formerly obferved, he may have received at Antioch, before he went to the council of Jerufalem. Or, the matter may have been discovered to him in Jerufalem, by fome of the brethren who had lately come from Galatia. For foon after his return from the council, to Antioch, he wrote, as I fuppofe, this letter, in which he rebuked the churches of Galatia, with that authority and sharpness which, as their spiritual father, he was entitled to use in correcting their errors. In this letter alfo, by appealing to the reception which he met with from the apostles in Jerufalem, and to a variety of other facts, but especially by relating how he withstood Peter publicly at Antioch, for separating himself from the converted Gentiles, on account of their not being circumcifed, (all which facts, the brethren at Antioch who joined him in this letter, attested,) he effectually overturned the calumnies of his enemies, and established his own apoftolical authority, in the cleareft manner. Then, by a variety of arguments taken from the Jewish fcriptures, he completely confuted the error of the Judaizers who inculcated circumcision, that is, obedience to the law of Mofes, as neceffary to falvation.

Here it may be proper to obferve, that although the subject treated of in the epiftles to the Romans, and to the Galatians, be the doctrine of juftification by faith, the two epiftles differ materially in this refpect, that the epiftle to the Romans was written to prove the justification of men by faith, without works of law, that is, without a perfect obedience to the law of God written on men's hearts. Whereas, the epiftle to the Galatians, was designed to prove that men are justified by faith, without the works of the law of Mofes. This appears from the following, among other paffages, Gal. iii. 2. This only would I learn from you: By the works of the law received ye the Spirit? or by the obedience of faith? that is, by performing the rites of the law of Mofes, or by obeying the gospel, which requires faith in order to juftification? 3. Are ye fo fenfelefs, that having begun in the Spirit, ye now make yourselves perfect by the flesh?. 5. He then who supplied to you the Spirit, and wrought miracles among you, did he thefe on account of the works of the law, or on account of the obedience of faith? Here the oppofition ftated between the works of the law, and the obedience of faith,

and between the Spirit and the flesh, plainly fheweth, that by the law in this difcourfe, the apoftle means the law of Mofes. Or if any doubt remains on the subject, it will be removed by attending to the apostle's reasoning in the following part of the chapter: where having proved that the juftification of finners by faith, was established in the covenant with Abraham, he told the Judaizers, ver. 17. that the law which was given long after the promise, could not annul the promife, by introducing a method of juftification different from that established by the promife. The following paffages, in like manner fhew, that in this epiftle the law, means the law of Mofes. Gal. iv. 21. Tell me ye who wish to be under the law, why do ye not understand the law. Gal. v. 1. Stand fast therefore in the freedom wherewith Chrift hath freed us. And be not again held fast in the yoke of bondage. 2. Bebold, I Paul, fay to you, that if ye be circumcifed, Christ will profit you nothing. 3. And I testify, moreover, to every circumcised person, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 4. Ye are feparated from Christ who are juftified by the law: ye are fallen from grace. In short the whole strain of the reasoning in the epistle to the Galatians, sheweth plainly, that the apostle's defign in writing it, was to prove against the Jews, that none of them could be justified by the works of the law of Mofes. That law required perfect obedience to all its precepts moral and ceremonial, under the penalty of the curfe, from which the atonements and purifications prescribed by Mofes, had no influence to deliver the finner. Whereas in his epiftle to the Romans, the apostle treats of justification on a more enlarged plan: his design being to prove against both Jews and Gentiles, that neither the one nor the other can be justified meritoriously by performing works of law, that is, the works which the law of God written on men's hearts, enjoins; but all must be justified gratuitously by faith, through the obedience of Chrift. See Eff. vi. fect. 1. Wherefore, the two epistles taken together, form a complete proof, that juftification is not to be obtained meritoriously, either by works of morality, or by rites and ceremonies, though of divine appointment; but is a free gift, proceeding entirely from the mercy of God, to those who are qualified by faith to receive it. In writing on these subjects to the Galatians, it must be confeffed the apostle fhewed great anxiety and earnestness, and even

