What he had preached, was the only true Gospel.

Gal. I. 7

13

Juftification by Divine Grace on our be- Sect. 1.
lieving, without the Works of the Mofaic
Law. But indeed, to fpeak more ex-
actly, that Syftem of Doctrines which you
have fo rafhly and unhappily received, is
not in ftrict propriety another Gofpel, nor
worthy the Name of Gospel at all: But
this in fhort is the Cafe, that there are
fome feducing and Pharifaical Teachers,
who, for their own unworthy Ends, have
gone about to trouble you with falfe Infi-
nuations, and are defirous to do their ut-
moft to fubvert and overthrow the Gospel
of Chrift, which hath been preached to
you in fo pure and powerful a Manner.
You know the Doctrine that was firft 8
delivered to you under the Inspiration of
the Holy Spirit; and whatsoever may have
been fuggefted, as if Peter and the other,
Apoftles, and even I myself do fometimes
preach up the Works of the Law, as ne-
ceffary to be joined with Faith in Chrift
for Juftification, let no fuch Principles be
admitted by you: But though we, or any
other Apostle, not excepting the most ho-
nourable and illuftrious Names, or even
an Angel from Heaven (b), if that were
poffible, fhould preach any other Gospel
among you, than that which we have al-
ready preached unto you, and confirmed by
fuch apparent and uncontrolled Miracles,
let him not only be rejected, but pronoun-
ced an Anathema, and be devoted to a
perpetual and moft dreadful Curfe.

الية

Nor is it by any fudden Flight of Zeal. that I exprefs myfelf thus; but as we norra Manolen odeɔ Logbalwordba si rigunet

bave

(b) Or an Angel from Heaven.] Some have imagined, that the Apostle here, refers to the Pretences, which Cerinthus is faid to have made to his receiving a Revelation from the Hand of an Angel: But I fee no Proof, that this Pretenfion was made fo early, if indeed it were made at all.

(i) Sale

9**

He did not aim at pleafing Men,
have faid but just before, fo fay 1 now
again, and folemnly repeat it as my deli-
berate Judgment, If any one whatever,
whether Man or Angel, preach any other
Gofpel to you than that which
you
have re-
ceived already from our Lips, and which
indeed ye have been taught by us from
Chrift himself, let him be Anathema, and
look upon him with as much Deteftation
as you would on the most execrable Crea-
ture in the Universe.

ང་

I fpeak with all this Freedom from the fure Consciousness of my own Integrity: For after all that I have done and fuffered for the Truth, do I now follicit the Favour of Men, or of GOD (i)? Do I endeavour in my Ministry, to ingratiate myself with Men, or to approve myself to GOD? Or do I, in the general Courfe of my Conduct, feek to pleafe Men by a Compliance with their Prejudices or Designs? I have no Party-Views, as I had formerly before I was converted, (Acts ix. 1, 2.) nor any Intention to purfue the Schemes and ferve the Purposes of Men; for if indeed (k) Iyet pleafed Men, by foothing their Humour and flattering their Vanity, I should not be the Servant of Chrift; I fhould not deferve the Name of a Chriftian, and much less that of a Minifter and an Apoftle, and must indeed change the whole Syftem of my Doctrine, if I would render it agreeable to human Prejudices.

(i) Sollicit the Favour of Men, or of God?] Av@PATTES WELOW, TOY ; It is by a great Latitude that the Pruffian Verfion renders this, "The Doctrine which I would here perfuade, is that of Men, or of GOD?" The Connection feems to demonftrate, that we here fignifies, feek to perfuade or to ingratiate himself with the one or the other, though it be acknowledged to be a lefs common Senfe. Compare Acts xii. 20. xiv. 19. xix. 26. yet is often used to fignify indeed, fee Note (9) on A&s xix, 49

(4)
deed That
Fol. iii. pag. 316.

Set Reflections on the Danger of perverting the Gospel. [

IMPROVEMENT.

215

ET us adore the Name of that bleffed Redeemer, who gave Sect. 1.

L'bimfelf a Sacrince for our sins, and may the confideration

Ver. 4.

of his gracious Purpofe in doing it, have its Efficacy, to deliver us from this prefent evil World, and to raise our Hearts to that, to which the Father hath exalted him, by whom he was raifed from Ver. 1. the Dead: To whom, for all the Purposes of his Grace in the whole Scheme for our Redemption, be Glory for ever and ever.

Ver. 5.

