scripture shining around us, with the law of God ever sounding in our ears, and the life of Christ set continually before us, how prone are we to forget our sinfulness, to turn away from the thought of it, to fancy we are as good as we need be, and that, though we might certainly be better, yet it does not matter much! How apt are we still to forget that we are concluded under sin, to forget that we are shut up in a prison! Although the souls of so many millions are lying around us, bloated with the poison of sin, how tardily do we acknowledge that the poison by which they perished must also be deadly to us! 3. Suppose you were to be carried before an earthly court of justice, and that one sweeping accusation were to be brought against you; suppose you were found guilty, and the excuse you set up were the complete proof of your guilt,--what would follow? The judge would straightway pass sentence upon you, and you would be condemned to suffer punishment according to the measure of your offence. And must we not expect that the course of things should be the very same when you are carried before a heavenly court of justice? 4. When a man's eyes are opened to see the prison in which he is shut up, to see and feel the chains that are fast bound round his soul and have eaten into it; when he has learnt to see and know that the pleasures, whatever they may, of sin are only, like the flesh-pots of Egypt, intoxicating drugs, given to him to deprive him of all sense of his captivity,--then will he long for a deliverer, rejoice on hearing of his approach, hail him when he comes in view, and follow him whithersoever he may lead. As unbelief is the one great universal sin, in which all mankind are concluded, as it is only from having let slip our faith in God that we have yielded our hearts to the temptations of the world and given ourselves up to its idolatries, so it is only through faith that we can be brought back to God--that we can receive the promise given to those who believe.--J. C. Hare.

Ver. 23. "Shut up unto the faith." The Reasonableness of Faith.--The mode of conception is military. The law is made to act the part of a sentry, guarding every avenue but one, and that one leads those, who are compelled to take it, to the faith of the Gospel. Out of the leading varieties of taste and sentiment which obtain in the present age we may collect something which may be turned into an instrument of conviction for reclaiming men from their delusions and shutting them up to the faith.

+I. There is the school of natural religion.+--It is founded on the competency of the human mind to know God by the exercise of its own faculties, to clothe Him in the attributes of its own demonstration, to serve Him by a worship and a law of its own discovery, and to assign to Him a mode of procedure in the administration of this vast universe upon the strength and plausibility of its own theories. They recognise the judicial government of God over moral and accountable creatures. They hold there is a law. One step more, and they are fairly shut up to the faith. That law has been violated.

+II. There is the school of classical morality.+--It differs from the former school in one leading particular. It does not carry in its speculations so distinct and positive a reference to the Supreme Being. Our duties to God are viewed as a species of moral accomplishment, the effect of which is to exalt and embellish the individual. We ask them to look at man as he is and compare him with man as they would have him to be. If they find that he falls miserably short of their ideal standard of excellence, what is this but making a principle of their own the instrument of shutting them up unto the faith of the Gospel, or at least shutting them up into one of the most peculiar of its doctrines, the depravity of our nature, or the dismal ravage which the power of sin has made upon the moral constitution of the species? This depravity the Gospel proposes to do away.

+III. There is the school of fine feeling and poetical sentiment.+--It differs from the school of morality in this--the one makes virtue its idol because of its rectitude, the other makes virtue its idol because of its beauty, and the process of reasoning by which they are shut up unto the faith is the same in both. However much we may love perfection and aspire after it, yet there is some want, some disease, in the constitution of man which prevents his attainment of it, that there is a feebleness of principle about him, that the energy of his practice does not correspond to the fair promises of his fancy, and however much he may delight in an ideal scene of virtue and moral excellence, there is some lurking malignity in his constitution which, without the operation of that mighty power revealed to us in the Gospel, makes it vain to wish and hopeless to aspire after it.--Dr. Thomas Chalmers.

Vers. 24, 25. The Law our Schoolmaster.--There was a time when God put His world under a schoolmaster; then it would have been preposterous to apply faith. There is a time when a larger spirit has come, and then it would be going back to use law.

+I. The uses of restraint in the heart's education.+--1. The first use of law is to restrain from open violence. It is necessary for those who feel the inclination to evil, and so long as the inclination remains so far must a man be under law. Imagine a governor amidst a population of convicts trusting to high principle. Imagine a parent having no fixed hours, no law in his household, no punishment for evil. There is a morbid feeling against punishment; but it is God's method.

2. The second use of restraint is to show the inward force of evil.--A steam-engine at work in a manufactory is so quiet and gentle that a child might put it back. But interpose a bar of iron many inches thick, and it cuts through as if it were so much leather. Introduce a human limb--it whirls round, and the form of man is in one moment a bleeding, mangled, shapeless mass. It is restraint that manifests this unsuspected power. In the same way law discovers the strength of evil in our hearts.

3. The third use is to form habits of obedience.--In that profession which is specially one of obedience--the military profession--you cannot mistake the imparted type of character. Immediate, prompt obedience, no questioning "why?" Hence comes their decision of character. Hence, too, their happiness. Would you have your child, happy, decided, manly? Teach him to obey. It is an error to teach a child to act on reason, or to expect reasons why a command is given. Better it is that he should obey a mistaken order than be taught to see that it is mistaken. A parent must be the master in his own house.

4. The fourth use is to form habits of faith.--As Judaism was a system calculated to nurture habits of obedience, so was it one which nourished the temper of faith. All education begins with faith. The child does not know the use of the alphabet, but he trusts. The boy beginning mathematics takes on trust what he sees no use in. The child has to take parental wisdom for granted. Happy the child that goes on believing that nothing is wiser, better, greater, than his father! Blessed spirit of confiding trust which is to be transferred to God.

+II. The time when restraint may be laid aside.+--1. When self-command is obtained. Some of us surely there are who have got beyond childish meanness: we could not be mean; restraint is no longer needed; we are beyond the schoolmaster. Some of us there are who have no inclination to intemperance; childish excess in eating and drinking exists no longer. Some of us there are who no longer love indolence. We have advanced beyond it. The law may be taken away, for we are free from law. True Christian liberty is this--self-command, to have been brought to Christ, to do right and love right, without a law of compulsion to school into doing it.

2. When the state of justification by faith has been attained.--There are two states of justification--by the law and by faith. Justification by the law implies a scrupulous and accurate performance of minute acts of obedience in every particular; justification by faith is acceptance with God, not because a man is perfect, but because he does all in a trusting, large, generous spirit, actuated by a desire to please God. In Christianity there are few or no definite laws--all men are left to themselves.

3. Restraint must be laid aside when the time of faith has come, whether faith itself have come or not.--It is so in academical education. We may have attained the full intellectual comprehension of the Gospel, but religious goodness has not kept pace with it, and the man wakes to conviction that the Gospel is a name and the powers of the world to come are not in him. You cannot put him to school again. Fear will not produce goodness. Forms will not give reverence. System will not confer freedom. Therefore the work of childhood and youth must be done while we are young, when the education is not too late.--F. W. Robertson.

Ver. 24. The Law preparing for Christ.

+I. The law led men to Christ by foreshadowing Him.+--This was true of the ceremonial part of it. The ceremonies meant more than the general duty of offering to God praise and sacrifice, since this might have been secured by much simpler rites. What was the meaning of the solemn and touching observance of the Jewish Day of Atonement? We know that what passed in that old earthly sanctuary was from first to last a shadow of the majestic self-oblation of the true High Priest of Christendom, Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. Each ceremony was felt to have some meaning beyond the time then present, and so it fostered an expectant habit of mind; and as the ages passed these expectations thus created converged more and more towards a coming Messiah, and in a subordinate but real way the ceremonial law did its part in leading the nation to the school of Christ.

+II. By creating in man's conscience a sense of want which Christ alone could relieve.+--This was the work of the moral law, of every moral precept in the books of Moses, but especially of those most sacred and authoritative precepts which we know as the Ten Commandments. So far from furnishing man with a real righteousness, so far from making him such as he should be, correspondent to the true ideal of his nature, the law only inflicted on every conscience that was not fatally benumbed a depressing and overwhelming conviction that righteousness, at least in the way of legal obedience, was a thing impossible. And this conviction of itself prepared men for a righteousness which should be not the product of human efforts, but a gift from heaven--a righteousness to be attained by the adhesion of faith to the perfect moral Being, Jesus Christ, so that the believer's life becomes incorporate with His.

+III. By putting men under a discipline which trained them for Christ.+--What is the Divine plan for training, whether men or nations? Is it not this--to begin with rule and to end with principle, to begin with law and to end with faith, to begin with Moses and to end with Christ? God began with rule. He gave the Mosaic law, and the moral parts of that law being also laws of God's own essential nature could not possibly be abrogated; but as rules of life the Ten Commandments were only a preparation for something beyond them. In the Christian revelation God says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." When you have done this, and He on His part has by His Spirit infused into you His Divine life so that you are one with Him, you will not depend any longer mainly upon rules of conduct. Justification by faith is so far from being moral anarchy that it is the absorption of rule into the higher life of principle. In the experience of the soul faith corresponds to the empire of principle in the growth of individual character and in the development of national life, while the law answers to that elementary stage in which outward rules are not yet absorbed into principle.--H. P. Liddon.

The Law a Schoolmaster.

+I. The Jewish religion brought men to Christ by the light, the constraining force, of prophecy.+--First, a human deliverance of some kind, then a personal Saviour, is announced. He was exactly what prophecy had foretold. He Himself appealed to prophecy as warranting His claims.

+II. By that ceremonial law which formed so important a part of it.+--The Jewish ceremonial pointed to Christ and His redemptive work from first to last. The epistle to the Hebrews was written to show this--that the ceremonial law was far from being a final and complete rule of life and worship, did but prefigure blessings that were to follow it, that it was a tutor to lead men to the school of Christ.

+III. By creating a sense of moral need that Christ alone could satisfy.+--The moral law--God's essential, indestructible moral nature in its relation to human life, thrown for practical purposes into the form of commandments--is essentially, necessarily beyond criticism; but when given to sinful man it does, but without grace, discover a want which it cannot satisfy. It enhanced the acting sense of unpardoned sin before a holy God. It convinced man of his moral weakness, as well as of his guilt, of his inability without the strengthening grace of Christ ever to obey it.

+Lessons.+--1. We see a test of all religious privileges or gifts: Do they or do they not lead souls to Christ? 2. Observe the religious use of all law--to teach man to know his weakness and to throw himself on a higher power for pardon and strength. 3. We see the exceeding preciousness of Christ's Gospel--the matchless value of that faith which lives in the heart of the Church of God.--H. P. Liddon.

The Progress of Revelation.

+I. The law was our schoolmaster as giving precepts in which principles were involved but not expressly taught.+

+II. As teaching inadequate and not perfect duties+--a part instead of the whole, which was to develop into the whole. Examples--the institution of the Temple worship; the observance of the Sabbath; the third commandment.

+Lessons:+--1. Revelation is education. 2. Revelation is progressive. 3. The training of the character in God's revelation has always preceded the illumination of the intellect.--F. W. Robertson.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 26-29.

The Dignity of Sonship with God--

+I. Enjoyed by all who believe in Christ.+--"For ye are all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus" (ver. 26). Faith in Christ emancipates the soul from the trammels and inferior status of the tutorial training and lifts it to the higher and more perfect relationship of a free son of God. The believer is no longer a pupil, subject to the surveillance and restrictions of the pedagogue; but a son, enjoying immediate and constant intercourse with the Father and all the privileges and dignities of a wider freedom. The higher relation excludes the lower; an advance has been made that leaves the old life for ever behind. The life now entered upon is a life of faith, which is a superior and totally different order of things from the suppressive domination of the law.

+II. It is to be invested with the character of Christ.+--"For as many as have been baptised into Christ have put on Christ" (ver. 27). For if Christ is Son of God, and thou hast put on Him, having the Son in thyself and being made like to Him, thou wast brought into one kindred and one form of being with Him (Chrysostom). To be baptised into Christ is not the mere mechanical observance of the rite of baptism; the rite is the recognition and public avowal of the exercise of faith in Christ. In the Pauline vocabulary baptised is synonymous with believing. Faith invests the soul with Christ, and joyfully appropriates the estate and endowments of the filial relationship. Baptism by its very form--the normal and most expressive form of primitive baptism, the descent into and rising from the symbolic waters--pictured the soul's death with Christ, its burial and its resurrection in Him, its separation from the life of sin, and entrance upon the new career of a regenerated child of God (Rom. vi. 3-14).

+III. Implies such a complete union with Christ as to abolish all secondary distinctions.+--"For there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus" (ver. 28). All distinctions of nationality, social status, and sex--necessary as they may be in the worldly life--disappear in the blending of human souls in the loftier relationship of sons of God. The Gospel is universal in its range and provisions and raises all who believe in Christ to a higher level than man could ever reach under the Mosaic regimen. To add circumcision to faith would be not to rise but to sink from the state of sons to that of serfs. Christ is the central bond of unity to the whole human race; faith in Him is the realisation by the individual of the honours and raptures of that unity.

+IV. Is to be entitled to the inheritance of joint heirship with Christ.+--"If ye be Christ's, then are ye . . . heirs according to the promise" (ver. 29). In Christ the lineal descent from David becomes extinct. He died without posterity. But He lives and reigns over a vaster territory than David ever knew; and all who are of His spiritual seed, Jew or Gentile, share with Him the splendours of the inheritance provided by the Father. Here the soul reaches its supreme glory and joy. In Worcester Cathedral there is a slab with just one doleful word on it as a record of the dead buried beneath. That word is Miserrimus. No name, no date; nothing more of the dead than just this one word to say he who lay there was or is most miserable. Surely, he had missed the way home to the Father's house and the Father's love, else why this sad record? But in the Catacombs at Rome there is one stone recently found inscribed with the single word Felicissima. No name, no date again, but a word to express that the dead Christian sister was most happy. Most happy; why? Because she had found the Father's house and love, and that peace which the storms of life, the persecutions of a hostile world, and the light afflictions of time could neither give nor take away.

+Lessons.+--1. Faith confers higher privileges than the law. 2. Faith in Christ admits the soul into sonship with God. 3. The sons of God share in the fulness of the Christly inheritance.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 26-29. Baptism.

+I. The doctrine of Rome.+--Christ's merits are instrumentally applied by baptism; original sin is removed by a change of nature; a new character is imparted to the soul; a germinal principle or seed of life is miraculously given; and all this in virtue, not of any condition in the recipient, nor of any condition except that of the due performance of the rite. The objections to this doctrine are: 1. It assures baptism to be not the testimony to a fact, but the fact itself. Baptism proclaims the child of God; the Romanist says it creates him. 2. It is materialism of the grossest kind. 3. It makes Christian life a struggle for something that is lost, instead of a progress to something that lies before.

+II. The doctrine of modern Calvinism.+--Baptism admits all into the visible Church, but into the invisible Church only a special few. The real benefit of baptism only belongs to the elect. With respect to others, to predicate of them regeneration in the highest sense is at best an ecclesiastical fiction, said in the judgment of charity. You are not God's child until you become such consciously. On this we remark: 1. This judgment of charity ends at the baptismal font. 2. This view is identical with the Roman one in this respect--that it creates the fact instead of testifying to it. 3. Is pernicious in its results in the matter of education.

+III. The doctrine of the Bible.+--Man is God's child, and the sin of the man consists in perpetually living as if it were false. To be a son of God is one thing; to know that you are and call Him Father is another. Baptism authoritatively reveals and pledges to the individual that which is true of the race. 1. This view prevents exclusiveness and spiritual pride. 2. Protests against the notion of our being separate units in the Divine life. 3. Sanctifies materialism.--F. W. Robertson.

Ver. 26. The Children of God.

+I. We are all children.+

+II. We are all children of God.+

+III. We are all children of God through faith.+

+IV. We are all children of God in Christ Jesus.+--Dr. Beet.

God's Children.

+I. If thou be God's child, surely He will provide all things necessary for soul and body.+--Our care must be to do the duty that belongs to us; when this is done our care is ended. They who drown themselves in worldly cares live like fatherless children.

+II. In that we are children we have liberty to come into the presence of God.+

+III. Nothing shall hurt those who are the children of God.+

+IV. Walk worthy of your profession and calling.+--Be not vassals of sin and Satan; carry yourselves as King's sons.

+V. Our care must be to resemble Christ.+

+VI. We must have a desire and love to the Word of God+ that we may grow by it.

+VII. We must have afflictions, if we be God's children,+ for He corrects all His children.--Perkins.

Vers. 27, 28. The Christly Character--

+I. Acquired by a spiritual union with Christ.+--"Baptised into Christ."

+II. Is a complete investiture with Christ.+--"Have put on Christ."

+III. Is a union with Christ that absorbs all conventional distinctions+ (ver. 28).

Ver. 27. Profession without Hypocrisy.--Hypocrisy is professing without practising. Men profess without feeling and doing or are hypocrites in nothing so much as in their prayers. Let a man set his heart upon learning to pray and strive to learn, and no failures he may continue to make in his manner of praying are sufficient to cast him from God's favour. Let him but be in earnest, striving to master his thoughts and to be serious, and all the guilt of his incidental failings will be washed away in his Lord's blood. We profess to be saints, to be guided by the highest principles, and to be ruled by the Spirit of God. We have long ago promised to believe and obey. It is true we cannot do these things aright--nay, even with God's help we fall short of duty. Nevertheless, we must not cease to profess. There is nothing so distressing to a true Christian as to have to prove himself such to others, both as being conscious of his own numberless failings and from his dislike of display. Christ has anticipated the difficulties of his modesty. He does not allow such a one to speak for himself; He speaks for him. Let us endeavour to enter more and more fully into the meaning of our own prayers and professions; let us humble ourselves for the very little we do and the poor advance we make; let us avoid unnecessary display of religion. Thus we shall, through God's grace, form within us the glorious mind of Christ.--Newman.

Teachings of Baptism--

I. +Our baptism must put us in mind that we are admitted and received into the family of God.+

II. +Our baptism in the name of the Trinity must teach us to know and acknowledge God aright.+

III. +Our baptism must be unto us a storehouse of comfort in time of need.+

IV. +Baptism is a putting on of Christ.+--Alluding to the custom of those who were baptised in the apostle's days putting off their garments when they were baptised, and putting on new garments after baptism. 1. In that we are to put on Christ we are reminded of our moral nakedness. 2. To have a special care of the trimming and garnishing of our souls. 3. Though we be clothed with Christ in baptism, we must further desire to be clothed upon--clad with immortality.--Perkins.

Ver. 28. All are One in Christ.

+I. People of all nations, all conditions, and all sexes.+

II. They who are of great birth and high condition must be put in mind not to be high-minded, nor despise them of low degree, +for all are one in Christ.+

+III. All believers must be of one heart and mind.+

+IV. We learn not to hate any man, but do good to all.+--Men turn their swords and spears into mattocks and scythes, because they are one with Christ by the bond of one Spirit.--Perkins.

Ver. 29. The Promise of Grace.--The specific form of the whole Gospel is promise, which God gives in the Word and causes to be preached. The last period of the world is the reign of grace. Grace reigns in the world only as promise. Grace has nothing to do with law and requisition of law; therefore, the word of that grace can be no other than a word of promise. The promise of life in Christ Jesus is the word of the new covenant. The difference between the Gospel of the old covenant and that of the new rests alone on the transcendently greater glory of its promise.--Harless.

Heirs according to the Promise.

+I. The basest person, if he believes in Christ, is in the place of Abraham,+ and succeeds him in the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven.

+II. Believers must be content in this world with any estate God may lay upon them,+ for they are heirs with Abraham of heaven and earth.

+III. They that believe in Christ must moderate their worldly cares+ and not live as drudges of the world, for they are heirs of God, and are entitled to all good things promised in the covenant.

+IV. Our special care must be for heaven.+--The city of God is thy portion, or child's part.--Perkins.

* * * * * * * *

+CHAPTER IV.+

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.

Ver. 1 +The heir, as long as he is a child.+--An infant, one under age. +Differeth nothing from a servant.+--A slave. He is not at his own disposal. He could not perform any act but through his legal representative.

Ver. 2. +Under tutors and governors.+--Controllers of his person and property.

Ver. 3. +Under the elements of the world.+--The rudimentary religious teaching of a nonreligious character. The elementary lessons of outward things.

Ver. 4. +God sent forth His Son.+--Sent forth out of heaven from Himself. Implies the pre-existence of the Son. +Made of a woman.+--Made to be born of a woman. Indicating a special interposition of God in His birth as man. +Made under the law.+--By His Father's appointment and His own free will, subject to the law, to keep it all, ceremonial and moral, for us, as the Representative Man, and to suffer and exhaust the full penalty of our violation of it.

Ver. 5. +The adoption of sons.+--Receive as something destined or due. Herein God makes of sons of men sons of God, inasmuch as God made of the Son of God the Son of man (Augustine).

Ver. 6. +Abba, Father.+--Abba is the Chaldee for father. The early use of it illustrates what Paul has been saying (ch. iii. 28) of the unity resulting from the Gospel; for Abba, Father, unites Hebrew and Greek on one lip, making the petitioner at once a Jew and a Gentile.

Ver. 9. +How turn ye again+ [anew]?--Making a new beginning in religion, lapsing from Christianity just in as far as they embrace legalism. +To the weak and beggarly elements.+--Weak is contrasted with power as to effects, and beggarly with affluence in respect of gifts. The disparaging expression is applied; not to the ritualistic externalism of heathen religions, but rather to that God-given system of ritualistic ordinances which had served the Church in her infancy. That which was appropriate food for a babe or sick man is feeble and poor for a grown man in full health.

Ver. 12. +Be as I am, for I am as ye are.+--Paul had become as a Gentile, though he was once a passionate Jew. Their natural leanings towards Judaism they ought to sacrifice as well as he.

Ver. 13. +Ye know how through infirmity of flesh I preached.+--The weakness may have been general debility, resulting from great anxieties and toils. It has been supposed that Paul was feeble-eyed, or blear-eyed (Acts xxii. 6), and that this special weakness had been aggravated at the time now in question.

Ver. 17. +They zealously affect you, but not well.+--They keenly court you, but not honourably. +They would exclude you+--from everything and every one whose influence would tend to bring the Galatians back to loyalty to the Gospel.

Ver. 20. +I desire to be present with you, and to change my voice.+--To speak not with the stern tones of warning, but with tender entreaties. +I stand in doubt of you.+--I am sorely perplexed, nonplussed, bewildered, as if not knowing how to proceed.

Ver. 24. +Which things are an allegory.+--Under the things spoken of--the two sons, with their contrast of parentage and position--there lies a spiritual meaning.

Ver. 25. +Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.+--Judaism as rejecting the light and liberty of the new dispensation.

Ver. 26. +But Jerusalem which is above is free.+--Is the spiritual reality which, veiled under the old dispensation, is comparatively unveiled in the dispensation of grace, and destined to be fully and finally manifested in the reign of glory. Christians are very different in standing to slave-born slaves.

Ver. 27. +The desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.+--The special purpose of the quotation appears to be to show that the idea of a countless Church, including Gentiles as well as Jews, springing out of spiritual nothingness, was apprehended under the Old Testament as destined for realisation under the New.

Ver. 30. +Cast out the bondwoman and her son.+--Even house-room to Judaism is not matter of right, but only by sufferance, and that so long and so far as it leaves the Gospel undisturbed in full possession.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 1-7.

The Nonage of the Pre-Christian World.

+I. Mankind in pre-Christian times was like the heir in his minority.+--1. In a state of temporary servitude, though having great expectations. "The heir differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; but is under tutors and governors" (vers. 1, 2). Under the Old Testament the bond-servant had this in common with a son, that he was a recognised member of the family; and the son had this in common with the slave, that he was in servitude, but with this difference, the servitude of the son was evanescent, that of the slave was permanent. The heirship is by right of birth, but possession and enjoyment can be reached only by passing through servitude and attaining majority. The minor is in the hands of guardians who care for his person and mental training, and of stewards who manage his estate. So the world, though possessing the promise of great blessing, was held for ages in the servitude of the law.

2. Subject to the restraint of external ordinances.--"Were in bondage under the elements of the world" (ver. 3). The commandments and ordinances imposed by the law belonged to an early and elementary period. In their infantile externalism they stand contrasted with the analogous things of the new dispensation, in which the believer is a grown man who casts away childish things. The Mosaic system watched over and guarded the infancy of the world. It exacted a rigid obedience to its mandates, and in doing so trained mankind to see and feel the need and appreciate the rich heritage of the covenant of grace. Mosaism rendered invaluable service to Christianity. It safe-guarded the writings that contained promises of future blessings and educated the race throughout the period of its nonage.

+II. The matured sonship of mankind is accomplished through redemption.+--1. The Redeemer is Divinely provided and of the highest dignity. "God sent forth His Son" (ver. 4). The mystical Germans speak of Christ as the ideal Son of man, the foretype of humanity; and there is a sense in which mankind was created in Christ Jesus, who is "the image of God, the first born of every creature." But the apostle refers here to a loftier dignity belonging to Christ. He came in the character of God's Son, bringing His sonship with Him. The Word, who became flesh, was with God, and was God, in the beginning. The Divine Son of God was sent forth into the world by the all-loving Father to be the Redeemer of mankind and to put an end to the world's servitude.

2. The Redeemer assumes the nature and condition of those He redeems.--"Made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law" (vers. 4, 5). Christ was born of woman as other men are, and, like them, was at first a weak and dependent babe. His child-life has for ever beautified and consecrated child-nature. He was born under law--not the law as a mere Jew, which would have limited His redeeming work to the Jewish nation, but under law in its widest application. He submitted not only to the general moral demands of the Divine law for men, but to all the duties and proprieties incident to His position as a man, even to those ritual ordinances which His coming was to abolish. The purpose of His being sent was "to redeem them that were under the law"--to buy them out of their bondage. He voluntarily entered into the condition of the enslaved that He might emancipate them.

3. The sonship acquired through redemption is not by merit or legal right, but by adoption.--"That we might receive the adoption of sons" (ver. 5). The sonship is by grace, not of nature. Man lost his sonship by sin; by grace he gets it back again. Adoption we do not get back; we simply receive it. It is an act of God's free grace.

+III. The attainment of sonship is a conscious reality.+--1. Made evident by the Spirit of God witnessing in us and crying to Him as to a Father. "Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father" (ver. 6). God sent forth His Son into the world of men: He sent forth the Spirit of His Son into their individual hearts. The filial consciousness was born within them, supernaturally inspired. When they believed in Christ, when they saw in Him the Son of God, their Redeemer, they were stirred with a new ecstatic impulse; a Divine glow of love and joy kindled in their breasts; a voice not their own spoke to their spirit; their soul leaped forth upon their lips, crying to God "Father, Father!" They were children of God and knew it.

2. Confirmed by the heirship that results from the Divine adoption.--"If a son, then an heir of God through Christ" (ver. 7). The nonage, the period of servitude and subjection, is passed. It gives place to the unrivalled privilege of a maturer spiritual manhood, and the heirship to an inheritance of indescribable and imperishable blessedness.

+Lessons.+--1. The law held the world in bondage. 2. The Gospel is a message of liberty by redemption. 3. Redemption by Christ confers distinguished privileges.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 4, 5. Christ's Mission for the Adoption of Sons in the Fulness of Time.

+I. The mission of Jesus Christ and the manner in which He manifested Himself.+--"God sent forth His Son." These words present the great fact of Christ's mission from the Father and His appearance in the world. To denote the inexpressible dignity of Jesus, as being one with the Father in His most essential prerogatives and perfections, He is here styled, "His Son." He was "made of a woman." The circumstances of His incarnation placed Him at an immeasurable distance from all other parts of the human race. He was the immediate production of God, by His Divine power He was conceived of the Holy Ghost, and thereby completely exempted from the taint of original sin. He was the holy thing born of a virgin. He was by constitution placed in the same state as our first parents. He underwent a similar but severer trial and maintained His innocence against all the assaults of Satan. He was "made under the law"; whereas all other creatures are under it by the very terms of their existence, by the condition of their nature. He was made under the ceremonial law, under the moral law, under the mediatorial law.

+II. The design of Christ's mission.+--"To redeem." He came not merely to exemplify a rule of life, but to satisfy its violation; not to explain the statutes of heaven, but to pay the penalty arising from the curse announced against their transgression. He came essentially to change the moral situation of mankind. Christ has added to our original brightness; He has not only redeemed us from the first transgression, but accumulated blessings which man, even in innocence, could never have obtained.

+III. The fitness of the season at which Christ was manifested.+--"The fulness of time." 1. It was the period foretold by the prophets. Hence the general expectation of His coming. 2. It was a period of advancement in politics, legislation, science, and arts, and manners; an age of scepticism. 3. It was a period of toleration. The epoch will arrive when this world shall be thought of as nothing but as it furnished a stage for the manifestation of the Son of God.--Robert Hall.

Ver. 4. The Fulness of the Time.--Christ comes when a course of preparation, conducted through previous ages, was at last complete. He was not the creation of His own or any preceding age. What is true of all other great men, who are no more than great men, is not true of Him. They receive from their age as much as they give it; they embody and reflect its spirit. Christ really owed nothing to the time or the country which welcomed His advent.

+I. The world was prepared politically for Christ's work.+--There was a common language--the Greek; a common government--the Roman.

+II. There was a preparation in the convictions of mankind.+--The epoch of religious experiments had been closed in an epoch of despair.

+III. There was a preparation in the moral experience of mankind.+--The dreadful picture of the pagan world which St. Paul draws at the close of the first chapter of his epistle to the Romans is not a darker picture than that of pagan writers--of moralists like Seneca, of satirists like Juvenal, of historians like Tacitus; and yet enough survived of moral truth in the human conscience to condemn average pagan practice. It led them to yearn for a deliverer, although their aspirations were indefinite enough. This widespread corruption, this longing for better things, marked the close of the epoch of moral experiments.

+Lessons.+--1. The earthly life of Christ stood in a totally different relation towards moral truth from that of every other man. 2. It was a life at harmony with itself and a revelation of higher truth. 3. His incarnation delivers us from false views of the world and of life, from base and desponding views of our human nature, and from bondage.--H. P. Liddon.

Christ Obedient to the Law.

+I. This obedience was not a matter of course,+ following upon His incarnation. He might have lived and died, had it been consistent with His high purpose, in sinless purity, without expressly undertaking as He did openly to fulfil the law. It was a voluntary act, becoming and fit for the great work He had in hand.

+II. This obedience was not only an integral but a necessary part of His work of redemption.+--Had this not been so, redemption would have been incomplete. Not only God's unwritten law in the conscience, but God's written law in the tables of stone, must be completely satisfied. It being shown, by both Gentile and Jew, that neither by nature nor by revealed light was man capable of pleasing God, all men were left simply and solely dependent on His free and unmerited grace. All cases of guilt must be covered, all situations of disobedience taken up and borne and carried triumphantly out into perfection and accordance with the Father's will, by the Son of God in our flesh.

+III. This obedience for man was to be not only complete,+ so that Christ should stand in the root of our nature as the accepted man, +but was to be our pattern,+ that as He was holy so we might be holy also.

+IV. This obedience arose from the requirements of His office connected with the law.+--He was the end of the law. It all pointed to Him. Its types and ceremonies all found fulfilment in His person and work. All has been fulfilled. All looked forward to One that was to come--to one who has come, and in His own person has superseded that law by exhausting its requirements, has glorified that law by filling out and animating with spiritual life its waste and barren places. So that God has not changed, nor has His purpose wavered, nor are His people resting on other than their old foundation.--Dean Alford.

Ver. 5. Under the Law--

+I. As the rule of life.+--Thus angels are under the law. Adam was before his fall, and the saints in heaven are so now. None yield more subjection to the law than they, and this subjection is their liberty.

+II. As a grievous yoke which none can bear.+--1. It bound the Church of the Old Testament to the observance of many and costly ceremonies. 2. It binds every offender to everlasting death. 3. It is a yoke as it increases sin and is the strength of it. The wicked nature of man is the more to do a thing the more he is forbidden.--Perkins.

Adoption.

+I. In what adoption consists.+--1. The points of resemblance between natural and spiritual adoption. (1) We cease to have our former name and are designated after the name of God. (2) We change our abode. Once in the world, now in the Church and family of God. (3) We change our costume. Conform to the family dress: garments of salvation. 2. The points of difference between natural and spiritual adoption. (1) Natural adoption was to supply a family defect. God had hosts of children. (2) Natural adoption was only of sons. No distinction in God's adoption. (3) In natural adoption there was only a change of condition. God makes His children partakers of His own nature. (4) In natural adoption only one was adopted, but God adopts multitudes. (5) In natural adoption only temporal advantages were derived, but in spiritual the blessings are eternal.

+II. Signs of adoption.+--1. Internal signs. Described in ch. iv. 6; Rom. viii. 14-16. 2. External signs. (1) Language; (2) Profession; (3) Obedience.

+III. Privileges of adoption.+--1. Deliverance from the miseries of our natural state. 2. Investiture into all the benefits of Christ's family. 3. A title to the celestial inheritance.

+Learn+--1. The importance of the blessing. 2. Seek the good of God's family. 3. Invite strangers to become sons and heirs of God.--Sketches.

Adoption and its Claims.--Among the American Indians when a captive was saved to be adopted in the place of some chieftain who had fallen, his allegiance and his identity were looked upon as changed. If he left a wife and children behind him, they were to be forgotten and blotted from memory. He stood in the place of the dead warrior, assumed his responsibilities, he was supposed to cherish those whom he had cherished and hate those whom he had hated; in fact, he was supposed to stand in the same relation of consanguinity to the tribe.--Bancroft.

Vers. 6, 7. Evidences of Sonship.

+I. The presence of the Spirit in the heart.+--1. The beginning of our new birth is in the heart, when a new light is put into the mind, a new and heavenly disposition into the will and affection. 2. The principal part of our renovation is in the heart were the Spirit abides. 3. The beginning and principal part of God's worship is in the heart. 4. Keep watch and ward about thy heart, that it may be a fit place of entertainment for the Spirit, who is an Ambassador sent from God to thee.

+II. The work of the Spirit.+--1. Bestowing conviction that the Scriptures are the Word of God. 2. Submission to God and a desire to obey Him. 3. The testimony of the Spirit--a Divine manner of reasoning framed in the mind--that we are God's children. 4. Peace of conscience, joy, and affiance in God.

+III. The desires of the heart directed towards God.+--1. Our cries are to be directed to God with reverence. 2. With submission to His will. 3. With importunity and constancy.--Perkins.

The Character and Privileges of the Children of God.

+I. The distinguishing characteristic of the children of God.+--1. It is a spirit of filial confidence as opposed to servile fear. No unpardoned sinner has a sufficient ground of confidence in God. Till assured that God loves him, he knows not how God may treat him at any particular time. But we cannot believe that God loves us and at the same time doubt His mercy. He that heartily reposes on God's favour cannot dread His vengeance.

2. This filial spirit is one of holy love as opposed to the bondage of sin.--The love of God is a powerful element well calculated to change the whole of our inner man. It gives a new bias to our wayward affections and a healthful vigour to every good desire.

3. The filial spirit is one of ready obedience as opposed to the gloomy spirit of servitude.--The service of a slave is unwilling, extorted, unsatisfactory; the obedience of a child is ready, loving, energetic. Love is self-denying, soul-absorbing, devoted.

+II. Some of the distinguishing privileges of the children of God.+--1. The child of God has a part in the Father's love and care. 2. Has a filial resemblance to the heavenly Father. 3. Children of God have the privileges of family communion and fellowship. 4. Have a share in the family provisions. 5. Have a title to the future inheritance.--Robert M. Macbrair.

Ver. 7. God's Offspring.--1. This is the state of all poor heathen, whether in England or foreign countries: they are children, ignorant and unable to take care of themselves, because they do not know what they are. Paul tells them they are God's offspring, though they know it not. He does not mean that we are not God's children till we find out that we are God's children. You were God's heirs all along, although you differed nothing from slaves; for as long as you were in heathen ignorance and foolishness God had to treat you as His slaves, not as His children. They thought that God did not love them, that they must buy His favours. They thought religion meant a plan for making God love them. 2. Then appeared the love of God in Jesus Christ, who told men of their heavenly Father. He preached to them the good news of the kingdom of God, that God had not forgotten them, did not hate them, would freely forgive them all that was past; and why? Because He was their Father and loved them so that He spared not His only begotten Son. And now God looks at us in the light of Jesus Christ. He does not wish us to remain merely His child, under tutors and governors, forced to do what is right outwardly and whether it likes or not. God wishes each of us to become His son, His grown-up and reasonable son. 3. It is a fearful thing to despise the mercies of the living God, and when you are called to be His sons to fall back under the terrors of His law in slavish fear and a guilty conscience and remorse which cannot repent. He has told you to call Him your Father; and if you speak to Him in any other way, you insult Him and trample underfoot the riches of His grace. You are not God's slaves, but His sons, heirs of God and joint-heirs of Christ. What an inheritance of glory and bliss that must be which the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is to inherit with us--an inheritance of all that is wise, loving, noble, holy, peaceful, all that can make us happy and like God Himself.--C. Kingsley.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 8-11.

