Ver. 17 .-.An apostle plwding for forbearance. He now tuma round to his adver- saries, and with one parting word asks to be let alone. L A CLADI: TO BE LEFT UNMOLESTED. "Henceforth let no man cause me troubles" by gainsaying my doctrine, impugning my apostleship, or imposing· :upqii •me .the labour of a defence. He might well appeal to their forbearanC!l ; he needed to be etrengthened rather than weakened, comforted rather than discouraged, II. THE GROUlID OF RIB CLAIM. "I bear in my body the marks of Jesµs'." "I "-not the false teachers who plan to escape persecution by their hypocrisy-" bear in my body the marks "-in many scourgings, wounds, and scars-of Christ's ownership•. These IIL&rks were the visible vouchers of his apostleship. · Ver. 18.-Hisparling word. "The grace of our Lord JesqiJ Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen." The Epistle began with a salutation of grace and peace; it ends with grace. . - L Tm: BLESSING. "Grace,'' which is at once the beginning, middle, and· end Qf Paul's theology ; and the beginning, middle, and end of Chr/stian life. . II. Tm: TOKEN OF PABTING TENDERNESS. "Brethren." ·1t comes last in the sen- tence, as if, after all his grave censures, he would remember· they were still brethren in Christ. His spirit softens as his pen traces the closing words' of the Epistle, and the sweet "Amen" seals everything with the token of his •deep sincerity and his tender interi~t iD. their welfare. •• •
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vera. 1-5.-The restoration of the erring. The walk in the Spirit, which eschews va.in-glory and envy, further manifests itself in consideration for t.he erring.· The sins of others become our concern, and we anxiously seek how:we can best have them restored. Here, then, is a burden which Christians have not undertaken as earnestly and sympathetically as they ought to have done; it is the burden of sin which weighs on other people's hearts. L Tm: PREPABATION FOB DEALING wtTH OTllEB PEOPLE'S BINS.' (Vers. l--'-8.) The idea of Paul here is that the Pharisaic temper is utterly incapable of the restoration of the erring. Thinking himself to be something, not realizing that he is in God's sight nothing, the Pharisee deceives himself, and so cannot become the guide of others. He will be severe through his self-satisfaction, hard and unsympathetic because he is ignorant of his own need and cannot consequently know the needs of others. His pride m&kes sympathy for the abased impossible, and he passes 011 in utter uselessness. But when the Lord makes UB meek, when the Lord impresses upon. us the fact of our own liability to temptation, when the Lord leads UB to the sifting of our own work, and to a higher standard than mere comparison of it with that of others, wheu, ir. a Ott. vt. 1~10.) ffl:E EPISTLE TO TIIE GALATIANS.