that Holy Peace and Heavenly Joy, Which That MESSIAH had Promised, and does still Promise, to All Such as shall be His at His Coming.The History of Paul's Conversion is given in the ninth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles; Miraculously Produced, but full to the entire conviction of the inner Man, and manifested in after life by a freedom of choice in the most exemplary submissiveness to The DIVINE Will, and unremitting zeal for the Honour of The SAVIOUR, and the Essential and Eternal Interest of All, with whom he could have intercourse. In his Letter to his favourite Disciple Timothy, he speaks of The Glorious Gospel of The Blessed GOD, as Committed to his trust; and breaks forth into a burst of gratitude to CHRIST JESUS, his LORD, for Enabling him, (as Counting him faithful) to be in the Ministry; remembering what he was before such Call and Conversion, even characterizing himself as a Persecutor and Blasphemer; though pleading that he was so in ignorance, through unbelief-1 Tim. i. 11 to 13.- -The Resurrection of JESUS CHRIST, Foretold by Himself and Fulfilled to the letter within the Predicted time, was to Paul, as It has been to Christians in all ages, the truest Support and Encouragement in the Pilgrimage of life, and in the prospect of death; for It gives confirmation to all the Gracious Tender of His Love, and the Sure Efficacy of His Intercessory Office to Open the Gates of Heaven to all Believers-See Acts ii. 24.—Luke, in his Narrative of the Acts of the Apostles, speaks of Paul and Silas as going through Phrygia and the Region of Galatia, and as they went through the Cities, they delivered the decrees to keep, that were ordained of the Apostles and Elders; and so were the Churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily—Acts xvi. 6, 4, 5. Not that Buildings were meant, as is now used by the term Churches, but an increase of Members in the same union of faith, and acknowledgment of Principles and Practice, emanating from The Gospel of JESUS CHRIST, as Taught and Illustrated by His Chosen Apostle, St. Paul, pre-eminently labouring in such Vocation, and visiting and re-visiting Such as he hoped to bring within the Pale of Salvation, and whom he regarded as Brethren; on every opportunity giving his time and talent towards strengthening them for the work of effectual reformation, and Christian devotion -Acts xviii. 23. For All, who came under his Ministry, does Paul supplicate The FOUNTAIN of Grace and Peace, that Those Heavenly Gifts of unspeakable value may be offered to them-Rom. i. 7; and with all the ardour of Brotherly affection does he cherish the hope, that in a grateful and faithful heart They may be Accepted: for he ever contemplates the Vast Sacrifice Made by CHRIST, through the Purity and Intensity of His Love for us-See John x. 17, 18; Titus ii. 14; and remembering the Object of That Sacrifice-the Redemption of us from all iniquity, and from the trammels of the unhallowed pleasures and pursuits of the Worldly-minded,-points to the Transcendant Blessings, That will Flow through Eternity into the bosoms of those, who love The LORD JESUS in sincerity and in truth, and rest all their hope of Acceptance with GOD upon His Atoning Sufferings and Reconciling Merits, Infused into Human Nature by His Gracious Adoption of it. For as St. John saith, The lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of Life, are not of The FATHER, but of the World; and therefore he admonishes us not to love the World, neither the things that are in the World: for (adds he) the World passeth away and the lust thereof; but he, that doeth the Will of GOD, abideth for ever-1 John ii. 16, 15, 17; John xvii. 14. And how will the tribute-offering of glory and praise redound to the rejoicing of the hearts of all who offer it, and that through all the eternity of its presentation, when the Glory of The SAVIOUR of Souls will Shine upon them in all Its Fulness!

