^K^XOFP«/^^ 
 
 SEP 16 1918 
 
 ?Sn 
 
 Srrtioi ...jIo\^\ 
 
AN 
 
 EXPOSITION 
 
 EPISTLES OF SAINT PAUL, 
 
 GALAT.IAIS AND COLOSSIANS, 
 
 ACCOKDIXG TO THE ANALOGY OF 
 
 THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 
 
 BY 
 
 THE REV. MORGAN*^IX, S.T.D., 
 
 " Hffio et mea fides est, quando heec est catholica fides." — S. Augitstinb. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR, 
 
 AND FOR SALE AT 762 BKOADWAY. 
 1864. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S68, 
 
 By morgan DIX, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the 
 
 Southern Diitrlct of Now York. 
 
 REVNIE, SHEA & LINDSAY. 
 
 C. A. ALVORD, 
 
 STHKnTrriR* <nd Elictbotyi-kiu, 
 81, 83 & f>5 C<'nirr-«tr»l. 
 
 IS V^HDCWAISB-aT. 
 
 Primer, 
 New Yobk. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 A YEAR ago, the wi'iter of the following commentaries published 
 an Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans. The volume now 
 offered to his brethren, has been prepared as a companion to that 
 which preceded it. The three epistles, — to the Romans, to the 
 Galatians, and to the Colossians,— seem to form a group, homo- 
 geneous in subject. In them, especially, are treated the theme of 
 the Justification of the Sinner, and the theory of the Spiritual 
 Life. They should be studied together. To feel and know the 
 true scope of the ApostoUc thought on those topics, it is not suf- 
 ficient to have examined one, or even two, of them ; smce any one 
 of the three is imperfect without the rest. But they should be 
 laid side by side ; and compared ; and made to illustrate each 
 other. In this consideration, the author finds the basis of his 
 apology for the present undertaking. 
 
 The contrast is a striking one, between the inner and the outer 
 life of the Church. Withm, are peace and rest ; but perpetual 
 warfare rages around her walls. While there are afforded, in her 
 communion, the means of grace, and the tranquil hope which 
 comes of assured conviction, the world remains unsubdued, and 
 the battle against error is joined from day to day. And to this 
 is to be traced, what must appear to the casual mind an anomaly, 
 if it do not present itself as an objection — that the history of the 
 Church is a history of everlasting controversy. Her sons have 
 been warriors in their time ; and as many as are her saints, so 
 many are her champions. Thus along with the preaching of the 
 everlasting Gospel, and the ministration of the holy sacraments, 
 there runs the strife between Light and Darkness, incessant and 
 implacable, yet tending steadily towards triumph for the right and 
 the true. It is an anomaly indeed : that the array of war should 
 be thus encircUng the Kingdom of Peace ; that the soul should 
 have rest in the Church, and yet that on the side where Hes the 
 enemy there should be seen, not peace, but a sword. 
 
 The controversies to which we refer may be traced through her 
 entire history. At the same time it is possible roughly to classify 
 them ; and it will be found that in the earlier ages the struggle 
 
4 rEEFACE. 
 
 was for the preservation of Objective truth, while in later days 
 Suhjective aitplieations have formed the topics of contention. Ob- 
 jectively, it is the mission of the Church to keep the Faith ; to 
 propagate it ; to defend it. The first controversies grew out of 
 tiu' fullilment of this primary duty : men had to do long and 
 lieavy l)at(le for the creed. That great campaign, which lasted 
 thruugh the age of the General Councils, terminated in securing 
 the ends for which it was prolonged ; and since its triumphant 
 close, the Niceue — or, as it has been called from the greatest of 
 her chainj)ions, the Athanasian — faith has remained, substantially, 
 the faith of Christians throughout the whole earth. But again : 
 it is the mission of the Church to npj)ly subjectively the dogmas 
 intrusted to her care, so as to make them eflectual to the salva- 
 tion of the individual soul. Deeply is it to be regretted that 
 there should ever have arisen a necessity for making this process 
 the subject of what may be termed philosophic investigation and 
 scientilic study. Yet that necessity did, in time, arise ; when 
 some had pushed to an extreme the claim of creature-merit, and 
 others had denied the absolute need of the grace of God, and 
 more remained confused about the relative offices of faith, and 
 of the works of righteousness. On these purely suljjective themes 
 have the later controversies for the most part turned. They 
 came to a head in the 16th century, and to some extent they are 
 still going on. Yet the Truth gains ground. The Solifidian and 
 Antinomian hordes have been driven back : the extreme Tridentiue 
 views, together with the Lutheran scheme of justification, have 
 alike yielded tg the pressure ; while those principles which, in 
 their historical aspect, seem to be truly Catholic, have steadily 
 risen towards the place of influence and command. 
 
 But long after the wings of an army have been routed, and its 
 centre has been pierced, its fragments, though in fliglit, may 
 spread alarm abroad, and scatter confusion along the way of 
 retreat. The extreme theories which were pressed so warmly, 
 when the cycle of the later contentions began, have indeed been 
 weighed in the balance and found wanting; yet this has not pre- 
 vented mischief from ensuing as the result of their former an- 
 nouncement. A carcass, though dead, may be dangerous from 
 its very exhalations ; and a theory, though as to its formal state- 
 ment abandoned, may work invisibly for evil, notwithstanding its 
 disgrace. It is so with the subjective theories, now exploded, to 
 which allusion has been made. The man who would refuse to 
 hear them, if scientifically presented, may yet unconsciously be 
 swayed by that which he rejects. The lover of the truth must 
 watch with care the motions of its defeated opponents ; since 
 even in the final eflbrts of despair there lies strange power for 
 
PKEFAOE. 5 
 
 mischief ; and falsehood may haply slay in its death, more than 
 it slew while yet alive. 
 
 It is not necessary to recapitulate the principles on which the 
 followi)ig commentary is based ; for that would be but to repeat 
 what was said in the preface to the Exposition of the Ejiistle to 
 the Romans. But they are held as matured convictions ; and the 
 materials with which they are now to be enforced have been 
 gathered at intervals during the past ten years. The attention 
 of the humble-minded reader is directed in particular to the 
 epistle to the Colossians, in the belief, that the view of the theory 
 and method of the spiritual life there taken is directly the reverse 
 of that which modern Protestant sects continue to advance as the 
 only evangelical one. The writer has aimed at exhibiting that 
 contrast as forcibly as he could. Yet, if the task has not been 
 accomplished to the satisfaction of the reader, let him close this 
 volume, and take the original once more, and read, and revolve, 
 and think it out for himself, as the writer has done ; and surely 
 he must at length see the truth. That epistle is but an expansion 
 of this thought — that the life of the child of God begins in the 
 reception of Sacramental grace, and that his work and duty are 
 to preserve the divine gift instrumentally conveyed to him in bap- 
 tism. It will be found impossible to accommodate this epistle, 
 satisfactorily, to the modern scheme which substitutes a late 
 moral conversion for an early spu'itual change ; and he who, in a 
 candid temper, shall have regarded, not separate expressions 
 culled here and there by the hand of self-will, but the whole drift 
 and course of the thought, must remain convinced that this is so. 
 The writer may indeed have failed to make that clear to others 
 which to himself seems clearer than the day : but, while he is ready 
 to lay that failure at the door of his incompetency, he would urge 
 and aflBrm that the view which he has taken of the Apostle's 
 meaning is, notwithstanding, correct. 
 
 The space is vast between the wisdom of God and the inven- 
 tions of men. Let us regard the holy oracles, as intended to 
 reveal to us His modes of operation, all transcendent and divine, 
 and all at once beyond our comprehension, and open to our loving 
 faith ; and not as though they had been given to aid us in build- 
 ing up some frail structure of human thoughts and oi^inions. We 
 must search the Scriptures, in order to find what ought to be 
 believed, not to discover what we believe ourselves ; and we must 
 reverence them as containing dogmas necessary and apt for all 
 sorts and conditions of men, accounting it profanity to apply them 
 with a view to lend authority to individual theories and private 
 conceits. There is nothing sectarian in the word of God ; and 
 the attempt to expound it from a sectarian stand-point must 
 
PRKFACE. 
 
 result in failure. Its pound is •!;onc out into all lands, and its 
 words inito tiie ends of the world ; wherefore, the nations of the 
 redeemetl must have their voice on all (piestions of its interpreta- 
 tion. It was given, not to one race, not to one age ; not to the 
 East, nor yet to the West ; but to all men, everywhere, even 
 unto the end of the world : and, therefore, it must be read and 
 understood with reference to that common right of possession. It 
 is the sacred trust of the Universal Church of Christ ; and the 
 voice of that Catholic body is the living witness to its meaning. 
 
 New Youk, July, 1803. 
 
e (Epistle 
 glo tl)e ©alatians. 
 
I 
 
 
 11 
 
 EXPOSITION 
 
 EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 
 
 INTEODUOTOEY EEMAEKS. 
 
 The seed of Divine Truth, called by our Blessed Lord the 
 Word of the Kingdom, must fall, as He said in His parable, on 
 diverse soils. In some places, it keeps its hold and brings forth 
 abundant fruit ; but in others, its fate is to be choked by tares 
 and thorns. While we consider these results, with their modifi- 
 cations, we ought to take to ourselves a lesson from what we see : 
 for the heart of the sinner is in reality the ground wherein the 
 seed is sown; and, according to the temper and spirit of that 
 inner man, the heavenly germ shall flourish or fail. In this con- 
 nection, the letter of S. Paul to the Galatians may be held up 
 as a mirror to the soul. 
 
 For in that Epistle we perceive how soon and how completely 
 the precious seed, though planted by Apostolic hands, may be- 
 come overlaid and stifled by adverse influences. The frivolity and 
 unreflecting waywardness of an impulsive, capricious, and unsteady 
 people, imperilled the Sacred Tradition almost immediately after 
 it had been confided to them ; and they who had received the 
 Word with gladness, did yet, in time of temptation, suddenly fall 
 away. The Sun was no sooner risen, with a burning heat of 
 trial, and a glare of false and deceitful light, but they were 
 scorched, and having no root, they withered : the flower fell, and 
 the grace of the fashion of it did perish ; or would have done so, 
 b«t for the interposition of the Lord's own Apostle, recalling 
 them to reason and to truth, and bidding them consider their 
 ways and turn and be saved from the burning. 
 
 At a period long preceding that of the dawn of European 
 civilization, there passed over from the old and legendary East, 
 towards the shores of the Western Ocean, that branch of the 
 
10 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 Indo-European family of nations known as the Colts or Gaels. 
 They miprated, as direeted by the providence of Almighty God, 
 and spread their encamjnnents ihrongh that part of Europe 
 formerly ealled Gallia, or Gaul, and now occupied by the French 
 nation. IJut scarcely had these wanderers arrived there, when 
 they began, uneasily, to push in other directions, as though dis- 
 satisfied and restless, and ever seeking novelty and change. The 
 character of the race is strongly marked : vivacity, activity, life ; 
 quickness in coming to decisions, instability in purpose, incon- 
 stancy of temper and disposition ; a passionate desire of adven- 
 ture, and a devotion to arms and to the art of war. Such were 
 the characteristics of the Gallic race. Obedient to the laws of 
 their nature, they wandered here and there, prying into the places 
 of other nations, and seeking whatever seemed desirable, by the 
 argument of the sword and the path of conquest. We find them, 
 first, in Northern Italy ; then in Macedonia ; in Thrace and 
 Greece ; and even at last, returning on their steps, in Asia Minor. 
 Somewhere about the year 380 b. c, an army of them, under 
 Breunus, poured down into the peninsula of Italy, and, before 
 they finished tlieir campaign, took by storm and sacked the 
 city of Rome. Later, aljout 280 b. c, another host of these 
 restless warriors, under another and scarcely less formidable 
 Brennus, invaded Greece and Macedonia. It is to this armed 
 immigration that we must particularly direct our eyes ; for, al- 
 though the main body met with divers fortunes, and at length, 
 near Delphi, with a disastrous overthrow, b. c. 279, yet a portion 
 of them, — a wing, as it were, — detaching itself from the grand 
 army, crossed over the Hellespont, and, finding there a fruitful 
 and attractive region, lying between Bithynia and Paphlagonia 
 on the north, Pontus on the east, and Cappadocia and Phrygia 
 on the south and west, plunged into it with impetuous onset, and 
 •established itself there as in a place of permanent al)ode. There 
 were already Greek colonists in the land ; and with them the new- 
 comers mingled. From this conjunction the dominant race re- 
 ceived the name of Gallo-Graeci, or Gallic-Greeks ; the country 
 was called Gallo-Gra^cia ; and this was the Galatia in which, 
 about the year of our Lord 50, the Apostle Paul preached the 
 Gospel of the Lord .Jesus Christ. 
 
 The Galatians would seem, from what can be gathered from 
 ancient writers, to have retained the characteristics of the double 
 fountain of their lineage ; for they had the intellectual activity flf 
 the Greeks, together with the vivacity, the impulsiveness, and the 
 fickleness of the Gauls. Callimachus speaks of them as a foolish, 
 or unsteady and inconstant people ; and the great Saint Hilary of 
 Poictiers, himself one of the same family of nations, acknowledges 
 
INTKODUOTOKY KEMARKS. 11 
 
 their trying and unteachable character. In these distinctive 
 qualities of temper and disposition may be traced the secret of 
 the early corruption of the Church at Galatia ; a corruption, not 
 like that displayed at vicious and sensual Cormth, but that per- 
 version of the intellectual apprehension, and of the theological 
 sense, which ensues whenever men, leaving the standard of the 
 Faith, and thinking hghtly of authority, heap to themselves 
 teachers, and follow after the speculations of self-constituted 
 ministers whom the Lord hath not sent. 
 
 It was in or about the year 50 that S. Paul visited the region 
 called Galatia, and preached therein the Gospel of Christ. De- 
 parting thence, he left to its uncertain fate the precious seed 
 which he had sown in that part of the field. But presently came 
 the Evil One, and the Enemy, to catch away the Word of life. 
 He came in the persons of certain Judaizing teachers ; who, 
 taking occasion from the circumstance that among the Galatian 
 Christians there were many converts from the Jews' religion, 
 sought to reimpose that religion as of obligation ; to recall to 
 the practice of the rites and customs of the Mosaic law those 
 who had discontinued such observances upon embracing the truth 
 as it is in Jesus ; and to establish its necessity even in the case of 
 those who had never been within the pale of the Mosaic covenant. 
 These men, finding in the teachings and still reverenced memory 
 of the Great Apostle, the principal barrier to success, were com- 
 pelled to invent methods of undermining his authority, and of 
 reducing to less favorable consideration, if not of bringing into 
 positive contempt, the principles inculcated by him. They, there- 
 fore, assailed him on these two grounds : 1st, that he was not an 
 Apostle in the full sense in which the Twelve had been such, but 
 that his commission, whatever it was, had not a higher than mere 
 human authority ; and, 2dly, that he, who had been appointed 
 by the other Apostles, or some of them, as a subordinate, had 
 not observed their teachings, nor fulfilled the obligations under 
 which he stood to them — to deliver, viz., what they had given hun 
 in charge. 
 
 The Galatians, fickle and unsteady, had evidently been led 
 away by these new lights ; they had compromised themselves 
 deeply in regard to the faith ; it would seem as though they had 
 been bewitched by these emissaries of Satan, and led to the verge 
 of apostacy. 
 
 The Apostle, therefore, having heard of these inroads, and of 
 this sad decline from the purity and vigor of their early faith and 
 love, addresses to the " fooHsh Galatians" that strong, clear, and 
 emphatic letter which we are about to study. He commences 
 it with a vindication of himself; asserting that his commission 
 
12 INTRODUCIOKY KEMARKfl. 
 
 was given him direct from God ; and he further declares, that, so 
 far from hiiviiif;r been instructed by the Apostles who were before 
 him, he had even held no intercourse witli them at all for years 
 after his conversion, lie then proceeds to argue against the 
 attempted revival of the Mosaic system ; and for that purpose 
 asserts the cardinal doctrine of Justification before Gon, not l>y 
 the works of the Jewish Law, but through the sole merit of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. He shows that the character of the former 
 dispensation was symbolic and analogical, proving it to have l>een 
 transient in its miture and temporary in its duration, lie sets 
 forth, in full, the Christian system as one rich in spiritual efficacy 
 and in the powers of the Holy Ghost and of the world to come 
 These are the leading themes of this Epistle ; which may be 
 regarded as a vindication of the Catholic faith, and of himself, 
 its strenuous assertor. 
 
 The Epistle to the Galatians is generally associated in thought 
 with that to the Romans ; and, indeed, there is reason for this 
 connection l)etween them. For in each, the great question is dis- 
 cussed, of the Justification of the Sinner before God. In one 
 important respect, however, they differ ; that the Epistle to the 
 Romans is broader in its scope than that to the Galatians : for 
 in the former, the Apostle argues against Gentiles as well as Jews, 
 while in the latter it is Jewish error which he more particularly 
 has in view. In the Epistle to the Romans, he shows, that man 
 is justified, not by obedience to the Mosaic Law, as the Jews 
 fondly asserted, nor yet by the works of the Moral Law, as Gen- 
 tiles might have inchned to hope ; while, in the Epistle to the 
 Galatians, he addresses and refutes those only who would make 
 of the Mosaic System a cause of Justification. In the former he 
 rejects the works, as well of Nature as of the Law ; while in the 
 latter he shows the worthlessncss of those of the Law alone. 
 
 Our first general observation on this Epistle is, therefore, this : 
 That, when the holy Apostle speaks of the Law, he means the 
 Mosaic Covenant, the Jewish System ; and that when he exposes 
 the impossibility of being justified by the works of the Law, he 
 intends to show these two facts : 1st, that the System of which 
 Moses was the commissioned founder and head, was not' available 
 for the sinner's justification apart from Christ and from the right- 
 eousness of faith ; and, 2dly, that, Christ having come, it was no 
 longer necessary to any man's acceptance with Almighty God. 
 
 It does not appear that, in any place in this Epistle, the word 
 " Law" is to be otherwise understood than as a name descriptive 
 of the System of the Jews' Religion. 
 
 The Epistle is divisible, readily and naturally, into three por- 
 tions or sections, each consisting of two chapters. 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 13 
 
 In Cliaps. I. and II., the Apostle applies himself to a personal 
 vindication, rendered necessary by the attacks of his enemies. In 
 this part of the Epistle, he shows that he had a true commission 
 from the Lord ; that his doctrine was not one of human devising, 
 but that it had been divinely communicated to him from above ; 
 that as to practice and teaching, he had been in full accordance, 
 all along, with the rest of the Apostles ; and that he had been 
 perfectly consistent in his course towards those who would pervert 
 the Gospel of Christ. 
 
 In Chaps. III. and IV., the Apostle shows, by a variety of 
 arguments, taken from divers sources, that the Mosaic System 
 has forever passed away, as to any obligation on any class of men ; 
 that it was transitory in its character ; that it was but a prepara- 
 tion for the Gospel ; that the Gospel is, in every point of view, its- 
 superior. He likewise depicts the fatal consequences which ensue, 
 where men, abandoning that Gospel, return, in quest of justifica- 
 tion, to the old and lifeless form of a past age. 
 
 In Chaps. Y. and VI., he presents practical results, in showing 
 the condition of men under the dispensation of the Holy Spirit ; 
 the true power of the Gospel ; the order of the Christian Ufe ; 
 and he adds such charges and injunctions as seemed to him most 
 needed by persons in their position. 
 
 The Epistle, therefore, may be studied in three sections : 
 
 Of which Section I. contains a Personal Vindication ; 
 Section II. contains a Theological Argument of Salvation ; 
 And Section III. offers Practical Applications in respect to the 
 Christian Life. 
 
COMMENTARY. 
 
 (CHAPTER I.) 
 
 The first and second chapters of tlie Epistle may be 
 regarded, as has been already remarked, as forming a 
 section by themselves. They have a personal character, 
 and contain, chiefly, the Apostle's vindication of his com- 
 mission, his teachings, and his actions. There is but little 
 in them of a distinctively theological nature. 
 
 The Judaizing teachers had assailed him on these 
 grounds : That he was not an Apostle of Christ, but a 
 disciple of the other Apostles ; that he had derived from 
 them all his knowledge of the Christian system ; but that 
 he had not observed their instructions ; that he had dis- 
 sembled in his conduct, in some places denying the neces- 
 sity of circumcision and other matters of the ancient Law, 
 and yet, in others, practising the things which elsewhere 
 he had condemned. In replv to these and similar accusa- 
 tions, the Apostle declares, m these first chapters: — That 
 his Apostleship was not from man, but from the Lord 
 Jesus Christ ; that he had not been indebted to men for 
 his knowledge of the faith which he preached, because, 
 previously to his conversion, he had been a furious assail- 
 ant of the Catholic Religion, while subsequently thereto 
 he had, for years, met witli no one of the Apostles from 
 whom to learn ; that when at length he met with thein at 
 Jerusalem, they were satisfied with the substance of his 
 preaching, as in accordance with the tradition with M'hich 
 they had been intrusted; and that, so far from having 
 been guilty of inconsistencies, he had reproved them in 
 others, even in the most eminent of the original Twelve. 
 This is, briefly, the substance of the first and second chap- 
 ters. Let us now proceed to an accurate survey and 
 examination of the Sacred Text. 
 
16 COMMENTARY ON THE 
 
 1. rani, nn ni.ostlo, " Kot of men." Not inBtitiited or 
 (not of iiK-n i.eitl.cT ordained by men, accordinL' to their 
 by man, bnt by Jesus i ■ i 
 
 CLrist, and Go.l tJ.e ^I'^^^rV ^'i P^^'f "r<^- „ ^^ 
 FatlRT,wliorai.scdliim "JS either by man." A or by men 
 from tlic dead;) acting under authority from God to 
 
 ordain or consecrate him to that office and ministry. 
 
 " iJut by Jesus Clirist." By the Lord himself, directly 
 and without human interposition or instrumentality; and 
 as a further distinction, not by the Lord on earth, but by 
 the Lord reigning and triumphant in Heaven, seated at 
 the liight lland of the Father and in the Majesty on 
 high. 
 
 2. Andall tliebreth- I^^ this introduction, it should be 
 ren wliioh are witli me, noted that S. Paul deviates entirely 
 unto the churches of from his usual practice : in his other 
 ^'^^'*^'*' Epistles to the churches, he generally 
 mentions himself alone, or himself with one other, or him- 
 Belf with two; he addresses some particular church or 
 congregation of the faithful ; he adds, in so addressing, 
 some word of honoi-, sucii as " sanctitied," " beloved," 
 " called," or the like. While here he names the whole 
 multitude of the brethren who were with him ; he ad- 
 dresses all the churches of that region ; and he adds no 
 honorable epithet or title whatsoever. These peculiarities 
 have been thus explained : the lirst, inasmuch as he would 
 show that his action was not that of a single individual, 
 but that it had the sanction and concurrence of the breth- 
 ren at large; the second, inasmuch as the whole Church 
 throughout that region was corrupted ; and the third, be- 
 cause their doctrinal errors had destroyed among them 
 the spirit of charity, and separated them from the happy 
 interchange of Christian greetings. 
 
 * 3. Grace he to you 3. Vet does not the Apostle with- 
 and peace from God hold even from these lapsers the Apos- 
 the Father, mA from tolic benediction: that is denied to 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, ti,o excommunicate alone. This bless- 
 ing comprises all spiritual good ; for grace is the begin- 
 ning of tlie spiiitual life ; and peace is its conclusion and 
 its end : the extremes therefore being named, all inter- 
 vening parts and degrees are comprehended. Grace is 
 the source of our goodness and righteousness, and peace 
 is the quiet repose of the mind in the Faith : the latter we 
 enjoy as being made partakers of the former. 
 
 J 
 
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. lY 
 
 4, "Wlio gave himself 4, Since the Apostle "will set forth 
 for our sins, tliat he Christ as the sinner's only liope, he 
 misrht dehver us from ,i„^.i„„„„ tt;^ -xr^^.u ,^U-^« ■«,^(- i 
 thfs present evil world, c[eclai^s His work, when first he men- 
 according to the will tions Ills name. 
 
 of God and our Fa- " This present evil world :" that is, 
 ther : the corruption which is in the world. 
 
 5 To whom le glo- ^^^ that the world is, in itself, evil; 
 ry for ever and ever, i , .i . •- • .i i ' ' 
 
 Xm^^ but that it IS the scene and stage 
 
 6. I marvel that ye whereon evil is wronght by wicked 
 are so soon removed and fallen man. 
 
 from him that called g. uj marvel." I am filled with 
 arjf°ul' SheJ wonder and amazement. And well 
 gospel: indeed he might be. Ihe holy Apos- 
 
 tle exjDresses his astonishment at three 
 things in particular : 1st, that they had apostatized from 
 his teachings ; 2dly, that they had done this so soon ; 
 3dly, that they had adopted another system in the place of 
 that which they had embraced, as he presumed, devoutly, 
 thankfully, and under full conviction of its sufficiency and 
 obligation. " Kemoved ! so soon ! and to another gos- 
 pel !" Three grounds for horror and amazement at their 
 fickleness, their levity, their want of faith. 
 
 " Eemoved from Him," &c. : i. 6., from Almighty God. 
 For to depart from the communion and fellowship of the 
 Apostles is to withdraw from God. The expression shows 
 the shocking character of their sin. And yet it was a sin 
 of intellect ; its essence was intellectual self-will ; the for- 
 saking the Church, her Ministry, her Ordinances, her 
 Creed, her forms, and seeking unto leaders after a man's 
 own heart ; this is the perilous downfall of the soul. 
 
 7. Which is not an- '<'• " ^"^^t another" . . . for there can- 
 other; but there be not be two Gosi^els, as there cannot 
 some that trouble you, be two Churches, each true, or two 
 and would pervert the baptisms, or two valid but different 
 gospel of Christ. miSigterial lines. 
 
 " Some that trouble you," &c. Here is the accurate 
 description of heretics and separatists of all time, early 
 and late : they trouble the Church and subvert the sys- 
 tem established in the world by Christ and his Apostles. 
 And the Judaizing teachers to whom the Apostle refers, 
 were indeed subverters of the plans of God as far as lay in 
 their power. For they would have brought men back to 
 the obedience of the Law. But the Law was a figure and 
 
 2 
 
18 COMMENTARY ON THE 
 
 a sliadoAV ; uliilo the Gospel was tlic reality and the signi- 
 fied substance. Now, when the substance had come, and 
 when the shadow, waxin<^ old, had vanished away, they 
 would have had tiie shadcjw back, and would have made 
 of the living truth a dead and eviscerated corpse. Thus 
 does the I'ride and Intellectual Lust of ^lan try everlast- 
 ingly to turn back the steady flow of the vast counsels of 
 God; but in vain. 
 
 8, 9. An awful anathema ; but tem- 
 
 8. But though we, pgred with mildness. For the Apostle 
 or au aueel irom heav- -^ -.i ^• ,.^ 
 
 en, proaeh any other "Cither names nor dn-ectly curses any 
 gospel unto you than one oi the onenders. At the same 
 that whicli we have time, he shows that no one, not even 
 preached unto you, let a Peter, or a James, or any of those 
 hira he accursed. whom his enemies aflected to rever- 
 
 9. As we said before, i i • i i i i r. 
 
 60 say 1 now again If ^^^^ ^"^^ admire, should be tor an in- 
 any nmn preacii any stant tolerated, if preaching aught 
 other gospel unto you contrary to or aside from the Catholic 
 than that ye have re- Yaxth. "Nor does he except himself; 
 curled. '''" ^o^he protests that aught of his own 
 
 which he might, independently, de- 
 liver, should be held, ipso facto, false and worthy of 
 rejection. 
 
 Hence arose the canon of faith, followed by the holy 
 Fathers and by the Councils of the Church ; that if any 
 new dogma or doctrine arise, in any quarter, it be exam- 
 ined with care, w^hether it agree with the ancient and 
 received faith of the Catholic Church ; and that if it be 
 found repugnant to the Venerable and Apostolic Tradition 
 as contained and expressed in the Holy Scriptures, or not 
 in harmony therewith, it be counted heretical and pro- 
 nounced " x\nathema." 
 
 And, therefore, since Christ, who is the Truth, hath 
 spoken unto us the Word of God ; and since the Apostles 
 have declared unto us the Words of Christ ; if any man 
 hold or teach aught contrary to that preaching of the 
 Apostles, and that AVord as spoken by Christ, let hhn be 
 counted Anathema of all faithful people, if they would 
 follow the mind of Saint Paul. 
 
 10. The introduction of this verse 
 f.l,J:LtolGZ is elliptical: wo nmst sunply some- 
 or do I seek to please thmg to make it clear. Having ut- 
 men ? for if I yet pleas- tered his Anathema, the Apostle would 
 
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 19 
 
 • 
 
 ed men, I should not be seem to have bethought himself of 
 the servant of Christ, tliose Pscudo-apostles, and of their in- 
 dignation and excitement at this denunciation. He, there- 
 fore, goes on to say, that he cares not how they may take 
 it, nor what they may say ; he fears them not, nf»r does he 
 desire to conciliate them. It is his business to speak the 
 truth ; to reprove, with all boldness ; to rebuke them that 
 sin, before all, that others also may fear. And he de- 
 clares, that in what he had just said, he had sought only 
 to please his Master. He was pleading his cause, not be- 
 fore men, but before God : he was seeking how he might 
 please, not men, but God. If it were not so, it had been 
 easy for him to have enjoyed human applause and worldly 
 comfort, by merely remaining what he had been before, 
 instead of embracing the Gospel. 
 
 That may be true which has been remarked on this pas- 
 sage, that, at that time the Jews enjoyed, under the Roman 
 laws and edicts, an immunity from certain prosecutions to 
 which the Christians were exposed. The Jewish Religion 
 was recognized by the Imperial Government ; but the 
 Christian Faith was new, and unknown, and therefore its 
 profession was perilous. The path of safety lay therefore 
 in that direction where the Judaizers were walking : and 
 if the Apostle had sought either to provide for his own 
 security, or to please other men who shrunk from persecu- 
 tion and distress, he should have remained, outwardly, an 
 observer of the Mosaic Law. But this he had not done : 
 his enemies were they who were really selfish ; they were 
 men-pleasers, but he sought to please, not men, but God. 
 
 11. But I certify you, H- He returns to the statement of 
 brethren, that the gos- his openmg clause, 'An Apostle, not 
 pel which was preached of men, neither by man." The further 
 of me is not after man. declaration and proof of this will be 
 found to occupy the rest of this chapter. 
 
 " Not after man . . ." not human in its origin, not human 
 in its character. 
 
 ,„ T. T -^v 12. He neither received it from 
 
 12. For I neither re- , ,.^. ,. • i- -^^^i „^„ 
 ceived it of man, nei- the tradition ot any individual, nor 
 ther was I taught it, was he taught it by any protessed in- 
 but by the revelation of structor. 
 
 Jesus Christ. ^3 " Ye have heard .. ." The fame 
 
 of m/r„tTa«orS of Saul's conversion or apostaoy, as 
 time past in the Jews' the Jews called it, had spread not 
 
20 COMMENTARY ON THE 
 
 rolipioii, how tliat be- mt'ivly to Galatia, but even to Koine 
 )oii(l iiKa^uro I perso- jtgelt': he mentioned to them no new 
 
 CUto.1 the C ..HTh of ^^- ^^^^ f ^j^J^ ^,J^j^J^ ^j 
 
 God, unil wasted It : *',.'.,. "^ 
 
 ■were familiar. 
 
 lit' airanj;:es liis proof that he was an Apostle not of man 
 or hy men, as it were chronohi_ii^ically, aeeortling to the 
 time l)c'fore his eonversion to Christianity, and that which 
 had subsequently eh\pscd : he shows that the supposed 
 instruction and teaehin<^ could not have taken place dur- 
 ing tlie former term, since he was then a furious opposer 
 of the Religion of Christ ; and that no time had since 
 occurred in which it could have been imparted. Let us 
 liist consider what he says of his former position. So far 
 from having been a disciple of the 
 tlioJews"relSonal.ove Ap^'^tles he had been remarkable 
 inany my equals ill mine aniong his own people tor three 
 own nation, being more things: 1st, for the excessive acri- 
 exceedingiy zealous of mony with which he persecuted the 
 
 fat^Lerr*^'^'''''' ""^ ""^ Church ; 2dly, for an unusual and 
 extraordinary proficiency in tlie 
 knowledge, study, and j)racticc of the Jewish Faith an(\ 
 System ; 3dly, for an ardent and almost extravagant zeal 
 in attachment to every distinctive custom of his ances- 
 tral religion. And, therefore, no one who knew that 
 history could for one instant imagine that he had 
 learned the Gospel before the time of his formally em- 
 bracing it. 
 
 15. But when it l^' He now proceeds to Speak of 
 pleased God, who sepa- the second period of his life, that fol- 
 rated me from' my mo- lowing his conversion ; and to vindi- 
 ther's womb, and called cate himself, there also, from the 
 
 "*^,l*^i'* ^'^^^?', . o charge of liavhig been, not a duly 
 
 10. To reveal his Son '^ . . i * ^i i i. 
 
 in me, that I might commissioned A-postle, but a mere 
 preaeh him among the disciple or scholar of the Apostles. 
 heathen; immediately IG. " To reveal," &C. The fathers 
 I conferred not with h^ve diflered as to the time when this 
 flesh and blood: revelation was made, some supposing 
 
 that it was on the highway near Damascus, at the moment 
 when the Lord a})peared in glory ; others that it was dur- 
 ing the days and nights of darkness which immediately 
 followed ; but others, with more probability, that it was 
 after he had been baptized by Ananias. 
 
 " I conferred not . . ." i. e. did not go for advice, for 
 
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS, 21 
 
 counsel, for instruction, to "flesh and blood," i. e. to any 
 human being. 
 
 17 Neither went I ^^- ^^^' ^^^^^ ^^® ^o ^o Jerusalem, as 
 
 upto'jerusalemtothem 1^6 might have done; where Peter, 
 
 which wore apostles be- James, and John were at that time 
 
 fore me; but 1 went into accessible: in a word, he needed no 
 
 Arabia, and returned human teacher, and availed himself 
 
 agam unto Damascus. ,. 
 
 ° 01 none. 
 
 "Arabia .... Damascus." The Apostle does not say 
 for what purpose he went into Arabia, nor on what errand 
 he returned to Damascus, but there can be scarce a doubt 
 that in both places he was busy in preaching the Gospel, 
 and fulfilling his Apostleship : this seems to follow from 
 the " immediately" of the preceding verse. And on this 
 supposition there is greater force in the whole argument. 
 
 18. Then after three ^^- Then, after three years so em- 
 years I went up to Je- ployed, he went up to Jerusalem, not 
 rusalem to see Peter, with a view to obtaining instruction, 
 and abode with him |)„t ti^at he might pay due respect to 
 fifteen days. p^^^^.^ ^y^^ ^j^.^^. ^^^ ^j^^ Apostles. And 
 
 he remained there only a fortnight ; too short a time, if he 
 had gone, as an ignorant man, to learn the Gospel. 
 
 19. But other of the 1^. " Other of the Apostles . . ." 
 apostles saw I none, Probably because they were absent at 
 save James the Lord's the time, engaged in the work of 
 brother. preaching the Gospel. 
 
 "The Lord's brother:" i.e. His relative and connection. 
 This James was the son of Mary, the wife of Cleopas, sis- 
 ter to Saint Mary, the Virgin. That the Mother of 
 our Lord remained Ever-virgin, is not less evidently 
 the instinctive belief of the heart, than it is the common 
 and assured conviction of the Church. Yet not less clear 
 is it, that there can be no profitable disputation on the 
 sacred theme. Indeed it were useless to argue with one 
 by whom the contrary thought could be deliberately dwelt 
 upon. The very haste with which we repel that thought 
 as repugnant and shocking, not to say revolting and 
 monstrous, implies a total want of sympathy, in that 
 behalf, witli any one to whom it should not present itself 
 in the same light. There are subjects on which a man 
 may feel so deeply that he shrinks from heai'ing them 
 opened as topics of discussion ; and the tenet of the Per- 
 fect and Perpetual Virginity of the Blesi^ed Mother of our 
 
23 COMMKNTAKY ON THE 
 
 Lord, is one of those. Little is said of lier in the Scrip- 
 tures ; many excellent thinf,'s, however, are spoken of her 
 in the heart of " all but adoring love," She appears to 
 us, veiled in a holy and ini])ressive mystery ; and we may 
 say of iiei-, when men i<])eak reproachfully, " Thou shalt 
 hide her privily by Thine own J^iesence from the provok- 
 ing of all men ; Thou shalt keep her secretly in Thy taber- 
 nacle from the stiife of tongues." 
 
 20. Now the things 2^- '-^'^^s strong affirmation is in- 
 which I write unto you, tended to establish the foregoing 
 behold, before God, I statement of facts, as on that de- 
 ^'® "<'*• pended the vindication of himself as 
 an Apostle, not of man, but of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 21. Afterwards I ^1- As much as to say, that he went 
 came into the regions not into Judiea, nor into any region, 
 of Syria and Cilicia; town, or colony thereof. 
 
