2.

its affections and lusts. The death of sin is here compared to our Saviour's crucifixion; 1. To show the conformity there is betwixt the death of sin, and the death of Christ. Did Christ die a painful, shameful, lingering, and accursed, death? So dies sin in the soul of a believer. There is a gradual weakening of the power of sin in him; sin is dying, as he, but it is a long time a-dying. To denote the principal mean and instrument of our mortification, namely, the death of Christ; by virtue whereof believers do crucify their corrupt affections; the great arguments to mortification being drawn from the sufferings of Christ for sin. Learn, 3. That the work of mortification, (called here, tropically, a crucifixion,) strikes not only at all sin, but at the root of all sins; it spares none, neither the flesh, nor any of its affections and lusts, do escape; root and branches, head and members; the old man is crucified, and the body of sin destroyed, and the axe of mortification laid to the root of every sin and sinful affection. In this manner do they that are Christ's crucify the flesh, with its affections and lusts.

25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

If we live in the Spirit, that is, if the Spirit lives in us, if the holy Spirit of grace be the principle of our life, let us walk in the Spirit: that is, let us live and act under the conduct and guidance, under the direction and influence, of the Holy Spirit; let us do the works of the Spirit, let us bring forth the fruits of the Spirit, and let us live a spiritual life; let our dealings be about spiritual and heavenly things, and our chiefest delight be in such things; and by these spiritual delights and exercises we shall every day become more and more spiritual, and in the account of God be esteemed and reckoned amongst the number of those that walk in the Spirit. Let us then evidence the life of grace in ourselves, by exercising that grace in a life of cominunion with God. This seems to be the

import of this remarkable place, If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Here we may note, That there must be a principle of spiritual life, before there can be any spiritual motion and exercise; we must first live in the Spirit, and the Spirit live in us, before we can possibly walk in the Spirit: the child must live

before it can walk. Note, 2. That when there is a principle of grace and spiritual life in the heart, there will be the actings and exercise of grace in the life: If we live in the Spirit, we shall walk in the Spirit. Ezek. xxxvi. 27. I will put my Spirit within them, and cause them to walk in my statutes. An holy heart will be attended with an holy life, and a good conscience accompanied with a good conversation; spiritual life will produce spiritual motion.

26 Let us not be desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one another.

All

Our apostle closes this excellent chapter with an exhortation to the Galatians to avoid all pride and ambition, all vain-glorious boastings and ostentation, not provoking one another by their contentions, not envying either the gifts or graces of God bestowed on others. Learn hence, 1. That there is and may be in all men, a desire of applause and just commendation. men pretend to a share in reputation, and do not love to see it monopolized and engrossed by any person. Learn, 2. That a vain-glorious desire of applause and reputation is sinful, when we seek for what we do not deserve, or for more than we deserve, or seek more to be applauded by men than to be approved by God. Learn, 3. That ambition is usually attended with envy and contention; no sin goes single, but has a train of followers; Let us not be desirous of cain-glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

CHAP. VI.

Our apostle, being now come to the concluding chapter of this excellent epistle to the Galatians, exhorts them to the practice of several important duties, in order to an holy life, which was so necessary to evidence the truth of their conversion to christianity; and so concludes his epistle with a solemn protestation of his sincere affection towards them.

BRETHREN, if a man be over

taken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

The first exhortation here given, is, how they should carry themselves one towards another, upon supposition of their scandalous falling either into error, or into sin,