Legalism a Relapse.

+I. Legalism is no advance on heathenism.+--"When ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods" (ver. 8). Paganism was an elaborate system of formalism. The instinct of worship led men to sacrifice to imaginary deities--gods which were no gods. Ignorant of the true God, they multiplied deities of their own. The Galatian pagans created a strange Pantheon. There were the old weird Celtic deities before whom our British forefathers trembled. On this ancestral faith had been superimposed the frantic rites of the Phrygian mother Cebele, with her mutilated priests, and the more genial and humanistic cultus of the Greek Olympian gods. The oppressive rites of legalism were little better than the heathen ritual. Religion degenerated into a meaningless formality. Dickens describes how in Genoa he once witnessed a great feast on the hill behind the house, when the people alternately danced under tents in the open air and rushed to say a prayer or two in an adjoining church bright with red and gold and blue and silver--so many minutes of dancing and of praying in regular turns of each.

+II. Legalism to converted heathen, is a disastrous relapse.+--"After ye have known God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements? . . . Ye observe days and months and times and years" (vers. 9, 10). The heathen in their blindness and ignorance might be excused, and ritualism, even to the Jews before the coming of the Messiah, might be well enough; but for Christians, who had received ampler knowledge and been illumined by the Holy Spirit, to return to the weak and beggarly elements, was irrational, monstrous! Having tasted the sweets of liberty, what folly to submit again to slavery! having reached spiritual manhood, how childish to degenerate! Legalism destroys the life of religion and leaves only a mass of petrified forms. In his Stones of Venice, Ruskin says: "There is no religion in any work of Titian's; there is not even the smallest evidence of religious temper or sympathies either in himself or those for whom he painted. His larger sacred themes are merely for the exhibition of pictorial rhetoric--composition and colour. His minor works are generally made subordinate to the purposes of portraiture. The Madonna in the Frari church is a mere lay figure, introduced to form a link of connection between the portraits of various members of the Pesaro family who surround her. Bellini was brought up in faith; Titian in formalism. Between the years of their births the vital religion of Venice had expired."

+III. A relapse to legalism is an occasion of alarm to the earnest Christian teacher.+--"I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain" (ver. 11). The apostle knew something of the fickleness of the Galatians and of the weakness of human nature but was hardly prepared for such a collapse of the work which he had built up with so much anxiety and care. He saw, more clearly than they, the peril of his converts, and the prospect of their further defection filled him with alarm and grief. It meant the loss of advantages gained, of precious blessing enjoyed, of peace, of character, of influence for good. It is a painful moment when the anxious Christian worker has to mourn over failure in any degree.

+Lessons.+--1. Legalism suppresses all religious growth. 2. Is a constant danger to the holiest. 3. Shows the necessity for earnest vigilance and prayer.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 8-11. The Dilemma of Turncoats.

+I. Their first condition was one of ignorance.+--1. Ignorance of God. (1) The light of nature is imperfect, because we know by it only some few and general things of God. (2) It is weak, because it serves only to cut off excuse, and is not sufficient to direct us in the worship of God. (3) It is a great and grievous sin.

2. Idolatry.--(1) When that which is not God is placed and worshipped in the room of the true God. (2) When men acknowledge the true God, but do not conceive Him as He will be conceived, and as He has revealed Himself. (3) What a man loves most, cares for most, and delights in most, that is his god. Where the heart is, there is thy god.

+II. Their changed condition is the knowledge of God in Christ.+--1. This is a special knowledge whereby we must acknowledge God to be our God in Christ. 2. This knowledge must be not confused, but distinct. (1) We must acknowledge God in respect of His presence in all places. (2) In respect of His particular providence over us. (3) In respect of His will in all things to be done and suffered. 3. This knowledge must be an effectual and lively knowledge, working in us new affections, and inclinations.

+III. Their revolt is an abandonment of salvation.+--It is an exchange of knowledge for ignorance, of the substance for the shadow, of reality for emptiness--a return to weak and beggarly elements. It is the substitution of ceremonies for genuine worship.

+IV. The conduct of turn-coats is an occasion of ministerial disappointment and alarm+ (ver. 11).--Work that is in vain in respect of men is not so before God.--Perkins.

Vers. 8, 9. Ignorance of God a Spiritual Bondage.--1. However nature's light may serve to make known there is a God and that He ought to be served, it is nothing else but ignorance, as it leaves us destitute of the knowledge of God in Christ, without which there is no salvation. 2. Men are naturally inclined to feign some representation of the Godhead by things which incur in the outward senses, from which they easily advance to give Divine worship unto those images and representations. 3. Though the Levitical ceremonies were once to be religiously observed as a part of Divine worship leading to Christ, yet when the false teachers did urge them as a part of necessary commanded worship, or as a part of their righteousness before God, the apostle is bold to give them the name of "weak and beggarly elements." 4. People may advance very far in the way of Christianity, and yet make a foul retreat afterwards in the course of defection and apostasy.--Fergusson.

Vers. 9, 10. God's Sabbatic Law antedated the Mosaic Law.--And whatever of legal bondage has been linked with the observance of the Jewish Sabbath was eliminated together with the change to the first day of the week. This at once removes the Lord's Day from the category of days, and also of weak and beggarly elements. The mode of observance is learned from the Lord's words, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath," which at the same time imply, when rightly understood, the perpetual necessity for a Sabbath.--Lange.

Ver. 11. Ministerial Anxiety--1. Prompts to earnest efforts in imparting the highest spiritual truths. 2. Looks for corresponding results in consistency of character and conduct. 3. Is grieved with the least indications of religious failure.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 12-20.

The Pleadings of an Anxious Teacher with his Pupils in Peril.

+I. He reminds them of the enthusiastic attachment of former days.+--1. Urges them to exercise the same freedom as he himself claimed. "Be as I am; for I am as ye are" (ver. 12). Though himself a Jew, Paul had assumed no airs of superiority, and did not separate himself from his Gentile brethren; he became as one of them. He asks them to exercise a similar liberty; and lest they should fear he would have a grudge against them because of their relapse, he hastens to assure them, "Ye have not injured [wronged] me at all" (ver. 12).

2. Recalls their extravagant expression of admiration on their first reception of his teaching.--"Ye know how through infirmity I preached at the first. My temptation ye despised not; but received me as an angel of God. . . . Ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me" (vers. 13, 14, 15). His physical weakness, which might have moved the contempt of others, elicited the sympathy of the warm-hearted Galatians. They listened with eagerness and wonder to the Gospel he preached. The man, with his humiliating infirmity, was lost in the charm of his message. They were thankful that, though his sickness was the reason of his being detained among them, it was the opportunity of their hearing the Gospel. Had he been an angel from heaven, or Jesus Christ Himself, they could not have welcomed him more rapturously. They would have made any sacrifice to assure him of their regard and affection.

3. Shows he was not less their friend because he rebuked them.--"Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?" (ver. 16). And now they rush, with Gallic-like fickleness, to the opposite extreme. Because he attacks the new fancies with which they have become enamoured, and probes them with some wholesome and unwelcome truths, they imagine he has become their enemy. Not so; he is but using the privilege of a true and faithful friend.

+II. He warns them against the seductive tactics of false teachers.+--1. Their zealous flattery was full of danger. "They zealously affect you, but not well; they would exclude you" (ver. 17). They are courting you, these present suitors for your regard, dishonourably; they want to shut us out and have you to themselves, that you may pay court to them. They pretend to be zealous for your interests; but it is their own they seek. They would exclude you from all opportunities of salvation--yea, from Christ Himself. The flatterer should be always suspected. The turning away from sound doctrine goes hand in hand with a predilection for such teachers as tickle the ear, while they teach only such things as correspond to the sinful inclinations of the hearers.

2. Though genuine zeal is commendable.--"It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing" (ver. 18). Christian zeal must be seen not only to correspond and to be adapted to the intellect but must also be in harmony with the highest and profoundest sentiments of our nature. It must not be exhibited in the dry, pedantic divisions of a scholastic theology; nor must it be set forth and tricked out in the light drapery of an artificial rhetoric, in prettiness of style, in measured sentences, with an insipid floridness, and in the form of elegantly feeble essays. No; it must come from the soul in the language of earnest conviction and strong feeling.

+III. He pleads with the tender solicitude of a spiritual parent.+--"My little children, of whom I travail in birth again, . . . I desire to be present with you, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you" (vers. 19, 20). As a mother, fearful of losing the affection of her children for whom she has suffered so much, the apostle appeals to his converts in tones of pathetic persuasion. His heart is wrung with anguish as he sees the peril of his spiritual children, and he breaks out into tender and impassioned entreaty. And yet he is perplexed by the attitude they have taken, and as if uncertain of the result of his earnest expostulations. The preacher has to learn to be patient as well as zealous.

+Lessons.+--1. Strong emotions and warm affections are no guarantee for the permanence of religious life. 2. How prone are those who have put themselves in the wrong to fix the blame on others. 3. Men of the Galatian type are the natural prey of self-seeking agitators.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Ver. 12. Christian Brotherhood.--Here is: 1. A loving compellation--"Brethren." 2. A submissive address by way of comprecation--"I beseech you." 3. A request most reasonable--"Be ye as I am; for I am as ye are." 4. A wise and prudent preoccupation or prevention which removes all obstructions and forestalls those jealousies, those surmises and groundless suspicions, which are the bane of charity and the greatest enemies to peace. "Ye have not injured me at all."

+I. Nature herself hath made all men brethren.+--1. This may serve to condemn all those who look upon men under other consideration than as men or view them in any other shape than as brethren. And the very name of man and of brother should be an amulet for all mankind against the venom of iniquity and injustice.

2. By this light of nature we may condemn ourselves when any bitterness towards our brother riseth in our hearts, and allay or rather root it out as inhuman and unnatural. None can dishonour us more than ourselves do, when one man hath trodden down another as the clay in the streets, when we think ourselves great men by making our brethren little, when we contemn and despise, hate and persecute them.

+II. Brethren as Christians professing the same faith.+--There is such a brotherhood that neither error nor sin nor injury can break and dissolve it.

1. Men may err and yet be brethren.--We may be divided in opinion and yet united in charity. Consider the difficulty of finding out truth in all things and avoiding error, that our brother may err rather from want of light than out of malice and wilfully and conceive it possible we may err as foully as others.

2. Men may sin and yet be brethren.--Charity, because she may err, nay, because she must err, looks upon every Christian as a brother. If he err, she is a guide to him; if he sin, she is a physician; if he fall, she strives to lift him up, being a light to the blind and a staff to the weak.

3. Men may injure each other and yet be brethren.--Socrates, being overcome in judgment, professed he had no reason to be angry with his enemies unless it were for this, that they conceived and believed they had hurt him. Indeed, no injury can be done by a brother to a brother. The injury is properly done to God, who reserves all power of revenge to Himself. "If a brother strike us," said Chrysostom, "kiss his hand; if he would destroy us, our revenge should be to save him." Nazianzen said to the young man who was suborned to kill him, "Christ forgive thee, who hath also forgiven me, and died to save me."

+Lessons.+--1. Brotherly love is pleasant and delightful. 2. Profitable and advantageous. 3. So necessary that it had been better for us never to have been than not to love the brethren.--A. Farindon.

Vers. 13-15. Love for the Preacher--

+I. Notwithstanding the physical infirmity of the messenger+ (ver. 13).

+II. Generates the loftiest esteem for his character and abilities+ (ver. 14).

+III. Is often expressed in exaggerated terms+ (ver. 15).

Ver. 14. The Authority of the Messenger of God.

+I. He is to be heard even as Christ Himself,+ because in preaching he is the mouth of God.

II. Here we see the goodness of God, +who does not speak to us in His majesty, but appoints men in His stead,+ who are His ambassadors.

+III. There must be fidelity in teachers.+--They stand in the stead of Christ, and must deliver only that which they know to be the will of Christ.

+IV. They must have especial care of holiness of life.+

+V. The people are to hear their teachers with reverence,+ as if they would hear the angels or Christ Himself.

+VI. The comfort of the ministry is as sure+ as if an angel came down from heaven, or Christ Himself, to comfort us.--Perkins.

Ver. 16. The Right Mode of giving and receiving Reproof.--Should it be esteemed the part of a friend faithfully to tell men the truth? and should the suppression of truth and the substitution of its opposite be held to mark the character of an enemy? How often has the amicable state of feeling been broken up by telling the truth, even when done in a proper spirit and manner!

+I. What would you wish your friend to be?+--1. Sincere. 2. That he should take a very general interest in my welfare and be desirous to promote it. 3. A person of clear, sound, discriminating judgment, and with a decided preference in all things. 4. That he should not be a man full of self-complacency, a self-idolater, but observant and severe towards his own errors and defects. 5. A man who would include me expressly in his petitions, praying that I may be delivered from those evils which he perceives in me, and God far more clearly. 6. Such that, as the last result of my communications with him, a great deal of what may be defective and wrong in me shall have been disciplined away.

+II. Why do we regard a friend as an enemy because he tells us the truth?+--1. Because plain truth, by whatever voice, must say many things that are displeasing. 2. Because there is a want of the real earnest desire to be in all things set right. 3. Because there is pride, reacting against a fellow-mortal and fellow-sinner. 4. Because there is not seldom a real difference of judgment on the matters in question. 5. Because there is an unfavourable opinion or surmise as to the motives of the teller of truth.

+III. How should reproof be administered?+--1. Those who do this should well exercise themselves to understand what they speak of. 2. It should be the instructor's aim that the authority may be conveyed in the truth itself, and not seem to be assumed by him as the speaker of it. 3. He should watch to select favourable times and occasions.

+IV. How should reproof be received?+--1. By cultivating a disposition of mind which earnestly desires the truth, in whatever manner it may come to us. 2. There have been instances in which a friend, silent when he should have spoken, has himself afterwards received the reproof for not having done so from the person whom he declined to admonish. 3. If there be those so painfully and irritably susceptible as to be unwilling to hear corrective truth from others, how strong is the obligation that they should look so much the more severely to themselves.--John Foster.

Ver. 18. Zeal.

+I. Various kinds of zeal.+--1. There is a zeal of God which is not according to knowledge. 2. There is a mistaken zeal for the glory of God. (1) When that is opposed which is right, under a false notion of its being contrary to the glory of God. (2) When ways and methods improper are taken to defend and promote the glory of God. (3) There is a superstitious zeal, such as was in Baal's worshippers, who cut themselves with knives and lancets; particularly in the Athenians, who were wholly given to idolatry; and the Jews, who were zealous of the traditions of the fathers. (4) There is a persecuting zeal, under a pretence of the glory of God. (5) There is a hypocritical zeal for God, as in the Pharisees, who make a show of great zeal for piety, by their long prayers, when they only sought to destroy widows' houses by that means. (6) There is a contentious zeal, which often gives great trouble to Christian communities. (7) True zeal is no other than a fervent, ardent love to God and Christ, and a warm concern for their honour and glory.

+II. The objects of zeal.+--1. The object of it is God. The worship of God, who must be known, or He cannot be worshipped aright. 2. The cause of Christ is another object of zeal. The Gospel of Christ; great reason there is to be zealous for that, since it is the Gospel of the grace of God. 3. The ordinances of Christ, which every true Christian should be zealous for, that they be kept as they were first delivered, without any innovation or corruption. 4. The discipline of Christ's house should be the object of our zeal. 5. True zeal is concerned in all the duties of religion and shows itself in them.

+III. Motives exciting to the exercise of true zeal.+--1. The example of Christ. 2. True zeal answers a principal end of the redemption of Christ. 3. It is good, the apostle says, to be zealously affected in and for that which is good. 4. A lukewarm temper, which is the opposite to zeal, seems not consistent with true religion, which has always life and heat in it. 5. The zeal of persons shown in a false way should stimulate the professors of the true religion to show at least an equal zeal.--Pulpit Assistant.

Christian Zeal--

+I. Implies unwavering steadfastness of purpose.+

+II. Universal and hearty obedience to God's commands+ in all things, small as well as great.

+III. Supreme devotion of heart and life to Christ.+

+IV. Should be exercised in a good thing.+--True zeal seeks benevolent ends by lawful means, else it is fanaticism. It seeks practical ends by wise means, else it is enthusiasm. Zeal should be shown in active and useful devotion to the cause of religion, rather than in excitement and warm devotional exercise.

+V. Should be uniform, not periodical.+--It should not depend upon the fluctuations of feeling, but should act upon principle. Periodical fervours are deceitful, dangerous, injurious, dishonourable to religion. They are commonly a proof of superficial piety, or of none at all.--Stephen Olin.

Godly Zeal and its Counterfeits.

+I. Let us distinguish between mere natural zeal and spiritual ardour.+--1. There is a zeal of sympathy which is awakened by the zeal of others with whom we associate. It is only that of the soldier who, though himself a coward, is urged on to battle by the example of those around him. 2. There is constitutional zeal, a warmth, an ardour, which enters into all we say or do, which pervades all our actions and animates all our services. This is not strictly religious but animal excitement and is no more allied to our soul-life than our arms or our feet. 3. There is a zeal which is merely sentimental. It throws a romantic glamour over our objects; but its exercises are too occasional, too random, to produce much effect. 4. There is a zeal of affectation like that of Jehu (2 Kings x. 16). This is religious foppery and hypocritical vanity. 5. Christian zeal is a fair demonstration of what is felt within. It seeks not the eye of man but acts under the conviction of God's omniscience.

+II. Consider the objects to which Christian zeal should be directed.+--This "good thing" may be taken as including all true religion, and embracing: 1. The promotion of God's glory. 2. The extension of Christ's kingdom. 3. The salvation of men. 4. The conversion of the world.

+III. The good that results from the exercise of Christian zeal to the persons that possess it.+--1. It renders them more Christ-like. 2. It furthers the Divine designs in the most effective way. 3. We become worthy followers of the great heroes of faith in the past ages.--The Preacher's Magazine.

True Christian Zeal.

+I. The Christian convert is zealously affected in a good thing.+--1. All the teachings of Christianity are good. They enlighten, guide, and sanctify. They are peculiar, harmonious, infallible, Divine. Their morality is sublime, their spirit heavenly, their effect glorious.

2. The influence of Christianity is good.--It has created the sweet charities of national and domestic life, sanctified advancing civilisation, softened the fierceness of war, stimulated science, promoted justice and liberty. Sceptics have admitted this.

3. All that Christianity accomplishes for man is good.--It saves him from sin, from the stings of guilt, from the eternal consequences of wrong-doing.

+II. The zeal of the Christian convert is to be steady and continuous.+--There should be no diminution nor fluctuation in our zeal. 1. Because no reason can be assigned why we should not be as zealous at any after-hour as at the hour of our conversion. 2. Because it is only by steady and continuous zeal that a proper measure of Christian influence can be exerted. 3. Because only by steady and continuous zeal can Christian character be matured. 4. Because only thus can success in Christian enterprises be attained. 5. Because steady and continuous zeal will alone bring Divine approval.

+III. The zeal of the Christian convert is not to be unduly influenced by the presence of others.+--While Paul was with the Churches in Galatia they were zealous, but after his departure their zeal ceased. To lose our zeal because we have lost the influence of another is to show: 1. That we never possessed true Christian motives. 2. That our supposed attachment to Christ and His cause was delusive. 3. That our zeal had merely been an effort to please men, not God.--The Lay Preacher.

Ver. 19. The Christmas of the Soul.--The apostle refers to the spiritual birth. The soul then rises into a consciousness of its infinite importance; its thoughts, sympathies, and purposes become Christ-like, and Christ is manifested in the life. The soul-birth were impossible if Christ had not been born in Bethlehem. That was an era in the world's history, this in the individual life; that was brought about by the Holy Spirit, this is effected by the same Divine Agent; that was followed by the antagonism of the world, this is succeeded by the opposition of evil, both within and without; that was the manifestation of God in the flesh, this is the renewing of man's nature in the image of God; that came to pass without man's choice, this requires man's seeking. Has this spiritual birth taken place in you? If so, you have a right to the enjoyment of a happy Christmas. Keep the feast as a new man in Christ Jesus.--Homiletic Monthly.

Ver. 20. A Preacher's Perplexity--

+I. Occasioned by the defection of his converts.+--"I stand in doubt of you."

+II. As to what method he should adopt to restore them.+--"And to change my voice."

+III. Increased by the difficulty of effecting a personal interview.+--"I desire to be present with you now."

"I stand in doubt of you." Doubtful Christians.

+I. Persons whose religion is liable to suspicion.+--1. Those who have long attended the means of grace, and are very defective in knowledge. 2. Who profess much knowledge and are puffed up with it. 3. Who contend for doctrinal religion rather than for that which is practical and experimental. 4. Who waver in their attachment to the fundamental principles of the Gospel. 5. Who neglect the ordinances of God's house. 6. Who neglect devotional exercises. 7. Who co-operate not with the Church to advance the kingdom of Christ in the world.

+II. The improvement to be made of the subject.+--1. Should lead to self-examination. 2. Shows the loss and danger of persons so characterised. 3. Should lead to repentance and faith. 4. While exercising a godly jealousy over others, let Christians watch with greater jealousy over themselves.--Helps.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 21-31.

The History of Hagar and Sarah allegorical of the Law and the Gospel.

+I. The two women represented two different covenants.+--1. Hagar represented Sinai, typical of the law with its slavish exactions and terrible threatenings (vers. 22, 25). Sinai spoke of bondage and terror. It was a true symbol of the working of the law of Moses, exhibited in the present condition of Judaism. And round the base of Sinai Hagar's wild sons had found their dwelling. Jerusalem was no longer the mother of freemen. Her sons chafed under the Roman yoke. They were loaded with self-inflicted burdens. The spirit of the nation was that of rebellious, discontented slaves. They were Ishmaelite sons of Abraham, with none of the nobleness, the reverence, the calm and elevated faith of their father. In the Judaism of the apostle's day the Sinaitic dispensation, uncontrolled by the higher patriarchal and prophetic faith, had worked out its natural result. It gendered to bondage. A system of repression and routine, it had produced men punctual in tithes of mint and anise, but without justice, mercy, or faith; vaunting their liberty while they were servants of corruption. The Pharisee was the typical product of law apart from grace. Under the garb of a freeman he carried the soul of a slave.

2. Sarah represented Jerusalem, typical of the Gospel with its higher freedom and larger spiritual fruitfulness (vers. 26-28).--Paul has escaped from the prison of legalism, from the confines of Sinai; he has left behind the perishing earthly Jerusalem, and with it the bitterness and gloom of his Pharisaic days. He is a citizen of the heavenly Zion, breathing the air of a Divine freedom. The yoke is broken from the neck of the Church of God; the desolation is gone from her heart. Robbed of all outward means, mocked and thrust out as she is by Israel after the flesh, her rejection is a release, an emancipation. Conscious of the spirit of sonship and freedom, looking out on the boundless conquests lying before her in the Gentile world, the Church of the new covenant glories in her tribulations. In Paul is fulfilled the joy of prophet and psalmist, who sang in former days of gloom concerning Israel's enlargement and world-wide victories (Findlay).

+II. The antagonism of their descendants represented the violent and incessant opposition of the law to the Gospel.+--"As he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. . . . Cast out the bondwoman and her son" (vers. 29, 30). Sooner or later the slave-boy was bound to go. He has no proper birthright, no permanent footing in the house. One day he exceeds his licence, he makes himself intolerable; he must be gone. The Israelitish people showed more than Ishmael's jealousy toward the infant Church of the Spirit. No weapon of violence or calumny was too base to be used against it. Year by year they became more hardened against spiritual truth, more malignant towards Christianity, and more furious and fanatical in their hatred towards their civil rulers. Ishmael was in the way of Isaac's safety and prosperity (Ibid.).

+III. The Gospel bestows a richer inheritance than the law.+--"The son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. . . . We are children of the free" (vers. 30, 31). The two systems were irreconcilable. The law and the Gospel cannot coexist and inherit together; the law must disappear before the Gospel. The higher absorbs the lower. The Church of the future, the spiritual seed of Abraham gathered out of all nations, has no part in legalism. It embraces blessings of which Mosaism had no conception--"an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away" (1 Pet. i. 4).

+Lessons.+--1. The law and the Gospel differ fundamentally. 2. The law imposes intolerable burdens. 3. The Gospel abrogates the law by providing a higher spiritual obedience.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 21-31. Legal Bondage and Spiritual Freedom contrasted--

+I. In their inception and development+ (vers. 21-27).

+II. In their ceaseless antagonism+ (ver. 29).

+III. In their inevitable results+ (vers. 28, 30, 31).

Ver. 21. A Lesson from the Law--

+I. Addressed to those eager for its subjection.+--"Ye that desire to be under the law."

+II. Is suggestive of solemn warning.+

+III. Should be seriously pondered.+--"Tell me, do ye not hear the law?"

Ver. 26. Jerusalem Above.

+I. The Church of Christ as she exists in the present world.+--"Jerusalem, above and free."

1. Above; that is, seen in connection with God and the scenes of the heavenly world.--(1) Her Head is from above. (2) If we take the Church as a whole, though she is in part on earth, the greater number of her members are in heaven. (3) Our Jerusalem is above because her members all fix their affections there and thither then as the great end of their profession.

2. Jerusalem above is free, and so are her children.--From the bondage of seeking salvation by works of law, from the guilt of sin, from its dominion.

+II. The filial sentiment with which we ought to regard the Church of Christ.+--She is "the mother of us all." The general idea is, that if we are indeed spiritual, under God, we owe all to the Church. To her God has committed the preservation of His truth. In stormy times she has sheltered her lamps in the recesses of the sanctuary, and in happier times has placed them on high to guide and save. The Spirit of God is in the Church. To her you owe your hallowed fellowships. In the Church it is that God manifests Himself.

+III. The animating anticipations we are thus taught to form of the Church as glorified.+--Turn to the description given in Revelation xxi. 1. Mark the wall great and high--denoting the perfect, impregnable security of those who dwell there. 2. At the gates are angels--still ushering in the heirs of salvation and disdaining not to be porters to this glorious city. 3. Mark the foundations, garnished with all manner of precious stones--implying permanency. 4. Mark the circumstance that in the twelve foundations are inscribed the names of the twelve apostles--the whole being the result of their doctrine. 5. The whole city is a temple all filled with the presence and glory of God. No holiest of all is there where every part is most holy. All are filled, sanctified, beatified, by the fully manifested presence of God. He is all in all; all things in and to all.--Richard Watson.

Jerusalem a Type of the Universal Church.

+I. God chose Jerusalem above all other places to dwell in.+ The Church catholic is the company chosen to be the particular people of God.

+II. Jerusalem is a city compact in itself by reason of the bond of love and order among the citizens.+ In like sort the members of the Church catholic are linked together by the bond of one Spirit.

+III. In Jerusalem was the sanctuary, a place of God's presence,+ where the promise if the seed of the woman was preserved till the coming of the Messiah. Now the Church catholic is in the room of the sanctuary, in it we must seek the presence of God and the Word of life.

+IV. In Jerusalem was the throne of David.+ In the Church catholic is the throne or sceptre of Christ.

+V. The commendation of a city, as Jerusalem, is the subjection and obedience of the citizens.+ In the Church catholic all believers are citizens, and they yield voluntary obedience and subjection to Christ their King.

+VI. As in Jerusalem the names of the citizens were enrolled in a register,+ so the names of all the members of the Church catholic are enrolled in the Book of Life.

+VII. The Church catholic is said to be above:+ 1. In respect to her beginning. 2. Because she dwells by faith in heaven with Christ.--Perkins.

Ver. 28. Believers Children of Promise.

+I. The character.+--1. Believers are the children of promise by regeneration. 2. By spiritual nourishment. 3. In respect of education. 4. With respect to assimilation, likeness, and conformity.

+II. State the comparison.+--1. Isaac was the child of Abraham, not by natural power. Believers are children of Abraham by virtue of promise. 2. Isaac was the fruit of prayer, as well as the child of the promise. 3. Isaac's birth was the joy of his parents. Even so with reference to believers. 4. Isaac was born not after the flesh, but by the promise; not of the bondwoman, but of the free. So, believers are not under the law. 5. Isaac was no sooner born but he was mocked by Ishmael; so, it is now. 6. Isaac was the heir by promise, though thus persecuted. Even so believers.

+III. How the promise hath such virtue for begetting children to God.+--1. As it is the discovery of Divine love. 2. The object of faith. 3. The ground of hope. 4. The seed of regeneration. 5. The communication of grace. 6. The chariot of the Spirit.

+Inferences.+--1. If believers are children of promise, then boasting is excluded. 2. Then salvation is free. 3. The happiness and dignity of believers--they are the children of God.--Pulpit Assistant.

Ver. 29. On Persecution.

+I. That no privilege of the Church can exempt her from persecution.+--1. From the consideration of the quality of the persons here upon the stage, the one persecuting, the other suffering. (1) The persecuting--"born after the flesh." Like Hannibal, they can part with anything but war and contention; they can be without their native country, but not without an enemy. These whet the sword, these make the furnace of persecution seven times hotter than it would be. The flesh is the treasury whence these winds blow that rage and beat down all before them. (2) The suffering--"born after the Spirit." Having no security, no policy, no eloquence, no strength, but that which lieth in his innocency and truth, which he carrieth about as a cure, but it is looked upon as a persecution by those who will not be healed. "For he must appear," said Seneca, "as a fool that he may be wise, as weak that he may be strong, as base and vile that he may be more honourable." If thou be an Isaac, thou shalt find an Ishmael.

2. From the nature and constitution of the Church which in this world is ever militant.--Persecution is the honour, the prosperity, the flourishing condition of the Church. When her branches were lopped off she spread the more, when her members were dispersed there were more gathered to her, when they were driven about the world they carried that sweet-smelling savour about them which drew in multitudes to follow them.

3. From the providence and wisdom of God who put this enmity between these two seeds.--God's method is best. That is method and order with Him which we take to be confusion, and that which we call persecution is His art, His way of making saints. In Abraham's family Ishmael mocketh and persecuteth Isaac, in the world the synagogue persecuteth the Church, and in the Church one Christian persecuteth another. It was so, it is so, and it will be so to the end of the world.

+II. The lessons of persecution.+--1. The persecution of the Church should not create surprise. 2. Not to regard the Church and the world as alike. 3. Build ourselves up in faith so as to be prepared for the fiery trial. 4. Love the truth you profess. 5. Be renewed in spirit.--A. Farindon.

Ver. 30. Cast out the Bondwoman and her Son.--To cast out is an act of violence, and the true Church evermore hath the suffering part. How shall the Church cast out those of her own house and family? 1. By the vehemency of our prayers that God would either melt their hearts or shorten their hands, either bring them into the right way, or strike off their chariot wheels. 2. By our patience and longsuffering. 3. By our innocency of life and sincerity of conversation. 4. By casting our burden upon the Lord.--Ibid.

The Fate of Unbelievers.

+I. All hypocrites, mockers of the grace of God, shall be cast forth of God's family,+ though for a time they bear a sway therein. This is the sentence of God. Let us therefore repent of our mocking and become lovers of the grace of God.

+II. The persecution of the people of God shall not be perpetual,+ for the persecuting bondwoman and her son must be cast out.

+III. All justiciary people and persons that look to be saved and justified before God by the law,+ either in whole or in part, are cast out of the Church of God, and have no part in the kingdom of heaven. The casting out of Hagar and Ishmael is a figure of the rejection of all such.--Perkins.

* * * * * * * *

+CHAPTER V.+

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.

Ver. 1. +Stand fast in.+--Stand up to, make your stand for. +The liberty wherewith Christ has made you free.+--As Christ has given you this liberty you are bound to stand fast in it. +Be not entangled.+--Implicated in a way which involves violence to true spontaneous life. +The yoke of bondage.+--Contrasted with the yoke of Christ, which is compatible with the fullest spiritual freedom.

Ver. 2. +If ye be circumcised.+--Not simply as a national rite, but as a symbol of Judaism and legalism in general; as necessary to justification. +Christ shall profit you nothing.+--The Gospel of grace is at an end. He who is circumcised is so fearing the law, and he who fears disbelieves the power of grace, and he who disbelieves can profit nothing by that grace which he disbelieves (Chrysostom).

Ver. 5 +Wait for the hope of righteousness.+--Righteousness, in the sense of justification, is already attained, but the consummation of it in future perfection is the object of hope to be waited for.

Ver. 6. +Faith which worketh by love.+--Effectually worketh, exhibits its energy by love, and love is the fulfilling of the law.

Ver. 9. +A little leaven.+--Of false doctrine, a small amount of evil influence.

Ver. 10. +He that troubleth you.+--The leaven traced to personal agency; whoever plays the troubler. +Shall bear his judgment.+--Due and inevitable condemnation from God.

Ver. 11. +Then is the offence of the cross ceased.+--The offence, the stumbling-block, to the Jew which roused his anger was not the shame of Messiah crucified, but the proclamation of free salvation to all, exclusive of the righteousness of human works.

Ver. 12. +I would they were cut off which trouble you.+--Self-mutilated, an imprecation more strongly expressed in chap. i. 8, 9. Christian teachers used language in addressing Christians in the then heathen world that would be regarded as intolerable in modern Christendom, purified and exalted by Christ through their teachings.

Ver. 13. +Use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh.+--Do not give the flesh the handle or pretext for its indulgence, which it eagerly seeks for. +By love serve one another.+--If ye must be in bondage, be servants to one another in love.

Ver. 15. +If ye bite and devour one another, . . . consumed.+--Figures taken from the rage of beasts of prey. The biting of controversy naturally runs into the devouring of controversial mood waxing fierce with indulgence. And the controversialists, each snapping at and gnawing his antagonist, forget the tendency is to consume the Christian cause. Strength of soul, health of body, character, and resources, are all consumed by broils.

Ver. 18. +If ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law.+--Under no irksome restraint. To him who loves, law is not irksome bondage but delightful direction. Active spiritual life is a safeguard against lawless affection.

Ver. 19. +The works of the flesh.+--1. Sensual vices--"adultery [omitted in the oldest MSS.], fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness." 2. Theological vices--"idolatry, witchcraft." 3. Malevolent vices--"hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders." 4. Vices of excess--"drunkenness, revellings."

Ver. 22. +The fruit of the Spirit.+--The singular fruit, as compared with the plural works, suggests that the effect of the Spirit's inworking is one harmonious whole, while carnality tends to multitudinousness, distraction, chaos. We are not to look for a rigorous logical classification in either catalogue. Generally, the fruit of the Spirit may be arranged as: I. Inward graces--"love, joy, peace." II. Graces towards man--"longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith." III. A more generic form of inward graces--"meekness, temperance."

Ver. 23. +Against such there is no law.+--So far from being against love, law commands it.

Ver. 24. +Have crucified the flesh.+--Not human nature, but depraved human nature. +With the affections and lusts.+--Affections refer to the general frame of mind; the lusts to special proclivities or habits.

Ver. 26. +Not to be desirous of vainglory, provoking+ [challenging], +envying one another.+--Vaingloriousness provokes contention; contention produces envy.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verse 1.

Christian Liberty--

+I. Should be valued considering how it was obtained.+--"The liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free." It is a liberty purchased at a great cost. Christ, the Son of God, became incarnated, suffered in a degree unparalleled and incomprehensible, and died the shameful and ignoble death of the crucified to win back the liberty man had forfeited by voluntary sin. The redemption of man was hopeless from himself, and but for the intervention of a competent Redeemer he was involved in utter and irretrievable bondage. Civil liberty, though the inalienable right of every man, has been secured as the result of great struggle and suffering. "With a great sum," said the Roman captain to Paul, "obtained I this freedom;" and many since his day have had to pay dearly for the common rights of citizenship. But Christian liberty should be valued as the choicest privilege, remembering it was purchased by the suffering Christ, and that it has been defended through the ages by a noble army of martyrs.

+II. Should remind us of the oppression from which it delivers.+--"And be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." The Galatians had been bondmen, enslaved by the worship of false and vile deities. If they rush into the snare of the legalists, they will be bondmen again, and their bondage will be the more oppressive now they have tasted the joys of freedom. Disobedience involves us in many entanglements. It is among the most potent of the energies of sin that leads astray by blinding and blinds by leading astray; that the soul, like the strong champion of Israel, must have its eyes put out, when it would be bound with fetters of brass and condemned to grind in the prisonhouse (Judg. xvi. 21). Redemption from the slavery of sin should fill the heart with gratitude. A wealthy and kind Englishman once bought a poor Negro for twenty pieces of gold. He presented him with a sum of money that he might buy a piece of land and furnish himself a home. "Am I really free? May I go whither I will?" cried the Negro in the joy of his heart. "Well, let me be your slave, massa; you have redeemed me, and I owe all to you." The gentleman took him into his service, and he never had a more faithful servant. How much more eagerly should we do homage and service to the divine Master, who Himself has made us free!