 22. And was un- 22. And SO far from having learned 
 known by face unto .it i i -^ ^ • -T 
 the churches of Judiva among the Jews the doctrine which 
 wliich were in Christ : he preached, he was not even known 
 
 23. lint they had to them by face. 
 
 heard only, That he 23. They had heard of him, on the 
 wliK'h persecuted us m - , i i ,. i 
 
 tin,es past n,.w preach- Contrary, as ail able and successful 
 eth the faith which Apostle and Lvangelist, and (24.) 
 once he destroyed. gave God glory for the powers and 
 
 24. And tiiey glori- virtues which Were manifested through 
 tied God in me. him 
 
 Let this chapter be closed with ohe additional observa- 
 tion. If, from the tone of the Aj)ostle's words throughout 
 it, any one should judge that he was arrogantly boasting 
 of his independence of other men, such an oj)inion should 
 immediately be revised, as it must proceed from miscon- 
 ception of the case. For the holy Apostle is as far from 
 being like those proud and haughty scorners, who despise 
 authority and speak evil of dignities, as light is dissimilar 
 from darkness. This is a defence of himself. The things 
 which had been asserted of him, were false; and in setting 
 fftrth the truth, he has stated facts just as they were, llis 
 design is not to exalt himself; not to depreciate others; 
 but simply to show how untrue were the words of those 
 men, who, in reviling him, had been assailing the Church 
 and Christ. 
 
 And again : since the Apostle so carefully declares the 
 origin of his mission, and is so scru])ulously punctual iu 
 
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 23 
 
 clearing liis ministerial character from any shade of sus- 
 picion as to its legitimacy ; let every one who desires to 
 receive Holy Orders, or who already has had them con- 
 ferred npon him, be close in examination of the lawfulness 
 of his commission. The Apostolic Succession is the Spinal 
 Column of the Body of the Visible Church ; and except 
 through that there can be no organic connexion with the 
 general system. At the beginning, Christ, onr Lord, 
 did, with his own voice and word of mouth, and with- 
 out human interposition, ordain and send a Paul ; but it 
 is so no longer, and such a case aifords no precedent suit- 
 able for common application. The sciolist and heresiarch 
 who should put forward such claims to-day, would be 
 worthy of pity and concern, but not of respectful atten- 
 tion. 
 
 (CHAPTER II.) 
 
 The object of the holy Apostle, in this chapter, would 
 seem to be, to defend himself from the second of those 
 charges brought by his malignant enemies. From the ac- 
 cusation, that lie was only a disciple of the Apostles, he has 
 already sufficiently cleared himself. To the further accu- 
 sation, that he had departed from the doctrinal scheme of 
 the Apostles, teacliing a system and principles inconsist- 
 eriTwitlL, those which they had taught, he now proceeds to 
 reply. (Accordingly, he states, in this chapter, that when 
 he for the second time visited Jerusalem, he took that 
 opportunity to present to the Apostles who were there a 
 formal statement of his doctrines and his practice ; that 
 they were fully satisfied with the one, and found no ground 
 of complaint of the other ; and that they accordingly gave 
 him the right hand of fellowship, and bade him God-speed. 
 He then mentions certain circumstances which occurred 
 at Antioch, showing that, in his assertions respecting the 
 non-obligation of the Mosaic Law, he had used no dis- 
 ^simulation, but had boldly reproved those who would 
 have again imposed it on Christians. And he concludes 
 with some remarks upon the monstrous nature of such 
 attempts, displaying the absurd consequences which would 
 follow logicall}^, if they were to be admitted and en- 
 couraged in the Church. 
 
24 CCM.MJ.N'lAJiV ON TIIK 
 
 1. Then fourteen 1, "Fourteen years...." during 
 years after I went up wliieli lie had been cunstantlv preacli- 
 acmn to Jerusalem • .i /-i i "^ * 
 
 with Barnabas, and "'^' \1^!^ ^^SP^L . ^ , 
 
 took Titus witJi me "Alter... Litlicr, alter the three 
 also. years mentioned before, or, more 
 
 probably, after the time of liis con- 
 version on the highway near Damascus. 
 
 "To Jerusalem . . ." The occasion of this visit is de- 
 tailed in full, Acts XV. lie was sent to Jerusalem, from 
 Antioch, to see and consult with the Apostles and Polders 
 about the very question on which the Galatians had sub- 
 sequently been led astray : see the whole chapter referred to. 
 
 2. And I went up 2. " By revelation . . ." i. e., in ac- 
 hy revelation, and com- cordauce with an inward and spiritual 
 municated unto them admonition from God: hence some 
 that gospel which 1 i^ave concluded that this could not 
 
 £;:r s' 'pif^^w^s i-- ^-^ ti- j-"--y ^-*---d to in 
 
 them .which were of Acts XV., becauee that was undertaken 
 reputation, lest hy any by human direction. But there is no 
 means I should run, or inconsistency : the external mission 
 had run, in vain. ^j^j ^jj^ internal call may coexist : so, 
 
 in those who are admitted to Holy Orders, they are at 
 once ''inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost," and out- 
 wardly " sent" by the "laying on of hands." 
 
 " Communicated . . . ." and, after the transaction of the 
 business for which he was sent, he took that opportunity 
 to lay before them the nature, substance, and terms of 
 that Gospel which he had, for fourteen years, been preach- 
 ing among the Gentiles. 
 
 " Privately . . ." jS'ot to the fickle and comparatively 
 ignorant multitude, but to the heads of the Church, as 
 Peter, James, and John. 
 
 " Lest by any means," «fec. Not that the Apostle needed 
 any confirmation of his views, or felt uncertainty respect- 
 ing them ; but he did this in consequence of the calumni- 
 ous rei»orts which he knew to be in circulation respect- 
 ing him, lest, if they were not authoritatively rebuked, 
 the consecpience might be that his labors would be, by 
 lunnan prejudice, brought to naught. So careful should 
 they be, who are intrusted with the mysteries of God, to 
 see that no misunderstanding be permitted to renuiin, and 
 to remove all such impediments to the progress of the 
 Faith as grow from mistakes or misconceptions. 
 
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 25 
 
 3. But neither Titus, 3. The Apostle now proceeds to the 
 who was Avith me, p^.^^f ^ij^t in respect both to doctrine 
 being .1 Greek, was ^ -, , x- i r- ^^ , • i 
 
 compelled to be cir- ^"'^ ^^ practice, lie was lully sustained 
 cumcised: iu his great principle, that it is not 
 
 necessary any longer to observe tlie 
 Mosaic Law. The first part of the proof is this : that 
 Titus, whom he took with him, and who was an un- 
 circumcised man, was not required, by the Apostles, to 
 undergo that rite, thus remaining as an example of the 
 fact, that circumcision is not necessary under the Gospel. 
 4. The construction of this verse is 
 
 4 And that because g^ elliptical, that the simplest way of 
 of lalt^e bretliren un- -^ • . . . K •' 
 
 awares brought in, who conveying its sense is by a para- 
 came in privily to spy phrase : — " Titus was not com])elled 
 out our liberty which to be circumcised ; notwithstanding 
 we have in Christ the fact, that thgre were then at Jeru- 
 Jesus, that they might | numbers of persons who in- 
 bring us into bondage : • , j ,i ^ . , 1-'^'''-^^^ wnyj^ in 
 
 5. To whom we gave sisted that it ought to be done ; talse 
 place by subjection, no, brethren, Jews in reality, though 
 not for an hour; that nominally Christians, who had crept 
 the truth of the gospel ^^^o the Church for mischievous pur- 
 might continue with ii, j? -i.! o i . i ■ ^ r> 
 y^y poses, tne laitliiul not being aware of 
 
 their true character, and who, if they 
 could have had their own way, would have taken away 
 our Christian liberty, and reduced us to the old legal ser- 
 vitude : such persons, I say, were there on the occasion of 
 our visit, and. insisted that Titus should be circumcised ; 
 but we resisted them strenuously; and the result was, 
 that their position was virtually condemned by the Apos- 
 tolic decision, Titus being received as he was, and held to 
 be in full communion with the Church, notwithstanding 
 his non-observance of 'the Mosaic rites and customs." 
 
 6. But of these who ^- " These who seemed to be some- 
 seemed to be some- what . . ." Our English translation 
 what, (whatsoever they conveys, though not necessarily, a^ 
 were, it maketh no Wy^^ of contemptuousness or slii^lit- 
 re;rh'"„„"lan.fpS: "S! b»' nothing of the sort w.™ Id 
 son :) for they who seem to have been intended. Ihe 
 seemed to le someichat idea is, " they who evidently were 
 in conference added chief in position," viz., Saint Peter, 
 nothing to me : ^^^^^^ James, and Saint John. 
 
 " Whatsoever they were ..." A reference to their past 
 history ; " whatsoever they were, how humble in rank 
 
26 COMMENTARY ON TIIK 
 
 soever before they liecanic Apostles." S. Paul, though 
 Liinsc'lf of high descent, of finished education, of eminent 
 social position, could not look doM'n upon a brother, how- 
 ever lowly his origin. For Peter, James, and John were 
 but illiterate tishermen ; still, that mattered not to him, 
 now that the Lord had called them. 
 
 " Added nothing to me." Found nothing in my doctrine 
 tliat needed alteration or enlargement. 
 
 '• In conference." When we had fully discussed the 
 subject. 
 
 f. r> ,. t. • • T. The work of preaching the Gos- 
 
 when they saw that the pel to the Gentiles was assigned to 
 gospel of the uncircum- !S. Paul; as that of making it known 
 cisiou was committed to the Jews fell especially to S. Peter, 
 unto me, as the gospel q u ^yjjo seemed to be" . . . And, of 
 unJoPeterT"'''''''''" c«"rse, it implies that they were, in 
 
 8. (For he that truth, what they seemed to be ; with 
 wrought effectually in which, compare the similar expression 
 Peter to the apostleship j^ verse 6. 
 
 of the circumcision, the » r^j^^ ^.j |j^ YiQ.n(\& oi fellowshil)" . . . 
 same was mighty m me ^ • • ^i i i i i • 
 
 toward the Gentiles :) I^ecognizmg them, and acknowledgmg 
 
 9. And when James, them by that sign, as ^ being tully 
 Cephas, and John, who Apostles and duly commissioned, 
 seemed to he pillars, iq ^i^ig ^y.^^ tlie holy Apostle's fa- 
 perceived the grace • ^^^ ^ j^^ j^ ^,^j ^-.^^^^ 
 that was given unto ,, . . ,^ ^ ' , , 
 me they gave to me ^^lus circumstance we argue somewliat 
 and Barnabas the right of his compassion, his sympathy with 
 hands of fellowship ; human needs, his tenderness and kind- 
 that we should go unto ^ggg ^f jj^^rt. 
 
 uSc^l^dr^iriloJ' , Thus far, the conclusion follows, 
 
 10. Only they would from all that has been said, that the 
 that we should remem- teachings of S. Paul were truly apos- 
 b«r the poor; the same tolic, and in full conformity with those 
 which 1 also was for- ^^ ^j^^, ^^j^^^j. Avjostles ; and that they 
 ward to do. i i i ^ i i i xi 
 
 had been approved as such by the 
 
 Council or Conference at Jerusalem : since neither was 
 Titus compelled to observe the customs of the Mosaic 
 Law ; nor did they change or add to the doctrine taught 
 by Paul, while they received him fully into the Apostolic 
 fellowship. 
 
 The Apostle proceeds to show, by reference to circum- 
 stances which occurred at Antioch, the consistency of his 
 course ; and that he had firmly resisted all attempts at a 
 
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 27 
 
 reimposing of the Mosaic Ritual upon the consciences of 
 men. If there had been wavering, or doubtful conduct, it 
 had not been on Ms part. 
 
 11. But when Peter Understand, that subsequently to 
 was come to Antioch, the liolding of the Conference at Jeru- 
 I withstood him to the salem, S. Paul had returned to An- 
 face, because he was to tioch. Thither, some time afterwards, 
 be blamed. g^ ^etev came. The facts, as stated 
 here, are as follows : Peter, on his arrival, mingled freely 
 with the Gentile converts, laying aside all Jewish prac- 
 tices, as well in respect to meats as otherwise. But after- 
 wards, certain Jewish converts came to Antioch from 
 Jerusalem. On their appearance, S. Peter changed his 
 conduct completely ; mingled no longer with the Gentiles 
 as he had done ; resumed the practice of Jewish observ- 
 ances ; and scrupulously avoided any thing which might 
 shock the prejudices of these new-comers. His conduct 
 and example were at once followed by the other Jewish 
 Christians at Antioch ; even Barnabas was aflected by it : 
 the affair had assumed a serious aspect, and was threaten- 
 ing dissension and possible schism ; when Paul interfered, 
 
 12. For before that ^^^ boldly rebuked Peter, before them 
 certain came from all, for the inconsistent course which 
 James, he did eat with he had pursued. 
 
 the Gentiles: but when ^^ u^q be blamed." To be held 
 
 they were come, he vpurphpTi^iblp 
 
 withdrew and sepa- as^ieprenensiDie. 
 
 rated himself, fearing 12. " J^rom James." i^rom Jerusa- 
 
 them which were of lem, where S. James was bishop in 
 
 the circumcision, those days. 
 
 13. And the other u j^at with the Gentiles." He par- 
 Jews dissembled like- , i -.i .^ j? n ._ i , 
 wise with him- inso- ^^^^ "^^^^h tnem 01 ail meats whatso- 
 much that Barnabas ever, asking no question for conscience' 
 also was carried away sake (see 1 Cor. x. 25, 27). 
 
 with their dissimula- Observe, on this action of S. Peter, 
 ^^^" that it was an error in judgment and 
 
 in conduct, but not an error in faith : and also note his 
 meekness and profound humility in patiently enduring the 
 censure which he had merited, for we read nothing of his 
 defending himself or making reply. 
 
 ,, „ , ^ ^ 14. " Not uprightly." The path of 
 
 14. But when I saw -, , i • i /• i. • i i. i -i 
 that they walked not ^J'^J ^^^ right IS a straight one, while 
 uprightly according to that ol com])romise IS tortuous : he 
 the truth of the gospel, who is minded so to walk as to please 
 
28 COMMKNTAKY ON THE 
 
 God, holds ever onward in a ri<<;lit line; while he w'ho 
 would satisfy men, must incline tirst to the one bide, and 
 anon to the other; he stat;<:;ei's and wavers. So was it, in 
 that tliiiiu-, with the chief of the A])ostles; now, throwiii<^ 
 asitle all those entanglements t)f worldly service, and si^ni- 
 fyin^ his rii^ht to the glorious lil)erty of the children of 
 God; by and by, giving hand and foot to the fetters of 
 the old bondage, lest some captious 1)rethren might take 
 oti'ence, lie " walked not uprightly ;" and the rest " dis- 
 sembled with him." May this example teach us profound 
 humility, and certify us that we caji, of ourselves, do 
 nothing- 
 
 T . , T^ . , . "If thou," Sec. Paraphrased, the 
 
 «S\;irin*rb^;;j ^ea .s tl,is: "Bv your course when 
 a Jew, livest after the jou first arrived, you showed your 
 manner of Gentiles, and conviction that the Law is no longer 
 not as do the Jews, wliy of obligation ; for you, a Jew, assnn^ed 
 compellest thou the t^^ manner of the Gentile life. Why, 
 Cientiles to live as do ,1 , ^ ^• j. -i j. \ 
 
 the Jews? then, do you now contradict what, by 
 
 your example, you but yesterday as- 
 serted ? and why would you, in substance, enforce upon 
 the Gentile converts, a system of whose emptiness and 
 uselessness you must have been, and still must be, con- 
 vinced ?■' For the course of S. Peter, on arriving at An- 
 tioch, had })lainly declared in Mdiat estimation he held the 
 rites and customs of the old and obsolete system : while 
 his later practice hinted at a willingness to have them still 
 observed and obeyed. 
 
 ■IK w^..7.^ .... T^^ra 15. It lias been much discussed, 
 
 15. \\ cwno are Jews , ,.1 i /. o ti 1 
 
 by nature, and not sin- l^ow tar the remarks of b. Paul to 
 
 ners of the Gentiles, S. Peter sliould be regarded as ex- 
 
 16. Knowinj? tiiat a tending: after consideration, it seems 
 man is not justitied by ^^^^g^ probable that they should be 
 tJie works ot tiie law, ^ , , -, -.■, '' -, , t, 
 but by the faith of Je^ supposed to end ^yl li verse 14. lie 
 BUS Christ, even we now addresses the Galatnins once more, 
 have believed in Jesus The thought ill the two verses is this : 
 Christ, that we might ^hat he, and the other converts from 
 be justihcd by the faith j^.^aism (jiot proselytes from the idol- 
 of Christ, and not by ^ \- • ^ -• .1 i ix .1 . 
 theworksof the law: ^t^'^'us reli'nons ot the world), that 
 
 for by the works of the even they had become satislied that 
 law shall no flesh be Justification, viz., a true, spiritual, 
 justified. and inner righteousness, grateful to 
 
 God, and eflectual toward eternal life, could not be ob- 
 
EPISTLE TO THK GALATIANS. 29 
 
 taiiied by compliance with the forms of the Mosaic Eitual, 
 but must be sought through, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; 
 that they had, therefore, so believed in Him, and, leaving 
 that life in which they had been born and trained, had 
 Bought refuge in Him and in His Church ; so as to have 
 thereby attained to the Justification which they sought. 
 
 " Ju'stitied." Justification comprehends two things : 
 1st, the outer blessing of pardon and forgiveness ; 2dly, 
 the inward gift of righteousness in germ, and of a spiritual 
 power, by which a man is able to please God, and to " do 
 unto Him true and laudable service." This is " not by the 
 works of the Law." .Jh^Apostle is speaking of the Mosaic 
 Dispensation, which was powerless towards sitcli a Justiii- 
 cation. It is only " by the faith of Jesus Christ" — by be- 
 lief in Him ; and it is granted on that condition. To be- 
 lieve in Him, includes obedience to Him. All the just 
 and righteous under the Old Dispensation, are so inasmuch 
 as they have believed in God, so far as He and His designs 
 were known unto them. To desire justification is to desire 
 pardon, true holiness, the power to serve and please God, 
 the peace which this world cannot give. Its fruits are 
 " all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works." 
 It cannot be bought by man ; for it is the free gift of the 
 Almighty. 
 
 Justification, considered theologically, is a comprehen- 
 sive term including the whole benefit procured for sinful 
 and fallen man by the Incarnation, the Passion, and the 
 Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 It includes the acceptance of the sinner and his pardon ; 
 the gift unto him of the germ of a new and restored 
 nature ; the gradual development of the spiritual principle, 
 triumphing over the carnal ; the redemption of the mortal 
 body from the grave ; and the final glorifying of the saved 
 with Christ in Heaven. 
 
 Justification, being so grand in scope, and including so 
 much, cannot, as heretical sects have pretended, be re- 
 garded at a single glance, or reduced to a single word, 
 either in definition or in explanation : it can only be com- 
 prehended by reference to its several causes, agents, and 
 conditions, of which we count the following 
 
 1. The Final Cause; 
 
 2. The Mekitorious Cause; 
 
30 COMMKNTARY ON THE 
 
 3. TiiK FoKMAL Causk; 
 
 4. The Efficiknt Agent; 
 
 5. The Instrumental Means ; 
 
 6. The Subjective Conditions. 
 
 Ist. The Final Cause is Almighty God, who, to the 
 ultimate Glory of His Name, and to the manifestation of 
 His Eternal Love, has devised the mode of Ilederaption 
 for the ISinner : we are therefore iustitied by God. 
 
 2dly. The Meritorious Cause is our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 for whose sake onl}', and in consideration of whose Merit 
 and Perfect Obedience alone, without any share therein 
 by aTiy creature, this benefit is granted. We are therefore 
 justified by Christ, and by grace, in the sense of unmerited 
 favor. 
 
 3dly. The Formal Canse is Eighteousness and True 
 Holiness ; for that is justification. i3y this term we mean 
 to express what a thing is, inwardly, intrinsically, and in 
 itself; the soul of aught, as distinguished from its body or 
 its outward manifestation. And, to justify a man, is to 
 account him righteous, and then to make him what he is 
 accounted to be. Thus, then, Justification, which, re- 
 garded externally, begins in pardon and free acceptance, 
 is, internally, and formally, and intrinsically, a new life 
 unto spiritualitv and true holiness. 
 
 4thly. The tfticient Agent is the Holy Spirit ; for He 
 is the Worker of all acceptable righteousness in Man : and 
 therefore we are justified by the Holy Ghost. 
 
 5thly. The Instrumental Means are : of reception, the 
 Sacrament of Holy Baptism ; of continuance, the Whole 
 System and Order of the Church; for we are justified by 
 Grace, and, therefore, instrumentally, by all the Means of 
 Grace. Wherefore, rightly understood, it is as true that 
 a man is justified by Baptism, as that he is justified by 
 Christ, by Grace, by the Holy Ghost, or by Faith. 
 
 6thly. The Subjective Conditions are : to its firet recep- 
 tion, a living faith ; i. e., a faith which includes repent- 
 ance, love, renunciation of sin, and purposed obedience; 
 to its subsequent continuance, faith and all the works of 
 the life in the Spirit, Wherefore, it is true, in one sense, 
 that a man is justified by faith ; and in another sense it is 
 also true, that he is justified by works. 
 
 If tiiese Causes, Agencies, and Conditions be borne in 
 
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 31 
 
 mind, and carefully and devoutly discussed, and if the true 
 and proper sovereignity of each in its proper sphere be seen, 
 felt, and applied, all Scripture will be harmonized at once. 
 But if tiiey are confused one with the other, as some have 
 confused the Meritorious Canse and the Subjective Condi- 
 tions ; or if they are set in opposition the one to the other, 
 as some have opposed the Subjective Conditions and the 
 Instrumental Means ; or if any one of them be violently 
 detached and thrust from view, as some have refused to 
 hear of the Formal Cause ; — then must the heavy contro- 
 versies of the last three hundred years be still continued, 
 to the distress of the faithful and to the derision of the 
 ungodly ; then can no clearness of mind on these sacred 
 and consoling themes be hoped for ; then will the pedantry 
 of private speculation still attempt to thrust into an igno- 
 minious background of obscurity the reverend and beloved 
 form of Catholic Theology, saying, We will not have thee 
 to guide and to teach us ; and still must ordinary minds 
 be embarrassed by those doubts for which Luther himselt 
 found no solution save in denying the authenticity of a 
 portion of the Written Word of God. 
 
 . _, .. T ., 17. The argument of the Apostle is 
 
 Ji-^t filmed Ty f follows : " We have left the Jewish 
 Christ we ourselves System, and have embraced the Cnris- 
 also are found sinners, tian Religion ; we have done this, in 
 is therefore Christ the obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 minister of^sin? God ^^j^^ j^^s abrogated the Law. If now, 
 ^^ ^ ' • after doing thus, we be found not 
 
 merely to be still without justification, but, in addition, 
 actually sinful in having forsaken the System of the Jew- 
 ish Religion (which, according to the principles of these 
 new teachers, is still binding on the consciences of men), 
 would it not logically follow, that Christ, at wdiose com- 
 mand we have done thus, is the Cause of Sin in us, as 
 having actually led us astray ?" This redtcctio ad absurdum 
 the Apostle uses to strengthen his main position, that the 
 Law of Moses is no longer required to be obeyed or fol- 
 lowed by men. 
 
 18. The same kind of reasoning is 
 
 / ^?- ^^^ }^ ^ V^¥ continued ; the Apostle says : " I have 
 
 iTsttyed"? make announced the abrogation of the An- 
 
 myself a transgressor, cient Covenant, and the introduction 
 
 19. For I through of the New. But suppose that I now 
 
32 COMMKNTARY ON THE 
 
 the law am (lonn to the retrace my fitejis, and once more en- 
 law, that I iniglit live force the' Old? In Avliat an absurd 
 ""^^ ^'"'*- position do I place myself!" In verses 
 
 17 and 18, we have therefore two specimens of tlie rctliuy 
 tio ad ahsurdicni f ^^_\hQ views of the Judaizers were to 
 1 be admitted, these consequences would logically follow : 
 y IgJ:, that Christ had perverted and deceived His disciples; 
 §dlv, that the Apostolic preachers of the Gospel had ])ro- 
 \ fanely lifted uj) their hands to pidl down the sacred struc- 
 tures of God's building. 
 -s / 19. The Apostle now proceeds to a thoughtful summing 
 
 r up of his condition under the Gospel. " I through the 
 Law am dead to the Law." I, taught by the Law itself, 
 have come to see its transitory hold on me : for the Law 
 lias pointed me and led me to Christ, who is its end and 
 object ; and having thus brought me to Him, its obliga- 
 tion has ended because its woi'k was finished. Thei-efore 
 " I am dead to the Law," and have f(^rever passed from 
 that earlier system, ''through the Law," through following 
 its leadings and justly learning the Grand Truth which it 
 had to teach. And this has occurred, " that I might live 
 unto God ;" that, by Baptism, I might be brought into 
 living communion with the Ascended and Glorified Christ, 
 and might receive, in Him, and as ingrafted into Him. the 
 new and spiritual life of righteousness. " I am crucified 
 20. I am crucified ^^'^th Christy," to all that I was; dead, 
 with Christ: neverthe- as well to the old system, wjth all its 
 less I live; yet not I, formalities and carnal observances, lis 
 but Christ liveth in me: to the sin from which, through Christ, 
 and the life which I J am justified. " Nevertheless Hive;" 
 now live m the flesh I ^ , •^' • i tp • i x- xi \l 
 
 live bv the faith of the ^ "^ve received a life, in place of that 
 Son of God, who loved which hath been taken away ; the life 
 me, and gave himself of the new creature in Christ Jesus, 
 for ™®- the life of him who is made a member 
 
 of His Body, of His Flesh, and of His Bones. So that it 
 is "not I, but Christ" that " liveth in me ;" for I myself 
 almost am lost in Him, and He is of a truth become to me, 
 All in All. " And the life which I now live in the flesh," 
 the life of hope, and trust, and happy spiritual ex])erience, 
 which I, although still compassed with infirmities, am now 
 permitted to enjoy, " I live by the faith of the Son of 
 God;" I owe, entirely, to Him, I receive of Him, I enjoy 
 from Him, in whom 1 have believed, yea, and do believe, 
 
EnSTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 33 
 
 as the One " who loved me, and gave Himself" in the 
 form of a servant, and on the Cross, and in the grave, and 
 in the place of departed spirits, and everywhere, " for me." 
 Clirist, then, is All-in- All to me, and to the whole world. 
 21. Idonotfi-ustrate How can I creep back to obsolete 
 the grace of God: for systems, tor jnstiiication 5 Jtiow can i 
 if righteousness cotne so act, as though this marvellous work 
 by the law, then Christ ^f RedemptioTi in Him were an old- 
 is dead in vain. ^^.5^^,^ ^^^^^ ^ j cannot thus " frustrate 
 the grace of God !" And if I were to adopt the insane 
 follies of these pretended apostles, and turn back again to 
 the Mosaic Rite for pardon, and righteousness, and salva- 
 tion, I should be, in substance, announcing that the death 
 of Christ was unnecessary in itself, and fruitless in its 
 results. 
 
 With this soliloquy, if it may thus be called, the first 
 section of the Epistle concludes. The writer has now vin- 
 dicated his Apostolic character as having been sent by 
 God and not by man (i. 1-1 0) ; he has shown that his 
 doctrine was not gathered from human lips, as had been 
 insinuated (i. 11-2-1) ; he has proved, by historic facts, 
 that it was recognized as pure, full, and sufficient, by the 
 Church assembled in Council, and that the same authority 
 had accounted of the Jewish System as abrogated forever 
 (ii. 1-10) ; he has declared his freedom and constancy in 
 upholding the truth (ii. 11-1 •!) ; and he has demonstrated 
 the absurdities which must follow, where his positions and 
 principles were denied (ii. 15-18). He has thus prepared 
 the way for that grave argument which follows, in demon- 
 stration of the sufficiency of Christ and the Church to 
 salvation. 
 
 (CHAPTER III.) 
 
 The plan of this somewhat intricate chapter will, it is 
 thought, be more readily understood, if there be prefixed 
 to the comment on it, an analysis of its contents. 
 
 The Apostle, after rebuking the Galatians for the levity 
 with which they had abandoned the truth as it is in Jesus (1), 
 proceeds to demonstrate, by a series of brief, distinct, but 
 connected arguments, that man is not justified by the works 
 of the Law of Moses, but by faith in our Lord Christ. 
 
 3 
 
34 COilMKNTART ON THE 
 
 Tlie first argument is drawn from tlieir own experience: 
 tlie}' had received the gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well 
 ordinarv as extraordinary ; and they knew that they had 
 received them upon embracing the Christian Faith and 
 being baptized : how could they then return to an Old 
 System which had given them no such blessing? (2-5.) 
 
 The second argument is, that the case of Abraham was 
 a precedent for them: lie was justified, before receiving 
 the sign of circumcision, and long before tlie Mosaic Law 
 •was given : the justification of his spiritual children should 
 be like his, through faith, and not through the Law of 
 Moses (6-9). 
 
 The third argument is, that all Jews, under the Law, 
 are under a curse ; for the Law of Moses Remands strict 
 obedience, and threatens vengeance on its transgressors; 
 and since all transgress it in some particulars, and since it 
 gives no grace nor power to observe it, all who are under 
 it are under a curse: from this sentence, however, Christ 
 has redeemed the faithful: to go back to the Law, for- 
 saking Christ, is, therefore, to choose a curse instead of a 
 blessing (10-U). 
 
 The tburth argument is, that God made a covenant with 
 Abraham, wliicli covenant was fulfilled in the gift of 
 Christ to all mankind ; and that this covenant can neither 
 be set aside nor annulled ; so that by Christ, the true seed 
 of Abraham, came benediction, justification, and the inher- 
 itance of glory; and not at all through the Law (15-18). 
 
 These fourarguments having been briefly and forcibly 
 put to their consciences, and to their intelligence, the 
 Apostle next proceeds to answer the objection which 
 would naturally arise, viz., that such a view destroyed 
 the importance and authority of the Law ; and he shows 
 what was its true relation to the Gospel ; that it was in- 
 tended to lead men to Christ, and that its scope was neces- 
 sarily limited, and its duration but for a time; — all which 
 he shows under the simple and beautiful illu^tration of an 
 instructor leading a child by the hand towards the foun- 
 tains of knowledge, from which, when the child is come to 
 man's estate, he may draw freely without the master's aid 
 (19-25). So that, since Christ is come, there is no further 
 need of the Old System, but all alike, Jews and Gentiles, 
 are brought, by baptism, and through membership in the 
 Catholic Church, into living union with Hiin (26-29). 
 
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 35 
 
 1. foolisli Gala- 1. " Foolisli." See the remarks on 
 tians who hath be- the character t»f the Gaels ; their want 
 .*S'„robertf;: f ^^^'^'-' their impukive ,,at„re; 
 truth, before whose their n Gad mess and aptness to lollow 
 eyes Jesus Christ hath every new opinion. 
 
 been evidently set forth, " Eewitclied." There is compassion 
 crucified among you? ^^^^^ -^^ ^j^jg g^j^^.p i-ebuke ; for the 
 
 Apostle seems to apologize for them, and to lay the blame 
 on those false teachers who had, by incantations and sor- 
 cery, as it were, led. them astray. The incantations and the 
 sorcery, however, are ever rife in this world ; it is a sign 
 of self-will and an ill-regulated temper to be running after 
 men, and, not merely in the last days, but in all time, will 
 they " heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears ;" 
 the old ways of the Church are soon forsaken for the 
 devious path of novelty and excitement, and so heretical 
 preachers and " sensation speakers" " make merchandise 
 of" the silly flock of Christ, bewitching them, that they 
 should run after the eloquent lips and the persuasions of 
 carnal satisfaction. 
 
 " Before whose eyes," &c. The true preaching of the 
 Gospel is the setting forth Jesus Christ and Him cruciiied ; 
 to set Him before the eye of the soul so that it sliall see 
 Him evidently ; to make of Him, to the imagination, to 
 the intellect, to the heart, not an historical personage 
 merely, nor yet a dogmatic abstraction, but a vital, per- 
 sonal, and neighboring presence. Hence, too, may be 
 gathered the value of the sacred symbol ; the image of 
 the Cross, on our church-spires, above our altars, on the 
 sides of our fonts, in our houses, in the very frames of our 
 doors : tliis ever-present sign shall aid towards realizing 
 Him, as it were, " cruciiied amongst us." 
 
 2. This only would I 2. The first argument : to show, 
 learn of you, Received that it IS not to the JVlosaiC bysteni 
 
 ■ye the spirit by the that men must look for the way of 
 works of the law, or by life, but to the Church of Christ. For 
 the hearing of faith? ^j^^ Galatians had received abundant 
 gifts of the Holy Ghost ; the ordinary gifts of regeneration 
 and sanctification, &c. ; and the extraordinary gifts, as of 
 miracles, helps, healings, tongues, the interpretation of 
 tongues, &c. The Apostle puts it to their consciences to 
 say, whether they owed these to the Old System ? whether 
 they had received them as Jews and before believing in 
 
36 COMMENTARY ON THE 
 
 the Lord Jesus? or wlietlicr these had been granted upon 
 their conversion and bajjlisni? 
 
 8. Are ye so foolisli? 3. There 18 almost a despairing tone 
 hav-iiig liogiui in the in this exclamation : " Is it possible 
 Spirit, are ye now made that you can be 60 foolisli — til at you 
 perfect by the tlesh? ^^^ 'ijave been so easily misled I 
 Scarcely have you begun to enjoy all this spiritual bless- 
 edness, when you forsake the system through which you 
 were made partakers of it, and crawl back to the carnal 
 and vain ordinances of a defunct disi)cnsation, as though 
 to find advancement and perfection from them !" " Post 
 signa, ad circumcisionem devenistis ; post apprehensam 
 veritatem, ad typos recidistis ; post conspectum solem, lu- 
 cernam qujeritis ; post solidum cibum, ad lac recurritis." 
 4. Have ye gone through all the 
 
 4. Have ye suffered g^^^ ^jj^ g^y^^. ^gg trying, tlie purify- 
 60 many things in vain ? . ' . ',.•'»' • i 
 
 if it be yet in vain. "\g experiences ol your conversion to 
 Christ, in vain ? 
 
 " If it be yet in vain." A tender qualification of the 
 words just penned, and thoroughly characteristic of S. 
 Paul, in whom appear a marvellous delicacy and consid- 
 eration for all sorrowful, milled, and sinful creatures. 
 
 ^ „ , - ,^ , 5. A repetition of the question in 
 
 6. He therefore that ^ ^,-^ y ministereth the 
 
 mimstereth to you the ,, . 7 ,7. <-, , i 1 
 
 Spirit, and worketh bpirit,' is GoD, by whose power also 
 miracles among you, miracles had been wrought among 
 doeth he it by the works them. 
 
 of the law.^^or^by the u poeti^ He it," &c. Has He poured 
 eanng o ai ^^^^ these marvellous gifts on you as 
 
 Jews, or as Christians ? in connexion with your perform- 
 ance of the laws of the Mosaic Covenant ; or on you, as 
 believing in His Only-begotten Son ? 
 
 There must here be understood, on the part of those 
 with whom he argues, an answer, that these spiritual 
 gifts, (fee, had been given to them as Christians, and as 
 affording, on their part, the required faith in the Lord 
 Jesus, as the Subjective Condition. Tliis reply being un- 
 derstood as made, the Apostle proceeds to his second 
 argument, drawn from the liistory of Abraham. 
 
 6. "Even as." There is expressed, 
 
 6. Even as Abraham • j^j .^ ^j^^ ^ -^^^ connexion 
 
 beheved God, and it , , ^1 • ^'i ^i ^ p a 1 
 
 was acconuted to him between their case and that ot Abra- 
 for righteousnesd. ham: he was justified, and accepted 
 
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 3Y 
 
 as rigliteoiis, on occasion of liis faith ; and so had it been 
 with them. 
 
 " Abraham" ... in liis uncircnmcised condition, and be- 
 fore the giving of the Law. 
 
 "Accounted unto him for righteousness." That was the 
 condition required in him, by the Almighty, whereupon 
 He granted him pardon, and the grace of justilication, 
 even the gift of righteousness. For, where God accounts 
 a sinner righteous, He makes him to be that which He 
 accounts him : in other words, justification and sanctifica- 
 tion go together. 
 
 7. Know ye there- 7. " They which are of faith" . . . 
 fore that they which i. e., they who look for acceptance 
 are of faith the same ^^ith God, to His mercy only, and not 
 Abraham. *^ "^""''^^ wrought by themselves apart 
 
 8. And the scrip- ^'O^^ Him. 
 
 ture, foreseeing that 8. In the 8th verse we are taught, 
 
 God would justify the that in the promise to Abraham, the 
 
 ^?f ^hV^'bS'^r ^^the conversion of tlie heathen was had in 
 
 gosjel 'unto Xl^ham! ^^^^w ; that the promise was not limit- 
 
 saylng, In thee shall aU ed to the nation ol Israel, but compre- 
 
 natious be blessed. hended the Gentiles, and thus, event- 
 
 9. yo then they which ually, the whole world. This is, in 
 
 ^^w^?^iTi^^f'^*^ tact, a point continually insisted on 
 
 "With taithfol Abraham. , ', . \ ,-, j.t j. r^ ^ i i» 
 
 by this Apostle : that God s mode ot 
 
 justifying men, from the beginning, has been the same, 
 viz., through faith on their part, and for the merit of 
 Christ foreseen or come ; and that the blessings promised 
 to Abraham and his descendants were intended for his 
 spiritual descendants, for all faithful people. Of course, 
 the argument, as against the Judaizing teachers in Galatia, 
 is clear : that Christians cannot need the Mosaic System, 
 as a ground of justification ; since even Abraham, the 
 father of Israel after the flesh, was not indebted to that 
 system for his acceptance with God, but was justified long 
 before its establishment. 
 
