not fay, they looked upon him as their enemy, but puts a question to them; and even that not in fuch strong terms as our tranflation does; which is rather a paraphrase than a tranflation. His question may be very literally rendered fo as to express very strongly the impoffibility of his being their enemy; and that certainly agrees best with the pains he had taken to affure them, that he was as they were, their cordial and fincere friend; fo they once took him to be, and had expreffed their fenfe of it in the warmest manner. He was the fame perfon ftill, dantes, dealing truly and uprightly with them; for that, and not telling the truth, is the proper meaning of the word. And thus the queftion will ftand, Can I have become your enemy, while I am treating you in the integrity and uprightness of truth itself? It appears by what follows, that he had the falfe teachers in view, who had treated them in quite a different manner. As their profeffed intention was to draw them off from the truth as it is in Jefus, which Paul had taught them, fo they made no fcruple to employ the bafeft means, by falfe fuggeftions, to prejudice them against

him, and even to perfuade them, that he was their most dangerous enemy. Thus he brings them in, verf. 17. in a feemingly abrupt manner, without faying who they were whom he was speaking of. But he needed not. The question he had put in the foregoing verfe directed them fufficiently to the perfons he meant, viz. those who had made it their bufinefs to alienate their minds from him, that they might have them all to themselves.

Our tranflation gives what the Apostle fays of them by much too faintly: they zealously affect you, but not well; and perhaps there are no words to be found in our language, to exprefs his meaning with the fame strength and concifenefs. The word zeal, as it is ufed in our language, though near the original in found, and taken from it, yet does not come up to the full import of the verb; which not only fignifies a very warm affection, but is applied not only to kind and beneficent affections, but the very contrary, emulation, envy, and even hatred itself; and one of the most common ufes the verb is applied to, is, to exprefs the most earnest application to gain one's favour, good will,

will, and love. And nearly in this fenfe the Apostle feems to have applied it to the Judaizers; who, ás appears by the following verfe, wanted by all means to engage the Galatians on their fide.

It will readily be allowed, that it is fo far from being a fault, that it is a very commendable character, to exert one's felf, even with the greatest warmth of zeal, in all thofe good offices which can recommend him to others. And the Apostle would never have blamed thofe men for what himself, on all occafions, recommended with the greatest earneftnefs. The Apostle allows it in the very next verfe, and pronounces it to be good to be thus affected to what is really good. But there may be a bad, as well as a good zeal, as the matter it is employed in, or the manner in which it is conducted, is either good or bad.

I know not on what confideration our tranflators have inferted the particle but into the first clause of the verse, where it is not and have changed it in the fecond into another of a different fignification. By the infertion, they have divided what ftands a very fhort fentence into two; and

make

make the Apostle, implicitly at least, to approve the zealous affection of the falfe teachers, and to blame only their not ma naging it well: Whereas he condemns the whole of it, as there was nothing of it right or good, either in matter or manner. He in effect fays, the zeal of these men about you is not good; and he proves it in the next claufe by this, that it was all to gain their own very bad ends; and he tells very roundly, in the conclufion of the epistle, what these ends were, chap. vi.

12. 13.

There is a different reading in the fecond claufe of the verfe, which makes a confiderable variation in the fenfe. This difference lies only in two letters, which might easily be mistaken by inattentive tranfcribers, viz. & Interpreters and critics are divided, whether as you, or as us, is the authentic reading. Our tranflators, with many others, have chofen the firft; and thus the words run,

ἡμᾶς

U

n.

They would exclude you, that you might affect them. Excluding is a relative term; and the Apostle does not fay from what. But that may be naturally enough fupple

VOL. III.

Rr

mented

mented from the context; and at the fame time it will appear, how they gained their end by it. Could they have prevailed with the Galatians to be circumcifed, the fame bleffings they gave to Paul, when he brought Chrift and eternal life to them, would naturally fall upon them for making that neceffary fupplement to his doc-. trine. This however could not be done without fo far renouncing, and thus being excluded from Chrift. But this these blind guides did not regard.

7

This fets the attempt of these feducers in the moft terrible light; but it is no more than what Paul himself had laid before them in this epiftle. And very neceffary it was, that the thoughtless men who were fo ready to fall into the fnare, might be apprifed of their danger. But however this might be, the promoters of that fystem had fenfe enough to perceive, that Paul stood in their way; and fo long as the Galatians retained their firft affection to him, and reverenced him as the Apostle of Chrift, and particularly his meffenger to them, it would be impoffible to carry the point they aimed at; and therefore

made