and his brethren at Antioch, he withdrew -slunk back, as we might say, and refused to eat with the Gentiles any longer.

The French infidel wit, Voltaire, who turned every thing serious into farce, represents this as a dispute between Paul and Peter about eating meats prohibited to the Jews (as pork and black-puddings, &c. Phil. Dict. in Peter). But this is evident misrepresentation: neither did Paul censure Peter for eating any particular article, or with any particular persons; but for his inconsistency in eating with Gentiles at one time and refusing at another, merely because some brethren had come from Antioch who were of a different opinion; whereas he, as one of the chief pillars of the Christian Church, ought to have maintained a more firm and consistent conduct. What he did was evidently not from difference of opinion, but from want of firmness; and his dissembling was the more dangerous to the peace and unity of the church, because that, when he deserted, "the other Jews dissembled with him, and even Barnabas was drawn aside" by his example. The reply which he puts into the mouth of Peter has two faults 1. It is utterly false; and, 2. Nothing to the purpose. Indeed, it does not appear that Peter made any reply, and the words which Voltaire ascribes to him, are only something similar to what he uttered more than seven years before, on a very different occasion. (Acts xi. 5, 6.) See Dr. Finlay's Ans. to Volt. § 23.

We now come to consider the great doctrine of this Epistle, as well as of that to the Romans, namely, Justification by faith alone—by which is not meant a dead faith, accompanied with no good works; but that those works have no part in our justification before God. Upon this subject we have already stated the doctrine of the Church of England, in extracts from her Articles and Homilies, to which we shall only add another short extract from the third Homily (Part 2) :

"Nor when they say [i. e. the Greek and Latin Fathers before referred to in this Homily] that we should be justified freely, do they mean that we might afterwards be idle, and that nothing should be required on our part afterwards. ...: But this say. ing, that we be justified by faith only, freely and without works, is spoken for to take away clearly all merit of our works, as being unable to deserve our justification at God's hands, and thereby most plainly to express the weakness of man, and the goodness of God; .... the imperfection of our own works, and the most abundant grace of our Saviour Christ; and therefore wholly to ascribe the merit and de serving of our justification unto Christ only, and to his most precious bloodshedding."

Nor is this the doctrine of the Church of England only, but, as we have before said (on Rom. chap. iii.), of all the Protestant churches, and especially of the immortal Luther,who on the chapter before us (ver. 16) hath these remarks:-"This word [the works of the law] reacheth far, and comprehendeth much. We take the work of the law therefore generally, for that which is contrary to grace. Whatsoever is not grace is the law, whether it be judicial, ceremonial, or the ten commandments. Wherefore, if thou couldest do the works of the law according to this commandment, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, &c. (which no man ever yet did, or could do), yet thou shouldest not be justified [thereby] before God; for a man is not justified by the works of the law.... but the righteousness of faith God imputeth freely through grace for Christ's sake ........ After justification, Peter, Paul, and all other Christians, have done, and do, the works of the law; yet are they not justified thereby."

In the close of this chapter, the apostle explains how it is that believers in Christ still obey the law, though they look to no justification from it. If while we seek

CHAP. III. Ver."1. O foolish Galatians-Doddr. "thoughtless"-Who hath bewitched you?Doddr. " enchanted you?" Mackn. "deceived you?" The latter remarks, that it alludes to the

deceptions of jugglers, who impose upon the weak and credulous, by dazzling their sight with the rapi. dity of their motions.

3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.

5 He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.

8 And 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.

9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

[faith only.

11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident for, The just shall live by faith.

12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.

13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

15 Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.

16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

17 And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of

to be justified by Christ, we are found sinners”—i. e. persevering in a course of sin, Is Christ therefore to blame? "Is Christ therefore the minister of sin? God forbid!" So far, however, am I from living in sin, that though "I through the law am dead to the law, that is, as to all hopes of salvation from it-yet is this only "that I might live unto God," and be his devoted servant. But "I am crucified with Christ," and die unto sin, even as he died for sin: yet "nevertheless I live," namely, by faith

in him; "yet (it is) not I" that live independent of Christ; "but Christ liveth in me," my life, my hope, and my salvation and the life which I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, aud gave himself for me. I do not therefore frustrate the grace of God," or depreciate its value: " for [on the contrary] if righteousness (come) by the law”

if we could be justified by our own works, "then (indeed) were Christ dead in

vain."

Ver. 3. Are ye now made perfect.-Mackn. "Ye now make yourselves perfect"-(The Gr. verb is in the middle voice.)

Ver. 4. So many.-Marg. "so great." This seems to refer to the reproach and persecution they had suffered for Christ.