 Here let us reflect upon that seeming discrepancy in the 
 statements of Apostles touching the sinner's justification 
 before God. For S. Paul declares, that Abraham was 
 justified by faith : while S. James asserts that Abraham 
 was justified by works, and not by faith only. Tliis ap- 
 parent contradiction may furtliormore be elsewhere ob- 
 served. For while, in another of his Epistles, S. Paul says 
 
38 COMMENTARY ON THE 
 
 that God hath saved us, not by works of rii«;liteoTisnos8 
 which M'e liave done, but accordiu<; to Ilis uierc}'^ ; we 
 read, in the Acts of the Apostles, of Cornelius the Centu- 
 rion, as of a man who gave alms, and fasted, and prayed, 
 and that an angel coming to him from heaven, said. Thy 
 prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before 
 Gon ; which things having taken place, the A])0stle Peter 
 declares, tiiat God is no respecter of persons, but that in 
 every nation he that feareth II im, and worketh righteous- 
 ness, is accepted with Ilim. In the Kevelation also, and 
 elsewhere, we are told, that in the Last Day, the final 
 question in each individual case shall be touching the 
 works which have been done in the body. How then shall 
 the seeming discrepancy, of which these are only some 
 illustrations hastily selected, be reconciled ? 
 
 1st, By accepting botii the declarations of the Almighty 
 in simplicity and in an honest heart, and admitting as 
 most true, tiiat men are justified by faith, and also that 
 they are justified by works : if after all that can be said 
 there still remains a difficulty in reconciling these two 
 points of belief, it may be left where we leave those ever 
 mysterious subjects of the Foreknowledge of God, and the 
 Free Will of Man, &c., ifec, &c. 
 
 But, 2dly, wc may be aided toward a solution by bear- 
 ing this in ]nind: that the Faith which God accepts can- 
 not be considered apart from the works in which it is 
 manifested ; while the works which He accepts are but 
 Faith in action. Faith and works are truly one : the Faith 
 is the Form, and the works are the Accidents : there is no 
 more practical distinction between them than there is 
 between the frame of the living man, and the vital ]irin- 
 ciple by which it consists. To say that a man is justitied 
 by faith, is to say that he is justitied by a faith which is 
 rendered visible by good works. To say that he is justi- 
 fied by works, is to a&cribe his justification to works wliich 
 spring of faith. Works are Faith in Action ; and Faith is 
 works Latent. The affirmative statements on both sides 
 are true. But the negative statements are directed against 
 certain misconceptions or false representations. Thus, 
 when an Apostle says that "a man is not justitied by Faith 
 only," he means, that an inactive, unju-oductive sentiment, 
 as, e. g.^ an intellectual apprehension or an emotional move- 
 ment, is not the sul)jective condition of our acceptance. 
 
EPISTLE TO tiih: galatians. 39 
 
 "When another says that a man is not justified by works, 
 he means that no actions of his can be in any way avail- 
 able, meritorionsl}^, to his pardon and acceptance with 
 God. Bnt whether they speak of Faith or of Works, the 
 holy Apostles are speaking (let us never forget) not of the 
 instrumental cause, nor of any other cause, but of the sub- 
 jective conditions ; of that which God re(piires in the sin- 
 ner, ere lie accept him. Certainly lie does requii-e some- 
 thing : what, then, is it? The Faith which worketh unto 
 obedience. Saint James and Saint Paul speak of one and 
 the same thing : the former of the outward and visible 
 sign, the latter of the inward and invisible principle. 
 Neither of them speaks of an active cause. Faith is not 
 an active cause of our justification ; nor are works such a 
 cause : for the Active Cause of Justification is none other 
 than the Holy Ghost. The act of believing, which is in 
 itself a work, doth no more buy the forgiveness of God, 
 than any other work wdiich a man may do. "When the 
 formula is used of " Justification by Faith only," it may 
 be taken with two references : for, with respect to the 
 meritorious cause of our justification it is but equivalent to 
 saying this, that there is no Meritorious Cause of Salva- 
 tion except our Lord Jesus Christ ; and, again, with 
 respect to the condition required in us, it is equivalent to 
 this, that God accepts in every one the sincei'e belief in 
 Him, and eifort to please and obey Him, which, without 
 His grace, we have no power to do. And since there are 
 in vogue and constant use these two phrases, viz., "Justi- 
 fi.cation by Faith," and "Justification by Works;" it is to 
 be observed of them, in the comparison, that both are 
 Catholic Verities, and both express sacred truth ; but 
 that they diiFer in extent and range; for the latter phrase 
 is narrower than the former ; it expresses merely the sub- 
 jective condition, those works, viz., which are the fruit of 
 faith ; while the former contains both the subjective con- 
 dition and the limitation of the meritorious cause. The 
 latter is strictly equivalent to saying, that a man, to be 
 saved, must fear God, and keep His commandments. The 
 former gives the larger thought, that this fear and obedi- 
 ence spring from a faith such that it contains in itself the 
 principle of self-renunciation, and thereby secures to God 
 all the merit, the glory, and the praise. In the Epistle of 
 S. James, which turns on dutv and ethics, we find the 
 
40 COMMENTARY ON THE 
 
 simjilo and inure jmicticjil plirase enij)loyed. In the 
 Epistles of S. Pant, on the otlier hand, which are ])i'o- 
 fonndly doctrinal, we find the i'nller and more scientific 
 phrase nscd, sncli as befits the hi<i;her reijions of Theoloi,'j. 
 In the same way, among the lower and plainer class of 
 peoj)l('. the grand necessity is to incnlcate Duty to Gon, 
 and Duty to one's neighbor: while it is only the more 
 educated and trained in thought who can profitably 
 examine into the mystery of the Justification of the Sin- 
 ner. The hnv and the high, alike, know what is the whole 
 duty of man : but the low know it simj^ly as a positive 
 rule of life, while the higli know it by its causes, and in 
 its scientific and philosophic form. But, at bottom, tliere 
 is no difference. 
 
 10. For as many as ^^- '^^^® Apostle now presents his 
 are of the works of the third argument, to show that Justifica- 
 law are uiulcr the tion cannot be attained by the Law 
 curse: for it is writ- ^f Moses, as its instrumental cause: 
 
 not in all things which tli'it dispensation, but not Of/ it ; for to 
 are written in the justify the sinner M'as not the object 
 hook of the law to do therein had in view. 
 *^'^'"- "As many as are of the works of 
 
 the Law." lie means, as many as are Jews. As many 
 as are under the obligation to observe the ordinances and 
 rites of that system. 
 
 " Are under the curse." Are exposed necessarily to the 
 judgment denounced on every one who transgresses those 
 ordinances. 
 
 " For it is written," &c. See Deut. xxvii. 26. The argu- 
 ment is this : the Law requires the strict observance of all 
 its precepts, and subjects to a curse all who transgress in 
 any respect. But all violate it, in some respect or other. 
 Wherefore, all are ex])osed to the penalty denounced. 
 Observe, ])articularly, that the Apostle has shown, befoi'o, 
 that the Mosaic Law was not the channel through which 
 they had received the Holy Spirit : now, he declares, that 
 no one receives by it justification. For it gave no grace 
 whereby a man might fultil it ; and it disclosed no final 
 pardon for him who had transgressed it. " As many," 
 therefore, *' as are of the works of the Law," — as many as 
 seek justification from it, must find themselves disap- 
 
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIAN8. 41 
 
 pointed, and nuist remain under a curse instead of in- 
 heriting a blessing. 
 
 ,, , 11, 12. The Apostle proves what 
 
 is]L^^Z^:: ^^ has stated, by the testimony of a 
 iu the sight of God, it pi'opliet: bee Hab. ii. 4. 
 M evident: for, The " It IS evident .. ." It is manifest, 
 just shall live by faith, from another place in Holy Scripture, 
 12 And the law is that man is justified, not by the Law 
 rnlirLtrthe'^ of Moses but by faith ; for ilabakkuk 
 shall live in them. says, " Ihe just shall live by taith." 
 
 The LIFE of which he so speaks is not 
 life temporal ; that was what the Law of Moses promised 
 (see verse 12) ; but it is the life spiritual, the life of the 
 soul, the life which consists in righteousness and true 
 holiness. The just shall live by faith ; that is, by a spir- 
 itual life of the soul, or by that grace which maketh 
 righteous, whereof faith is the basis within us. The Law 
 does not give faith, nor grace, nor that spiritual life ; 
 therefore it is manifest that no one can live, in this higher 
 sense, by the Law. For the promises of the Law liave 
 reference (verse 12) to a lower life ; to a hajjp}'- and 
 prosperous life here on earth : its observance preserves 
 from temporal death, which the Law threatens on its 
 transgressors ; hence he who doeth those things shall live 
 in them, shall escape temporal death, shall live securely 
 here. But as for the Higher Life, the Law relates not 
 to it ; the Law gives not the true life of the soul, which 
 is to be drawn in from Christ, the Fountain of Life, by 
 faith. 
 
 -lo /^v • ^ 1, 4.1, 13- This verse is in contrast to verse 
 
 13. Christ hath re- -,^ mi t i • t. . 
 
 deemed us from the 1^- . ^^% ^^J ^^''"^® ^ ^"^*^^' "^"^ 
 curse of the law, being Christ takes the curse away, 
 made a curse for us : " Being made a curse for us . . ." 
 for it is written, Cursed Being treated, for our sakes, as an ac- 
 Shratl:''""""" f.'"-^«d thing, and so vicariously de- 
 livering us. 
 " For it is written," &c. See Deut. xxi. 23. Which 
 curse He endured, by hanging for us upon the cross. 
 
 14. "The blessing of Abraham . . ." 
 . ■*■*■. J,^^*, *^® bless- The blessings promised throug-h Abra- 
 mg ot Abraham might j ^ j^- ^.o^ferity. 
 
 come on the Gentiles ,,mi ^ ^ it r "^ mi ^ i 
 
 through Jesus Christ; _ ' ihat we, c^:c. Ihat, through 
 that we might receive faith, we might all receive the Spirit 
 
42 COrMENTARY ON THE 
 
 the ])roiniso of the of saiictificiition, promised to Ijoliev- 
 Spirit tlinm-h faith. ^.g .jy t(, the true ciiildrcii of Al.raliam. 
 
 aftl-r- ' f'Sulr* }■'■ !'<•'- <!'« Apostle ijroeoeds to 
 moii; Tlu)iiglw7 ?^t hut a loiirth ar<r\nuent, as to flie general 
 a man's covenant^ yet scope of which, see the remarks made 
 if it h<- coiitiriiKMl, no at the beginning of tliis'cha])ter. 
 man disannulloth, or u ]>,.^,ff,j.^.,^_» Note the change in 
 acldcth thereto. ■, . ,. i ^ .-^ 
 
 nis manner, Irom reproaches to frater- 
 nal salntation, as though he would draw them hj kind- 
 ness, 
 
 "Ispeak,"itc. I make use of an illustration, taken 
 from familiar every-day life. 
 
 " A covenant . . ." The idea is a will, or testament ; for 
 such an instrument admits to prospective advantages ; and 
 so, the blessing promised to Abraham M-as to come after 
 long delay. 
 
 " Though it be," <tc. Even such an instrument, if duly 
 and legally drawn up and set forth, caimot be put aside. 
 How much less the solenm promise of Almighty God? 
 
 ,„ „ ^ 4, , 16. The application now follows: 
 
 16. Now to Abraham ^ , ^^ • ^ ai i 
 
 and las seed were the ^^^ made a promise to Abraham 
 promises made. He (^ee ben.xv., xvii.) He repeated 
 saith not, And to seeds, that promise to his seed. But the 
 as of many ; but as of Apostle remarks, that the word is 
 
 ""^^^ ,^"^n^^ -V ^''''^' used in the singular number, not in 
 which IS Christ. ., , i -4. • * u t *i j m 
 
 the plural; it is not, "to th}^ seeds, 
 
 but to " thy seed." And, by that use of the singular num- 
 ber, the holy Apostle declares that there was conveyed 
 the promise of the Messiah. 
 
 Here may one indeed exclaim, "Tliy testimonit'S are 
 wonderful." For in the mere addition of a letter, in the 
 mere grammatical inflection, is indicated that ]\[ystery 
 which lay eternally in the thought of God. Nothing in 
 Holy Scripture is little or unimportant. Nor dare we 
 say, of any part, of any word thereof, that we fully com- 
 prehend all that it means. Oh the wonderful Secrecy and 
 Keservations of the Inspiring Deity, the Holy Ghost! 
 Take one word in the plural, and it shall express a tem- 
 poral and limited fact, true only of men, strangers and 
 pilgrims here. Yet let that word be written bur in the 
 singular form, and there is before the mind a AVonder 
 passing finite thought, a Marvel into which even the 
 angels desire to look. How shall we pardon the shallow- 
 
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIAJSTS. 43 
 
 ness of modern criticism which aifects to despise these 
 smallest indications of meaning, bccanse they are so small? 
 Is anght of God's Word small? Is there not significance 
 in e\^ry letter, and in each detail ? And \vi)..t were it to 
 ns, to have had more of these inspired con.ments on the 
 phraseology of the Old Testament! Who would have 
 suspected, or have ventured to suggest, that because it 
 saith " seeil," and not " seeds," therefore the promise de- 
 sciibes and declares the Incarnate Son of God ? 
 ,^ . ,,, . T „ lY. The thought would seem to run 
 
 17. Ana this I say, , ' • , . i ^/-i i i x' 4-1 
 
 thatthQ covenant, that thus: Almighty GoD, loTig belore the 
 was confirmed before time of the Mosaic Law, made a 
 of God in Christ, the promise to Abraham, to the effect, 
 law, which was four ^|^^^ through him, and through his 
 ^Zf'Lrl.TZ descendant, salvation sj.oufd , be 
 annul, that it should brought, as a divme and gracious 
 make the promise of gift, to all mankind. In that promise 
 none effect. j^y enfolded the hope of the human 
 
 race. In process of time, hundreds of years after, there 
 was set up in the world the system of Jewish Religion. 
 But that system could not have been a necessity for men ; 
 for, since it was local and limited, if that were the chaimel 
 of salvation, the greater part of the world must have been 
 cut off. But God's promise to Abraham, to be fulfilled in 
 the Mission of Christ, was a promise to all mankind.^ Ko 
 later system, however or for what purpose soever intro- 
 duced, could disannul that ancient promise. The Mosaic 
 system could not then have been intended to be available 
 to men for their justification: it was but an episode, a 
 parenthesis ; the hope, the safety, the life, were in the 
 Great Redeemer the promised Seed, in whom whosoever 
 believeth shall live, out of whom there is no salvation, 
 and having whom, no man hath need of more. 
 
 It does not fall within the scope of this Commentary to 
 remark on the difliculties which have been raised respect- 
 ing the chronology of this verse. To the faithful heai-t, 
 th?s is a matter of minor importance; we know in whom 
 we have believed. Such controversies must even be left^, 
 to those, on the one side, in whom the god of this world 
 hath blinded their minds that they believe not ; and, on 
 the other, to the defenders of the faith, who labor with 
 pious care and study to resolve all doubts that may per- 
 plex the mind on such questions, and whose labors have 
 
44: COMMENTARY ON THE 
 
 bccTi, and ever shall Lc, blessed by the God of truth. "We 
 proceed, then, to the spiritual exposition of the Apostle. 
 
 18. For if the in- ,18. "The inheritance....'' the 
 horitanco he of the law, blessings that were had in view in that 
 it in no more of prom- first promise to Abraham, 
 ise: hut God gave itio '' ]>e of the Law . . ." come to man, 
 Abrahain by promise, ^g ^j^^ j.^^^^^ ^f obeying the Mosaic 
 
 Law ; if that system be the ground of our hope of grace 
 and salvation. 
 
 " It is no more of promise ..." A new arrangement 
 must have been made ; the old promise must have been 
 annulled ; a radical change must have occurred. But 
 this, argues the Apostle, could not be. For the promise 
 was through Christ, and through none else; and Christ 
 and the Law are not the same, as they who had left the 
 Law to follow and live in Christ could testify ; and the 
 promise cannot have been broken. 
 
 We come to what is probably the 
 
 ■^^'.t^'^^'^^*^^^tJ^^° obscurest passa";e in this epistle: and 
 seriYWt the law ? It was , ^ ^, , v ^.i ,. 
 
 added because of trans- ^f^ merely so, but one ot the most 
 gressiuns, till the seed obscure places in all of bt. raul s 
 should come to whom writings. It commences with the 
 the promise was made ; inquiry, founded on what has been 
 
 awrf /i ;rrt« ordained by ^„'i t „,i,„i. ,^,„.,^^,„ +1,^,, „...^ +1,^ 
 
 , . ., , 1 .• saicl, io What purpose tlien was tiie 
 
 angels in the hand ot a t i i ^ •. • n 
 
 mediator. -^aw ? or why was it given ? 
 
 Note, now, what the Apostle says. 
 
 It was not the Promise ; for it came afterwards ; it was 
 added. 
 
 It was not intended to be permanent ; for it was but for 
 a time, " till the Seed should come." 
 
 It was not ordained, personally, by God Himself, but 
 by the miiiistration of angels; and there was a Mediator 
 too, viz., Moses, to represent the Israelites ; so that the 
 idea of friendly proximity and neighborhood, as between 
 Goi) and Abraliam, His friend, was lost. 
 
 Hence may be seen its low and inferior character; 
 for it was late in time, it was transitory, and it expressed 
 an alienation bc'tween God and Man. It was not, in any 
 wise, ihe Promised Blessing, and could not, by any 
 reliecting person, be mistaken for it. 
 
 "Why, then, was the Law given? "Because of trans- 
 gressions." 1st, to keep the Israelites from the sin of 
 Egypt, and to restrain them to the worship of the one true 
 
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 45 
 
 God, from which they had been led astray. 2dly, to show 
 them what is sin. 3dly, to dispUiy, by the sacriticial sys- 
 tem, the great guilt of sin. 4thly, to make sin to abound, 
 not cansativel}^, but consecutively (see Rom. v. 20). Sthly, 
 to point and lead mankind, for pardon and justification, 
 out of the Law, and towards Him that should come. 
 
 And this was a temporary arrangement, " till the Seed 
 should come," viz., Christ, "to whom the promise was 
 made," when it was said unto Abraham, " in thy Seed 
 shall all nations of the earth be blessed." 
 
 20. This is a verse, the true mean- 
 _ 20 Nowamexliator ^ ^-^f ^hich, one may be pardoned 
 IS not a mediator oi n ^ ^ • • . i "^ Vi 
 
 one, but God is one. f^^' despan-mg ever to know. So many 
 interpretations have been made, that 
 they confuse the mind. Some suppose the indefinite 
 article to be rightly used : others think that it should 
 have been the definite article or the demonstrative pro- 
 noun, and that the mediator spoken of is Moses. But let 
 one rendering of the verse be suggested, though with great 
 uncertainty on the whole subject. In verse 19 there are 
 two notes of superiority mentioned, in which the Promise 
 appears far exalted above the Law. The promise passed 
 directly between God and Abraham, for the Lord spake 
 unto him as a man speaketh to his friend. But in the Law, 
 1st, there were angels to represent the Lord, who came 
 not personally ; and 2dly, there was a mediator to repre- 
 sent the people, who could not approach save through 
 him. 
 
 Now, " a mediator," argues the Apostle, " is not a 
 mediator of one ;" but his very ofiice argues several par- 
 ties ; and these jjarties hostile ; and thus there appeal's the 
 sign of alienation between them. " But God is one ;" i. e. 
 one and the same, unalterable ; and, therefore, from all 
 the discouragements and gloom of that Law which was 
 ordained because of sins, and which, in every part, 
 bespoke the disjunction of God and Man, we must return 
 to the Ancient Promise, which is our hope and the hope 
 of all, and which God, who is One and the Same, yester- 
 day and to-day and forever, stands pledged to make good 
 to the whole world. 
 
 oi r +1. 1 *!, 21. Is there then any inconsistency 
 
 21. Is the law then , ^ ^i r i i.i tj • » 
 
 against the promises of between the Law and the 1 romise i 
 
 God? God forbid: for None whatever; and the proof is, 
 
4G COMMENTAICY ON THE 
 
 if there Imd been n law that tlic Law cannot justify ns. TlierG 
 givcMvhioh coiild have ^^.^,,]j j^.^,.^ j^^.^.^ .^^ ineonsisteiKtv 
 
 iousness should have l^t-tweon them, if lie Law, when 
 beea by the law. gi^'^"i had been made tlie channel (-1 
 
 justification, and the fountain of that 
 spiritual life in which we live by faith ; for then we should 
 have found it impossible to reconcile the establishinent of 
 that life-giving system with the promise of deliverance 
 througii a single individual (for this i§ what the woid 
 " thy ISeed" implied). But this is not the case. Riglit- 
 eousness is not by the Law : it is by the Promise : and the 
 Law Avas but a transient arrangement, fitted to do its 
 work here, and intended afterwards to disappear. 
 
 22. But the scripture , 22. And this is clear from the fact 
 hath coucluded all uii- that the Scriptures, in describing the 
 der sin, that the pro- condition of nien of all states and 
 mise by faith of Jesus ranks, speak of them as all under the 
 Christ imght be given dominion of sin, and without justifica- 
 to them that believe. ^. , ,. ' ,, -',.,.. 
 
 tion or deliverance; thus exhibiting 
 
 the ancient design of God, and confirming the approach 
 of the promised Mediator, Jesus Christ. 
 
 OQ Tj. «. T. <• f -^-u 23. " Before Faith came . . ." before 
 
 23. But before faith ,, ^ v ^ 4.- ^i i *• vi 
 came, we were kept the system of salvation through faith 
 
 under the law, shut up of Jesus Christ was made known in 
 
 unto the faitli which the world. 
 
 ^^^*^^^ ■ ed under the Mosaic system, which 
 
 thus served a temporary purpose. 
 
 " Shut up unto," ifcc. lieserved, or kept therein, await- 
 ing the coming of Christ, and the commencement of the 
 era of the Gospel. 
 
 -, ™, „ ,, A beautiful figure: the old system 
 
 24. Wherefore the , , -, ^ . , 1 " •. 
 law was our school- was what a pedagogue is to boys; it 
 master to bring us restrained them of their liberty, cor- 
 unto Christ, that we rected them for their faults, guided 
 migiit be justified by them to tlie knowledge of sin, of self, 
 
 '• and of God ; and thus prepared them 
 
 for embracing the offer of salvation through Christ. 
 
 25. After the introduction of the 
 
 25. But after that Gospel, the Jewish system is needed 
 faith is come, we are ^„ i>,r,i.o 
 
 no longer under a „^ t-, ., . ^ i.\^ • •^ t 
 
 schoolmtster. 26. lor they take the privilege of 
 
 26. For ye are all sonship ; they come of age, as it 
 
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 47 
 
 the ohildren of God wei'e ; thej are no longer under the 
 by foith in Christ Jesus pedagOiTue, but at larofc m the Father's 
 
 jofas t^fbee'n Wp- !«"-• ^''^ Cjtholic Clmrch 
 tized into Christ have , In verse 26, the subjective coudi- 
 put ou Christ. tion of Justification is noted ; in verse 
 
 27, the instrumental means. 
 
 27. "As many of yon as," &c. An expression which 
 the Apostle does not limit, and which no one has a right 
 to contract. It is universally true ; all, as many as have 
 been baptized, are members of Christ. 
 
 28 There is neither -^- ^^ ^^ speaking of the baptized. 
 Jew nor Greek, there There IS among them no distinction; 
 is neither bond nor all, b}^ that Sacrament, are in Clirist, 
 free, there is neither and Christ in them ; whatever their 
 male nor female : for g^x, their State, or their antecedents, 
 ye are all one m Christ 59. " If" is equivalent to since, as 
 
 29. And if ye le i^ Col. iii. 1 ; liom. vi. 5, &c. Since 
 Christ's, then are ye this is SO ; since ye are thus, by holy 
 Abraham's seed, and baptism, as by an instrument, grafted 
 heirs according to the ^^^^,^ Clirist; since ye have been justi- 
 promise. g^^| therein, by His Grace ; and since 
 
 ye have therein received the Gift of that spiritual right- 
 eousness which formally constitutes justification; there- 
 fore, be ye sure, that this is the very blessing which was 
 promised to Abraham ; ye are the faithful seed of the 
 father of the faithful, and ye are already enjoying the 
 heirship and inheritance under that promise of ancient 
 time. 
 
 (CHAPTER IV.) 
 
 It is a peculiarity of the style of S. Paul, that a word 
 will give occasion to a long train of thought : some pass- 
 ing expression, which we might have overlooked, we pres- 
 ently find to be amplified and expanded into a large and 
 fair domain of wholesome doc-trine, the one idea having 
 suddenly shot into full maturity ot power, and proved 
 itself the fruitful parent of a noble progeny. Thus, e. g., 
 the fourth chapter of this epistle seems but an enlai-gement 
 of that expression of his in the previous chapter, where he 
 has likened the people under the Law to children under 
 a schoolmaster. He says of them, that until they came of 
 age, they were in the charge of that pedagogue ; imply- 
 
48 COMMENTARY ON THE 
 
 ing, as indeed he subsequently asserts, tliat the work of 
 the said schoohnaster terminated, and must terminate, 
 upon the attainment by the jjupils of full age. This is 
 the figure, Avliieh, through the fourth eluipter, we Und 
 pursued, entbrced, and dwelt upon, in copious ilhis- 
 tration. 
 
 And note, moreover, that hereinafter, and all through 
 what remains of the E})istle, it is the gift of the ISjnrit, even 
 of the Holy Ghost, which is dwelt upon by the Apostle. 
 This would seem to be the promised blessing to which the 
 writer has referred before. For Christ, and the Spirit of 
 Christ, are practically one. If any man have not the 
 Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. And by one Spirit are 
 we all baptized into one B<»dy, riz., into the Mystical Body 
 of Christ, the Church. The holy Apostle is speaking, 
 throughout the argumentative part of the Epistle, of the 
 Justification of the sinner. In ascribing it to faith, he has 
 spoken of the subjective condition. JN^ow he speaks of 
 the efficient agent, the Holy Ghost. 
 
 And, that we may know these things the better, the old 
 Catholic Theology comes to our aid ; and that Divine and 
 admirable science teaches us how we should understand 
 these darker portions of the "Word of God, and how we 
 may connect and harmonize the statements of the written 
 word. For, we are taught by her, that after God Almighty 
 had created man, complete and perfect as to mere and 
 pure humanity. He did superadd and annex certain gifts 
 and privileges, not naturally and necessarily appertaining 
 to such a luiturc as o*rs. In the possession and enjoyment 
 of these gifts, man was raised and elevated ; and tlierein 
 consisted his perfection as made to be in the Image of 
 God, as destined to immortality, and as qualitied for future 
 residence, with the blessed angels, near the Throne of the 
 Most High. This was the true sonship of men ; and this 
 consisted in the Presence of the Spirit of God, the worker 
 of all supernatural powers. But by transgression man 
 fell into the bondage of the oj^pressor. He, who had been 
 the child of God, became the slave of Satan. From this 
 condition, the Law did not, as by an instrument, deliver 
 him : nay, " it was added because of transgressions ;" and 
 its object was to show to him the misery of that state of 
 bondage, and to lead him towards the One who alone had 
 the power to deliver him. This was the schooling of the 
 
EnSTLK '10 'IHK GALATIANS. 49 
 
 heir; the heir, but not yet the possessor; tlie one who was 
 to be made a nienibci- of Christ, the cliild of Goo, the 
 inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven. Now, when Christ 
 came, whosoever embraced Him and His promises, was 
 made His son ; he came into the inheritance ; the son- 
 ship, the adoption by the Spirit, even the Holy Ghost. 
 And tiuis, he was delivered from the old school, and the 
 ancient master; he was a minor no more; he was come 
 to age ; and all the possession came to him, through the 
 power of the Holy Ghost uniting him to Christ, and, 
 through Christ, to God. 
 
 It is to these divine and sacred mysteries that the fourth 
 and fifth chapters especially refer. Let us proceed to our 
 particular comment upon them. 
 
 1. is-ow 1 saj, That ^.^^.''"l^ previously compared the 
 the heir, as long as he Mosaic Law to a pedagogue, and the 
 is a child, differeth no- Jewish people to a child, he pi-oceeds 
 thing from a servant, more fully to develope that thouirht. 
 though he be lord of u ^^^ j g.^.^, » -^^ additio^i to 
 
 ' what I have previously asserted. 
 
 " The heir . . ." an heir to an estate. 
 
 '' A child . . ." a minor ; under age. 
 
 " Differeth nothing from a servant:" is, like a servant, 
 resti-ained of liberty, and limited in privileges ; has free- 
 dom, neither as regards his personal actions, nor as to the 
 administration of iiis inheritance. A slave has nothing of 
 his own ; so also an infant heir is as though he had nothing, 
 though the whole estate prospectively be his. 
 
 ^ . , " Governors . . ." persons appointed 
 
 2. But IS under tutors ^ n.^nage the estate. 
 
 and governors until the ,, tt ^i n c tt -i t • ^ i 
 
 time appointed of the "Until, &c. Until the tmie fixed 
 
 father. by the parent, or defined by law. 
 
 3. Even so we, when " We . . ." We converts from Juda- 
 we were children, were •-^^^. in distinction to " ye," verse 6, 
 m bondage under the U4.ini.-i • i i j 
 elements of the world: where the Gentiles are intended. 
 
 " When we were children . . . when 
 we were in the state of minors, of infant heirs mider the 
 LaM' of Moses. 
 
 " In bondage . . ." under close restraint. 
 
 " Under ihe elements of the world :" the Jewish system 
 is meant, which contained the elements of piety, and the 
 mere rudiments of true religion, retained therein as well 
 for the Jews as for the general advantage of mankind. 
 
5<' COMMF.NTARV OX THR 
 
 Tlioy " were in bondage ;" under a servile fear, as it were, 
 iinder that system. 
 
 . „ , , ,, , , 4. "The time...." the day when 
 
 4. Hut when the ful- .!•••. . .i /• ■> 
 noss of the time was V'^^"* minority was past, the time de- 
 come, Clod sent forth lined by God, wlieii the lull hlessinaf 
 his Son, made of a should be poured out u])on the world, 
 woman, made under u GoD sent fortli His Son . . ." The 
 
 " ' eternal Generation, of course, is not 
 
 intended ; but that time when " lie was conceived of the 
 Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary." 
 
 " Made of a Woman . . ." For " the Son, wliieh is the 
 AVord of the Father, begotten from everlasting of the 
 Father, tlie very and eternal Got>, and of one substance 
 with tlie Father, took Man's nature in the womb of the 
 blessed virgin, of her substance;" 
 
 " Deum de Deo, Lumen de Luniine, 
 Gestant Puellto viscera,"' 
 
 Tlie First Adam was created, by direct act of Divine 
 
 Power. The second Adam was not created, but made of 
 the substance of Mary, by the operation of the Holy 
 Ghost. 
 
 '• Made under the Law." Formed, thus, and of His 
 own free will, subject to the Law of Moses : not so by 
 necessity, since He was the Lord of that Law, as of all 
 else. And yet, although above the Law, He was willing 
 to be circumcised, to be presented in the Temple, to be 
 examined by the Dt>ctors, to keep the Feasts and Kites. 
 
 5. To redeem them from their state 
 
 5. To redeem them of leijal minoritv, and to admit them 
 that were under the t,, j]^- f,,]} state of heirs in possession 
 law, that we miifht re- -• ^i • 
 
 ceive the adoption of '>* their own. , . , , 
 
 sons. 6. He has been speaking of the 
 
 6. And because ye Jews, his countrymen, as the use of 
 are sons. God hath sent the pronoun of the lirst person plural 
 tj^rth the Spu-it of his gj^^^^^,^ jj^ jj^^, ,^j^ ^^^ g^^ ^,j.^^. 
 bon into vour liearts, , , ,, ,- "- i • ' . • i 
 crying, Abba, Father, the privilege ot sonsliip was conterred 
 
 on tlie Gentiles also. " We," before; 
 now " ye" also. " Ye are sons," with us : ye, too, have 
 received the adoption. 
 
 " Sons of God. Adults, and .already attained to major- 
 ity ; although ye had never been, like us, in that state of 
 pupilage under the old system. 
 
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIAN8. 51 
 
 " The Spirit of His Son :" compare iii. 26, 27. It is in 
 baptism that we are znade, after that new and living way, 
 children of God ; and it. is the Holy Ghost, who acts as 
 the Efficient Cause in tiiat divine sacrament. 
 
 " Abba, Father." The first word of the Lord's Prayer. 
 By sanctifying grace, the Spirit of God is united to the 
 soul of man ; and thereupon, with filial love and desire, 
 the soul cries unto God, as to a most dear Father. 
 
 The son of the Living God, as having put on Jesus 
 Christ, the consubstantial Son of God, in baptism. The 
 son of the Living God, as having received the Spirit of the 
 Son of God into the heart, in Baptism, in Confirmation, in 
 the devout reception of the Holy Communion. Abba, 
 Father ! the voice of the child, the voice of faithful, long- 
 ing love. As a devout writer exclaims : " Abba, Pater ! 
 quando te videbo, quando te fruar, quando te fruens 
 tecum unus ero !" 
 
 7. Wherefore thou '^^ ^^ ^^ intended by all this to show 
 art no more a servant, to the Galatians the folly of reverting 
 but a son; and if a son, to the old puerile condition in which 
 then an heir of God the Jews found themselves under the 
 through Christ. Mosaic System. They were sons; 
 
 they were heirs ; heirs, adult, and free, and having already 
 entered on the fruition of the inheritance in the gift of the 
 Holy Ghost. 
 
 8." Howbeit then, ^-.^he reference is to the former 
 when ye knew not condition of these Christians of Gen- 
 God, ye did service tile origin. " '1 hen," in your former 
 unto them which by state; ''when ye knew not God," the 
 nature are no gods. ^^.^^^ ^^^ ^^^i^^ ^j^^ Creator of Heaven 
 
 and Earth, the Eternal Deity ; '' ye did service" to ic|ols, 
 to stocks and stones, to devils under semblance of divini- 
 ties. And in all this, ye were excusable ; God had mercy 
 on you because ye did it ignorantly. " But now," the 
 9. But now after ^^^e is altered ; " ye have known 
 that ye have known GoD," by the preaching of His word ; 
 God, or rather are ye have embraced the offer of salva- 
 known of God, how ^ion through Christ ; nay rather, '* ye 
 w:aK-;yf:Sar.%t r known°ofGod," belived by Him, 
 ments, whereunto ye the conscious recipients of His unfail- 
 desire again to be in ing mercies. '' How turn ye," there- 
 bondage? fore, at such a time and from such a 
 point of advance, to the first elements of Jewish infancy, 
 
52 COMMENTARY ON i HE 
 
 "to the weak and be<rij;arl3' elements," tlie profitless rites, 
 the unedilyiiii; ]>ractic-fs, the effete and ]>owerlePs formali- 
 ties of a reli<j;ion, to ■svhieli, by some wonderful jjerveree- 
 ness, " ye desire,'' ye have set your hearts on being brought 
 in bondage ? 
 
 " Weak . . ." as having no power to justify. 
 
 " Beggarly . . . ." as containing no riches of Divine 
 Grace, and unable to bestow any. 
 
 ,„ „ , , 10. He marks the extent of their 
 
 10. Ye observe days, i . .i i i v ii 
 
 and months, and times departure: they had by sudden inl- 
 and years. puise, entei'ed with characteristic zeal 
 
 11. I am afraid of on the more striking observances of 
 you, lest I liave be- the Law, and such as suited best their 
 stowed upon you labor ^^^^^^ ^^^^^ u p^ys," as, e. a., the 
 
 6ai)baths ; " months," as, e. g.^ the new 
 motms ; " times," as Passover, Pentecost, and the like ; 
 " years," as the seventh of remission, and the fiftieth of 
 Jubilee. From all this, we may see how deep and 
 thorough had been the work of perversion undertaken by 
 the Judaizing teachers in Galatia. 
 
 12. Brethren, I be- ,P: " ^f' ^\ ^.^^^ ' ' '" ^^ free from 
 seech you, be as I am; all these legal letters as ye see me to 
 for I am as ye are : ye be. 
 
 have not injured me at " J am as ve are." Doubtless we 
 ought to read, " I was as you are ;" I 
 used to be no less jealous of all these things ; imitate me 
 in my abandonment of them. 
 
