Abraham received the fign of circumcifion, as the feal of that righteousness which was by faith: and his posterity had a peculiar law given them in a very folemn manner for keeping up the memorial of that fame righteousness, and preferving the knowledge of it from being corrupted by the imaginations and inventions of men. The obfervance of this law was made the tenure by which they held the poffeffion of the land which God had given them, and which was fecured to them ay and until the Messiah, the promised feed, fhould come. On this account they had got it ftrongly into their heads, that there was no way by which any others could obtain an interest in the bleffing of Abraham, or eternal life, but by incorporating with their nation, by receiving this fame circumcifion, and fubmitting to the law of Moses.

Great numbers of them, however, overcome by the evidence of our Lord's miracles, and refurrection from the dead, with the glo

ry

that followed in his afcenfion to heaven, and fending the Holy Spirit according to his promife, came to believe, in fo far as the evidence compelled them, that Jefus

was

was really the Chrift, or promised Meffiah. But not being thoroughly acquainted with the character and business of this fame Meffiah, nor with the true nature and intention of their own law, they ftill retained their national prejudice; and therefore maintained, that after all the Meffiah had done, unless a man was circumcifed after the manner of Mofes, and thus fubmitted to the Jewish law, he could not be faved; and therefore, however the Gentiles might be admitted heirs of eternal life, yet, in order to this, there was ftill a neceffity of their being incorporated with the Jewish nation, and submitting to the law of Mofes. Much heat and contention did this perverfe opinion occafion in the feveral churches: nor did the apoftolical decifion put an end to it wholly, until that nation was destroyed, their temple ruined, and the obfervation of the effentials of that law rendered impracticable. This we are certainly informed of, that they continued zealous for their law until Paul was made a prifoner; and their attachment to it was in a manner connived at by the apostles themselves, as appears from the advice that was given

to

to Paul for removing the prejudices which the Jews at Jerufalem had conceived against him, or rather for preventing the bad effects of their enormous zeal.

This prepofterous zeal of theirs was accompanied, as falfe zeal ufually is, with inveterate enmity against all oppofers, and unwearied attempts to make pro-. felytes. Some of these zealots had infinuated themselves into the good graces of the Galatian converts to Christianity. This could not be done but by depretiating either the Apoftle or his doctrine. and, by what we find in this epiftle, they fpared neither the one nor the other: for, not contented with charging his doctrine with effential defects, and undertaking to teach a more perfect way, they directly attacked his character and apoftolic authority That as he was none of those whom Jefus in his lifetime had called to that office, he was either no apostle at all, or one of an inferior order, commiffioned and fent out by those who were truly fo: nay, they scrupled not to say, that the other apostles, being all of their mind, Paul himfelf was now better taught than formerly, and was as much for circumcifion as they

:

were;

were; which probably they might give fome colour to by his caufing Timothy to be circumcifed when he took him for his companion. And little wonder it is, that fuch artful infinuations fhould make a very confiderable impreffion on the perhaps honest, though weak minds, of thofe .newly brought out of the grofs darkness of Heathenism.

At what time this epiftle was written, does not appear; only, that it was not long after the Galatians were either converted or vifited by him. But this we may pofitively fay, that the great warmth he fhows was not owing, as fome have imagined, to his being himself but newly converted: for we are fure, that it was written more than fourteen, or rather more than feventeen years after his converfion, as appears from the first verse of the second chapter, compared with the last verses of the first chapter. Some have been very pofitive, that it must have been written before the decifion recorded Acts xv. mainly because he makes no particular mention of that decision in this epiftle. But if it fhould be made appear, that the Galatians had not been converted, and that Paul was never

among

among them until fome time after that meeting, that point would be effectually determined. We have a very particular account of his first journey into these countries along with Barnabas. But Galatia was none of the places where they publifhed the gofpel, nor have we any mention of it till fome time after his journey with Barnabas to Jerufalem, and after they had feparated; which is commonly reckoned to have been in the year 53. We find indeed, that he vifited Galatia a second time; but whether before or after writing this epiftle, we have no evidence, nor is it worth while to make gueffes about it.

For preventing the prejudice which the churches must have fuftained by fuch unnatural mixtures of the legal institutions with the gospel of Chrift, the Apostle addreffes himself with great, and truly divine fkill, to vindicate his own character, to warn them of their danger, and the destructive tendency of those tenets they had too far encouraged, in the strongest manner; and, at the fame time, to convince them of his tender and fatherly affection toward them, whom he regarded as his VOL. III.

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