VERSES 6 to 12.-I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him, that called you into the Grace of CHRIST, unto another gospel which is not another; but there be Some, that trouble you, and would pervert The Gospel of CHRIST: but though we, or an Angel from Heaven preach any other gospel unto you than That, Which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed! As we said before, so say I now again: If any Man preach any other gospel unto you, than That ye have received, let him be accursed! for do I now persuade Men, or GOD? or do I seek to please Men? for if I yet pleased Men, I should not be the Servant of CHRIST. But I certify you, Brethren, that The Gospel, Which was preached of me, is not after Man; for I neither received It of Man, neither was I Taught It but by the Revelation of JESUS CHRIST. How fickle is Human Nature! and how often is it, though the mind and the imagination are won over by the power of eloquence, that the heart falters in the pursuit of the commended object; and that weariness arises even in welldoing. St. Paul, after the zeal he had manifested in fixing or endeavouring to fix the Great and Vital Truths of The Gospel of JESUS CHRIST in the minds of his Hearers, and with the strong feeling, which he cherished and clung to, of the infinite and all-absorbing value of Those Doctrines, as alone Leading to contentment in this Life, and to Blessedness in Happiness and Holiness through all Eternity, was surprised, as well he might be, at any of those Hearers (for we must hope not all) should not only have changed their faith, but have done so even shortly after he had been with them, having then probably received from them assurance of their steadfast adherence to The Gospel he had preached to them. And in his remonstrance having used the term another gospel as the object of their new belief and adoption, he at once corrects himself, and recalls the phrase, insisting that the only Doctine intitled to That Grace-Dispensing Appellation, was The Gospel, Which he himself had delivered, and Which he acknowledges and insists had Emanated from The Incarnate SON of GOD. The Apostle then exposes the character of those, who would withdraw them from the faith of JESUS CHRIST, as Troublers, and as tending to occasion the extreme of disquietude to the Souls, that would yield to them, by unsettling their belief in Him, Who can Alone Give Salvation and Speak both Pardon and Peace to the Soul. And, in reviewing the tendency of the false doctrine, that had risen up amongst them, his Soul takes fire, and in the fulness of a justifiable indignation at the subversion of faith, as it is in JESUS, he avows that, not only every Human Being, but even Unearthly Beings, as Spirits from Heaven, should be distrusted, if broaching any different doctrine; even imprecating, or at least denouncing upon them the Anathema of The ALMIGHTY, as guilty of the Unpardonable offence against Him, Who Sought at Such A Sacrifice to Rescue the Human Mind from error and the Heart from evil; that Peace and Righteousness might Reign upon Earth, and Eternity might Open with Blessedness on the Souls, that accepted with gratitude the Proffered Redemption. Awful as is such a denunciation, yet weighing it in its woeful consequences, and balancing it against the hateful and deprecated interruption to the Progress of Salvation through JESUS CHRIST's Intercession, the Apostle feels so keenly and sensitively the weight of an influence so hostile to the best interest of his Fellow-Creatures, that he deliberately repeats his anathema, enlarging it even to a decided imprecation-If any preach any other gospel unto you, than That ye have received, let him be accursed! And then, as wishing to draw a comparison between himself and those false Teachers, from the latter seeking their own glory and praise amongst Men, and from his unvaried object being to advance the Glory of GOD, the Praise of The REDEEMER, and the Eternal Sanctification of Immortal Souls-he asks in the confidence of the rectitude of his Doctrine, and the singleness and integrity of his heart-Do I now persuade Men, or does GOD? Meaning that of himself he originated not the Great and Gracious Revelation of Salvation by JESUS CHRIST, but that by DIVINE Communication, he delivered orally, or set forth

in his writings the Doctrines pressed upon them; and that, not for his own honour, but for their benefit and for the honour of The MESSIAH. The praise of Men he disclaims, insisting that, had he sought that, he could not but have incurred the Displeasure of GOD; to Whom alone all praise is due, as from Him Alone Cometh every Good and Perfect Gift. And he then re-urges The DIVINE SOURCE of That Gospel, Which he preached, as Imparted to him by the Express Communication of JESUS CHRIST and The HOLY SPIRIT-See 1 Cor. xv.1,3.

-The backsliding of some of his Galatian Correspondents upon whom Saint Paul casts reproaches in the opening of this section, he again adverts to in an after division of this Epistle (v. 4, 7, 8) with renewed regret and expostulation. The same anxiety to keep All in the true faith, that their minds should not be corrupted from the simplicity, that is in CHRIST, is evident in many other of his addresses, as in 2 Cor. xi. 2 to 4; and in that same Epistle he writes- We are not as many which corrupt the Word of GOD, but as of sincerity, but as of GOD; in the Sight of GOD, speak we in CHRIST.-ii. 17. To preach is to diffuse the Doctrine of CHRIST both in faith and in love, in all singleness of purpose towards the Exaltation of MESSIAH and the Salvation of Mankind; not in the pride of Human reason, nor in desire to have the praise of Men; for the friendship of the World, St. James tells us, is enmity with GOD—iv. 4.