namely, not with rigour and severity, but with mildness and lenity; If any be overtaken in a fault, &c. Here note, 1. An evil supposed, namely, that the wisest, the holiest, and the best of men, may be overtaken in a fault, and surprised by a temptation: If any man be overtaken: implying that any man may be so that sin, or that misery, which befalls some men, may befall others, any others, yea, all others; for all are partakers of the same frail nature, subject to the working of the same corruption, and liable to the danger of the same temptation. Note, 2. The duty directed to, with relation to these persons, who trip and fall either into sin, or into error; Restore him, set him right, put him in joint again; a metaphor taken from bone-setters, who place dislocated bones, and set broken bones with great tenderness. Those three things, which we say are necessary in a bone-setter, are absolutely needful in a reprover : namely, an eagle's eye, to discern where the fault lies; a lion's heart, to deal faithfully and freely with the faults; and a lady's hand to use them gently and tenderly. Note, 3. The persons particularly named, who are and ought to manage this duty of brotherly reproof, Ye that are spiritual: you that are the governors of the church, say some; you that are endowed with spiritual gifts, say others; the prophets among you, who perform all spiritual offices for you, let them rebuke of fenders. Others, by spiritual, understand such as had received larger measures of the gifts and graces of the Spirit than others: Let such as are strong bear with the infirmities of the tweak. Note, 4. The manner how this duty of fraternal correption, or brotherly reproof, is and ought to be manag. ed, namely, with patience and meekness, not with severity and roughness: Ye that are spiritual, restore him in the spirit of meekness: if the reproofs you give others be imbittered with your own passions, they will spit them out of their mouths; yea, spit them back upon your very faces. Note, 5. The argument to excite to all this, namely, the consideration of our own personal frailty, and great liableness to fall into temptation ourselves, Considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Who knows what a feather the strongest saint and stoutest christian may prove in the wind of temptation? Therefore let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall, and exercise great candour and christian tenderness towards them that are fallen

before him. Hodie mihi, crastibi. From the whole learn, 1. That fraternal correption, or brotherly reproof, is a great duty which christians mutually owe one to another, when they either run into error, or fall into sin : If any of you be overtaken, restore him. Learn, 2. That although it be the duty of private christians to admonish and reprove one another, as being members one of another, yet those that are spiritual, Christ's ministers, the guides of his church, the stewards of his household, ought in special to look upon it as their obliged duty to reprove and rebuke with all long-suffering and gentleness. Learn, 3. That rigour and severity, expressed towards the failings and escapes of others, will rather exasperate than reclaim them: we must deal as gently with a fallen brother as with a broken bone; if we do not temper our reproofs with meekness, they will certainly prove successless. Learn, 4. That the holiest saint and most spiritual man here on earth, is within the reach of temptation, and may possibly fall himself; therefore ought to treat a fallen brother with great tenderness and regard.

2 Bear ve one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

This is a general precept, and requires us to sympathize with our brethren in all their sorrows and sufferings, and to bear a part with them under the load and burden of oppressive wants and necessities; particularly, bearing with the weaknesses and infirmities of our brethren, seems here to be recommended to our care and practice in this apostolical injunction, Bear ye one another's burdens. The encouragement to which duty follows, So shall we fulfil the law of Christ; that is, the law of love, the moral law which enjoins us to love our neighbour as ourselves. But why is this called the law of Christ, when it was long before Christ; yea, before Moses, and as old as Adam himself, being part of the law of nature, which was written in Adam's heart before there was any written Bible? I answer, the law of love is very properly called the law of Christ; because he revived it, rescued it, recommended and enforced it, frequently urged it upon his followers, and exemplified it in his own life and conversation, therefore called a new commandment, and his commandment: This is my commandment, &c. A new commandment I give you, that ye love one another,

St. John xiii. 34. [See the Note there.] Learn hence, 1. That to have our ear, our heart, and our band, open to our brethren in distress, is a necessary christian duty: our ear open to their mournful complaints, our heart open to sympathize with and mourn over them, our hand open to the relief of their necessities and wants. This is a burden which the law of Christ has laid upon us; Bear ye one another's burdens. Learn, 2. To bear a part of our brethren's burdens with a compassionate heart and helping hand, is a fulfilling of the law of Christ; because much love, which is the fulfilling of the law, goes out, and is acted in the bearing of it; So fulfil the law by Christ.

3 For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. 4 But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden.

5

The apostle is still directing the Galatians, and enforcing them to express great lenity and tenderness towards such of their brethren as had fallen into sin and error, and particularly cautions them, 1. To beware of the sin of pride and self-conceit, and to abound in the grace of humility and modesty intimating to us, that pride, and an high opinion of ourselves, are the certain causes of censoriousness and rash judging of others, and the true reason why we despise and glory over an offending brother, instead of pitying of him, sympathizing with him, and endeavouring to restore him. He that thinks himself to be something here, is the man that hath proud thoughts of himself, who thinks himself more righteous and holy, more steady and stedfast, than his fallen brother; and conceits he has more power to preserve himself than others: such an one thinks himself to be some great thing; when, alas! every man is nothing; and the best of men having nothing but what the grace of God confers upon them, 2 Cor. xii. 11. Observe, 2. How the apostle strikes at the root of the fore-mentioned sin of pride and self conceit; namely, the comparing of themselves with those who are worse than themselves, which is very apt to stir up pride and arrogancy: to cure which, he directs them to compare themselves with

