And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.

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

COMMENT.-The sum of the argument is "Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free" (Gal. v. 1), and this is only to be done by following the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who alone can guide us in the service which is perfect freedom. To accept the Jewish covenant would be undertaking a service we cannot perform. But to expect to live an upright moral life without the grace of the Holy Spirit and without resting on the merits and mediation of Christ is equally returning to the old bondage, and the bondage in which many who own the truth are' content, alas, to live, is slavery to the propensities of their own bodies! For there is a continual war between the Holy Spirit in our souls and the desires of our own selves. It begins from the moment conscience says "Do this," and self answers, "I do not like it." The two are contrary, and one or other part of our being must be displeased, either the better or the worse.

The fruits produced by the Holy Spirit's guiding and those that come following the bodily wishes, are set in strong contrast. And the description is followed by a verse reminding us that the members of Christ crucified are bound to crucify, namely, to contradict till they gradually die out of our nature, all these evil passions and propensities, thus indeed attaining the freedom of the Spirit.

This is not being led by the law, that is, not merely being good out of fear of punishment, but out of love of perfection, namely, the love of God. This is freedom.

Trust, and hope. For sowing to the flesh, i.e. caring for nothing but the body, is wasting our time on a perishable thing; while sowing to the Spirit is laying up a store for everlasting life. Nor must we become weary of thus crossing our inclinations, for the harvest is certain for those who persevere. And what is saved from ministering to our own appetites will do good to the poor, especially those of the household of faith, i.e. members like ourselves of Christ's family.

In conclusion St. Paul bids the Galatians observe the large size of the Greek letters in which he wrote to them with his own hand, instead of as usual dictating. This looks as if the "thorn in the flesh" was indeed a weakness of the eyesight, and it is plain that he meant to appeal to the effort he had made to enhance the force of his words.

He adds, that those who cared merely for fair show wished to circumcise Christian Gentiles, because being counted as Jews would shelter them from persecution, whereas now they were an unrecognised sect, neither owned by Jews nor heathens; but for that matter St. Paul himself thought the Cross, namely, the badge of the most shameful of deaths, the only thing worth glorying in.

And clenching the whole argument in a few words, he says, it is not the being circumcised or uncircumcised that avails anything towards Christ, but being new creatures, that is, being created or born anew. "Except ye be born again ye cannot see the Kingdom of God" (St. John iii.); and to all who walk according to this new life he wishes peace as to the Israel of God, the now chosen people, the true children of Abraham.

And St. Paul bears in his own body the marks, or, as the word means, the scar of the branding-iron, which betokens that he belongs to Christ, as slaves were sometimes marked, and as sheep are marked. The scars of his scourgings and his stoning were these marks.

LESSON LXVI.

THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

ROM. xvi. I—23.

I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea:

That ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you; for she hath been a succourer of many, and of myself also.

Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus :

Who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only

I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.

Likewise greet the church that is in their house. Salute my well-beloved Epenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ.

Greet Mary, who bestowed much labour on us.

Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me. Greet Amplias my beloved in the Lord.

Salute Urbane, our helper in Christ, and Stachys my beloved.

Salute Apelles approved in Christ. Salute them which are of Aristobulus' household.

Salute Herodion my kinsman. Greet them that be of the household of Narcissus, which are in the Lord.

Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labour in the Lord. Salute the beloved Persis, which laboured much in the Lord.

Salute Rufus chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.

Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren which are with them.

Salute Philologus, and Julia, Nereus, and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints which are with them.

Salute one another with an holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you.

Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.

For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.

For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.

:

And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Amen.

Timotheus my workfellow, and Lucius, and Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen, salute you.

I Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord. Gaius mine host, and of the whole church, saluteth you. chamberlain of the city saluteth you, and Quartus a brother.

