righteousness, peace, consolation, joy of spirit, salvation, life, and Christ himself.

This is diligently to be noted, because of the fond and fantastical spirits, which go about to deface the majesty of baptism, and speak wickedly of it. Paul, contrariwise, commendeth and setteth it forth with honourable titles, calling it "the washing of the new birth, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." (Tit. iii.) And here also he saith, that all they which are baptized, have put on Christ. As if he said, Ye are carried out of the law into a new birth, which is wrought in baptism. Therefore ye are not now any longer under the law, but ye are clothed with a new garment; to wit, with the righteousness of Christ. Wherefore baptism is a thing of great force and efficacy. Now, when we are apparelled with Christ, as with the robe of righteousness and our salvation, then we must put on Christ also as the apparel of imitation and example. These things I have handled more largely in another place, therefore I here briefly pass them over.

VERSE 28. There is neither Jew nor Grecian, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

Here might be added moreover many more names of persons and offices which are ordained of God, as these: there is neither inagistrate nor subject, neither teacher nor hearer, neither schoolmaster nor scholar, neither master nor servant, neither mistress nor maid, &c. for in Christ Jesus all states, yea, even such as are ordained of God, are nothing. Indeed, the male, the female, the bond, the free, the Jew, the Gentile, the prince, the subject, are the good creatures of God: but in Christ, that is, in the matter of salvation, they are nothing, with all their wisdom, righteousness, religion, and power.

Wherefore, with these words, "There is neither Jew," &c. Paul mightily abolisheth the law. For here, that is, when a man is renewed by baptism, and hath put on Christ, there is neither Jew nor Grecian, &c. The apostle speaketh not here of the Jew according to his nature and substance; but he calleth him a Jew which is the disciple of Moses, is subject to the law, is circumcised, and with all his endeavour keepeth the ceremonies commanded in the law. When Christ is put on, saith he, there is neither Jew nor circumcision, nor ceremony of the law any more; for Christ hath abolished all the laws of Moses that ever were. Wherefore, the conscience believing in Christ must be so surely persuaded that the law is abolished, with all his terrors and threatenings, that it should be utterly ignorant whether there were ever any Moses, any law, or any Jew. For Christ and Moses can in no wise agree. Moses came with the law, with many works, and with many ceremonies; but Christ came without any law, without any exacting of works, giving grace

and righteousness, &c. For "the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." (John i. 17.)

Moreover, when he saith, "nor Grecian," he also rejecteth and condemneth the wisdom and righteousness of the Gentiles; for among the Gentiles there were many notable men, as Xenophon, Themistocles, Marcus Fabius, Attilius Regulus, Cicero, Pomponius Atticus, and many others, which being endued with singular virtues, governed commonwealths excellently, and did many worthy acts for the preservation thereof: and yet all these were nothing before God, with their wisdom, their power, their notable acts, their excellent virtues, laws, religions, and ceremonies; for we must not think that the Gentiles did contemn all honesty and religion. Yea, all nations of all ages dispersed throughout the world had their laws, religions, and ceremonies, without the which it is not possible that mankind should be governed. All righteousness, therefore, concerning either the government of families, or commonwealths, or divine matters, (as was the righteousness of the law,) with all the obedience, execution, and holiness thereof, be it never so perfect, is nothing worth before God. What then? The garment of Christ which we put on in baptism.

So, if the servant do his duty, obey his master, serve in his vocation never so diligently and faithfully; if he that is at liberty be in authority and govern the commonwealth, or guide his own family, honestly and with praise; if the man do that pertaineth to the man in marrying a wife, in governing his family, in obeying the magistrate, in behaving himself decently towards all men; if the woman live chastely, obey her husband, see well to her household, bring up her children godly, (which are indeed excellent gifts and holy works,) yet are all these nothing in comparison of that righteousness which is before God. To be brief, all the laws, ceremonies, religions, righteousness, and works in the whole world, yea, of the Jews themselves, which were the first that had the kingdom and priesthood ordained and appointed of God, with their holy laws, religions, ceremonies, and worshippings, all these (I say) take not away sin, deliver not from death, nor purchase life.