those who are better than themselves, and to try and prove their own works by the rule of the word of God, and not by the example and practice of others; and so shall they find matter of rejoicing in themselves, in the testimony of God, and the silent applause of their own consciences, without borrowing matter of rejoicing from the failings and infirmities of other persons. Observe, 3. The argument or motive used by the apostle to enforce upon every man the duty of trying his own work, rather than to be prying into the infirmities of others; because when he cometh to judgment, every man must bear his own burden, or give an account of himself and his own actions to God; who will then absolve or condemn men, not as they have done better or worse in themselves, absolutely considered. It is a than others, but as they shall be then found great error for any man to measure himself by the measure of other men, either by their perfections, or by their imperfections. conclude our estate safe, because we are not so bad as others, or unsafe, because we have not attained to the perfections of others, is alike dangerous: God will not proceed by this rule, no more should we; every man that appears before him, shall bear his own burden, and answer for his own sins. Here note, 1. That how light soever men make of sin in the commission of it, it will be found heavy and burdensome when they come before God to account for it; He shall bear his own burden. Note, 2. That the righteous God, in the great judgment, will call no man to account for the sins of others, unless he has some ways been accessary to them; but every man shall bear his own burden both of guilt and punishment.

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word communicate unto him that 6 Let him that is taught in the teacheth in all good things.

In this and the following verses our apostle enters upon a new exhortation, and that is, to stir up the Galatians to liberality and beneficence; upon every fitting occasion, to be ready to distribute, willing to communicate, and to do good unto all men. And because it is highly probable, that by reason of the prevalency of error amongst them, and the number of false teachers found with them, the Galatians' love to the word, and to the ministers and dispensers of it, was grown cold: he first begins to stir up their liberality towards their teachers, saying, Let him that is taught in

the word of the gospel, communicate unto him that teacheth in all such good things as he stands in need of. Learn hence, 1. That the wisdom of God hath seen it fit to teach men by the ministry of man, not by his own immediate voice, this we cannot bear; nor by the glorious angels, these would rather terrify than teach us; but by men like ourselves doth the great God instruct us. He has appointed some to teach, and obliged others to be taught; but the pride of man is grown to that pitch in our days, that almost every one thinks himself sufficient to teach, and few have humility enough to be taught. Learn, 2. That it is the special duty of ministers, not only to teach, but to teach the word: Let him that is taught in the word, that is, the written word, as dictated by the Holy Ghost, communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. Our business is not to go into the pulpit and read a lecture to our people out of Aristotle's Ethics, or Seneca's Morals, much less to load them with the burden of unwritten traditions; but to make known a crucified Saviour to them, and the way to eternal salvation by him. Learn, 3. That seeing the ministers of Christ are to give themselves wholly to the work of teaching, &c. without being entangled with the affairs of this life; the people whom they teach, and amongst whom they spend their time and strength, are obliged by common equity, as well as by the command of God, to allow them a comfortable subsistence; and, if able, an honourable maintenance: Let him that is taught, communicate to him that teacheth in all good things. Learn, 4. That the church's maintenance is only due to such ministers as are apt to teach, that labour in the word themselves: none have a right to the church's salary, which do not perform the church's service. Let such laymen as by the impropriations take away the vicar's bread, and such clergymen as eat the sweat of their curates' brow, consider how they will answer it at the bar of God.

7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8 For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

man

Here the apostle offers several arguments to consideration, for exciting them to the fore-mentioned duty of liberality and christian beneficence in general, and to the ministers of the word in particular; and the first of them is taken from God's omnisciency, who takes notice of all the petty and pitiful pretences, pleas, and excuses, which men make, why they cannot be so kind as they should be to the ministers and members of Jesus Christ. Alas! their own wants are many, (but it is their lusts that make them so;) their burdens are great upon them, and they must provide and take care for themselves: but, says the apostle, though you may with these lying pretences cheat yourselves, and mock your ministers and poor neighbours, yet God is hot, will not, cannot, be mocked. There is no juggling with God, no deceiving of his eye; never deceives himself so much, as when he thinks to deceive God in the least: man may be mocked and deceived by man, but God can never be mocked by man. Observe, 2. St. Paul compares charity and christian bounty to seed sown, and assures us, that the crop we reap shall be answerable, both in quality and kind, and also in measure and degree, to the seed we now sow; Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Learn, That every man's harvest hereafter shall be according to his seed-time here. The actions of this life are as seed sown for the life to come; if the husbandman sow tares, he must not expect to reap wheat: For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Observe, 3. How the apostle doth amplify in particular, what he had before asserted in general; namely, that such as the seed is, such will the harvest be. He that soweth to the flesh, that is plainly, he that spends his substance upon his lusts, seeking no more than the gratification of his sensual desires, shall reap corruption: that is, a perishing satisfaction only at present, and eternal perdition afterwards; but he that sows to the Spirit, he that improves his estate for God, for the support of the gospel, for the sustenance of his members, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, will also raise us up at the great day, and reward our present parting with the things of this world which we cannot keep, lose. with eternal life which we shall never

