FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

THE EPISTLE.

GALATIANS vi. 11-18.

"Ye see how large a letter," &c.

Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand.

As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised.

Observe what grief possesses his blessed soul. As those who are oppressed with some sorrow, who have lost one of their own kindred, and suffered an unexpected calamity, rest neither by night nor day, but their grief besieges their soul, so the blessed Paul, after a short moral discourse, returns again to that former subject which chiefly disturbed his mind, saying as follows: Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own handa. By this he signifies that he had written the whole letter himself, which was a proof of great sincerity. In his other Epistles he himself only dictated, and another wrote, as is plain from the Epistle to the Romans, for at its close it is said, "I Tertius, who wrote this Epistle, salute you"; " but in this instance he wrote the whole himself. And this he did by necessity, not from affection merely, but in order to remove an injurious suspicion. Being charged with acts. wherein he had no part, and being reported to preach Circumcision yet to pretend to preach it not, he was compelled to write an Epistle with his own hand, in order to deliver in beforehand a written testimony. By the expression "what sized," he appears to me

• Lit.,

"with what sized letters."

b Rom. xvi. 22.

to signify, not the magnitude, but the misshapen appearance of the letters, as if he had said, "Although not skilled in writing, I have been compelled to write with my own hand, to stop the mouths of these traducers.

As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the Law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.

What is the meaning of, to make a fair shew in the flesh? it means, to be esteemed by men. As they were reviled by the Jews for deserting the customs of their fathers, they desire, says he, to injure you, that they may not have this charged against them, but vindicate themselves by means of your flesh. They choose to offend God that they may please men; for this is the meaning of, to make a fair shew in the flesh. Then, as a proof that for another reason too they are unpardonable, he shews that, for their own vain-glory also they had enjoined this. Wherefore he adds, that they may glory in your flesh, as if they had disciples, and were teachers. And what is the proof of this? For neither they themselves, he says, keep the Law; even if they did keep it, they would incur grave censure, but now their very purpose is corrupt.

But God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Truly this symbol is thought despicable in the world's reckoning, and among men; in heaven and among the faithful it is the highest glory. Poverty too is despicable, but it is our boast; and to be cheaply thought of by the public is ridiculous, but we vaunt of it. So too is the Cross our boast. He does not say, "I boast not," nor, "I will not boast," but, God forbid that I should boast, as if he abominated it as absurd, and invoked the aid of God in order to his success therein. And what is the boast of the Cross? That Christ for

my sake took on Him the form of a servant, and bore His sufferings for me who was a servant, an enemy, an ingrate; yea, He so loved me as to give Himself for me. What can be comparable to this! If servants who only receive praise from their masters, to whom they are akin by nature, are elated thereby, how must we not boast when the Master, Who is very God, shrinks not from the Cross for our sakes. Let us then not be ashamed of His unspeakable tenderness; He was not ashamed of being crucified for thy sake, and wilt thou be ashamed to confess His infinite solicitude? It is as if a prisoner who had not been ashamed of his King, should after that. King had come to the prison and himself loosed his chains, become ashamed of him on that account. Yet this would be the height of madness, for this very fact would be an especial ground for boasting.

By whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

What he here calls the world is not the heaven nor the earth, but the affairs of life, the praise of men, retinues, glory, wealth, and all such things as have a show of splendour. "To me, these things are dead." Such an one it behoves a Christian to be, and always to use this language. Nor was he content with the former mode of doing to death, but added another, saying, and I unto the world; thus implying a double death, and saying, "They are dead to me, and I to them, neither can they captivate and overcome me, for they have died once for all; nor can I desire them, for I, too, am dead to them. Nothing can be more blessed than this death, for it is the foundation of a beatific life.

For neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

Observe the power of the Cross, to what a pitch it

hath raised him! not only hath it mortified for him all mundane affairs, but hath set him far above the Old Dispensation. What can be comparable to this power? for the Cross hath persuaded him who was willing to be slain and to slay others for the sake of circumcision, to leave it on a level with uncircumcision, and to seek for things strange, and marvellous, and above the heavens. This your rule of life he calls a new creature, both on account of what is past, and what is to come; of what is past, because our soul, which had grown old in the age of sin, hath been all at once renewed by baptism, as if it had been created again. Wherefore we require a new and heavenly rule of life. And of things to come, because both the heaven and the earth, and all the creation, shall with our bodies be translated into incorruption. Tell me not then, he says, of circumcision, which now availeth nothing; (for how can it appear, when all things have undergone such change?) but seek the new things of grace. For they who pursue these things shall enjoy peace and amity, and may properly be called by the name of "Israel. While they who hold contrary sentiments, although they be descended from him, and bear his appellation, have yet fallen both from the affinity, and from the name itself. But it is in their power to be true Israelites, who keep this rule, who desist from their old ways, and follow after grace.

From henceforth let no man trouble me.

a

This he says, not as though he were weak, or overpowered; He who chose to do and suffer all for His disciples' sake; He who said, "Be instant in season, out of season c;" he who said, "Peradventure God will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil;" how shall he now become relaxed and fall? Wherefore does he say this? It is to gird up their slothful mind, and to impress them with deeper

e 2 Tim. iv. 2, and chap. ii. 25, 26.

fear, and to ratify the laws enacted by himself, and to restrain their perpetual fluctuations.

For I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.

For

He says not, "I have," but "I bear," like a man priding himself on a trophy and royal ensigns. Although it seems a disgrace, yet doth this man vaunt his wounds, and like military standard-bearers, so does he exult in bearing about these wounds. And why does he say this? "More clearly than by any argument, than by any language, do I hereby," says he, "vindicate myself. For these wounds utter a voice louder than a trumpet against my opponents, and against those who say that I play the hypocrite_in my teaching, and speak what may please men. no one who saw a soldier retiring bloody from the battle, and with a thousand wounds, would dare to condemn him who bore on his body the proofs of his valour, of cowardice and treachery: and so ought ye,' he says, "to judge of me. And if any one desire to hear my defence, and to learn my sentiments, let him consider my wounds, which afford a stronger proof than words spoken or written." At the outset of his Epistle, he evinced his sincerity by the suddenness of his conversion; at its close he proves it by his perils. That it might not be objected that he had at first changed his course with upright intentions, but that he had not continued in the same purpose, he produces his labours, his dangers, his strife, as witnesses that he had

done so.

Then, having clearly justified himself in every particular, and proved that he had spoken nothing from anger or malevolence, but had preserved his affection towards them unimpaired, he again establishes this same point, concluding his discourse with a prayer teeming with a thousand blessings in these words;

Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your Spirit. Amen.

By this last word he hath sealed all that preceded it.