Erastus the

COMMENT.-While St. Paul was still at Corinth, Phoebe, a deaconess, a woman dedicated to the service of the Church, was going from Cenchrea to Rome. He had not been there since his conversion, but he was personally acquainted with many there residing, having met them at Corinth and elsewhere, and he intended visiting them shortly. A Church had been already founded there, either by St. Peter or Aquila and Priscilla, and also consisting of Jews converted during the time that Claudius had banished them, and of Greeks and Romans, also converted while living as merchants, soldiers, magistrates, or even slaves in the East. Looking at this last chapter (xvi.) we gather from the greetings to St. Paul's friends what sort of persons they were to whom he wrote.

These are his old friends Aquila and Priscilla, whom he here calls Prisca, her proper name, Priscilla being the diminutive. Mary may be the mother of St. Mark and sister to Barnabas. Andronicus and Junia and Herodion are called St. Paul's kinsmen, and if not actually. near relations must have been Benjamites. Rufus, "the chosen in the Lord," is almost certainly the son of Simon the Cyrenian, who bore our Lord's cross, and was mentioned by St. Mark when writing the Gospel intended for the Romans as the father of Alexander and Rufus. "His mother and mine," as St. Paul calls the widow of the good Cyrenian, "must have been indeed a holy and blessed woman. These must have been Jews from the settlement of Cyrene in Africa.

Aristobulus was probably one of the Herod family, to whom the government of Lesser Armenia was afterwards given. He does not seem to have been himself a convert, but there were Christians in his household, probably meaning his slaves. So there were among the slaves of Narcissus. A man of this name is known to have been a favourite of the Emperor Nero, and we may therefore suppose that even among the slaves of the courtiers the Word had taken root. Epenetus is spoken of as the first-fruits of Achaia, but as we know, Fortunatus and Stephanas were the first converts there, and in the best versions the word is Asia, ¿.e. the province round Ephesus. Most of the others are spoken of as having worked well, and laboured in the Lord-women as well as men. Hermas has a special interest as having been afterwards the author of an allegory representing our Lord as the Good Shepherd, which was for some time included in the manuscripts of the New Testament. Some of these persons then were Jews and others Greeks.

And now let us see who join with St. Paul in their greetings to these Christian friends. There is his constant companion Timotheus, and Lucius, who some think to be St. Luke, others a Lucius who was first Bishop of Cenchræa. Jason was the Thessalonian Jew who had been misused for St. Paul's sake (Acts xvii.) and had now cast in his lot with him; Sosipater was one of the noble Bereahs who had joined the company who were going with St. Paul, partly to see Jerusalem, and partly to carry the alms of their congregations; and Gaius, or Caius, was that Corinthian whom St. Paul had himself baptized, and who seems to have been a kind

and hospitable man, ever ready to welcome the Apostles and their followers on their journey. Erastus, the treasurer of the city, seems by a later Epistle to have also become a follower of St. Paul. We have read the last chapter first, because it gives us a clearer notion of whom he wrote to and who were the companions then with him at Corinth. The epistle was dictated to one Tertius, who adds his greeting.

LESSON LXVII.

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH.

ROM. vii. 12—25.

In this mixed Church of Jew and Gentile Christians, St. Paul wrote the most difficult and most often misunderstood of all his Epistles. It is not our purpose in these readings to attempt to go through it completely, but only to choose out a few passages easier to enter into. The first part is on the great doctrine called Justification by Faith. First St. Paul shews how far the heathen world, left to itself, had strayed into horrible evil and corruption, and then that even the Law, though perfect in itself, could not keep Israel upright. It could only shew them their sins, as a perfect example shews the failure of copies, and he closely argues out at the same time that Faith in the promises of God was what saved Abraham, not obedience to the Law, which was not yet given. In fact it is only Faith through which the moral Law can be kept, and that not as by bondage but in the freedom of the Holy Spirit. It is all brought to one point in the Apostle's own brief history of his own state of mind as a Pharisee at first, and then as a believing Christian.

Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

But

Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.

For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.