 " Ye have not injured me at all." As much as to say: 
 Do not ascribe my words or my conduct to any angry 
 feelings on my parr. ; ye have done me no w'rong before 
 this, that I should resent it. On the contrary, "ye know" 
 13 Ye know how (^erse 13) "how that through intir- 
 through infirmity of the ""^^J of the flesh," with great difficul- 
 flesh I preached the ties, and at great personal dipadvan- 
 gospel unto you at the tage, I appeared among you at first as 
 ^^^^- an Apostle. But this did not pre- 
 
 judice my case ; on the contrary, ye despised me not, nor 
 rejected, but with enthusiastic delight received the 
 Apostle as indeed a messenger from heaven, or as though 
 it had been the Lord Himself. Here 
 14. And my tempta- ^crain we see the characteristic impul- 
 tion which was in my P ,. ^, /, i ^. li 
 
 flesh ye despised not, Riveness of the Galatians, as well as 
 nor rejected; but re- their flckleness. For the reception 
 
EPISTLE TO THE OALATIANS. 53 
 
 ceived me as an angel which they gave to him was by this 
 JesS"'^' ''''' ^^ ^^'"'* *""*^ well-niirli forgotten, and all the 
 ^15^' Where is then the enthu^asni had been transferred to 
 blessedness ye spake tlie heretical teachers ; altliough at 
 of? for I bear you tirst he had been dearer to them than 
 record, that, if it had their own eyes. 
 
 ?;..,. possible ye would ^q ^j^^ alienation from him is 
 have plucked out your n ■,. ■, .. i t i » i 
 
 own eyes, and have leelmgly reterred to by the Apostle, 
 given them to me. 17. "They . . ." the false teachers 
 
 16. Am I therefore who had appeared amono- them, 
 become your enemy, u Zealously affect you^. . ." profess 
 because I tell you the „„ . i- "' i i ,.^ 
 
 ^j.yjjj 2 •' an extraordinary care and zeal tor your 
 
 17. ' They zealously spiritual welfare, 
 
 affect you, hut not '' But not well . . ." but it is not a 
 
 well; yea, they would true and salutary interest, 
 
 exclude you, that ye a They would exclude you . . ." i. e., 
 
 might aftect them. ^ , , -^ . ,^ *, . ,. ' 
 
 18. But it is o-ood to i^'om the communion oi the Apostolic 
 
 be zealously affected body, and from all the blessings and 
 
 always in (i^ good thinff, jDrivileges of the Church. 
 
 and not only when I u^hat ye might affect them " 
 
 am present with you. ^j^^-^. ^^-/^^ ^^P^^ ^^^ ^^^^^j^ ^j^^ p^^^^^^ 
 
 to themselves, and draw them off from S. Paul, that they 
 might thereby attain to the benefits proposed by seliish- 
 ness and personal interest. 
 
 18. The verse contains an exhortation to zeal, to earnest- 
 ness, to wise discretion, and to constancy ; all most neces- 
 sary for such a class of minds and tempers as those whom 
 he was addressing. 
 
 19. My little chil- l^- " ^^J kittle children." A very 
 dren, of whom I travail tender and affectionate appeal, ren- 
 in birth again until dered appropriate bv the relations 
 Christ be formed in which had formerly subsisted between 
 ^''20. I desire to be liimself and these people. 
 
 present with you now, 1 travail again . . ." _ The Apostle 
 
 and to change my had once endured the pain and anxiety 
 voice; for I stand in of spiritual parturition on their ac- 
 doubtofyou. count, when he at the first time 
 
 preached the Gospel to them. Now, in anxiety for their 
 spiritual safety, he was enduring for the second time those 
 pangs. 
 
 20. " I desire to be present ..." I wish that it were 
 in my power to be with you : " and to change my voice," 
 to adapt my teachings and my arguments to the actual 
 
54 COMMENTARY ON THE 
 
 condition of your minds, whatever it may be ; this, how- 
 ever, I c-annot do, "for I stand in doubt of you;" I am 
 not as well informed as 1 wish that I were eoncernini; the 
 nature or the extent of your errors, and, therefore, what I 
 say may after all fail, in a measure, of its effect. 
 
 Here follows one of the most cliar- 
 
 21. Tell me, ye that aeteristic and beautiful passages of 
 desire to be under trie , i i i • ,i rr\ -^ i\ 
 1,... ^.„.., .f 1 .... o>^ the whole epistle. Ihe writer, alter 
 law, do ye not near tlie . i ' , 
 law? haviiio- used towards them the lan- 
 
 22. For it is written, guage as it were of maternal tender- 
 that Abraham had two ness and affection, now changes his 
 sons the one by a jj^anner, and addresses their intellects 
 bondmaid, the other 31 . x> m 1 
 by a free woman. ^^^^ reasons by an argument, lorcible 
 
 indeed, but entirely removed from the 
 province of all common discussion, and having a purely 
 mystical and symbolical cast. The words of the text shall 
 first be expounded ; and afterwards a general illustration 
 and comment on the whole passage will be made. 
 
 21. " Tell me . . ." Give ear, lend attention, and respond, 
 ye Galatians. 
 
 " Ye that desire," &c. Ye who have this passionate 
 proclivity for recourse to the ancient system of Moses. 
 
 "Do ye not," ttc. Will you not learn the lesson which 
 that system itself conveys? For it is the Law which shows 
 its own inadequacy and incapability. 
 
 22. " For it is written . . ." For you know the Old 
 Testament history about Abraham and his two marriages. 
 
 "A bondmaid . . ." llagar; "a free woman . . ." viz., 
 Sarah. 
 
 OQ n„f \.^ .-7^».,.. 23. "He who was of the bond- 
 
 23. liut he wfio was ,, t 1 ^ a \ i-i. ^1 
 of the bondwoman was woman,_ Ishmael; "born alter tlie 
 
 born after the flesh; flesh," z. 6'., in the ordinary course of 
 but he of the free- nature, of a young and vigorous 
 woman M)«.y by promise. Ionian. Isaac, on the other hand, 
 contrary to the laws of nature, and out of time, of a super- 
 annuated person, who had not the power of maternity ; 
 born of her in completion of a divine promise to that 
 effect. 
 
 24. " "Which things are an alle- 
 
 24. Which things are gory ..." i.e., these circumstances, 
 an allegory : for these |,csides their character as real histor- 
 are the two covenants: . , <. , 1 . j • ^i 1 
 the one from the mount ^cal facts, were designed, in the order 
 Sinai, which gendereth of God's Providence, to display, in a 
 
iriSlLE TO THE GALATIANS. OJ 
 
 to bondage, wuich is symbolical way, the purposes vvliicli 
 Agar. lie had in thought towards mankind. 
 
 " For these . . ." these two marriages, or these two 
 wives, represent the okl and new covenants ; the old, made 
 on mount Sinai, which is the System of the Law, and is 
 
 represented by Ilagar. 
 
 25. "For this Agar," &e. This per- 
 
 25. For this Agar IS jj mystically signiHes the 
 mount 8mai m Arabiis ^,." . »t-.. ^ ■• ,/. ^k.,j. „,i,;,,i, 
 andanswerethtoJeru- Smaitic Dispensation; that whicl 
 salein which now is, comprehends the people ot Israel 
 and is in bondage with under the legal bondage, restrained 
 her children. ^y ordinances, and kept under the 
 
 terror of punishment. ^ 
 
 26. This verse begins elliptically ; 
 
 26. But Jerusalem ^^,g ,,j^jgt; understand'it thus : " While 
 which is above is free g.^^.^j^ corresponds to, or mystically 
 which IS the mother 01 ,i ni.,.., l, ,^+' niH-^t tlw. 
 jjg j^H represents, the (Jliurch ot Cnri&t, tlie 
 
 27.' For it is wa-itten, New Covenant, the celestial Jeru- 
 Rejoice, thou barren salem, the Catholic Parent of unnum- 
 that bearestnot; break i^j^j.pj children ; to which Communion 
 Sa£ .Sfr'tlS applies the propheey of baiah here 
 desolate hath many quoted. 
 
 more children than sJie Thus, having briefly commented 
 which hath an hus- qjj ^\^q words, as they lie in our text, 
 '^and. •^. jg ^gx^ Ijj order to give a clear and 
 
 full exi)Osition of their meaning. 
 
 The circumstances of the Marriages of Abraham are 
 well known to all devout readers of the word of God. He 
 had two \vives ; the one of them Hagar, a maid-servant, 
 . youthful, and in the full force of womanhood ; the other 
 Sarah, who at the time of the events here spoken of, wus 
 past the hope of ofltspring. The bond-servant brought him 
 a son, in the natural order of life ; but the child was a 
 child < .f servitude, like the mother. While the freewoman, 
 the wife properly so called, became, by Divine interven- 
 tion, a parent, and to her child, the true heir, were the 
 promises of God fulfllled. 
 
 These events were all vehicles of heavenly and super- 
 natural truth. The two marriages represented two cove- 
 nants, made between God and the children of men. I he 
 two wives represented two Churches. The two children 
 represented two races of human beings. The marriage 
 between Abraham and Hagar represented the Old Legal 
 
56 COMMENTABT ON THE 
 
 Covenant inanguiated on mount Sinai, between God in 
 the majesty of His boverei<i;n dominion, and the people 
 who stood afar oii", and trenililcd at the sound of His voice. 
 Ila^-ar represented ihe ancient Church of Israel, the 
 Church of legal seivitude. Llnnacl re])resentcd the 
 Hebrew I'ace : they \vei*e the lineal descendants of Abra- 
 ham after the flesh; and in their Ilitual System they nvci'O 
 held in Viondaj^e, 1st, as not bein^ permitted in any\vi?e 
 to mingle with the nations of tlie world, and 2dly, as 
 knowing of no sufficient expiation and atonement for the 
 sin of wiiich their sei-vices attested the heinousness in the 
 tight of Goix On the other side of the picture, the mar- 
 riage between Abraham and Sai'ah I'cpresented tiie new 
 and later Covenant between Goi) and Men in the Person 
 of Jesus Christ, wherein He appears among them a& 
 among brethren and ecpials, and unites them to Himself 
 in the intimate relationships of free communion. Sarah 
 represents the Catholic Chui-ch, in which the s<^^»nl is set 
 forever free from the old rites and ordinances of that legal 
 bondage, and in which, by the gift of the Holy Spirit and 
 the grace of God, the convert is delivered froui wrath, and 
 has the power of a new life unto righteousness. Isaac 
 represents, in like manner, tlie Christian race, which are 
 born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the 
 will of man, but of Gon ; the many brethren whereof 
 Christ is styled the " Urst-born ;" the children of the new 
 covenant, standing in that glorious liberty of the sons of 
 God. This is the allegoi'ical sense of the narrative ; and 
 its applications are i)laiii. For the Apostle would thereby 
 show the Galatians, how much better, how much higher, 
 how much nobler, is the state of the Chi'istian than tiiat 
 of the Jew ; and he would thereby expose the folly of 
 preferring the latter state to the former, since that is, in 
 effect, to love servitude rather than freedom, and to choose 
 the place of the bondman rather than that of the son and 
 heir in the house of the Lord. Thereupon follow the three 
 
 28. Now we breth- conclusions, or api»lic4itions ; the first 
 ren, a/ Isaac was, are (verse 28), that tiie Christians are tlie 
 the cUildreu of pro- true heirs of that earliest promise 
 mise- made to Abraham, and that the Jews 
 
 29. Hut as then he .^,.^ ,^,,^ j,,^. inheritors thereof; just as 
 that was born aiter tlic ^ , , ,. i i-^ t 
 flesh persecuted him Isbniael was preferred after Isaac. 
 that was born afUir iho 2dly (verse 20), that these relationa 
 
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 57 
 
 Spirit, even so it is had led to hatred and hostility on the 
 
 ^VI\t .^ ^ 1 . P'T'i't of the Jews towards the Churcli, 
 
 30. iSJeverthelesswhat i- i • i i j. j j i ^-i-i. i 
 
 saith the scripture? ti'oni,wliicli hatred and hostility he 
 Cast out the bondwo- was personally suffering, who thus 
 man ami liersou: for defended himself and argued his cause 
 tlie son of the bond- before them. 3dly (verse 30), that 
 woman shall not be ^j^^ j ^^^ j^^^ |^ rejected, as a cor- 
 heir with the son of , i i ^ ,^ • "^ ^■ • ^ 
 
 the freewoman. porate body, and their religious system 
 
 removed, while tlie true inheritance 
 was in the Catholic and Apostolic Church, 
 
 But, before concluding this review of the allegory, let 
 the attention of the reader be called to the mere fact that 
 it is here before us ; and let him consider, from this 
 instance, how he should accustom himself to read the 
 Scriptures of God. An Apostle has told us, that, beneath 
 the historic surface meaning there may and do lie deep 
 veins of richest ore, in the mystical sense and intention of 
 the narrative. A case like this is a key to the whole vast 
 treasure-house. Paul hath led the way ; let us follow. Let 
 us not hear the vain and commonplace suggestions of dull 
 brains ; but rather let us launch forth freely and fearlessly 
 upon that mighty sea. The few explanations wdiich the 
 sacred writers have given us, suggest to us the attempt to 
 make discoveries ; if they had continued to allegorize, as 
 thus, what glorious wealth of good might they not have 
 left us I The word of God is a deep place, so deep that 
 none can see to the bottom ; but they are not to be blamed 
 who look into it far and long, and tell us what they see, or 
 think they see. 
 
 How beautiful is all this ! How that which is to the 
 vulgar eye but a commonplace history, gleams fortii upon 
 the instructed view, a sign of the marvellous providences 
 of the everlasting God! "Who should have thought of 
 Hagar and Islimael, of Sarah and of Isaac, under these 
 grand aspects? Or who would have suggested such a 
 lesson from their histories, or who would have deduced 
 such sublime truth from their fortunes, had not the Apos- 
 tle declai-ed, by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, that it 
 was even so with them? Yet were their lives prophetic. 
 Hagar, like the lone and solitary Sinai, set as a tenant of 
 the wilderness, for storms to roll around its mournful top, 
 for the hand of the Lord to afflict its trembling sides ; 
 familiar with Him indeed, but with Him in His terrors 
 
58 COMMENTAEY ON THE 
 
 and in Ilis wrath, not in His wacc and His mercy. l>ut 
 Sarah is tliu Jt-nisalein whicli is abovu; which is free; 
 which is tlie I'liiittui mother oi" the Faitlifuh She aiiswer- 
 eth to Jerusuleiii ; and Jerusalem is the Church, the Jhide 
 of Cin-ist. Here, then, in the ancient Scripture, is the 
 living type of that holy city, New Jerusalem, seen of the 
 evangelist-prophet coming down from God out of Heaven, 
 prepared as a bride adorned for her husband ; and here 
 tlie Temple Songs do blend with those of the Cathedral. 
 For in«the former, they sang — 
 
 " Jerusalem is built as a city that is at unity in itself. 
 O pray for the peace of Jerusalem ; they shall prosper 
 that love thee." 
 
 While W'e in our day prolong the words in our hymns : — 
 
 " Coelestis urbs Jerusalem, 
 Beata pacis visio, 
 Quaa celsa de viventibus 
 Saxis ad astra tolleris 
 Spousajque ritu cingeris 
 Mille augelorum millibus." 
 
 Or again: 
 
 " Jerusalem, my happy home, 
 Name ever dear to me ! 
 Wlien shall my labors have an end, 
 In joy, and peace, and thee?" 
 
 (CHAPTER V.) 
 
 Tills chapter may be regarded as an application of what 
 has been said in the two preceding ones. The Apostle 
 having proved that the observance of the Jewish Law is 
 not necessary, and that the Church occupies a position 
 incomparably higher and better than the old Synagogue, 
 now exhorts his hearers to a fulfilment of their duties, to a 
 realization of their privileges, to a perseverance in their 
 holy calling. The whole line of thought, to the end of the 
 Epistle, is simple and clear ; and what is especially charac- 
 teristic in it all is this: that the gift of the Holy Ghost is 
 dwelt upon, as that in which the ancient promises have 
 been fulfilled to believers, and that upon the said gift, as 
 actually made, are founded the earnest exhortations to 
 newness of life. 
 
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIAN8. 59 
 
 1. Stand fast there- 1. "The liberty:" a liberty from 
 fore iu the liberty ^j^g ^j^j Mosaic system ; for that was 
 wherewith Christ hath ^ ^q^^]^Iq servitude; 1st, in respect to 
 S'%uLn5:d'tain the inrmmerable rites and ordinances 
 with the yoke of boud- which the Jews had to tultil ; ana 
 age. ^dly, because under it there was no - 
 
 true expiation for sin, nor any gift of God's grace for the 
 attainment of that righteousness without which no man 
 nuiv see God. 
 
 Kemark also that the Liberty of tlie Christian condition 
 does not consist in freedom to do as we like, but in the 
 power to serve and obey tlie Lord. Freedom consists in 
 the power to do wliat is right, and what is for our advan- 
 tao-e. It is the Devil who infringes this liberty ; and sin 
 is^the real tyrant. AVe can only be free, by servingour 
 true Master, even God. License to follow our own desires, 
 would be bondage seven times more rigorous ; the very 
 name and idea of freedom would be lost. So that " the 
 liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free,'' is, in reality, 
 our condition as members of the Catholic Church ; defend- 
 ed within her walls and bulwarks from the attack and 
 onslaught of the foe; strengtliened, by her Sacraments, 
 with the grace whereby we fulhl all righteousness ; secur- 
 ed, by humble reception of her creeds, from the paths of 
 intellectual error ; held, in obedience to her moral pre- 
 cepts, in that straiglit and narrow way which leadeth unto 
 life. This is the ideal of Christian Liberty : the being 
 protected from falsehood, whether Litellectual or Moral, 
 and the being enabled to know, to love, to follow, to abide 
 in, the Eternal Truth of God. 
 
 "The yoke of bondage" is the ancient System of the 
 Jews' Religion. 
 
 2. Behold, I Paul say 2. The Apostle now states three 
 unto you, that if ye consequences which would toUow on 
 be circumcised, Christ their persisting in the J udaizing error, 
 shall profit you noth- u gehold, I Faul." This is the voice 
 ^^^- of authority. See Acts xv. 1. He con- 
 
 tradicts directly what those false teachers had asserted. 
 
 "If ye be circumcised," &c. As much as to say: It 
 ye insist on receiving circumcision, as a form of obliga- 
 tion, ye cut yourselves off from Christ: for that is to turn 
 away from Him, as though He were not sufficient ior 
 you. 
 
GO COMMENTARY ON THE 
 
 3. Furl testify agaiH 3. This is the next of those conse- 
 to every man tliut is qnonces nilerred to. lie is probubly 
 circiuiK'ist'd, that Ik- is tmsweriii^ some who had said, that 
 a debtor to do the they did not, ill receiving cii'cuincisiun, 
 whole law. |jj„^j themselves to the whole system of 
 which it was the initiatory rite. He rej)lies: if yon accept 
 a pait, you must take all; you will be counted as Jews, 
 and dealt with accoidin<^ly. You must fultil every thing, 
 or you will come under the curse. 
 
 4. Christ is become ■^- ^ ^hird consequence of their 
 of no etfect unto you, apostacy ; It they seek justihcation 
 whosoever of you are through the Law, they forego and h»se 
 jnstitied by the law; ye all the fruit of the redemption which 
 are fallen from grace. ^^.^^ wrought by the Lord Jesus; they 
 throw away the whole benetit of Divine Grace received in 
 tlieir baptisms. 
 
 5. For we through ^- "For Christians seek for right- 
 the Spirit wait for the eousness by the aid of the Holy Spirit, 
 liopeof righteousness and by all spiritual works of holiness 
 by faith. wrought in faith: while the Jews, on 
 the other hand, seek for justification and sanctity, by a 
 fleshly ordinance and by carnal ceremonies. The former 
 look for righteousuess and true holiness, and for the end 
 thereof, even everlasting life, in hope of God's mercy, 
 and in faith in the merits and grace of the Redeemer; but 
 the latter desire these same tilings only as through the 
 legal rites and ceremonies of the Sfosaic System." Such 
 is a paraphrase of the thought herein contained. 
 
 6. For inJesus Christ ,. ?• "Circumcision," the Jewish con- 
 neither circumcision dition : " uncircumcision,' the Cieutile 
 availeth any thing, nor state. The thought is this: that God, 
 uncircumcision ; but who made the ancient promise to 
 foith which worketh Abraham that all nations of the earth 
 
 ^ ^''^' sliould be blessed through his seed, 
 
 does not consider the question of any man's carnal descent, 
 but receives and justilics Jew and Gentile alike, on the 
 sole condition of tl'iat " Faith which worketh by love." It 
 is the Catholicity of Redemption, wiiicli is here declared. 
 And note, that the Faith which God accepts, is not a 
 solitary act of the mind, not an idle and barren attitude 
 of the soul, but tliat it is a living principle which is per- 
 fected by charity and acts by ciiarity ; that it keeps and 
 fulfils tlie precepts of God, delights in the Moral Law, 
 
EPIS'IT.E TO TliE GALATIAN9. 61 
 
 and performs all pions and lioly works. As Suint Anselm 
 has expressed it:— "Ilia sola lides, quae cliaritate flagrat, 
 et bonis operibns insudat, valet in Cliristo Jesu." 
 
 I have heard this verse parodied by certain sectarians, 
 to the nndervaluino- of the Sacrament ot Eegeiieration ; 
 they have said, profanely paraphrasing it; "In Christ 
 Jes"iis, neither baptism availeth any thing, nor the want 
 of baptism, but faith," &c. It is difficult to decide^ which 
 is the more remarkable in such an application, its ab- 
 surdity or its impiety. For the Apostle is speaking 
 of a carnal rite, while the Sacraments of the Catholic 
 Church are spiritual ordinances: he speaks of a fleshly 
 descent from Abraham; with which there is no analogy 
 wliatever in ilie rites of the Church of our Lord. And 
 again, the Lord Himself did institute and ordain that holy 
 Sacrament of Baptism to be the instrument of regenera- 
 tion, and to be generally necessary to salvation. (See 
 notes on this subject in my Commentary on Eomans vi. 
 3, 4.) When, therefore, men dare to affirm of that ordi- 
 nance which he established, and of which such very excel- 
 lent tilings are spoken both by the Lord and Ilis Apostles, 
 by the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and by the 
 Formularies and Sacramental Offices of all time, that it is 
 "nothing," and that the reception thereof or the non-recep- 
 tion thereof is a matter of mere indifference, we wonder 
 and are amazed at their impiety; and when we hear them 
 profess themselves, after all this, the followers and disciples 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are moved to put to them the 
 question which he asked of the ancients, "Why call ye 
 me. Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say ? " 
 
 7. Ye did run well; 'i'- " Ye did run well :'' ye were for- 
 who did lander you merly earnest, and laithtui in your 
 that ye should not obey calling. Who hath thus, to so terrible 
 the truth? and alarming an extent, misled you? 
 
 8. This persuasion 8. "This persuasion:" this infatuated 
 Cometh not of him that passion of yours for Judaism, is not of 
 calleth you. (^OD, but of man. 
 
 9. A little leaven leav- 9. "Leaven." He speaks of the 
 eneth the whole lump, false teachers who had poisoned their 
 minds, the baleful influence circulating like leaven through 
 the mass. 
 
 10. 1 have confidence 10- He expresses his confidence that 
 inyuu through ihcLurd, they Will yet be recovered; tliat they 
 
62 CnMiTENTART ON THK 
 
 tlint ye will be none wili be none otlierwise minded than 
 otliorwise niindcMl: but Christian people ouj^ht to be; and 
 bo flmt ticMiMitb you ^j,.^^ ,j,y t,.,,i,i,ier8 of their peace would 
 shall bear Ins jiuii'iiient, ^ i ^ i i i *. i. i- • *i • 
 
 whosoever be be ^t lasf be brought to disgrace in this 
 
 WDrld, and t<> judgment in tiic world 
 
 to come. 
 
 11. And I, brethren, , ^^- }^ would appear from this verse 
 if I yet hreaoli circum- ^hat the Apostle had been accused ot 
 cision, why do I yet inconsistency, as thougii he had, in 
 sutler persecution? then some places, preached the necessity 
 is tjie offence of the cross of obedience to the Jewish Law. He 
 *^®^^ ■ defends himself, by showing that this 
 could not liave been the case, because if he had done so, 
 he would not have incurred tlie disj)leasure of the Judaizers. 
 For, to their eyes, the "offence of the cross," the main 
 scandal of the new faith, was, that it demanded the aban- 
 donment of the old, and implied and assumed that the old 
 system liad passed forever away. But if he had preached 
 the continued obligation of Judaism, this offence would 
 not have remained. That it did remain, and that he was 
 so fiercely f»p})osed and so vig(»rously ]>ersecuted by the 
 Jews and their sympathizers, was proof positive that he 
 had not been indulgent towards their favorite tenet, and 
 that he had not '* preached circumcision," i. e. the necessity 
 of continuing to keep the Mosaic Law. 
 
 1*2. A strong expression, justified by 
 
 12. I would they ^, outrageous proceedings of his ad- 
 were even cut off which . ^ -IIT 1 J .1 ^ 11^1 J.- J 
 
 trouble you. versaries. Would that all heretics ana 
 
 gainsayers might be cut off forever 
 from the heritage of the Lord! Cut off, that is, not from 
 God's mercy at the last, but from their position and their 
 opportunities of molestation and annoyance amongst us. 
 
 iQ vr.^ >,.^*i,.^„ ^^ "For," does not refer to what has 
 
 13. r or, brethren, ye ^ \ •, ^^ i ^i i ■ 
 have been called unto preceded: it rather marks the begm- 
 liberty; only use not ning of another sentence; as though it 
 liberty for an occasion bad been, " However, to return from 
 to the flesh, but by love ^j^jg digression." 
 
 Serve one another. ^^ t -i » tt ti j. 
 
 "Liberty..." He means, liberty 
 
 from the obligations of the Ancient System. 
 
 "Ye have been called," &c,... Ye, as Christians, and 
 called of Gon into the grace of the Gospel, are free from 
 the Law of Moses. 
 
 "Only use not," &c. That is to say, let not your free- 
 
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 63 
 
 dom degenerate into license, and indulgence of the flesh; 
 but subject yourselves one to another in the true spirit of 
 your cailing. Probably, a reference to the scandals which 
 might inadvertently be given. (See Rom. xiv. 13, 15, 21 ; 
 1 Oor. viii. 9, 13.) 
 
 .. -c 11 +1, 1 1^- Compare S, Matt. xxii. 36-40. 
 
 14. For all the law mi « ^i j. t • ^ i j ^ 
 is fulfilled in one word, The Apostle cannot have intended to 
 ci-e/i in this: Thou shalt omit any part of our Lord's word, 
 love thy neighbor as "When, therefore, he says that all the 
 *^>'*^^*' law is fulfilled in the precept of char- 
 ity to one's neighbor, he either intends to speak of the 
 law so far as our relations one to another are concerned, 
 or else he presumes that it will be understood that such a 
 knowledge of our neighbor as he describes is founded on, 
 and includes, the love of God: all the law is fulfilled in 
 this precept, that a man love his neighbor, spiritually, 
 and for the sake of God, and in order to eternal life. The 
 precepts of charity, as given by Our Blessed Lord, are two, 
 in respect of the material distinction of the object, viz. 
 God and our neighbor: but in respect of the virtue itself, 
 the precepts are but one, for the charity is one and the 
 same whereby we love God, and our neighbor in God. 
 Each of the precepts is therefore included in the other. 
 
 15. But if ye bite and , l^' I>9'»btless the new preachings 
 devour one another, l^ad excited quarrelhng, wrangling, 
 take heed that ye be and contention among the Galatians, 
 not consumed one of These the Apostle Avould repress; he 
 another. therefore counsels charity, and now 
 declares the end of controversy, which is mutual de- 
 struction. 
 
 -ta rrt- y *i 16. The remedy for contention is set 
 
 16. ini8 1 say then, „ , , n • .i ^ o • -i. i • u 
 Walk in the Spirit, and forth : to walk m that Spirit which 
 ye shall not fulfil the they had received. See remarks on 
 lust of the flesh. verse 25, below. 
 
 "The lust of the flesh." Tlie desires of the natural man : 
 the evil of the unregenerate and undisciplined spirit. For 
 " the flesh" does not signify the corporal habit and material 
 part alnne, but rather is it a term expressive of our hu- 
 manity in its fallen and ruined state, before its reconstruc- 
 tion and recovery through union with the glorified human- 
 ity of the Lord. "The lusts of the flesh," are the common 
 and natural appetites and passions of man, in his state ot 
 oriirinal sin. 
 
Ci COMMKNTARY ON THE 
 
 "Ye shall not fulfil.'" Ye shall, if ye yield up your- 
 selves to the Holy Ghost, no longer follow the okl law of 
 the sinful nature. 
 
 _ _ , ., , , 17. "Lusteth..." passionately eon- 
 17. For the flesh Inst- 4. i .1 • *. *i ti • •«. 
 eth ,v?«i"st the .Spirit, tendeth apmst the Sp.r. . _ 
 an.l the Spirit agahist "And llie Spirit. . . <z»//, m tlie sense 
 tiie tlesli: and these are of hilt^ as expressing an (»})position he- 
 contrary the one to the tween the old and new principles. The 
 other: so that ye can- ^ -^ contendeth as vigorously against 
 not do the things that ^/ ,-,1 i . y^i 1 • . ^1 
 ye would ^"^ -tlesh, as tlie J^lesn against the 
 
 Spirit; nay, more so, by how much 
 God is stronger than Man. 
 
 ''These are contrary..." Tliese two principles, the 
 principle of spiritual life and that of spiritual death, are 
 so opposed to each other, that there can be no compro- 
 mise between them. If then ye "walk in the Spirit," 
 yield yourselves to Him, fight with Him against the flesh, 
 the victory is sure. 
 
 "Ye cannot do the things that 3'e would." Ye cannot 
 remain the slaves to passion and lust; ye shall have a new 
 princii»le of life: to sin will become unnatural, through 
 the power of Grace. This expression is parallel to that 
 ill the preceding verse, "ye shall not fultil the lust of the 
 Flesh:" also to 1 John iii. 9. The whole passage may be 
 paraphrased thus : 
 
 "The Flesh, that old and fallen nature, full of evil 
 passions and desires, strives against the Holy (ihost, the 
 Sanctitier of all the people of Gon. But the II0I3' Ghost, 
 on His part, stiives against the evil nature, to rfforin, to 
 subdue, to change it after a spiritual and heavenly manner. 
 Ye have all received that Holy Ghost in your baptisms, 
 and ye still enjoy His present influence and power. These 
 two, the carnal and spiritual principles, are ever in an- 
 tagonism. Walk, therefore, not in the flesh, but in the 
 Spirit. Do this; be true to Him who hath called you; 
 and the result is sure. Yow shall no longer fulHl the lust 
 of tile Flesh, The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus 
 shall take the place of the law of sin and death in your 
 members. Ye shall be transformed b}' grace; until the 
 things which by nature ye once did, delighting therein, 
 ye shall, as it were, be no longer able to do, for repugnance 
 to them; and thus shall ye grow to the measure of the 
 stature of the fulness of Him who knew no sin." 
 
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 65 
 
 18. But if ye be led 18. A continuation of what has just 
 of the Spirit, ye are not been said. If they woukl but yield 
 under the law. themselves to the influence of the 
 Holy Spirit, and be led by Him, they would no longer 
 obey the lusts of the flesh, and thus would be delivered 
 from their old condition of legal bondage ; being no longer 
 under the law, impotent and weak as to the power of obe- 
 dience, and exposed to the curse which it denounced. 
 
 And another thought may be imagined, as woven in 
 together with all this: that of the difference between the 
 legal obedience and the Christian obedience. For the 
 obedience required of the Jews under the Law, was an 
 obedience of servitude and bondage, under terror, and 
 enforced by fear : while that of the Gospel is the loving 
 obedience of the child towards the parent. We have the 
 spirit of adoption and of sonship ; and not the spirit of 
 servitude : we do, for love, what the Law enjoined and 
 enacted under the fear of punishment. 
 
 19. The Apostle enumerates the 
 
 19. Now the works ^^^.j^g ^f ^j^^ ^^gj ^g ^j g- .j^g .^^^^ 
 
 of the nesh are mam- t. ■. x- ^.i . -> n . ^ • ° i • i 
 
 fest, which are these; ^^'^^^^ ^t that fallen state m which 
 
 Adultery, fornication, men are servants to sin. The tirst 
 
 uncleanness, lascivious- four appetites enumerated are those 
 
 ^^^^1 of the carnal and material nature : 
 
 20- Wolatry, witch- ^^^^ ^^^j^^ ^-^^ ^ ^^ intellect and 
 crait, hatred, variance, . , /. • i i . „ ,, i . 
 
 emulations, wrath, mmd, as ''idolatry," or Ifhe worship 
 
 strife, seditions, here- of false gods ; and " heresies," or the 
 
 sies, choice in religion contrary to the pre- 
 
 21. Enyyings, mur- gcription of GoD ; together with " ha- 
 clei's, drunkenness, rev- . i i? u i 4.* 5??t • 5? t 
 ellings, and such like: tred,'_ "emulations,' "envymgs," (fee, 
 of the which I tell yovi showing how Wide a meaning must be 
 before, as I have also given to the term "Flesh." 
 
 told you in time past, u ji^^j ^ybipb do such things," wil- 
 that they which do such f^^|| ^^^ habitually, and contrary to 
 thinifs shall not inherit ,i "i- i ^ i • i ^i "^ i "l • 
 
 the kingdom of God. the light which they have, are not m 
 a state of salvation. 
 
 22. But the fruit of 22. Then follows an enumeration 
 the Spirit is love, joy, of the "fruit of the Spirit;" the blessed 
 peace, longsuflering, ^nd abundant growth in the soul which 
 gentleness, goodness, -^ j^^ ^^. ^^^^ jf^j^ q^^^^^ 
 
 23'. Meekness, tem- " Against such there is no law." 
 perance: against such that is to say: they who do these 
 there is no law% works are under no legal sentence ; 
 
 5 
 
66 COMMENTAKT ON THE 
 
 beino; led by the Spirit, tliey are not under the curse of 
 the Law ; and if all men were such as they, there would 
 be no need of any legal penalty. 
 
 24. And they tliat 24. The Apostle in the preceding 
 nre Christ's have cm- verses has, as it were, set forth the 
 cified the flei^h with theory of the Chnrch touching Holy 
 the affections and lusts. Obedience, as follows: that the Spirit 
 of God is given to us by baptism, in order that we may 
 enjoy that power of pleasing and living unto our Lord ; 
 that if we yield ourselves to that divine influence, the 
 habit of holiness shall be formed within us; that anew 
 nature shall take the place of the old, so that to sin shall 
 become unnatural ; that we shall avoid and eschew all 
 works of the Flesh, and live in all works of the Spirit; 
 that we shall thus be safe, as children and lieirs, secure 
 in the mercy and the love of God. Now, having thus 
 developed the theory, the Apostle, ever practical, regards 
 the actual state of those who are brought within the reach 
 of this sublime system. "They that are Christ's;" really 
 so, truly so; not merely by their outward calling, but in- 
 wardly by the glad consent of the heart and will ; do 
 manifest this their glorious condition, by voluntary cruci- 
 fixion of the flesh. This, after all, is the test of sincerity. 
 For it is not the saying unto Him, "Lord, Lord," that 
 can save any man, but it is the doing His will. To be 
 brought under this great system of Grace, is but a deeper 
 condemnation at tlie last, except a man yield himself 
 thereto. 
 
 And here let it be remarked, how totally the Antino- 
 mian error is cut up and cast out by tliis description. For 
 though the motive of the Christian life be love, yet is the 
 manner of it a merciless severity towards that sin which 
 is in our members. For what was crucifixion but the 
 sharpest of all punishments, and the most unsparing of all 
 humiliations? 13ut they that are Christ's have crucified the 
 Flesh. What does this imply? And how inconsistent is it 
 with the views which sink the whole system of the Life in 
 Christ and God, to some mere forensic transaction between 
 the Soul and its Creator ai!d Redeemer ! Nay, how can 
 this expression be received apart from the solutions offered 
 by the Church in her system of penitence, bodily disci- 
 pline, and rigorous exercise of the whole nature? "A man 
 18 not justified by the Law, but by the faith of Christ." Is 
 
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 67 
 
 this a light and pleasant doctrine? is, then, justification 
 given without pain and discomfort on our part? So freely 
 given as to be given easily — so fully as to be lavishly ? 
 fully and freely, doubtless, yet conferring fully what man 
 does not take freely. He proceeds : " I am crucified with 
 Christ : nevertheless, I live ; yet not I, but Christ livetli in 
 me." O easy and indulgent doctrine! to have the bloody 
 Cross reared within ns, and our heart transfixed, and our 
 arms stretched out upon it, and the sin of our nature 
 slaughtered and cast out ! 
 