VERSES 13 to 20.-For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the Church of GOD, and wasted it, and profited in the Jews' religion above Many, my equals in mine own Nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my Fathers. But when it Pleased GOD, Who Separated me from my Mother's womb, and Called me by His Grace, to Reveal His SON in me, that I might preach Him among the Heathen; immediately I conferred not with Flesh and Blood, neither went I up to Jerusalem to them, which were Apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus: then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days; but other of the Apostles saw I none, save James, The LORD's Brother. Now the things, which I write unto you, behold, before God I lie not.

The Apostle here refers to his conduct and habits at the opening of life, exhibiting a most forward zeal, that at any sacrifice sought to obtain its object, and in doing so, ignorantly assumed that it was fulfilling The DIVINE Will and promoting GOD's Glory and Man's Salvation. And how often do we find the prejudice of habit continuing a course of blind and infatuated error or folly, and needing the Interposition of The SPIRIT of Truth and of Wisdom and of Holiness to Draw a mind, so charged with prejudice or mistaken zeal, from the error of its ways. But GOD Knows them, that are His; and whom He Will, He Qualifies for His Service. HF therefore, in His Own Chosen Season, Called forth Paul to the knowledge of The Truth, as It is in JESUS, and Fortified him for a conflict in a warfare for the Salvation of Souls, which ended but with his martyrdom; and the fruits, the rich fruits of whose valour and wisdom and integrity and faithfulness, as a Soldier of JESUS CHRIST, and most faithful amongst the Champions in That Great CAPTAIN's Cause, we this day are reaping, as have all Generations in his own and every succeeding age, in a greater or less degree shared; and so shall Generations to come participate in the benefit and blessing of such immortal fruits. The Miracle Wrought for Paul's Conversion, was the Revelation to him of JESUS as The SON of GOD, The Incarnate MESSIAH. And Full to Its Great Object was Such Gracious Revelation; for in the instant, under the deepest conviction of Its Truth and Importance, he entered on the Ministry to which he was Called, strong in the consciousness of DIVINE Strength Imparted to him, and confident in the Sufficiency of That Wisdom, Which had thus Descended on him from Above. He felt therefore that he needed no other Council, and that even his Fore-Runners in the Apostolic

Race could not have added to his stores of Gifted Illumination; since he drew at once from The Very FOUNTAIN of Light, and of all Right Understanding. Referring, as Paul does to James, as The LORD's Brother, seems to lean to the inference that James might be the Son of Joseph by a former Wife; or that he was born of Mary, when, if ever, after The SAVIOUR's Birth, Joseph and She came together. And in a manner the most solemn does the Apostle vouch for the truth of what he thus stated, invoking the Peculiar Cognizance of The DEITY; and the whole course of the Apostle's life, after his Conversion, was one unbroken chain of testimony to the depth and sincerity of his own conviction of the Truth of what he thus urgently called upon Others to believe, as essential to Salvation, in so promulgating The Gospel and MESSIAH-SHIP of CHRIST, and seeking to induce Others to act up to such Test.In the Acts of the Apostles is the historical account of the fierce and relentless spirit of Paul, then Saul, in his own emphatic language, persecuting the Church of GOD, and wasting it; seeking, in a mistaken zeal, to check, and even to crush the progress of Christianity but, as he says, he did it ignorantly in unbelief, and in the hope that he was thereby even doing GOD service. Hence it is obvious, that no greater evil can any Individual inflict on his own Soul, than, with the full Light of Gospel Truth Shining upon him, to strive to shut out from himself and others that Light, the absence of which must present the interminable darkness, to the Soul's endless and hopeless dismay. When pleading before King Agrippa and the Governor Festus, Paul said, I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the Name of JESUS of Nazareth, which things I also did in Jerusalem; and many of the Saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the Chief Priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them; and I punished them oft in every Synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange Cities. And then he repeats the Miraculous Visitation Made to him in the Gracious Mercy of GOD through CHRIST JESUS, to Make him a Minister and a Witness, to open the eyes of the Gentiles, and to turn them from darkness to Light, and from the power of Satan unto GOD, that they might receive Forgiveness of sins, and Inheritance among them, which are Sanctified by faith that was in him—Acts xxvi. 9 to 11, 16 to 18See also Acts viii. 1, 3—xi. 1, 2-xxii. 3 to 5-ix.-15.- -Our SAVIOUR had Himself Mark vii. 5 to 13-Censured the Scribes and Pharisees for the deference they paid to the traditions of their Fathers, when they put them in competition with, or observed them even with more fidelity than the Precepts and Admonitions of their HEAVENLY FATHER: a departure from the true faith, which Isaiah (xxix. 13) had predicted should mark the hypocrisy and hollowness of such Characters, though professing, as they outwardly did, a desire to promote the Honour of GOD.The Doctrine of DIVINE Election, as it was illustrated particularly in the fate of Isaiah, who describes himself as Called by The LORD from the womb-Isa. xlix. 1 (also in Acts xiii. 2, 3-See also Jeremiah i. 5)—so it is here additionally pressed upon the attention in the case of St. Paul; and as the Prophet called upon the Isles and the People from afar to listen, so may we well feel ourselves called upon, distant as is our day from the Apostolic age, to listen to the Apostle's teaching, and apply his Precepts, in furtherance of the Spread of Gospel Light and Truth to ourselves, and our own adoption of those Goodly Rules of DIVINE Guidance; adding the unceasing supplication that we may be Admitted as of the Number of the Elect, and participate in the Rich Blessings of the Inheritance of the Faithful in CHRIST JESUS; since GOD, Who Čommanded the Light to Shine out of darkness, hath (as the Apostle elsewhere says) Shined in our hearts, to Give the Light of the knowledge of the Glory of GOD,