a confider

a confiderable degree of displeasure with his adverfaries. But in fo doing, he is by no means blameable. For if he had not vindicated himself from the calumnies propagated by his enemies, where would have been the authority of his discourses and writings? And what use could they have been of to the world as a rule of faith? And with refpect to circumcifion, and obedience to the law of Mofes, if the Judaizers had been allowed to eftablish these as neceffary to falvation, Judaism, as was obferved in the preface to the Romans, page 166. would have been the religion of the world, to the utter fubversion of Christianity. In a word, of all the questions refpecting religion which were agitated in the first age, this concerning the justification of finners by faith, without the works of the law of Mofes, was the most interefting. By the establishment of that doctrine, a bulwark was raised against the re-entering of those fuperftitions, which disfigured the preceding forms of religion. For if the facrifices and ceremonies of the law of Mofes, which were all of divine appointment, had no efficacy in procuring the pardon of fin, none of the rites of men's invention, on which the superftitious fet fuch a value, can have any influence in procuring that bleffing.— Besides, on the right determination of this question, the comfort of the Gentile converts in the firft age, and their hope of falvation, hanged. No wonder then, that Paul, to whom Chrift had committed the converfion and inftruction of the Gentiles, was zealous in teaching the doctrine of justification, without the works of the law of Mofes; and in boldly reproving, and even threatening those who taught the contrary doctrine, agreeably to the injunction which he afterwards gave to Titus in a fimilar cafe, Tit. i. 13. Rebuke them sharply, that they may be healthy in the faith.

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The erroneous doctrines of the Judaizing teachers, and the calumnies which they fpread for the purpofe of difcrediting Paul as an apostle, no doubt occafioned great uneafinefs of mind, to him and to the faithful in that age; and did much hurt, at -leaft for a while, among the Galatians. But in the iffue, these evils have proved of no fmall fervice to the church in general. For by obliging the apoftle to produce the evidences of his apostleship, and to relate the history of his life, especially after his converfion, we have obtained the fulleft affurance of his

being a real apoftle, called to the office by Jefus Christ himself, and acknowledged to be an apostle by them who were apostles before him; confequently we are affured that our faith in the doctrines of the gofpel, as taught by him, (and it is he who hath taught the peculiar doctrines of the gospel moft fully,) is not built on the credit of men, but on the authority of the Spirit of God, by whom Paul was infpired in the whole of the doctrine which he hath delivered to the world. See Pref. to 2 Corinthians, fect. ii. page 3.

This letter being directed to the churches of Galatia, it was to be read publicly in them all. We may therefore suppose, that it was fent first to the brethren in Ancyra, the chief city of Galatia, with an order to them to communicate it to the other churches, in the fame manner as the first epistle to the Theffalonians was appointed to be read to all the holy brethren in that city, and in the province of Macedonia. See Prelim. Eff. ii. page 73.

I have hinted above, that Titus was the bearer of the epistle to the Galatians. My reasons for that conjecture are, 1. That Titus being a Greek, was greatly interested in the doctrine which this epistle was written to establish, and would willingly undertake the office of carrying it to the Galatians; more especially as he was mentioned in it by name. 2. Having been present in Jerufalem with Paul at the council, he could by word of mouth atteft the things which happened in Jerufalem, to which the apoftle appealed in proof of his own apostleship, and in proof of the doctrine which he uniformly taught. And that doctrine. Titus no doubt confirmed, by relating to the Galatians, that Paul refifted the Judaizers in Jerufalem, when they attempted,. to have Titus himself circumcifed. However, if the reader thinks Titus was not the bearer of this letter, he may fuppofe it was fent by the person who brought the apoftle word of the defection of the Galatian brethren, which occafioned its being.

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SECT.

SECT. IV. Of Paul and Barnabas's journey to Jerufalem, mentioned Gal. ii. 1. and of the Decree paffed by the Council of Ferufalem refpecting the converted Gentiles.

According to the general opinion, the occasion of the apostle's journey to Jerufalem, mentioned Gal. ii. 1. is related, Acts xv. I. as follows: And certain men who came down from Judea, taught the brethren, and faid, Except ye be circumcised after the man_ ner of Mofes, ye cannot be faved. 2. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no fmall diffention and difputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerufalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.Some of the things which happened to these messengers in Jerufalem after their arrival, Paul mentioned to the Galatians, chap. ii. 2.-10. But he said nothing of the decifion which the apostles and elders gave concerning the matter referred to them by the brethren of Antioch. Our knowledge of that decision, and of the deliberation which preceded.it, we owe to Luke, who tells us, their decifion was directed to the brethren of the Gentiles who were in Antioch, and Syria, and Cilicia; and that it was expreffed in the following terms, Acts xv. 28. It seemed good to the Holy Ghoft, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: 29. That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things ftrangled, and from fornication: from which, if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. This decifion or decree hath given rise to much controversy. For according to many, the brethren of the Gentiles, to whom the apostles directed their decree, were the whole Gentile converts without diftinction. But others contend, that they were the converts from that clafs of Gentiles, who were called profelytes by the Jews. The determination of this point involves fome important confequences, and merits to be examined with care.

And first of all, the account which Mofes hath given of the character and obligations of the different forts of perfons who lived with the Jews in the land of Canaan, must be confidered. He hath mentioned them under the denominations of, The circumcifed ftranger; The fojourning ftranger; and The alien or foreigner. The circumcifed stranger was in every refpect a Jew.

For