 25. If we live in the ^^- This is the practical application 
 Spirit, let us also walk and precept from all that went before, 
 in the Spirit And how unlike the language of mod- 
 
 ern systems! and how fully in harmony with, and char- 
 acteristic of, the Church's teaching and the Church's way ! 
 " If we LIVE in the Sj^irit, let us also walk in the Spirit." 
 To live in God, is one thing ; to walk in God, another. 
 They who live in grace, must see that they walk in grace : 
 otherwise, they live in grace in vain. Life is a state : 
 walking is an act. Life in the Spirit is the common 
 condition of all, without exception, who have been bap- 
 tized. But walking in the Spirit is the conscious and 
 voluntary work of co-operation with Divine Grace. All 
 the baptized do not follow their vocation ; it is because all 
 who are alive in the Spirit are not walking in the Spirit. 
 The whole theory of the Church is that of Responsibility 
 for Grace Given : for grace given, by the sacramental 
 instruments of conversance and reception, for grace which 
 men must improve. And so the exhortations to piety 
 and devotion of life, which we find in the word of God, 
 are all traceable to the assumed fact, that the Divine Gift 
 has already been imparted to the soul. This is the doc- 
 trine of Grace which effectually destroys the idea of Crea- 
 ture Merit, and reserves all the glory and praise to God. 
 
 After the Apostle has thus, by beautiful gradations, 
 come down from the height of theological dogma to the 
 practical field of application in common life, he adds some 
 exhortations, doubtless with reference to the circumstances 
 of those whom he addressed. The break of the chapter 
 we may disregard. His first dissua- 
 
 del^-ous'^ff ::in"glor'^ t' '' *'^'"" ^'^.^""gl^^T (verse 26), from 
 provoking one anotheV, idle provocation, and envy and un- 
 envying one another, charitableness. He had, in verses 13 
 
68 COMMKNTARY ON THE 
 
 and 14 of the preceding chapter, stated, in a gen- 
 eral way, the broad ])recept ot* charity, and these are 
 api)li(j!utions of that common rule. 
 l.BRETnHEN,ifainan g^, ^^hap. vi. 1), he dissuades from 
 be overtaken in a lault, -a. v • -i a. i it -1.1 
 
 ve which arc spiritual; seventy ot judgment, probably w.th 
 restore sucli an one in reference to those who, misled by the 
 the spirit of meekness; heretical teachers, had lapsed and 
 consideiing thy self, lest fallen away. The man overtaken by 
 thou also be tempted. ^ jv^uit^ jg doubtless the apostate 
 among the Galatians ; let such a one be reclaimed and 
 recovered, if possible, by mercy and pity. 
 
 2. Reference is still no doubt to the 
 
 2. Bear ye one an- j^roads of heresy among them. The 
 other s burdens, and so , , . . . 1 Pi • i 
 fulfil the law of Christ. 1?'^^ ^^ not to be made heavier by 
 
 rigor and severity, but to be lightened, 
 if possible. The exhortation is, to show compassion on 
 the lapsers ; and so correct them as to support them and 
 raise them from their melancholy fall. 
 
 3. For if a man think , ^' ^^ dissuades "the spiritual" 
 himself to be some- irom an over-estimate 01 themselves, 
 thing, when lie isnoth- 4. Let every one examine and with 
 ing, he deceiveth him- care consider the way and order of his 
 
 ^^^a' t> X 1 X own life. If this review be such as to 
 
 4. But let every man , . • .1 . -• /« 
 prove his own work, encourage hnn, in the testimony of a 
 and then shall he have good conscience, then may he rejoice; 
 rejoicing in himself yet only in himself, and in the mercy 
 alone, and not in an- and grace of GoD, but in no wise as 
 ^ ^^' contrasting himself with any other to 
 that other's disparagement. 
 
 5. The Apostle looks forward to the 
 5 For every man ^^ ^ p r^^ gj^^j^ 
 
 Bhall bear hid own , ,1 "^ , i ,> 1 •*' 
 
 burden. hear the burden 01 his own trans- 
 
 gression, and then shall it be true 
 that "the righteous shall scarcely be saved." This thought 
 must check all vain glorying in self, and all Pharisaic 
 comparison of one's self with others. 
 
 6. Let him that is ^- ^^^ exhortation to the catechu- 
 taught in the .word mens and to the people at large to re- 
 communicate unto him member and provide for those who 
 that teacheth in aU minister unto them. Which exhorta- 
 ^""v Be "not deceived • *^^" ^^ enforced by divers considera- 
 God is not mocked: for tions of the duty, and the reward, al- 
 whatsoever a man sow- ways with reference to the awards of 
 
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 69 
 
 eth, that staU he also the last great day. " Tlie Honseliold 
 
 "■'"cP'tt 1 .1 . of Faitli" is, of course, the Church of 
 
 8. ior he that sow- /-i 
 
 eth to his flesh shall of ^'^J^' ^. 
 
 tlie flesh reap corrnp- H- J-he Circumstance to which he 
 tion; but he that sow- directs their attention as remarkable, 
 eth to the S{)irit shall fg probably, the fact, that he, who 
 of the Spirit reap life ^^^^^^ ^^.^,^^^ ^ ^^^ amanuensis, had, 
 everlasting. , •'. , -^ . , ' ' 
 
 9. Aud let us not he ^^^ ^^^^^ occasion, written the whole 
 weary in well-doing : Epistle himself. It is not " long," as 
 for in due season we compared with others — e. </., those to 
 shall reap, if we faint the Romans, Corinthians, Hebrews. 
 
 "^^0. As we have ^"^ ^^ .^^ " ^^"o'" ^^ ^ P^^^^ ^^ manual 
 therefore opportunity, execution for one unwont to use the 
 let us do good unto all pen, and accustomed to give the work 
 men, especially unto of transcription to another. This fact 
 them who are of the denotes of course an unusual interest 
 household or taith. • ii i ^i ^i i . -? . i ^ i 
 
 11. Ye see how large ^^ them; and tiie thought of that deep 
 a letter I have written interest and anxiety gives us a clear 
 unto you with mine and logical connexion witli what fol- 
 own hand. lows. For it is as though the Apostle 
 had said : I have been at this pains, because I know too 
 
 -,„ . I well the insidious arts of those who 
 
 12. As many as de- , i ^ i i t 
 
 sire to make a fair ^ould corrnpt and lead you astray, 
 show in the flesh, they and I therefore have desired to give 
 constrain you to be cir- you as strong a proof as I could of my 
 cumcised ; only lest care for you, and fears for you. 
 they should suffer per- a a . ,.!^„,.„ .^^ „pff,,.. ^., ^]J TndmVino- 
 secution for the cross , AS many , reieib to tlie duaaizmg 
 of Christ. teachers. 
 
 " Desire to make a fair show in the 
 flesh . . . ." an expression merely equivalent to that of 
 " glorying in the flesh ;" see the contrast in verse 14. 
 
 *' Constrain you," &c. Urge you to adopt the Mosaic 
 Rite. 
 
 " Only," &c. Not from any real conviction of its 
 necessity, but from personal and selfish motives ; lest they 
 should sufl'er at the hands of the Jews, who persecuted 
 furiously all who would set aside the Law of Moses. 
 
 13. For neither they 13. " For neither they,'' &c. Those 
 themselves who are teachers, who had adopted or retain- 
 cireumcised keep the ed Judaism themselves, and wished 
 law; but desii*e to have . • •■ ^.^ n a 4.- ti ,.,^ 
 you circumcised, that to impose it on the Galatians They 
 they may glory in your did not propose to keep tlie whole sys- 
 flcsh. tem ; but merely wished to persuade 
 
70 
 
 COMMCNI'AUY ON TUE 
 
 these Galatians to adopt Judaism, in order that they miglit 
 gain a temporal advantage, and stand lair in Jewish eyes, 
 by h>ndly insisting on, and taking vast credit to tliemselves 
 for having procured the conversion of these Galatians to 
 the observance of the Mosaic System. 
 
 ,, _, ^ , /. ,., 14. O noble passage! divine ex- 
 14. But God forbid • « , i • i v ^\ r^■l i /> 
 that I should glory, pression of the inmd ot the Church of 
 save in the cross of our GoD ! Irue, and only, ob]ect_ol glory- 
 Lord Josus Christ, by ing, the Cross of Jesus Christ! The 
 wliorn the world is Cross, Very and Holy, on which lie 
 cruoitied unto me, and ^^-^^^ ^yj^^^^ ^^^ ^^^-^^^^ ^ ^^^^ 
 
 1 unto the world. y^ i- xi t i i • i i • 
 
 Houses ot the Lord, and is marked in 
 
 the water of baptism, on all faithful brows, and forms the 
 final grace and beauty of the crowns of the kings of the 
 earth, and blazes on the standards of ancient nations! 
 Sole hope of man, and sole ground of our confidence and 
 trust ! The sign, also, of the way of life and salvation : for 
 it is by voluntary crucifixion unto the world, that the 
 Sinner lives. To sin, to the world, and to himself, he 
 must die, that he may live unto God. Therefore the 
 praise of the Holy Cross is perpetually full, and new, in 
 the courts of the Lord, even in the midst of thee, O Jeru- 
 salem. This verse has formed the key-note to many a 
 spirit-stirring strain. Thus, e. g., the following, from the 
 old Hymnals: — 
 
 " Crux fidelis 1 inter omnes 
 Arbor una nobilis! 
 Nulla till em silva profert, 
 Fronde, tlore, gennine : 
 Dulce lignum, dulce ferrum, 
 Dulce pondus sustineus. 
 
 " Flecte ramos, arbor alta, 
 Tensa laxa viscera, 
 Et rigor lentescat ille 
 Quem de<lit nativitas, 
 Et sui)ernl membra Regis 
 Miti tendas stipite." 
 
 " Arbor decora et fulgida 
 Ornata Regis purpura, 
 Electa digno stii)ite, 
 Tam sancta membra tangere ! 
 
 Faithful Cross, above all other 
 One and only noble Tree I 
 None in foliage, none in blossom, 
 None in fruit, thy peers may be. 
 Sweetest wood, and sweetest 
 
 iron ! 
 Sweetest weight is hung on thee ! 
 
 Bend thy bonglis, O Tree of glory ! 
 Thy relaxing sinews bend, 
 For awhile the ancient rigor 
 That thy birth bestowed, suspend, 
 And the King of heavenly 
 
 beauty 
 On thy bosom gently tend I 
 
 O Tree of Beauty. Tree of Light ! 
 O Tree with royal purple dight I 
 Elect on whose triumphal breast 
 Those Holy Limbs should lind 
 their rest : 
 
EPISTLE TO TUE GALATIANS. 71 
 
 "Beata cnjus bracMis 
 Ssecli pependit pretium ; 
 Staterii facta est corporis, 
 Prffidamque tulit Tartari." 
 
 On whose dear arms, so widely 
 Hung, 
 
 The weight of this world's Ran- 
 som liiing ; 
 
 The price of human kind to pay 
 
 And spoil the spoiler of his prey. 
 
 u 
 
 ,f. -p . ni • «. 15. Compare with this verse, the 
 15. For m Christ i , ,. ' 
 Jesus neither circum- 6th verse ot the preceding _ chapter ; 
 cision availeth any and observe that "faith which work- 
 thing, nor uncircum- eth by love," and " a new creature," 
 cision, hut a new crea- ^^^^ ^^ j^ were, synonymous terms. 
 Te. And as many as The same truth in fact underlies both 
 walk according to this verses, both statements. To have a 
 rule, peace le on them, living faith is to be a new creature ; 
 and mercy, and upon ^nd to be a new creature is to have a 
 the Israel of God. j-^.j^^ f^-^j^^ ^^^^^ . q.^^-,^ jnstilica- 
 
 tion of us consists in the making us new creatures in 
 Christ; while to say that we are justified by faith, is to 
 express that we are saved by being new-born into Christ's 
 Mystical Body. All this interchange of expressions in the 
 sacred writers, — as when we are said to be justified ,by 
 faith, by works, by grace, by Christ, by the Holy Spirit, 
 by baptism ; or when it is affirmed that God requires only 
 faith, or that He requires only the new creature, or that 
 He requires holy obedience, — all this interchange and 
 variety of expression bespeak the entire absence from the 
 ancient apostolic mind of the later controversies which 
 have distressed and distracted the Church. " Faith, " 
 when it is spoken of in relation to our justification, in- 
 cludes all works, all rites, all sacramental means : and 
 these last, when they are enforced as of necessity, j)re- 
 suppose in us a living faith. 
 
 "A new creature." The soul as renewed by grace, in 
 regeneration and in progressive sanctification: the nature, 
 extern all}^ regenerate by baptism, inwardly renewed by 
 grace, strong in that new life, walking in the Spirit, and 
 keeping the commandments of the Lord, in love. 
 
 This loth verse may be taken as a summing up of all 
 that the Apostle has intended to say, in the Epistle. His 
 grand object was, to sliow that the observance of the 
 Mosaic Law is not required in any who have embraced 
 the Gospel; that the ancient Rite is abrogated and set 
 aside forever ; and that man nmst look for salvation to 
 
rJ ON THE EPISTLK TO THE GALATIANS. 
 
 Christ alone. This, thei'uforo, he reaffimis once ac^ain, as 
 tlie " C'onchisioii of the whole matter." In Ciirist Jesus 
 (that is to say, in (tod's eternal plan and purpose of 
 reclenn)tiwn by and in llis Only Begotten S<»n), the ex- 
 ternal cirenmstanees and aceidents of our condition in this 
 World are not regarded : but the design is, that the whole 
 man should become the subject of a si)iritual and moral 
 change, whereby from a sinner he is transformed into a 
 saint, and whereby he may become meet for tlie ever- 
 lasting glory of the redeemed in heaven. This is the sum 
 of it all. And the Apostle makes this the text of ortho- 
 doxy and fidelity. For he says, " as many as w^alk accord- 
 ing to tliis rule ;" as many as admit this sacred truth, as 
 many as so regard the acts and plans and work of 
 Almighty God ; as many as live in the deep realization 
 of this, and strive how they may fully co-operate with 
 llim: — "Peace be on them, and mercy." For these hold 
 the truth as it is in Jesus. These observe the apostolic 
 tradition. These, in maintaining and declaring and illus- 
 trating this deposite of sacred truth, are indeed as lights in 
 the world. Tliese are the real descendants of Abraham ; 
 the real inheritors of the promise: they are the Israel — 
 not after the desh, but — tlie true and very " Israel of 
 God." And having thus declared the rule and limits of 
 Catholic Communion, he closes with 
 
 17. From henceforth one remark directed against his ca- 
 forl'\)TaTin"m^\oI^^^ lumniators and enemies. They must 
 the marks if the Lord ^^^^6, for the future, the Apostle of 
 Jesus. Christ unmolested, r or he bears m 
 
 18. Brethren, the his bod}', the marks of long and cruel 
 grace of our Lord Je- suffering for the trutirs sake. He has 
 
 6"irit'""'Amer^^' ^'''"' ^'^^ ^^^^'^ °*^ S^^^T. '">d the wounds of 
 ^^Tunto the'Galatians honorable Strife: all incurred for the 
 written from Kome. Lord Jesus, all identifying with Ilim, 
 all proving devotion to Him. Let no 
 one trouble him with exhortations to the empty cere- 
 monies of the Law: let no one trouble him by glorying 
 in the state of the Jew. The true and only glory is for 
 him who glorieth in the Cross; and the true and only cir- 
 cumcision is that of the scourge, the rod, the chains, the 
 axe, the implements of martyrdom, last exaltation of the 
 faithful. 
 

COMMENTARY 
 
 EPISTLE OF SAINT PAUL TO THE COLOSSIANS. 
 
 CoLOSSE was a city of Plirygia, one of the two inland 
 provinces of Asia Minor. It lay northeast of Laodicea in 
 the same province, and at but a short distance from it. 
 Saint Paul, as the ancients, with but a single exception, 
 unite in stating, and as the words of this Epistle evidently 
 show, had never visited the place. He had, however, 
 despatched thither Epaphras, to do the work of an Evan- 
 gelist, and he had an intimate acquaintance with the con- 
 dition of the Church founded and built up by that " faithful 
 minister of Christ." To the Laodiceans also the Apostle 
 was personally a stranger ; but it appears that he had 
 previously written to them, and that he designed this 
 letter, which was addressed to the Colossians, to be after- 
 wards sent to Laodicea, and to be read by the converts 
 there. 
 
 The Epistle to the Colossians, therefore, is without that 
 special personal reference which we observe in several of 
 Saint Paul's writings. It is such a letter as might be 
 addressed, with propriety, to any one of the churches 
 walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the 
 Holy Ghost. And yet, its character is marked, and there 
 are peculiarities in its structure and in its contents which 
 make it one of the most precious, one of the most edifying, 
 and one of the most finished and complete productions 
 ever indited by man, ever inspired by God. 
 
 When Saint Paul wrote this Epistle, he was in Home; 
 a prisoner and in chains. It was the time when he was 
 first brought before the Emperor. His situation, so painful 
 and so precarious, may have constituted, under Providence, 
 a secondary inspiration ; and there may be traced, in the 
 Epistle now under consideration, the influence of those 
 
76 COMMK.NTAKY ON TlIK 
 
 circumstances l)y wliich lie was surrounded. To the 
 Apostle, inij)risonnient, with tbrewarning of execution, 
 revealed, as near at hand, the close of the earthly warfare : 
 and, from the mind, which foresaw eternity as evidently 
 about to dawn, the consideration of temporal interests 
 must have faded away. So, likewise, in the pressing for- 
 ward of the mortal career towards its destined end, and 
 in the apparent neighborhood of the great reward, the 
 thoughts would naturally revert, and cling, to the remem- 
 brance of God's inestimable gift; to the marvellous way 
 of deliverance from the bondage of sin ; to the super- 
 natural powers in which humanity had been exalted from 
 the dust and raised to the full ho])e of immortal glory. 
 The Apostle, in Ccesar's dungeon, would turn incessantly, 
 for light and consolation, to the broad horizon beyond 
 the living tomb; and in "the cutting off of his days here 
 on earth, he would rejoice in the great career which must 
 begin for him when this preliminary course of trial had 
 been run. Thus, while bent beneath the weight of tem- 
 poral power, he would inwardly rejoice in the omnip- 
 otence of God; while held in the grasp of Nero, he 
 would magnify the Lord who was able to deliver him out 
 of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear; 
 while himself a victim to earthly sovereignty, he would by 
 faith look up to that King of kings and Lord of lords, 
 ■who sitteth above all thrones, dominions, principalities, 
 and powers; w^Iiile suffering the injustice of man, and the 
 wrath of every storm of this social state, he would rest in 
 the thought of calm and deep security as a member of the 
 Catholic Church of Christ, and a citizen of Heaven. 
 
 Under the circumstances now described, what should 
 naturally be the address of an Apostle, to the sheep of 
 Christ in the midst of this world ? Unless he had some 
 special object in writing to them, it might be expected 
 that his thoughts would take shape from the realization 
 of the position of the Church of the Iledeemed as inter- 
 preted by his own. For the Church is in the world. 
 Our Lord prayed, not that She, His Bride, should be 
 taken out of the Avorld, but that She should be kept from 
 the evil. The Church is still in bonds : She is beset on 
 every side : persecuted, but not forsaken, cast down, but 
 not destroyed. Even her hymns and alleluias have a 
 shade of sadness; it is the singing of the Lord's song iu a 
 
EPISTLE TO THE C0L0S8IANS. 77 
 
 strange land ; tlic chant by the waters of Babylon. As 
 an ancient hymn hath beantifully expressed the contrast: 
 
 "Alleluia, soiijr of sweetness, 
 
 Voice of joy, eternal lay; 
 Alleluia is the anthem 
 
 Of the choirs in heavenly day, 
 "Which the Angels sing, abiding 
 
 In the House of God alway. 
 
 , "Alleluia thou resoundest, 
 
 Salem, mother ever blest ; 
 Alleluias without ending 
 
 Fit yon place of gladsome rest ; 
 Exiles we, by Babel's waters, 
 Sit in bondage and distressed." 
 
 And thns, the Apostle, directing his eyes towards the 
 Churches of the Lord, would see in them and in their state 
 that which reminded him of his own position ; and in 
 writing to them, he might probably address them as, like 
 himself, in bonds; as secure, however, by the power of 
 God; as partakers of the heavenly gift; as needing only 
 perseverance unto the end ; as ready to be exalted and 
 glorified, if constant and faithful to the last. And sneh 
 appears to be the character of this marvellously beautiful 
 letter. It is addressed to a body of faithful men ; to 
 whom, by Epaphras, had been preached the word of Gon; 
 who had received the good seed into a warm and fertile 
 soil ; who had so improved the grace of our Lord, that 
 they abounded in faitli and works of love; who had sent 
 Epaphras to Home, to bear to the imprisoned confessor 
 their salutation and their sympathy. To such he writes. 
 To a church which was a true representation oj^the Great 
 ( 'atholic Body, in faith, in love, in spirituality, in holiness. 
 To a church which presented the mirror of the Family of 
 Christ. To the church at Colosse, incidentally. But, in 
 effect, to the Church, wheresoever spread in beauty and 
 salictity upon the earth, lie Avrote, first to the Colossians. 
 But, secondly, he intended this letter for the Laodiceans. 
 Beyond them it might go ; it hath gone. It hath come 
 home to every hearth-stone of the faithful city; its sound 
 is gone out everywhere througli the Dwelling of the Holy 
 Ghost. 
 
 What we have to consider, then, is: that this Epistle is 
 
78 COMMENTARY 01^ THE 
 
 wide and general in its scope, and that there is in it scarce 
 aught of local or particular. And its wliole sum and sub- 
 stance may be resolved into two comprehensive words; it 
 treats: 1st, of Powkk, and 2dly, of Respoxsibility. To 
 illustrate this remark, will be the object of these introduc- 
 tory observations. 
 
 The Christian Keligion is but a development and appli- 
 cation of these truths ; that Man is fallen, and that he has 
 no power to raise himself from that condition. Ilis rescue 
 and redemption nmst be effected for him, and from with- 
 out. The spiritual change which is to be wrought in him, 
 must be wrought by some outside agent, and that agent, 
 it may be presumed, will use external appliances and 
 means to the desired end. These ideas have been rooted 
 in the Church mind from the beginning ; and they stand 
 opposed to the notions of an innate power in Man, and of 
 a natural development towards wisdom and righteousness. 
 
 But these ideas are not left to float, vague and loose, 
 through the minds of men. They are made practical in 
 an organized system. It is believed by those who have 
 been trained under that system, that before a sinner is 
 able to take any step in the way of light and life, he must 
 have received a Divine gift, to quicken his powers, and to 
 arouse his will. That gift is conveyed to him from with- 
 out; and is superadded to aught and all that he was before 
 its reception: while the moment in which it is bestowed 
 is that in which his spiritual history begins. He merits it 
 not ; nor is he a co-agent in its acquisition. His part is to 
 receive it, in humble faith ; and, having thus received it, 
 to keep it safe, and improve it, and hold it fast in active 
 love. Thus the history of each soul is but a history of 
 responsibility for grace received : and they who are con- 
 demned hereafter, shall be condemned for having squan- 
 dered or lost that holy treasure which was committed to 
 their trust. 
 
 Again : it is believed, that as the gift is from without, 
 so it is conveyed by external agencies and instruments. 
 These agencies are the Sacraments and ordinances of the 
 Church. For they are not empty signs or forms, but 
 means whereby God doth work invisibly and after a 
 divine, heavenly, supernatural, and miraculous way with- 
 in the soul. 
 
 If now the evidence be asked, of the fact that a heavenly 
 
EPT3TLE TO THE C0L0SSIAN9. 79 
 
 gift has indeed been imparted, ye hold that as the gift 
 comes from without, and as an external instrumental 
 means has been appointed for its conveyance, the fact that 
 the means has been duly used is the first and prominent 
 evidence that the gift has been received. The Sacraments 
 are therefore believed to be, 1st, the channels of grace, 
 and, 2dly, the evidence and proof, in their use according 
 to Christ's appointment, that the grace has been given. 
 And against this historic, external, and positive evidence, 
 no inner impression, no sensible emotion, no intellectual 
 surmise can be, logically, of any weight at all. 
 
 To explain : the Sacrament of Holy Baptism is the 
 appointed means of regeneration, and its effect is to make 
 the recipient a member of Christ, the child of God, and an 
 inheritor of the Ivingdom of Heaven. He, therefore, who 
 has been baptized, has, in the historic fact of his having 
 received that Sacrament, the proof that he is regenerate, 
 and the evidence that he has been made a child of God. 
 This proof is sufficient ; it is unique ; he cannot piously 
 demand any thing more. 
 
 But the question may arise, whether such a one has 
 continued to be the child of God, and whether he has or 
 has not fallen from grace ? In replying to such a question, 
 internal evidence must be received, and no other can 
 serve the purpose. 
 
 For a baptized person to doubt that he has received the 
 grace of sonship and adoption, because of the absence of 
 some or of any inward experiences or sensible results, 
 would be from this point of view illogical and impious. 
 But the absence of internal signs might justly alarm him 
 into a fear lest he had forfeited or lost his privilege. 
 
 Again : the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ 
 is the evidence of Gon's continued favor. He assures us 
 thereby that we are very members incorporate in the 
 Mystical Body of His Son ; that the forgiveness of sin is 
 renewed unto us ; that we are partakers of His favor and 
 goodness, and heirs through hope of His everlasting king- 
 dom. No subjective impressions should be allowed to 
 weigh against this external evidence. It is not feeling 
 which determines a man's spiritual state ; and the feelings 
 cannot constitute proof in the premises. 
 
 To sum up : the Promises of God are their own proof, 
 and the Declarations of God constitute their own evidence. 
 
80 COMMENTARY ON THE 
 
 And as Evidence may be divided into External and Inter- 
 nal, it is through External Evidence alone that we become 
 assured of our possession of the Gifts and Grace of Goo ; 
 while it is through internal evidence only that we can 
 decide whether we are improving them as we ought to do. 
 Internal evidence is paramount in its own sphere, which 
 is that of Man's llesponsibilitj ; but it is valueless in any 
 question of Gou's Acts and Power. That a man does not 
 feel conscious of a spiritual change upon the reception of 
 a sacrament, constitutes no proof that it conveyed to him 
 no gift, since his feelings have not their exercise in the 
 sphere of God's miraculous operations. They are legit- 
 imate witnesses, in questions touching a man's action; 
 but in those which relate to the Work of God, they are 
 simply nugatory. And since the work of redemption is 
 God's alone, and since the conveyance of the blessing to 
 us is also llis alone ; since Man has not wrought out his 
 own salvation, and is powerless to bring it within his 
 reach, and secure it by his own efforts ; the Evidence that 
 Ecdemption has been wrought, and that he has been made 
 a partaker thereof, must be an external evidence, against 
 which no supposed internal evidence can, in its absence, 
 justly weigh, and which no such supposed internal evi- 
 dence can, by its presence, materially corroborate. 
 
 The system now under consideration, stands of course 
 in marked opposition to the Pelagianisin and semi-Ration- 
 alism of the day. The most striking point of contrast, 
 however, is this : that Popular lleligionism makes Inter- 
 nal Evidence the sole criterion of a man's spiritual state, 
 to the exclusion of all outward and_ visible signs and sacra- 
 mental proofs. lie who is in a state of grace will feel 
 that he is ; and if he does not feel it, then he is not in a 
 state of grace. And so, the child of Gt»D will have sensible 
 assurance that he is such ; and the want of such assurance 
 proves that the relationship does not exist. The system 
 is reducible to this proposition : that Sul)jective Feelings 
 constitute the Proof^and Evidence of Spiritual Conditions. 
 
 Now although they who hold this principle most tirmly, 
 regarding it as of vital importance, may not be tainted 
 with the class of views to which it lineally belongs, yet 
 they cannot fail to perceive, upon a study of the history 
 of the Human Mind, that it is but an article of that Ration- 
 alistic Creed against which, since the days of Pelagius, 
 
EPISTLE TO THK COLOSSIANS. 81 
 
 the Chiircli of God has had lier heavy battle. The lead- 
 ing principle of the Rationalistic School is this : that Man 
 is sufficient to himself without the aid of God ; that by the 
 exercise of his native powers he may arrive at all neces- 
 sary knowledge in respect of belief and duty ; and that 
 hid progress is a natural development from within. The 
 Rationalists, having laid down these principles, proceed 
 of course to make Internal Evidence the one and sole test 
 and proof, the Grand Criterion. And hence they argue 
 that the individual mind is able alone to cope wntli all 
 problems ; that what a man thinks to be true is true for 
 him ; and that we may hold what creed we like, if it 
 squares with our own views, and if we are sincerely per- 
 suaded of its sufficiency. Cognate to these profane 
 assumptions is the idea, though held by truly devout and 
 religious persons, that a subjective feeling or sentiment 
 furnishes a stronger proof of acceptance, than the recep- 
 tion of an attested Sacrament of the Church. 
 
 Thus, then, may we state the case, as between the 
 Church System, and that now popular in the world around 
 us. The semi-rationalistic mind of the day affirms as an 
 axiom, that Subjective Feelings are the Evidence and 
 Proof of Spiritual Conditions. Where, therefore, these 
 evidences are found, there, and only there, may the 
 existence of the condition be affirmed ; so that, 
 
 1st, the evidence of a man's being in a state of grace 
 and salvation, must be sought within him, and not with- 
 out / 
 
 And, 2dly, it is not until a man is leading a godly, 
 righteous, and sober life, that it may be affirmed of him 
 that he is a member of Christ, and a child of God. 
 
 Whereas, the System of the Church in contrast may be 
 thus expressed : 
 
 1st, God's external witness to a man's condition, is, in- 
 dependently of any feelings or impressions of his, the proof 
 to him thereof; 
 
 2dly, a man is made a member of Christ, and a child of 
 God, in order that he may lead a godly, righteous, and 
 sober life. 
 
 On the former theory, there is a constant aiming at a 
 state to be attained : on the latter, there is a continual 
 vigilance to preserve a state already in possession. The 
 tone of the former system is tentative • that of the latter 
 
 6 
 
88 COMMENTARY ON TUB 
 
 conservative. In the former case, it is agreed tliat hfcause 
 a man is seen to lead a godly and pions life, tlierefore he 
 is a Christian ; in tlie latter the thought is this, that 
 ht'ciiHse Almighty Gon has made a man a Christian in 
 baptism, therefore that man ought to live godly and 
 ])iously in this M'orld. The two systems are the exact 
 reversal of each other. 
 
 Having thus contrasted them, the question now remains, 
 Which is the System of the inspired Scriptures? We pro- 
 pose to answer that question, by an appeal to this Epistle 
 to the Colossi an s. 
 
 It consists of four chapters. The first two may be 
 reduced to this statement or proposition : — 
 
 Ye have been made, hy haptisra, the Children of God. 
 
 The last two chapters may, in like manner, be reduced 
 to this : — 
 
 Therefore^ ye ought to live henceforth unto Tlim. 
 
 But, in these two propositions, thus collocated, lies 
 entire the Sacramental System of the Church, of which 
 the leading principles are as follows : — 
 
 1. The conferring of Grace, by and through the Holy 
 Sacraments ; 
 
 2. Responsibility for the Grace so received. 
 
 And whereas Modern Religionism incessantly cries, 
 " Because ye live righteously, therefore ye are Chris- 
 tians;" and until ye so live, ye are not Christians; 
 and thereupon urges men to live piously and godly in 
 order to become Christians ; we find in this Epistle a 
 language diametrically the reverse. For it was evi- 
 dently written upon the theory, that the state of a man is 
 settled for him by God, through sacramental incorpora- 
 tion into the Church ; that his state, so fixed, determines 
 his duties ; that he is not to look forward to hecoming a 
 Christian, seeing that he was made a Christian when bap- 
 tized ; that the proof of this is external ; and, that his 
 actions must correspond to his character and position. In 
 a word, the organic law in the Church is this, that Privi- 
 lege and Power, already in possession, determine Duty ; 
 and not, that we must work up to the attainment of Privi- 
 lege and Power. 
 
 Much of the present misery of our social state arises 
 from the reversing of these truths ; from placing the work 
 of man first in order, or at leas' in tlionght, and arguing 
 
EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. 83 
 
 thence to the ap2:)arent presence with him, of the Lord. 
 Faith dies out from the popular mind ; because the won- 
 der-working power of God is neither expected nor believed 
 in. Hence the idea of waiting for a change in heart, 
 before embracing the promise of salvation ; the error of 
 regarding sacraments as but the signs and seals of work 
 already done, instead of the instruments by which, i. e., in 
 the application and reception of which, it is to be accom- 
 plished ; tlie notion that in subjective conditions, and only 
 in them, lies the evidence to a man of his real state before 
 God. The Epistle to the Colossians, rightly understood, 
 could hardly fail of removing the intellectual cloud which 
 hinders so many from seeing the glorious mode of the 
 Divine operation ; and, subsequently, under the inspiration 
 of this high knowledge, a purer morality, a warmer love, 
 and a more reverent fear, might snpplant the feeble pro- 
 ductions of the modern dilution in which Truth seems 
 almost asphyxiated. 
 
 The remarks which have been made thus far, will suffice 
 to give a clew to the interpretation which is about to fol- 
 low. One observation only shall be added. The Epistle 
 to the Colossians is remarkable for its perfect symmetry. 
 It consists of but four chapters. Of these the first two 
 form the former half, and the second two the latter. The 
 subject of the first half is. The Privileges of the Christian ; 
 that of the second half, His Duties. The two halves are 
 perfectly balanced the one against the other : as remark- 
 ably almost as the two sides of the body, or the right and 
 left sides of the heart, or the hemispheres of the brain. 
 The point, at once of union and of division is, the very 
 first word of the third chapter, IF. This if does not 
 express uncertainty ; it is equivalent to, since. And it so 
 links and marries the two sides of the lettei-, that all the 
 exhortations which we find on the one hand, are founded 
 on all the assertions on the other. But this will be noted 
 hereafter, in its bearing on the whole ethical character of 
 this divine composition. 
 
 To proceed, therefore, to the exposition. 
 
PART FIRST. 
 THE PRIVILEGES OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 CHAPTERS I, AND II. 
 
PART FIRST. 
 
 (CHAPTER I.) 
 
 Paitl, an apostle of "By the will of God.' It is His 
 
 ''^®.?y^ ^ ^'^"** I^-L. ^^® alone to send His ministers: no man 
 "Will of God, and Timo- • ^ ^.^ • ji ^ ni i 
 
 thens our brother, ^^11 rightly exercise that ofhce, nnder 
 
 2. To the saints and any lancied call from withm ; all such 
 faithful brethren in calls are but delusions. The call and 
 Christ which are at mission are external, through the suc- 
 Oolosse : Grace Je imto ^Q^mrs of the Apostles. We know of 
 you, and peace, irora ■, , j? • i xi ^ • 
 
 God our Father and the ^^^ o"^ way ot rightly entering upon 
 Lord Jesus Christ. the exercise of the ministry ; through 
 episcopal ordination. 
 
 2. " Saints :" sanctified through Holy Baptism ; cf. 
 ii. 12. 
 
 " Faithful :" the faithful are they who believe the mys- 
 teries, which not even the angels knew before they were 
 revealed by the Lord and by His Holy Spirit ; and who, 
 believing them, lead a life worthy of their high vocation. 
 
 "Saints . . . faithful bretliren." Sanctified, tlnMUgh the 
 blood of Christ ; believing in God's word through Christ 
 who spake it to us as never man spake ; brethren of the 
 Lord Jesus, and of each other in Him. A full and exqui- 
 site description of the effect of the Licarnation and Atone- 
 ment, in their applicatioi^s to our fallen race. 
 
 " Grace and peace." "Grace is the seed of peace; peace 
 is the fruit of grace : each the inheritance of the Sons of 
 God, founded on the Atonement of Christ, or given to us 
 by the Merits of Christ." 
 
 3. We give thanks to 3, 4. From these verses may be 
 God and the Father of formed a just opinion of the noble 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, character of the Church-life through- 
 
 of your faith in Clirist losse, but also at Laodicea, for whicii 
 Jesus, and of the love also the letter was intended. 
 
88 COMMENTARY ON THE 
 
 trhich ye hare to all 5. " The hope," ^^ <»., of future glory 
 
 the saints, j^j^j blessedness. For heavenly iovs 
 
 5. r or the hope which .i • i j /• i> -/i i 
 i. lai.l u,. toJ you in f '^ the promised reward of laith and 
 heaven, wiiereof ye love, and in view ot them should men 
 lieard before in the be diliii;ent in every fjjood work, 
 word of the truth of "Wliereof:" of whieh blessed store 
 the gospel; of hope and coining joy. 
 
 ''Tlie word of the truth of the Gospel . . ." The most 
 true and very certain word of the Gospel. 
 
 6. " In all the world." Either the 
 
 6. Which IS come Apostle means, in those parts of the 
 unto vou, as «^ M in all 11*1 1 1 -i i 
 
 the world; and bring- ^^^^^-^^ ^^'^n known and accessible; or 
 eth forth fruit, as it else, perliaps, and probably, he speaks 
 doth also in you, since under an impulse of prophecy, and 
 the day ye heard of it, looks to the day when the earth shall 
 and knew the grace of ^^ f^^^ ^^ ^jj^, knowledge of the Lord, 
 God in truth : ^i ^ ^i ^ a 1 j 
 
 as the waters cover the sea. Already 
 
 is tlie sound of the Gospel, potentially, gone out into all 
 lands: for the Kingdom of Satan and of Sin is doomed; 
 and the triumph of the Cross, thoiigli deferred, is linally 
 sure. To the ears of tieiids, and of the lost spirits, the 
 Gospel is indeed come into all the world. 
 