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in the Face of JESUS CHRIST-2 Cor. iv. 6.—Paul's visit to Jerusalem, on which occasion he seems first to have conferred with any of the Apostles, though an interval of about three years had elapsed since his Conversion, is thus described by the Writer of the Acts of the Apostles-When Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the Disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a Disciple: but Barnabas took him, and brought him to the Apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen The LORD in the way, and that He had Spoken to him; and how that he had preached boldly at Damascus in the Name of JESUS-Acts ix. 26, 27.THE LORD's Brother, as James is here described, is mentioned in St. Mark's Gospel as so characterized by the Familiars with Joseph and his Family, who resided in their neighbourhood; when, though astonished at the wisdom and dignity, with which JESUS Addressed them, they said, From whence hath this Man these things? and what wisdom is this, which is Given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? Is not this the Carpenter, the Son of Mary, the Brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda and Simon; and are not his Sisters here with us?-Mark vi. 2, 3.

VERSES 21 to 24.-Afterwards I came unto the Regions of Syria and Cilicia; and was unknown by face unto the Churches of Judea, which were in CHRIST; but they had heard only, that he, which persecuted us in times past, now preacheth the faith, which once he destroyed: and they glorified GOD in me.

Notwithstanding the spirit of persecution, that assailed all the Disciples of The HOLY JESUS, the Communion and Fellowship of the Faithful prevailed in Judea, and justly and deeply did those true Lovers of their LORD rejoice that Paul, though personally unknown to them, and once so hotly and awfully opposed to the spread of The Gospel of JESUS CHRIST, was now treading in their paths, and ministering, amidst the Wonders and Omnipotence of the Grace of GOD, to the Salvation of Immortal Souls; and that, with an earnestness and fidelity, which could only have emanated from the Gracious Interposition of DIVINE Power; whence arises to them, amidst their own trials, a new source of courage and consolation, and a fresh cause for giving Glory to GOD in The Highest.Paul, when at Jerusalem, manifested his Christian fortitude and forward zeal on behalf of his Heavenly MASTER, and in furtherance of the Great Design of Salvation to his erring Brethren the Jews of all ranks and degrees; for he spake boldly in the Name of The LORD JESUS, and disputed against the Grecians, though they went about to slay him; which, when the Brethren knew, they brought him down to Cesarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus.-Acts ix. 28 to 30. In his first Epistle to the Thessalonians, the Apostle alludes to the Churches of GOD, which in Judea were in CHRIST JESÚS.— ii. 14. The repeated confessions of Paul, in the review of his former character, when opposed to Christianity, shew an integrity and honesty in the estimate of his own conduct, which greatly enhances the credit due to him as an after Dealer in sound Doctrine, and as a faithful Steward of the Mysteries of Religion, so Miraculously Imparted to him; but invariably are these confessions accompanied successively by Self-condemnation, and by the utmost flow of gratitude at being Rescued by DIVINE Goodness from such ways of fatal error. St. Luke in his Narrative of the Acts of the Apostles states, that when Disciples from Cesarea, with Luke and Paul, were come to Jerusalem, the Brethren received them gladly; and the day following, Paul went in with them unto James, and all the Elders were present; and when he had saluted them, he declared particularly What Things GOD had Wrought among the Gentiles by his Ministry; and when they heard it, they glorified The LORD-Acts xxi. 17 to 20.