The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1906-09-27
Temper dnce Lesson.

St. Faul VEINS ran llghtnlnS.
Two mi1lenniums afterwards, we
yet feel the shock of it. That he
is both illuminative and dynamic,
the Epistle 10 the Galatians is ev-
idence. 1t can never be a literary
curio, shelved IN the oblivion of a
libraly. 1t is living ard potent
still. 1t is highly condensed, but
in its terse terms contains the
whole of religion, its very sum and
substance.
The apostles converts in Gala
tia had been tempered with.
Warm-hearted and enthusiastic,
SO devoted to their spiritual Father
that they were ready TO pluck out
their eyes for Him, yet in His alb
sencc they had allowed themselves
to be bewitched and removed to
another gospel. In order to recov-
er them, St. Paul writes one Of the
most polemic and horta tory
epistles that ever came from his
pen. incidentally it is also photo
staphic Of himself, and in its spir-
it and conclusion WholesOmelv
practical
The heresv to be combatted was
the affirmation of the survival and
obligation of the ceremonial law.
A little leaven Of this had leaven-
ed the whole of the Galatian
Church. The genuineness of St.
Paul's apostleship had been dis
counted in order that the author
ity of his teaching might be de-
stroyed. Under the spell of this
new gospel, which was no gospel,
Gentle converts were submitting
to circumcision, and all were OBJ
serving days and months and
times and years"
St. Paul's argument is invinci-
bic; his method persuasive. His
first note unequivoCally challenges
the course and conduct of his con-
verts, He then enters into a min
ute account Of his personal relation
to the doctrine of Christ and to
the other apostles, showing the
genuinen"sH and equality OF his
apostleshiP and consequently his
authority as Christian teacher.
He afirms the Office of the cere-
monial law to be that of the special
slave who brings the child to the
schoolmaste.. When once the law
has brought one to Christ, the
Master-Teacher, it has 10 further
function. 1t v.nishes away. To
hunt up the law again and magni-
fly it is to desert and be disloyal to
Christ. 1t is to exchange liberty
for weak and beggarly elements
and bondage. He invades the ter
ritory Of the Judaizers themselves,
when he afirms that Abraham was
justified by faith and not by
works, as he lived before the insti-
tuition of the ceremonial law, and
therefore cor1d not have been Jus
tilted by it. All, therefore, who
are justified by faith, whether
Jews or Gentiles, have Abraham
as their father. In his allegorital
reference to the two Jerusalems,
he surpasses even himself. Those
who persist in following the cere-
monial law prove themselves de
scendants Of he bondWoman Agar,
who answers to Jerusalem, which
is in bondage with her children
but those who assert their indie.
pendence from the ceremonial law
are the true descendants, not oil
Hagor, the bondwomaa, but OF
Sarah the free And Sarah stands
for that Jerusalem, which is SUI
perior to the literal Jerusalem. She
is free and the mother is zee.
The Epistle to the Galatians is
pree ninently the Epistle of Free.
dom. Eleven times this word
Liberty" rings out like a bugle
blPst to the soul. The apostle will
not brook the idea of his converts
going into SCI vitude to the cere-
monial law. Having beg IN in the
Spirit, he will not suppinely wit
ness their futile effort to finish in
the flesh. ~ He warns. entreats