please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. Ver. 11. But I certify you, brethren, that the Gospel which was preached of me is not after man. Ver. 12. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." We here observe the most direct allusion to those visions St. Paul is reported to have seen; for if St. Paul received not the Gospel of men, neither by man, how did he receive it, and by whom was it revealed to him? Undoubtedly from Christ himself, who appeared to him in those visions of which we have such clear and satisfactory accounts in The Acts of the Apostles. Again, Gamaliel Smith errs in saying, we have an account (if by account he means a regular history), from Paul's own pen, of his conversion. St. Paul had preached the Gospel among the Galatians, before he wrote his Epistle to them, and had therefore had an opportunity of personally giving them an account, of the manner of his conversion, while among them; consequently, there was no need for

There is a great difference of opinion among the learned, concerning the date of this Epistle (to the Galatians,) some supposing that it was written as early as the year 52, and others as late as the year 58. There is, however, an expression in the beginning, which appears to fix its date with a considerable

him to give the history of it in his Epistle : but there was a reason, reason, which made it extremely proper for him to assert the divine authority by which he preached the Gospel, since it appears from the Epistle, that a Judaizing faction, who wanted to introduce circumcision, and other Jewish ceremonies among the Galatians, had endeavoured to undermine his character, by comparing it with that of Peter, and the other Apostles, who had been the companions of Jesus during his ministry on earth. Enough is said in St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, to confirm the account given in

considerable degree of probability. "I marvel, (says the Apostle), that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ, unto another Gospel." This passage seems to prove, that the Epistle was written soon after the Galatians were converted to Christianity. From the history of St. Paul it appears, that he preached in Galatia in the year 51, and again in the year 53. No mention is made in this Epistle, of St. Paul having been twice in Galatia, and, therefore, I conclude, that it was written in the interval between his two visits, and, most probably, in the year 52, while he was at Corinth, or it might have been written, as Michaelis thinks, in Macedonia, before St. Paul went to Corinth. Bp. Tomline.

Paley has shewn, that the subscription, which, says the Epistle to the Galatians, was written from Rome, is erroneous, and also, that the subscriptions at the end of five other of Paul's Epistles, (viz. first Epistle to Cor., 1 Thess., 2 Thess., 1 Timothy, and the Epistle to Titus,) are either false or improbable. The subscriptions attached to the Epistles are to be regarded, as Paley remarks, as ancient scholia and nothing more.

The Acts of his conversion, and St. Paul's not having said more on the the subject, is not the slightest contradiction to the truth of what is related by St. Luke concerning him. Gamaliel Smith, either from ignorance, or what is worse, wilful misrepresentation, speaks of St. Paul's Epistles, as if they had been written in order to give a history of his life, whereas they were written with no such design, but chiefly with a view to confirm those to whom they were addressed, in the faith of Christ, and to give them instructions in various points of doctrine suited to their peculiar circumstances. Thus, in this Epistle to the Galatians, the Apostle's object, as Locke has justly remarked, was "to dehort and hinder the Galatians from bringing themselves under the bondage of the Mosaical law;" but that St. Paul was not "acting in opposition" to the Apostles at the time of writing that Epistle, will be shewn hereafter.

CHAP. II.

SECT. I.

St. Paul's Motives for embracing Christianity considered.

WE see, from the accounts given in The Acts of the Apostles, that about the time of St. Paul's conversion to Christianity, the Christians were liable to be persecuted from city to city, and that they held not only property, but life itself, and all that, in a temporal point of view could render life desirable, upon the most precarious tenure. That implacable hatred which had been displayed by the Jews towards our Lord, appears after his death to have raged in their bosoms with undiminished fury, and to have been directed against the followers of Jesus. But notwithstanding the violence of persecution, the cause of the Gospel, being the cause of truth, was daily gaining ground, and the number of the disciples increasing. That number, however, was now, and long afterwards, very trifling, compared with the countless multitudes of their adversaries. To imagine, therefore, that St. Paul

could have been so infatuated as to join the Christians from a hope of temporal advantages, is to make a supposition contrary to reason and to fact, especially when we consider what were the prospects of St. Paul previous to his conversion. He was not only a Jew, but belonged to the most powerful sect among the Jews, being a Pharisee, and had been instructed by a celebrated Rabbi, Gamaliel, in the Jewish law. He was, moreover, of the popular tribe of Benjamin, and although, as was customary among the Jews, he had been instructed in a trade, great attention must have been paid to his education, since he appears to have possessed a perfect knowledge of the Greek, as well as Hebrew, language. He had also the additional advantage of having been born free of the city of Rome, being a native of Tarsus, in Cilicia, a city which enjoyed the great privileges of a Roman colony. With such attainments and advantages, St. Paul might have reasonably hoped to have risen to posts of the highest honor and dignity among his countrymen the Jews; but by embracing the Gospel, St. Paul knew not only that all such prospects must be abandoned, but that he would incur the reproach

* It was a maxim among the Jews, that "he who teaches not his son a trade, teaches him to be a thief."