The

9 And let us not be weary in

The holy apostle, in these words, exhorts the Galatians, and in them all christians, to the practice of one of the most important parts and duties of the christian religion, namely, that of doing good one to another: and he doth not barely excite us to the duty, but he exhorts us also to an unwearied diligence in the doing of it, according to our ability and opportunity. In the exhortation before us, observe, 1. The grand comprehensive duty we are exhorted to: well-doing, and an unwearied diligence therein. This comprehends all those ways and means whereby we may be beneficial and useful one to another, both to soul and body, in spiritual and temporal good things, and promote both the present comfort and future happiness of each other. Observe, 2. The extent and latitude of the duty, with respect to its object, which is all mankind: Let us do good unto all. The Galatians were in danger of judaizing in their practice, as well as in their doctrines; that is, of loving none but themselves and their own countrymen. For the Jews were grown so sour and churlish in their temper, that they would not do the least office of kindness to any that was not of their own nation: therefore St. Paul here exhorts them to extend their charity universally to all and every one that is of the same nature with themselves. Observe, 3. The special and particular objects of our charity the household of faith. Do good to all, but especially to them. By the household of faith, as appears by the context, ver. 6. are primarily meant the ministers of God, the teachers of his word; these are God's domestic servants. Wherever there has been a people, there has been a religion professed, such as it was; wherever there has been a religion professed, there have been persons consecrated and set apart to attend the service of that religion, and a maintenance provided for those attendants; it was so by God's appointment under the law, and by Christ's under the gospel, 1 Cor. ix. 14. But farther, by the household of faith, we are to understand the whole collective body of believing christians, all the members of Christ's mystical body;

:

such are very dear to God, and ought to be so to us. Observe, 4. The subject of this duty, or whom it doth eminently contunity, let us do good; that is, every one cern, all christians: As we have opporof us; for verily there is no condition in the world so mean and despicable, but it yields persons an opportunity one way or other of doing good, if not by their purse, yet at least by their prayers and by their example. Observe, 5. The frequency of the duty: As we have opportunity; that is, as often as the occasions of doing good are presented to us, and as long as ability for doing good is found with us. Some men defer doing good till they come to die, till they come to make their will; that unwilling will in which they give God a small pittance of his own, because they can keep it no longer; they will repent when they are dying, and be charitable after they are dead. Good God! how unwilling are men to part with either their money or their sins, as long as they can keep them! But verily a death-bed charity may be as unavailable as a death-bed repentance. The rule is, As we have opportunity, that is, as often as an opportunity is offered. Let us decline no opportunity by getting out of the way, with some, when a work of charity presents itself unto us, Observe, 6. The measure of this duty: as we have ability, let us do good unto all; that is, proportionably to what God hath given us, let us be willing to give to others : God could easily level the world, and give every man alike; but he is pleased to give some more than others, on purpose to try their graces, the charity and bounty of the rich, the faith and patience of the poor. And verily an estate above what sufficeth our occasions and necessities, is no farther a blessing to us, than as it puts an opportunity into our hands of doing more good than others. Observe, 7. An unwearied perseverance in doing good required at our hands: Let us not be weary in welldoing. Though we have done much good, there is room for more; new objects will appear, new occasions will arise, new opportunities will present themselves unto us. Let us never think we can do enough, much less too much good; the best of beings are most unwearied in well-doing. God, Christ, the holy angels, are never weary of this blessed work; let us never be weary in imitating them in that which is their highest and chiefest excellency and perfection. serve, 8. The argument and encourage

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