+III. Should be rigorously maintained.+--"Stand fast therefore." The price of freedom is incessant vigilance; once gained it is a prize never to be lost, and no effort or sacrifice should be grudged in its defence. "As far as I am a Christian," said Channing, "I am free. My religion lays on me not one chain. It does not hem me round with a mechanical ritual, does not enjoin forms, attitudes, and hours of prayer, does not descend to details of dress and food, does not put on me one outward badge. It teaches us to do good but leaves us to devise for ourselves the means by which we may best serve mankind." The spirit of Christian liberty is eternal. Jerusalem and Rome may strive to imprison it. They might as well seek to bind the winds of heaven. Its seat is the throne of Christ. It lives by the breath of His Spirit. Not to be courageous and faithful in its defence is disloyalty to Christ and treachery to our fellow-men.

+Lessons.+--1. Christ is the true Emancipator of men. 2. Christian liberty does not violate but honours the law of love. 3. Liberty is best preserved by being consistently exercised.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSE.

Ver. 1. Freedom from Bondage.--1. Every man by nature is a bondslave, being under the bondage of sin. The Jews were under bondage to the ceremonial law, involving great trouble, pain in the flesh, and great expense. 2. Jesus Christ by His obedience and death has purchased freedom and liberty to His Church--liberty not to do evil, nor from the yoke of new obedience, nor from the cross, nor from that obedience and reverence which inferiors owe to superiors; but from the dominion of sin, the tyranny of Satan, the curse and irritating power of the law, and from subjecting our consciences to the rites, doctrines, ceremonies, and laws of men in the matter of worship. 3. Though civil liberty be much desired, so ignorant are we of the worth of freedom from spiritual bondage that we can hardly be excited to seek after it, or made to stand to it when attained, but are in daily hazard of preferring our former bondage to our present liberty.--Fergusson.

Bondage and Liberty.

+I. We are in bondage under sin.+

+II. We are subject to punishment.+--Implying: 1. Bondage under Satan, who keeps unrepentant sinners in his snare. 2. Bondage under an evil conscience, which sits in the heart as accuser and judge, and lies like a wild beast at a man's door ready to pluck out his throat. 3. Bondage under the wrath of God and fear of eternal death.

+III. We are in bondage to the ceremonial law.+--To feel this bondage is a step out of it; not to feel it is to be plunged into it.

+IV. We have spiritual liberty by the grace of God.+--1. Christian liberty is a deliverance from misery. (1) From the curse of the law for the breach thereof. (2) From the obligation of the law whereby it binds us to perfect righteousness in our own persons. (3) From the observance of the ceremonial law of Moses. (4) From the tyranny and dominion of sin. 2. Christian liberty is freedom in good things. (1) In the voluntary service of God. (2) In the free use of all the creatures of God. (3) Liberty to come to God and in prayer to be heard. (4) To enter heaven.

+V. Christ is the great Liberator.+--He procured this liberty: 1. By the merit of His death. The price paid--His precious blood--shows the excellence of the blessing, and that it should be esteemed. 2. By the efficacy of His Spirit--assuring us of our adoption and abating the strength and power of sin.

+VI. We are to hold fast our liberty in the day of trial.+--1. We must labour that religion be not only in mind and memory but rooted in the heart. 2. We must join with our religion the soundness of a good conscience. 3. We must pray for all things needful.--Perkins.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 2-6.

Christianity Superior to External Rites.

+I. External rites demand universal obedience.+--"Every man that is circumcised is a debtor to do the whole law" (ver. 3). The Galatians were in a state of dangerous suspense. They were on the brink of a great peril. Another step and they would be down the precipice. That step was circumcision. Seeing the imminence of the danger the apostle becomes more earnest and emphatic in his remonstrance. He warns them that circumcision, though a matter of indifference as an external rite, would in their case involve an obligation to keep the whole law. This he has shown is an impossibility. They would submit themselves to a yoke they were unable to bear, and from whose galling tyranny they would be unable to extricate themselves. Knowing this, surely they would not be so foolish as, deliberately and with open eyes, to commit such an act of moral suicide. There must be a strange infatuation in ritualistic observances that tempts man to undertake obligations he is powerless to perform, utterly heedless of the most explicit and faithful warnings.

+II. Dependence on external rites is an open rejection of Christ.+--"Christ shall profit you nothing; . . . is become of no effect unto you; ye are fallen from grace" (vers. 2, 4). Here the result of a defection from the Gospel is placed in the most alarming aspect and should give pause to the wildest fanatic. It is the forfeiture of all Christian privileges, it is a complete rejection of Christ, it is a loss of all the blessings won by faith, it is a fall into the gulf of despair and ruin. It cannot be too plainly understood, nor too frequently iterated, that excessive devotion to external rites means the decline and extinction of true religion. Ritualism supplants Jesus Christ. "It is evident that the disciples of the Church of Rome wish to lead us from confession and absolution to the doctrine of transubstantiation, thence to the worship of images, and thence to all the abuses which at the end of the fifteenth century and at the beginning of the sixteenth excited the anger and scorn of Luther, Calvin, Zwinglius, and others. The primary faith of the Reformers is in the words of Christ. The primary faith of the ritualists is in Aristotle. If the British nation is wise, it will not allow the Roman Church with its infallible head, or the ritualists with their mimic ornaments, or those who are deaf to the teachings of Socrates and Cicero, of Bacon and Newton, to deprive them of the inestimable blessings of the Gospel."

+III. Christianity as a spiritual force is superior to external rites.+--1. It bases the hope of righteousness on faith. "For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith" (ver. 5). Look on this picture and on that. Yonder are the Galatians, all in tumult about the legalistic proposals, debating which of the Hebrew feasts they shall celebrate and with what rites, absorbed in the details of Mosaic ceremony, all but persuaded to be circumcised and to settle their scruples out of hand by a blind submission to the law. And here on the other side is Paul with the Church of the Spirit, walking in the righteousness of faith and the communion of the Holy Spirit, joyfully awaiting the Saviour's final coming and the hope that is laid up in heaven. How vexed, how burdened, how narrow and puerile is the one condition; how large, lofty, and secure the other! Faith has its great ventures; it has also its seasons of endurance, its moods of quiet expectancy, its unweariable patience. It can wait as well as work (Findlay).

2. Faith is a spiritual exercise revealing itself in active love.--"Faith worketh by love" (ver. 6). In ver. 5 we have the statics of the religion of Christ; in ver. 6 its dynamics. Love is the working energy of faith. "Love gives faith hands and feet; hope lends it wings. Love is the fire at its heart, the life-blood coursing in its veins; hope the light that gleams and dances in its eyes." In the presence of an active spiritual Christianity, animated by love to Christ and to men, ritualism diminishes into insignificance. "In Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision" (ver. 6). The Jew is no better or worse a Christian because he is circumcised; the Gentile no worse or better because he is not. Love, which is the fulfilling of the law, is the essence of Christianity, and gives it the superiority over all external rites.

+Lessons.+--1. Externalism in religion imposes intolerable burdens. 2. To prefer external rites is an insult to Christ. 3. The superiority of Christianity is its spiritual character.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 2-4. Christianity nullified by Legalism.

+I. To accept legalism is to reject Christ+ (vers. 2, 4).

+II. Legalism demands universal obedience to its enactments+ (ver. 3).

+III. Legalism is a disastrous abandonment of Christianity.+--"Ye are fallen from grace" (ver. 4).

Vers. 5, 6. Righteousness attained by Active Faith.--1. No personal righteousness entitles us to the blessed hope of the heavenly inheritance, but only the righteousness of Christ apprehended by faith. It is only the efficacious teaching of God's spirit which can sufficiently instruct us in the knowledge of this righteousness and make us with security and confidence venture our hope of heaven upon it. 2. To impose the tie of a command on anything as a necessary part of Divine worship wherein the Word has left us free, or to subject ourselves to such command, is a receding from and betrayal of Christian liberty. 3. The sum of a Christian's task is faith; but it is always accompanied with the grace of love. Though faith and love are conjoined, faith, in the order of nature, has the precedency.--Fergusson.

Ver. 6. Religion is Faith working by Love.

+I. External and bodily privileges are of no use and moment in the kingdom of Christ.+--1. We are not to esteem men's religion by their riches and external dignities. 2. We are to moderate our affections in respect of all outward things, neither sorrowing too much for them nor joying too much in them.

+II. Faith is of great use and acceptance in the kingdom of Christ.+--1. We must labour to conceive faith aright in our hearts, by the use of the right means--the Word, prayer, and sacraments, and in and by the exercises of spiritual invocation and repentance. 2. Faith in Christ must reign and bear sway in our hearts and have command over reason, will, affection, lust. 3. It is to be bewailed that the common faith of our day is but a ceremonial faith.

+III. True faith works by love.+--Faith is the cause of love, and love is the fruit of faith.--Perkins.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 7-12.

Disturber of the Faith--

+I. Checks the prosperous career of the most ardent Christian.+--"Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?" (ver. 7). The Galatians were charmed with the truth as it fell from the lips of the apostle; it was to them a new revelation; they eagerly embraced it, it changed their lives, and they strove to conform their conduct to its high moral teachings. The apostle was delighted with the result and commended their Christian enthusiasm. They were running finely. But the intrusion of false teaching changed all this. Their progress was arrested, their faith was disturbed, they wavered in their allegiance, and were in danger of losing all the advantages they had gained. The influence of false doctrine is always baneful, especially so to new beginners, in whom the principles of truth have not become firmly rooted. The loss of truth, like inability to believe, may be traced back to an unhealthy corruption of the mind. The great danger of unsound doctrine lies in this, that, like a cancer, it rankles because it finds in the diseased condition of the religious life ever fresh nourishment.

+II. Is opposed to the Divine method of justification.+--"This persuasion cometh not of Him that calleth you" (ver. 8). The disturber of the Galatians taught a human method of salvation--a salvation by the works of the law. This was diametrically opposed to the Divine calling, which is an invitation to the whole race to seek salvation by faith. The persuasion to which the Galatians were yielding was certainly not of God. It was a surrender to the enemy. All error is a wild fighting against God, an attempt to undermine the foundations that God has fixed for man's safety and happiness.

+III. Suggests errors that are contagious in their evil influence.+--"A little leaven, leaveneth the whole lump" (ver. 9). A proverbial expression the meaning of which is at once obvious. A small infusion of false doctrine, or the evil influence of one bad person, corrupts the purity of the Gospel. It is a fact well known in the history of science and philosophy that men, gifted by nature with singular intelligence, have broached the grossest errors and even sought to undermine the grand primitive truths on which human virtue, dignity, and hope depend. The mind that is always open to search into error is itself in error, or at least unstable (1 Cor. xv. 33; Eccles. ix. 18).

+IV. Shall not escape chastisement whatever his rank or pretensions.+--1. Either by direct Divine judgment. "He that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be" (ver. 10). The reference here may be to some one prominent among the seducers, or to any one who plays the troubler. God will not only defend His own truth but will certainly punish the man who from wicked motives seeks to corrupt the truth or to impair the faith of those who have embraced it. The seducer not only deceives himself but shall suffer judgment for his self-deception and the injury he has done to others.

2. Or by excision from the Church.--"I would they were even cut off which trouble you" (ver. 12). An extravagant expression, as if the apostle said, "Would that the Judaising troublers would mutilate themselves," as was the custom with certain heathen priests in some of their religious rites. The phrase indicates the angry contempt of the apostle for the legalistic policy, and that the troublers richly deserved to be excluded from the Church and all its privileges. The patience of the Gentile champion was exhausted and found relief for the moment in mocking invective.

+V. Does not destroy the hope and faith of the true teacher.+--1. He retains confidence in the fidelity of those who have been temporarily disturbed. "I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded" (ver. 10). Notwithstanding the insidious leaven, the apostle cherishes the assurance that his converts will after all prove leal and true at heart. He has faithfully chided them for their defection, but his anger is directed, not towards them, but towards those who have injured them. He is persuaded the Galatians will, with God's help, resume the interrupted race they were running so well.

2. His sufferings testify that his own teaching is unchanged.--"If I preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offence of the cross ceased" (ver. 11). The rancour and hostility of the legalists would have been disarmed, if Paul advocated their doctrine, and the scandalous "offence of the cross"--so intolerable to the Jewish pride--would have been done away. But the cross was the grand vital theme of all his teaching, that in which he most ardently gloried, and for which he was prepared to endure all possible suffering. The value of truth to a man is what he is willing to suffer for it.

+Lessons.+--1. The man who perverts the truth is an enemy to his kind. 2. The false teacher ensures his own condemnation. 3. Truth becomes more precious the more we suffer for it.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 7-10. How Perfection is attained.--Everything in the universe comes to its perfection by drill and marching--the seed, the insect, the animal, the man, the spiritual man. God created man at the lowest point, and put him in a world where almost nothing would be done for him, and almost everything should tempt him to do for himself.--Beecher.

Ver. 7. The Christian Life a Race.

+I. Christians are runners in the race of God.+--1. They must make haste without delay to keep the commandments of God. It is a great fault for youth and others to defer amendment till old age, or till the last and deadly sickness. That is the time to end our running, and not to begin. 2. We are to increase and profit in all good duties. We in this age do otherwise. Either we stand at a stay or go back. There are two causes for this: (1) Blindness of mind. (2) Our unbelief in the article of life everlasting. 3. We must neither look to the right nor the left hand, or to things behind, but press forward to the prize of eternal life. 4. We must not be moved with the speeches of men which are given of us, for or against. They are lookers on and must have their speeches. Our care must be not to heed them but look to our course.

+II. Christians must not only be runners, but run well.+--This is done by believing and obeying, having faith and a good conscience. These are the two feet by which we run. We have one good foot--our religion--which is sound and good; but we halt on the other foot. Our care to keep conscience is not suitable to our religion. Three things cause a lameness in this foot: the lust of the eye--covetousness, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.

+III. Christians must run the race from the beginning to the end.+--1. We must cherish a love and fervent desire of eternal life, and by this means be drawn through all miseries and overpass them to the end. 2. We must maintain a constant and daily purpose of not sinning.--Perkins.

Bad Companions.--"Bad company," wrote Augustine, "is like a nail driven into a post, which, after the first or second blow, may be drawn out with very little difficulty; but being once driven up to the head, the pincers cannot take hold to draw it out, which can only be done by the destruction of the wood." Of course, it is useless to define bad company. Men and women, boys and girls, feel instinctively when they have fallen in with dangerous associates; if they choose to remain amongst them they are lost. So in the high tides, barks of light draught will float over Goodwin quicksands; in summer at low tide the venturous boys and young people will play cricket thereon: but neither can remain long in the neighbourhood. The time comes when the sands are covered with but a thin surface of water, and beneath is the shifting, loose, wet earth, more dangerous and treacherous than springtide ice; and then it is that to touch is to be drawn in, and to be drawn in is death. So is it with bad company.--The Gentle Life.

Cowardly Retreat.--General Grant relates that just as he was hoping to hear a report of a brilliant movement and victory of General Sigel, he received an announcement from General Halleck to this effect: "Sigel is in full retreat on Strasburg; he will do nothing but run; never did anything else." The enemy had intercepted him, handled him roughly, and he fled.

Vers. 8-10. The Disintegrating Force of Error.--1. Whatever persuasion cometh not of God and is not grounded on the Word of truth, is not to be valued, but looked upon as a delusion (ver. 8). 2. The Church of Christ, and every particular member thereof, ought carefully to resist the first beginnings of sin, for the least of errors and the smallest number of seduced persons are here compared to leaven, a little quantity of which secretly insinuates itself and insensibly conveys its sourness to the whole lump (ver. 9). 3. The minister is not to despair of the recovery of those who oppose themselves, but ought in charity to hope the best of all men, so long as they are curable; and to show how dangerous their error was by denouncing God's judgment against their prime seducers (ver. 10). 4. So just is God, He will suffer no impenitent transgressor, however subtle, to escape His search, or to pass free from the dint of His avenging stroke, whoever he be for parts, power, or estimation.--Fergusson.

Ver. 9. Reform of Bad Manners.

+I. We must resist and withstand every particular sin.+--One sin is able to defile the whole life of man. One fly is sufficient to mar a whole box of sweet ointment. One offence in our first parents brought corruption on them and all mankind; yea, on heaven and earth.

+II. We must endeavour to the utmost to cut off every bad example in the societies of men.+--One bad example is sufficient to corrupt a whole family, a town, a country. A wicked example, being suffered, spreads abroad and does much hurt.

+III. We are to withstand and cut off the first beginnings and occasions of sin.+--We say of arrant thieves they began to practise their wickedness in pins and points. For this cause, idleness, excessive eating, drinking and swilling, riot, and vanity in apparel are to be suppressed in every society as the breeder of many vices.--Perkins.

Ver. 11. The Perversion of Apostolic Preaching.--There are two attempts or resolves in constant operation as to the cross. One is man's, to accommodate to human liking and taste; the second is God's, to raise human liking and taste to it.

+I. The aim of man.+--The following may be named as the principal exceptions taken to the cross by those who rejected it:--

1. It was an improbable medium of revelation.--Man can talk loudly how God should manifest Himself. Shall the cross be the oracle by which He will speak His deepest counsels to our race?

2. It was a stigma on this religion which set it in disadvantageous contrast with every other.--It was unheard of that the vilest of all deaths should give its absolute character to religion, and that this religion of the cross should triumph over all.

3. It was a violent disappointment of a general hope.--There was a desire of all nations. And was all that the earliest lay rehearsed, all that the highest wisdom enounced, only to be wrought out in the shameful cross?

4. It was a humiliating test.--Ambition, selfishness, insincerity, licentiousness, ferocity, pride, felt that it was encircled with an atmosphere in which they were instantly interrupted and condemned. Man is desirous of doing this away as a wrongful and unnecessary impression. He would make the offence of the cross to cease: (1) By fixing it upon some extrinsic authority. (2) By torturing it into coalition with foreign principles. (3) By transforming the character of its religious instructions. (4) By applying it to inappropriate uses. (5) By excluding its proper connections.

+II. The procedure of God.+--1. It is necessary, if we would receive the proper influence of the cross, that we be prepared to hail it as a distinct revelation. Science and the original ethics of our nature do not fall within the distinct province of what a revelation intends. Its strict purpose, its proper idea, is to make known that which is not known, and which could not be otherwise known. Not more directly did the elemental light proceed from God who called it out of darkness than did the making known to man of redemption by the blood of the cross.

2. When we rightly appreciate the cross, we recognize it as the instrument of redemption.--This was the mode of death indicated by prophecy. The cross stands for that death; but it is an idle, unworthy superstition that this mode of death wrought the stupendous end. It is only an accessory. We must look further into the mystery. "He His own self bore our sin in His own body on the tree." It is that awful identity, that mysterious action, which expiates, and not the rood.

3. When our mind approves this method of salvation, it finds in the cross the principle of sanctification.--A new element of thought, a new complexion of motive, enter the soul when the Holy Spirit shows to it the things of Christ. We are new creatures. We reverse all our sins and desires. We are called unto holiness. (1) Mark the process. We had hitherto abided in death. But now we are quickened with Him. (2) Mark the necessity. Until we be brought nigh to it, until we take hold of it, the doctrine of the crucified Saviour is an unintelligible and uninteresting thing. (3) Mark the effect. There is a suddenly, though a most intelligently, developed charm. It is the infinite of attraction. All concentrates on it. It absorbs the tenderness and the majesty of the universe. It is full of glory. Our heart has now yielded to it, is drawn, is held, coheres, coalesces, is itself impregnated by the sacred effluence. The offence of the cross has ceased.--R. W. Hamilton.

Ver. 12. Church Censure.--The spirit of error may so far prevail among a people that discipline can hardly attain its end--the shaming of the person censured, and the preservation of the Church from being leavened. In which case the servants of God should proceed with slow pace, and in all lenity and wisdom, and should rather doctrinally declare the censures deserved than actually inflict the censure itself.

Judgment on the Troubles of the Church.

+I. God watches over His Church with a special providence.+

+II. The doctrine of the apostles is of infallible certainty+ because the oppugners of it are plagued with the just judgment of God.

+III. Our duty is to pray for the good estate of the Church of God,+ and for the kingdoms where the Church is planted.--Perkins.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 13-18.

Love the Highest Law of Christian Liberty.

+I. Love preserves liberty from degenerating into licence.+--"Only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh" (ver. 13). Christian liberty is a great boon, but it also a solemn responsibility. It is hard to win and is worth the most gigantic struggle; but the moment it is abused it is lost. Men clamour for liberty when they mean licence--licence to indulge their unholy passions unchecked by the restraints of law. Christian liberty is not the liberty of the flesh, but of the Spirit, and love is the master-principle that governs and defines all its exercises.

"He is the freeman whom the truth makes free, And all are slaves besides."

We know no truth, no privilege, no power, no blessing, no right, which is not abused. But is liberty to be denied to men because they often turn it into licentiousness? There are two freedoms--the false, where a man is free to do what he likes; the true, where a man is free to do what he ought. Love is the safeguard of the highest liberty.

+II. Love is obedience to the highest law.+--"For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (ver. 14). "By love serve one another" (ver. 13). We may be as orthodox as Athanasius and as scrupulous as Jerome, we may be daily and ostentatiously building to God seven altars and offering a bullock and a ram on every altar, and yet be as sounding brass and as a clanging cymbal, if our life shows only the leaves of profession without the golden fruit of action. If love shows not itself by deeds of love, then let us not deceive ourselves. God is not mocked; our Christianity is heathenism, and our religion a delusion and a sham. Love makes obedience delightful, esteems it bondage to be prevented, liberty to be allowed to serve.

"Serene will be our days and bright, And happy will our nature be, When love is an unerring light, And joy its own security."--Wordsworth.

+III. Love prevents the mutual destructiveness of a contentious spirit.+--"But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another" (ver. 15). The condition of the Galatians at this time was very different from the ideal Paul set before them. The quick, warm temperament of the Gauls was roused by the Judaistic controversy, and their natural combativeness was excited. It was easy to pick a quarrel with them at any time, and they were eloquent in vituperation and invective. The "biting" describes the wounding and exasperating effect of the manner in which their contentions were carried on; "devour" warns them of its destructiveness. If this state of things continued, the Churches of Galatia would cease to exist. Their liberty would end in complete disintegration. Love is the remedy propounded for all ills--the love of Christ, leading to the love of each other. Love not only cures quarrels but prevents them.

+IV. Love by obeying the law of the Spirit gains the victory in the feud between the flesh and the Spirit.+--"Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh: . . . these are contrary the one to the other" (vers. 16, 17). The flesh and the Spirit are rivals, and by their natures must be opposed to and strive with each other. The strong man is dispossessed by a stronger than he--the Spirit. The master must rule the slave. "This soul of mine must rule this body of mine," said John Foster, "or quit it." The life of a Christian is lived in a higher sphere and governed by a higher law--walking in the Spirit. Christianity says, "Be a man, not a brute. Not do as many fleshly things as you can but do as many spiritual things as you can." All prohibitions are negative. You can't kill an appetite by starvation. You may kill the flesh by living in the higher region of the Spirit; not merely by ceasing to live in sin, but by loving Christ. The more we live the spiritual life, the more sin becomes impossible. Conquest over the sensual is gained, not by repression, but by the freer, purer life of love.

+V. Love emancipates from the trammels of the law.+--"If ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law" (ver. 18). The Spirit of love does not abolish the law, but renders it harmless by fulfilling all its requirements, without being compelled to it by its stern commands. Law does not help the soul to obey its behests, but it has nothing to say, nothing to threaten, when those behests are obeyed. To be under the law is to be under sin; but yielding to the influence of the Spirit, and living according to His law, the soul is free from sin and from the condemnation of the law. Freedom from sin, and freedom from the trammels of the Mosaic law--these two liberties are virtually one. Love is the great emancipator from all moral tyrannies.

+Lessons.+--1. Love is in harmony with the holiest law. 2. Love silences all contention. 3. Love honours law by obeying it.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 13, 14. The Service of Love--

+I. Is the noblest exercise of Christian liberty+ (ver. 13).

+II. Preserves Christian liberty from degenerating into selfish indulgence+ (ver. 13).

+III. Is the fulfilment of the highest law+ (ver. 14).

Ver. 13. The Abuse of Christian Liberty.

+I. To use it as an occasion of fleshly and carnal liberty.+--When men make more things indifferent than God ever made. Thus, all abuses of meat, drink, apparel, rioting, gaming, dicing, and carding are excused by the names of things indifferent.

+II. Our liberty is abused by an immoderate use of the gifts of God.+--1. Many gentlemen and others offend when they turn recreation into an occupation. 2. When men exceed in eating and drinking. 3. They offend who, being mean persons and living by trades, yet for diet and apparel are as great gentlemen and gentlewomen.

+III. Liberty is abused when the blessings of God are made instruments and flags and banners to display our riot, vanity, ostentation, and pride.+--It is the fashion of men to take unto themselves a toleration of sinning. Some presume on the patience of God, others on the election of grace, and others on the mercy of God. A certain dweller in Cambridge made away with himself. In his bosom was found a writing to this effect: that God did show mercy on great and desperate sinners, and therefore he hoped for mercy though he hanged himself. Of this mind are many ignorant persons, who persevere in their sins, yet persuade themselves of mercy.--Perkins.

The Right Use of Christian Liberty.

+I. We ourselves must be renewed and sanctified.+--The person must first please God before the action can please Him.

+II. Besides the lawful use of the creatures we must have a spiritual and holy use of them.+--1. The creatures of God must be sanctified by the Word and prayer. 2. We must be circumspect lest we sin in the use of the creatures. In these days there is no feasting or rejoicing unless all memory of God be buried, for that is said to breed melancholy. 3. We must use the gifts of God with thanksgiving. 4. We must suffer ourselves to be limited and moderate in the use of our liberty. 5. Our liberty must be used for right ends--the glory of God, the preservation of nature, and the good of our neighbour.

+III. We must give no occasion of sinning by means of Christian liberty.+--Ibid.

Ver. 14. The Law fulfilled in Love to Others.

+I. The end of man's life is to serve God in serving others.+

+II. True godliness is to love and serve God in serving man.+--To live out of all society of men, though it be in prayer and fasting in monkish fashion, is no state of perfection, but mere superstition. That is true and perfect love of God that is showed in duties of love and in the edification of our neighbour. It is not enough for thee to be holy in church; thou mayest be a saint in church and a devil at home.--Ibid.

Regard for a Neighbour's Rights.--Speaking of the early American prairie settlements a modern historian says: "Theft was almost unknown. The pioneers brought with them the same rigid notions of honesty which they had previously maintained. A man in Mancoupin county left his waggon loaded with corn stuck in the prairie mud for two weeks near a frequented road. When he returned he found some of his corn gone, but there was money enough tied in the sacks to pay for what was taken."

Ver. 15. Church Quarrels.--1. When schism in a Church is not only maintained on the one hand with passion, strife, reproaches, and real injuries, but also impugned on the other hand, not so much with the sword of the Spirit as with the same fleshly means, then is it the forerunner and procuring cause of desolation and ruin to both parties and to the whole Church. 2. As it is a matter of great difficulty to make men of credit and parts, being once engaged in contentious debates, to foresee the consequence of their doing so further than the hoped-for victory against the contrary party, so it were no small wisdom, before folk meddle with strife, seriously to consider what woeful effects may follow to the Church of God.--Fergusson.

Ver. 16. The Positiveness of the Divine Life.

+I. There are two ways of dealing with every vice.+--One is to set to work directly to destroy the vice; that is the negative way. The other is to bring in as overwhelmingly as possible the opposite virtue, and so to crowd and stifle and drown out the vice; that is the positive way. Everywhere the negative and positive methods of treatment stand over against each other, and men choose between them. A Church is full of errors and foolish practices. It is possible to attack those follies outright, showing conclusively how foolish they are; or it is possible, and it is surely better, to wake up the true spiritual life in that Church which shall itself shed those follies and cast them out, or at least rob them of their worst harmfulness. The application of the same principle is seen in matters of taste, matters of reform, and in matters of opinion.

+II. In St. Paul and in all the New Testament there is nothing more beautiful than the clear, open, broad way in which the positive culture of human character is adopted and employed.+--We can conceive of a God standing over His moral creatures, and, whenever they did anything wrong, putting a heavy hand on the malignant manifestation and stifling it, and so at last bringing them to a tight, narrow, timid goodness--the God of repression. The God of the New Testament is not that. We can conceive of another God who shall lavish and pour upon His children the chances and temptations to be good; in every way shall make them see the beauty of goodness; shall so make life identical with goodness that every moment spent in wickedness shall seem a waste, almost a death; shall so open His Fatherhood and make it real to them that the spontaneousness of the Father's holiness is re-echoed in the child; not the God of restraint, but the God whose symbols are the sun, the light, the friend, the fire--everything that is stimulating, everything that fosters, encourages, and helps. When we read in the New Testament, lo, that is the God whose story is written there, the God whose glory we see in the face of Jesus Christ. The distinction is everywhere. Not merely by trying not to sin, but by entering further and further into the new life in which, when it is completed, sin becomes impossible; not by merely weeding out wickedness, but by a new and supernatural cultivation of holiness, does the saint of the New Testament walk on the ever-ascending pathway of growing Christliness and come at last perfectly to Christ.

+III. This character of the New Testament must be at bottom in conformity with human nature.+--The Bible and its Christianity are not in contradiction against the nature of the man they try to save. They are at war with his corruptions, and, in his own interest, they are for ever labouring to assert and re-establish his true self. Man's heart is always rebelling against repression as a continuous and regular thing. There is a great human sense that not suppression, but expression is the true life. It is the self-indulgence of the highest and not the self-surrender of the lowest that is the great end of the Gospel. The self-sacrifice of the Christian is always an echo of the self-sacrifice of Christ. Nothing can be more unlike the repressive theories of virtue in their methods and results than the way in which Christ lived His positive life, full of force and salvation. The way to get out of self-love is to love God. "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh."--Phillips Brooks.

The Flesh and the Spirit.

I. When St. Paul talks of man's flesh +he means by it man's body, man's heart and brain, and all his bodily appetites and powers+--what we call a man's constitution, the animal part of man. Man is an animal with an immortal spirit in it, and this spirit can feel more than pleasure and pain; it can feel trust, hope, peace, love, purity, nobleness, independence, and, above all, it can feel right and wrong. There is the infinite difference between an animal and man, between our flesh and our spirit; an animal has no sense of right and wrong.

+II. There has been many a man in this life, who had every fleshly enjoyment which this world can give, and yet whose spirit was in hell all the while, and who knew it;+ hating and despising himself for a mean, selfish villain, while all the world round was bowing down to him and envying him as the luckiest of men. A man's flesh can take no pleasure in spiritual things, while man's spirit of itself can take no pleasure in fleshly things. Wickedness, like righteousness, is a spiritual thing. If a man sins, his body is not in fault; it is his spirit, his weak, perverse will, which will sooner listen to what his flesh tells him is pleasant than to what God tells him is right. This is the secret of the battle of life.

+III. Because you are all fallen creatures there must go on in you this sore lifelong battle between your spirit and your flesh+--your spirit trying to be master and guide, and your flesh rebelling and trying to conquer your spirit and make you a mere animal, like a fox in cunning, a peacock in vanity, or a hog in greedy sloth. It is your sin and your shame if your spirit does not conquer your flesh, for God has promised to help your spirit. Ask Him, and His Spirit will fill you with pure, noble hopes, with calm, clear thoughts, and with deep, unselfish love to God and man; and instead of being the miserable slave of your own passions, and of the opinions of your neighbours, you will find that where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty, true freedom, not only from your neighbours' sins, but, what is far better, freedom from your own.--C. Kingsley.

Walking in the Spirit.

+I. The Spirit is a Divine nature, quality, or condition whereby we are made conformable to Christ.+--1. It is a rich and liberal grace of God. It contains the seeds of all virtues. 2. Its largeness. The Spirit is in all the powers of them who are regenerate in mind, conscience, will, affections, and in the sensual appetite. 3. Its sincerity. The grace of God is without falsehood or guile. 4. Its excellency. The spirit of grace in Christians is more excellent than the grace of creation, in respect of the beginning thereof, and in respect of constancy. 5. Its liveliness, whereby the Spirit is effectual in operation. (1) The Spirit works in and by the Word of God. (2) Works by degrees, to make us feel our need of Christ, and to kindle in us a desire for reconciliation with God. (3) Works to write the law in our hearts.

+II. Walking in the Spirit is to order our lives according to the direction and motion of the Spirit.+--1. The Spirit renews our nature. (1) Makes us put a further beginning to our actions than nature can, causing us to do them in faith. (2) To do our actions in a new manner, in obedience to the Word. (3) Makes us put on a new end to our actions--to intend and desire to honour God. 2. We must become spiritual men. Must do things lawful in a spiritual manner. 3. We must not judge any man's estate before God by any one or some few actions, good or bad, but by his walking, by the course of his life.--Perkins.

Ver. 17. The Strife of the Flesh and Spirit.

+I. Man, under the influence of corruption, is called flesh.+--He may be said to be a spiritual being because he is possessed of an immortal spirit; but the term flesh seems to be awfully appropriate, because he is wholly and exclusively under the dominion of matter. In the text it implies the evil principle that inhabits the bosom of man. It is the mighty autocrat of humanity in the wreck of the Fall. Sin is such a mighty monster that none can bind him in fetters of iron and imprison him but God Himself. In the operation of weaving, different materials cross each other in the warp and woof in order to make one whole, and this is the case with the family of heaven here below. Sin and grace are perpetually crossing each other.

+II. The spiritual offspring which is born of God is called the new man.+--It is the junior offspring, the junior disposition, the offspring of the second Adam. Corruption has its root only in humanity. Not so with grace. This springs alone from God. The new man lives in Him; his head is above the skies, his feet lower than hell; and the reason why he is destined to be conqueror is that he fights in and under the inspiration of Heaven.

+III. These two principles are in a state of ceaseless warfare, ever opposed to each other.+--They are like two armies, sometimes encamped, at others engaged in terrible conflict; but, whether apparently engaged or not, each seeks the destruction of the other perpetually. They are and must be ever opposed, till one fall; one must perish and the other live eternally. Where there is no conflict there can be no grace.

+IV. Consider the wisdom and valour evinced by this new principle.+--It is illumined by the Spirit and by the truth of God. The sun does not give me an eye. God alone can confer this organ; yet it is equally true my eye must attain its full vigour in the light of the sun: so the external means are necessary to teach us what God is, and to develop all the principles of the new man, to clothe it with the panoply of Deity, and to lead it on from battle to battle, and from victory to victory, till the last battle is eventually fought, the last victory won, and the fruits of triumph enjoyed for ever.--William Howels.

Ver. 18. The Leading of the Spirit.--1. The new man performs the office of guide to the godly in all actions truly spiritual. (1) As it is ruled by the Word, which is the external light and lantern to direct our steps. (2) The work of grace itself is the internal light whereby the regenerate man spiritually understands the things of God. (3) The same work of grace being actuated by the continual supply of exciting grace from the Spirit is a strengthening guide to all spiritual actions. 2. The natural man is so much a slave to his sinful lusts that the things appointed by God to curb and make them weaker are so far from bringing this about that his lusts are thereby enraged and made more violent. The rigidity of the law, which tends to restrain sin, is turned by the unregenerate man into an occasion for fulfilling his lusts.--Fergusson.

The Guidance of the Spirit.

+I. Preservation,+ whereby the Holy Ghost maintains the gift of regeneration in them that are regenerate.

+II. Co-operation,+ whereby the will of God, as the first cause, works together with the regenerate will of man, as the second cause. Without this co-operation, man's will brings forth no good action; no more than the tree which is apt to bring forth fruit yields fruit indeed till it have the co-operation of the sun, and that in the proper season of the year.

+III. Direction,+ whereby the Spirit of God ordereth and establisheth the mind, will, and affections in good duties.

+IV. Excitation,+ whereby the Spirit stirs and still moves the will and mind after they are regenerate, because the grace of God is hindered and oppressed by the flesh.

+V. Privilege of believers not to be subject to the ceremonial law.+--"Ye are not under the law." Not under the law respecting its curse and condemnation, though we are all under law, as it is the rule of good life.--Perkins.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 19-21.

The Works of the Flesh--

+I. Are offensively obtrusive.+--"Now the works of the flesh are manifest" (ver. 19). Sin, though at first committed in secret, will by-and-by work to the surface and advertise itself with shameless publicity. The rulers of the civilised world in the first century of the Christian era, such as Tiberius, Caligula, Nero, Domitian, are the execration of history as monsters of vice and cruelty. Their enormities would have been impossible if the people they governed had not been equally corrupt. It is the nature of evil to develop a terrible energy the more it is indulged, and its works are apparent in every possible form of wickedness. "Every man blameth the devil for his sins; but the great devil, the house-devil of every man that eateth and lieth in every man's bosom, is that idol which killeth all--himself."

+II. Furnish a revolting catalogue.+--The sins enumerated may be grouped into four classes:--

1. Sensual passions.--"Adultery [omitted in the oldest MSS.], fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness" (ver. 19). Fornication was practically universal. Few were found, even among severe moralists, to condemn it. It is a prostitution of the physical nature which Jesus Christ wore and still wears, which He claims for the temple of His Spirit, and will raise from the dead to share His immortality. Uncleanness is the general quality of licentiousness, and includes whatever is contaminating in word or look, in gesture or in dress, in thought or sentiment. Lasciviousness is uncleanness open and shameless. It is the final loathsome analysis of the works of the flesh.