 " As it doth," etc. Another intimation of the faithful- 
 ness and worthiness of the Colossians who were in Christ. 
 
 " The grace of God in truth." The truth and certainty 
 of the Grace of God ; its life-giving power, and the per- 
 manency of its effects in the leavening, not merely of the 
 individual being, but also of the whole mass of humanity. 
 
 7, 8. It has been inferred, from 
 f'^'kliTa^^^o^^Te^r ^^'^®^ verses, that Epaphras had 
 
 fellosSruVwho'ls Pi-eached the Gospel to thein ; that he 
 
 for you a faithful min- '^^as their Apostle, and not o. 1 aul ; that 
 
 ister of Christ; he had been sent to them b}'^ S. Paul ; 
 
 8. Who also declared and that he had returned to visit Paul 
 unto us your love in the at Pome, bearing with him the love 
 
 ^ ' and good wishes of the brethren. 
 
 "Love in the Spirit:" such love as is manifestly in- 
 spired and poured into the heart by the Holy Ghost. 
 
 9. How profound the impression 
 
 9. For this cause we ^vhich must have been made upon the 
 also since the day we Apostle's mind! and how deep the 
 heard tt. do not cease {.,.,. ^ ^ 1 • • 1 1 • j 
 to pray for you. and to I'^liei lound by liim, amid chains ana 
 desire that ye might be captivity, in meditating upon the 
 
EPISTLK TO THK COLOSSIANS. 89 
 
 filled with the knowl- work of grace among these good and 
 edge of Ids will in all faitlsfnl men ! 
 
 rSa JiuJ"""""' .;; Filled with the knowledge of His 
 
 ^A'lll : t. e., with a more lull, more 
 deep, more exact knowledge ; with such an enlarged and 
 increased comprehension of the heavenly mysteries, as 
 might be deemed meet to be enjoyed by them in respect 
 of tlieir diligent use of all that they had already received, 
 ior as we rightly use them, God's gifts increase in value 
 with us. 
 
 " In all wisdom and spiritual understanding." By 
 abundant gifts of the same. Wisdom is concerned about 
 the reception and following out of mysteries ; understand- 
 ing, about tlieir practical application. And so, in Holy 
 Conlirmation, the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Ghost are 
 enumerated, as also in the hymn, Veui Creator /Spiritus, 
 as follows : — 
 
 "The Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding; the Spirit 
 of Counsel and Ghostly Strength ; the Spirit of Knowledge 
 and true Godliness ; and the Spirit of Holy Fear :" each 
 having its distinct and proper meaning. The Gift of Wis- 
 dom being that, whereby we devoutly receive the Mys- 
 teries of the Faith : that of Understanding being the gift 
 whereby we apply the Creed in a practical manner for the 
 guidance of our lives : as also Counsel, whereby we choose 
 the good and decline from the evil ; Ghostly Strength, 
 whereby we stand firm in the Lord, resisting the adver- 
 sary ; Knowledge, whereby we test by our high axioms of 
 Divine truth all the ways, the devices, the imaginings of 
 men, and all that calls itself science and knowledge, but 
 for the most part wrongly so ; True Godliness, whereby 
 a man grows more and more into the image and likeness 
 of God ; and Holy Fear, which holds to full consistency 
 the circle of the life, in dread of the Majesty and Greatness 
 of Him with whom we have to do. 
 
 10. " Worthy of the Lord " 
 
 10. That ye might ^^j.^^y ^f the inestimable piivileges 
 walk w^orthy of the ,. "^ i i tt- i v i 
 
 Lord unto all pleasing, conferred by Hnu ; wortliy ot that 
 being fruitful in every great and glorious condition which 
 good work, and in- the ApostltT presently so splendidly 
 creasing in the knowl- developes and describes. 
 "^e« «| ^«<1 ; u Unto all pleasing . . ." So as in 
 
 all things to please Him. 
 
90 COMMENTAKY ON 'rilE 
 
 11. Strenpthened H- "Strengthened," &c. Even as 
 with all luiglit, accord- t^ey actiuilly were. llie niiglity 
 ing to his glorious power of llie Holy Ghost is referred 
 power, unto all i)a- to. 
 
 tience and Urngsiiiler- ujij^ crlorious power." We may 
 " '' •' meditate long on sueh expressions as 
 
 this, before we feel what they imply. There is a certain 
 glory, hidden from the common view, but now and then 
 tlashing forth clear and dazzling, through all the process 
 and work of our redemption. It was seen in Our Lord, 
 at times; it has been reflected in His Saints; it is ever 
 near and ready to be revealed; it shall blaze in pre-emii'ent 
 splendors around the pathway of His Second Advent. 
 But though we see it not, yet is His poAver always attended 
 with the near radiance and glory ; and although there be 
 a hiding thereof, yet this is perhaps intended mercifully, 
 since we should not be able to endure its manifestation. 
 When Saul beheld that ''glorious power" on the way to 
 Damascus, he and all his company fell to the earth 
 together, and he was for three days without speech or 
 sight. This same glory is near us, even round about 
 every font and above every altar, and through the shrines 
 and sanctuaries of God: but we see it not now, for it is 
 in mercy hidden from our eyes. 
 
 "O God of mercy, God of might, 
 How should pale sinners bear tlie sight, 
 If, as Thy power is surely here. 
 Thine open glory should appear?" 
 
 "Patience... Longsuftering." At these words we re- 
 member the Apostle in his dungeon ; there is a gleam of 
 pers(jnality, strong and clear, along the line of the thought. 
 "With joyfulness," also: for he, in his bonds, felt not 
 their pt)wer, for the glorious hope of the iinal deliverance. 
 
 r^- • XT. 1 12. Here beo^ins that grand .and 
 
 12. Giving thanks , ,. , . ^. v ^\ ■ -y 
 
 unto the Father, which sublime description ot the privileges 
 
 hath made us meet to and position of the laitlitul, which 
 
 be partakers of the in- makes up the greater part of the first 
 
 heritance of the saints two chapters. 
 
 "'^■'°''^= "Giving thanks..." The Apostle 
 
 speaks in his own person. 
 
 " Unto the Father." The form of this thanksgiving 
 
 borders on the Sacramental and the Eucharistic. Eor iu 
 
EPISTLE TO THE C0L0S8IANS. 91 
 
 the IIolj Eucharist, the oblation is made, not to the Holy 
 Triuity, but to tlie Father; as it is said by the priest, "by 
 whom and with whom, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, 
 all honor and glory be unto Thee, O Father Almighty, 
 world without end. Amen," 
 
 " Made us meet. . ." tit or worthy. Let modern schools 
 settle it among themselves how they will understand this 
 langnace. The Church hath ever acknowledojed a worthi- 
 ness of congruity in the Saints. See Kev. iii. 4 ; S. Luke 
 xxi. 36 ; 2 Tliess. i. 5, 6, &c., &c. Merit of condignity, 
 involving creature claim and a right to the gift of God, is 
 what the Church and the Scriptures deny as possible in 
 any case. But merit of congruity, or iitness and suitable- 
 ness, has ever been recognized as necessary, and is every- 
 where expressed or implied throughout the Scriptures 
 The bad and most offensive sense of merits is not its scrip- 
 tural nor its ancient meaning, but the gross corruption of 
 later and depraved ages. 
 
 "Saints in light." The Holy Angels are probably 
 meant ; and the idea is to express the opening to man a 
 way into the very inmost shrines and tabernacles in 
 Heaven, where the Angels continually do cry, and where 
 Cherubim and Seraphim respond everlastingly in the 
 praises of the Most Holy. This is the "inheritance" 
 promised to " them that love him." 
 
 io Txru 1, 4.1, 1 r 13. "The power of darkness. .." The 
 
 13. Who hath dehv- , . , ,,-r^p, ^ ^ r\ • n 
 
 ered us from the power kmgdom ot Satan, and tlie lutluences 
 of darkness, and hath of his incantations, 
 translated us into the " The Kingdom of His dear Son.. ." 
 kingdom of his dear That is, the Church of Christ, whereof 
 Holy Baptism is the door. For Christ 
 is the Light ; and His Church is the Kingdom of Light. 
 At her gates the powers of darkness are exorcised and 
 cast out; and in her the Reason rejoices in the true 
 illumination from God. 
 
 " His dear Son. . ." This term of love and deep affec- 
 tion would seem to be spontaneously rushing to the 
 Apostle's thought, in view of what immediately follows, 
 the pouring out of that most precious Blood. " His dear 
 Son !" Dear, indeed ; dear to all hearts ; dear, for what 
 He did; 
 
 *' Jesu, dulcis memoria, 
 • Dans vera cordis gaudia ; 
 
92 COMMENTARY ON THE 
 
 Sed super mel et omnia, 
 Ejus dulcis priesentia. 
 
 "Nil oanitur suavius, 
 Kil auditur jucundius, 
 Nil cogitatur dulcius, 
 Quurn Jesus Dei Filius." 
 
 Note also, that it is to Ilim, the Son of God, that the 
 following sublime verses refer. And it would be im- 
 possible to describe Omnipotence and Absolute Deity, 
 more clearly than they are set forth in the ensuing terms. 
 The power of language could go no further; yet all that 
 is predicated, is predicated of Ilim who shed His Blood 
 for us upon the cross of shame. 
 
 14. In whom we have l^- "Redemption through His 
 redemption through his Blood. . ." For He is the vicarious 
 blood, freft tlie forgive- sin-offering, the propitiation for 'all 
 nessofsins: the sins of all the world. In which 
 redemption the first gift is that of pardon. 
 
 15. Who is the image l^. "The Image," is doubtless in- 
 of the invisible God, tended to stand in contrast with the 
 the firstborn of every Invisibility of God. Thus, we get the 
 creature. idea, expressed by the Lord's own 
 lips : " no man hath seen God at any time : tiie only-be- 
 gotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath 
 revealed Him." The Divine Nature, the Divine Sub- 
 stance, can no mortal possibly behold. But, veiled in 
 Flesh, it is revealed in Christ. His Humanity is the 
 Image, the "Imago," by looking upon which, we form 
 the conception of Almighty God. 
 
 The Son of God, co-equal and co-eternal with the 
 Father, and thus, in power, in glory, in all things like 
 unto Him, and thus i)erpetually His Image and perfect 
 representment, clad afterwards in flesh, becomes visible 
 to men, and thus reveals to them a true and just image of 
 the Father. 
 
 "The Firstborn of every creature." Begotten before 
 any thing was created. And so more excellent than any 
 creature. For all creatures were made by Him. He pre- 
 ceded them all in eternity ; He made them all in time. 
 " Qua?5 onmes aiternitate praecedit, et quas omnes in tem- 
 pore creavit." Lest any should be misled by a heretical 
 gloss, as thougli Christ were a creature Himself, let him 
 look on, and be silent, and adore. 
 
EPISTLE TO THE C0L0SSIAN8. 93 
 
 If tliis lajij^nage does not express 
 
 ,/f/.^«'^y^™^f'"t Absolute Divinity, no language is 
 all thino;s created, tliat t i r. -^ ' . o b^ ^° 
 
 are in heaven, and that capable of expressing it. 
 are in earth, visible and " By Him." By Christ, 
 invisible, whether they " All things. . ." therefore Pie was 
 be thrones, or domin- ^ot created, otherwise this were not 
 ions, or principalities, j.„„„ nf c t i ? /^ i • o -i r\ 
 
 or powers: all things ^^^^ ?/" S- John's Gospel l. 3, 10. 
 ■were created by him, .'In Heaven. .. m earth:" terms of 
 and for him : universal comprehension. 
 
 " Visible and invisible. . ." lest any 
 should suppose that spiritual essences were to be excepted. 
 
 " Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, Powers. . ." Not 
 merely the ordinary angels, but those of highest degree; 
 for these terras are the titles of ranks and grades in the 
 angelic hosts. All, alike, were made by Christ, and without 
 Him was not any Angel or Archangel made that was 
 made. 
 
 " By Him . . ." As the Agent. 
 
 "For Him..." As the First End of their existence; 
 lest any heretical gloss should creep in as though He were 
 merely an instrument, and as though they were intended, 
 not for His glory and supreme honor, but for some other. 
 
 17. And he is before I'i'- " Before all things . . ." because 
 all things, and by him eternal. 
 
 all things consist. " All. .. consist." He not merely 
 
 18. And he is the createdfU but sustains, supports, lip- 
 head of the body, the ^^olas all things. 
 
 church: who is the be- 18. In the former part of this sub- 
 ginning, the firstborn lime description, the Lord is spoken 
 from the dead ; that in ^f jji jjig divine character. But now, 
 
 His humanity He is the head ot the 
 Church ; and as Man, was He the First Fruits of the Resur- 
 rection. A devout writer has admirably contrasted the 
 aims and scope of these verses as follows : 
 
 " He who, as God, is before all things, and by whom 
 all things consist ; 
 
 "As Man, is the head of the Church, the fountain of all 
 knowledge and of every motion of supernatural grace, of 
 whose fulness have all we received. 
 
 " He who, as God, is the beginning of all things ; 
 
 "As Man, is the beginning, the fount, the author of 
 resurrection to eternal life. 
 
9i COMMENTARY ON THE 
 
 " lie wlio, as Ooi), is tlie first-bo^ottcn of every creature; 
 
 "As Miiii, is the lirst-begotten ol' tliein that rise again to 
 immortality." 
 
 Marvellous, that after all this, any could be found so 
 blind, so rash as to impugn the true, the full, the perfect 
 deity of the Lord Christ ! Yet there is no length too 
 great, too distant, wliither the unbridled temper of doubt- 
 ful and ])iesuniptuous man may not perchance conduct him. 
 But which shall we hold to be the right, the reasonable 
 intei'preter of Holy Scripture ; the philosophic school, 
 which withholds the full confession, and would still raise 
 a doubt whether Christ be really divine; or that Church 
 which believes *' in One Lord Jesus Christ, the only-be- 
 gotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all 
 worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very 
 God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the 
 Father; By whom all things were made?'' Which of 
 these two witnesses speaks, of itself? and which hath the 
 mind of the Spirit? 
 
 '•That in all things He might have the pre-eminence." 
 In respect to His Divine Nature and to His Human. As 
 God, He hath the pre-eminetice over all that is not God, 
 as the One by whom, in whom, and unto whom all things 
 are and were created. As Man, He hath the pre-eminence 
 in His Church, which shall linally break to pieces all the 
 kingdoms of the earth and the glory of them. 
 
 '•The iirst-born from the dead " Not first in 
 
 time, but first in causalit}'. Nay, first in time also, if 
 we think of Him as the one over whom Death hath no 
 more dominion. And fii'st, since His llesuri'ection was 
 the exemplar and cause of all others that ever were or 
 shall be. 
 
 19. For it pleased 10. "In Him," to wit, as Man ; for 
 tfie Father that in him in Him as God, all fulness dwelt al- 
 should all fulness dwell; ready. But on tlie exaltation and 
 glorifying of Christ, the Humanity came to receive in 
 time all that the Divinity had from Eternity, so far as 
 Human Nature was capable thereof. By bearing this in 
 mind many obscure passages in Holy Scripture become 
 clear. See, for instance, Heb. i. 4, where it is said of Our 
 Lord that he was made better than the angels. But in 
 this Epistle we have just read that the angels were created 
 by Him. How can it be said of the Creator that He was 
 
EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIAN8. 95 
 
 made to become better than His own works? Many other 
 instances may be given, on whicii the same difficulty would 
 arise. But the solution lies here: He, who was eternally 
 equal with the Father, became Man, thereby descending 
 to the state of a servant : but thereupon lie was exalted, 
 as Man, so as to become, in respect to His Humanity, 
 all that He had been, in respect to His Deity, from 
 eternity. 
 
 Among the fathers we find this view clearly and gi-andly 
 set forth, but nowhere so fully or splendidly as in the writ- 
 ings of Saint Athanasius. The following extracts are 
 given, in illustration of this remark. 
 
 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was 
 with God, and the Word was God. But, for our sakes, 
 afterwards, the Word was made flesh. And the term in 
 question, 'wherefore also God hath highly exalted Him,' 
 (Phil. ii. 6), does not signify that the substance of the 
 Word was exalted, for He was ever and is equal to God, 
 but the exaltation is of the Manhood. . . For of this was 
 Man's nature in want, because of the humble estate of the 
 flesh and of death. . . therefore, as Man, He is said, because 
 of us, and for us, to be highly exalted, that as by His 
 Death we all died in Christ, so again in the Christ Himself 
 w^e might be highly exalted, being raised from the dead 
 and ascending into heaven whither the forerunner is for 
 us entered. 
 
 " He sanctifies Himself (to wit as Man), not that the 
 Word may become holy, but that He Himself may in 
 Himself sanctify all of us. 
 
 " God exalted Him, not that He Himself should be 
 exalted, for He is the Highest; but that He may become 
 righteousness for us, and we may be exalted in Him . . . 
 and if the Son be righteousness, then He is not exalted as 
 being Himself in need, but it is we who are exalted in 
 that righteousness which is He. . . 
 
 ''For the Word, in receiving a Body, deifled {sdeoTToirjoev) 
 that which He put on, nay, gave it graciousl}' to the race 
 of men. . . 
 
 "For whereas the Powers in Heaven, both Angels and 
 Archangels were ever worshipping the Lord, as they are 
 now worshipping Him in the Name of Jesus, this is our 
 grace and high exaltation, that even when He became 
 Man the Son of God is worshipped, and the Heavenly 
 
96 COStMKNTARr ON THE 
 
 Powers are not startled at seeing all of up, who are of 
 one l)ocly witli llini, introduced into their realms... 
 
 " Therefore if even before the world w.as made the Son 
 had tliat j;loi-y and was Lord of (Tlory, and Highest over 
 all, and (k-sceiidccl from Heaven, and is ever to be wor- 
 Bhi))ped, it follows that He had no promotion from His 
 de^eeiit, but rather Himself promoted the things which 
 needed j)romotion . . . and He descended to effect their 
 promotion." 
 
 Thus far the holy father, npon the place in Philippians 
 ii. 9, 10. The following remarks of his, on Psalm xlv. 7, 8, 
 are to the same etfect : 
 
 "Therefore He is here said to be anointed, not that He 
 may become God, for He was so even before; nor tliat 
 He may become King, for He had the kingdom eternally, 
 existing as Gou's Image, as the sacred oracle shows; but 
 in our behalf is this written as before. For the Israelitish 
 kings upon their being anointed then became kings, not 
 being so before; but the Saviour, on the contrary, be- 
 ing God and ever ruling in the Father's Kingdom, and 
 being Himself the Dispenser of the Holy Ghost, never- 
 theless is liere said to be anointed, that, as before, being 
 said as man to be anointed with the Spirit, He might 
 provide for us anew, not only exaltation and resurrection, 
 but the indwelling and intimacy of the Spirit. . . 
 
 "The Spirit's descent on Him in Jordan was a descent 
 on us, because of His bearing our Body. And it did not 
 take place for promotion {inl j3eX-i<^aEi) to the Word, but 
 again for our sanctitication, that we miglit shaa'e His 
 anointing, and of us it might be said, Know ye not that ye 
 are God's temple, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you ? 
 (1 Cor. iii. IG.) For when the Lord, as Man, was washed 
 in Jordan, it was we who were washed in Him and by 
 Him ; and when He received the Spirit, it was we who 
 by Him were made recipients thereof . . . 
 
 " If, as tlie Lord Himself has said, the Spirit is His, and 
 He takes of His and sends it, it is not the Word, considered 
 as the AVord and Wisdom, who is anointed with the Spirit 
 which He Himself gives ; but the Flesh assumed by Him 
 which is anointed in Him and by Him, that the sanctifi- 
 cation coming to the Lord as Man, ma;^' come to all men 
 from Him." 
 
 Quotations might be multiplied ; but these are sufficient 
 
KPISTLK TO TIIK COLOSSIANS. 97 
 
 for our purpose. Tlic Athanasian view is tliis : The Word 
 and Son of God had tlie fuhiess of Deity from the be- 
 ginning. In time, tills Divine Person became incarnate. 
 He gained naught thereby, unto Himself, since personally 
 He was incapable of advancement. But the natuie which 
 He assumed was advanced, and promoted, and glorified. 
 Beginning to exist, in a new way, as Man, He came to 
 -^^osses^s, all over again, in that Humanity of His, all that 
 He had before in His Divine Nature, so far as it was pos- 
 sible without absorbing or annihilating or transubstan- 
 tiating the Manhood. All this was done for us. And all 
 the expressions in the Holy Scriptures, touching Christ's 
 being '' exalted," or " receiving," or " being made," or 
 " becoming," are to be understood of the Humanity, and 
 not of the Deity. 
 
 Whoever would see more of the old Church mind 
 on these heavenly themes, is referred to S. Athanasius, 
 Discourses against the Arians ; S. Leo, Epistles ; and S. 
 Gregory Nazianzen, Theological Orations. 
 
 „„.,,. , 20. " Having made peace." Sin 
 
 20. And, having made ,1 „ i? i ^-i-i i j. 
 
 peace through the f^^ the cause of hostiity between 
 blood of liis cross, by heaven and eartli : but Christ, by His 
 Lira to reconcile all death, destroyed the cause of aliena- 
 things unto himself ; by tion, and thus pacified all things. 
 
 K"'/.f-'-^' .'''^'^*^lf "Things in earth and things in 
 they be things in earth, 1 i-p • 1 . 1 1 
 
 or things in heaven. heaven, are evidently men and an- 
 gels. This is said, doubtless, with 
 reference to the angelic chorus on the night of the Nativ- 
 ity, " Peace on earth, good will to men," or " to men of 
 good-will ;" hominibus bonae voluntatis. We cannot com- 
 prehend the full extent of these divine statements as to 
 the universal pacification and reconciliation of things 
 above and things below ; because we know not the extent 
 of the disorder which Sin has worked through the whole 
 universe. But one thing is clear. The effects of the 
 Lord's Incarnation, Atonement, and Triumphant Exalta- 
 tion to Glory, are by no means to be limited to this one 
 globe, and to th^ inhabitants thereof: they are felt, 
 bej'ond ; they are powerful to some grand results, even in 
 the spheres nearest to the Eternal Throne. The Angels 
 are now interested in the Mj'steries and Rites of the Mili- 
 tant Church (see 1 Peter i. 12). And it is a part, nay 
 the sum and conclusion, of the Plan of God, to gather into 
 
 7 
 
98 C(>M\ii:\l AKV "N THE 
 
 One in Clirist, all things, in llciiVL-n and on Eartli. So 
 ihat nothing can hv more nnsatisf'ying llian the view which 
 would refuse to take in all these sublime relations, and 
 limit itself to the narrow radius of the oi-bit of the earth. 
 (See remarks on Romans viii, 19-22.) 
 
 „, , , ,, , 21. "And you," Here the thought 
 
 21. And you. tliat * «. • a i- -^ • 
 were sumetiu.e alienut- contracts; in the preceding verse it i8 
 eil and enemies in //o«/- wide enough to hold the Universe 
 mind by wielced works, enclosed. 
 
 yet now hatli he recon- u gometime :" before their call and 
 ^ conversion to the Catholic faith. 
 
 " Alienated in mind :'' as not having the true knowledge 
 of God: and so " enemies," for he that is not with Ilim is 
 against Him. 
 
 „„ , ,, , , . 22. "In the body of His Flesh." 
 
 22. In the bodv of . ,, , •'. 
 
 his Hesh through death, ^;/ ^ through assuming our common 
 to present you holy Huiuaiiity. 
 
 and unbhiineable and '' Throu<;h death :" and by dying 
 unreproveable in his j^.y „5^ offering Himself the true 
 ^^^^^'■> atonement. 
 
 "To present you," &c. For this is the end of all our 
 Lord's work ; tliat we may be holy, even as He is holy. 
 "Holy," as sanctified by the Holy Ghost, which is shed 
 upon us abundantly through the washing of regeneration ; 
 " unblameable and unreproveable,"' in respect to the accu- 
 sations of our adversM.vy, the accuser of the bi'ethren ; for 
 " who shall Uiy any thing to the charge of God's elect? It 
 is God thar justitieth; who is he that condemnetli ?" &c., 
 &c., &c. See Romans, viii. 33, 34-. 
 
 „„ ,.. ,. . 23. "To every creature which is 
 
 23. It ye continue in , , •,■>•' r^^ • i 
 
 the faith grounded and ^"tlci" heaven. This may be an 
 settled, and be not instance of hyperbole, as though the 
 moved away from the Apostle meant, "to manv, to very 
 hope of the gospel. „^.^,j,, ^^ ^^.^.\l j,^ the West" as in the 
 which ve have liearu, t- *' n • ^i -vr .i i • ii 
 
 a«</ which was preach- ^y<^^\,^^ well in the ^orth and m the 
 ed to every crcaturo 1^1" islands ot the sca, as in tlie Soutli 
 which is under heaven; and in the pleasant lands ; not, how- 
 whereof 1 Paul am ever, absolutely to all." Hut it may 
 made a minister; y^^^ reverently suggested, whether some 
 
 wider sense may not have been intended by the Spirit ; 
 wlie;beV the effect of our Lord's work does not extend far 
 beyond our gaze ; and whether the creatures which He 
 made, which lie sustains, whicii He loves, should be shut 
 
EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. 99 
 
 out, by our criticism, from some participation in His 
 crowning act of mercy, even His Incarnation and Passion? 
 At least, let us interpret thus ; that " every creature," 
 means, " every being capable of receiving aid and blessing 
 from the redemption ;" and let us leave it to God to say, 
 and to tell us, wlio and wJiat, and where tliey are that 
 may fall within this category. What a marvellous ligliting 
 up of dark places will there be, at the Last Great Day! 
 And how may we then, perchance, be forced to blush 
 when we look back upon the sura and amount of our for- 
 mer knowledge ! 
 
 24. Who now re- 24. " My sufferings . . ." for he was 
 joice in my sufferings in prison. 
 
 for you, and fill up tliat .. Po^. you..." L e., for you as 
 which IS behind or the i i- j.i m i o ir • p 
 
 afflictions of Christ in inembers of the aiurch. Suffering for 
 my flesh for his body's tne benent 01 the Church, was suiiering 
 sake, which is the for all its members individually, 
 clmrch : " And fill up that," &c. To suppose 
 
 the intention of the Apostle to be, that our Lord's sufferings 
 were anywise incomplete, that He had left any thing undone 
 which He might or ought to have done, or that His work 
 needed to be finished by any mortal ; — this would be the 
 height of folly and presumption. 
 
 The difficulty, if there be one, in this verse, lies in the 
 words, "of Christ." Some render "of" in the sense of 
 '' for," and understand the Apostle, when he speaks of 
 " the afflictions of Christ," to mean " afflictions borne for 
 Christ's sake." But let us rather take it in the sense of, 
 *' imposed by Christ," "appointed and ordained by Christ." 
 Then the sense will be as follows. Christ loved the Church, 
 and showed that love by giving His Blood for her: His 
 whole life here on earth was one of suffering, toil, and 
 pain ; and He, as the Head of His Church Militant, was a 
 man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. But as it was 
 with Him, so must it be with His ministr}^. His agents, 
 His representatives. To them hath He bequeathed the 
 royal heritage of sorrow. He hath appointed imto them 
 to endure afflictions, even to the end ; and so must it be, 
 while the Church is yet in her first condition, tossed on 
 the seas of this life. To the Apostles, therefore, there 
 remained, in trust as it were, good store of trial, pain, and 
 grief, "of Christ," i. e., appointed by Him, and imposed 
 on them by Him; which they must " fill up," i. e.j endure, 
 
100 COMMKNTARY ON THE 
 
 Bustain, improve to the full, until the end ; afflictions in 
 the flesh, in porRccntions, in privations, in ])eril, yea, in 
 mortitication, selt-(liscii)liMe, selt-conqnest ; all to be borne, 
 in faith, in j)atienec, in heavenly joy, that Christ might 
 thereby l)e <;loritied. 
 
 IJiit Saint Leo gives another exj)lana!ion. Remarking, 
 that wiien Saul, the jiersecutor of the infant Chnrcli, was 
 met by the Lord on the way to Damascus, that Lord 
 demanded of him, " why persccutest thon Me?" the holy 
 father says, that since Christ and His Mystical Body are 
 One, therefore injuries done to the Church are injuries 
 also to Him, And therefore the sufferings of the Church, 
 or of the Apostles of the Lord, or of the faithful who 
 believe in Him, are "■sufferings of Christ" Himself; since 
 He and His members are one. This interjjretation gives 
 the simplest and most natural sense to the words in which 
 resides the main difficulty. 
 
 But, howsoever we may take it, one thing is clear: that 
 even as He suffered here on earth, so, while in the way of 
 the journey, must His Church likewise suffer. The life in 
 Christ is a life of trial, temptation, affliction ; and they 
 may count themselves especiall}' blessed and favored, who, 
 in the way of the Cross, are made most like unto Him. 
 
 "For His Body's sake, which is the Church." "The 
 Mystical Body of Christ ;" this is the familiar and charac- 
 teristic title of the Catholic Church. Her existence, and 
 the mode and manner thereof, are subjects of Faith rather 
 than of sigiit: " I believe One Holy Catholic and Apc»s- 
 tolic Church." And yet men talk of the Churcli as tlif)Ugh 
 she were a society of human origin, and one which we may 
 modii'y and fashion as we choose. But the Church is 
 divine, as well in respect of her outward and visible form, 
 as in regard to her inner spirit and soid; and no man may 
 without sacrilege make any change in either. She is 
 called the liody of Christ, as being that wherein Christ 
 still dwells here on earth, by His Spirit, after a mystical 
 way, above the power of thought or language to explain 
 or declare. 
 
 25. " According," &c. The Apos- 
 
 25. Whereof I am tie no doubt refers to his having been 
 made am mister, ac- intrusted with the work of preaching 
 cordinc to the dispen- ^, . ,, , ^i ., ^.} m 
 
 eation of God which is this Oospel to the Oentiles. The 
 
 given to me lor you " dispensation" is the appointment, 
 
EPISTLK TO THE COLOSSIANS, 101 
 
 to fulfil tlie word of the designiition of him ; " to you," 
 ' ^. <?., to you Colossians, to you Laodi- 
 
 ceans, to yon Gentiles in general. 
 
 " To fullil the word of God." i. <?., to aid towards the 
 accomplishment of the Divine promises of ancient time; 
 the prophecies of the past, and the plighted faith and word 
 of the Lord, comprehending universal blessing in the lat- 
 ter days. 
 
 26. Even the mys- , ^6. "The mystery." Under this 
 tery wliieh hath been term he reiers to tlie whole marvellous 
 hid from ages and from work of redemption in Christ. We 
 generations, but now is do not by any means see or compre- 
 
 sMntt ™^'''^''''^ *"" '"^ ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^""^^ ^°^ extent. The Apos- 
 tle speaks of it, elsewhere, as the Eter- 
 nal Purpose of God. 
 
 " Hid from ages." The reference is to the past days, in 
 which they walked especially by faith, " not having 
 received the promises, but having seen them afar off." 
 For the patriarchs and prophets of the former time knew 
 but little of the designs of the Almighty. 
 
 ''To His Saints." i. e., to the Church; or it may be, to 
 the Holy Angels, and to the Servants of God in Heavenly 
 Places; for, as the plans of the Lord are carried on towards 
 their fulfilment, they are made more widely and generally 
 known, and the light grows. Perchance, the appearances 
 of the angels, at tlie time of our Lord's Birth, and, subse- 
 quently, during His Life here on earth, and at the time of 
 His Resurrection and Ascension, may be connected with 
 some revelation to them of the manner of that mystery 
 which had been previously wrapped in the secret counsels 
 of the past, and up to tlie time of our Lord's advent un- 
 known, beyond the Divine sphere. 
 
 27. And now we come to a raarvel- 
 
 27 lo whom God i^j^g statement, of the ^um and snb- 
 would make known , ,. .^ , ^ v. ai .ii „,,iv^ ouu 
 
 what in the riches of Stance ot it all : to what the Apostle 
 the glory of this mys- calls " the riches of the glory of this 
 tery among the Gen- mystery ;" an expression, in itself, verv 
 tiles; which is Christ f^u and very deep ; as though he had 
 gbry'"' ^^' said, "this rich and glorious mystery," 
 
 this mystery glorious in the wealth of 
 its abundant excellence and goodness. "Among the Gen- 
 tiles:" for in them, and towards ihem, was \t fulfilled, 
 after the prophecies to that effect. Lrt us tlien see how 
 
103 COMMENTARY ON TflE 
 
 it is expressed. " Christ in yon, the hope of glory." A 
 phrase wliich divides itself triply, thus: — 
 
 1. Christ (ol)jectively^, 
 
 2. Christ in you (sulgectively). 
 
 3. Christ, the hope of glory (^as well objectively as sub- 
 jectiN'cly). 
 
 I remark as follows, ni)on this culmination of all sublime 
 statejnents relating to our redemption. 
 
 1. Christ. Objectively; considered as to the Glory of 
 His Eternal Person ; as incarnate ; as the Word made 
 Flesh, and dwelling amoi\g us, full of grace and truth ; as 
 God manifest through the veil of the Humanity which He 
 assumed. As sublime in His mortal course; without 
 blemish and without spot; perfect and sinless. As the 
 Exemplar of the highest and best life. As lifted on the 
 Cross, the symbol of infinite compassion and love. This 
 constitutes a lirst part of that rich and glorious iriystery. 
 And all this was made manifest to the Spirits and Angels 
 above, though revealed but dimly and imperfectly to the 
 prophets and patriarchs who went before. 
 
 2. Christ in us. Christ, subjectively considered. As 
 mystically dwelling in all tlie faithful. As He in whom 
 we are y)lanted by Bai)tism; in whom we grow by feeding 
 on His Body and Blood. As the Head, whereof we are 
 the members. As the First Born of many brethren. As 
 the Light of the AVorld, and as He that illuminateth every 
 man that cometh into this world. As the Vine, while we 
 are the branches. As entering into the line of Adam's 
 race, and so becoming the source and fountain of a new 
 life to all mankind ; as the Second Adam, in whom all 
 we are made alive. Thus, while we trace and ascribe all 
 wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption to 
 Him; and iind in Him the source and origin of all and 
 any good in us ; the name becomes synonymous with 
 wealth, glory, and mystery, to all sorts and conditions of 
 men, 
 
 3. Christ, in us, tiik hope of glory. He, the Only-Be- 
 gotten of the Father, full of grace and truth ; and sum- 
 ming up in His Person all that is ours, and all of us ; next 
 to be considered, as risen from the dead, ascended into 
 Heaven, and gone up to glory; whither he had borne up, 
 and carried with him. this our human nature, setting it far 
 above all heavens. For, in Christ, is Man made like unto 
 
EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSI AX 8. 103 
 
 the Most Hiojli. And what He so <>;h)rified, He gk)nfie(l 
 not for His sake but for ours. Since it was not possible 
 that He, as to His Person, could receive any exaltation, 
 addition, or increase (for that He was eternally G'>d of 
 God, Light of Light, Yery God of Very God) ; it follows, 
 that all was done for us, and that He exalted, not Himself, 
 but that nature v.diicii He had assumed. And therefore 
 He said, " the Glory which Thou gavest Me, I have 
 given them." He is therefore our "hope;" the "hope of 
 glory," to us ; for since He hath so glorified this common 
 nature of ours, we hope to receive of His Hand, hereafter, 
 according to our measure and capacity. And so, the 
 whole creation waiteth for the manifestation of the Sons 
 of God ; which shall take place at the last ; which in His 
 times He shall show who is the Blessed and Only Poten- 
 tate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, " Rcc regum 
 et Dominus dominant^ uni f^ wdiicli shall come to pass, 
 when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and 
 this mortal shall have put on immortality; at the hour of 
 the Resurrection of the Flesh, yea of all flesh ; when 
 Death shall be swallowed up in victory, and when the 
 kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of the 
 Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and 
 ever. 
 
 This is " THE Riches of the GLoiiV of this M\>tkey." 
 And note, expressly, that the knowledge of all this is to 
 be "among the Gentiles." That is to say, everywhere, 
 and to all the ends of the earth'. For the plan embraces 
 all ; and is, and must be, effectual towards all who will 
 receive and hold and live therein. See Psalm xcvi., the 
 prophecy, in song, of this glorious mystery ; every syllable 
 of which ma}' be applied to these words of Saint Paul. 
 And, therefore, we will set this as a triumphal hj-mn, after 
 those words, and call it : — 
 
 THE SONG OF THE WHOLE EAKTH UNTO CHRIST. 
 
 1. sing unto the Lord a new song ; sing unto 
 tlie Lord, all the whole earth. 
 
 2. Sing unto the Lord, and praise His Name ; 
 be telling of His salvation from day to day. 
 
 2. Declare His honour unto the heathen, and His 
 wonders unto all people. 
 
 4. For the Lord is great and cannot worthily 
 be praised ; Ho is more to be feared than all gods. 
 
 5. As for all the gods of the heathen, they are 
 
104 COMMKNTAKY ON TIIK 
 
 but idols ; but it \a the Lord tluit imidc the 
 heavrns. 
 
