EMSTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 101 



mucii peopio, saying that they be no gods, which are made 

 \v:th hands ; so that not only this our craft is in danger to 

 Of 3 set at naught, but also that the temple of the great god 

 dess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should 

 be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth." 



VI. I observe an agreement in a somewhat peculiar rule 

 of Christian conduct, as laid down in this epistle, and as ex- 

 emplified in the second epistle to the Corinthians. It is not 

 the repetition of the same general precept, which would 

 have been a coincidence of little value ; but it is the general 

 precept in one place, and the application of that precept to 

 an actual occurrence in the other. In the sixth chapter 

 and first verse of this epistle, our apostle gives the folloAV- 

 ing direction : " Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, 

 ye which are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of 

 meekness." In 2 Cor. 2 : 6—8, he writes thus : " Sufiicient 

 to such a man" — the incestuous person mentioned in the 

 first epistle — " is this punishment, which was inflicted of 

 many. So that contrariwise, ye ought rather to iorgbie him 

 and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be SM'al- 

 iowed up with overmuch sorrow. Wherefore I beseech 

 you that ye would confirm your love toward him." I have 

 little doubt but that it was the same mind Avhich dictated 

 these two passages. 



VII. Our epistle goes further than any of St. Paul's epis- 

 tles ; for it avows in direct terms the supersession of the 

 Jewish law, as an instrument of salvation, even to the Jews 

 themselves. Not only were the Gentiles exempt from this 

 authority, but even the Jews were no longer to place any 

 dependency upon it, or consider themselves as subject to it 

 on a religious account. " Before faith came, we were kept 

 under the law, shut up unto the faith which should after- 

 waiJs be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmas- 

 ter to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by 

 faith. But after that faith is come, ice are no longer under 

 a schoohnaster.''' Chap. 3 : 23-25. This was undoubtedly 



