The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 362

which, while cbaract~rized by faithfulness, is chiefly chamcterlzed by n:icekneas. There is. t-0 he the absenoe o! Belf-eaxut4non. We are not to triumph over a brother, RB though his fall added to our importance. There ls to be the absence of that harshness whioh accom_panies self-e:.:~ltation. We are not t~ wish to give him a sense of his inferiority to us m respeot of his fa.ll, nor are we to wish that he should be filled with· liorrow ot kept back in any way more than the ends of holiness require. We are not to break the bruised reed, nor to quench the emoking flax. The ground on which we ate to restore h_im _is of the strongest nature, and, to bring it home with more power, there is a sm~hng out of the reader," Looking t-0 thyself, lest thou also be tempted." Thou art to look to thyaelf 8ll not beyond trial. Thou art t-0 look to thyself"M having elements of weakness in thy flesh ; and therefore liable to be tempted, and, when tempted, to fall. Nay, thou art to think of thyself as having in the past been £empted and having fallen before t~mptation. It bas been said that, when looking on an offending brother, we may reflect with ourselves-We either are, or have been, or may be all, that he is. If we have not sinned in the same form, yet have we sinned in a form which may be as heinous before God. We are to regard the fall of a brother only as a call to self-humiliation and tender dealing. 2. This is to fulfil the law of Christ. " Bear ye one another's burdens, and 80 fulfil the law or Christ." Mutual dependence is a law of the universe,' As the philosophic poet has it," All are but parts of one stupendous whole." Nothing stands alone; each depends on all. Look at the innumerable worlds that inhabit space. God might have held each world in its place separately and out of relation to every other world. But he has chosen t-0 hold all worlds together as a universe, or one vast world, by a law according to which all worlds and all particles of matter also attract one another in a certain proportion to mass and distance. The material world is one vast inter-dependency, so :finely balanced that a modification of a part would necessarily be the modification of the whole ; while the aberration of a large mass might be the destruction of the whole. The apostle points ont the same· thing in the human body. " The eye cannot say unto the he.ad, I have no need of thee; nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you." AB in the human body, so it is in human society. The greatest happiness of individnals is not to be attained by each being his own servant; but by there being division of labour and each being as much as possible the servant of all The greatest happiness of nations is not to be attained by each keeping within its own resources; but by each developing its own resources t-0 the utmost, and exchanging them for those of other nations. It is not, therefore, to be wondered at that Christ, in founding a society, lays down this law of dependence for its regulation. Indeed, he has to enact no new law, but only to give a higher sanction and application to an existing law. He :finds men already dependent on one another, all the ll'i6re by the entrance of sin, and he takes advantage of this for the training of his people. "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." It is implied that there are certain burdenR which one Christian can bear for another, and which that other can bear for him, and which can in this way be lightened for them both. (1) Burden of want. We mean the burden of poverty which is commonly called want, being most palpably, though not most really, 80, Far we have all to be supplied with our daily bread, and, while some are rich or comparatively rich, i.e. to say, have more than they need, others are poor or comparatively poor, i.e. to say, have less than they need. God might have ordained all to be rich and none to be poor in the·Church. But he has, on the contrary; ordained some to be rich and others t-0 be poor, i.e. to say, he has made a dependence of the poor on the rich. "The poor," says the Lawgiver here," ye have always with you." And we look forward to no golden era of science when there shall be no poor in our Churches. Certain it is that many are poor by circumstances over which they have had no controL And, while trade is not conducted on thoroughly Christian principles, which it will never be while there is sin and selfishness in the ·heart of man, there will always be circumstances bearing hard on some of our Church members. Now, we are to con- eider the care of the Christian poor. Having little coming in and perhaps many mouths to fill, they have a real burden on their minds, a burden which we would not choose to bear for ourselves. And the law of Christ is that we are to bear this burden for our fellow- members, those of us who are in a position to do it-bear it as we would have them to do it for us in like circumstances. Why are we not in their position and they not in ours? wh1 have we more tha.n enough and they less than enough? is it not of favour, and (ltt, vt. 1-18.J TI1E EPIS'l'LE TO TllE OALA.TIA.NS. azg