Ver. 8, 9,

Let the Remembrance of this compaffionate Saviour, who is the fame Yesterday, to Day, and for ever, engage us to be ftedfast in the Profeffion of his Religion, and to be upon our Guard against all who would pervert the Gospel. May his Minifters Ver. 7. efpecially be exceeding cautious, how they do any thing that looks like corrupting it; fince fuch a dreadful Anathema is pro.. nounced against an Apofte, or an Angel, who fhould attempt it. Who can be fuperior to every Alarm on this Head, that confiders the Cafe of the Galatians, who though they received the Gospel from the Lips of fuch an Apoftle as Paul, could be fo foon Ver. 6. removed, and drawn afide to a quite different Syftem ? But Gop made a gracious Provifion for their being recovered, and confirmed in the primitive Faith, by this Epistle; which was intended alfo to be a Security to us, that we might learn from hence the Purity and Simplicity of the Chriftian Doctrine, and be established in the Truth as it is in Jesus.

Let the Minifters of Chrift faithfully preach it, not as feeking to pleafe Men, but that GOD who trieth the Hearts; and who can only be pleafed by an entire Surrender of the Soul to that Syftem of Truth and Duty which he hath condefcended to teach, and by a faithful Care to spread its genuine and falutary Maxims as widely as they can, without any Addition or Diminution. To follicit the Favour of Men, and to endeavour to oblige them, by facrificing fuch facred Confiderations to any of their Prejudices and Follies, is to act in a Manner utterly unbecoming a Servant of Chrift; and fo unworthy a Conduct in fuch as bear the Character of Minifters, may justly provoke the Indignation of their Divine Mafter, to make them as contemptible as they fuffer themselves to become unfaithful.

SECT.

Ver. 10.

16

Paul had his Doctrine, not from Men, but from Chrift.

SECT. II.

food To vindicate bis Doctrine to the Galatians, and to remove the Prejudices that were raifed against it, Paul fhers them, it was not received from Men; and as a Proof of the Divine Authority of his Miffion, gives fome Account of Facts, which immediately fuc ceeded his Converfion from a perfecuting Zeal againft Christianity to the Profeffion of it. Gal. I. 11. to the End.ne c) bits not

Sect. 2.

Gal. I. 11.

12

M

GALATIANS I.vii. enoitus

SOME have indeed attempted to re-
upon my Doctrine, and to de-
preciate the Authority of my Commiffion
as an Apostle: But I certify you, Brethren,
and declare in the most determinate Lan-
guage I am capable of ufing, that, what-
ever my Enemies, who herein are yours
likewife, may infinuate to the contrary,
the Gospel which has every where been
preached by me, is not according to the Tra-
dition or Invention of Man, nor in any
way adulterated and debased to suit the
Relish, or to favour the Prejudices of
those to whom it was to be delivered.
For I neither received my Commission to
preach it from the Authority or Interpo-
ition of any Man whatever, nor was I
taught [it] by any written Memoirs, or any
other human Method of Inftruction (a);

but

(a) Nor was I taught it, &c.] If it fhould be objected here, that Ananias would undoubtedly inftruct Paul in the Principles of the Gofpel, before he baptized him: It may be replied, not only that Ananias was no fuch confiderable Perfon, that Paul fhould be fufpected by the Galatians to have been modelled by him; but that it feems, when Ananias first came to him, Paul was fo well acquainted with the Principles of Chriftianity, which he had been inftructed in by Revelation during the

Three

who had converted him from his Zeal for Judaism.

17

but in a moft extraordinary and miracu- Sect. 2.
lous Way I was enlightened in it, and
authorized to preach it, by the immediate Gal. I. 12.
Revelation of Jefus Chrift himself, who
communicated to me by Infpiration the
Knowledge of Salvation to Faith in him,
and fent me forth to publish the glad
Tidings of the Gospel.

13

This you already know, though I touch
upon again as a Truth of fo great Impor-
tance: For you undoubtedly have heard
of my Converfation and Character in Time
past, particularly in my youthful Days,
and to the happy Time when I became
acquainted with the Gofpel; that I was
fuch a violent Bigot in the Profeffion of
Judaifm (b), and fo implacable an Enemy
to the Followers of Chrift, that I unmea-
furably perfecuted with the most insatiable
Rage the Church of GOD, which I now
efteem it my greatest Honour to edify and
ferve, though I was then intent upon its
Ruin, and ravaged it with all the Fury of
a Beaft of Prey.
And fuch was my 14
Regard for all the Jewish Rites and Cuf-
toms, that I made Proficiency in the Know-
ledge and Practice of Judaism, beyond ma-
ny of my own Nation, [who were] my Equals
in Age, and of the fame Standing with
myself in the Study of the Law; being
more abundantly and paffionately zealous
for the hereditary Maxims and Traditions
of my Fathers, on which the Pharifaick
Sect

Three Days of his Blindness, that Ananias could not judge it necessary to inftruct him
as a Catechumen; which is the more probable, as it appears the Lord had told him,
Paul was before acquainted by a Vifion with the Purpose of his coming to him. See
Acts ix. 12.

(b) In Judaifm.] Mr. L'Enfant well obferves, that this does not fignify the Religion originally taught by Mofes, but that which was practifed among the Jews at this Time, and much of it built upon the Traditions of the Elders.

VOL. V.

C

(4) That