2. Unlawful dealing in things spiritual.--"Idolatry, witchcraft [sorcery]," (ver. 20). Idolatry and sensuality have always been closely related. Some of the most popular pagan systems were purveyors of lust and lent to it the sanctions of religion. When man loses the true conception of God he becomes degraded. Sorcery is closely allied to idolatry. A low, naturalistic notion of the Divine lends itself to immoral purposes. Men try to operate upon it by material causes, and to make it a partner in evil. Magical charms are made the instruments of unholy indulgence.

3. Violations of brotherly love.--"Hatred [enmities], variance [strife], emulations [jealousies], wrath [ragings], strife [factions], seditions [divisions], heresies [keen controversial partisanship], envyings, murders" (vers. 20, 21). A horrible progeny of evils having their source in a fruitful hotbed of unreasoning hatred, each vice preying upon and feeding the other. Settled rancour is the worst form of contentiousness. It nurses its revenge, waiting, like Shylock, for the time when it shall "feed fat its ancient grudge."

4. Intemperate excesses.--"Drunkenness, revellings, and such like" (ver. 21). These are the vices of a barbarous people. Our Teutonic and Celtic forefathers were alike prone to this kind of excess. The Greeks were a comparatively sober people. The Romans were more notorious for gluttony than for hard drinking. The practice of seeking pleasure in intoxication is a remnant of savagery which exists to a shameful extent in our own country. With Europe turned into one vast camp, and its nations groaning audibly under the weight of their armaments, with hordes of degrading women infesting the streets of its cities, with discontent and social hatred smouldering throughout its industrial populations, we have small reason to boast of the triumphs of modern civilisation. Better circumstances do not make better men (Findlay).

+III. Exclude the sinner from the kingdom of God.+--"They which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God" (ver. 21). How poor life seems outside that kingdom! How beautiful and glorious inside its gates! If I tried to tell you how Christ brings us there, I should repeat to you once more the old familiar story. He comes and lives and dies and rises again for us. He touches us with gratitude. He sets before our softened lives His life. He makes us see the beauty of holiness and the strength of the spiritual life in Him. He transfers His life to us through the open channel of faith, and so we come to live as He lives, by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. How old the story is, but how endlessly fresh and true to him whose own career it describes (Phillips Brooks). Exclusion from the kingdom of God is man's own act; it is self-exclusion. He will not enter in; he loves darkness rather than light.

+Lessons.+--1. Sin is an active principle whose works are perniciously evident. 2. Sin is the primal cause of every possible vice. 3. Sin persisted in involves moral ruin.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 19-21. Biblical Account of Sin.--A mournful catalogue of words, based on a great variety of images, is employed in Scripture to describe the state of sinfulness which man inherits from his birth. Sometimes it is set forth as the missing of a mark or aim; sometimes as the transgressing of a line--the word occurs seven times in the New Testament and is twice applied to Adam's Fall (Rom. v. 14; 1 Tim. ii. 14); sometimes as disobedience to a voice, i.e. to hear carelessly, to take no need of--the word occurs three times (Rom. v. 19; 2 Cor. x. 6; Heb. ii. 2); sometimes as ignorance of what we ought to have done (Heb. ix. 7); sometimes as a defect or discomfiture--to be worsted, because, as Gerhard says, "A sinner yields to, is worsted by, the temptations of the flesh and of Satan"; sometimes as a debt (Matt. vi. 12); sometimes as disobedience to law--the word occurs fourteen times in the New Testament and is generally translated by "iniquity." The last figure employed in the most general definition of sin given in the New Testament--sin is the transgression of the law (1 John iii. 4).--Trench and Maclear.

The Works of the Flesh.

+I. Sins against chastity.+--Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, wantonness. 1. We must stock up the root of these things, mortify the passion of concupiscence. 2. All occasions of these sins must be cut off, two especially, idleness and the pampering of the body. 3. All signs of these vices must be avoided, any speech or action that may give suspicion of incontinent disposition, as light talk, wanton behaviour, curiousness and excess in trimming of the body, suspected company.

+II. Sins against religion.+--Idolatry, witchcraft, heresies.

+III. Sins against charity.+--Enmity, debate, emulations, anger, contention, seditions.

+IV. Sins against temperance.+--Drunkenness, gluttony. 1. We may use meat and drink not only for necessity, but also for delight. 2. That measure of meat and drink which in our experience makes us fit both in body and mind for the service of God and the duties of our calling is convenient and lawful. To be given to drinking and to love to sit by the cup, when there is no drunkenness, is a sin. Drunkenness: (1) Destroys the body. (2) Hurts the mind. (3) Vile imaginations and affections that are in men when they are drunk remain in them when they are sober, so being sober they are drunk in affection.--Perkins.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 22-26.

The Fruit of the Spirit--

+I. Is evident in manifold Christian virtues.+--1. Virtues describing a general state of heart. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace" (ver. 22). Love is foremost of the group of Christian graces, and gives a nameless charm to all the rest, for there is an element of love in all true goodness. Love derives its power from being in the first place, love to God. When the soul centres its affection in God through Christ all its outgoings are influenced and regulated accordingly. Joy is the product of love. A philosophy or religion which has no room for the joy and pleasure of man is as little conversant with the wants of man as with the will of God. "Joy in the Lord quickens and elevates, while it cleanses all other emotions. It gives a new glow to life. It sheds a Diviner meaning, a brighter aspect, over the common face of earth and sky. Joy is the beaming countenance, the elastic step, the singing voice, of Christian goodness." Peace is the holy calm breathed into the soul by a pardoning God. It is the gift of Christ, giving rest to the soul in the midst of external agitations. "It is a settled quiet of the heart, a deep, brooding mystery that 'passeth all understanding,' the stillness of eternity entering the spirit, the Sabbath of God. It is the calm, unruffled brow, the poised and even temper which Christian goodness wears."

2. Virtues exercised in the Christian's intercourse with his neighbour.--"Longsuffering, gentleness, goodness." Charity suffereth long. The heart at peace with God has patience with men. Longsuffering is the patient magnanimity of Christian goodness, the broad shoulders on which it "beareth all things." Gentleness (or kindness, as the word is more frequently and better rendered) resembles longsuffering in finding its chief objects in the evil and unthankful. But while the latter is passive and self-contained, kindness is an active, busy virtue. It is the thoughtful insight, the delicate tact, the gentle ministering hand of charity. Linked with kindness comes goodness, which is its other self, differing from it as only twin sisters may, each fairer for the beauty of the other. Goodness is perhaps more affluent, more catholic in its bounty; kindness more delicate and discriminating. Goodness is the honest, generous face, the open hand of charity (Findlay).

3. Virtues indicating the principles which regulate the Christian's life.--"Faith [honesty, trustworthiness], meekness, temperance" (vers. 22, 23). The faith that unites man to God in turn joins man to his fellows. Faith in the divine Fatherhood becomes trust in the human brotherhood. He who doubts every one is even more deceived than the man who blindly confides in every one. Trustfulness is the warm, firm clasp of friendship, the generous and loyal homage which goodness ever pays to goodness. Meekness is the other side of faith. It is not tameness and want of spirit; it comports with the highest courage and activity and is a qualification for public leadership. It is the content and quiet mien, the willing self-effacement, that is the mark of Christ-like goodness. Temperance, or self-control, is the third of Plato's cardinal virtues. Temperance is a practised mastery of self. It covers the whole range of moral discipline and concerns every sense and passion of our nature. It is the guarded step, the sober, measured walk in which Christian goodness keeps the way of life, and makes straight paths for stumbling and straying feet (Ibid.).

+II. Violates no law.+--"Against such there is no law" (ver. 23; comp. ver. 18). The fruit of the Spirit is love; and the law, so far from being against love, commands it (ver. 14). The practice of love and all its works is the fulfilling of the law and disarms it of all terror. The expression, "Against such there is no law," so far from being more than superfluous, as Hoffman asserts, is intended to make evident how it is that, by virtue of this, their moral frame, those who are led by the Spirit are not subject to the Mosaic law. For whosoever is so constituted that a law is not against him, over such a one the law has no power.

+III. Indicates the reality of a great spiritual change.+--1. The old self-hood is crucified. "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh" (ver. 24). This well expresses how sin must, little by little, be disabled and slain, for the crucified man did not die at once. He was first made fast with nails to the cross, and then kept there, till through hunger and thirst and loss of blood he became weaker and weaker, and finally died. We are to be executioners, dealing cruelly with the body of sin which caused the acting of all cruelties on the body of Christ.

2. A new law now regulates the life.--"If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit" (ver. 25). The life is governed, not by the law of the flesh, but of the Spirit. The electrician can demagnetise and remagnetise a bar of iron, but the biologist cannot devitalise a plant or an animal and revivify it again. Spiritual life is not a visit from a force, but a resident tenant in the soul. The Spirit who created the life within sustains it and directs all its outgoings.

3. Everything provocative of strife and envy is carefully avoided.--"Let us not be desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one another" (ver. 26). Vaingloriousness was a weakness of the Galatic temperament; and is not unknown in modern Christian life. Superiority, or fancied superiority, in talents or status is apt to proudly display itself. It is indeed a pitiable exhibition when even spiritual gifts are made matter of ostentation, exciting the jealousy of inferior brethren, and creating discontent and envy. The cultivation of the fruit of the Spirit is the best remedy against all bitterness and strife.

+Lessons.+--1. The fruit of the Spirit a suggestive contrast to the works of the flesh. 2. Consistency of life is the test of genuine religion. 3. The operations of the Spirit are in harmony with the highest law.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 22, 23. The Fruit of the Spirit.

+I. Love.+--1. The love of God. (1) Shown in a desire of fellowship with God. (2) To love the Word of God above all earthly treasure, and to tread our own will underfoot. (3) The love of them that love God and Christ. 2. The love of our neighbour. This is love indeed, to show love and to do good to them that wrong and abuse us.

+II. Joy.+--1. To rejoice in the true acknowledgment of God. 2. To rejoice in the work of our regeneration. 3. To rejoice in the hope of eternal glory.

+III. Peace.+--To maintain peace and concord: 1. Neither take offence nor give offence. 2. Seek to edify one another; either do good or take good.

+IV. Longsuffering.+--To moderate our anger and desire of revenge when many and great wrongs are done us. Set and sow this plant in the furrows of your heart, and consider: 1. The goodness of God, who forgives more to us than we can forgive. 2. It is the duty of love to suffer and forbear. 3. It is a point of injustice to revenge ourselves, for then we take to ourselves the honour of God, and against all equity--we are the parties and judge and witness and all. 4. We are often ignorant of the mind of men in their actions, and of the true circumstances thereof, and so may easily be deceived.

+V. Gentleness.+--Right courtesy is with an honest heart to bless when we are wronged.

+VI. Goodness.+--The virtue whereby we communicate to others good things, for their good and benefit.

+VII. Faith.+--Faith towards man, which means: 1. To speak the truth from the heart. 2. To be faithful and just in the keeping of our honest promise and word. This faith a rare virtue in these days. The common fashion of them that live by bargaining is to use glorying, facing, soothing, lying, dissembling, and all manner of shifts. They that deal with chapmen shall hardly know what is truth, they have so many words and so many shifts.

+VIII. Meekness.+--The same in effect with longsuffering. The difference is that meekness is more general, and longsuffering the highest degree of meekness.

+IX. Temperance.+--The moderation of lust and appetite in the use of the gifts and creatures of God. 1. We must use moderation in meats and drinks. That measure of meat and drink which serves to refresh nature and make us fit for the service of God and man is allowed us of God and no more. 2. We must use moderation in the getting of goods. 3. In the spending of our goods--contrary to the fashion of many who spend their substance in feasting and company, and keep their wives and children bare at home. 4. In our apparel. To apparel ourselves according to our sex, according to the received fashion of our country, according to our place and degree, and according to our ability.

+X. Against such virtues there is no law.+--1. No law to condemn. 2. No law to compel obedience. Spiritual men freely obey God, as if there were no law; they are a voluntary and free people, serving God without restraint.--Perkins.

Ver. 22. Love an Attendant of Regeneration.--1. Love is a delight in happiness. 2. Is universal. 3. Is just. 4. Is disinterested. 5. Is an active principle. 6. Is the only voluntary cause of happiness. 7. Is the only equitable spirit towards God and our fellow-creatures. 8. Is the only disposition which can be approved or loved by God.--Dr. Dwight.

The Powers of Love.--If these be the fruit of the Spirit, they cannot be mere matters of temperament. When philosophy gives an account of the human soul it can find only constitutional propensities and voluntary acquisitions. When we interrogate Christianity, we are told besides of communicated sanctities, states of mind which inheritance cannot give or resolution command, which need some touch of God to wake them up, which are above us and yet ours, and seem to lie on the borderland of communion between the finite and the infinite Spirit.

+I. There is humane love,+ which constitutes the humblest and most frequent form of unselfish feeling. It finds its objects among the miserable and attaches itself to them in proportion to their woes. In human pity there is a strange combination of repulsion and attraction, which it is the paradox of philosophy to state, and the mercy of God to ordain; it cannot endure the sight of wretchedness, and yet can never leave it. But there is a work ordained for us which this impulse will not suffice to do. Fastening itself on suffering alone, it sees nothing else. Yet beneath the smooth and glossy surface of easy life there may hide itself many an inward disease which the mere glance of pity does not discern. Flourishing iniquity that gives no seeming pain it lets alone; invisible corruption may spread without arrest.

+II. There is imaginative or æsthetic love,+ which attaches itself to objects in proportion as they are beautiful, kindles the enthusiasm of art, and completes itself in the worship of genius. Yet is this affection very barren until thrown into the midst of others to harmonise and glorify them. No reciprocal sympathy is requisite to this sentiment; that which is admired as beautiful does not admire in return. And above all there is a direct tendency to turn with indifference or even merciless repugnance from what is unlovely.

+III. There is moral love,+ which has reference to persons only, not to things, which attaches itself to them in proportion as they are good, judges them by the standard of an internal law, and expresses itself in tones, not of tenderness as in pity, or of admiration as in the trance of beauty, but of grave and earnest approval. Even this moral love is not without imperfections. Its characteristic sentiment of approbation has always in it a certain patronising air not welcome to the mercy of a true heart, and more like the rigour of a Zeno than the grace of Christ.

+IV. There is a Divine love,+ directed first upon God Himself, and thence drawn into the likeness of His own love, and going forth upon other natures in proportion to their worth and claims. This is the crowning and calming term of all prior affections, presupposing them, and lifting them up from clashing and unrest to harmony and peace. The humane, the beautiful, the right, remain only scattered elements of good till they are gathered into the Divine and blended into one by the combining love of God.--Dr. Martineau.

Love the Perfection of Character.--The fruit of the true vine has been analysed, and in the best specimens nine ingredients are found. In poor samples there is a deficiency of one or other of these elements. A dry and diminutive sort is lacking in peace and joy. A tart kind, which sets the teeth on edge, owes its austerity to its scanty infusion of gentleness, goodness, and meekness. There is a watery, deliquescent sort which, for the want of longsuffering, is not easily preserved; and there is a flat variety which, having no body of faith or temperance, answers few useful purposes. Love is the essential principle which is in no case entirely absent, and by the glistening fulness and rich aroma which its plentiful presence creates you can recognise the freshest and most generous clusters, whilst the predominance of some other element gives to each its distinguishing flavour, and marks the growth of Eshcol, Sibmah, or Lebanon.--Dr. James Hamilton.

The Power of Meekness and Affection.--Once in Holland a person of high rank invited Tersteegen to be his guest. This individual imagined himself to have attained to a state of peculiar inward peace and took occasion during dinner to criticise Tersteegen for being too active, and for not sufficiently knowing the ground on which he wrought. Tersteegen attended meekly and silently to all that was said; and when dinner was over he offered up a fervent prayer in which he commended his host to the Lord in terms of such affection and compassion that this great and warm-tempered man was so much struck and affected by it that his feelings overpowered him, and he fell upon the neck of his guest and begged his forgiveness.

Who are the Meek?--A missionary to Jamaica was once questioning the little black boys on the meaning of Matt. v. 5, and asked, "Who are the meek?" A boy answered, "Those who give soft answers to rough questions."

The Grace of Gentleness.

+I. It is not a gift, but a grace.+--It is not a natural demeanour, amiable and courteous, a soft, feminine compliance, but a grace of the Spirit which takes into it the strength of the Divine. You may have the instinct of delicacy, a natural tenderness and affability, yet not have this grace of the Spirit which impels you for Christ's sake to deal gently and save men. It is the underlying motive which determines whether grace or nature reigns. How is it when your ideas and methods of doing good are thwarted? Moses seems to have in Zipporah what Socrates had in Xantippe, yet her abuse had no more abiding effect on him than the spray which angry waves toss against the rock. Calvin hearing of Luther's ire said, "Let him hate me and call me a devil a thousand times; I will love him and call him a precious servant of God."

+II. The cultivation of this grace will cost you many a struggle.+--You are to get the better of your temper on your knees. No minstrel as in the case of Saul can do the work. We must forgive in our heart those who offend us.

+III. The grace of gentleness is a queen with a train of virtues.+--It ennobles our whole nature. An English nobleman could not be bound to keep the peace, for it was supposed that peace always kept him. So we should suppose that every professed Christian would have this grace; but if you should put your ear to the door of some Christian homes, it would be like listening to a volcano. If you did not behold a sulphurous flame bursting out, you might hear a continual grumbling. A man said to me once, "When I see Mr. So-and-so my passion is bigger than myself, and I long to make him feel it." The Spirit of Christ leads us to pray for those who despitefully use us. Only as His temper prevails in us shall we be able to illustrate the beauty of Divine greatness.--Homiletic Monthly.

Constant Joy.--Father Taylor, the Boston sailor-preacher, when going out to make a call, said to his host on the doorstep, "Laugh till I get back."

Ver. 24. Crucifying the Flesh.

+I. What is meant by being Christ's.+--It is to accept of and have an interest in Christ in His prophetic, kingly, and sacerdotal offices. By His prophetic office we come to know His will; by His kingly office, ruling and governing us, we come to yield obedience to that will; and by His sacerdotal or priestly office we come to receive the fruit of that obedience in our justification.

+II. What is meant by the flesh.+--The whole entire body of sin and corruption; that inbred proneness in our nature to all evil, expressed by concupiscence. 1. It is called flesh because of its situation and place, which is principally in the flesh. 2. Because of its close, inseparable nearness to the soul. 3. Because of its dearness to us. Sin is our darling, our Delilah, the queen-regent of our affections; it fills all our thoughts, engrosses our desires, and challenges the service of all our actions. This reveals: (1) The deplorable state of fallen man. (2) The great difficulty of the duty of mortification. (3) The mean and sordid employment of every sinner--he serves the flesh.

+III. What is imported by the crucifixion of the flesh.+--1. The death of it. He that will crucify his sin must pursue it to the very death. 2. A violent death. Sin never dies of age. The conquest need be glorious, for it will be found by sharp experience that the combat will be dangerous. 3. A painful, bitter, and vexatious death. 4. A shameful and cursed death.

+IV. The duty of crucifying the flesh.+--1. A constant and pertinacious denying it in all its cravings for satisfaction. 2. Encounter it by actions of the opposite virtue.--Robert South.

Ver. 25. Life and Walk in the Spirit.--Life relates to what is inward, walk to what is outward.

+I. To live in the Spirit.+--1. The Spirit begins the life of God in the soul. 2. The Spirit gives new desires and changes all the motives of life. 3. The Spirit lives in us.

+II. To walk in the Spirit.+--1. The walk will follow from the life, for every kind of life is after its own kind and development. 2. Every outward manifestation will correspond to the inward principle of life and will be marked by love to God and love to man. 3. Reputation will correspond to character and conduct to life.

+III. To be led by the Spirit.+--1. The Christian's life is a growth, his walk a progress; but he is led and guided by the Spirit. 2. No new revelation is made by the Spirit. He leads and guides by what is written in the Word.

+IV. Learn our relations to the Spirit.+--1. We live under the Spirit's dispensation. 2. He is the Spirit of God, and so of life, truth, and authority. 3. He is the Spirit of Christ, and so unites us to Him. 4. If we live by the Spirit, let conversation and conduct be answerable thereunto.--Homiletic Monthly.

Walking in the Spirit--

+I. Is to savour the things of the Spirit.+--To subject a man's soul to the law of God in all the faculties and powers of the soul. The things revealed in the law are the things of the Spirit, which Spirit must at no hand be severed from the Word.

+II. To walk in the path of righteousness without offence to God or man.+

+III. To walk not stragglingly, but orderly by rule, by line and measure.+--To order ourselves according to the rule and line of the Word of God. The life of a man will discover to the world what he is.--Perkins.

Ver. 26. Vaingloriousness.

+I. The exciting cause of many quarrels.+

+II. A source of envy and disappointment.+

+III. Unbecoming the dignity and aims of the Christian life.+

The Vice of Vainglory and its Cure.

+I. Vainglory is a branch of pride,+ wherein men principally refer all their studies, counsels, endeavours, and gifts to the honouring and advancing of themselves. They who have received good gifts of God are often most vainglorious. Whereas all other vices feed upon that which is evil, this vice of vainglory feeds upon good things. A man will sometimes be proud even because he is not proud.

+II. The cure of vainglory.+--1. Meditation. (1) God resisteth all proud persons and gives grace to the humble, because the vainglorious man, seeking himself and not God, robs God of His honour. (2) It is the work of the devil to puff up the mind with self-liking and conceit, that thereby he may work man's perdition. (3) There is no religion in that heart that is wholly bent to seek the praise of men. The man who desires to be talked of and admired by others gives notice to the world that his heart is not sound in the sight of God. 2. Practice. (1) Endeavour to acknowledge the great majesty of God, and our own baseness before Him. (2) We ought to ascribe all good things we have or can do to God alone, and nothing to ourselves. (3) In all actions and duties of religion we must first endeavour to approve ourselves to God, and the next place is to be given to man. (4) When we are reviled we must rest content; when we are praised take heed. Temptations on the right hand are far more dangerous than those on the left. (5) Men who are ambitious, if they be crossed, grow contentious; if they prosper, they are envied by others. Abhor and detest vainglory; seek to preserve and maintain love.--Perkins.

* * * * * * * *

+CHAPTER VI.+

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.

Ver. 1. +Overtaken in a fault.+--Be caught red-handed in any transgression, the result of some sudden and overpowering gust of evil impulse. +Restore such an one.+--The same word used of a dislocated limb reduced to its place. Such is the tenderness with which we should treat a fallen member in restoring him to a better state. +In the spirit of meekness.+--Meekness is that temper of spirit towards God whereby we accept His dealings without disputing; then towards men whereby we endure meekly their provocations, and do not withdraw ourselves from the burdens which their sins impose upon us (Trench).

Ver. 2. +Bear ye one another's burdens.+--The word is "weights," something exceeding the strength of those under them. "One another's" is strongly emphatic. It is a powerful stroke, as with an axe in the hand of a giant, at censoriousness or vainglorious egotism. We are not to think of self, but of one another. To bear the burden of an erring brother is truly Christ-like. +And so fulfil the law of Christ.+--If you must needs observe a law, let it be the law of Christ.

Ver. 3. +He deceiveth himself.+--He is misled by the vapours of his own vanity, he is self-deceived.

Ver. 4. +Rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.+--In that his own work stands the test after severe examination, and not that he is superior to another.

Ver. 6. +Communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.+--Go shares with him in the good things of this life. While each bears his own burden he must think of others, especially in ministering out of his earthly goods to the wants of his spiritual teacher (see 2 Cor. xi. 7, 11; Phil. iv. 10; 1 Thess. ii. 6, 9; 1 Tim. v. 17, 18).

Ver. 7. +God is not mocked.+--The verb means to sneer with the nostrils drawn up in contempt. Excuses for illiberality may seem valid before men but are not so before God.

Ver. 8. +He that soweth to his flesh.+--Unto his own flesh, which is devoted to selfishness. +Shall reap corruption.+--Destruction, which is not an arbitrary punishment of fleshly-mindedness, but is its natural fruit; the corrupt flesh producing corruption, which is another word for destruction. Corruption is the fault, and corruption the punishment.

Ver. 9. +Let us not be weary: we shall reap, if we faint not.+--"Weary" refers to the will; "faint" to relaxation of the powers. No one should faint, as in an earthly harvest sometimes happens.

Ver. 11. +Ye see how large a letter I have written with mine own hand.+--At this point the apostle takes the pen from his amanuensis, and writes the concluding paragraph with his own hand. Owing to the weakness of his eyesight he wrote in large letters. He thus gives emphasis to the importance of the subjects discussed in the epistle.

Ver. 12. +Lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.+--They would escape the bitterness of the Jews against Christianity and the offence of the cross, by making the Mosaic law a necessary preliminary.

Ver. 13. +For neither they themselves keep the law.+--So far are they from being sincere that they arbitrarily select circumcision out of the whole law, as though observing it would stand instead of their non-observance of the rest of the law. +That they may glory in your flesh.+--That they may vaunt your submission to the carnal rite, and so gain credit with the Jews for proselytising.

Ver. 14. +God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross.+--The great object of shame to them, and to all carnal men, is the great object of glorying to me. +By whom the world is crucified unto me.+--By His cross, the worst of deaths, Christ has destroyed all kinds of death. Legal and fleshly ordinances are merely outward and elements of the world. To be crucified to the world is to be free from worldliness, and all that makes men slaves to creature fascinations.

Ver. 15. +But a new creature.+--All external distinctions are nothing. The cross is the only theme worthy of glorying in, as it brings about a new spiritual creation.

Ver. 16. +As many as walk according to this rule.+--Of life: a straight rule to detect crookedness. +Upon the Israel of God.+--Not the Israel after the flesh, but the spiritual seed of Israel by faith.

Ver. 17. +I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.+--The Judaising teachers gloried in the circumcision marks in the flesh of their followers; St. Paul in the scars or brands of suffering for Christ in his own body--the badge of an honourable servitude.

Ver. 18. +Brethren.+--After much rebuke and monition, he bids them farewell with the loving expression of brotherhood as his last parting word, as if Greatheart had meant to say, "After all, my last word is, I love you, I love you."

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 1-5.

Mutual Sympathy in Burden-bearing.

+I. That sympathy towards the erring is a test of spiritual-mindedness.+--1. Shown in the tenderness with which the erring should be treated. "If a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness" (ver. 1). Worldly and self-seeking men are often severe on a neighbour's fault. They are more likely to aggravate than heal the wound, to push the weak man down when he tries to rise than to help him to his feet. The spiritual, moved by genuine compassion, should regard it as their duty to set right a lapsed brother, to bring him back as soon and safely as may be to the fold of Christ. To reprove without pride or acrimony, to stoop to the fallen without the air of condescension, requires the spirit of meekness in a singular degree.

2. Reflecting that the most virtuous may some day be in need of similar consideration.--"Considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted" (ver. 1). The disaster befalling one reveals the common peril; it is a signal for every member of the Church to take heed to himself. The scrutiny which it calls for belongs to each man's private conscience. The faithfulness and integrity required in those who approach the wrong-doer with a view to his recovery must be chastened by personal solicitude. The fall of a Christian brother should be in any case the occasion of heart-searching and profound humiliation. Feelings of indifference towards him, much more of contempt, will prove the prelude of a worse overthrow for ourselves.

+II. That sympathy in burden-bearing is in harmony with the highest law.+--"Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ" (ver. 2). As much as to say, "If ye will bear burdens, bear one another's burden; if ye will observe law, observe the highest law--the law of love." There is nothing more Christ-like than to bear the burden of a brother's trespass. Christ bore burdens which to us would have been intolerable and overwhelming. The heaviest burden becomes supportable when shared with loving sympathy. Kindness towards the needy and helpless is work done to Christ. There is a poetic legend among the Anglian kings that Count Fulc the Good, journeying along Loire-side towards Tours, saw, just as the towers of St. Martin's rose before him in the distance, a leper full of sores who put by his offer of alms and desired to be borne to the sacred city. Amidst the jibes of his courtiers, the good count lifted him in his arms and carried him along bank and bridge. As they entered the town the leper vanished from their sight, and men told how Fulc had borne an angel unawares! Mutual burden-bearing is the practical proof of the unity and solidarity of the Christian brotherhood.

+III. That no man can afford to be independent of human sympathy.+--1. Fancied superiority to sympathy is self-deception. "If a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself" (ver. 3). Others will see how little his affected eminence is worth. Some will humour his vanity, many will ridicule or pity it, few will be deceived by it. Real knowledge is humble; it knows its nothingness. Socrates, when the oracle pronounced him the wisest man in Greece, at last discovered that the response was right, inasmuch as he alone was aware that he knew nothing, while other men were confident of their knowledge. It is in humility and dependence, in self-forgetting, that true wisdom begins. Who are we, although the most refined or highest in place, that we should despise plain, uncultured members of the Church, those who bear life's heavier burdens and amongst whom our Saviour spent His days on earth, and treat them as unfit for our company, unworthy of fellowship with us in Christ? (Findlay). The most exalted and gifted is never lifted above the need of fellow-sympathy.

2. A searching examination into our conduct will reveal how little cause there is for boasting a fancied superiority.--"But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another" (ver. 4). As if the apostle said: "Let each man try his own work. Judge yourselves instead of judging one another. Mind your own duty rather than your neighbours' faults. Do not think of your worth or talents in comparison with theirs but see to it that your work is right." The question for each of us is not, "What do others fail to do?" but, "What am I myself really doing? What will my life's work amount to when measured by that which God expects from me?" The petty comparisons which feed our vanity and our class-prejudices are of no avail at the bar of God. If we study our brother's work, it should be with a view of enabling him to do it better, or to learn to improve our own by his example; not in order to find excuses for ourselves in his shortcomings. If our work abide the test, we shall have glorying in ourselves alone, not in regard to our neighbour. Not his flaws and failures, but my own honest work, will be the ground of my satisfaction (Ibid.).

+IV. That individual responsibility is universal.+--"For every man shall bear his own burden [load]" (ver. 5). No man can rid himself of his life-load; he must carry it up to the judgment-seat of Christ, where he will get his final discharge. Daniel Webster was present one day at a dinner-party given at Astor House by some New York friends, and in order to draw him out one of the company put to him the following question, "Will you please tell us, Mr. Webster, what was the most important thought that ever occupied your mind?" Mr. Webster merely raised his head, and passing his hand slowly over his forehead, said, "Is there any one here who doesn't know me?" "No, sir," was the reply; "we all know you and are your friends." "Then," said he, looking over the table, "the most important thought that ever occupied my mind was that of my individual responsibility to God"; and he spoke on the subject for twenty minutes. The higher sense we have of our own responsibility the more considerate we are in judging others and the more we sympathise with them in their struggles and trials. Æsop says a man carries two bags over his shoulder, the one with his own sins hanging behind, that with his neighbour's sins in front.

+Lessons.+--1. Sympathy is a Christ-like grace. 2. Sympathy for the erring does not tolerate wrong. 3. Practical help is the test of genuine sympathy.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Ver. 1. The Sins of Others.

+I. The follies and misconduct of others are the choice subjects of conversation in every stage of society; and if we take slander out of these conversations, we rob them of their keenest fascination.+ I have felt it, that fearful joy which the discovery of others' faults produces; and then I found nothing at all extravagant in the strongest expressions by which the Scriptures depict the depth of our fall and the depravity of our heart.

+II. One of your brethren has lapsed: but you who condemn him, have you never erred?+ Do you know his history? Did he know what you know yourself? The fall of a brother should call forth a painful self-examination and a sincere humiliation before God.

+III. Real and profound compassion should be felt for the brother whom sin has overtaken.+ But sympathy alone will not suffice. There is a sympathy which is mere weakness. Our mission lays upon us the duty of restoration. This is a delicate and sublime work, for it is the work of God, but the work of God destined to be accomplished by man. Do the work of Jesus Christ in the spirit of Jesus Christ. You must have for your fallen brethren a love without weakness and a holiness without pride. We cannot raise them en masse, and by I know not what a collective action which would exempt us from individual love and sacrifice. All will be of no avail unless each of us, in the post where God has placed him, acts upon those around him, and brings them all individually under that influence of love which nothing can either equal or replace. Have you never asked yourself with terror if you have not lost some soul? Do you know if, among all those unfortunate beings whom God will cast from His presence at the last day, more than one will not sorrowfully turn towards you and say, "It is thou, it is thou that has lost me"?--Eugene Bersier.

Vers. 1, 2. Christian Reformation.

+I. A thief is the man who uses, in order to keep up appearances, that which does not justly belong to him,+ whether that appearance be kept up by actually robbing his neighbour's pocket, or by delaying the payment of his just debts, or by stinting God and man of their dues in any way. Such a one has, for keeping up appearances, every advantage up to a certain point, and that point is the moment of detection. After that, all is changed. The detected thief is the most miserable of men. Two ways only are open to him by which he can endure life or carry on hope. One if these is to declare war against society, and become an open instead of a secret offender; the other is to begin anew, and strive to build up a fresh reputation under more favourable auspices, it may be by shrewder and deeper deceit, or it may be in the way of genuine repentance and amendment. It is hard to say whether of these two is the more difficult or hopeless.

+II. Were we all true men, safe in our own consciences, fearless of detection in any point ourselves, we should be ever ready to help up an erring brother or sister;+ but it is just because we are afraid of our own weak and unsound points that we are so reluctant ever to let a tarnished character again brighten itself. It is hardly possible to over-estimate the vast conspiracy which is arranged against the delinquent's effort to be reinstated in the favour of his fellow-men.

III. It would be by no means uninstructive to inquire +how far these feelings have influenced us in our views and practice with regard to the punishment of crime.+ The last thing we believe in is reformation. You may view this as a judicial consequence of guilt. Terrible as may be the fears of a conscience dreading detection, far more difficulty, far more anguish, far bitterer self-reproach, is in store for the penitent struggling to regain peace and the fair name which he has lost. He carries the past evermore, as it were, branded on his brow, for men to see and avoid.

IV. While we rejoice and are grateful to God for His mercy to us, +we should at the same time tremble at our own unworthiness, and ever bear in mind our personal liability to fall into sin.+ In such a spirit should we set about the blessed work of restoration, ever looking on the fallen as our brethren, going to meet them across the gulf which human Pharisaism has placed between them and us, the undetected; as common children of that God whose grace is able to raise them up again, bearing their burdens instead of disclaiming them and letting them sink under their weight, and so fulfilling the law of Christ.--Dean Alford.

The Restoration of the Erring.

+I. The Christian view of other men's sins.+--1. The apostle looks upon sin as if it might be sometimes the result of a surprise. 2. As that which has left a burden on the erring spirit. (1) One burden laid on fault is that chain of entanglement which seems to drag down to fresh sins. (2) The burden of the heart weighing on itself. (3) The burden of a secret, leading a man to tell the tale of his crimes as under the personality of another, as in the old fable of him who breathed his weighty secret to the reeds; to get relief in profuse and general acknowledgment of guilt; evidenced in the commonness of the longing for confession. (4) The burden of an intuitive consciousness of the hidden sins of others' hearts.

+II. The Christian power of restoration.+--1. Restoration is possible. 2. By sympathy. 3. By forgiveness. 4. In the spirit of meekness. 5. The motive urging to attempt restoration.--"Considering thyself," etc.--F. W. Robertson.

Brotherly Reproof.--1. A man must so reprove his brother as that it may be most for the advancement of God's glory, best for winning him to God, and least to the defaming of him abroad. He must pray that God would guide his tongue and move the other's heart. We may not traduce him to others, either before or after our reproof. 2. Every reproof must be grounded on a certainty of knowledge of the fault committed. 3. It is very requisite the reprover be not tainted with the like fault he reproves in another. 4. The vinegar of sharp reprehension must be allayed and tempered with the oil of gentle exhortation. The word "restore" signifies to set a bone that is broken. We are to deal with a man who has fallen and by his fall disjoined some member of the new man as the surgeon does with an arm or leg that is broken or out of joint--handle it tenderly and gently, so as to cause least pain. 5. Every reproof must be fitted to the quality and condition of him we reprove and to the nature of the offence. 6. Must be administered in fit time when we may do the most good. 7. Secret sins known to thee or to a few must be reproved secretly. 8. We must be careful to observe the order set down by our Saviour (Matt. xviii. 15).--Perkins.

Vers. 2, 5. Our Twofold Burdens.--1. The burden which every man must bear for himself is the burden of his own sins, and from this burden no man can relieve him. 2. If a man be overtaken in a fault, we are to bear his burden by trying to restore him. 3. We are to do this in the spirit of meekness, bending patiently under the burden which his fault may cast on us. This spirit towards those who commit faults is wholly at variance with the natural man's way of acting, speaking, and thinking. We are to love our friends in spite of their faults, to treat them kindly, cheerfully, graciously, in spite of the pain they may give us. 4. Our Saviour has given us an example of what we should wish and strive to be and do. The law of Christ is the law of love.--J. C. Hare.