 6. Cilor}' and worship are before Ilim; power 
 and honour are in His sanciuary. 
 
 7. Ajscribe unto tlie I^)KD, O ye kindreds erf the 
 people, asiTibe unt4> the Louu \vor*ihii» and ixjwlt. 
 
 8. Ascribe unto tlie L<oRD the honour due unto 
 His Name; bring presents, and come into His 
 courts. 
 
 9. O worship the I^KD in the beautv of holi- 
 ness ; let the whole earth stand in awe of Him. 
 
 10. Tell it out amon^c the heathen, that the 
 Loud is King ; and tliat it is He who hath made 
 the njund world so fast that it cannot be moved ; 
 and how tliat He shall judge the people right- 
 eouslv. 
 
 11. Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth 
 be glad : let the sea make a noise, and all that 
 therein is. 
 
 12. Let the field* bejorfiil. and all that is in it : 
 then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before 
 ihe IvjKD. 
 
 13. For- He cometh, for He cometh to judge the 
 earth; and with right eou.sness to judge the world, 
 and the people with His trath. 
 
 28. Whom we preach, -*• " ^^arnin- e verj man," who is 
 warningeverv- nian,aiid i" lirnorance and sin. 
 
 teaching ever}- man in "Teaching every man," who will 
 all wisdom; that we yield hiniseU" to the'ap>stolic icnidance. 
 maypresent eyerv man .. j^^ ^^ ,visd..m ;" unto the fulness 
 perfect m Christ Jesus: .. • -^ i i i j j ^i 
 
 or spiritual knowledge, and the com- 
 prehending with all saints what is the length and hreadth 
 and depth and height of the divine and transcendent 
 theme. 
 
 29. Whereunto I also 29. Note in this verse, the human 
 labour, striving accord- and the divine j>)wer, how they are 
 ing to his working, ^t once .united and contrasted. The 
 which worketh in me ^^^^^^.j. i^^^^ ^^^j ^ ^^ ^^ ^^,.j^ 
 mightuv. ,. ' ^, .% 1 • • /-, 
 
 " according to Uod ; and it is Ctod 
 
 that worketh in hiin mightily. What is said here, of the 
 apostolic power, is al^o true, in its proper sphere, of the 
 inner work in all separate souls unto salvation and eternal 
 life. We continue at once, to the next chapter. 
 
 • " The field is the world." S. Matt. xiii. 38. 
 
EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. 105 
 
 (CHAPTER n.) 
 
 1. For I would that 1, ^' For." This word connects 
 ye knew what great ^-jti^ the precedinor verse : the labors 
 conflict nmve tor you, ^ strife of the Apostle are due to 
 and Tor them at Laodi- , . . ,. , , ^ ^ ^, 
 
 cea/ and /</r as many his intense solicitude for them. _ 
 as have not seen my '* Conflict," to vit, of the spirit and 
 face in the flesh ; %o\\\. God only knoweth what they 
 
 suffer, who in addition to a sensitive and anxious temper, 
 prone to prognosticate calamity, are charged with the 
 awful work of watching for souls. 
 
 It is rightly inferred from this verse, that S. Paul had 
 never visited these regions ; that he was, by face, a stranger 
 to them. 
 
 2. That their hearts ^- '^^^ ^"^ ^^^ ground of this soli- 
 might he comforted, citude are set forrh : it is that the 
 being knit together in Church, sore troubled in this evil 
 love, and unto all riches ^yorld, might have and enjoy that 
 ofthe full assurance of ^^.-.^^^^^^ consolation which comes 
 understandmg. to the ^ . , , j, ■,, ^• ^- x- ^i i • i, 
 acknowledgment of the ^^1^^^ the full reahzation ot the higher 
 mystery of God, and mysteries of the faith, and with broth- 
 of the Father, and of erly unity and love in the one holy 
 ^'^"^t? confession. 
 
 "And unto all riches," etc. Paraphrase thus : '• that they 
 may be held and united together by the bond of charity, 
 so as fully and perfectly to know and be persuaded con- 
 cerning the mysteries," ttc, drc, &c. 
 
 " The Mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ." 
 Here again we pause, and reverently observe the distinc- 
 tions of holy doctrine, and the wide range of the apostolic 
 thought. For he speaks : 
 
 1st. of the Mystery of God. 
 
 2dly, of the Mystery of the Father. 
 
 3dly, of the Mystery of Christ, in whom are hid all the 
 treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 
 
 To the rightly understanding all these things, we must 
 take as our guide and key, the creed of the Catholic 
 Church ; for that key alone can admit to the full view of 
 these solemn splendors, these comforts and consolations 
 of the faitiiful and of mankind. 
 
 1st, then, we must acknowledge the Mystery of God; 
 that is, of the Most Holy and L ndivided Trinity, Three 
 Persons in One Substance. 
 
106 CO>nkrENTART ON THE 
 
 2dly, we arc comforted in tlie full assurance of under- 
 Btandini; of tlie Eternal Father. For the Father is only 
 such in respect of Ills Eternal Son ; and therefore it is in 
 the Eternal Generatiun of the Son of Gon, " be<i;otten of 
 His Father before all worlds," that the Church pei-petually 
 rejoices. 
 
 3dly, we have the riches of the glor}' of tlie Mystery of 
 Christ, the Incarnate Word; and, especially, the truih, 
 that in llini, as Man, are hidden all the treasures of 
 w'isdom and knowledge. For, although perfect in wisdom, 
 as God, yet was lie, as to His Unman Soul, imperfect 
 therein ; and "He grew in wisdom" as He "grew in stat- 
 ure," even to the fulness of all wisdom and knowledge, 
 and the abundance of the same. Thercfoj-e is the Lord 
 Christ a hidden treasure, a treasure hid in the Held which 
 is the world, that a man may sell all that he hath and 
 buy it, unto the pei-petual enriching of his life. 
 
 These are the divine m^'steries concerning which the 
 Apostle felt such deep solicitude, that they might be 
 realized by the Church, and dwelt in, and made the sub- 
 stance of everlasting felicity, and the well-spring of joy 
 and gladness to all the people of God. 
 
 We need not be surprised to encounter, ne.\t, some 
 reference to prevailing heresies, some warning against 
 them. AVe learn, from the language of the Apostle, Ist, 
 that false teachers had not been absent ; 2dly, that they 
 had done, so far, but little harm. There are allusions 
 here, which show that Gnostic and Judaizing preachers 
 bad been busily engaged in sowing tares amono^ the wheat. 
 
 „ , , ,., 4. "And this I say."* 1 have said, 
 
 3. In whom are hid i • • i. i i * i j j 
 all the treasures of wis- ^nd insisted on, what has preceded, 
 doiu and knowledge. o. i^rom this we see that they had 
 
 4. And this I say, successfully resisted the temptation, 
 lest any man should "Order:" the outward system of 
 begnile you with enti- ^j^^ Church ; "faith," her inner life, 
 cing words. n n^ • rn • ^ t 
 
 5 For though I bo "• ^'^ receive Christ Jesus, is not 
 absent in the Hesh, yet merely to have heard of Him by the 
 am I with you in the hearing of the ear, but to have been 
 spirit, Joying and be- .rmfted into Him, sacramentallv, as 
 
 I',?''^!"^,^"'" /' afterwards described; to have Hira 
 the stediastness oi your . ^i i /. i ?> rni • • 
 
 faith in Christ. "i "s, the hope of glory." This is 
 
 6. As ye have there- the outward and objective fact of 
 fore received Christ Jo- their position. "Walk ye in Him:" 
 
EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. 107 
 
 BUS the Lord, SO walk ye this is the end ; the logical sequence, 
 
 ^"i"'il' X 3 1 , .,. Jiccordin2' to His will. See remarks 
 
 7. Rooted and built /->i i oK 
 
 up in him, and stab- ^" .fi;^" ^ ,„ , , , , 
 
 lished in the faith, as '• " Rooted," by the holy sacrament, 
 
 ye have been taught, whereby we are made members of His 
 
 abounding thei-ein with Mystical Body. 
 
 thanksgiving. u ^^^^1^. ^^^v '^^^ ^j^g ^-^-^^^^^ ^f ^^.^^^^ 
 
 and specially by the Communion of His Body and Blood. 
 " Rooted," again, by the iirst firm faith in Him, whereby 
 we laid hold of Him as the Redeemer: "built up," by 
 love and obedience, realizing Him to us in all the fulness 
 of His sufficiency. 
 
 "Stablished in the faith..." Confirmed and strength- 
 ened in the true profession of the Creeds of the Church, 
 with all that they imply, as well internally as externally. 
 
 "As ye have been taught. . ." for our religion is not one 
 of our own invention or discovery, nor a s^'stem of self- 
 will and choice, but it is that which we have received by 
 the tradition of parents, spiritual pastors, and sponsors. 
 
 „ „ , , 8. "Philosophy." Doubtless the 
 
 8. Beware lest any ,, , •',. .v, ■■ i ,. ^ 
 
 man spoil you through apostle speaks ot the schools ot Greece, 
 philosophy and vain ^iid of all those systems ot invention 
 deceit, after the tradi- based on the idea of the sufficiency of 
 tion of men, after the tlie human reason, bv which the old 
 rudiments of the world, ^.^^.^^^ ^^^^ j^^ ^^ -^^ destruction. At 
 and not alter Ohrist. . ^i , , i i • - 1 • 
 
 Athens he encountered them, in their 
 
 strength and pride, and there he preached in vain to men 
 misled by those deceitful schemes. In general this ancient 
 philosophy may be considered under the three heads of — 
 
 1. Object. 
 
 2. Method. 
 
 3. Results. 
 
 The object sought was, to acquire certain knowledge 
 respecting God, Man, the Soul, the nature and destiny of 
 our race, the origin of the world, the foundations of moral 
 duty, the laws of society, and the like topics. 
 
 The method followed was that of investigation, not of 
 demonstration. Starting on a supposed or pretended basis 
 of absolute ignorance, the ancients sought, by tiie pro- 
 cesses of thought, reflection, and comparison, to arrive at 
 a knowledge of the unknown, and attempted to discover 
 all moral and spiritual truth. 
 
 The results were, total discrepancy in their conclusions; 
 
108 COMMKNTAKY ON THE 
 
 and a jijeneral skepticism. The system was faulty in two 
 resjK'cts : Ist, it jtresupposed a basis of total ignorance as 
 the startini; i)oint in investigation. But man has never 
 been, and never can be in such a condition, because the 
 traditions of the primal age have nowhere been obliterated. 
 2dly, it attributed to the human reason a power (tf acting 
 to advantage independently of any revelation from out- 
 side. But the reason, unaided, is as useless as the eye 
 without light ; it was so constituted as to act on being 
 externally illnminated, but not otherwise. The old phi- 
 losophy assigned to the human mind the office, and claimed 
 for it the power, of a purely independent investigator ; and 
 men endeavored, by the way of ine^'e intellectual exercise, 
 to arrive at the knowledge of all that should be believed or 
 done. The result was, utter discord in opinions, and final 
 6ke])ticism. 
 
 "Vain deceit." Tliese words truly describe the Ration- 
 alistic Philosophy, as well in its modern as in its ancient 
 forms. 
 
 " After the tradition of men." " Grceci sapienilam 
 quoBi'unt^ stulti facti sunt:'''' professing themselves wise, 
 they became fools. It is the same story from beginning 
 to end. Look, e. gr., at the totally discordant conclusions 
 at which the human mind arrived, when, freer than it ever 
 was before or ever can be again, it launched forth on the 
 voyage of independent inquirv, and thus affected to come 
 at the knowledge of the truth. Let us recall some of these 
 opinions of the old philosophers. Ist, concerning God: — 
 
 Aiiiiximander, holding Infinity to be the princij)le of 
 all things, yet unable to give any clear account of what 
 be meant, considered that the gods are finite, and that 
 they rise and set after long intervals, 
 
 Anaximenes held that the Air is God, begotten, im- 
 mense, infinite, and perpetually in motion. 
 
 Xenucrates spoke of two supreme Gods, a male and a 
 female one ; and again, of the stars as deities of different 
 ranks and grades. 
 
 Polemo held that the World is God, and that there is 
 none else. 
 
 Em])edoclcs asserted the existence of four Gods, corre- 
 sponding to the four elements, viz.: the Heat and ^Ether, 
 Jupiter', the vital Air, Juno; the Earth, Pluto; and the 
 Water, Nentis. 
 
EPTSTLK TO TITE COLOSSIANS. 109 
 
 Xcnophanos lield that God has a figure, and that it is 
 round. 
 
 Melissns says, that we ought not to assert any thing con- 
 cerning the gods, forasmuch as we have not any knowledge 
 of tlicm. 
 
 Sacli are some of the results of Rational Inqniry, un- 
 trammelled and free, as to tlie tirst and essential theme of 
 knowledge. Now let us set? its discoveries concerning the 
 Soul : 
 
 Anaxagoras held that the soul is aerial, and has a body 
 of its own of the nature of Air. 
 
 Heraclitus held that Fire is the principle of all things ; 
 that the World has a Soul, which is an exhalation of the 
 humid parts thereof; and that the human soul is also an 
 exhalation, but that it is found in different degrees of 
 moisture, and that the dryer a soul is the wiser it is, and 
 the better. 
 
 Empedocles held a kind of transmutation of the soul, 
 by which it puts on the several foi-ms of all living crea- 
 tures and plants ; saying of himself, that he had been a 
 boy, a maid, a plant, a bird, and a fish swimming in the 
 sea. 
 
 Pythagoras, and his school, entertained various opinions 
 on this point, regarding the soul as a fragment or portion 
 of Cold ^ther, as they termed it ; or as an aggregation 
 of motes in that^ther; or as that which moves those 
 motes. But he says, more particularly, that thei'e is a 
 Sonl intent and commeant through the whole nature of 
 things, from M'hich onr souls are plucked or torn ofi\. 
 
 Aristoxenes regards it as a vibration of the muscles and 
 fibres of the body, similar to that produced by a stringed 
 instrument. 
 
 Other philosophers confound it with the blood around 
 the heart, or speak of it as if it were a material fire 
 within us. But it is unnecessary to cite more of these 
 variations. 
 
 3dly, As to the end of human existence, they differ as 
 widely as they could have done : — 
 
 ZcTio considered it to be Indiflference ; Callisthenes, 
 Freedom from pain ; Aristippus, the pursuit and posses- 
 sion of pleasurable objects ; Epicurus, sensual lust, and 
 the satisfying of the fleshly appetites ; Aristotle, the 
 delights of the Intellect ; Pyrrho, apathy ; Theophrastus, 
 
110 rOMMENTARY ON THE 
 
 the attainment of riches; Ilerillus, growth in knowl- 
 ed<re, etc., &c., &c. 
 
 These were the fruits of speculation about those primary 
 trut.hs, G»>i>, tlie Soul, and the Chief End of Man. Never 
 was the Reason better able to show what it could do if 
 left to itself. {Standing between the Past Age and the 
 Latter Days ; having lost the early tradition almost 
 entirely, and having not yet been eidightened by the 
 Teaching of the Incarnate Son of God ; it was really 
 in a slate of almost complete independence, and able to 
 assert and exercise its far-famed powers. It did so. And 
 the result was a demonstration, good for all time, that the 
 Reason is utterly helpless without revelation, and cannot 
 arrive, in the exercise of its own resources, at any certain 
 knowledge on those subjects on which tf» be uncertain is 
 to be inexpressibly miserable, weak, and destitute. The 
 whole system of the Ancient Philosophy, the legitimate 
 child of the Fallen Intellect, was an enormous failure, and, 
 in the Apostle's time, a putrefying carcass. These were 
 the " rudiments of the world ;" and this was their value 
 to mankind. 
 
 " And not after Christ." The Apostle places Christ in 
 opposition to the "philosophy" of the ancients; as though 
 the Lord were the corrective and the antidote to that 
 " vain deceit." Compare also the opening chapter of the 
 first Epistle to the Corinthians. And, indeed, it is true of 
 all the modern systems of intellectual philos(»phy, as those 
 of Germany and France more particularly, that they are 
 utterly foreign to the Religion of Christ. The Philoso- 
 phies of Europe, the Cartesian and Leibnitzian ; the Spino- 
 sism and Hegelianisra of Germany ; the Parkerism and 
 Transcendentalism of our own day ; all alike are but 
 " vain deceit." It may be said with truth of their authors 
 and scholars, as of the Greeks, " sapientiam quterunt, 
 Btulti facti sunt." The Creeds of the Catholic Church are 
 the standing test of all philosophy: what agrees with them 
 is so far lV)rth truth ; what difl'ers from them, or cannot be 
 harmonized with them, is folly. 
 
 9, 10. Here is the Apostolic defini- 
 
 9. For in him dwell- tion against the philosophistn of his 
 
 fu^^'^^^u''^ *"K'"rr ""^ times; and this language do we also 
 the (jodheaa bodilv. j ^ • ^ iwi „ii a ,..Jo 
 
 10. .And ye are com- adopt as aganist all the so-called ^^ls- 
 
 plete in him, which is dom of our own day. Observe the 
 
•EPISTLE TO THE COL098IATTS. Ill 
 
 the head of all princi- correspondence of these statements, 
 pality and power: wliicli in fact need each other :— 
 
 1. In Christ dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead. 
 
 2. Man is complete and perfect, in Him. 
 
 The starting' point and first principle of Kationallstic 
 Philosopiiy, in all times, as well in France, Germany, 
 EnijlaiuJ, and New England, of the 17th, 18th, and 19th 
 centuries, as in Greece and Italy of the centuries succeed- 
 ing and following the First Advent, is this: That the 
 Human Keason is able of itself, and in the exercise of its 
 native powers, and without aid from any quarter, to ari'ive 
 at the knowledge of spiritual and ethical truth ; that in 
 all philosophic studies, the mind should set out in a con- 
 dition of entire ignorance ; that it shall proceed from the 
 unknown to the known ; that it is to find out for itself 
 whatever shall be regarded as true; and that nothing 
 should be held as true which has not been thus attained. 
 The base is always taken within the man ; in his mind, 
 liis intellectual operations, his soul. And thus, different 
 schools have chosen as the criterion. Consciousness, or 
 Evidence, or the Pure Reason, or the Logical Faculty, or 
 Intuition, or the Moral Sense. But the whole process is 
 earthy, and smells of the earth. 
 
 The Catholic Religion, however, which is the mother of 
 all true, sound, and valuable philosophy, teaches : — 
 
 1st, That in the Incarnate Son of God dwells all the 
 fulness of the Godhead ; and that He as Man is the Foun- 
 tain, Source, and Cause of all wisdom, skill, knowledge, 
 and power. 
 
 2dly, That, by the force of institutions and rites mirac- 
 ulously potent to that end, men are so grafted into Him, 
 that His life and their life are identified; that His wisdom 
 becomes theirs. His knowledge theirs, His strength, power, 
 righteousness, theirs. Thus they are complete in Him. 
 And there can be no completeness in them aj^art from 
 Him ; nor any approach towards it. So that, as regards 
 the Knowledge of God, of ourselves, of the soul, of our 
 duty, of our destiny, we have no clue out of Christ; but 
 in Him all these things may be known, so far as it is per- 
 mitted us in our present state to know them. In Him are 
 hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge ; and 
 through Him only iiave we access thereto. While the 
 philosophism, of this or any time, which seeks to make 
 
112 COMMENTARY ON THR 
 
 men wiser and better, apart from, and without reference 
 to Christ, is but insane trifling, and a fruitless stock of 
 lies. And above the writings of all the philosophic 
 Bchools, whether ancient or modern, we inscribe forever 
 the Apostolic description: — 
 
 " Cloudfi they are without water, carried about of winds; 
 trees whose fruit withcreth, without fruity twice dead^ 
 pluclted.up by the 7'oots; raging waves of the sea foaming 
 out their own shame: wandering stars, to whom is reserved 
 the blackness of darkness forever P 
 
 9. " In Him :" i. e., in Christ. 
 
 " Dwelleth :" perpetually ; see Art. II. The Human 
 and the Divine in His Person are never to be divided ; 
 but He is God-man forever and ever. 
 
 "All the fulness of the Godhead." Full deity, with 
 all its perfections and attributes ; and consequently all 
 wisdom and knowledge. 
 
 "Bodily."' As the soul inhabits the body, in man; 
 truly, really, and substantially, and not as in a shadow; 
 in Him, as very Man, true Body, and true Soul ; by a 
 twofold Union ; viz., by a spiritual union between Christ's 
 Unman Soul and the word of God, and by a corporal 
 imion between Christ's Human Body, and the same Divine 
 Person. 
 
 Mystery of Mysteries 1 "Who shall declare His Genera- 
 tion, or his Manner of Life ! 
 
 Therefore let none be heard, })ut He. And let all human 
 wisdom be counted folly and loss, except it express the 
 Truth as it is in Him. 
 
 10. " And ye are complete in Him." Ye are filled, 
 replenished, with and by His fulness, each according to 
 liis measure, in wisdom, knowledge, and all spiritual 
 gifts. 
 
 " Who is the head," &c. Who is no creature, but far 
 above all the angelic hosts and orders ; the Head and 
 Lord of all the Thrones, Dominations, Princeships, and 
 Powers, as their Creator. 
 
 11. In whom also ye 11. As the Apostle has referred to 
 are circumcised witli the heathen systems of philosophy, so 
 the circumcision made uQ^r (jj^^^g ^^ correct Jewish error^ 
 
 ^^'^^'^H-.^'T^V" JVJ^" "Circumcised.^' The true circum- 
 
 tmc on the body or the . . . i. i.i i. /• ^.i t c -kt 
 
 sins of the flesli by the dsion IS not that of the Law of Moses, 
 
 circumcision of Christ: but the circumcision of the heart; the 
 
EPISTLE TO THE C0L08SIANS. 113 
 
 spiritual work of the Holy Ghost. Intendino; to speak of 
 Holy Baptism, he refers to the rite of Jewish initiation, as 
 a type. 
 
 " Made without hands." For it is the work of the 
 Spirit of God. 
 
 " In putting off," &c. As the ancient rite removed a 
 portion of the flesh, so doth the Holy Ghost cast away and 
 destroy the old body of sin, the body of this death. It is 
 a spiritual circumcision, whereby original sin is pardoned, 
 and its guilt forever removed ; whereby tlie power of sin 
 is broken, and its influence weakened ; whereby we are 
 accepted unto sanctiflcation and holiness in the Lord. 
 
 " By the circumcision of Christ." By that circumcision 
 which is conferred through Christ, to them that are made 
 His ; called " Christ's," as that which He, by the Spirit, 
 performs. "Of Christ," is probably here equivalent to 
 " Christian." 
 
 ,„' . , .,, - . 12. " Buried with Him in Baptism." 
 
 inrap.uS,":tTe";" The Instrumental means of our union 
 ye are risen with Urn With Christ. J^ or m that Holy Sacra- 
 through the faith of the ment we are made members of Him, 
 operation of God, who the Incarnate Saviour ; members of 
 
 thfdeTd'^"^ ^'"^ ^''''™ ^^^ ^^^^' ^^ ^^^ -^^®^^^' ^"^ ^^ -^^^^ 
 Bones. This is the great mystery of 
 
 Christ and the Church : " Magnum sacramentum," as the 
 Yulgate hath it. See remarks on Romans vi. 3, 4. Ob- 
 serve also, that this is an absolute statement ; the Apostle 
 asserts that, in baptism, they had been buried with Christ, 
 and were risen again with Him. Therefore, the flrst word 
 of chap, iii., the hinging word of the epistle, yonder 
 IF, has no doubtful or hypothetical sense, but is equivalent 
 
 to SINCE. 
 
 "Through the faith," &c. The idea is, that the same 
 almighty power which wrought to raise up our Lord from 
 the dead, works still and ever, to produce the mystical 
 and spiritual death and resurrection in holy baptism. That 
 sacrament is therefore no outward rite, no empty form, 
 but the instrument and engine of the vast and wonder- 
 working power of Almighty God; and the faith which we 
 must yield is a faith in Him as acting on us thereby. The 
 power comes from without, through that channel^ and 
 the evidence to us that it has been exerted and applied, is 
 not in our feelings, but in His word. 
 
 8 
 
114 COJfMKNTARY OX THE 
 
 To excinplify the drift of the human mind averse from 
 God, let it be noted liow tlie modern sect styled Baptists 
 insist on immersion, from the cast of these expressions, 
 while they deny altogether the spiritual power of the rite. 
 They have retained an empty shell. They will hear of no 
 baptism save by immersion : and yet they make of baptism 
 a mere outward rite without spiritual and saving force. 
 Tliis is Materialism and Formalism in the last degree of 
 development. 
 
 13. A continuation of the foregoing 
 
 13. And you, being statements; a fuller descrii.tion of the 
 dead in your sins and -,..- /. . i , ' , 
 the uncircumcision of condition of those who are sacrament- 
 yoiir flesli, hath he ally in Christ, and He in them, 
 quickened together " Being dead in sins." Ileference 
 with him, having for- jg to our original state as fallen 
 
 ^^ses-^'"'' ^" ^'^'- sinners. 
 
 ' "The uncircumcision," &c., i. «e., 
 
 in the guilt and misery of the natural condition, before the 
 Grace of Christ is given. 
 
 "Your flesh." The complete nature, material, spiritual, 
 moral, and intellectual ; all disordered and disorganized 
 throughout, by sin. 
 
 " Hath He quickened." He, i. e., the Eternal Father. 
 
 " Together with Him." Together with Christ; for when 
 the Father did so raise up our Lord from the dead. He 
 brought Him up as the first-fruits ; and we, and all man- 
 kind^ were potentially raised along with Christ, so as that 
 His Resurrection was, in a manner, that of all mankind. 
 
 " Having forgiven you all trespasses." That the sacra- 
 ment of holy baptism is the appointed instrument for the 
 conferring upon its recipients the pardon of their native 
 guilt, is, with Christians, an article of faith. " I believe 
 
 IN ONE BAPTISM FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS." ScC, alsO, 
 
 Acts ii. 38 ; xxii. 16. It is a sacred mystery, not an in- 
 telligible occurrence ; it belongs to the spliere of the 
 miraculous and the divine. Therein have we remission of 
 original sin, once for all, absolutely and unconditionally: 
 and therein have we prospective and promised pardon of 
 all actual sin, what time soever, with true repentance, we 
 ask it of God. These things are believed^ not understood : 
 they constitute a part of the creed of the faithful soul. 
 
 14. Blotting out the 1"^. l''^- ^^'^ come now to a passage 
 handwriting of ordi- of which bamt Chrysostom tliouglit 
 
EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSI ANS. 115 
 
 nances that was against the sublimity to be unsurpassed by 
 us, which was contrary j^,^,, f],^,,^ ii/^he writings of the Holy 
 to us, and took it out a ii ^ 
 
 of the way, nailing it ^FJ^^ie. _ . . , 
 
 to his cross; Ihere is a certain contusion here. 
 
 15. .l?uniaving spoil- In verses 12, 13, it is the Eternal 
 ed principalities and Father who is mentioned as the Agent. 
 powers he made a ^^^^ ^ ^Ithougli the pronoun re- 
 shew of them openlr, . •' , j^ i xi • i n 
 triumphing over them mollis unchanged, and there is hardly 
 in it. any pause, we must understand, in 
 verses 14 and 15, that Christ is spoken 
 of, and that it is He who blotted out the handwriting, who 
 spoiled principalities and powei-s, &c. 
 
 The questions which may be raised about this verse will 
 be resolved according to the meanings which are attached 
 to the words '' handwriting" and " ordinances." 
 
 1st, then, by the "ordinances" may be understood the 
 precepts and laws of the Mosaic System ; and in the 
 word " handwriting" there may be seen a reference to the 
 act of God in writing the commandments upon the two 
 tables of stone, while in its more exact and fuller sense it 
 might be taken as referring to the transcription of the 
 whole code of ceremonies, &c., in the Sacred Books of 
 Israel. That old legal system might properly be referred 
 to. moreover, as being '" against" men, since it showed 
 them the guilt of their sins, and the need of expiation, 
 while it left them devoid of any sufficient sacritice or 
 satisfaction. In this narrow sense, then, the whole passage 
 may be applied to tlie abrogation of the covenant made 
 through Moses ; for when Christ came, it ceased, and was 
 " taken away." 
 
 But, 2dly, we make a wider application thus. The 
 word rendered " ordinances," may be regarded as signify- 
 ing that perpetual Law by which Sin and Death are ever- 
 lastingly coupled together. "The soul that sinneth, it 
 shall die :" that is a universal ordinance. It is " against" 
 us all, because we have all sinned. And if we take the 
 word in that sense, then the " handwriting" will signify 
 the subscription of each individual sinner to that decree; 
 so that every one, through his particular sins, becomes 
 obnoxious to the general sentence, and signs and sets the 
 seal to his condemnation. 
 
 Next, it must be observed that the Apostle speaks of this 
 handwriting and ordinance, as a kind of bond or legal 
 
116 CoMilKNTARY OX THE 
 
 instrument; for it w&b annulled by tlie being nailed to tlie 
 cross. The figure is that of cancelling a liond ; and the 
 foregoing exphmation enables us at once to upplj ir. 
 
 Lastly, note that in thus cancelling the bond, the Lord 
 is said to have " spoiled i)rincipalities and powers, and to 
 have made a shew of them openly." Doubtless the prin- 
 cipalities and powers here spoken of are the Devil and his 
 angels. But man, by transgression, fell into the adver- 
 sary's hand, and became bound to him, and incurred tlie 
 sentence of deatli. The Devil, therefore, held him under 
 bondage, and might justly claim tlie righteous execution 
 of the sentence. When, therefore, the Lord cancels the 
 bond, by striking through it the nails of His cross, He does 
 so " spoil" the Devil, in delivering the sinnei- out of his 
 hand even as a bird out of the snare of the fowler. 
 
 Thus, in a double sense do we make application of this 
 grand passage. 1st, it refers to the old Mosaic System. 
 Our Lord brought that System to an end; He cancelled 
 the old handwriting of ordinances and rites, by executing 
 the functions of the true Priesthood in the midst of the 
 Israel of the old election. And 2dly, it refers to the 
 redemption of all mankind. For Christ, on His cross, put 
 away the old Decree of Condemnation, in offering Himself 
 a full and sufficient sacrifice, in affording to the sinner ac- 
 cess to God, and in giving him peace through His Blood. In 
 figure, and substantially. He rent in twain, and, miiling it to 
 the cross-head, cancelled the edict. He annulled, destroy- 
 ed, and removed forever, the ancient bond of Eternal Death. 
 And thus did He spoil the kingdom of Darkness. For by 
 transgression the First Adam came into l)ondage unto the 
 Devil. But the Second Adam delivered His brother, and 
 made agreement unto God for him, thereby wresting from 
 the jaws of Hell and Death their prey ; yea. He nuide a 
 show of those powers of darkness openly, leading captive 
 the captivity, and scattering the diabolic hosts, and, before 
 God, angels, and men, triumphing in and by His Cross. 
 ^ , 16. Ihe Apostle now proceeds to 
 
 f.l^^Hl"vnTh/, w ^varn them agaiuBt the influences of 
 fore judge you in meat, , , ° ii i .1 x- 
 
 or in drink or in re- tliose wJio would seduce them from 
 spect of an holyday, or the faith, and to confirm them in 
 of the new moon, or of their position, by a comparison of 
 the sahhaih days : their position, 60 high and glorious, 
 
 with the weak inventions of men. 
 
EPISTLE TO TIIK COLOSSI ANS. 117 
 
 "Let no man therefore judge jou." i. e., pay no 
 attention whatever to the remarks of those who lind fault 
 with 3'ou for not observing the obsolete Jewish rites. 
 
 "Meat, drink," &c. He refers to the customs of tlie 
 Mosaic system. While that system was in force, all 
 these things w^ere of obligation, as commanded by God. 
 But after that system was abrogated, the obligation 
 ceased, and observance of them became self-will and super- 
 stition. 
 
 17. Which are a ^\- J)"^ ^^^ ^^^^f " ^^'^^.^ ,^3-pe, or 
 shadow of thino-s to symbolic representation oi the new. 
 come ; but the body u But when Christ came, the types and 
 of Christ. shadows were done away. 
 
 18. Let no man be- ][8. Other classes of errors are here 
 guile you of your re- j.gfe,j.e^ ^^ . ^^^^i^ ^^ ^y^^ Gnostic, a 
 ward in a voluntary ^ .- ^ i • i 
 humility and worship- system ot angel-worship and creature- 
 ping of angels, intrud- worship. For, as the fathers say, 
 ing into those things thei'e were those who taught that it 
 which he hath not seen, ^^,^8 too great a condescension for the 
 fleshly SSd "^ ^ ^^o^-d of God to be our Mediator, and 
 
 ' that, as in the old system, so in the new, 
 
 angels were the suitable and true mediators between God 
 and men, and that we ought to have recurrence to them 
 as helpers and intercessors. This was what S. Paul calls 
 the introduction of a superstitious reverence towards 
 angels, accompanied by a feigned and affected humility 
 towards God. 
 
 "Vainly puffed up," &c. IS'ot merely is this true of 
 those early heretics wdio professed full knowledge of the 
 divine mysteries, accurately describing the numbers, na- 
 ture, names, offices of the angels and heavenly beings, as 
 though the knowledge had been obtained by them fnira 
 personal inspection. But it is true of Heresy, always and 
 everywhere. AH heresy is choice and self-will ; the result 
 of independent thought apart from God's revelation. And 
 this is the sign of the fleshly mind, and of the heart tiiat 
 is puffed up with pride and with a sense of its own im- 
 portance, adequacy, resources, and abilities. 
 
 19. "Not holding the Head:" i. e. 
 
 19 And not holding Christ. Not holding the true faith 
 an%Srfo/ri''v^?i'„t ^"f --"S Hi,„, His nature, llis 
 and bands having nour- work: not realizing in practice the 
 ishmentministered,and confession of the lips. For heresy, 
 
118 COMlklKNTART ON TUE 
 
 knit togetlier, iiicreas- persisted in, is totally at variance 
 eth^with the increase of ^-i,), ji,^, ^^1,.;^ ^f „ur reli^'ion ; and 
 the disciples of self-will and those of 
 Christ cannot be the same. 
 
 "All the body:" the Catholic Church; of which the 
 Lord is the Head, and whose life is in and from Ilini. 
 
 ''Joints and bands:" the ti<^ure is carried out in full 
 and with great beaiity ; these are the ordinances, the 
 sa/^ranients, the means of grace and the ciiannels thereof. 
 
 "Nourishment:" the grace of God, which is the very 
 food of the faithful. 
 
 "The increase of God:" a divine, a marvellous, a super- 
 human growth; due to the ])owerful presence of the Al- 
 mighty, and proving His neighborhood and agency, 
 
 „^ „, . .- 20. "Dead with Christ;" dead to 
 
 20. Wherefore if ve , ^ ^ , ' 
 
 be dead with Christ '^"'"^" ^.^'^^^'"'^' ^'^ ''""^'^" ^"^'^'"*^**'^^» 
 from the rudiments of dead to sin and to the world, and the 
 the world, why, as rudiments thereof; dead to the an- 
 thougli living in the gient Jewish svstem, dead to the later 
 world are ye subject -i,^^,,; .^ct-teaching ; dead in 
 to ordmances, f 4.- ' i i • ..i ;M i i 
 
 baptism, dead in tlie Church, and 
 
 risen again to a l)etter hope and a better life. 
 
 "The rudiments of the world:" it would seem that the 
 Mosaic ordinances are esj)ecially intended here; for the 
 Law was our schoolmaster, and it taught to men the rudi- 
 ments of divine wisdom and knowledge. But there can 
 be little doubt of a reference to the rules and maxims of 
 divei's philosophic sects. For these sects exhibited many 
 and fantastic rules ; as, for example, the Pythagoreans, who 
 abstiiined from beans, &c., ttc, cVrc. He therefore includes 
 under the term Ordinances^ the Mosaic rules, and those 
 of the heathen religions, absolving Christians from their 
 observance. 
 
 "As tht»ugh living in the world." The Church is in tlie 
 world, but not of it; and in the manner of their life, iier 
 children ougiit to be marked-in ditierence. 
 
 a-, t-r 1 * * * ^1- "Toiicli not;" a precept apply- 
 
 21. (Toucli not; taste . ^ ^ ^ ' ' . ?, ^ \^J 
 not; handle not; i"? ^'* '"eats; "taste not; a rule tor 
 
 drinks; '•handle nor," perhaps refer- 
 ring to the arbitrary proiiibition of female intercourse and 
 marriage. 
 