Ver. 6. Accounted.-Marg. "Imputed."

Ver. 8. In thee.-Gen. xii. 3; but in Gen. xxii. 18, the promise is expressed more fully, "In thy seed." Compare ver. 16.

Ver. 11. The just shall live by faith,-Compare Hab. ii, 4 with Heb. x. 38.

Ver. 12. The man that doeth them.-Lev. xviii. 5. Ver. 13. Cursed is every one, &c.-Deut. xxi. 23. Ver. 15. A man's covenant.-Marg. "Testament." We have remarked repeatedly, that the same word in Greek signifies both covenant and testament; but we think the former term agrees best here.

Ver. 16. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many— i. e. the word seed is not here used in the plural sense, but in the singular, as in Gen. iii. 15; iv. 25; xxi. 12, &c.-Which.-Mackn." Who."

Ver. 17. Four hundred and thirty years.-See Note on Exod, xii. 40.

The use]

God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.

18 For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by pro

mise.

19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.

20 Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.

21 Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.

22 But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise

CHAP. III.

[of the law. by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.

23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.

24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. 26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. (C)

(C) Ver. 1-29. The folly of forsaking the Gospel, and the blessedness of receiving it. This chapter opens in the mingled language of pity and reproof, remonstrating with the Galatians upon their folly in forsaking the gospel, in which the infinite love and compassion of the Saviour, had been so visibly and vividly exhibited before them as crucified for their sins, to return to a system of carnal ordinances, which, separate from the gospel it had prefigured, was merely a body without a soul. To desert the vivifying spirit of Christianity for the mere "carcass of dead piety" (which was all that was now left of the ritual law), was, as Paul ex

presses it, to begin in the spirit, and seek to finish and perfect themselves by the flesh.

In confirmation of his doctrine as opposed to that of their legal teachers, St. Paul now appeals, 1. To the miracles which he had wrought among them. "He therefore that ministereth unto you, and worketh miracles among you" (meaning evidently himself), doth he this" by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" is be a minister of the legal, or the evangelical system? The answer he leaves to them; and then appeals,

2. To the case of Abraham, who received all his blessings, not through the ritual services of Moses, which, indeed,

Ver. 20. A mediator is not a mediator of one.The very name not only implies two parties, but also a difference between them. The Jews could not come into the presence of God, but through the medium of Moses; nor can we entertain communion with God, but through the incarnation of our Saviour Christ. (Heb. x. 20.)

Ver. 22. Hath concluded all under sin.-Doddr. and Mackn." Hath shut up [as criminals] all under [the condemnation of] sin.

Ver. 23. Kept under-shut up, &c.-May not this refer to the subjection of children to their father's slave, in the character of a pedagogue? May not the servant have had the authority of confining a child, and in the dark too, when he should prove refractory, and neglect his lesson ? See next verse.

66 Pedagogue."

Ver. 24. Our schoolmaster.-Gr. So next verse. Ver. 25. No longer under a schoolmaster-i, e. of so inferior a character: God has now committed us to the instruction of his own Son.

Ver. 27. Put on Christ.-All who are baptized put on thereby the profession of Christianity. See Exposition of Rom. xiii. 14-Mr. Locke says, that by their putting on Christ, it is implied, "that to God now looking on them, there appears nothing but Christ. They are (as it were) covered all over with him, as a man is with the clothes he has put on. Hence, in the next verse, it is said, they are all one in Christ Jesus, as if they were but that ene [mystical] person.

were not then instituted, but through the Covenant of grace (which was the foundation of the gospel); as it is said, "Abraham believed God, and it (his faith) was accounted (or imputed) to him for righteousness." But what did Abraham believe? He believed the promise of a seed (or son), "in whom all the nations of the earth' should eventually "be blessed :" and it is to those only who have faith in the promised Messiah, that the privilege belongs of being his children, as the same inspired writer argues at large, in the 4th chapter of his Epistle to the Romans. "So then they [and they only] which be [the children] of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham." On the other hand, they who still adhere to the law, as a covenant of life and salvation, are subject to its curse; "For it is written, Cursed is he that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them." And as none of us have thus continued, we all, of course, are subject to its curse.