Ver. 2. Bear One Another's Burdens.--The law of Christ was lovingkindness. His business was benevolence. If we would resemble Him,--

1. We must raise up the fallen.--This was hardly ever attempted till Christ set the pattern. People went wrong, and the world let them go; they broke the laws, and the magistrate punished; they became a scandal, and society cast them out--out of the synagogue, out of the city, out of the world. But with a moral tone infinitely higher Christ taught a more excellent way.

2. We must bear the infirmities of the weak.--Very tiresome is a continual touchiness in a neighbour, or the perpetual recurrence of the same faults in a pupil or child. But if by self-restraint and right treatment God should enable you to cure those faults, from how much shame and sorrow do you rescue them, from how much suffering yourself.

3. We must bear one another's trials.--With one is the burden of poverty; with another it is pain or failing strength, the extinction of a great hope, or the loss of some precious faculty. A little thing will sometimes ease the pressure. In a country road you have seen the weary beast with foaming flank straining onward with the overladen cart and ready to give in, when the kindly waggoner called a halt, and propping up the shaft with a slim rod or stake from the hedgerow, he patted and praised the willing creature, till after a little rest they were ready to resume the rough track together. Many a time a small prop is quite sufficient.

4. By thus bearing others' burdens you will lighten your own.--Rogers the poet has preserved a story told him by a Piedmontese nobleman. "I was weary of life, and after a melancholy day was hurrying along the street to the river, when I felt a sudden check. I turned and beheld a little boy who had caught the skirt of my cloak in his anxiety to solicit my notice. His look and manner were irresistible. Not less so was the lesson I learnt. 'There are six of us, and we are dying for want of food.' 'Why should I not,' said I to myself, 'relieve this wretched family? I have the means, and it will not delay me many minutes.' The scene of misery he conducted me to I cannot describe. I threw them my purse, and their burst of gratitude overcame me. It filled my eyes; it went as a cordial to my heart. 'I will call again to-morrow,' I cried. Fool that I was to think of leaving a world where such pleasure was to be had, and so cheaply." There is many a load which only grows less by giving a lift to another. A dim Gospel makes a cold Christian; a distant Saviour makes a halting, hesitating disciple.--Dr. James Hamilton.

Ver. 2. Christian Generosity.

+I. The duty enjoined.+--1. It may apply to a weight of labour or bodily toil. 2. To a weight of personal affliction. 3. To a weight of providential losses and embarrassments. 4. To a weight of guilt. 5. Of temptation. 6. Of infirmities.

+II. The enforcing motive.+--1. The apostle's requirement is worthy of the character of Christ, as it is a law of equity. 2. It is congenial with the Spirit of Christ. 3. It is agreeable to the example of Christ. 4. It is deducible from the precepts of Christ. 5. It has the approbation of Christ.--Sketches.

Bearing One Another's Burdens.--The metaphor is taken from travellers who used to ease one another by carrying one another's burdens, wholly or in part, so that they may more cheerfully and speedily go on in their journey. As in architecture all stones are not fit to be laid in every place of the building, but some below and others above the wall, so that the whole building may be firm and compact in itself; so, in the Church those who are strong must support the weak. The Italians have a proverb--Hard with hard never makes a good wall, by which is signified that stones cobbled up one upon another without mortar to combine them make but a tottering wall that may be easily shaken; but if there be mortar betwixt them yielding to the hardness of the stones, it makes the whole like a solid continued body, strong and stable, able to endure the shock of the ram or the shot of the cannon. So that society, where all are as stiff as stones which will not yield a hair one to another, cannot be firm and durable. But where men are of a yielding nature society is compact, because one bears the infirmities of another. Therefore the strong are to support the weak, and the weak the strong; as in the arch of a building one stone bears mutually, though not equally, the burden of the rest; or as harts swimming over a great water do ease one another in laying their heads one upon the back of another--the foremost, having none to support him, changing his place and resting his head upon the hindermost. Thus in God's providence. Luther and Melancthon were happily joined together. Melancthon tempered the heat and zeal of Luther with his mildness, being as oil to his vinegar; and Luther, on the other side, did warm his coldness, being as fire to his frozenness.--Ralph Cudworth.

Association (A Benefit Club Sermon).--1. This plan of bearing one another's burdens is not only good in benefit clubs--it is good in families, in parishes, in nations, in the Church of God. What is there bearing on this matter of prudence that makes one of the greatest differences between a man and a brute beast? Many beasts have forethought: the sleep-mouse hoards up acorns against the winter, the fox will hide the game he cannot eat. The difference between man and beast is, that the beast has forethought only for himself, but the man has forethought for others also. 2. Just the same with nations. If the king and nobles give their whole minds to making good laws, and seeing justice done to all, and workmen fairly paid, and if the poor in their turn are loyal and ready to fight and work for their king and their nobles, then will not that country be a happy and a great country? 3. Just the same way with Christ's Church, the company of true Christian men. If the people love and help each other, and obey their ministers and pray for them, and if the ministers labour earnestly after the souls and bodies of their people, and Christ in heaven helps both minister and people with His Spirit and His providence and protection, if all in the whole Church bear each other's burdens, then Christ's Church will stand, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.--Charles Kingsley.

Burden-bearing.

+I. Different kinds of burdens.+--1. Those that are necessary. 2. Those that are superfluous. 3. Those that are imaginary.

+II. What shall we do with them?+--1. Reduce their number to the limits of necessity. 2. Some of these we are expected to carry ourselves. 3. Some we may expect our friends to help us to carry. 4. We may take them all to the Lord that He may either remove them or sustain us under them.

+Lessons.+--1. With grace burdens are removed or lightened. 2. In what way can we best help others with their burdens? "Thou lightenest thy load by lightening his." 3. Let our burdens be reduced to light running order.--Homiletic Monthly.

Practical Christian Sympathy.

+I. Consider the burdens you can bear for others.+--All have to bear burdens. Some man can only bear for himself. Others he can be helped to bear, such as the burden of carnal tendency, persecution, anxiety over loved ones, affliction that is not punishment.

+II. Consider how we may bear the burdens of others.+--1. We can bear them on our hearts in prayer. 2. We can lighten the burden by friendly help. 3. We can by the strength of our sympathies come under the burdens of others.

+III. Bearing the burdens of others is the chief way by which we can fulfil the law of Christ.+--Nothing will give us such a resemblance to Him. He lives solely for others. He came voluntarily under the burden of man's miseries, sacrificing Himself for the race.

+IV. Consider the importance of obeying this injunction.+--1. For our own sakes. 2. For the good of others. 3. For the prosperity of the Church.--The Lay Preacher.

Ver. 5. Burden-bearing.

+I. There is the burden of personal responsibility.+--This comes out in the formation of character.

+II. There is the burden of toil.+--Among the steep precipitous mountains of Thibet the traveller meets long processions of hungry, ill-clad Chinamen, carrying enormous loads of tea. There they go, climb, climbing day after day up the rough sides of the mountains, each with his great burden on his back, eyes fixed on the ground, all silent, stepping slowly, and leaning on great iron-pointed sticks, till the leader of the gang gives the signal for a halt, and, after standing for a few minutes, the heavy load again falls on the back and head, the body is again bent towards the ground, and the caravan is once more in motion. You do not wonder that, with a task so monotonous, these poor drudges should acquire a dreary, stupid look, little better than beasts of burden; and you feel sorry for those in whose lives there is a large amount of the like irksome and exhausting routine. Yet there are many who, in order to earn their daily bread, must go through a similar task.

+III. There is the burden of sorrow.+--Sorrow dwells beneath a king's robes as much as beneath a peasant's cloak; the star of the noble, the warrior's corslet, the courtier's silken vesture, cannot shut it out. That rural home is such a picture of peace we cannot believe that care or tears are there. That noble castle amidst ancient trees is surely lifted up in its calm grandeur above sighs and sadness. Alas! it is not so. Man is the tenant of both, and wherever man dwells sorrow is sure to be with him.

+IV. There is one burden which it is wrong to bear.+--It is a sin and a shame to you if you are still plodding along under the burden of unpardoned transgression. The load of guilt, the feeling that our sin is too great for the blood of Christ to expiate, or the grace of God to pardon--this burden it is wrong to bear.--Dr. James Hamilton.

Bearing our Burdens Alone.

+I. The loneliness of each one of us.+--One of the tendencies of these bustling times it to make us forget that we are single beings, detached souls. Each great star flung out like an atom of gold dust into space may seem lost amid the hundreds of millions of mightier worlds that surround; and yet no; it rolls on, grave in itself, careering in its own orbit, while its sister-stars sweep round on every side. We stand cut off from one another. We are to stave up side by side our own destiny, we are to be alone with our burdens, not lost in the forest of human lives.

+II. Look at some of the forms of this burden.+--1. There is the burden of being itself. 2. The burden of duty. 3. The burden of imperfection and sin. 4. The burden of sorrow. 5. The burden of dying alone. 6. If a man is lost, he is lost alone; if saved, he is saved alone.--The Lay Preacher.

Every Man has his Own Burden.

I. No man can pay a ransom for his brother, or redeem his soul from death, or satisfy the justice of God for his sin, seeing that every +man by the tenor of the law is to bear his own burden,+ and by the Gospel none can be our surety but Christ.

II. +We see the nature of sin that is a burden to the soul.+--It is heavier than the gravel of the earth and the sand of the sea.

III. We are not to wonder that +sin being so heavy a burden+ should be made so light a matter by carnal men, for it is a spiritual burden.

IV. +The more a man fears the burden of his sins+ the greater measure of grace and spiritual life he has, and the less he feels it the more he is to suspect himself.

V. The greatest part of the world are dead in their sins in that +they have no sense of feeling of this heavy burden.+

VI. We are to take heed of every sin, for +there is no sin so small but hath its weight.+--Many small sins will as easily condemn as a few great. Like as sands, though small in quantity, yet being many in number, will as soon sink the ship as if it were laden with the greatest burden.

VII. Feeling the weight and burden of our sins, +we are to labour to be disburdened;+ and this is done by repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.--Perkins.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 6-10.

Moral Sowing and Reaping.

+I. Beneficence by the taught towards the teacher is sowing good seed.+--"Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things" (ver. 6). The good things referred to, though not confined to temporal good, do certainly mean that. While every man must bear his own burden, he must also help to bear the burden of his brother. Especially must the taught go shares with his spiritual teacher in all things necessary. But beneficence shown towards the minister in temporalities is the least, and with many the easiest, part of the duty. Teacher and taught should mutually co-operate with each other in Christian work, and share with each other in spiritual blessings. The true minister of the Gospel is more concerned in eliciting the co-operation and sympathy of the members of his Church than in securing their temporal support. If he faithfully ministers to them in spiritual things, they should be eager to minister unto him of their worldly substance, and to aid him in promoting the work of God. Every good deed, done in the spirit of love and self-sacrifice, is sowing good seed.

+II. By the operation of unchanging Divine law the reaping will correspond to the kind of seed sown and the nature of the soil into which it is cast.+--"Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh," etc. (vers. 7, 8). Men may wrong each other, but they cannot cheat God. To expect God to sow His bounties upon them, and not to let Him reap their gratitude and service, is mockery. But it is not God they deceive; they deceive themselves. For at last every one shall reap as he sows. The use made of our seed-time determines exactly, and with a moral certainty greater even than that which rules in the natural field, what kind of fruitage our immortality will render. Eternity for us will be the multiplied, consummate outcome of the good or evil of the present life. Hell is just sin ripe--rotten ripe. Heaven is the fruitage of righteousness. "He that soweth to his own flesh reaps corruption"--the moral decay and dissolution of the man's being. This is the natural retributive effect of his carnality. The selfish man gravitates downward into the sensual man; the sensual man downward into the bottomless pit. "He that soweth to the Spirit reaps life everlasting." The sequence is inevitable. Like breeds its like. Life springs of life, and death eternal is the culmination of the soul's present death to God and goodness. The future glory of the saints is at once a divine reward and a necessary development of their present faithfulness (Findlay, passim).

+III. Sowing the seed of good deeds should be prosecuted with unwearied perseverance.+--1. Because the harvest is sure to follow. "Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not" (ver. 9). Here is encouragement for the wearied, baffled worker. We have all our moments of despondency and disappointment and are apt to imagine our labours are futile and all our painstaking useless. Not so. We are confounding the harvest with the seed-time. "In due season"--in God's time, which is the best time--"we shall reap, if we faint not." Our heavenly harvest lies in every earnest and faithful deed, as the oak with its centuries of growth and all its summer glory sleeps in the acorn-cup, as the golden harvest slumbers in the seeds under their covering of wintry snow.

2. Because the opportunity of doing good is ever present.--"As we have opportunity let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith" (ver. 10). The whole of life is our opportunity, and every day brings its special work. Opportunity is never to seek; it is ever present. There is not a moment without a duty. While we are looking for a more convenient opportunity, we lose the one that is nearest to us. As members of the household of faith there is ever work enough to do--work that fits us to do good on a wider scale--"unto all men." True zeal for the Church broadens rather than narrows our charities. Household affection is the nursery, not the rival, of love to our fatherland and to humanity.

+Lessons.+--1. Our present life is the seed-time of an eternal harvest. 2. The quality of the future harvest depends entirely on the present sowing. 3. God Himself is the Lord of the moral harvest.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Ver. 6. Pastors and People.

I. It is the duty of the people +to give their pastors not only countenance but maintenance.+

II. It is the law of nations, and a conclusion grounded on common equity, that those who spend themselves, as a candle, to give light to others and for the common good of all, +should be maintained of the common stock by all.+

III. Every calling is able to maintain them that live therein, therefore we may not think that +the ministry, the highest calling, should be so base or barren+ as that it cannot maintain them that attend thereupon.

IV. Ministers are the Lord's soldiers, captains, and standard-bearers, and therefore +are not to go a warfare at their own cost.+

V. Ministers are to give themselves wholly to the building of the Church and to the fighting of the Lord's battles. Therefore they are to have their pay +that they may attend upon their calling without distraction.+

VI. It is the ordinance of God +that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel.+--Ministers should be liberally provided for, yet with moderation, that they draw not all men's wealth into their purses. He that would live of the Gospel must teach the Gospel. A benefit requires a duty, and diligence is that duty.--Perkins.

Ministerial Maintenance.--1. Seeing Christ's ministers are to bestow themselves wholly in the work of the ministry and not to be entangled with the affairs of this life, therefore the people of God, among whom they spend their strength, are bound by common equity to give them worldly maintenance, that they may be neither diverted from nor discouraged in their work of watching over souls. 2. This maintenance, though it should be moderate and such as may not through abundance occasion pride, luxury, and prodigality, yet should be liberal and creditable, such as may not only supply pinching necessities, but also that they may have wherewith to supply the necessities of the indigent, to educate their children so as they may sustain themselves and be profitable members both of Church and commonwealth. 3. The Church's maintenance is only due unto such ministers as have abilities to preach and are faithful and diligent labourers in the Word. Those who are unfit or unwilling to preach should be removed from their charge, and not suffered to eat up the Church's maintenance, feeding themselves and starving the souls of people committed to their charge.--Fergusson.

Vers. 7-9. Deceived Sowers to the Flesh.

+I. The solemnity of the apostle's warning.+--He seems to intimate that such is the audacious wickedness of the human heart, that it has within it so many latent mazes of iniquity, that they might be self-deceived either as to their apprehensions of that which was right before God, or as to their own actual condition in His sight; and he tells them God is not mocked by this pretended service, that to Him all hearts are open, and that in impartial and discriminating arbitration He will render to every man according to his deeds. It is sad to be deceived in a friend, in our estimate of health, in our computation of property; but a mistake about the state of the soul--a veil folded about the heart so that it cannot see its own helplessness and peril--this is a state of which thought shudders to conceive, and to describe whose portentousness language has no words that are sufficiently appalling. There can be no peril more imminent than yours. The headlong rider through the darkness before whom the dizzy precipice yawns; the heedless traveller for whom in the bosky woodland the bandits lie in ambush, or upon whom from the jungle's density the tiger waits to spring; the man who, gazing faintly upward, meets the cruel eye and lifted hand and flashing steel of his remorseless enemy; they of whose condition you can only poorly image, who in far dungeons and beneath the torture of a tyrant's cruelty groan for a sight of friend or glimpse of day; all around whom perils thicken hopelessly, and to whom, with feet laden with the tidings of evil, the messengers of disaster come,--how they move your sympathy, how you shudder as you dwell upon their danger, how you would fain stir yourselves into brave efforts for their rescue or their warning! Brethren, your own danger is more nearly encompassing and is more infinitely terrible.

+II. The import of the apostle's statement.+--We have largely the making or the marring of our own future--that in the thoughts we harbour, in the words we speak and in the silent deeds, which, beaded on Time's string, are told by some recording angel as the story of our lives from year to year, we shape our character and therefore our destiny for ever. There are three special sowers to the flesh--the proud, the covetous, the ungodly. They are all spiritual sins--sins of which human law takes no cognisance, and to which codes of earthly jurisprudence affix no scathing penalty. There is the greater need, therefore, that these spiritual sins should be disclosed in all their enormity and shown in their exceeding sinfulness and in their disastrous wages, in order that men may be left without excuse if they persist wilfully to believe a lie.--W. M. Punshon.

Vers. 7, 8. The Double Harvest.

+I. Our present life is a moral trial for another to come.+--On till death is our seed-sowing; after death is the sure and universal harvest. On till death is our moral trial; after death is the life of judicial retribution, alike for the just and the unjust.

+II. Human life has one or the other of two great characters, and will issue in one or the other of two great results.+--1. They sow to the flesh who live under the influence of their natural inclinations and desires, pleasing only themselves and despising or neglecting the holy will of God. They live to the Spirit the whole current of whose being has been supernaturally reversed under the grace of the Gospel. 2. The sowers to the Spirit live. And this true and proper life of man, in its maturity and full perfection, is the great and glorious reward which, by Divine appointment, shall eventually crown the labours of the sowers to the Spirit. The sowers to the flesh sow seed which brings forth death. Even now their life is death in rudiment, and in the end, they must reap it in its full and external development. Degraded existence, miserable existence, everlastingly degraded and miserable existence.

+III. We are liable to delusions with respect to these great verities.+--All history and experience teem with illustrations of the spiritual spells and juggleries which men, prompted by the invisible potentate of evil, practise upon themselves, that so they may reduce to their convictions the sinfulness of sin, and may tone the booming of the great bell of Scripture menace down to the gentle whisper of an amiable reprimand.--J. D. Geden.

On the Difference between sowing to the Flesh and to the Spirit.

+I. The man who soweth to his flesh.+--It is to spend our lives in doing these works of the flesh--to lay out our time, our thoughts, and our care in gratifying the vain, sensual, and selfish inclinations which the evil state of the heart naturally and continually puts forth. Broken health, loathsome diseases, ruined fortunes, disappointed wishes, soured tempers, infamy, and shame are among those things which usually come from walking after the flesh.

+II. The man who soweth to the Spirit.+--It is to live under the guidance of God's Holy Spirit, and in every part of our conduct to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit. He enjoys even at present the fruit of his labour: inward peace and joy, and a hope full of immortality.--Edward Cooper.

The Principle of the Spiritual Harvest.

+I. The principle is this, "God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."+--There are two kinds of good possible to men--one enjoyed by our animal being, the other felt and appreciated by our spirits. Reap what you have sown. If you sow the wind, do not complain if your harvest is the whirlwind. If you sow to the Spirit, be content with a spiritual reward, invisible, within, more life and higher life.

+II. The two branches of the application of this principle.+--1. Sowing to the flesh includes those who live in open riot. 2. Those who live in respectable worldliness. 3. Sowing to the Spirit, the harvest is life eternal. 4. The reward is not arbitrary but natural. The thing reaped is the very thing sown, multiplied a hundredfold. You have sown a seed of life, you reap life everlasting.--F. W. Robertson.

Ver. 7. Sowing and Reaping in their bearing on the Formation of Individual Character.--There are three plots in which every man is perpetually engaged in sowing and reaping--in the plot of his thoughts, in the plot of his words, and in the plot of his deeds. And there is a storehouse into which the harvests from these three plots are being secretly but unmistakably garnered--the storehouse of individual character. The moral condition of the man to-day is the inevitable result of his thoughts, words, and deeds; his selfhood is rich or poor according to his sowing and reaping in these respective fields.

+I. Whatever a man sows in thought that will he also reap in the formation, tone, and tendency of his intellectual and moral nature.+--1. Vain thoughts. If we indolently sport with vain and foolish thoughts, they will inevitably produce a crop of the same kind. The mind will be garnished with flimsy and unprofitable fancies, inflated with a too conscious self-importance, and the outcome is heard in "the loud laugh that proclaims the vacant mind," and seen in the pompous swagger of the intellectual fop (Prov. xiii. 16; Ps. xciv. 11).

2. Proud thoughts.--The man dominated by pride is the most pitiable of objects. His pride of birth will not bear investigation into three generations, his pride of social status is snubbed in a way that leaves a wound that never heals, his pride of wealth smitten down by an unexpected turn of the ever-revolving wheel of fortune, and his pride of life withered by the passing breath of the great Destroyer. But he reaps what he sowed. He sowed the dragon's teeth of proud and boastful thoughts, and the monster grew up and devoured him (Prov. xvi. 18).

3. Thoughts of sinful pleasure.--If we allow the mind to dream of pleasures that are forbidden, the bloom of innocence is rubbed off never to be again replaced, the conscience is outraged till its voice is muffled and but feebly heard, one vile thought indulged breeds another that is viler still, and the moral atmosphere of the soul is poisoned. What he sows he reaps.

4. Good thoughts.--The mind that aims at the loftiest style of thought, declining to tolerate the presence of a debasing sentiment, that keeps in check the wild and savage brood of evil thoughts ever seeking to overrun and defile the mind, that cultivates a chaste imagination and cherishes the exalted and unselfish charity that "thinketh no evil"--reaps the result in an accession of intellectual vigour, in the creation of a nobler standard by which to judge of men and things, in the unbounded raptures of a refined and fertile imagination, and in the increase of power for doing the highest kind of work for God and humanity.

+II. Whatsoever a man sows in words that shall he also reap.+--1. Bitter and rancorous words. If a man studies how much of spiteful venom he can pack into a single sentence, how he can most skilfully whet and sharpen the edge of his words so as to make the deepest wound and raise the most violent storm of irritation and ill-feeling, unalterable as the course of nature the harvest is sure to come. "Our unkind words come home to roost." The man offensive with his tongue is the devil's bellows with which he blows up the sparks of contention and strife, and showers of the fiery embers are sure to fall back upon himself to scathe and destroy.

2. False words.--If we deliberately and maliciously concoct a lie, and utter the same with whispered humbleness and hypocritical commiseration, as sure as there is justice in the heavens, the lie will come back with terrific recompense upon the head of the originator.

3. Kind and loving words.--If we speak in the kindest spirit of others, especially in their absence, if we stand up for a friend unjustly maligned and defend him with dignity and faithfulness, if we study to avoid words which cannot but grieve and irritate, then as we have sown so shall we reap--reap the tranquil satisfaction of conscious inoffensiveness, and, best of all, the Divine approval. "Heaven in sunshine will requite the kind."

+III. Whatsoever a man sows in deeds that shall he also reap.+--1. Cruel deeds. If we take a savage delight in torturing beast or bird or insect, if we plot how we can inflict the most exquisite pain on our fellow-man, if we make sport of the anguish and distress of others which we make no effort to relieve, we shall inevitably reap the harvest--reap it in the embruting and degradation of our finer sensibilities, reap it in the tempest of rebellion and retaliation which those we outraged will launch upon us.

2. Selfish deeds.--If we live for our own selfish gratification, indifferent to the rights and woes of others; if we surrender ourselves to a covetous spirit, living poor that we may die rich--as we sow we reap. The thing we lived to enjoy ceases to gratify, and our noblest sentiments are buried amid the rubbish of our own sordidness.

3. Generous and noble deeds.--If we aim at the elevation of ourselves and others, if we seek to act on the highest level of righteousness and truth, if we are diligent, unwearied, and persistent in well-doing, then in due season we shall reap the harvest--reap it in a heightened and expansive nobility of character, in an intensified influence and enlarged capacity for doing good, and in the eternal enrichment of the Divine plaudit, "Well done."

Be not Deceived.--This phrase occurs several times as preface to warning, seeming to indicate thus that the subject of the warning is one about which we are specially liable to deception, and upon examination we find that observation justifies the presumption. We are thus guarded against any deception as to the following important practical truths:--

+I. The contaminating influence of evil associations+ (1 Cor. xv. 33).

+II. The personal responsibility of each for his own sin+ (Jas. i. 16).

+III. Entrance into heaven conditioned on character+ (1 Cor. vi. 9).

+IV. Human destiny, once settled, irreversible+ (Gal. vi. 7).--British and Foreign Evangelical Review.

Ver. 8. Sowing to the Spirit.

+I. The natural man has no desire for immortality.+--He has not been seized with the earnest and real wish for a future life; but he is entirely bound by this world in all his thoughts, aims, and wishes: he identifies life and existence altogether with this world, and life out of this world is a mere name to him. He is shut up within the walls of the flesh and within the circle of its own present aims and projects.

+II. The spiritual man has a strong desire for immortality,+ and it is the beginning and foundation of the religious life he leads here. Every field of action becomes unimportant and insignificant compared with the simply doing good things, because in that simple exercise of goodness lies the preparation for eternity.

+III. The natural and spiritual man are divided from each other by these distinctions+--one has the desire for everlasting life, the other has not. The success of the one perishes with the corruptible life to which it belongs; the success of the other endures for all ages in the world to come.--J. B. Mozley.

The Law of Retribution.

I. +We see the justice of God--His bounty and severity.+--His bounty in recompensing men above their deserts; His severity in punishing sinners according to their deserts.

II. This doctrine, that we shall drink such as we brew, reap such as we sow, and that men have degrees of felicity or misery answerable to their works, +will make us more careful to avoid sin.+

III. +It serves as a comfort against inequality;+ whereas the wicked flourish and the godly live in contempt, the time shall come when every one shall reap even as he has sown.

IV. +It crosses the conceit of those who promise to themselves an impunity from sin and immunity from all the judgments of God,+ notwithstanding they go on in their bad practices.--Perkins.

Ver. 9. Against Weariness in Well-doing.--1. There is the prevailing temper of our nature, the love of ease--horror of hard labour. 2. The reluctance and aversion are greater when the labour is enjoined by extraneous authority--the imperative will of a foreign power. 3. In the service of God there is a good deal that does not seem for ourselves. 4. There is a principle of false humility--what signifies the little I can do? 5. The complaint of deficient co-operation. 6. In the cause of God the object and effect of well-doing are much less palpable than in some other provinces of action. 7. Yet the duty expressly prescribed is an absolute thing, independently of what men can foresee of its results. 8. There is the consciousness and pleasure of pleasing God. 9. What relief has man gained by yielding to the weariness? 10. Our grave accountableness is for making a diligent, patient, persevering use of the means God has actually given us.--J. Foster.

Apathy one of our Trials.--1. Because, as in everything else, so in our spiritual growth, we are inevitably disappointed in much of our expectations. 2. The temptation to weariness is no sign at all that the man so tempted is not a true servant of God, though this very often is the first thought that enters the mind. It is no sin to feel weary; the sin is to be weary--that is, to let the feeling have its way and rule our conduct. 3. We expect a kind of fulness of satisfaction in God's service which we do not get nearly so soon as we fancy that we shall. 4. You are quite mistaken to your belief that former prayers and former resolutions have been in vain and have produced no fruit because no fruit is visible. 5. In due season we shall find that it has been worth while to persevere in trying to serve Christ.--Dr. Temple.

Well-doing.

+I. Contrasted with fruitless profession.+--It is possible to have a clear notion of Christian truth and to talk well, and yet be idle and useless.

+II. Contrasted with mistaken standards.+--It is easy to do as others are doing; but are they doing well? Practice must be guided by holy precepts.

+III. Contrasted with wrong motives.+--Many are careful to do what is literally the right thing, but they do it with base motives. The correct motives are--love (2 Cor. v. 14), gratitude (Ps. cxvi. 12), compassion (2 Cor. v. 11), desire to imitate Christ. All well-doing is humble and self-renouncing.--The Lay Preacher.

"Reap if we faint not."--The image is agricultural.

+I. Points of resemblance.+--1. The material harvest is of two kinds--weeds and golden grain. 2. The spiritual harvest is of two kinds--corruption and everlasting life. 3. A combination of agencies. (1) For the material harvest seed, soil, and elements work with the efforts of the farmer. (2) For the spiritual harvest the seed of the Word and the power of God must co-operate with man's agency. 4. As to difficulties. (1) The season may be too wet, too dry, or too hot, or an army of insects may attack the growing grain. (2) The foes of the spiritual harvest are the world, the flesh, and the devil.

+II. Points of contrast.+--1. The material harvest is annual, the spiritual eternal. 2. There are seasons so unfavourable that all the efforts of the farmer prove in vain; the spiritual harvest will never fail. 3. The drouth of one year may be made good by next year's abundance, but eternity cannot compensate for what was lost in time.

+III. Encouragements.+--1. "Our labour is not in vain in the Lord." 2. "In due season we shall reap, if we faint not." 3. The harvest will be glorious and eternal.--Homiletic Monthly.

Ver. 10. On doing Good.

+I. It is our duty to do good.+--This duty is enforced both by the words and example of Christ. Christianity not only requires its adherents to abstain from evil, but it demands their active service.

+II. In doing good man attains to true nobility of character.+--The characters in history that exert the greatest fascination over us are not those of eminent statesmen or scientists, but those who have been distinguished for their philanthropy. We see in them a moral dignity that is unique. What reversals in human estimates of character will take place when the Divine standard of greatness is appealed to!

+III. In doing good we find true happiness.+--God has so constituted us that the exercise of our malevolent passions is productive of inward dissatisfaction, while the exercise of benevolent affections is attended with the greatest joy. There is real luxury in doing good.--Preacher's Magazine.

The Opportunity of Beneficence.

+I. What a precious thing is opportunity.+--People talk about making time for this or that purpose. The time is really made for us, only we are too idle or too careless to use it for the proper end. Opportunities of usefulness are of frequent occurrence; they are wont to come and go with rapidity. They must be seized as you would lay hold of a passing friend in the street.

+II. The whole of life is an opportunity.+--There is such a thing as a useful life, a true life, a noble life, though all lives must needs contain a multitude of neglected opportunities. As a series of opportunities its record is woefully imperfect. As one opportunity it is not utterly unworthy of the example of Christ. Let us have a thread of right intention running through life. Let us have an active purpose of benevolence--a constant design of love. The continuous opportunity of life must be utilised, if the particular opportunities of life are to be turned to the best account.

+III. The field of beneficence is very wide.+--Wherever men are found it is possible for us to do them good. We touch only a few persons, but each of these is in contact with others. To do great things with great powers is easy enough; but things so done may be undone so. The glory of Christianity has always been that it does great things with small powers, or powers that men think small; and the results of its work remain. Good work done by many hands is better than the extended philanthropy of an individual; for what is this but the effort of one man to make amends for the neglect of a thousand?

+IV. Though all men have a claim on our Christian benevolence some are entitled to a special share.+--A man does not become a better citizen when he spurns his own family and neglects his duties at home. On the contrary, the noblest philanthropist is the most affectionate of fathers and husbands, and he who loves most widely in the world loves most intensely in his own house. So it will be with us in our Christian charity. We shall begin with those who are called by the common name and worship the common Lord, and from these we shall go on, with our energy not exhausted but rather refreshed, to the great mass of mankind.--Edward C. Lefroy.

Doing Good.

+I. We must do good with that only which is our own.+--We may not cut a large and liberal shive off another man's loaf; we may not steal from one to give to another, or deal unjustly with some that we may be merciful to others.

+II. We must do good with cheerfulness and alacrity.+--What more free than gift; therefore we may not play the hucksters in doing good, for that blemishes the excellency of the gift.

+III. We must so do good as that we do not disable ourselves for ever doing good.+--So begin to do good as that we may continue.

+IV. We must do all the good we can within the compass of our calling+ and hinder all the evil.

+V. We must do good to all.+--1. From the grounds of love and beneficence. 2. God is good and bountiful to all. 3. Do good to others as we would they should do to us. 4. Our profession and the reward we look for require us to do this.

+VI. There is no possibility of doing good to others after this life.+--Perkins.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 11-13.

Apostolic Exposure of False Teachers.

+I. The apostle gives special emphasis to his warning by concluding his epistle in his own handwriting.+--"Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand" (ver. 11). The apostle usually dictated his epistle to an amanuensis, except the concluding salutation, which he wrote himself by way of authentication. At this point of the epistle to the Galatians he appears to have taken the pen from the hand of the amanuensis, and with his own hand written the concluding sentences in clear, bold characters, thus giving the utmost possible emphasis and solemnity to his words. They are a postscript, or epilogue, to the epistle, rehearsing with incisive brevity the burden of all that it was in the apostle's heart to say to these troubled and shaken Galatians. He wishes to reimpress upon his emotional readers the warnings he had already expressed against the false teachers, to assure them of his intense regard for their welfare, and to lay additional stress upon the peril of their hesitating attitude. The more apparent and imminent the danger, the louder and more earnest is the warning expressed.

+II. It is shown that the policy of the false teachers was to avoid the suffering connected with the ignominy of the cross of Christ.+--"They constrain you to be circumcised, only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ." (ver. 12). The false teachers were really cowards, though this accusation they would be the first indignantly to resent. They wanted to mix up the old faith with the new, to entangle the new Christian converts with Mosaic observances. If they succeeded in persuading the Gentile Christians to be circumcised, they would propitiate the anger of their Israelite kindred, and dispose them to regard the new doctrine more favourably. They would, with heartless recklessness, rob the believer of all his privileges in Christ in order to make a shield for themselves against the enmity of their kinsmen. Cowards at heart, they were more afraid of persecution than eager to know and propagate the truth. If a man will be a Christian, he cannot avoid the cross; and to attempt to avoid it will not release from suffering. It is a craven fear indeed that refuses to espouse the truth because it may bring pain. "No servant of Christ," says Augustine, "is without affliction. If you expect to be free from persecution, you have not yet so much as begun to be a Christian."

+III. The insincerity of the false teachers was apparent in their not keeping the law themselves, but in boasting of the number of their converts to its external observance.+--"For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh" (ver. 13). The Judaists were not only cowardly, but insincere. It was not the glory of the law they were concerned about, but their own success. If they had tried to convert the heathen, however imperfect might be their creed, they would have merited some respect; but, like some religious troublers to-day, they selected for their prey those who were already converted. They practised their wiles on the inexperience of young believers, as they expected to gather from that class the greater number of proselytes of whom to make their boast. "Their policy was dishonourable both in spirit and in aim. They were false to Christ in whom they professed to believe, and to the law which they pretended to keep. They were facing both ways, studying the safest not the truest course, anxious in truth to be friends at once with the world and Christ. Their conduct has found many imitators, in men who make godliness a way of gain, whose religious course is dictated by considerations of worldly self-interest. Business patronage, professional advancement, a tempting family alliance, the entrée into some select and envied circle--such are the things for which creeds are bartered, for which men put their souls and the souls of their children knowingly in peril."

+Lessons.+--1. The false teacher may be the occasion of much mischief and spiritual loss. 2. He succumbs in the presence of suffering. 3. He is more anxious for public success than for the spread of the truth.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Ver. 12. The Odium of the Cross of Christ.

+I. The history of the cross.+--It is a history of sin on our part, and of suffering on the part of Christ. What a change has been produced in the moral aspect of the universe by the preaching of the cross!

+II. The odium connected with the cross.+--There is odium and suffering connected with the cross still; in some shape we shall suffer persecution for it. If we will lead a holy life, then suffering, persecution, reproach, hatred and ill-will, sarcasm, wit, ridicule, and obloquy will be cast upon us. It was said by one, when several were expelled from one of our universities, that "if some are expelled for having too much religion, it is high time to begin to inquire whether there are not some who have too little." If we speak of the reproach of the cross, what should that reproach be? Not that you have too much religion, but that you have too little, and that many of you have none at all.

+III. As to those who suffer persecution for the cross,+ it is the greatest possible honour to be laughed at, mocked, and insulted for the sake of the Saviour. If the spirit of the martyrs influenced us, there would be no shunning of persecution on account of the cross, but suffering would be welcomed with joy.--The Pulpit.

Christianity and Persecution.

+I. We should suspect ourselves+ that our hearts are not sound, nor our practice sincere, +when all men speak well of us.+

II. We must not be discouraged +though there be never so many that make opposition, or so mighty+ that raise persecution against us.

III. That we think it not strange +when we find affliction or meet with persecution.+ The Gospel and persecution go hand in hand, or follow one another inseparably.--Perkins.

Ver. 13. Empty Boasting--

+I. When professed teachers do not practise the virtues they enforce on others.+

+II. When zeal for the observance of outward rites disguises the lack of personal godliness.+

+III. When success is sought simply to be able to boast of success.+

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 14, 15.

