shows o genuine Christian spirit to honour ungrudgingly e. spiritual work in which we hove taken no part. '!.'here is always a temptation to slight such work and to re"ard the fruits of it with suspicion. 2. The beauty of Christian charity is also seen in "the warm welcome of one who had been an enemy. The persecutor preaches what he had opposed. 'l'hat is enough for the Church at ,Jerusalem. If we had more faith in such converRions we should encourage them more readily. 3. The breadth of this charity is still further noticeable in readiness to welcome as a brother a man whose views and habits diJTer from our own. From the first St. Paul's Christianity must have borne a different colour from that of St. James. But the common faith in Christ united them. II. THE GLORY OF CHRISTIAN GRACES IS DUE TO Gon. They are "graces" and gifts, not attainments which a man acquires for himself. The wonderful change of tho zealous persecutor of Christianity into the equally zealous preacher is wholly attributed to God. It is not St. Paul who is glorified by the Church at Jerusalem. We make the mistake of unduly praising the cha.meter of a saint without recognizing sufficiently the source of his saintliness, or we make the equally foolish error of honouring tho preacher for the fruit of teaching which would never have been reaped but for the Divine power of which the man was only the conductor. III. lion's GLORY IS NOWHERE SHOWN MORE RICHLY THA1' m 'l'HE WORK OF CHRISTIAN GRACE, It flashes from the face of nature, glowing in the broad heavens, smiling on the beautiful earth. It breaks out through the co-:rse of history in grand indications of providential justice and mercy. It gleams in wonderful truths revealed to the eyes of seers who speak it forth in articulate prophecy. Above all, it shines most brightly in the life and person of Christ. But as Christ is full of grace, and truth, every Christian has some measure of the same blessings, and according to his measure manifests the glory of them. God may be glorified in a man. Man often dishonours God. He may also reveal God's glory. Just as the brightness of the sun is not seen in its beauty till it is reflected from earth, or sea, or sky, the glory of God must be shown on some object. Shining on the face of a Christian, it is revealed. It is well to recognize this. Our religion is too selfish, and therefore it is too gloomy. We often pray when we should be praising. We seek good things for ourselves unceasingly when we should be losing ourselves in the contemplation of the glory of God. We cannot add to that glory ; yet we may and 11hould glorify God by joyously de,r,laring the works of his grace.-W. F. A.
EXPOSITION. determine whether thi~ visit was either the CHAP'l'.li:R II. one mentioned in Acts xi. 30 ; xii. 25, or In the preceding chapter, St. Paul baa the one described in Acts xv., or poesibly been concerned to make olear the position some other not recorded. Thot, however, it that neither the gospel which he preached was in reolity that of Acts xv. rather than nor the commission which he held was de- that of Acts xi., xii., hardly admits of a rived from the older apostles: the history doubt, if we compare the circumstances of the first years of his ministry showed here related with those which marked the this. The apostle is now addressing him• condition of ChUIOh affairs at Jerusalem on self to a different subject ; he wishes to the two occasions severally as described by show the.t his gospel, though not derived St. Luke. 'fhe imprisonment of St. Peter from the older apostles, had, however, while and the whole state of distress presented to recognized as standing on an independent us in Acts xii. mnke it well-nigh incon- footing, recei vecl the sanction of their ap- ceivablo that any such incidents should proval. This being his object, he had no have then occurred ns St. Paul here speaks oooasion to refer in any way to visits which of; while, on the other hand, the ques- he me.y have me.de to Jerusalem between tion agitated on the occasion described in the one mentioned in oh. i. 18 and the one Acts xv. corresponds precisely in character here referred to. The tenor of hie e.rgu- with the mutual relotions here described ~nt, therefore, so far, does not of itself u subsisting between St. Pe.ul and the he- 68 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [cH. II, 1-21.