3. The same point may be argued as well from the prophets as from the law; for it is written in the prophet Habakkuk, "The just shall live by faith :" but the law is not of faith, and therefore "cannot justify," or give us life. The gospel, however, which we believe, teaches us that "Christ hath redeemed us [both Jews and Gentiles] from the curse of the law, (by) being himself made a curse for us," by his crucifixion; for it is written (Deut. xxi. 23), "Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." Now, as every honest man will keep his covenant, or promise, and especially when it is ratified on oath, much more the God of truth and righteousness, who, indeed," cannot lie." Nor can his covenant, when once ratified by sacrifice or oath, be afterwards disannulled; consequently, God's covenant with Abraham cannot be set aside by the law of Moses, which was not given till 430 years afterwards, and then for a very different purpose-namely, to convince of sin, and lead us to seek for mercy.

Of this law it is said, that it was or

dained by [the ministry of] angels in the hands of a Mediator" (See Ps. Ixviii. 17, compare with Acts vii. 53); and that Mediator was Moses, the servant of God; but the term Mediator implies two parties, of whom God is only one. The other was the people of Israel, to whom Moses delivered the tables of the law, which he received from the hands of God. But the Gospel is a far more illustrious dispensation, brought from heaven by the Son of God himself, our divine Mediator with the Father.

There is not, however, any real inconsistency between these dispensations, the one being only preparatory to the other. If the law itself could have given life, then, indeed, salvation might have been by the law; but as it is, the law was only our guide, our conductor, or (as our translators express it) our Schoolmaster to lead us unto Christ; in which there is an allusion to an ancient custom not generally observed. The Roman ladies, it seems, in the earliest and best times, used themselves to educate their children; but as times degenerated, this was intrusted to the servants and public schools. A slave, whose office it was to conduct the children to the public schools, and to assist them in learning their first lessons, was on that account called a pedagogue (the very word here used). (D'Arnay's Priv. life of the Rom. ch. vii.) Such is the office of the Mosaic law. The moral law shows us that we are sinners, and need a Saviour; the ceremonial law leads us to the cross to receive instruction. Every sacrifice directs to the great atonement for justification; and every ceremony points us to some doctrine or precept of Christianity. But "Faith being come"-This expression is, we apprehend, elliptical, and must intend either Christ, who is the object of faith, or the gospel, elsewhere called " the law of faith" (Rom. iii. 27); and here "the promise by faith of Jesus Christ."

But now being come to Christ, we are no longer under the care of a common pedagogue: God has committed us to the instruction of his own Son: so it was the

The danger of]

3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:

4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law;

5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

8 Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.

9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.

[returning to the law

11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain,

12 Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all.

13 Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the Gospel unto you at the first.

14 And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.

15 Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.

16 Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?

17 They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them.

18 But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you. 19 My little children, of whom I

custom of the Romans, after children had received the elements of instruction at school, to place them under the care of some eminent philosopher or rhetorician; unless the parent was sufficiently qualified to instruct them himself, as was the case

with Augustus. (See D'Arnay, as above.) And this is the case not with a few only of God's favoured children, but with them all -Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, &c. They are all alike the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

Ver. 6. Abba, Father.-The learned Selden quotes a passage from the Jewish Gemara, to prove that slaves were never allowed to address their masters under this title.

Ver. 8. Ye did service-Doddr. "were in bondage." Mackn. "Ye served as slaves."No gods; i. e. either mere idols of wood and stone, or, at best, the celestial luminaries.

Ver. 9. Known of God-i. e. acknowledged and distinguished by him.

Ibid. How turn ye again ?—But these had never been under the yoke before; how then can be say, turs back to the week and beggarly elements? &c. Perhaps the omission of the article the in the translation would remove all difficulty, thus-" How turn ye again to weak and beggarly elements?" meaning a religion of mere rites and ceremonies; for the ceremonies of Judaism, abstracted from all reference to the Messiah, are no less "weak and

beggarly" than those, of Paganism. This agrees with the sense given of this passage by most com

mentators.

Ver. 10. Ye observe days, and months.-This is generally supposed to reter to the Jewish festivals; but Archbishop Potter understands it in reference to the lucky and unlucky days of the superstitions Greeks and Romans. (Archæol. Gr. i. 345.) It dors not, however, appear, that any attempt was made to draw the Galatians back to Paganism.

Ver. 12. For I am.-This verbis wrong supplied. Doddridge, Macknight, and most modern translators, supply the past tense-"I was as ye are."

Ver. 14. My temptation.... in my flesh.-The thorn in his flesh; 2 Cor. xii. 7.

Ver. 15. Where is?-Marg. "What was?"-The blessedness ye spake of-that is, the happiness they professed to enjoy under his ministry.

Ver. 17. They zealously affect you-i... "they profess great attachment." Compare 2 Cor. xi. 2. But not well-i. e. not truly. They would exclade YOU-Marg. Us. So read both some M.S. and printed copies, and it is thought to be the true read ing by Doddridge, Macknight, and others.