Glorying in the Cross--

+I. Because of the great truths it reveals.+--"But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (ver. 14). "The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" is a comprehensive phrase signifying the whole redeeming work of Christ--the salvation effected for the race by His crucifixion and death upon the cross. The problem how God can forgive sin without any breach in His moral government, or dimming the lustre of His perfections, is solved in the cross. God is great in Sinai. The thunders precede Him, the lightnings attend Him, the earth trembles, the mountains fall in fragments. But there is a greater God than this. On Calvary, nailed to a cross, wounded, thirsting, dying, He cries, "Father, forgive them; they know not what they do!" Great is the religion of power, but greater is the religion of love. Great is the religion of implacable justice, but greater is the religion of pardoning mercy. The cross was the master-theme of the apostle's preaching and the chief and exclusive subject of his glorying.

+II. Because of its contrast to effete ceremonialism.+--"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision" (ver. 15). To the Jew circumcision was everything. By the cross Judaism, as a means of salvation, is utterly abolished. Uncircumcision includes all Gentile heathenism. Before the cross all heathen religions must perish. The Gentile cultus was never intended to supplant Jewish customs; both are excluded as unavailing in human salvation. The devotees of form and ceremony are apt to develop into bigotry and pride; the foes of ritualism are in danger of making a religion of their opposition; and both parties indulge in recriminations that are foreign to the spirit of Christianity. "Thus, I trample on the pride of Plato," said the cynic, as he trod on the philosopher's sumptuous carpets; and Plato justly retorted, "You do it with greater pride." Ceremonialism is effete, and is not worth contending about. It is nothing; Christ is everything, and the cross the only subject worthy of the Christian's boast.

+III. Because of the moral change it effects.+--"But a new creature"--a new creation (ver. 15). In the place of a dead ceremonialism the Gospel plants a new moral creation. It creates a new type of character. The faith of the cross claims to have produced not a new style of ritual, not a new system of government, but new men. The Christian is the "new creature" which it begets. The cross has originated a new civilisation, and is a conspicuous symbol in the finest works of art. Ruskin, describing the artistic glories of the Church of St. Mark in Venice, says: "Here are all the successions of crowded imagery showing the passions and pleasures of human life symbolised together, and the mystery of its redemption: for the maze of interwoven lines and changeful pictures lead always at last to the cross, lifted and carved in every place and upon every stone, sometimes with the serpent of eternity wrapped round it, sometimes with doves beneath its arms and sweet herbage growing forth from its feet; but conspicuous most of all on the great rood that crosses the church before the altar, raised in bright blazonry against the shadow of the apse. It is the cross that is first seen and always burning in the centre of the temple, and every dome and hollow of its roof has the figure of Christ in the utmost height of it, raised in power, or returning in judgment." The true power of the cross is not artistic or literary or political, but moral. It is a spiritually transforming force that penetrates and guides every form of human progress.

+IV. Because of personal identification with its triumph over the world.+--"By whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (ver. 14). As the world of feverish pleasure, of legal ordinances, was conquered by the cross, so the faith of the apostle in the crucified One gave him the victory over the world, so that it lost all power to charm or intimidate. The world of evil is doomed, and the power of the cross is working out its ultimate defeat. I have seen a curious photograph of what purports to be a portrait of the Saviour in the days of His flesh, and which by a subtle manipulation of the artist has a double representation. When you first look upon the picture you see the closed eyes of the Sufferer, and the face wears a pained and wearied expression; but as you gaze intently the closed eyes seem to gently open and beam upon you with the light of loving recognition. So, as you gaze upon the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ it seems to you the symbol of suffering and defeat, but as you keep your eyes steadily fixed upon it the cross gradually assumes the glory of a glittering crown, incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away (1 Pet. i. 4).

+Lessons.+--1. The cross is the suggestive summary of saving truth. 2. The cross is the potent instrument of the highest moral conquests. 3. The cross is the loftiest theme of the believer's glorying.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Ver. 14. Christ Crucified.

I. By Christ crucified +we have reconciliation with God,+ remission of sins, and acceptance to eternal life.

+II. We have the peace of God,+ peace with men, with ourselves, with the creatures.

+III. We recover the right and title which we had in creation+ to all the creatures and blessings of God.

+IV. All afflictions cease to be curses and punishments+ and become either trials or corrections.

+V. Those who can truly glory in the cross are dead to the world and the world to them.+

VI. We are taught +to carry ourselves in the world as crucified and dead men,+ not to love, but to renounce and forsake it.--Perkins.

Glorying in the Cross of Christ.

+I. We glory in the doctrine of the cross--the justification of guilty men through a propitiatory sacrifice--because of its antiquity.+--It was taught by patriarchs and prophets, the law of sacrifice was its grand hieroglyphical record, the first sacrifices were its types, the first awakened sinner with his load of guilt fell upon this rock and was supported, and by the sacrifice of Christ shall the last sinner saved be raised to glory.

+II. Because it forms an important part of the revelation of the New Testament.+

+III. As affording the only sure ground of confidence to a penitent sinner.+

+IV. Because of its moral effects.+--Not only in the superstitions and idolatries it has destroyed, the barbarous nations it has civilised, the cruel customs it has abrogated, and the kindly influence it has shed upon the laws and manners of nations; but in its moral effect on individuals, producing the most ardent love to God and kindling benevolence towards all--Richard Watson.

The True Glory of the Christian.

+I. The disposition of mind denoted by the expressions--"The world is crucified unto me; I am crucified to the world."+--1. The nature of it--a total rupture with the world. 2. The gradations of which it admits. Deadness to avarice and pride--in respect to exertion and actual progress--in respect of hope and fervour. 3. The difficulty, the bitterness, of making a sacrifice so painful.

+II. In such a disposition true glory consists.+--Comparison between the hero of this world and the Christian hero. The hero derives his glory from the greatness of the master he serves, from the dignity of the persons who have preceded him in the same honourable career, from the brilliancy of his achievements, from the acclamations his exploits excite. How much more the Christian hero!

+III. The cross of Christ alone can inspire us with these sentiments.+--If we consider it in relation to the atrocious guilt of those who despise it, in relation to the proofs there displayed of Christ's love, in the proofs it supplies of the doctrine of Christ, and in relation to the glory that shall follow.--Saurin.

The Cross a Burden or a Glory.

+I. There is the constant ordinary discipline of human life.+--Life when it is earnest contains more or less of suffering. There is a battle of good and evil, and these special miseries are the bruises of the blows that fill the air, sometimes seeming to fall at random and perplexing our reason, because we cannot rise to such height of vision as to take in the whole field at once.

+II. There is the wretchedness of feeling self-condemned.+--Law alone is a cross. Man needs another cross--not Simon's, but Paul's. He took it up, and it grew light in his hands. He welcomed it, and it glowed with lustre, as if it were framed of the sunbeams of heaven.

+III. The same spiritual contrast, the same principle of difference between compulsory and voluntary service, opens to us two interpretations of the suffering of the Saviour Himself.+--Neither the cross of Simon nor the cross of Paul was both literally and actually the cross of Christ. Its charm was that it was chosen. Its power was that it was free. The cross becomes glorious when the Son of God takes it up; there is goodness enough in Him to exalt it. It was the symbol of that sacrifice where self was for ever crucified for love.--F. D. Huntington.

The Cross--

+I. The sinner's refuge.+

+II. The sinner's remedy.+

+III. The sinner's life.+

The Glory of the Cross.

+I. The cross was the emblem of death.+

+II. Christ was not only a dead Saviour, but a condemned Saviour.+

+III. A disgraced Saviour,+ because the cross was a disgraceful kind of punishment.

+IV. Paul gloried in the cross because it is an exhibition of the righteousness of God.+

+V. Because it proclaims His love.+

+VI. The contemplation of Christ's cross helps us to conquer the world.+--Newman Hall.

Glorying in the Cross.

+I. The subjects in which the apostle gloried.+--1. He might have gloried in his distinguished ancestry. 2. In his polished education. 3. In the morality of his former life. 4. In his extraordinary call to the apostleship. 5. In his high ecclesiastical position. 6. He did not glory in the literal cross. 7. Nor in the metaphorical cross. 8. But in the metonymical cross (1 Cor. i. 17; Col. i. 20).

+II. The characteristics of the apostle's glorying.+--1. His glorying was not merely verbal, but practical. 2. Not sectarian, but Christian and catholic. 3. Not temporary, but permanent.

+III. The reasons of the apostle's glorying.+--1. Here he saw a grander display of the Divine character and perfections than elsewhere. 2. This was the scene of the most glorious victory ever witnessed. 3. It was the centre of all God's dispensations. 4. The cross was the most powerful incentive to true morality. 5. Hence flowed all the blessings of the Gospel economy. 6. Here was made an atonement equal to the needs of our fallen world.

+Lessons.+--1. Let us here see the purity of the moral law and the heinousness of sin. 2. Let the sinner come to the cross for pardon, purity, peace, and joy.--W. Antliff.

Glorying in the Cross.

+I. Paul's enthusiasm as expressed in the exclamation of the text.+

+II. One main source of his zeal lay in the subject of his enthusiasm.+--1. The cross is a fit subject for glory as symbolising an infinite, boundless truth. 2. Because it is an eternal fact. 3. Because it is the ground of man's justification and the symbol of his redemption.

+III. Look at the result--crucifixion to the world.+--The true solution of the Christian's relationship to the world lies in the fact that it is a separation not in space but in spirit.--J. Hutchinson, in "Scottish Pulpit."

Ver. 15. Scriptural View of True Religion.

+I. What true religion is not.+--1. It is not circumcision nor uncircumcision. 2. It is not an outward thing. (1) You are not religious because you have been baptised. (2) Because you are called a Christian, and have been born of Christian parents. (3) Because you frequent the Church, attend the Lord's Supper, and are regular at your devotions.

+II. What true religion is.+--1. It is not an outward but an inward thing. It is not a new name, but a new nature. A new creation describes a great change in man. 2. The greatness of this change shows also the power by which it is wrought. Creation is a Divine work. 3. The rite of circumcision taught the necessity of the change. Though it was a seal of the righteousness of faith, it was also a sign of the inward renewal and purification of the heart. Baptism in the Christian Church teaches the same truth. The texts of Scripture which set forth the evil nature of man set forth the necessity of this great change.--Edward Cooper.

The New Creature.--The new creature is the only thing acceptable to God. It is the renovation of the whole man, both in the spirit of our minds and in the affections of our heart. Neither the substance nor the faculties of the soul are lost by the Fall, but only the qualities of the faculties, as when an instrument is out of tune the fault is not in the substance of the instrument, nor in the sound, but in the disproportion or jar in the sound: therefore, the qualities only are renewed by grace. These qualities are either in the understanding or the will and affections. The quality in the understanding is knowledge; in the will and affections they are righteousness and holiness, both which are in truth and sincerity. Holiness performs all the duties of piety, righteousness the duties of humanity, truth seasoning both the former with sincerity.--Ralph Culworth.

The Necessity of a New Nature.--The raven perched on the rock where she whets her bloody beak, and with greedy eye watches the death-struggles of an unhappy lamb, cannot tune her croaking voice to the mellow music of a thrush; and since it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaketh, how could a sinner take up the strain and sing the song of saints?--Guthrie.

The New Birth begins our True Life.--A stranger passing through a churchyard saw these words written on a tombstone: "Here lies an old man seven years old." He had been a true Christian only for that length of time.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 16-18.

A Dignified and Touching Farewell--

+I. Supplicates the best blessing on the truly righteous.+--"As many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God" (ver. 16). Jewish discipline and pagan culture are for ever discredited by the new creation of moral virtue. The rule of the renewed inward life supersedes the works of the condemned flesh. On all who seek to regulate their lives according to this rule the apostle invokes the peace and mercy of God. Peace is followed by the mercy which guards and restores it. Mercy heals backslidings and multiplies pardons. She loves to bind up a broken heart or a rent and distracted Church. For the betrayers of the cross he has stern indignation and alarms of judgment. Towards his children in the faith nothing but peace and mercy remains in his heart. As an evening calm shuts in a tempestuous day, so this blessing concludes the epistle so full of strife and agitation. We catch in it once more the chime of the old benediction, which through all storm and peril ever rings in ears attuned to its note: "Peace shall be upon Israel" (Ps. cxxv. 5).

+II. Pleads the brand of suffering for loyalty to Christ as conclusive proof of authority.+--"From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus" (ver. 17). The apostle has sufficiently vindicated his authority by facts and arguments, and he would effectually silence all quibbles on this subject by triumphantly pointing to the marks of suffering on his own body received in his Master's service. These marks he carried wherever he went, like the standard-bearer of an army who proudly wears his scars. No man would have suffered as Paul did unless he was convinced of the importance of the truth he had received and of his supernatural call to declare the same. Suffering is the test of devotion and fidelity. For a picture of the harassed, battered, famished sufferer in the cause of Christ and His Gospel read 2 Cor. iv. 8-10, xi. 23-28. Marks of suffering are more eloquent than words. The highest eminence of moral perfection and influence cannot be reached without much suffering. It is a callous nature indeed that is not touched with the sight of suffering heroically endured. The calm bravery of the early Christians under the most fiendish persecution won many a convert to the truth.

+III. Concludes with an affectionate benediction.+--"Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen" (ver. 18). Placing the word "brethren" at the end of the sentence, as in the Greek, suggests that, after much rebuke and admonition, the apostle bids his readers farewell with the warm-hearted expression of brotherhood. Notwithstanding fickleness on their part, his love towards them remains unchanged. He prays that the grace of Christ, the distinctive and comprehensive blessing of the new covenant, may continue to rest upon them and work its renewing and sanctifying power upon their spirit, the place where alone it can accomplish its most signal triumphs. Forgiveness for their defection and confidence in their restoration to the highest Christian privileges and enjoyment, are the last thoughts of the anxious apostle. Between them and moral bankruptcy is the prayerful solicitude of a good man.

+Lessons.+--1. When argument is exhausted prayer is the last resource. 2. Prayer links Divine blessing with human entreaty. 3. Last words have about them a solemn and affecting efficacy.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Ver. 16. The True Israel of God--

+I. Are those who personally enjoy the inward righteousness that comes through faith.+

+II. Who live consistently with their spiritual profession and the truth they have embraced.+

+III. Enjoy the Divine benedictions of mercy and peace.+

Ver. 17. Marks of the Lord Jesus.

+I. The word picture here presented.+--1. The figure--slave-brands, στἱɣμɑτɑ. 2. The facts--Paul's historic experiences (1 Cor. iv. 9-15; 2 Cor. xi. 23-30). 3. The challenge--"Let no man trouble me."

+II. The suggestion the picture makes.+--1. He who follows the Lord Jesus must expect some will try to trouble him. 2. He whose marks are most conspicuous will be troubled the least. 3. He who has marks may take comfort in knowing how much his Master paid for him. 4. He who is owned may remember that his Master owns and recognises the marks also. 5. He that has no marks is either a better or a poorer Christian than the apostle Paul. 6. Satan outwits himself when he gives a believer more marks. 7. A sure day is coming when the marks will be honourable, for the body of humiliation will be like the glorious body of Christ.--Homiletic Monthly.

Marked Men.

+I. Ill-marked men.+--Think of the marks left on men by sickness, intemperance, impurity, crime, sin of any kind. Evil will always leave its mark.

+II. Well-marked men.+--1. Christian marks--the marks of Christ. Paul was the slave of Christ. Some of his marks for Christ were literal, as the weals caused by the rods of the Roman Cæsars, the red lines caused by scourging in Jewish synagogues, the scars caused by repeated stonings. The marks of the Christian are mainly spiritual--marked by trustfulness, gentleness, purity, unselfishness.

2. Distinct marks.--Marked that he may be recognised. If you have the marks of Jesus, confess and obey Him.

3. Deep marks.--Branded on the body, not lines that can easily be removed, but going down to the flesh. Our Christian life is often feeble because it is not deep.

4. Personal marks.--The marks of Jesus of no avail unless you possess them. No man can really trouble you if you bear branded on your body the marks of Jesus.--Local Preacher's Treasury.

Suffering for Jesus.

I. The scars of the saints for the maintenance of the truth +are the sufferings, wounds, and marks of Christ Himself,+ seeing they are the wounds of the members of that body whereof He is Head.

II. +They convince the persecutors that they are the servants of Christ who suffer thus for righteousness' sake.+

III. +If men be constant in their profession--in faith and obedience--the marks of their suffering are banners of victory.+--No man ought to be ashamed of them, no more than soldiers of their wounds and scars, but rather in a holy manner to glory of them. Constantine the Great kissed the holes of the eyes of certain bishops who had them put out for their constant profession of the faith of Christ, reverencing the virtue of the Holy Ghost which shined in them. 1. By suffering bodily afflictions we are made conformable to Christ. 2. They teach us to have sympathy with the miseries of our brethren. 3. Our patient enduring of affliction is an example to others and a means of confirming them in the truth. 4. They serve to scour us from the rust of sin.--Perkins.

Ver. 18. Concluding Benediction.

+I. The apostle invokes the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.+--1. Because He is the fountain of it. 2. Because He is the conduit or pipe by which it is conveyed to us.

+II. Christ is called our Lord+--1. By right of creation. 2. Of inheritance. 3. Of redemption. 4. Of conquest. 5. Of contract and marriage.

+III. Observe the emphasis with which the apostle concludes the epistle.+--1. Opposing Christ, the Lord of the house, to Moses, who was but a servant. 2. The grace of Christ to inherent justice and merit of works. 3. The spirit in which he would have grace to be seated, to the flesh in which the false teachers gloried so much. 4. Brotherly unity one with another--implied in the word "brethren"--to the proud and lordly carriage of the false teachers.--Ibid.

* * * * * * * *

+Transcriber's Notes+

- Page 1, Introduction, "Character" paragraph, add comma to "time they"; remove comma from "numbers, and"; apply Reverential Capitalisation (RC) to "the Gospel."

- Page 2, same paragraph, change "v. 15" reference to "ch. v. 15"; apply RC to "the Gospel." "Time of writing" paragraph, remove comma from "certainty, and." "Purpose and analysis" paragraph, apply RC to "the Gospel."

- Pages 2 and 3, table, change each reference to prefix "ch."

- Page 5, Notes for chapter i., verse 1, apply RC to "Divine source" and "the Gospel." Verse 6, change "cf." to "cf. ch." Verses 8 and 9, apply RC to "his Gospel." Verse 12, apply RC to "the Gospel" and "his Gospel." Verse 16, apply RC to "the Gospel." Lesson "Apostolic Credentials," point I, apply RC to "Divine authority."

- Page 6, same lesson, point I, apply RC to "Divine character"; remove comma from "God, and"; apply RC to "Divine stamp," "Divine element," and "Divine authority." Point II, apply RC to "Divine source" and "the Gospel." Point III, apply RC to "are Divine" and "Divine love"; remove comma from "race, and"; add comma to "Oh, the." Point IV, apply RC to "Gospel salvation"; add comma to "words we"; apply RC to "the whole Gospel" and "the Gospel"; remove comma from "nutshell, and"; apply RC to "Divinely provided" and "the Gospel."

- Page 7, same lesson, point IV, apply RC to "Divinely revealed." Application ("Lessons"), apply RC to "the Gospel." "The Power" note, remove comma from "them, and." "Grace and Peace" note, point I, remove comma from "man, but."

- Page 8, "Unselfishness" note, apply RC to "Divine character." "Christ our Sacrifice" note, point II, add comma to "Therefore all."

- Page 9, lesson "The One Gospel," point I, apply RC to "one true Gospel," "one Gospel," and "the Gospel"; remove comma from "methods, and." Point II, apply RC to "one Gospel." Point II. 1, apply RC to "true Gospel," "one Gospel," "true Gospel," and "the Gospel." Application ("Lessons"), apply RC to "infallible Gospel." "Remonstrance" note, point II, remove comma from "part, and." Point III, remove comma from "wax, and"; apply RC to "the Gospel" (twice).

- Page 10, same note, same paragraph, apply RC to "the Word." Point IV, apply RC to "the Gospel" and "one Gospel." Point V, apply RC to "the Gospel" (four times); remove comma from "word, and." "Perversion" note, point I, apply RC to "the Gospel." Point II, apply RC to "Divine purpose." "Disappointed Hopes" note, apply RC to "the Gospel"; add comma to "sweetened and." "Inviolable Unity" note, apply RC to "one Gospel."

- Page 11, same note, apply RC to "the Gospel" (twice). "Inviolability of Christianity" note, point I, apply RC to "the Gospel" (thrice); remove comma from "eye, but"; and apply RC to "that Word." Point II, apply RC to "Divine origin" and "Divine benediction." Point IV, apply RC to "Divine truth."

- Page 12, same note, point V, apply RC to "the Gospel." "Best Authority" note, add a missing sentence-ending period after "St. Peter"; add double quotes around the response "No."

- Page 13, "True Gospel" note, point IV, apply RC to "the Gospel" (twice). Lesson "Superhuman Origin," point I, apply RC to "the Gospel" (thrice). Point II, apply RC to "the Gospel" (twice), "a Gospel," and "Divine Master." Point III, apply RC to "the Gospel" (twice) and "Divine message" (across page break).

- Page 14, same lesson, same point, apply RC to "the Gospel" (twice) and "Divine origin." Application ("Lessons"), apply RC to "the Gospel," "saving Gospel," "the Gospel," and "Divine gift." "Fidelity" note, point I, add sentence-ending period after "they utter." Point II, apply RC to "the Word." Point III, apply RC to "the Gospel." "Servant of Christ" note, point I, apply RC to "the Gospel"; remove comma from "dishonourable, unless" apply RC to "the Gospel" (twice).

- The break between pages 14 and 15 is in the word "compelled": com|pelled. In this and every subsequent case, the Transcriber moved the whole word to the earlier page.

- Page 15, same lesson, point III, remove comma from "us, but"; apply RC to "He saved us" and "of His Word."

- The break between pages 15 and 16 is in the word "maintenance": mainte|nance.

- Page 16, "The Gospel and the Call," point I, apply RC to "the Gospel" and "the Word" (thrice). Point II, apply RC to "the Gospel." Point III, apply RC to "the Gospel," "Divine authority," and "the Word." "Apostolic Assurance" note, apply RC to "the Word."

- Page 17, same note, apply RC to "the Gospel" (thrice).

- Page 18, lesson "Zealous Ritualist," point III, remove comma from "heart, and"; apply RC to "the Word" and "God's Word." "Review of a Misspent Life," apply RC to "the Word."

- Page 19, "True and False Zeal," point III, apply RC to "the Word," "the Gospel" (twice), "His Word," and "the Word." Lesson "Imperative Claims," point I, apply RC to "Divinely destined" and remove comma from "future, or." Poem, apply RC to "Divinity." After poem, apply RC to "Divine element." Point II, apply RC to "Divine revelation"; remove comma from "change, and"; apply RC to "universal Gospel" and "Divine commission."

- Page 20, same lesson, point IV, apply RC to "the Gospel"; remove commas from "response, and" and "hearer, and." Point V, apply RC to "first Gospel pioneers." "Conversion" note, point II, apply RC to "the Gospel."

- Page 21, same note, point IV, apply RC to "God's Word." "Conversion as Illustrated" note, point I 2, apply RC to "Divine grace" and "the Gospel" (twice). "Qualification" note, point II, apply RC to "the Gospel." "Divine Call" note, remove comma from "doubt, and."

- Page 22, same note, change the scripture reference after "Jeremiah" from "i. 19" to "Jer. i. 19" to avoid any confusion. "Divine call" note, apply RC to "the Gospel." Lesson "God Glorified," point I, apply RC to "the Gospel" (twice).

- Page 23, same lesson, point III, apply RC to "the Gospel." Point IV, apply RC to "Divine call" and "Divine work." Application ("Lessons"), apply RC to "the Gospel." "Self-conscious Truth" note, apply RC to "the Word."

- Page 24, "Self-evidencing Proof" note, apply RC to "Divinely commissioned." "God Glorified" note, apply RC to "if He continues."

- Page 25, Notes for chapter ii., verse 2, apply RC to "the Gospel" and "Divine confirmation." Verse 9, apply RC to "the Gospel." Verse 13, apply RC to "the Gospel." Verse 14, apply RC to "the Gospel."

- Page 26, lesson "Confirmatory Proofs," point I, apply RC to "Divinely directed" and "Divine call"; remove comma from "apostles, and"; apply RC to "the Gospel" (twice). Point II, apply RC to "the Gospel" (five times) and "Divine commission." Point III, apply RC to "Divine authority" and "the Gospel" (twice).

- Page 27, same lesson, point IV, apply RC to "Divine commission" and remove comma from "past, and." Application ("Lessons") apply RC to "Divine call." "Truth its Own Evidence" note, apply RC to "the Gospel."

- Page 28, same lesson, "False Brethren" note, point IV, remove comma from "bondage, and." Point V, apply RC to "the Gospel." Point VII, apply RC to "the Gospel." "A spy" note, remove comma from "borrowed, and." "Fidelity" note, apply RC to "the Gospel" (twice). "Truth" note, remove comma from "sword, and." "Recognition" note, point II, apply RC to "distinctly Divine."

- The break between pages 28 and 29 is in the word "admitting": ad|mitting.

- Page 29, same lesson, "Divine Blessing" note, apply RC to "the Word." "Efficacy" note, point I, apply RC to "the Word." Point II, apply RC to "the Word." Point III, apply RC to "the Word." Point IV, remove comma from "apostle, because." Lesson "Christianity and Poverty," point I 1, remove comma from "Christianity, but."

- Page 30, same lesson, point II, apply RC to "Spirit of the Gospel." "Remember the Poor" note, point I, apply RC to "the Gospel." Point II, apply RC to "the Word."

- Page 31, lesson "Fearless Defence," point I, apply RC to "the Gospel."

- Page 32, same lesson, same point, apply RC to "the Gospel." Point II, remove commas from "it, and" and "sin, but." Point III, apply RC to "Divine character" and "Divine order" and change "brganic life" to "organic life." "Astute Defender" note, point I, change "His power" to "his power," referring to Paul.

- Page 33, same lesson, "Power of Example," remove comma from "men, and." "Erring Apostle" note, point I 1, remove comma from "law, but." Point I 5, apply RC to "the Gospel." Point III 1, apply RC to "the Word."

= Page 34, same lesson, "Justification" note, point III, add comma to "Therefore it." Point IV, final sentence, the Transcriber inserted a colon after "place."

- Page 35, "Christian Dead to the Law" note, point III, apply RC to "the Gospel" (five times).

- Page 36, "Dead to the Law by the Law" note, point II, add sentence-ending period after "law of Moses." Point III 1, remove comma from "God, and." "Religious Life" note, point IV, apply RC to "the Divine."

- Page 37, "Love of the Son" note, point I, apply RC to "the Divine." Point II, add the hyphen to "self-denial." "Life of Faith" note, point I 2, remove comma from "salvation, but."

- Page 38, "Life of Faith" note, point I 6, apply RC to "the Gospel." "Self-abolished" note, remove comma from "this, and."

- Page 39, Notes for chapter iii., verse 3, apply RC to "Divine order." Verse 8, apply RC to "the Gospel" (thrice). Verse 17, apply RC to "Divine covenant."

- The break between pages 39 and 40 is within an element that style indicates should not be broken, "transgressions.|--To." In this and every subsequent case, the Transcriber moved the entire element to the earlier page.

- Page 40, lesson "Deceptive Glamour," point I, remove comma from "colours, and"; add commas to "error their" and "diverted and."

- Page 41, same lesson, point II 2, apply RC to "Divine order." Point III, apply RC to "Divine method." "Faithful Reproof" note, apply RC to "the Gospel."

- Page 42, "Folly" note, point II, apply RC to "the Gospel." Point III, apply RC to "the Word" (thrice). "Attractiveness" note, apply RC to "His Word"; add "John xii. 32" reference.

- Page 43, same lesson, "Uses of Suffering" note, remove comma from "adoption, and." "Miracles" note, apply RC to "the Gospel." Lesson "Abrahamic Gospel," in point I, apply RC to and remove comma from "the Gospel, and" and apply RC to "only Gospel." Point III, remove comma from "blessing, but."

- Page 44, same lesson, application ("Lessons"), apply RC to "the Gospel." "Righteousness through Faith" note, point I, apply RC to "Divine method"; point III, apply RC to "unchanging Gospel." "Imitators of Abraham's Faith" note, point III, apply RC to "the Word." "All Nations" note, apply RC to "the Gospel" (thrice).

- Page 45, lesson "The Conflict," point I, remove comma from "imperfection, and." Point II, apply RC to "the Gospel" (twice); remove comma from "law, and." At the end of the paragraph, add double quotes around "No."

- Page 46, same lesson, "The Inexorability" note, point I, remove comma from "requirements, but." "Justified" note, add "Gen. i. 3" reference. "The Difference" note, point I, apply RC to "the Gospel" (twice). Each of points II and III, apply RC to "the Gospel." Point IV, apply RC to "the Gospel" and "His work."

- Page 47, same lesson, same note, point V, apply RC to "the Gospel." Point VI, apply RC to "the Gospel" (four times). Lesson "Divine Covenant," point I, remove comma from "binding, and"; apply RC to "Divine covenant" (thrice); apply RC to "the Divine Word" and "Divine character."

- Page 48, same lesson, application ("Lessons"), point 2, apply RC to "Divine covenant." "Promise a Covenant" note, point I, apply RC to "the Gospel" (twice).

- Page 49, same lesson, same note, point II, apply RC to "His bare Word." Point III, add comma to "therefore it." "Divine and Human Covenants" note, each of points II and III, apply RC to "Divine covenant." "Law and Promise" note, remove comma from "justification, and."

- Page 50, lesson "Inferiority of the Law," point III, apply RC to "the Gospel"; remove comma from "man, and." Point IV, apply RC to "Divine image."

- Page 51, same lesson, "No Trust" note, apply RC to "the Gospel." "Use of the Law" note, each of points I and II, apply RC to "the Gospel." "Unity" note, point 3, remove comma from "one, and."

- Page 52, lesson "True Use of the Law," point I, apply RC to "Divine method" (twice). Point IV, remove comma from "Christ, and."

- On page 53, same lesson, "Great Prison" note, change "sabbathless" to "Sabbath-less"; remove comma from "fast, and"; add comma to "So when."

- On page 54, same lesson, "Shut up unto the faith" note, apply RC to "the Gospel." Point II, remove comma from "is, and" and apply RC to "the Gospel" (twice). Point III, apply RC to "the Gospel."

- Page 55, same lesson, "Law our Schoolmaster" note, in point III 3, apply RC to "the Gospel" (twice).

- Page 56, same lesson, "Law preparing" note, point I, capitalize "Day of Atonement." Each of points II and III, capitalize "Ten Commandments." Point III, apply RC to "Divine plan" and "Divine life."

- Page 57, same lesson, "Law a Schoolmaster" note, application ("Lessons"), apply RC to "Christ's Gospel." Lesson "Dignity of Sonship," point I, remove comma from "training, and"; point III, apply RC to "the Gospel"; remove comma from "provisions, and."

- Page 58, same lesson, point IV, add comma to "Surely he." "Baptism" note, point III 2, apply RC to "Divine life."

- Page 59, same lesson, "God's Children" note, point VI, apply RC to "Word of God." "Profession" note, remove comma from "doing, or"; add comma to "Nevertheless we."

- Page 60, same lesson, "Promise of Grace" note, apply RC to "whole Gospel" and "the Word"; add comma to "therefore, the"; apply RC to "the Gospel." Notes for chapter iv., correct "V r. 1" to "Ver. 1." Verse 6, recognise "Abba" as Chaldee (Hebrew) and set it in Italic; change "iii. 28" to "ch. iii. 28"; apply RC to "the Gospel"; and add the sentence-ending period to the second sentence.

- Page 61, each of the notes for verses 17 and 30, apply RC to "the Gospel." Lesson "Nonage," point I 2, remove comma from "blessings, and." Point II 1, apply RC to "Divinely provided."

- Page 62, same lesson, point II, apply RC to "Divine Son." Point II 2, apply RC to "Divine law." Point III 1, apply RC to "Divine glow" and remove comma from "God, and." Point III 2, apply RC to "Divine adoption." Application ("Lessons"), apply RC to "the Gospel." "Christ's Mission" note, point I, apply RC to "Divine power."

- Page 63, same lesson, same note, same point, remove comma from "trial, and."

- Page 64, same lesson, "Adoption" note, point I, remove comma from "name, and." Point II 1, change "iv. 6" to "ch. iv. 6."

- Page 65, same lesson, "Evidences of Sonship" note, point II 1, apply RC to "the Word of God." Point II 3, apply RC to "Divine manner." "God's Offspring" note, point 2, remove comma from "Father, and."

- Page 66, lesson "Legalism a Relapse," point II, remove comma from "religion, and." Point III, remove comma from "nature, but."

- Page 67, same lesson, "Dilemma" note, point I 2 (3), make "his god" and "thy god" lowercase, because the focus has been taken from God. "Ignorance" note, each of points 2 and 3, apply RC to "Divine worship."

- Page 68, lesson "Pleadings," point I 2, apply RC to "the Gospel" (twice). Point II 2, remove comma from "intellect, but."

- Page 69, same lesson, "Christian Brotherhood" note, point I, remove comma from "men, or." Point II 1, remove comma from "wilfully, and."

- Page 71, same lesson, "Objects" note, point II, apply RC to "the Gospel" (twice). "Godly Zeal" note, point I 2, remove comma from "excitement, and."

- Page 72, same lesson, same note, point I 5, remove comma from "man, but." Point III 2, apply RC to "Divine designs." "True" note, point I 1, apply RC to "Divine." Point II 5, apply RC to "Divine approval." "Christmas" note, apply RC to "Divine Agent."

- Page 73, same lesson, "Doubt" note, point I 2, remove comma from "knowledge, and"; point I 4, apply RC to "the Gospel." Lesson "History," point I 2, apply RC to "the Gospel" and "Divine freedom." In point II, apply RC to "the Gospel."

- Page 74, same lesson, point III, apply RC to "the Gospel" (thrice) and add "1 Pet. i. 4" reference. Application ("Lessons"), apply RC to "the Gospel" (twice). "Jerusalem Above" note, point III 2, remove comma from "salvation, and."

- Page 75, same lesson, "Jerusalem a Type" note, point III, correct "Messias" to "Messiah" and apply RC to "the Word." "Believers" note, point II 4, add comma to "So believers" and "so it." Point III 1, apply RC to "Divine love."

- Page 76, same lesson, "Fate" note, point I, remove comma from "mocking, and." Notes for chapter v., verse 2, apply RC to "the Gospel."

- Page 77, lesson "Christian Liberty," point I, correct "where.|with" to "wherewith."

- Page 78, same lesson, in point II, capitalize "Negro" (twice). Point III, remove comma from "good, but."

- Page 79, same lesson, "Bondage and Liberty" note, point V, remove comma from "adoption, and." Point VI, remove comma from "memory, but." Lesson "Christianity Superior," point II, apply RC to "the Gospel"; remove comma from "aspect, and."

- Page 80, same lesson, same point, apply RC to "the Gospel." "Righteousness attained" note, apply RC to "Divine worship" and "the Word."

- Page 81, same lesson, "Religion is Faith working" note, point II, apply RC to "the Word." Lesson "Disturber," point I, remove comma from "result, and." Point II, apply RC to "Divine method" and "Divine calling." Point III, apply RC to "the Gospel." Point IV 1, apply RC to "Divine judgment" and remove commas from "truth, but" and "himself, but."

- Page 82, same lesson, point IV 2, add double quotes around "Would that the Judaising troubles would mutilate themselves"; remove comma from "exhausted, and." "Like a Race" note, point I 4, remove commas from "on, and" and "them, but."

- Page 83, same lesson, "Bad Companions" note, add comma to "course it." "Disintegrating Force" note, point 1, remove comma from "God, and" and apply RC to "the Word."

- Page 84, same lesson, "Perversion" note, point II, add comma to "known and."

- Page 85, same lesson, "Judgment" note, remove comma from "certainty, because." Lesson "Love," point I, remove comma from "win, and."

- Page 86, same lesson, point III, remove comma from "quarrels, but." Point IV, remove comma from "sphere, and" add double quotes around "Be a man . . . as you can"; remove comma from "can, but." "Abuse" note, point I, add comma to "Thus all."

- Page 87, same lesson, "Right Use" note, point II 1, apply RC to "the Word."

- Page 88, same lesson, "Positiveness" note, point III, add comma to "suppression but" apply RC to "the Gospel."

- Page 89, same lesson, "Walking in the Spirit" note, point I, apply RC to "Divine nature." Each of points I 5 (1) and II 1 (2), apply RC to "the Word." "The Strife" note, point I, change "imprison Him" to "imprison him" referring to sin. Point II, apply RC to "in Him."

- Page 90, same lesson, "Leading of the Spirit" note, apply RC to "the Word."