 22. Which all aVe to ^2. Paraphrase thus : AVhicli rules 
 perish with the using;) concern the transitory and the perish- 
 
EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSI ANS. 119 
 
 after the command- able, and that whicli, in the very use 
 ments and doctrines of thereof, passeth away. Kules on such 
 men? subjects ought not to be held so pre- 
 
 cious as that the divine mysteries of the Faith should be 
 sacrificed for them. ,, 
 
 "After the commandments and doctrmes ot men. 
 From this we infer that the Apostle was speaking of the 
 heathen philosophic maxims; as his condemnation of them 
 is based on the assertion that they were the order and 
 result of mere individual choice and self-will; while the 
 Mosaic Rites and Customs, even as regarded _ meats, 
 drinks, purifications, and the like, were the appointment 
 and ordinance of Jehovah. Still, the difficulty wnll dis- 
 appear, if w^e consider that circumstances alter cases. 
 While the Jewish dispensation lasted, those observances 
 were of divine authority, and of obligation. But after 
 Christ's Advent, the Law being fulfilled and abrogated, 
 their authority ceased, and the necessity of observing them 
 existed no more. Then, to impose them afresh, _ or to 
 endeavor to retain them, was but " will-worship :" it was 
 to require what God had not required, 
 
 y. ^^- i^'i'n\h?wff to enjoin what God had disallowed, 
 have mdeed a shew 01 ^ J . i,„f n,^Tx liorl -nc^v 
 
 wisdom in will wor- to seek to raise up what GoD had pel - 
 
 ship, and humility, and mitted to die. Accordingly, those 
 neglectinc: of the body; observances should be disregarded, 
 not in any honour to the ^^^ discarded altogether, 
 satisfying ot the flesh. a ^^ich things." Here the chief 
 reference probably is to the precepts and maxims of the 
 
 heathen. i j-i j- 
 
 " A shew of wdsdom." It is admitted that bodily dis- 
 cipline is wisdom ; and on this principle the penitential 
 system of the Church is founded ; for, to mortify the 
 flesh, is the rule of the Christian life. The rites which the 
 Apostle condemns were not then objectionable in principle, 
 but in direction, and as not being connected with that 
 faith from which alone good works can proceed. 
 
 "Will-worship, humility," &c., &c. A great zeal in 
 religion, a mortifying of the flesh, a discipline of the body, 
 a denial to the flesh of the satisfaction of its desires, and ot 
 an estimation higher than it could rightly claim: all 
 these characteristics appeared in the erroneous systems ot 
 the time. They were to be rejected, however, by Chris- 
 tians, because they were not held or enjoined in connec- 
 
120 OOMMKNTARY ON TRR 
 
 tion with the system of the Church, and in due subordina- 
 tion t(i ht'i- ])rineiples. 
 
 In sliort, this })assrt<ye tciichcs us, that tlie very same 
 things which are " laudable and glorious" if done " in 
 faith," and in reverence for Christ and in obedience to 
 Ilis Church, are useless and wilful when performed after 
 thu law of a man's own heart and mind. Let no one con- 
 demn, absolutely, the things here spoken of, " humility, 
 neglecting of the body," and the withholding from the 
 flesh the honor of full satisfaction of its lusts : for these 
 things belong, pre-eminently, to the system of the Church, 
 in saving the soul through discipline of the body. But 
 let him remark that their condemnation by the Apostle is 
 a relative one, in so far as they are part and parcel of 
 foreign systems, and of alien gospels, and are not hallowed 
 by the grace of our Lord, and by the sanction of His 
 delegated authority. 
 
PART SECOND. 
 THE DUTIES OF THE CHRISTIAN. 
 
 CHAPTERS in. AND IV. 
 
PART SECOND. 
 
 In the former part of this epistle, S, Paul has stated, 
 in a manner snrprisine:lj beautiful, the sublime privileges 
 of the Child of God. He has done this, not hypothetically, 
 but absolutely. lie has spoken, not of a condition which 
 it was desirable for them to occupy ; but of a state in 
 which they had, once for all, been placed. This state he 
 has figuratively described under the significant terms of 
 being dead, buried, and risen again, in Christ our Lord ; 
 and he has affirmed of Holy Baptism, that it was the 
 Instrumental Means whereby they had so been united to 
 Christ, and made alive unto God in Him. All these 
 declarations are made positively and without reserve. 
 The Apostle has not spoken of their own efforts, as auxil- 
 iary towards the blessed change which had been wrought 
 in them ; nor has he mentioned internal evidence, such as 
 feelings, sentiments, or emotions, as constituting to them 
 the proof that they were in a state of salvation. The gift 
 was imparted by an outward ordinance ; and the fact 
 that they had received that ordinance was the evidence 
 that the gift was theirs. 
 
 And now follows a change of language. The Apostle 
 proceeds to enforce all the duties of a godly, righteous, 
 and sober life. But how, or on what ground, does he thus 
 address them ? Simply on the ground of what he has 
 declared. He builds upon a Fact. He assumes that fact 
 to be known, and to have been duly weighed by eveiy 
 one. In the light of that Fact, he regards, and declares, 
 their duty, He argues from it, as from an incontrovei-tible 
 premiss. ' He does not, therefore, urge thein to become 
 somewhat which they were not then. He does not treat 
 them as yet needing a conversion, or a change of heart ; 
 
124 COMMENTARY ON THE 
 
 nor docs he hint lliat tlioy have to become Christians, nor 
 refer their condition as Christians to any such experience 
 in the past. But, on the contrary, he exhorts all classes 
 and conditions and ages, — children, too, as well as adults, 
 — to an abstinence from sin, from vice, from evil, because 
 they had received the Gift of God. His language implies 
 a work to be done ; the work of setting the affections on 
 things above, of withdrawing from the world, of imti-tify- 
 ing the lusts of the flesh, of declining from sin, of walking 
 with God ; and all this, not as a means of becoming Chris- 
 tians, but as an obligation arising from the fact, that 
 through baptism, they were Christians already. It is 
 impossible to exaggerate the importance of this colloca- 
 tion ; of this parallel between the Gift and the Work to 
 be done, between the Life and the Walk, between the 
 State and its correlative duties. 
 
 All this is realized to us in the system of the Prayer- 
 book. It has evidently been framed after this model. 
 Every baptized infant is held to be undoubtedly regener- 
 ate in that sacrament. Every child, as soon as it is able 
 to learn, is taught (or should be taught) that in its baptism 
 it was made a member of Christ, the Child of God, and an 
 inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven. Every child is told 
 that it is in a state of salvation, because of being a bap- 
 tized child of the Church, and bidden heartily to thank 
 the Heavenly Father that this is so. Every child is taught 
 that it must believe and do as its sponsors promised. • Every 
 child is to be trained to look back to holy baptism as hav- 
 ing fixed its state, its belief, its duties. Every child is in- 
 structed that it has no more to do, save by holy obedience, 
 to continue in its actual state, until its life's end. This is 
 the system of the Church ; and this is a practical applica- 
 tion of the apostolic principles expressed or implied in this 
 epistle. 
 
 On the other hand, the Popular Religionism of the day 
 reverses this order, and has introduced thereby another 
 gospel. It teaches the child, that he is not yet, although 
 baptized, a child of God. He m\ist look forward to con- 
 version and a change of heart before he dare consider him- 
 self in a state of grace. He must try to be good ; he must 
 seek Christ; he must renounce the world; in order that 
 he may become a Christian. If he feel or seem to be 
 moved towards these things, it is regarded as a hopeful 
 
EPISTLE TO TIIK COLOSSIANS. 125 
 
 sie^n, auguring favorably of the ultimate result. When 
 he has goue througli some great experience, when lie has 
 fought '^some great spiritual battle, then he_ may find 
 acceptance. It is to subjective processes that his attention 
 is directed; he is told that he must become a Christian ; 
 and the evidence of the change, when that change shall 
 have occurred, will be found in his consciousness, and not 
 in any rite or ceremony as instrumental towards the result. 
 This is the scheme of the Popular Eeligionism of the 
 period : and it is diametrically opposed to the idea of Saint 
 Paul. He looks to the Past, and builds thereon a Present. 
 But this modern system agonizes through its Present 
 towards a Future. He, from the gift already assured, 
 deduces the claim on further grace, and the law of life. 
 But the apostles of the later gospel (if it be permitted so 
 to style what is but a human conceit) expose a present 
 nakedness and misery as a motive to obtaining a relief and 
 deliverance in the future. 
 
 In illustration of these thoughts, let the text be carefully 
 
 studied. 
 
 , ^^ ,, , . 1. "If." This word is the hinge 
 
 1. If ye then be risen i • i ,i - i. p ^.i -n • 5 
 
 with Christ, seek those on which the two parts of the Epistle 
 things which are above, turn. It is the central word, the ail- 
 where Christ sitteth on important one. It is not a hypothet- 
 the right hand of God. ^^^^^ cqf.55 ^^ expresses no doubt, no 
 
 uncertainty. For he has just said (ii. 12) that they ivere 
 risen with Christ : it is to that statement and affirmation 
 that the words, — the very same that he had just used, — 
 refer. "If" is equivalent to "since then," or "seeing, 
 therefore, that." And the words, " If ye then be risen with 
 Christ," are equivalent to: "Since then, as I have just 
 said, ye are risen with Christ in baptism." 
 
 " Seek those things," &c. Lift up your heads ; renounce 
 this world, its lusts, its dreams ; and live for a better world 
 to come. Do this bkcause ye are already mystically risen 
 with the Lord. Observe that the Apostle does not say, 
 in the modern manner,"Because ye seek those things which 
 are above, therefore ye are, or shall become Christians;"' 
 but, " because ye have been made Christians, therefore 
 seek the things of Christ." 
 
 „ c! ^ «• ^ " For," i. e. because. Terse 3 con- 
 
 2. Set vour aftection . . ^, ' ^ , . ti 4.1 -.^^ 
 
 on things^above, not on tams the reason for doing the thing 
 
 things on the earth. enjoined iu verse 2. It is not " be- 
 
126 COMMKNTARV ON THE 
 
 8. For ye are dead, cause vc set your affection on tliinifjs 
 and your life Is hid with abovertlicrefore your life is Jiid Mith 
 Christ in God. /-ii • J • o 15 ij 1. •* • ti 
 
 (Jlinst in (jron. rJut, it is tlie very op- 
 posite: "Because ye are dead, and because ye have the 
 germ and seed of the new life ; therefore, set your affection 
 on heaven." 
 
 "Things above," inchides all holy and heavenly mys- 
 teries, works, duties, in the Churcli, although she still be 
 militant here on earth. Iler ways arc God's way ; and 
 her things are the powers of the world to come. 
 
 "Dead:" see a^ain verses 11-14 of the preceding 
 chapter. The words express a spiritual state in which, 
 by baptism, they had been placed. 
 
 " Your life is hid with Christ in God." A mystical 
 expression, only to be understood in connection with those 
 expressions whereby Christ, in His Human Xature, is 
 described as most intimately allied to the human race. 
 He hath our flesh. "We are members of His Body, of His 
 Flesh, and of His Bones. His Resurrection is ours also. 
 In the Tabernacle of His Glorified Xature, is all human 
 nature wrapped up ; and as our hope is in Him, and as 
 our hel[t, and strength, and power are in Him ; so, after 
 a wonderful way, are we in Him and He in us. His Body 
 and Blood are eaten and received by us, and our life, in 
 the spirit, is in Him, and hidden from human exploration 
 and from mortal ken. This expression, and similar ones, 
 touch the deepest depths of the subject of the Incarnation : 
 Goo help us to deal with them most reverently. 
 
 A xx-x, rM, ' 4. J. Observe again the order of the 
 
 4. ^\ hen Chnst, wAo ,, , , ., ». , ^ . , , ^, 
 M our life, shall appear, thought: it^ IS determined by the 
 then shall ye also ap- " therefore" in verse 5. They are to 
 pear with him in glory, mortify the flesh with the affections 
 
 5. Mortify therefore and lusts thereof, because they are 
 your members which 1 -• 1 . '..i ti r j ■ 
 are upon the earth; destined to appear With the Lord in 
 fornication, unclean- glory. How strangely must this se- 
 ness, inordinate affec- quence sound to modern ears ! For 
 tion, evil concupis- the language would have to be re- 
 cence, and covetous- ^.^^.g^j ^^ ^^ ^j^^, theories of this dav ; 
 ness, which is idolatry: j ., 1 11 1 ^^ 1 ^•.. •■' 
 
 and It should read ; " by mortitymg 
 
 your members which are upon the earth, you will become 
 80 changed as to be fit to appear with the Lord in glory." 
 But this is not at all the current of the apostolic thought. 
 They have the promise already, the right, the privilege, 
 
EPISTLE TO THE C0L0SSIAN3. 127 
 
 the expectation : tlxercfore^ tlicj are to abstain from the 
 lusts of the flesh here enumerated. 
 
 " Covetousness, which is idolatry." For self is the 
 centre of covetousness, and thus God's place is usurped. 
 It is the sin of Balaam and of Judas which is here spoken 
 of; a sin whose punishment has been slow, but sure and 
 fearful. 
 
 6. For which things' ^- The nnconverted and ungodly 
 sake the wrath of God ^^^ meant ; those who are not yet m 
 Cometh on tlie children a state of grace and salvation. 
 
 of disobedience : 7. Note here the difference between 
 
 7. In the which ye " walked" and " lived." To live in 
 
 wre^ytn'ji^tS tl-- t.l^-g?' Y'^';?i'^ ^" '^'^ '''''''^^ 
 condition of the fallen creature ; un- 
 pardoned, unaccepted, without power. They " walked" 
 in such sins, ^. e. committed them when they " lived" in 
 that their native and unregenerate condition. 
 
 a -D . 1 8. Take this verse with the next, 
 
 8. But now ye also i , ■ .i , ^ ,i 
 pntoffall these? anger, ^^^ "^te again the order of the 
 wrath, malice, blasphe- thought. Anger, wrath, blasphemy, 
 my, filthy commimica- lies, and the like, are to be put off, 
 tion out of your mouth, because the old nature has been put 
 
 nt^;. l°?n''°f/r°' off, and the new put on. Observe 
 other, seeing that ye ' . n j_t ^ t ^ .^ , ,-, 
 
 have put off the old especially, that he says, that they 
 man with his deeds; ^^cive put off the old man and put on 
 
 10. And have put on the new : that much is settled; that 
 the new men which is jg ^ fixed fact. But remark also, that 
 renewed in knowledge .i ,.• /y? ii t 
 
 after the image of him ^}^ putting off anger, wrath, malice, 
 that created him: &c., is enjoined as a work to be done, 
 
 even by them. How different from 
 the popular scheme ! in which, the exhortation is to get 
 Christ, to come to Christ, to put on Christ. According to 
 modern notions, the thing to be done is to put on Christ, 
 and tlie way to this result is to put off the old nian with 
 his deeds. But according to the old and primitive idea, 
 Christ has been put on already by all the baptized, and that 
 is the motive to stifling the remnants of sin. 
 
 " The old man :" the sinful, corrupt, and fallen 
 nature wherein we were all conceived and born. Into 
 this is the seed and germ of the new life inserted by 
 the power of our Lord and the co-operation of the Holy 
 Ghost. 
 
 "The new man:" the regenerate nature, the nature made 
 
128 COMMENTAJBY ON THE 
 
 alive to liope, and joy, and love, through our Lord, and 
 through the power of Ilis Holy Spirit. 
 
 Observe upon these verses, that hj " the old man" and 
 " the new man," are not meant the First Adam and the 
 Second Adam. For although it is customary with the 
 Apostle to speak of putting on Christ, yet we nowhere 
 find such an expression as, putting oft* Adam. Therefore 
 the words, "put on the new man," cannot here mean 
 putting on Christ; because there must be a correspond- 
 ence between the two clauses, and they could only have 
 that sense if the former phrase, " jjut oft' the old man," 
 meant putting oft" Adam, which expression is incongruous 
 and inadmissible. Since then two persons are not meant, 
 the expression must be taken as denoting two different 
 states of the same individual. The old man, is the nature 
 in its original condition ; the new man, is that nature in 
 its regenerate state. 
 
 Again observe, that these expressions relate, not to the 
 individual character, but to the common nature. In other 
 words, to put oft" the old man, does not mean to cease from 
 sinning and to do rigliteousness. To take it in that sense, 
 would be to represent S. Paul as an illogical thinker and 
 a careless writer. For this absurd tautology would follow, 
 if we paraphrased the verses: "Put off anger, wrath, malice, 
 blasphemy, tfec. ; lie not one to another ; follow a pure 
 morality, lead godly lives; because ye have already put 
 away anger, wrath, &c., because ye do not lie any more, 
 because ye are leading godly lives." In short, he who 
 attentively considers these verses cannot fail to perceive, 
 that to put oft" the old man is one thing, and to put off 
 the habits of anger,, malice, blasphemy, lying, tVc, is 
 another and a dift*erent thing. The latter is that to which 
 they are exhorted ; the former is that which has already 
 occurred. Because the}- have put oft' the old man and put 
 on the new, therefore they ought to put oft' and to put 
 aside all habits and acts of sinfulness. This is the whole 
 sum and substance of the Catholic Philosoi)hy of Life. 
 Nature and character are not the same. ]Nature is the 
 field of God's operation ; character is the result of man's 
 activity. Nature is that whereto the holy sacraments are 
 applied ; character is the result of man's co-operation with 
 or despising of grace. To put off malice, anger, blas- 
 phemy, &c., is t<» change the character; to put oft' the old 
 
EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. 129 
 
 man and put on the new, is to liave and receive a spiritual 
 gift into the deep nature, even the inner and hiddeu part 
 of tliis marvellous being. Without these distinctions, the 
 words of the Apostle must ever seem confused, illogical, 
 and obscure; he but repeats himself, and rambles babbling. 
 But with these distinctions kept in view, his words are 
 wonderfully profound and comprehensive, and we hear in 
 them as it were the voice of the God of the spirits of all 
 flesh ; of Kim who assumed, not any individual's person 
 or character, but the connnon humanity of all mankind ; 
 in whom that nature (and not any one individual) is 
 glorified and exalted forevermore. 
 
 " The new man." Compare 2 Cor. v. 17. The regen- 
 erated liumanity. 
 
 " Kenewed." Brought back again to a state like tliat 
 in which our first parents were before the Fall. 
 
 "In knowledge." In the clearer knowledge of God 
 and of His will, and of our duties ; for in knowledge of 
 Him standeth our eternal life. And see the commentary 
 on Romans i. 20-32. 
 
 "After tbe Image," &c. We were made in the Image 
 of God; Gen. i. 26, 27. That Image was obscured by 
 the Fall. To that Image we are restored, by Grace, 
 through Christ. Therefore the regeneration of the sinner 
 in Holy Baptism is called the new creation ; and the 
 sinner a new creature. This, also, the Symbolism of the 
 Church displays ; for the Font is made octagonal, in sign 
 of the seven days of the First Creation, and of the added 
 eighth day of the new. 
 
 -.1 TT^i, ^1. • 11- This statement of the abolish- 
 11. nnere there is • ^ ii i •- v j_- 
 
 neither Greek nor Jew, "^g ^^ ^^\ arbitrary distmctions among 
 cireumcision nor uncir- i^^en, and of the reducing all to obe- 
 cumcision, Barbarian, dience to Christ as the Source of 
 Scythian, bond ^ nor Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctifica- 
 
 ^'(linall '''^ ''^"' *^°.°' ^^^ Redemption, follows appro- 
 priately upon what has been said thus 
 far as against Greek Philosophy and Jewish Superstition. 
 The thought is this : that there is no power or value in 
 aught that is of man, save in so far as the Lord's Presence 
 may consecrate it for its just and proper use. Christ is 
 all : all that we need, all that we can desire, all to man. 
 And Christ is in all: indwelling, by His Spirit, so as that 
 our life, our hope, our strength, are in Him. He who 
 
 9 
 
130 CUMMKNTAKY ON THE 
 
 would be auf^ht without Christ, feeds on a vain hope, 
 lie who would (lej)end on his own li^ht and &tren<ijth, 
 while Christ dwelluth in Iliin, profanes that Sacred 
 Presence, and drives the II«»ly Spirit from IxMieath his 
 roof. 
 
 „ 12. Upon verses 12 and 13, this 
 
 12 Put on therefore. j.^,j^^,.|^ ^. „^^ j^, ^ ^^^^^^ ^j^.^^ 
 
 as the elect oi Uou, ,, , i •' . ^ . i • li 
 
 holy and beloved, bow- ^i' t'le exhortations contained m tlieni, 
 
 els of mercies, kind- are based upon the fact of the relation 
 
 ness, humbleness of of the parties addressed to Almighty 
 
 "'Sin"'*^''^"^''' ^''°^" ^''"^^- ^^^^7 '""^ already His Elect, 
 
 '^^ iT'lorbearing cue "icnibers of His Church, and, as such, 
 
 another, and forginng "holy and beloved," sanctified by the 
 
 one another, if any Holy Ghost, and beloved in Christ as 
 
 man have a quarrel the many brethren of the First-born, 
 
 against any : even as ^^ ^^ ^,^g ^^.^^. ^^.^,^^^ ^^ beautifully 
 
 Christ forgave you, so ^ „, . /? -r-i. it 4.1 • 
 
 also do ye ^i Charity, 01 Lternal Love, as this 
 
 14. And above all Apostle. See 1 Cor. xiii. ; that hymn 
 these things ;>?/< o'i of Divine Love, than which no sweeter 
 charity, which is the g^rain was ever suni,'. Charity is the 
 bond ot pertectness. ^^.^^ ^^^ ^^,^^^^^^ ^J ^j^ . ^j^^ ^^^.^^ ^^ 
 
 theological virtues ; the life of the world ; the very essence 
 of Gou. The Cross displayed it to all the world ; and in 
 the Holy Eucharist it is symbolized and enjoyed perpet- 
 ually, until the End come. " The bond of Perfection ;" 
 for it embraces and connects all virtues, and unites the 
 faithful to each other and to God. 
 
 ,_,,,,,, 15. The vocation of Christians, in 
 
 15. And let the peace ,t ^~^^ x • ^- . 
 
 of God rule in your the Church, is a vocation unto peace; 
 hearts, to the which and iu that peace they are to be thank- 
 also ye are called in ful with exceeding joy. 
 one body; and be ye "Rule in your hearts." There are 
 thauklul. ^^^ senses in which the Greek word 
 
 here translated " rule" may be understood ; an active and 
 a passive. Actively, the idea is that of triumphing vic- 
 toriously ; and then the idea would be, that, over wrath, 
 anger, hatred, lust, &c., the Peace of God should triumph 
 and reign supreme, subduing the whole nature to the Law 
 of Christ, Put, in a passive sense, the idea is, that of 
 being bestowed as a prize ; and then the thought would 
 be, that, after the trial and hard conflict against the 
 world, the flesh, and the devil, they should receive at 
 the Lord's Hand His good and perfect gift ; as it is said, 
 
EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. 131 
 
 "Tlion "wilt keep liim in perfect peace, whose mind is 
 stayed on Tliee, because he trnsteth in Thee." 
 
 16. ''The word of Christ:" the doc- 
 
 16. Let the word of ^i-ine concerning Ilim : the true faith 
 So,"? in"S" ;£do^,° • of .the C'>„,.ch. The word of life, re- 
 teachino- and admon- ceived troni its authorized teachers ; 
 ishing one another iu studied with deep thoui;-ht and rever- 
 psalms and hymns and ence ; rejoiced in with praise and 
 spiritual songs, singing thanks^ivini^ to the Lord for all the 
 with grace in your , P • i ^ ^ i ^ 
 hearts to the Lord. treasures ot wisdom and knowledge 
 
 which He hath shown to men. 
 
 17. And whatsoever 1'7- The final end of all our w^rks 
 ye do in word or deed, must be the glory of God ; and unto 
 do all in the name of that end are they to be begun, con- 
 tiie Loi-d Jesus, giving ^j,^^^gj ^^^^| ^j^^^^i^ g^ ^^ ^^.^ ^^^ 
 thanks to God and the ■, ■ It -\t r rM -i. i i ^^ 
 Father by him. ^^ ^" ^'■^^ ^ ^^^^® ^^ Christ, aud by the 
 
 strength which He supplies. And 
 when the}' are accomplished, the glory and praise are to 
 be perpetually ascribed unto the Most High and Undivided 
 Trinity, and to the Almighty Father, by His Only-be- 
 gotten Son. 
 
 In order that this precept be fulfilled, it sufhces that all 
 things be referred to the Glory of God in Iiahit, though 
 tjiey be not expressly in act. 
 
 When, therefore, our works are such, that they may 
 result in glory to God as having inspired them, this law 
 is fulfilled : but he who acts contrary to the glory of God 
 and to His commandment, transgresses also tliis rule. 
 
 It were desirable, however, that all our works should 
 be referred, in act, or at least in force and intention, to the 
 glory of Almighty God, in the name of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and in reliance on His power and aid. For thus 
 should all become so many praises and acknowledgments 
 of Him. 
 
 "Therefore, by Him, with Him, and in Him, do all 
 things. 
 
 "JBy Him, as thy Mediator and High-Priest; 
 
 "With Him, as thy Head; 
 
 "In Him, in spirit, motives, intentions." 
 
 .o TIT' -L : 18. Here follows a summary of du- 
 
 18. Wives, submit x- „ . c • j i i, i /? i m 
 yourselves unto your ^^^^ ' of Y^"" husbands, of chil- 
 own husbands, as it is ^^'^n and parents ; of servants and 
 fit in the Lord. masters ; on which catalogue it is un- 
 
132 COMMENTAKT ON TIIE 
 
 19. Husbands, love necessary particularly to enlarge. But 
 your wives, and bo not let it be observed, that these are the 
 bitter n^'ain>t theiu duties of the " Elect of God," of those 
 
 20. Children, obey , ,, , j j ^^.j^j^ (., .; ■ y 
 your parents ni all . , . . . i n. i * 
 things: for this is tisiii, and risen ai^aiii with iliiii there- 
 well pleasing unto the in;" and tiiar the basis of all tiiese 
 Lord. exhortations is the ]:)recedin<' •'ift of 
 
 21. Fathers, provoke m-ace 
 
 not your children to ^ \,. ' ,,t)-.. ■>■) • t«j u 
 
 anrfeh lest thev be dis- 1^- fitter :" t. c, difficult, morose, 
 
 couraged. ' vexatious in conduct. 
 
 22. Servants, obey 21. " Provoke not," tfec: ^. <?. be not 
 in aU things your mas- too harsh, too severe ; lay not too heavy 
 ters- according to the ^ ,^^^,.j ^j ^^^, j^^,j^ j 
 tlesh; not with eveser- .. , . , ' , , 
 
 vice as menpleasers ; nne them with an unreasonable se- 
 but in singleness of verity ; for this is to discourage them, 
 Leai-t, fearing God : to make them despondent, to drive 
 
 e^do'^lo ^«^'ll'arti^''" ^^^^^^ ^"^^^^^^ ^^ recklessness of life, when 
 It to't'he Lord, and nS ^licy have liberty and are become theu- 
 unto men; own masters. 
 
 24. Knowing that of 22. " Masters according to the flesh:" 
 the Lord ye shall re- probably heathen masters are meant, 
 ccive the reward of ^^^.^j^ ^^ ^1^^,^^ must the servant be in 
 tlie inheritance : lorye , ,, i • x- hm ^ ^i 
 serve the Lord Christ, humble subjection. Ihe next three 
 
 25. Buthethatdoeth verses are included in the directions 
 wrong shall receive for for servants ; and the tirst verse of the 
 the wrong which he j^^^^ chapter ought not to have been 
 Lath done : and there j • i * j /• •* i 
 isnorespectofpersons. thslocated troin its proper ])lace. 
 
 23. Ihe service is to be rendered 
 cheerfully and with alacrity, as though it were done to 
 the Lord directly ; indirectly, it is done to Him, if done in 
 a right spirit. 
 
 24. "The reward of the inheritance;" the wages and 
 fulness of joy and praise in the eternal kingdom, 
 
 ' . "Give that," tfec. N'ot merely their 
 
 to yo.r?1ervanirtha't ^ue wages, but consideration, kind- 
 which is just and equal; ness, and just and equal treatment 
 knowing that ye also according to their station and their 
 have a Master in heav- rjcrlits, Kothing can be more admir- 
 ^^- able than the way in which the duties 
 
 of servants and masters are thus contrasted, those duties 
 on both sides being referred to the same Lord, with whom 
 there is no respect of persons. Thus, in the doctrine of 
 the Church, concerning Christ, the Goo-Man, in whose 
 
EPISTLE TO THE COL08SIAN8. 133 
 
 Person the finite and the infinite are united, have we the 
 solution of all social problems, as between high and low, 
 rich and poor, master and servant, parent and child, hus- 
 band and wife, &c., &c. The Incarnation is the Central 
 Truth, on which all other truths depend. 
 
 „ _ . . 2. A o-eneral address to the whole 
 
 2. Continue mpraver, i i ^^i j.^ •.] r- i i. /^ i ^ • 
 and watch in the same ^^^-^ ^^ ^he laithtul at Colosse IS now 
 ■with thanksgiving; made. 
 
 3. Withal praying 3. " A door of utterance." An op- 
 also for US, that God portunitv of preaching the great mes- 
 woidd open unto us a ^^ ^^^f^j.^ ^j^^g j^ ^j^^ g^^i^ ,.^^5^^^ 
 
 door 01 utterance, to p ^i a ,i i ■ ^ ^• 
 
 speak the mvstery of "^^'^^J ^^^^ Apostle desires dehverance 
 Christ, for wliich I am from Csesar's dungeon ; not for him- 
 also in bonds : self, but for his work's sake. 
 
 _ 4. That I may make 5. "Them that are without ;" viz., 
 foSSk''*'''' """^ ^¥ lieathen, towards whom a great 
 
 5. Walk in wisdom discretion and forbearance are to be 
 toward them that are shown ; " redeeming the time," taking 
 without, redeeming the advantage of every occasion to ad- 
 *^"^®- vance the cause of the Church and of 
 
 6. Let your speech Christ. 
 
 he alway with grace g_ f j^^ ^ -^ gj^O^^l^j ^^ ^^.^^^ ^^^ 
 
 seasoned with salt, that ,. i n^ ■, i 1 ^ i - 
 
 ye mav know how ye timeij, well seasoned, and adapted to 
 
 ought to answer every each case as necessity and circum- 
 
 man. stances require. 
 
 7. All my state shall g. It is implied that he was to re- 
 Tychicus declare unto ^^^^,^ ^^^ ^^' ^^^^ ^^^.^j ^^ ^^^ 
 you, who IS a beloved . ,1 j? .1 • -,•.• 
 
 brother, and a faithfiU Apostle of their condition. 
 
 minister and fellowser- 9. Onesinius was a slave ; and yet 
 
 vant in the Lord: the Apostle calls him "brother." 
 
 8. Whom I have sent Hq^q [^ the true Christian idea. "Qui 
 
 know your estate, and qui#iit coronatus, qui m tertium as- 
 comfort your hearts ; cendit coelum, servos fratres vocat, et 
 
 9. With Onesimus, a conserves : ubi est insania ? ubi est 
 faithful and beloved arrogantia? Deprimamus omnes fas- 
 brother, who IS one of , ^ i •■■ i.- ?> 
 
 you. They shall make ^um, conculcemus arrogantiam. 
 known unto you all 11. Aristarchus, Marcus, and Justus, 
 things which are done three Jews, are spoken of by the 
 ^^^^- Apostle as having been the only fel- 
 
 10. Aristarchus my low-laborers with him, and they are 
 fellowprisoner saluteth . ,.r. ■> . ^ • i* ^ i j 
 you, and Marcus, sister's testified to as having comtorted and 
 son to Barnabas, (touch- cheered him by their fidelity; it is 
 
134: COMMENTARY ON THE 
 
 inj,' whom ye received not necessary tliat we should so con- 
 .•..iniimn.linents: if ho ^^^.^^^ these verses as to rein-esent tlie 
 
 him ;)""''' ^'''"' '"'"'''''^ ^P««t^« as sayin-, tliat nonebut tliese 
 11.' AndJosus, wliich had been faitlit'iil: the idea is, "these 
 is called Justus, who are the only t'ullow-lahorers of mine 
 areoftlierircumcision. fi-,),,, jinKtMi; the Jews, and these have 
 TlK-se only are my lei- ^.^^..^-.^..^ed i„c indeed." 
 lowwDrkers unto the i ,^ -r< i i • m? r> ^ 
 
 kin-do.n..f God, which . 12. Epaphras was himself a Colos- 
 have bcL'u a comfort Sian. 
 
 unto me. 16. Diverse views have been taken 
 
 12. Epai)hra3, who is ^f ^i^jg ^gj-ge^ g^j^Q ^]^\^^]. that there 
 
 :?Ci::!isr";imet";:^! ^^^ ^" Epistle to the La;,dieeans, and 
 always lahuuriiig fer- that it has been lost ; this is an un- 
 veiitly for you ill pray- warrantable explanation of the diffi- 
 ers, that ye may stand culty. Others think that it was an 
 perteot and complete Ei>i;tle written from Laodieea to S. 
 in all the will ot Cxod. ,/ , . , i • i i i i 
 
 13 For I bear hira ^ 'i^^H ^^ answer to which he liad sent 
 record, that he hath a this letter to the Colossians. Others 
 great zeal for you, and again, that it was the Epistle now 
 them that are in Lao- known ill the Chnrcli as that to the 
 era' oli? "" Ephesians, which had been intended 
 
 14. Luke, the beloved ecpially for Ephesus and Laodieea. 
 physician, and Demas, But the uncertainty cannot now be 
 greet you. cleared up. Only, it is incredible that 
 
 15. Salute the breth- ,^^ inspired letter could have been 
 ren which are in Lao- ^ , t^ i i j.* • *. i.\ 
 dicea, and J^ymphas, I'^st. God's reve ation is not thus 
 and the church which scattered to the idle wind ; the word 
 is in his house. of the Lord, as well written as un- 
 
 16. And when this written, liveth and abideth forever, 
 epistle is read among ^^ Who was Archippus? and why 
 von, cause that it be ,. , , i i • • j iir i 
 read also in the church did he need this warning i \\ e know 
 of the Laodiceans; and not. Bift it is a warning, which may 
 that ye likewise read impress US Ae more from its very 
 the epistle from Lao- ^^ygtery. Like that "nameless col- 
 
 'Tr^'And say to Ar- """^ ^^^^h the buried base,'; hard by 
 
 chippus. Take heed to the place ot the Apostle s imprison- 
 
 the ministry which thou ment ill the Foruin, the lack of data 
 
 hast received in the to interpret the history gives to that 
 
 Lord that thou fulfil it. ^^:^^^ ^ peculiar power. 
 
 18. Ihe salutation < o ir -r» i i j m xt- 
 
 by the hand of me 18. " Remember my bonds." 1 ea, 
 
 Paul. Remember my holy saint, long since delivered from 
 
 bonds. Grace be with those bonds, and entered into thy 
 
 you. Amen, j-gg^;^ surely they are remembered of 
 
EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. 135 
 
 IT "Written from Rome the Cliurch, as well as of God. In 
 to the Colossians ^\^qqq thy bonds, thon didst not mur- 
 
 the stones of darkness and nnder the 
 shadow of death ; for it was no chance which so did cast 
 thee down to the sides of the pit, bnt the will of Ilim whose 
 servants may serve Him as perfectly in solitude as in the 
 throng of life ; as well in the desert and in tlie cell, as in 
 the market-phice or the temple. From those chains, thon 
 hadst no other desire to be released, save this, that thon 
 mightest once more fnllil thy ministry received in tlie 
 Lord, and preach the nnsearchable riches of Christ. The 
 Church remembers thy bonds evermore. Slie gives 
 thanks for them to God, commemorating them, and thee 
 in them, with joy. And still, as bonnd herself, and 
 militant here on earth, she would follow in the way 
 where her Apostles have trodden, gladly enduring afflic- 
 tion and persecntion for a season, nntil the doors of the 
 everlasting kingdom be unfolded, and until the prisoners 
 of hope be released, and until the Lord shall give deliver- 
 ance to the captive, and all shall enter together into joy, 
 because the rod of the oppressor is broken and his yoke is 
 departed from the children of men, and his burden from 
 off their shoulders, forever and ever. 
 
fort Jlfsiis Cljrist, 
 
 BY TKEE WERE ALL THINGS CREATED, AND BY THEE DO THEY ALL 
 CONSIST, 
 
 AND YET IN THE BODY OP THY FLESH HABT THOU 
 REDEEJIED TJ8, 
 
 TRrCTMPHING IN THY CROSS. 
 
 Image of tlje Invisible (Boii ; 
 
 IN US THY IMAGE IS DEFACED AND MARRED : 
 
 I3ri(jl)tncs0 of tl)c (Dlorn of tl)e 5atl)er; 
 
 THE GLORY OF MAN IS AS THE FLOWER OP THE GRASS, 
 THE GRASS -WITHERETH, AND THE FLOWER THEREOF FALLETH AWAY I 
 
 iSpoiUr of Pnndpalitics anb |3otocrs ; 
 
 BEHOLD, HE IS AT HAND THAT DOTH BETRAY US, 
 
 YEA, ALL THE WAVES AND STORMS ARE GONE OVER US, 
 
 AND OUR VOYAGE IS IN THE NIGHT : 
 
 LORD, TO WHOM SHALL WE GO BUT TO THEE ? 
 
 REVIVE THY WORK IN THE MIDST OP THE YEARS ; 
 
 BE8T0RE THE BEAUTY WUICn IS GONE FOR VERY TROUBLE, 
 AND WORN AWAY ; 
 
 AND SAY TO THE WINDS AND THE SEA, 
 
 AND TO EVERY VOICE OP THE OPPRESSOR, 
 
 PEACE, BE STILL. 
 
 
Date Due 
 
 i> 26 '^ 
 
 
 
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