the Spirit's·growth in ne. (8) The nine gracel'r throW' themselves n~urally into three groups, each group consisting of three-the first !(l"Oilp,· "love, joy, peace," touching our relations to God; the eecond group," long-suffering, gentleness, goodness," touching o,ur relatione to our fellow-men; the- third group, "faith, meekness, temperance'," touching the_ reg_ulation and conduct of our own individual Christian life. 1. Fir_st group. '" Love; joy; peace." They all spring out of the filial relation into which we are broughtiby.faith in dhrist. Love is the tie that binds out hearts to God as our Father; joy is :the glad emotion that springs up after our reconciliation with God ; peace is the summer calm: •that. settles -down upon the soul that has entered into _its rest. Love has been calfed the foundation of the fabric; joy, the superstructure ; peace, the crown of the work. Love has a primary place, for it is " shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost'." •Jot is•dependent upon love, ana may well be called-" joy of the Holy Ghost." It is enshrined in the very· ~eart of lo·ve, It rises and falls, with love itself, like the thin ·thread of n:ietcury in the-thermometer, by the action of the surrounding atmosphere. Peace· is linked with joy "in believing." Peace and joy are the two ingredients of the kingdom of God (Rom. xiv. 17). It is "the peace to which we are called in one body" (Col.. iii. 15), which will keep our hearts and minds in the midst of all worldly agitations. 2. .SeCJJnd group. "·Long-suffering, gentleness, goodness." The first !(l"OUp blends naturally into the second, for there is a near relation between peace and long- sutfering. The graces of this group begin with the passive and end with the active, for long-suffering •is the patient endurance of injuries inflicted by others; goodness is an active principle; 'not a mere kindly disposition; while gentleness or kindness is something between the two---:-a principle, however, which tends largely to promote the usefulness and the' comfort of life, lessening the friction that enters more or Iese into all our intercourse with our fellow-men. 3. -Third group. "Faith, meekness, temperance." 'l'hesti•three graces refer to the regulation of Christian life. It is curious to find faith seventh, and not first, in this list of graces. Faith is the root-principle of all graces. It goes before love itself, for it "worketh by love," and it precedes joy and peace, which both spring from our believing (Roin. xv. 13). It has, therefore, been suggested that faith is here taken for fidelity. '!'here is no reason, however, for any departure from its usual meaning. Faith is here regarded, not as the means of salvation or as the instrument of our justification, but as the principle of Christian life, which controls and guides it. Thus faith supplies the strength of self-control that is implied in temperance, and is the secret spring of that meekness which is an ornament of great price. Temperance comes last in the list of grapes, because self-control ,is tqe end of all Christian life. Like the governor in machinery, it adds nothing to the power at work, but it equalizes the power so as to produce a. uniform type of work. II. MARK THE SPECIAL PRIVILEGE THAT ATTACHES TO THESE NINE GRACES. " Against such there ia no Law.". There ·is Law against the seventeen works of the flesh-to condemn them; but there is no,La.w to condemn the nine graces of the Spirit. There is Law to ,restrain the sinner-it exists for .the purposes of t.his restmint-but in the graces of the Spirit there ·is nothing to restrain. They all chime in with the• require- ments of the Law, because they radiate from. that love which is the very fulfilling of the Law•.. 'l'hus those·who are led by the Spirit are not under Law. Ver. 24.-The distinguishfag feature of ahristianity. It is manifest in the very nature of the case that a. Christian has crucified the flesh by virtue of his union with Christ. Mark hete-- • • I. 'l'HE ·MOST CHARAOTERISTIO DESIGNATION· 8F TRUE BELIEVERS. "They that are Christ's." • The· expression implies (1) .that they are Christ's ·by purchase, (2) by' deliverance, (3) by possession, (4) by dominion. They are not his merely by external profession. It is natural, therefore; that they should manifest the fruit of the Spirit. II. THE MOST OIIARACTERISTIO PART OF 0HRISTIAN LIFE. "They crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." This points to a past act, to their conversion, in which, by ,virtue of. their union with Christ, they wore baptized bHu his death (Rom. vi. 4 ). 'l'he ,believer is.Cl crucified with Christ" (eh. ii. 19), but hw;, the flesh, with its seven- teen ca.tegories of evil, is cl"Uoified likewise: "Our old w.ac.. has been crucified with him" (Rom. vi. 6). 'l'hns the flesh is robbed of its supremacy. 'l'lrns nnion with Christ secures alike our s11lvation from the guilt and the power of sin. "When Christ 2i6 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [err. v. l-26.
came in the flesh, we crucified him; when he comes into our hearts, ,he crucifies us." 'l'he flesh, with its passions and lusts, represents vice on its passive and active sides. Ver. 25.-The wnsistency of the Ohri!tian life, If the flesh has thus been crucified we live by the efficacy of the Spirit. "Crucified: . . . nevertheless I live" (eh. ii. 20)'. I. Oua CHRISTIAN LIFE IS DY THE Srm1T. "If we liye by the Spirit." This life consists in the knowledge of God, in his love, in his favour, in his illlage. l.. It is m·iginated by the Holy Spirit. We are dead in trespasses and sins; it is the Spirit which giveth life. He is "the quickening Spirit" (John vi. 63); "a Spirit of life" (Rom. viii. 2). 2. It is maintained by the Spirit. "We live by the Spirit." , •.• He abideth with us." II. Oua CHRISTIAN WALK IS DY THE SPIRIT, "Let us also walk by the Spirit." There must be a principle of life before it can become manifest in the outward conversation. There must be a correspondence between the outward walk and the inner standard. The walk here referred to points to something very orderly and deliberate, like. the walk of soldiers marching in rank. This "·alk includes (1) the guidance of the Spirit ~Rom. viii. 14); (2) the support of the Spirit (Eph. iii. 16); (3) the drawings of the Spirit: "So that ye walk after the Spirit" (Row. viii. 1, 4); (4) the growth of the character in all the fruit of the Spirit (ver. 22). .