- Page 91, lesson "Works," point II 1, apply Italic formatting to "fornication" in the second sentence for consistency. Point II 2, apply Italic formatting to "idolatry" for consistency; remove comma from "lust, and"; apply RC to "the Divine." Point III, add "and rises again" because man religious leaders have died, only One has risen again. Use lowercase for "him whose own career it describes" as referring to a saved person.

- Page 92, same lesson, "Biblical Account" note, remove comma from "Testament, and"; capitalize "Adam's Fall"; remove comma from "Testament, and." Lesson "Fruit," point I 1, add comma to "place love" and apply RC to "Diviner meaning."

- Page 93, same lesson, point I 3, remove commas from "activity, and" and "discipline, and."

- Page 94, same lesson, "Fruit" note, point I 1 (2), apply RC to "the Word."

- The break between pages 94 and 95 is in the word "according": accord|ing.

- Page 95, "Powers" note, add comma to "Christianity we." Point I, remove comma from "miserable, and." Point IV, apply RC to "Divine love" and "the Divine."

- Page 96, "Power of Meekness" note, remove comma from "peace, and." "Grace of Gentleness" note, point I, apply RC to "the Divine."

- Page 97, same lesson, same note, point III, apply RC to "Divine greatness." "Life and Walk" note, point II 2, remove comma from "life, and." Point III, apply RC to "the Word." "Walking in the Spirit" note, each of points I and III, apply RC to "the Word."

- Page 98, notes for chapter vi., verse 7, remove comma from "men, but."

- Page 100, lesson "Mutual Sympathy," point II, add double quotes around "If ye will . . . law of love." In point III. 2, remove comma from "theirs, but" add double quotes around "What do others fail to do" and "What am I . . . expects from me."

- Page 101, same lesson, point IV, remove comma from "you, and."

- Page 103, same lesson, "Bear One Another's Burdens" note, in point 4, remove comma from "turned, and"; apply RC to "dim Gospel."

- Page 104, same lesson, "Bearing One Another" note, add comma to "so in."

- Page 106, same lesson, "Every Man" note, point I, apply RC to "the Gospel." Lesson "Moral Sowing," point I, apply RC to "the Gospel." Point II, apply RC to "Divine law."

- Page 107, same lesson, point III, remove comma from "disappointment, and." "Pastors and People" note, point VI, apply RC to "the Gospel" (twice).

- Page 108, same lesson, same note, same point, apply RC to "the Gospel" (two additional times). "Ministerial Maintenance" note, point 3, remove comma from "preach, and" and apply RC to "the Word."

- Page 109, same lesson, "Double Harvest" note, point II 1, apply RC to "the Gospel." Point II 2, apply RC to "Divine appointment" and add comma to "end they." Change second point "II" to point "III."

- Page 110, "Sowing and Reaping" note, point II 3, apply RC to "Divine approval."

- Page 111, same note, point III 3, apply RC to "Divine plaudit."

- Page 112, same lesson, "Reap if we faint not" note, point I 3 (2), apply RC to "the Word."

- Page 113, same lesson, "Doing Good" note, point II, apply RC to "Divine stanbard." Point IV, remove comma from "calling, and."

- Page 115, lesson "Apostolic Exposure," "Christianity and Persecution" note, point III, apply RC to "the Gospel."

- Page 116, lesson "Glorying," point II, add comma to "Thus I." Point III, apply RC to "the Gospel." The original third sentence is "The faith of the cross claims to have produced not a new style of ritual, a new system of government, but new men." The Transcriber inserted the word "not" after the first comma for clarity.

- Page 117, same lesson, point IV, add comma to "So as" and add "1 Pet. i. 4" reference. "Christ Crucified" note, point IV, remove comma from "punishments, and."

- Page 118, same lesson, "Glorying in the Cross" note, point III 1, apply RC to "Divine character." Point III 5, apply RC to "the Gospel."

- Page 119, same lesson, "True Religion" note, point II 2, apply RC to "Divine work." "New Creature" note, add comma to "therefore the." Lesson "Dignified," point I, the Transcriber removed an opening double quotes from "Peace is followed by mercy" because there was neither a closing quotation mark nor an obvious indication where a quotation ended.

- Page 120, same lesson, point II, apply RC to "His Gospel." Application ("Lessons"), point 2, apply RC to "Divine blessing." "True Israel" note, point III, apply RC to "Divine benedictions."

* * * * * * * *

+THE+

+EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.+

+INTRODUCTION.+

+Readers to whom the epistle was sent.+--In the two most ancient copies of the Scriptures which we possess--dating from the fourth century of our era--the words in our A.V. (ch. i. 1), "at Ephesus," are missing; and Basil the Great, who lived in the fourth century, says he had seen copies which, "ancient" even at that early date, spoke of the readers as "those who are, and the faithful in Christ Jesus." When it is observed, however, that Basil still says in that passage the apostle is "writing to the Ephesians," in all honesty we must admit another interpretation of his words to be possible.

Add to these early witnesses that Ephesus is not named in the text the further fact that, though St. Paul had lived and laboured between two and three years in Ephesus, there is absolutely no mention of any name of those with whom he had been associated, and what on the assumption of the Ephesian destination of the epistle is stranger still, no reference to the work, unless we may be allowed to regard the "sealing with the Holy Spirit of promise" as a reminiscence of Acts xix. 1-7.

We must not make too much, however, of this absence of personal greetings. Tychicus can do, vivâ voce, all that needs to be done in that way. St. Paul had been "received as an angel of God, or even as Christ Jesus," by Galatians, not one of whom is mentioned in the letter sent to the Galatians.

Certain expressions in the body of the letter are strange if the Ephesian Christians were the first readers of it. In ch. i. 15 the apostle says, "After I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus." One asks, "Did not the faith which 'cometh by hearing' result from Paul's preaching in Ephesus? Then how can he speak of hearing of it?" It may be answered, "Does not Paul say to Philemon, 'Thou owest unto me thine own self' (ver. 19), and yet says (ver. 5) that, hearing of his love and faith, he thanks God?" Moreover, has any one quite demonstrated the impossibility of this faith being the continuity of that which began with the abjuration of magic in a costly offering of fifty thousand pieces of silver? (Acts xix. 17-20). "Faith" may take the form of fidelity as easily as of credence.

Again, in ch. iii. 2 Paul, at the word "Gentiles," enters into a digression about his specific commission as their apostle. Just as to the Galatian Church he expatiates on the special grace bestowed by God and recognised by the "pillars" of the Church, so here he magnifies his office, and his words here no more prove that he had never seen his readers than the section of Galatians (Gal. ii. 6-9) proves that he did not know the Galatians. Even supposing they did, it surely would not be an astonishing thing that in the ever-shifting population of a seaport many may have joined the Church since St. Paul was in Ephesus. That this was the place to which St. Paul sent his messenger with the letter before us cannot be demonstratively shown; but we feel something like conviction by considering: (a) that the preponderant evidence of the MSS. says "Ephesus"; (b) that the versions are unanimous as an echo of the MSS.; (c) that the entire ancient Church has spoken of the epistle as "to the Ephesians," Marcion's voice being the only exception; (d) the improbability of St. Paul writing "to the saints which are" without adding the name of some place; (e) "Ephesus" more easily meets internal difficulties than any other place. This, in substance, is Bishop Ellicott's view. Still, we cannot regard it as impossible that "Ephesus" may comprise many Churches in the vicinity, and therefore regard the letter as really encyclical, even though it were proved that St. Paul wrote "to the saints at Ephesus."

+Analysis of the Epistle.+

i. 1, 2. Salutation. Joy and well-being to those in Christ.

3-14. Hymn of praise to the Father, who worked out in Christ His pre-temporal designs of beneficence, and gave pledge of the yet more glorious consummation of His Divine will in the bestowal of the Holy Ghost.

15-23. Thanksgiving of the apostle over their fidelity, and his prayer for their complete illumination in the incorporation of the Gentiles in the mystical body of Christ, "the Head."

ii. 1-10. The power that delivered Christ from bodily corruption in the tomb saved His members out of the corruption of fleshly lusts, thus silencing every human boast and magnifying the Divine grace.

11-22. Wholesome reminder of their former distance from Christ as contrasted with present union with Him, and union with the Jews in Him, being led to the Father with them.

iii. 1-13. Paul's familiar statement of the origin of his apostolate as specially commissioned--"ambassador extraordinary" to the Gentiles.

14-19. Prayer that by "power and faith and love" they may grasp "the mystery," and become brimful of love Divine.

20, 21. Doxology to the doctrinal half of the epistle.

iv. 1-16. Exhortation to a practical observation of this doctrinal unity by the thought that every member of Christ is necessary in its full development to the perfection of the body of which Christ is the Head.

17-24. Casting off the old and putting on the new man.

25--v. 21. Exhortation to conduct in harmony with the new nature.

v. 22--vi. 9. Relative duties of wives and husbands, children and parents, servants and masters.

vi. 10-18. The Christian panoply.

19, 20. Apostle's request for prayers.

21, 22. Personalia.

23, 24. A twin doxology, reversing the order of the salutation--"Peace and grace."

+Genuineness of the epistle.+--Dr. Ellicott sums up the matter briefly by saying, "There is no just ground on which to dispute the genuineness." Arguments based on certain expressions in the body of the letter have been speciously urged against its genuineness by De Wette and others; and Holzmann has "learnedly maintained that the epistle is only the expansion of a short letter to the Colossians by some writer about the close of the first century" (Godet).

"We have, on the other hand, subjective arguments, not unmixed with arrogance, but devoid of sound historical basis; on the other hand, unusually convincing counter-investigations and the unvarying testimony of the ancient Church." Adverse arguments have been answered so satisfactorily and sometimes so crushingly as to leave no room for doubt. Those who cannot read the epistle without being moved by the peculiar loftiness, by the grandeur of conception, by the profound insight, by the eucharistic inspiration they recognise in it, will require strong evidence to persuade them that it was written by some other man who wished it to pass as St. Paul's.

+The practical design of the epistle.+--The object is to set forth the ground, course, aim, and end of the Church of the faithful in Christ. The Ephesians are a sample of the Church universal. The key to the epistle may be found in the opening sentence (ver. 3). Fixing his eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ, the apostle opens his mind to the blessings which radiate forth from Him, and from the Father through Him, upon the whole world. The mind of God towards men unveiled in Christ, the relation of men towards God exhibited in Christ, the present spiritual connection of men with Christ, the hopes of which Christ is the ground and assurance, the laws imposed by the life of Christ upon human life--these are the blessings for which he gives thanks. Christ embracing humanity in Himself is the subject of the epistle. St. Paul tells with strict faithfulness what he has read and seen in Christ; Christ fills the whole sphere of his mind.

+CHAPTER I.+

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.

Ver. 1. +To the saints.+--Dismiss the commonly accepted meaning. Not men who by hard and rigorous methods have reached the heights where but few abide, but those who, as the elect of God, are separated from everything unholy and kept for God's peculiar possession (1 Pet. ii. 9). +And faithful.+--Sometimes the word may mean "believers," sometimes "trustworthy." "The use of the adjective for the Christian brotherhood cannot be assigned rigidly either to the one meaning or the other. Its very comprehensiveness was in itself a valuable lesson" (Lightfoot).

Ver. 2. +Grace . . . and peace.+--The light-hearted Greek salutation was, "Rejoice"; the more sober Hebrew--our Lord's own--was, "Peace be to you." Here both unite.

Ver. 3. +Blessed be the God and Father.+--The Hebrew form for "hallowing the Name" was, "The Holy One, blessed be He." The Prayer Book version of Psalm c. gives, "Speak good of His name." +Who blessed us.+--When old Isaac pronounces the blessing uttered on Jacob unwittingly to be irreversible, he depends on God for the carrying out of his dying blessing: the Divine blessing makes whilst pronouncing blest. +In the heavenly places.+--Lit. "in the heavenlies"--so, as A.V. margin says, either places or things. Perhaps the local signification is best; "relating to heaven and meant to draw us thither" (Blomfield).

Ver. 4. +Even as He chose us in Him.+--Whatever be the manifestation of the Divine goodness, it is "in Christ" that it is made. "This sentence traces back the state of grace and Christian piety to the eternal and independent electing love of God" (Cremer). There is always the connotation of some not chosen. +Before the foundation of the world.+--St. Paul, like Esaias, "is very bold." His Master had only said "from," not "before," the foundation (Matt. xxv. 34), reserving the "before" for the dim eternity in which He was the sharer, with the eternal Spirit, of the Father's love (John xvii. 24). +Without blemish+ (R.V.), or, in one word, "immaculate." A sacrificial term generally; used by St. Peter (1 Pet. i. 19) to describe that "Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world." This word serves to guard "holy," just before it; a separated (holy) people must also be a spotless people.

Ver. 5. +Having predestinated us.+--By pointing as the R.V. margin does, we get Love Divine as the basis on which our foreordination rests. "There is no respect of persons with God," and so arrière pensée in the invitation, "All that labour and are heavy laden." +Unto adoption as sons.+--The end, as regards man. Perhaps St. John's word goes more deeply into the heart of the mystery, "That we should be called the children of God"--"born of God." +Through Jesus Christ.+--Mediator of this and every implied blessing. +According to the good pleasure of His will.+--The word for "good pleasure" characterises the will as one whose intent is something good; the unhampered working of the will lies in the expression too. The measure of human privilege in the adoption is according to the Divine Graciousness.

Ver. 6. +To the praise of the glory of His grace.+--The ultimate end, "that God may be all in all." +Wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved.+--The change in the R.V., considerable as it seems, turns on the rendering of one word, the meaning in the New Testament being "to bestow favour." Compare Luke i. 28 and the A.V. marginal alternative "much-graced." Chrysostom's beautiful interpretation must not be lightly rejected, "to make love-worthy"--just as if one were to make a sick or famished man into a beautiful youth, so has God made our soul beautiful and love-worthy for the angels and all saints and for Himself.

Ver. 7. +In whom we have redemption.+--Release in consideration of a ransom paid--"deliverance effected through the death of Christ from the retributive wrath of a holy God and the merited penalty of sin" (Grimm). +Through His blood.+--St. Paul quite agrees with the author of Hebrews (Heb. ix. 22) that apart from the pouring out of blood, the putting away of sin cannot be brought about. +The forgiveness of our trespasses.+--Another way of stating in what the redemption consists. Notice the "forgiveness" as compared with the "passing over" (Rom. iii. 25, R.V.). The one is the remission of punishment; the other the omission to punish sin that has been observed, "leaving it open in the future either entirely to remit or else adequately to punish them as may seem good to Him" (Trench).

Ver. 8. +In all wisdom and prudence.+--"Wisdom embraces the collective activity of the mind as directed to Divine aims to be achieved by moral means. Prudence is the insight of practical reason regulating the dispositions" (Meyer).

Ver. 9. +The mystery of His will.+--"Mystery" is here to be taken not so much as a thing which baffles the intellect as the slow utterance of a long-kept secret, which "the fulness of time" brings to birth.

Ver. 10. +The fulness of times.+--The word for "times" denotes "time as brings forth its several births." It is the "flood" in the "tide of affairs." +To sum up all things.+--"To bring together again for Himself all things and all beings (hitherto disunited by sin) into one combined state of fellowship in Christ, the universal bond" (Grimm). "It is the mystery of God's will to gather all together for Himself in Christ, to bring all to a unity, to put an end to the world's discord wrought by sin, and to re-establish the original state of mutual dependence in fellowship with God" (Cremer). +The things which are in heaven and which are on earth.+

"The blood that did for us atone Conferred on them some gift unknown."

Ver. 11. +In whom also we have obtained an inheritance.+--R.V. "were made a heritage." "The Lord's portion is His people, Jacob is the lot of His inheritance," sang dying Moses (Deut. xxxii. 9). The verbal paradox between A.V. and R.V. is reconciled in fact. "All are yours, and ye are Christ's" (1 Cor. iii. 22, 23). "Before the Parousia an ideal possession, therefore a real one" (Meyer). +After the counsel of His own will.+--"The 'counsel' preceding the resolve, the 'will' urging on to action" (Cremer).

Ver. 12. +That we should be to the praise.+--R.V. "to the end that we should be." "Causa finalis of the predestination to the Messianic lot" (Meyer). "We" in antithesis to "you" in ver. 13--We Jewish--you Gentile Christians.

Ver. 13. +In whom ye also, etc.+--The word "trusted," supplied by A.V., is dropped by R.V. It seems best to regard the words after "ye also" as one of the frequent breaks in the flow of the apostle's language, the second "ye" taking up the first. "In whom ye were sealed." "The order of conversion was: hearing, faith, baptism, reception of the Spirit" (Meyer). +Ye were sealed.+--"This sealing is the indubitable guarantee of the future Messianic salvation received in one's own consciousness" (Meyer).

Ver. 14. +Who is the earnest.+--The guarantee. The word represented by "earnest" was derived from the Phœnician merchants, and meant money which in purchases is given as a pledge that the full amount will be subsequently paid (Grimm). The word is found in the Hebrew of Gen. xxxviii. 17, 18, and means "pledge." F. W. Robertson makes a distinction between "pledge" and "earnest"--the grapes of Eshcol were an "earnest" of Canaan. He who receives the Holy Spirit partakes the powers of the age to come (Heb. vi. 4, 5). +Until the redemption.+--The final consummation of the redemption effected by the atonement of Christ. The "until" is faulty, the "earnest" being "something towards" the redemption. +Of the purchased possession.+--R.V. "of God's own possession." "The whole body of Christians, the true people of God acquired by God as His property by means of the redeeming work of Christ" (Meyer).

Vers. 15, 16.--St. Paul is always ready to give a prompt acknowledgment of all that is best in his readers and to pray for something better. +Cease not to give thanks.+--My thanksgiving knows no end.

Ver. 17. +That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ.+--The connection or unity of the Father and the Son is the basis of the plea for those who are in the Son. Christ said, "I ascend unto My Father and your Father, to My God and your God" (John xx. 17). +The Father of glory.+--Compare the phrases, "the Father of mercies" (2 Cor. i. 3), "the Father of lights" (Jas. i. 17), "our Lord Jesus Christ, the glory" (Jas. ii. 1). +The spirit of wisdom and revelation.+--The wisdom which is from above is the heritage of all the redeemed in Christ (1 John iv. 20); but this day-spring, which gladdens the eyes of the heart, grows to mid-day splendour by successive apocalypses. +In the knowledge.+--The word means a complete knowledge. It is a word characteristic of the four epistles of the first Roman captivity.

Vers. 18, 19. +The eyes of your understanding being enlightened . . . to us-ward who believe.+--Three pictures for heaven-illumined eyes: 1. +The hope of His calling.+--Meyer says "the hope" is not here (nor anywhere) the res sperata, "the object on which hope fastens, but the great and glorious hope which God gives"--a statement too sweeping for other scholars, though here they agree that it is the faculty of hope "which encourages and animates." 2. +The riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.+--"What a copious and grand accumulation, mirroring, as it were, the weightiness of the thing itself!" (Meyer). "Riches of the glory" must not be watered down into "glorious riches." 3. +The exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward.+--The amazing and wholly unexpected working of the same Hand that wrought our first deliverance: the Power that smites the oppressor with dismay opens the path through the sea (see Isa. xl. 10, 11). +According to the working of His mighty power.+--This may be regarded as a specimen of the Divine power, the norm or standard by which we may gain an idea of the "exceeding greatness" of it--that from the tomb of His humiliation Christ was raised by that power to an unrivalled dignity in God's throne. The R.V. gives "working of the strength of His might": "working"--"the active exertion of power" (Meyer); "strength"--might expressing itself in overcoming resistance, ruling, etc.; "might"--strength in itself as inward power.

Ver. 20. +Set Him at His own right hand.+--"Dexter Dei ubique est." We cannot dogmatise about the relations to space which a glorified body holds. The transcendent glory of God in that body links God to man, the humanity in the glory gives man his claim in God. "The true commentary on the phrase is Mark xvi. 19, 'He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God'" (Meyer).

Ver. 21. +Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion.+--R.V., "Rule, and authority, and power, and dominion." "To be understood of the good angels, since the apostle is not speaking of the victory of Christ over opposing powers, but of His exaltation above the existing powers of heaven" (Meyer). "Powers and dominions, deities of heaven," as Milton calls them, ranged here, perhaps, in a descending order. +And every name that is named.+--"God hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name." "Let any name be uttered, whatever it is, Christ is above it, is more exalted than that which the name affirms" (Meyer). +Not only in this world.+--"This age." "No other name under heaven given among men." +But also in that which is to come.+--There Zechariah's word will have its fullest application. "The Lord shall be King over all the earth; there shall be one Lord, and His name one."

Ver. 22. +And hath put all things under His feet.+--Compare 1 Cor. xv. 27.

"Strong Son of God, immortal Love, . . . Thou madest Death; and lo Thy foot Is on the skull which Thou hast made."--In Memoriam.

Ver. 23. +The fulness of Him that filleth all in all.+--"The Church, viz., is the Christ-filled, i.e. that which is filled by Him in so far as Christ penetrates the whole body and produces Christian life" (Meyer). "The brimmed receptacle of Him who filleth all things with all things" (Farrar). "Among the Gnostics the supersensible world is called the Pleroma, the fulness or filled, in opposition to 'the empty,' the world of the senses" (Meyer).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 1, 2.

Apostolic Salutation.

+I. He declares the Divine source of his authority.+--"Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God" (ver. 1). The faithful ambassador scans his commission with the utmost care and is solicitous to clearly understand the will of his Sovereign. If he examines his own fitness for the office, it is only to be humbled under a sense of unworthiness, and to express surprise that he should be chosen to such a dignity and be entrusted with such powers. His supreme ambition is to sink his own personal predilections in the earnest discharge of his duty. Paul does not dilate on his own mental capabilities or spiritual endowments. He accepts his appointment to the apostleship as coming directly from the hand of God and recognises the Divine will as the source of righteousness and of all power to do good. This lofty conception of his call gave him unfaltering confidence in the truth he had to declare, inspired him with an ever-glowing zeal, rendered him immovable in the midst of defection and opposition, and willing to obliterate himself, so that the Gospel committed to him might be triumphant. The true minister, in the onerous task of dealing with human doubt and sin, feels the need of all the strength and prestige conferred by the conscious possession of Divine authority. He seeks not to advance his own interests or impose his own theories, but to interpret the mind of God to man and persuade to submission and obedience. The power that makes for righteousness has its root in the Divine will.

+II. He designates the sacred character of those he salutes.+--"To the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus" (ver. 1). The Ephesian saints were made so by their faith in Christ Jesus. They were not saints because Paul called them so. Sanctity is not the result of human volition, nor can it be created by a college of cardinals. "Many saints have been canonised who ought to have been cannonaded." Sanctity is the gift of God and is bestowed on those who believe in Christ Jesus and maintain their allegiance by continued faith in Him. They are holy so long as they are faithful. The saints of God! "Think," says Farrar, "of the long line of heroes of faith in the olden times: of the patriarchs--Enoch the blameless, Noah the faithful, Abraham the friend of God; of the sweet and meditative Isaac, the afflicted and wrestling Jacob; of Moses, the meekest of men; of brave judges, glorious prophets, patriotic warriors, toiling apostles; of the many martyrs who would rather die than lie; of the hermits who fled from the guilt and turmoil of life into the solitude of the wilderness; of the missionaries--St. Paul, Columban, Benedict, Boniface, Francis Xavier, Schwartz, Eliot, Henry Martyn, Coleridge, Patteson; of the reformers who cleared the world of lies, like Savonarola, Huss, Luther, Zwingli, Wesley, Whitefield; of wise rulers, like Alfred, Louis, Washington, and Garfield; of the writers of holy books, like Thomas-à-Kempis, Baxter, Bunyan, Samuel Rutherford, Jeremy Taylor; of the slayers of monstrous abuses, like Howard and Wilberforce; of good bishops, like Hugo of Avalon, Fénélon, and Berkeley; of good pastors, like Oberlin, Fletcher of Madeley, Adolphe Monod, and Felix Neff; of all true poets, whether sweet and holy, like George Herbert, Cowper, Keble, and Longfellow, or grand and mighty, like Dante and Milton. These are but few of the many who have reflected the glory of their Master Christ, and who walk with Him in white robes, for they are worthy."

+III. He supplicates the bestowal of the highest blessings.+--"Grace be to you, and peace" (ver. 3). Grace and peace have a Divine source. Grace is the rich outflow of God's goodness, made available for man through the redeeming work of Christ. There is sometimes the thought that grace implies God's passing by sin. But no, quite the contrary; grace supposes sin to be so horribly bad a thing that God cannot tolerate it. Were it in the power of man, after being unrighteous and evil, to patch up his ways and mend himself so as to stand before God, there would then be no need of grace. The very fact of the Lord's being gracious shows sin to be so evil a thing that man, being a sinner, is utterly ruined and hopeless, and nothing but free grace can meet his case. This grace God is continually supplying. Grace, like manna, will rot if kept overnight. "Wind up thy soul," says George Herbert, "as thou dost thy watch at night." Leave no arrears from day to day. Give us this day's food; forgive us this day's sins. Peace is first peace with God, with whom the soul was at enmity; then peace of conscience, troubled on account of repeated sins, and peace with all men. All our best wishes for the welfare of others are included in the all-comprehensive blessings of grace and peace.

+Lessons.+--1. The will of God is the highest authority for Christian service. 2. The saintly character is the outgrowth of a practical faith. 3. Grace and peace describe the rich heritage of the believer.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 1, 2. Paul's Introduction to the Epistle.--The design of this epistle is more fully to instruct the Ephesians in the nature of that Gospel they had received, to guard them against certain errors to which they were exposed from the influence and example of unbelieving Jews and Gentiles, and to inculcate upon them the importance of a conversation becoming their faith and profession. It contains the substance of the Gospel.

+I. Paul here calls himself an apostle of Jesus Christ.+--The word "apostle" signifies a messenger sent on some particular business. Jesus Christ is called an Apostle because He was sent of God to instruct and redeem mankind. Paul and others are called apostles because they were sent of Christ to teach the doctrines they had received from Him. To confirm this commission, as well as to give their ministry success, Christ, according to His promise, wrought with them and established their words with signs following.

1. Paul was an apostle by the will of God.--He received not his call or commission from man; nor was he, as Matthias was, chosen to his apostleship by men; but he was called by Jesus Christ, who in person appeared to him for this end that He might send him among the Gentiles, and by God the Father, who revealed His Son in him, and chose him that he should know His will and be a witness of the truth unto all men.

2. He was called of God by revelation.--It was not a secret revelation known only to himself, like the revelation on which enthusiasts and impostors ground their pretensions, but a revelation made in the most open and public manner, attended with a voice from heaven and a light which outshone the sun at noonday, and exhibited in the midst of a number of people to whom he could appeal as witnesses of the extraordinary scene. The great business of Paul and the other apostles was to diffuse the knowledge of the Gospel and plant Churches in various parts of the world.

+II. Paul directs this epistle to the saints and faithful.+--The phrases denote they had been called out of the world and separated from others that they might be a peculiar people unto God. The religion we profess contains the highest motives to purity of heart and life. If, content with a verbal profession of and external compliance with this religion, we regard iniquity in our hearts, we are guilty of the vilest prevarication, and our religion, instead of saving us, will but plunge us the deeper into infamy and misery. That which is the visible ought to be the real character of Christians.

+III. The apostle expresses his fervent desire that these Ephesians may receive the glorious blessings offered in the Gospel.+--1. Grace. Pardon is grace, for it is the remission of a deserved punishment. Eternal life is grace, for it is a happiness of which we are utterly unworthy. The influences of the Divine Spirit are grace, for they are first granted without any good disposition on our part to invite them, they are continued even after repeated oppositions, they prepare us for that world of glory for which we never should qualify ourselves.

2. Peace.--By this we understand that peace of mind which arises from a persuasion of our interest in the favour of God. Our peace with God is immediately connected with our faith in Christ. Our peace of mind is connected with our knowledge of the sincerity of our faith. "If our heart condemn us not, we have confidence toward God." The way to enjoy peace is to increase in all holy dispositions and to abound in every good work. If the apostle wished grace and peace to Christians, surely they should feel some solicitude to enjoy them.--J. Lathrop, D.D.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 3-14.

Praise for the Work of the Trinity in the Gospel of Grace.

These verses are an outburst of descriptive eloquence that even the ample resources of the Greek language seem too meagre to adequately express. The grandeur and variety of ideas, and the necessary vagueness of the phrases by which those ideas are conveyed in this paragraph, create a difficulty in putting the subject into a practical homiletic form. It may help us if we regard the passage as an outpouring of praise for the work of the Trinity in the Gospel of grace, the part of each person in the Trinity being distinctly recognised as contributing to the unity of the whole.

+I. The Gospel of grace originated in the love of the Father.+--1. He hath chosen us to holiness. "Blessed be the God and Father . . . who hath chosen us . . . that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love" (vers. 3, 4). The love of God the Father gave Christ to the world, and in Him the human race is dowered with "all spiritual blessings in heavenly places." The blessings from heaven link us to heaven, and will by-and-by bring us to heaven, where those blessings will be enjoyed in unrestricted fulness. Before time began, in the free play of His infinite love, God the Father, foreseeing the sin and misery that would come to pass, resolved to save man, and to save him in His own way and for His own purpose. Man was to be saved in Christ, and by believingly receiving Christ; and his salvation was not to free him from moral obligation, but to plant in him principles of holiness by which he could live a blameless life before God. He chose for Himself that we might love Him and find our satisfaction in the perpetual discovery of His great love to us. The true progression of the Christian life is a growth of the ever-widening knowledge of the love of God. Love is the essence and the crown of holiness.

2. He hath ordained us to sonship.--"Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Christ Jesus Himself" (ver. 5). The sonship is not by natural right of inheritance, but by adoption. It is an act of Divine grace, undeserved and unexpected. It is said that, after the battle of Austerlitz, Napoleon adopted the children of the soldiers who had fallen. They were supported and educated by the State, and, as belonging to the family of the emperor, were allowed to attach the name of Napoleon to their own. This was not the adoption of love, but as a recognition of service rendered by their fathers. None can adopt into the family of God but God Himself, and it is an act on His part of pure, unmerited love. He raises us to the highest dignity, and endows us with unspeakable privileges, when He makes us His children; and our lives should be in harmony with so distinguished a relationship.

3. He hath accepted us in Christ.--"Wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved" (ver. 6). Christ, the beloved One, is the special object of the Father's love, and all who are united to Christ by faith become sharers in the love with which the Divine Father regards His Son. It is only in and through Christ that we are admitted into the Divine family. God loves us in Christ, and the more so because we love Christ. We are accepted to a life of holiness and a service of love. Christ is the pattern of our sonship and the means of our adoption. The love of God to the race finds an outlet through the person and gracious intervention of His Son.

+II. The Gospel of grace was wrought out by the sufferings of the Son.+--1. In Him we have forgiveness of sins. "In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins" (ver. 7). How little do we realise the greatness and blessedness of the pardon of sin! It may seem difficult to explain how the forgiveness of sins is connected with the sufferings and death of Christ; but there is no fact in the New Testament writings more clearly revealed or more emphatically repeated than this. "The death of Christ was an act of submission on behalf of mankind to the justice of the penalties of violating the eternal law of righteousness--an act in which our own submission not only received a transcendent expression, but was really and vitally included; it was an act which secured the destruction of sin in all who, through faith, are restored to union with Christ; it was an act in which there was a revelation of the righteousness of God which must otherwise have been revealed in the infliction of the penalty of sin on the human race. Instead of inflicting suffering God has elected to endure it, that those who repent of sin may receive forgiveness, and may inherit eternal glory. It was greater to endure suffering than to inflict it" (Dale). The forgiveness is free, full, and complete.

2. In Him we have the revelation of the mystery of the Divine will.--"Wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known to us the mystery of His will" (vers. 8, 9). The will of God is to advance the ultimate glorious destiny of the whole creation. This sublime purpose was for ages an unrevealed mystery, unknown to the prophets, psalmists, and saints of earlier times. In the depths of the Divine counsels this purpose was to be carried out by Christ, and it is revealed only through and in Him. The believer in Christ discovers in Him, not only his own blessedness, but also the ultimate glory of all who are savingly united to the great Redeemer. The abounding grace of God bestows wisdom to apprehend a larger knowledge of the ways and will of God, and prudence to practically apply that knowledge in the conduct of life.

3. In Him we enjoy the unity and grandeur of the heavenly inheritance.--"That in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, . . . in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, . . . that we should be to the praise of His glory" (vers. 10-12). The fulness of times must refer to the Gospel age and the glorious ages to follow, in which the accomplishment of the Divine purpose will become more apparent. That purpose is to heal up the estrangement of man from God, and to restore moral harmony to the universe, which has been disordered by the introduction of sin. The great agent in the unifying and harmonising of all things is Christ, who is the centre and circumference of all. The angels who never sinned, and the saints who are made such by redeeming mercy, will share together the inheritance of bliss provided by the suffering and triumphant Christ. "One final glory will consist, not in the restoration of the solitary soul to solitary communion with God, but in the fellowship of all the blessed with the blessedness of the universe as well as with the blessedness of God."

+III. The Gospel of grace is confirmed and realised by the operation of the Holy Spirit.+--1. By Him we hear and understand the Word of truth. "In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation" (ver. 13). The Gospel is emphatically the Word of truth; it is reliable history, not romance--a revelation of truths essential to salvation. It is the function of the Holy Spirit to illuminate the mind by the instrumentality of the truth, to apply the Word to the conscience, and to regenerate the heart. He takes of the things of Christ and shows them unto us, and the vision leads on to a spiritual transformation.

2. By Him we are sealed as an earnest of possessing the full inheritance of blessing.--"Ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance" (vers. 13, 14). The work of the Spirit broke down all class distinctions. The Jewish Christians discovered that the exclusive privileges of their race had passed away. All believers in Christ Jesus, whether Jew or Gentile, received the assurance of the Spirit that all the prerogatives and blessings of God's eternal kingdom were theirs. The seal of the Spirit is the Divine attestation to the believing soul of its admission into the favour of God, and the guarantee of ultimately entering into the full possession and enjoyment of the heavenly inheritance.

+Lessons.+--1. The Gospel of grace is the harmonious work of the blessed Trinity. 2. The grace of the Gospel is realized by faith. 3. Praise for the gift of the Gospel should be continually offered to the Triune God.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 3-6. The Doctrine of Predestination.--Neither Calvinism nor Arminianism has solved the problem presented in this chapter. Like difficulties meet us in God's providential dealings--ay, in the workings of His natural laws; for, as a brilliant author has said, "Nature is a terrible Calvinist."--Lange.

Election.--It is above logic and philosophy and even technical theology, even as on many, and these, the most important subjects, the heart is a better teacher than the head. In these matters I am so fearful that I dare not speak further--yea, almost none otherwise than the text does, as it were, lead me by the hand.--Ridley.

Mystery of election.--Those who are willing are always the elect; those who will not are not elected. Many men are wrapped up in the doctrines of election and predestination; but that is the height of impertinence. They are truths belonging to God alone; and if you are perplexed by them, it is only because you trouble yourself about things which do not concern you. You only need to know that God sustains you with all His might in the winning of your salvation if you will only rightly use His help. Whoever doubts this is like a crew of a boat working with all their might against the tide and yet going back hour after hour; then they notice that the tide turns, while at the same time the wind springs up and fills their sails. The coxswain cries, "Pull away, boys! wind and tide favour you!" But they answer, "What can we do with the oars? don't the wind and tide take away our free agency?"--H. W. Beecher.

Ver. 3. Spiritual Blessings.

+I. They are accommodated to our spiritual wants and desires, they come down from heaven, prepare us for heaven, and will be completed in our admission to heaven.+--The influences of the Spirit are heavenly gifts, the renovation of the heart by a Divine operation is wisdom from above, the renewed Christian is born from above and becomes a spiritual man, the state of immortality Christ has purchased for believers is an inheritance reserved for them in heaven, in the resurrection they will be clothed with a house from heaven, with spiritual and heavenly bodies, and they will sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

+II. The blessings granted to the Ephesians are tendered to us.+--He offers us the honours and felicities of adoption and the remission of all our sins through the atonement of His Son. He has proposed for our acceptance an inheritance incorruptible in the heavens. We have happier advantages to become acquainted with the doctrines and precepts of the Gospel than the primitive Christians could enjoy. If they were bound to give thanks for their privileges, how criminal must be ingratitude under ours! We must one day answer before God for all the spiritual blessings He has sent us.--Lathrop.

Vers. 4-6. The Nature, Source, and Purposes of Spiritual Blessings.

+I. God chose and predestinated these Ephesian Christians before the foundation of the world.+--We must not so conceive of God's election and the influence of His grace as to set aside our free agency and final accountableness; nor must we so explain away God's sovereignty and grace as to exalt man to a state of independence. Now, so far as the grace of God in the salvation of sinners is absolute and unconditional, election or predestination is so, and no farther. If we consider election as it respects the final bestowment of salvation, it is plainly conditional. To imagine that God chooses some to eternal life without regard to their faith and holiness is to suppose that some are saved without these qualifications or saved contrary to His purpose. God hath chosen us to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.

