!-and other Ceremonial Rites, as neceary to-be obſerved in order
to Peoples ſalvation z they made the pretended Goſpel (which they taught) to be anoti<e Goſpel than that which Pau! had okas and which Believers in this Church had reccived. Tn ſaying 1 vv Fs ge accurs'd, healſo faith that he who doth this ſhall h> accuried ; for the Apoſtle would neither himſelf Curſe, nor dire& others to Curſe, whom he did not know the Lord would Curſe, and look up- on as curſed. Theſe two Verſes look dreadrutly upon the Papacy where many Dottrins are publiſhed, and neceffary to be received. which Pau] never Preached, nor are to be found in any part of Di- vine Writ. 7 10 * For do I now perſwade men, or God? * doIſeck ro pleaſe men p? For if I yet pleaſed men, 2. 4 ! ſhonld nor He the ſervant of Chriſt 4. =; = There is an Emphaſis in the Particle now, fince T1 became a +: 4 Chriſtian, and was made an Apoſtle; while T was a Phariſve I did otherwiſe; but fince T h?came an Apoſtle of Teſus Chrift, do] per- ſuade you to hear what Men ſay, or what God ſaith ? Or (as others) do I perſuade the things of Me, their Notions and Doctrins, or the things of God? OrdoT in my preaching aim at the cratifyins or pleating of Men, or the pleating of God 9 p The laft is plainly ſaid in the next words, which muft not be underſtood in the full latitude of the Term, but reftrained!y, do ſeek to pleaſe and hu- mour Men in things wherein they teach and a& contrary to God ? It is the duty of Inferiours to pleaſe their Superiours, and of all good Miniſters and Chriſtians, to pleaſe their Brethren, ſo far as may tend to the advantage of their Sculs; or in civil things, fo as to maintain a friendly and peaceable Society ; but they ought not to do any thing in humour to them, by which God may be dilplcaſed 5 In which ſenſe it is that the Apoſtle adds, g For if I pleaſed Mer, that is, in ſaying as they»lay, and doing as they do, without re- gard to pleafing or diſpleaſing of Chrift, 1 ſhould not ſhew my ſelf the Servant of Chrift ; for his Servants we are whom we obey, and our Lord hath taught us, that no Man can ſerve two Maſters, (that 15, commanding contrary things.)
11 But Icertihe you, brethren, that the goſpel which
was preached of me, 1s not afrer man -.
7 He calls them Brethren, though ſome of them were reyolt2d, becauſe they owned Chriſt ; and makes known, or d=clares to them, (ſo the Word is Tranſlated, Luke 2. 15. Fohn 15. 15. and 17. 25. that the Doctrin of the Goſpel, which he had preached unto thera, was no Humane Invention, or fittion, nor refted upon Humane Authority, but was from God, immediately revealed to him ; and herein he refleQeth upon the falſe Teachers that had ſeduced them, and in order to that, vilified him, as being but a Diſciple to ſome other of the Apottles, yet teaching otherwiſe than they taught. J would have you know (faith he) that it is otherwiſe; the Goſpel which I preached is not afrer May. He fully openeth his own
meaning in this Fhraſe in the next words.
12 For I * neither received it of man s, neither was * ; Cor. 15-1, 3s s Not of mar, as my firft and ſole Inftrufor z not only at ſecond ww [. hand, from Peter, Fames or Fon, as the falſe Teachers had ſuggeft- * EPN-3-3-
[ taught z#, but * by the revelation of Jefus Chriſt z.
ed ; nor was I taught it otherwiſe than t by the immediate Reve- lation of Jeſus Chriſt. Revelation fignifieth the diſcovery of ſome thing which is ſecret 3 (as the Goſpel and Dottrin of it, is called a myſtery hid from ages) 1t may be objected that Paul was inftrudted by Ananias, Affs9g. 16,17. But this prejudiceth nothing the truth of what the Apoſtle faith in this place, neither do we read of much that Ananias ſaid to him in a way of inftruction ; it is only ſaid, that he laid his Hands on him, and he was filled with the Huly Ghofi. When, or where he had theſe Revelations, the Apoſtle ſaith not, probably while he lay in a Trance, blind, and neither eating nor drinking for three days, Affs 9. 9. Others think it was when he was caught up into the third Heaven, 2 Cor. 12.2. Certain It 15 that St. Paul had Revelations from Chrift, As 22. 15, 16. and 26. 17, 18. Revelation ſignifies an immediate conveying of the know- ledge of Divine things, to a Perſon without Humane means and in that Paul aſcribes the Revelation of the Goſpel to Jeſus Chrift, he plainly afſerts the Divine Nature of the Lord Jeſus Chrift,
13 For ye have heard of * my coaverſation in times * Ads 22.
paſt, in the Jews religion, how that beyond meaſure I 4- perſecuted the Church of God, and waſted ir x.
1 Tt will be no difficult thing for you to believe, thatT had never preached the Goſpel without a Divine Revelation of the truth of it, if you do but refle& upon my former converſation ;. for you can- not but have heard, that T was born a Fer, educated in the Jewiſh Religion, and was a zealous defender of it, fo as I] perſecuted the Chriſtians beyond meaſure. This unmeaſuravle perſecution 15 ex- prefſed by Luke more particularly, Acts 8. 3. He mace Pauick of the Church, emring into every houſe, and halivg men and women, he commrt- red them to priſm, and g. 1- He breathed out threamings.and flughter againf the Diſcipies of the Lord, &c. He waſted the Church like an Enemy that uſeth Fire and Sword, and all means to deſtroy. The word here uſed is, #7zec9zr, which fignifes to make a 424277 4- tim; the word uſed in Affs $. is, *Auwntysro : Both words tg nifle the moſt ruinating Hoſtile Attions, and this h2 jaith was his converſation, or conftant prattic?, fo as they caora- bly think that ſomething more than hamane had made a change
"2 1m iT ye m1g nc
_
received, let him be accurſcd x. Vol. II.
in him, that he ſhould row be a Preacher of that Doctrin, [5 H2 ] which
Chap. I,
0 Or * x The.
GALL
Chap. I.
to root out thole that profeſt it.
14. And profited in the Jews religion above many + Gr. e- my | equals in my ow nation w, being more exceeding
quits in 7zeglous of the traditions of my fathers x.
$©427 Io
iſh Religion, or of his propagating of it, and making that to g0 on, which :emeth to be the ſenſe of the ſame word, 2. Tim. 2. 16»
Ard it is obſerved, that AQtive Verbs in the Gr. in imitation of