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become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace; i. e. the doctrine of grace.

Having thus cautioned the Philippians against false teachers, the apostle proceeds to speak of himself and his brethren, in opposition to them. Verse 3. For we are the circumcision; q. d. Though we lay aside that rite, and have nothing to do with the circumcision of the flesh, we have that "of which it was a shadow," even the circumcision of the heart. For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God.

Which worship God in the spirit; i. e. with our soul or spirit, and in that spiritual way that God hath appointed; being assisted by the Holy Spirit, who helpeth our infirmities, &c.

And rejoice in Christ Jesus. This is said to distinguish them from those who rejoiced in themselves, and in their submission to legal institutions.

And have no confidence in the flesh; q. d. whatever is our course of obedience, we lay no stress on it; but view it as a cypher in the great affair of justification. Though, says St. Paul, I might also have confidence in the flesh: meaning upon the principles of these false teachers; to prove which, he brings in the text, If any other man thinketh that he bath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more : circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews ; as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is

in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowl edge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.

The former part of the passage is St. Paul's narrative of the privileges of his birth, his strict manner of life, and his confidence in them for justification before God. In the latter part of it, he declares that his apprehension of things was altered, and that he was now sensible of his former ruinous mistake; and therefore that he did most heartily count all those things which were gain to him before but loss and dung, that he might win Christ, and be found in him. The following particulars are proposed for consideration.

I. All unregenerate men are apt to trust in their own righteousness.

II. Such righteousness proved to be essentially defective.

III. The sinner, upon his becoming experimentally acquainted with the grace of the gospel, is thereby led to renounce all confidence in the flesh, and to expect acceptance with God only on account of the perfect righteousness of Jesus.

I. All unregenerate men are apt to trust in their own righteousness.

Self-approbation and self-confidence are first principles; they are natural to man, and grow up with him. Nothing is more common than for

man to entertain a good opinion of himself, and therefore he is not apprehensive of danger in trusting to himself. Why should he be afraid to put confidence in one whom he views with so much esteem?

This spirit is interwoven with man's whole soul, and discovers itself in the common affairs of life. Accordingly we find that men in general give the preference to their own understanding; and are all attention while others are lavish of their praises. Why, but because they are fond of themselves, and think they deserve to be equally esteemed by others? On the other hand, with what difficulty do persons under the influence of this fondness for themselves brook an affront? They are ready to think, if they do not say so, that men of their importance deserve better treatment. Is thy servant a dog, said Hazael to Elisha, that he should do this great thing? No, verily; Hazael is a better man, as if he had said, than to bring such calamities on Israel; and thou, Elisha, the man of God, art surely mistaken in his character: yet soon after he did it.

Could this spirit be confined to temporal things, the hazard that men run would be infinitely less; though in this case, he that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. But when it is introduced and prevails in those things in which men have to do with Jehovah, they run the dreadful risk of losing their souls; for a self-righteous Pharisee will be as surely damned as an openly profane sinner. This harsh saying, as some may deem it, is sufficiently proved by the text, and by all those passages of scripture which denounce woes against Pharisees. Paul knew that his confidence in the

flesh would have terminated in his loss of heaven, if the Lord had not brought him to see the insufficiency of his own righteousness, and enabled him to fly for refuge to the hope set before him. Hence he counted all but loss, that he might win Christ, and be found in him.

But nothing can be more to the purpose, than our Lord's conduct toward the self-righteous Phar, isees, in the days of his flesh. He places them in the same class with scribes and hypocrites; and eight times in the course of one chapter (Matt. xxiii.) addresses them with, Wo unto you; which he concludes with these awful words, Te serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

But such is human depravity, that mankind universally, considered in unbelief, entertain this fondness for themselves. It is what they soonest discover, and part with latest. We see our chil dren, as soon as they learn to distinguish good from evil, ready to place great confidence in some supposed goodness. They are not guilty of this evil and the other, and are not so bad as some who are within the circle of their acquaintance; and hence are ready to infer the goodness of their state. Neither is this to be confined to the follies of childhood and youth; verily, it is the folly of men of every age. Under its influence Paul be. came a noted zealot; for all his religion was founded on this principle. This he frankly confesses.

There are many things that might be mentioned, to prove the universality of this fatal temper.

1. The general drift of the holy scriptures. Every man who does not wilfully shut his eyes,

must observe, that one manifest design of the word of God is to lead mankind to form a proper estimate of their own character, and thereby prevent their putting confidence in themselves. Accordingly the corruption of the world is represented as extending to every individual of the race of Adam, and to every power and faculty of the human soul. They are ALL gone aside, they are all together become filthy; there is NONE that doeth good, no, not one. Now we know, that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; that EVERY mouth may be stopped, and ALL the WORLD may become guilty before God. ALL have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Passages of the same import are numerous, all tending to prove that the WHOLE WORLD is become GUILTY before God.

Now that corruption which extends to all mankind, is proved by the same infallible volume to reach to all the faculties of the souls of men. Attend to the following scriptures. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that EVERY imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Note, every imagination was evil, and that continually. We also read that the carnal mind is enmity against God; that the understanding is darkened, the will obstinate, the affections inordinate. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him. He is represented dead in sins, alienated from God; an enemy in his mind by wicked works. St. Paul declares, that they that are in the flesh cannot please God. And Christ assured Nicodemus, that that which is born of the flesh is flesh. By be ing in the flesh, nothing less is meant than the

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