+II. Consider the spiritual qualifications to which the Ephesians were chosen.+--"To be holy and without blame before Him in love" (ver. 4). Holiness consists in the conformity of the soul to the Divine nature and will and is opposed to all moral evil. Love is a most essential part of the character of the saint. Charity out of a pure heart is the end of the commandment. Without charity all our pretensions to Gospel holiness are vain.

+III. Consider the adoption to which believers are predestinated+ (ver. 5).--Our sonship is not our native right, but the effect of God's gracious adoption. 1. It implies a state of freedom in opposition to bondage. Believers are free as being delivered from the bondage of sin, and as having near access to God and intimate communion with Him. Children are usually admitted to that familiar intercourse which is denied to servants. 2. Adoption brings us under the peculiar care of God's providence. 3. Includes a title to a glorious resurrection from the dead and to an eternal inheritance in the heavens. If believers are the children of God, then their temper must be a childlike temper, a temper corresponding to their relation, condition, and character.

+IV. That all spiritual blessings are derived to us through Christ+ (vers. 5, 6).

+V. The reason of God's choosing believers in Christ and predestinating them to adoption is the good pleasure of His will+ (ver. 5).--If we admit we are sinful, fallen creatures, unworthy of God's favour and insufficient for our own redemption, then our salvation must ultimately be resolved into God's good pleasure. There is no other source from which it can be derived. If death is our desert, our deliverance must be by grace.

+VI. The great purpose for which God has chosen and called us is the praise of the glory of His grace+ (ver. 6).--God has made this display of His grace that unworthy creatures might apply to Him for salvation. We are to praise the glory of God's grace by a cheerful compliance with the precepts and thankful acceptance of the blessings of the Gospel, by a holy life, and by encouraging others to accept that grace. Believers will, in a more perfect manner, show forth the praise of God's glorious grace in the future world.--Lathrop.

Vers. 5, 6. The Glory of Divine Grace--

+I. Is the sublime outcome of the Divine will.+--"According to His will" (ver. 5).

+II. Is a signal display of joyous benevolence.+--"According to the good pleasure of His will" (ver. 5).

+III. Demands profound and grateful recognition.+--"To the praise of the glory of His grace" (ver. 6).

Ver. 5. The Adoption of Children by Jesus Christ.--Explain the nature of the privilege.

+I. Its greatness.+--1. From the Being by whom it is conferred. 2. From the price at which it was procured. 3. From the inheritance which it conveys. 4. From the manner in which it is bestowed. The new birth.

+II. Its benefits.+--1. The spirit of adoption. 2. Divine care and protection. 3. Divine pity and compassion. 4. Overruling all trials for spiritual good.

+III. The evidences of its possession.+--1. The image of God. 2. The love of God. 3. The love of the brethren.

+IV. Its appropriate duties.+--The children of God ought--1. To walk worthy of their high vocation. 2. To be subject to their Father's will both in doing and in suffering. 3. To be mindful of what they owe to their spiritual kindred. 4. To long for their heavenly home.--G. Brooks.

Ver. 6. The Adopting Love of God.

+I. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Beloved of the Father.+--From eternity during the preparatory dispensation in the days of His flesh; now; for ever. An ineffable love.

+II. The Father's love of believers is on account of the Lord Jesus Christ.+--He accepts them for the sake of Christ as united to Christ. Acceptance distinct from pardon.

+III. The Father's acceptance of believers is an act of sovereign grace.+--Irrespective of their merit. Neither the necessity of the atonement nor the obligation of faith is inconsistent with acceptance by grace.

+IV. The Father's acceptance of believers for the sake of Christ promotes His own glory.+--His glory is the end of all things. Implore all to seek acceptance with God through Christ.--G. Brooks.

Vers. 7, 8. Redemption through Christ.

+I. The subjects of this redemption.+--Redemption, though offered without distinction to all who hear the Gospel, is actually bestowed only on those who repent of their sins and believe on the Saviour.

+II. The nature of this redemption.+--There is a twofold redemption--the redemption of the soul from the guilt of sin by pardon, and the redemption of the body from the power of the grave by the resurrection. The former of these is intended. But these two privileges are connected. The remission of sin, which is a release from our obligation to punishment, is accompanied with a title to eternal life.

+III. The way and manner in which believers become partakers of this privilege.+--Through the blood of Christ. The death of Christ is the ground of our hope. Jesus Christ, through whose blood we obtain forgiveness, is the Beloved. This character of Christ shows the excellence of His sacrifice and displays the grace of God in giving Him for us.

+IV. Observe the foundation from which our redemption flows.+--"The riches of His grace." Every blessing bestowed on sinners is by grace; but the blessing of forgiveness is according to the riches, the exceeding, the unsearchable riches of grace.

+V. In this dispensation of mercy God has abounded to us in all wisdom and prudence.+--The most glorious display of God's wisdom is in the work of our redemption. Here the perfections of God appear in the brightest lustre and most beautiful harmony. In this dispensation there is a door of hope opened to the most unworthy, believers have the greatest possible security, and it holds forth the most awful terrors against sin and the most powerful motives to obedience.--Lathrop.

Ver. 7. Pardon an Act of Sovereign Grace.--This free and gracious pleasure of God or purpose of His will to act towards sinners according to His own abundant goodness is another thing that influences forgiveness. Pardon flows immediately from a sovereign act of free grace. This free purpose of God's will and grace for the pardoning of sinners is that which is principally intended when we say, "There is forgiveness with Him"; that is, He is pleased to forgive, and so to do is agreeable to His nature. Now the mystery of this grace is deep; it is eternal, and therefore incomprehensible. Few there are whose hearts are raised to a contemplation of it. Men rest and content themselves in a general notion of mercy which will not be advantageous to their souls. Freed they would be from punishment; but what it is to be forgiven they inquire not. So what they know of it they come easily by, but will find in the issue it will stand them in little stead. But these fountains of God's actings are revealed that they may be the fountains of our comforts.--John Owen.

Ver. 8. The Harmony of Christianity in its Personal Influence.

+I. The wisdom and prudence of the Gospel are manifested by showing with equal distinctness the Divine justice and mercy.+--Justice does not arrest the hand of mercy; mercy does not restrain the hand of justice. They speak with a united voice, they command with a united authority, they shine with a united glory. Neither excels. The one does not overbear the other. Their common splendour is like the neutral tint, the effulgent colourlessness of the undecomposed ray.

+II. By exhibiting the incarnate Son as alike the object of love and adoration.+

+III. By insisting most uniformly on Divine grace and human responsibility.+

+IV. By the proposal of the freest terms of acceptance and the enforcement of the most universal practice of obedience.+

+V. By inspiring the most elevated joy in connection with the deepest self-abhorrence.+

+VI. By displaying the different conduct pursued by the Deity towards sin and the sinner.+

+VII. By combining the genuine humility of the Gospel with our dignity as creatures and our conscientiousness as saints.+

+VIII. By causing all supernatural influence to operate through our rational powers and by intelligent means.+

+IX. By resting our evidence of safety and spiritual welfare upon personal virtues.+

+X. By supplying the absence of enslaving fear with salutary caution.+

+XI. The actual existence of our depraved nature and the work of sanctification in us pressing forward to its maturity tend to that regulated temperament of mind which we urge.+

+XII. Certain views of personal conduct are so coupled in the Gospel with the noblest views of grace that any improper warping of our minds is counteracted.+

+XIII. While the distinctive blessings and honours of the Christian might tend to elate him, he is affected by the most opposite motives.+

+XIV. God abounds in this wisdom and prudence towards us by most strongly abstracting us from the things of earth and yet giving us the deepest interest in its relations and engagements.+--All the truths of revelation are only parts of one system, but their effects upon the believing mind are common and interchangeable. There is no extraneous, no irreconcilable, no confusing element in Christianity. It is of One; it is one. And if we be Christians, our experience will be the counterpart of it. As it works out from apparent shocks and collisions its perfect unity, so shall our experience be wrought in the same way. In obeying from our hearts its form, whatever of its influence may seem to interfere with each other, they will all be found to establish our heart; as the opposing currents often swell the tide and more proudly waft the noble bark it carries, as the counterbalancing forces of the firmament bear the star onward in its unquivering poise and undeviating revolution.--R. W. Hamilton.

Vers. 9-12. The Mystery of the Gospel.

+I. The sovereign grace of God in making known to us the mystery of His will.+--1. The Gospel is called the mystery of God's will, the mystery which from the beginning was hid in God, and the unsearchable riches of Christ. Not that these phrases represent the Gospel as obscure and unintelligible, but that the Gospel scheme was undiscoverable by the efforts and researches of human reason and could be made known to men only by the light of Divine revelation. There are many things in the Gospel which are and will remain incomprehensible to human reason; but though we cannot fully comprehend them, we may sufficiently understand them.

2. God has made known to us His will "according to the good pleasure which He purposed in Himself."--Though the reason of His administration is not made known to us, yet all His purposes are directed by consummate wisdom. He is Sovereign in the distribution of His favours; His goodness to us is no wrong to the heathen.

+II. The purpose of God in making known to us the mystery of His will+ (ver. 10).--1. The Gospel is called "the dispensation of the fulness of times." It was introduced at the time exactly ordained in the purpose, and expressly predicted in the Word of God, and in this sense may be called "the dispensation of the fulness of times."

2. One end of this dispensation was that God "might gather together in one all things in Christ" (ver. 10).--To form one body in Christ, to collect one Church, one great kingdom under Him.

3. The Gospel is intended to unite in Christ all things both which are in heaven and which are in earth.--The Church of Christ consists of the whole family in heaven and earth. Here is a powerful argument for Christian love and for Christian candour.

+III. In Him we have obtained an inheritance that we should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ.+--The believing Jews were the first who trusted in Christ. They, with the believing Gentiles, were made heirs of God, not only to the privileges of His Church on earth, but to an inheritance also in the heavens. As they had first obtained an inheritance and first trusted in Christ, so they should be first to the praise of God's glory.--Lathrop.

Ver. 10. Christ and Creation.--If the Divine purpose of salvation was regulative for the creation of the world, then must salvation as well as creation be grounded on the original Mediator. But that all creation should be thus grounded in Him includes a twofold idea--that not only were all things created by Him, but also for Him, who is to bring to completion both the saving purpose of God as also the whole development of the world which tends towards the realisation of the purpose of God. And because the world has not yet reached this goal, then all things have progressively their existence in Him; and it cannot fail, because the goal of the world established in Him must be realised. But how this goal of the world is conceived of, this verse shows, when it is mentioned as the final goal of the institution of God's grace that all things may be gathered in Christ as in a centre. He has been appointed to be this central point of the universe, as the universe was created in Him; but here it is pointed out that He must again become so, because a dislocation in the original constitution of the world has taken place by sin, whose removal again the dispensation of grace must have in view. The goal of the world is no longer regarded as the perfected kingdom of God, in which the absolute, universal Lordship of God is realised, in contrast to the earthly, mediatorial Lordship of Christ, which the latter gives back to the Father, and that the exaltation of Christ is extended over everything which has a name both in this world and in the future. One cannot think of the goal of the world without Him in whom even creation has its root.--Weiss.

Vers. 11, 12. Christ the Inheritance of the Saints.--1. Christ the Mediator is that person in whom believers have this heavenly inheritance, as they have all their other spiritual blessings leading to heaven in Him. Every believer hath already obtained this glorious inheritance, though not in complete personal possession. 2. As God is an absolute worker, sovereign Lord of all His actions, His will being His only rule, so His will is always joined with and founded upon the light of counsel and wisdom, and therefore He can will nothing but what is equitable and just. 3. It is no small privilege for any to be trusters in Christ before others. It is a matter of their commendation; it glorifies God in so far as their example and experience may prove an encouraging motive to others. It carries several advantages; the sooner a man closes with Christ, the work will be done more easily, he is the sooner freed from sin, the sooner capacitated to do more service to God, and his concernments are the sooner out of hazard.--Fergusson.

Ver. 13. The Gospel of your Salvation.

+I. The import of the salvation proclaimed in the Gospel.+--It is deliverance from all the evils that have been brought on us by the Fall. 1. From ignorance, not of science, but of God. 2. From guilt, or the penalty which the law inflicts. 3. From the power of sin, of which we are slaves. 4. From the sorrows and calamities of life, which it does not remove, but alleviate and transform. 5. From the power and fear of death. 6. From everlasting perdition.

+II. The persons to whom this view of the Gospel is specially applicable.+--1. To the unconverted. It teaches them what they are. 2. To the awakened. It teaches them what they need. 3. To believers. It awakens their gratitude, it reproves their lukewarmness, it stimulates their charity.

+III. The reflections to which this view of the Gospel gives rise.+--How precious in our estimation should be--1. the Gospel, 2. the Saviour, 3. the Saviour's work, 4. the Saviour's ordinances, 5. the Saviour's servants and people, 6. the Saviour's second coming.--G. Brooks.

The Truth and Divinity of the Christian Religion.

+I. It is reasonable to suppose that God should at some time or season fully and clearly reveal unto men the truth concerning Himself and concerning them as He and they stand related to each other, concerning His nature and will, and concerning our state and duty.+--Argued from 1. His goodness, 2. His wisdom, 3. His justice, 4. His Divine majesty.

+II. That no other revelation of that kind and importance has been made, which can with good probability pretend to have thus proceeded from God, so as by Him to have been designed for a general, perpetual, complete instruction and obligation of mankind.+--1. Paganism did not proceed from Divine revelation, but from human invention or diabolical suggestion. All the pagan religions vanished, together with the countenance of secular authority and power sustaining them. 2. Mohammedanism an imposture. 3. Judaism was defective. (1) This revelation was not general--not directed, nor intended to instruct and oblige mankind. (2) As this revelation was particular, so was it also partial--as God did not by it speak His mind to all, so did He not therein speak out all His mind. (3) It was not designed for perpetual obligation and use.

+Conclusion.+--No other religion, except Christianity, which has been or is in being, can reasonably pretend to have proceeded from God as a universal, complete, and final declaration of His mind and will to mankind.--Barrow.

Vers. 13, 14. The Assurance of the Christian Inheritance.--By the first act of faith the whole tendencies of man's life are reversed. Until then the present has been his world and the earth his place of rest; then, by the inspiration of the cross, a spiritual world draws upon his view, that everlasting region becomes his home, and life assumes the character of a pilgrimage. We need to have the deep assurance of the immortal kingdom in order to live an earnest life in a world like this.

+I. The nature of the assurance.+--The voices of promises in the Christian's soul--the longings, aspirations, hopes, rising from the Spirit of God within us--are more than promises; they are earnests, i.e. most certain assurances of the inheritance to come. This inheritance of spiritual life consists of three great elements--love, power, blessedness.

+II. The necessity of the assurance.+--The inheritance is given, but not reached. Between the gift and its attainment there lies a long path of conflict in which the old struggle between the flesh and the Spirit reveals itself in three forms: 1. Sense against the soul; 2. The present against the future; 3. Steadfast work against the roving propensities of the heart.--E. L. Hull.

The Holy Spirit and the Earnest of the Inheritance.

+I. The character of the inheritance.+--The teaching of the passage is that heaven is likest the selectest moments of devotion that a Christian has on earth. Heaven is the perfecting of the life of the Spirit begun here, and the loftiest attainments of that life here are but the beginnings and infantile movements of immature beings.

+II. The grounds of certainty that we shall ultimately possess the fulness of the inheritance.+--The true ground of certainty lies in this, that you have the Spirit in your heart, operating His own likeness and moulding you, sealing you, after His own stamp and image. 1. The very fact of such a relation between man and God is itself the great assurance of immortality and everlasting life. 2. The characteristics that are produced by this Holy Spirit's indwelling, both in the perfectness and imperfection, are the great guarantee of the inheritance being ours. 3. The Holy Spirit in a man's heart makes him desire and believe in the inheritance.--A. Maclaren.

The Faith of the Early Christians.

+I. The object of their faith.+--The Word of truth and the Gospel of salvation. It is the Word of truth. It contains all that truth which concerns our present duty and our future glory. It comes attended with demonstrations of its own Divinity. It is the Gospel of our salvation. It discovers to us our ruined, helpless condition, the mercy of God to give us salvation, the way in which it is procured for us, the terms on which we may become interested in it, the evidences by which our title to it must be ascertained, and the glory and happiness it comprehends.

+II. The forwardness and yet the reasonableness of their faith.+--They trusted in Christ after they heard the Word. They acted as honest and rational men: they did not trust before they heard it, nor refused to trust after they heard it. They did not take the Gospel on the credit of other men without examination; nor did they reject it when they had an opportunity to examine it for themselves. Their faith stood not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

+III. The happy consequence of their faith.+--They were "sealed with the Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance." They became partakers of such a Divine influence as sanctified them to a meetness for heaven, and thus evidenced their title to it.

1. The sealing of the Spirit.--Sealing literally signifies the impression of the image or likeness of one thing upon another. A seal impressed on wax leaves there its own image. Instruction is said to be sealed when it is so impressed on the heart as to have an abiding influence. So, the sealing of believers is their receiving on their hearts the Divine image and character by the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. The Word of truth is here considered as the seal, the believing heart as the subject, the Holy Spirit as the agent or sealer, and the effect produced as a Divine likeness. By a like metaphor Christians are represented as cast in the mould of the Gospel. The same idea is conveyed by the metaphor of writing the Word on the heart.

2. The earnest of the Spirit.--The Spirit, having sealed believers or sanctified them after God's image, becomes an earnest of their inheritance. The firstfruits were pledges of the ensuing harvest; earnest-money in a contract is a pledge of the fulfilment of it. So, the graces and comforts of religion are to Christians the anticipations and foretastes of the happiness which awaits them in heaven. (1) The virtues of the Christian temper, which are the fruits of the Spirit, are to believers an earnest of their inheritance because they are in part a fulfilment of the promise which conveys the inheritance. (2) They are an earnest as they are preparatives for it. (3) The sealing and sanctifying influence of the Spirit is especially called an earnest of the inheritance because it is a part of the inheritance given beforehand. It is the earnest till the redemption of the purchased possession. When we actually possess the inheritance the earnest will be no longer needed.

+Lessons.+--1. All the operations of the Spirit on the minds of men are of a holy nature and tendency. 2. We are strongly encouraged to apply to God for the needful influences of His grace. 3. We can have no conclusive evidence of a title to heaven without the experience of a holy temper. 4. Christians are under indispensable obligations to universal holiness.--Lathrop.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 15-18.

Prayer for Higher Spiritual Knowledge--

+I. Thankfully acknowledges the grace already possessed+ (vers. 15, 16).--The possession of some grace prompts the prayer for more. The apostle recognises the faith of the Ephesians in the person and work of Christ and the love they displayed towards the saints. Knowing the source of that grace and that the supply was unlimited, he thanks God and is encouraged to pray for its increase. How slow we are to see the good in others and to thank God for any good found in ourselves! Ingratitude dulls our sensibilities and chills the breath of prayer. If we were more thankful, we should be more prayerful. The way to excite gratitude is to interest ourselves in the highest welfare of others.

+II. Invokes the impartation of additional spiritual insight+ (vers. 17, 18).--The apostle prays, not for temporal good or for prosperity in outward things, or even for the cessation of trouble or persecution, but for an accession of mental and spiritual blessings. He prays for the opening of the eye of the mind that the vision of spiritual realities may be more clear and reliable, and that the soul may be possessed with a fuller knowledge of Christ. The highest wisdom is gained by a more accurate conception of Him "in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Sin enters the heart through the avenue of the senses and passions, grace through a spiritually enlightened understanding. Pride, prejudice, and error are expelled from the mind not so much by the repression of evil tendencies as by the entrance and maintenance of superior moral truths. The revelation of the Spirit in the Word will not suffice unless the light of the same Spirit shines through every faculty and power of the inquiring soul. "Man's knowledge is not perfect within the domain of creation, still less can he know the things of the invisible world. Only by living in a sphere does he gather knowledge of what is found there: knowledge comes from experience of occurrences. Without a disposition of the heart the sense of the understanding is not enlarged and sharpened. Sensible, mental, spiritual knowledge refers to life spheres in which he who knows must move. Only the believing, loving, longing one knows and grows in knowledge unto knowledge." We need, therefore, continually to pray for the Spirit of wisdom--a keener spiritual insight.

+III. Unveils the grandeur of the Divine inheritance in believers.+--"That ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints" (ver. 18). The increase of spiritual knowledge is an ever-widening revelation of the value and splendour of Divine blessings already possessed and in prospect of possession. Faith enjoys the inheritance now, and hope anticipates an ampler revelation and richer experience of its unspeakable blessedness. The phrase "the riches of the glory of His inheritance" indicates how utterly inadequate human language is to describe its boundless spiritual wealth. It is an inheritance implying union to Him who only hath immortality and is eternal. Rust cannot corrupt it, nor decay consume, nor death destroy. We have not only an inheritance in Christ, but He has also an inheritance in us. He finds more in us than we find ourselves, and we should never know it was there but for the revelation of Himself within us.

+Lessons.+--1. Prayer and thanksgiving go together. 2. The soul needs a daily revelation of truth. 3. The highest spiritual truths are made known to the soul that prays.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 15-18. Clearer Discernment in Divine Things desired.

+I. The things for which the apostle commends the Ephesians.+--Their faith in Jesus and love to the saints (ver. 15). 1. Faith is such a sensible, realising belief of the Gospel in its general truth and in its particular doctrines and precepts as gives it a practical influence on the heart and life; it looks up to God through Christ; it is made perfect by works. 2. Faith is accompanied with love. Viewing and applying the examples and doctrines of the Gospel, it purifies the soul unto unfeigned love of the brethren. The Gospel requires us to love all men, sinners as well as saints, enemies as well as friends. If we love God for His moral perfections, we shall love the saints as far as they appear to have these Divine qualities wrought into their temper. Our love is not to be confined to a party, to those who live in the same city and worship in the same sanctuary but embraces all.

+II. Paul expresses his great thankfulness to God for the success of the Gospel.+--"I cease not to give thanks" (ver. 16). He rejoiced in the honour which redounded to the crucified Jesus. He rejoiced to think how many were rescued from the power of Satan, and in the consequences which might ensue to others. If the prevalence of religion is matter of thankfulness, we should spare no pains to give it success.

+III. He prays for the future success of the Gospel+ (ver. 16).--The best Christians have need to make continual improvement. Paul was no less constant in his prayers than in his labours for the spiritual interest of mankind. He knew that the success of all his labours depended on God's blessing; he therefore added to them his fervent prayers. When ministers and people strive together in their prayers, there is reason to hope for God's blessing on both.

+IV. He prayed for spiritual enlightenment+ (vers. 17, 18).--That they may seek wisdom from God to understand the revelation He has given, and such an illumination of mind as to discern the nature and excellence of the things contained in this revelation. Christians must not content themselves with their present knowledge but aspire to all riches of the full assurance of understanding.

+V. He prayed for power to appreciate Christian privileges+ (ver. 18).--To know the hope of the Divine calling, the possibility and assurance of attaining the heavenly kingdom. To know what a rich and glorious inheritance God has prepared for and promised to the saints. Though we cannot comprehend its dimensions nor compute its value, yet when we consider the grace of the Being who conveys it, the riches of the price which bought it, and the Divine preparation by which the heirs are formed to enjoy it, we must conceive it to be unspeakably glorious.--Lathrop.

The Apprehension of Spiritual Blessings.

+I. Further spiritual blessings are to be apprehended by the saints, therefore their condition is a relative one.+--The Ephesians had already received spiritual blessings (vers. 11-15). How much more is here. The possessed bears some proportion to what is to be received. Without this relative view the estimate is vague and erroneous. The further gifts consist specially in the clearer sight and more certain and enlarged experience of what they already saw and possessed. "Him," "His calling," "His inheritance," "His mighty power"--these were to be theirs in a degree of exceeding greatness and glory.

+II. Unless saints apprehend blessings now attainable, they live below their privilege.+--"If thou knewest the gift of God, thou wouldst have asked of Him" (1 John iv. 10). Without some knowledge there is neither faith nor desire. With these unveilings the heart is deeply moved with the sense of obligation to possess, it is attracted and filled with desire and animation. Otherwise, with an ignorant satisfaction, the condition must remain relatively lean and impoverished.

+III. The spiritual apprehension of these blessings is the gift of God.+--This is needed because of their Divine nature. As we cannot properly see what the sun has called into life and beauty without his light, so these blessings are truly seen only in the light of the Sun of Righteousness. Through the Redeemer the Spirit is given. He gives the Spirit to enlighten both the object and the eye, to "testify," to "show," to "glorify," to reveal, "that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." Thus, these blessings are seen, not distantly and dimly, but in their nearness and unveiled glory, whilst He creates in the heart corresponding sympathy, desire, and assurance. Nothing can compensate for this gift--no mere intelligence, no reflection upon past experience, no mere help from others.

+IV. This gift is bestowed in answer to prayer.+--This particular bestowment comes under the promise of the Spirit to believing prayer. This is a gift. Gifts are asked for, not made ours in any other way. This gift is awaiting and challenging prayer, importunate prayer. That an ever-deepening desire for these spiritual gifts may be ours, let us often ask--What truths are given to me, which, if the eyes of my understanding were enlightened, would not exert the most positive influence over me, lifting me into the clearer light of God's relations, thus empowering me to live above the standard of natural strength, and so to fulfil His present designs? Think of the alternative.--J. Holmes.

Vers. 15, 16. True Religion self-revealing--

+I. In its moral results.+--"Faith and love" (ver. 15).

+II. Is evident to others.+--"I heard of your faith" (ver. 15).

+III. Is the occasion of constant thanksgiving.+--"Cease not to give thanks for you" (ver. 16).

+IV. Calls forth a spirit of prayer.+--"Making mention of you in my prayers" (ver. 16).

Vers. 17, 18. Spiritual Enlightenment.--1. The wisdom which Christians are to seek is not that carnal wisdom which is enmity to God, nor natural wisdom or knowledge of the hidden mysteries of nature, nor the wisdom of Divine mysteries, which is only a gift and floweth from a common influence of the Spirit, but that whereof the Spirit of God by His special operation and influence is author and worker, and is more than a gift, even the grace of wisdom, which is not acquired by our own industry, but cometh from above. 2. It is not sufficient for attaining this grace of wisdom that the truths be plainly revealed by the Spirit in Scripture. There must be the removal of natural darkness from our understandings, that we may be enabled to take up that which is revealed, as in beholding colours by the outward sense there must be not only an outward light to make the object conspicuous, but also the faculty of seeing in the eye. A blind man cannot see at noonday, nor the sharpest-sighted at midnight. 3. Though those excellent things which are not yet possessed, but only hoped for, are known in part, yet so excellent are they in themselves, and remote from our knowledge, and so much are we taken up with trifles and childish toys, that even believers who have their thoughts most exercised about them are in a great part ignorant of them. 4. As the things hoped for and really to be enjoyed in the other life are of the nature of an inheritance not purchased by us but freely bestowed upon us, so they are properly Christ's inheritance, who has proper right to it as the natural Son of God and by virtue of His own purchase; but the right we have is communicated to us through Him, in whom we have received the adoption of children and are made heirs and co-heirs with Christ. 5. It is a glorious inheritance, there being nothing there but what is glorious. The sight shall be glorious, for we shall see God as we are seen, the place glorious, the company glorious, our souls and bodies shall be glorious, and our exercise glorious, giving glory to God for ever and ever.--Fergusson.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 19-23.

The Church Complete in Christ.

+I. The Church is the creation of Divine power+ (ver. 19).--The Church does not consist in massive architecture or ornate decorations, nor in ecclesiastical organisations and councils. It is not the offspring of the most elaborately constructed creed. It is not confined within the limits of the most expansive ecclesiastical epithet. It is a Divine, spiritual creation. It consists of souls redeemed by the sacrifice of Jesus, clinging to Him for pardon, peace, and righteousness, and created in Him, by "the working of the mighty power" of the Divine Spirit, for good works, and therefore continually striving to disseminate the good they have themselves received. The apostolic idea of the Church was coloured by the leading characteristic of the man. To St. Peter it was the Church as influenced by law--the confessing Church; to St. Paul it was the Church influenced by the freedom of faith--the witnessing Church; to St. John it was the Church as filled with the ideality of faith--working and keeping joyful holiday, the adorned Bride (Rev. xix. 7, 8). The Church is a constant revelation of "the exceeding greatness of His power" who first originated it and sustains its ever-widening growth.

+II. The Divine power that creates the Church installs Christ as the supreme authority.+--1. This power raised Christ from the deepest humiliation to the highest dignity (vers. 20, 21). It raised Him from the cross to the throne, from the domain of the dead to the life and everlasting glory of the heavenly world. "God ascended with jubilation, and the Lord with the sound of the trumpet. Certainly, if when He brought His only begotten Son into the world He said, 'Let all the angels worship Him' (Heb. i. 6); much more, now that He ascends on high and hath led captivity captive, hath He given Him a name above all names, that at the name of Jesus all knees should bow. And if the holy angels did so carol at His birth in the very entrance into that estate of humiliation and infirmity, with what triumph they receive Him now returning from the perfect achievement of man's redemption! And if, when His type had vanquished Goliath and carried the head into Jerusalem, the damsels came forth to meet him with dances and timbrels, how shall we think those angelic spirits triumph in meeting the great Conqueror of hell and death! How did they sing, 'Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in'!" (Ps. xxiv. 7-10).

2. This power invests Christ with supreme rule and authority (ver. 22). On the night when Christ was born what a difference was there in all outward marks of distinction between the child of the Hebrew mother as He lay in His lowly cradle, and the Augustus Cæsar, whose edict brought Mary to Bethlehem, as he reposed in his imperial palace. And throughout the lifetime of the two there was but little to lessen that distinction. The name of the one was known and honoured over the whole civilised globe, the name of the Other scarce heard of beyond the narrow bounds of Judea. How stands it now? The throne of the Cæsars, the throne of mere human authority and power, has perished. But the empire of Jesus, the empire of pure, undying, self-sacrificing love, will never perish; its sway over the consciences and hearts of men, as the world grows older, becomes ever wider and stronger (Hanna). The rule of Christ will last till all enemies are subdued, and obedience to Him becomes a reverential and joyous experience.

Transcriber's Note: Please search the Internet for videos that explore the properties of elemental mercury ("quicksilver") rather than performing the experiments yourself.

+III. The Church is complete as it is endowed with the Divine fulness of Christ+ (ver. 23).--The Church to-day seems broken into fragments, torn by divisions and strife; but by-and-by it will blend in a glorious unity. Take a mass of quicksilver, let it fall on the floor, and it will split into a vast number of distinct globules; gather them up, and put them together again, and they will coalesce into one body as before. Thus, God's people below are sometimes divided into various parties, though they are all in fact members of one and the same mystic body. But when taken up from the world and put together in heaven they will constitute one glorious, undivided Church for ever and ever. The completeness of the Church is not the aggregation of all the virtues of the saints blended in beauteous and harmonious unity, but the glory of the Divine fulness that pervades every part.

+Lessons.+--1. The Church as a Divine creation is a revelation of Christ. 2. The Church is composed of those who are created anew in Christ Jesus. 3. Christ is everything to His Church.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.

Vers. 19-23. The Dignity and Dominion of Christ.

+I. The first step in Christ's exaltation was the resurrection from the dead.+--This miracle is an incontestable evidence of the truth of the Christian religion, and an evidence of the great doctrine of the resurrection of the body and a future life, and of the efficacy of Christ's blood to expiate the guilt of our sins. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we must believe that the same mighty power which wrought in Him can also work in us to raise us from the dead.

+II. The next step is His ascension to heaven and session at God's right hand+ (ver. 20). The right hand is the place of honour and respect and denotes superior dignity. Christ sitting at God's right hand signifies He has ceased from His labours and sufferings and entered into a state of repose and joy, and imports authority and power. He is exalted not only as Ruler, but also as Intercessor.

+III. The exaltation of Christ is supreme.+--His kingdom extends to all creatures in heaven, earth, and under the earth. The government of the natural world is in His hands, as well as the government of the Church. He has dominion over devils. His last and most glorious act is the judgment of the world.

+IV. The end for which Christ exercises His high and extensive dominion+ (vers. 22, 23).--All His government is managed in reference to the good of the Church. See how criminal and dangerous it is to oppose the interest of the Church. If the Church is Christ's body, let us honour it, study to preserve unity in it, labour for its edification and comfort. Let us honour and reverence our Head, and never presumptuously lift up ourselves against the Church.--Lathrop.

Ver. 19. The Power of God in Conversion.--1. The power God exercises in converting and carrying on the work of grace to glory is not only great, but exceeds all power that might impede that work, so that there is no power in the devil, the world, sin, or death which this power does not overcome nor any impotency in believers which this greatness of power will not help and strengthen. There is no more pregnant proof of God's omnipotent power than in converting sinners from sin to holiness. 2. This mighty power of God extends to all times. It works in the first conversion of believers, preserves them in a state of grace, actuating their graces that they may grow, and continues till their graces are perfected. 3. The experimental knowledge of God's way of working is to be carefully sought after, to make us thankful for His gracious working in us, in order that our knowledge of God may be increased and our faith and hope in Him strengthened.--Fergusson.

Ver. 20. The Future Life.

+I. Our virtuous friends at death go to Jesus Christ.+--Here is one great fact in regard to futurity. The good on leaving us here meet their Saviour, and this view alone assures us of their unutterable happiness. The joys of centuries will be crowded into that meeting. This is not fiction. It is truth founded on the essential laws of the mind. Their intercourse with Jesus Christ will be of the most affectionate and ennobling character. They are brought to a new comprehension of His mind and to a new reception of His Spirit. They will become joint workers--active, efficient ministers--in accomplishing His great work of spreading virtue and happiness. They retain the deepest interest in this world. They love human nature as never before, and human friends are prized as above all price.

+II. Our virtuous friends go not to Jesus only, but to the great and blessed society which is gathered round Him.+--The redeemed from all regions of earth. They meet peculiar congratulations from friends who had gone before them to that better world, and especially from all who had in any way given aids to their virtue. If we have ever known the enjoyments of friendship, of entire confidence, of co-operation in honourable and successful labours with those we love, we can comprehend something of the felicity of a world where souls, refined from selfishness, open as the day, thirsting for new truth and virtue, endowed with new power of enjoying the beauty and grandeur of the universe, allied in the noblest works of benevolence, and continually discovering new mysteries of the Creator's power and goodness, communicate themselves to one another with the freedom of perfect love. They enter on a state of action, life, and effort. Still more, they go to God. They see Him with a new light in all His works. They see Him face to face, by immediate communion. These new relations of the ascended spirit to the universal Father, how near, how tender, how strong, how exalting! Heaven is a glorious reality. Its attraction should be felt perpetually. They who are safely gathered there say to us, "Come and join us in our everlasting blessedness!"--Channing.

Vers. 21, 22. The Supremacy of Jesus--

+I. Acquired by His resurrection power.+

+II. Places Him above the highest created intelligences and potentates.+

+III. Is expressed in a name that surpasses in dignity and greatness that which has ever been or can be celebrated in earth or heaven.+

+IV. Gives Him absolute control over all worlds.+--"And hath put all things under His feet" (ver. 22).

Vers. 22, 23. Christ the Head of the Church.

+I. The Church depends on Him for life, guidance, activity, and development.+--"Which is His body" (ver. 23).

+II. He governs all things in the interest of His Church.+--"And gave Him to be the Head over all things to the Church" (ver. 22).

+III. The Church is a revelation of the greatness and glory of Christ.+--"The fulness of Him that filleth all in all" (ver. 23).

Ver. 22. The Headship of Christ.

+I. The extent of His headship.+--1. Over all worlds. 2. Over the whole human race. 3. Over the Church.

+II. The subserviency of its administration to the interests of His Church.+--1. For the edification of His Church. 2. For its defence. 3. For its increase.

+III. Its grounds.+--1. His merit. 2. His qualifications. Whom do ye serve?--G. Brooks.

The Headship of Christ.--The verse consists of two statements:--

+I. That Christ is Head over all things.+--The Father hath given Christ to be Head over all things. 1. Originally involved in a covenant or agreement between the Father and the Son. 2. Now a matter of history. 3. The path of Christ to the mediatorial throne capable of being traced. 4. He there laid deep the foundations. 5. The whole universe is under His sway--heaven, earth, hell, all worlds, all elements. 6. He is qualified for such dominion--Divine attributes, angelic spirits, believers, the devil and wicked men, the Holy Spirit.

+II. That Christ is Head over all things, to the Church.+--Christ sits upon the throne in the same character in which He trod the earth and hung upon the cross. 1. It is as Mediator. 2. The same ends which He contemplated. It was for the Church He clothed Himself in human form. 3. He gives a peculiar character to the entire Divine government. He Christianises it. 4. He employs all His attributes, resources, creatures.

+Lessons.+--1. Redemption is a wide and extended plan, not so easily accomplished, not so limited. 2. All creatures and dominions should do Christ homage. 3. The Church is secure from real danger. 4. Believers may well glory in Christ as their Head.--Stewart.

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+CHAPTER II.+

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