Therefore your false apostles do subtilly seduce you, (O, ye Galatians,) when they teach you that the law is necessary to salvation; and by this means they spoil you of that excellent glory of your new birth and your adoption, and call you back to your old birth, and to the most miserable servitude of the law, making you, of the free children of God, bond-children of the law, whilst they will have a difference of persons according to the law. Indeed there is a difference of persons in the law, and in the world, and there it ought to be; but not before God. "All have sinned, and are destitute of the glory of God." (Rom. iii. 23.) Let the Jews, therefore, the Gentiles, and the whole world, keep silence in the presence of God. God, hath, indeed,

many ordinances, laws, degrees, and kinds of life, but all these help nothing to deserve grace, and obtain eternal life. So many as are justified, therefore, are justified, not by the observation of man's law, or God's law, but by Christ alone, who hath abolished all laws. Him alone doth the gospel set forth unto us for a pacifier of God's wrath by the shedding of his own blood, and a Saviour: and without faith in him, neither shall the Jew be saved by the law, nor the monk by his order, nor the Grecian by his wisdom, nor the magistrate or master by his upright government, nor the servant by his obedience.

VERSE 28. For ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

These are excellent words. In the world, and according to the flesh, there is a great difference and inequality of persons, and the same must be diligently observed. For if the woman would be the man, if the son would be the father, the servant would be the master, the subject would be the magistrate, there should be nothing else but a confusion of all estates and of all things. Contrariwise, in Christ there is no law, no difference of persons; there is neither Jew nor Grecian, but all are one; for there is but one body, one spirit, one hope of vocation; there is but one gospel, "one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, one Christ and Lord of all." (Eph. iv. 4-6.) We have the same Christ, I, thou, and all the faithful, which Peter, Paul, and all the saints had. Here, therefore, the conscience knoweth nothing of the law, but hath Christ only before her eyes; therefore, Paul is always wont to add this clause, "In Christ Jesus;" who, if he be taken out of our sight, then cometh anguish and terror.

The popish school-divines do dream that faith is a quality cleaving in the heart, without Christ. This is a devilish error. But Christ should be so set forth, that thou shouldst see nothing besides him, and shouldst think that nothing can be more near unto thee, or more present within thy heart than he is. For he sitteth not idly in heaven, but is present with us, working and living in us; as he saith before, in the second chapter, "I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." And here likewise: "Ye have put on Christ." Faith, therefore, is a certain, stedfast beholding, which looketh upon nothing else but Christ, the conqueror of sin and death, and the giver of righteousness, salvation, and eternal life. This is the cause that Paul nameth and setteth forth Jesus Christ so often in his epistles, yea, almost in every verse. But he setteth him forth by the word: for otherwise he cannot be comprehended than by the word.

This was notably and lively represented by the brazen serpent, which is a figure of Christ. Moses commanded the Jews which were stung of serpents in the desart, to do nothing else but stedfastly behold the brazen serpent, and not to turn away their eyes. They that did so, were healed only by that stedfast

and constant beholding of the serpent. (Numb. xxi. 6, 7, 8.) But, contrariwise, they died which obeyed not the commandment of Moses, but looked upon their wounds and not upon the serpent. So, if I would find comfort when my conscience is afflicted, or when I am at the point of death, I must do nothing but apprehend Christ by faith, and say: I believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God, who suffered, was crucified, and died for me, &c. in whose wounds and in whose death I see my sin, and in his resurrection victory over sin, death, and the devil, also righteousness and eternal life. Besides him I see nothing, I hear nothing. This is true faith concerning Christ, and in Christ, whereby "we are made members of his body, flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bones. In him, therefore, we live, we move, and we have our being." (Eph. v. 30. Acts xvii. 28.) Christ and our faith must be thoroughly joined together. We must be in heaven, and Christ must live and work in us. Now, he liveth and worketh in us, not by speculation and naked knowledge, but in deed, and by a true and a substantial presence.

VERSE 29. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs by the promise.

That is to say, if ye believe, and be baptized into Christ; if ye believe, I say, that he is that promised seed of Abraham which brought the blessing to all the Gentiles, then are ye the children of Abraham, not by nature, but by adoption; for the scripture attributeth unto him, not only the children of the flesh, but also of adoption and of the promise, and foresheweth that they shall receive the inheritance, and the other shall be cast out of the house. So Paul, in few words, translateth the whole glory of Libanus, that is to say, of the nations of the Jews, unto the desart, that is, unto the Gentiles. And this place comprehendeth a singular consolation: to wit, that the Gentiles are the children of Abraham, and consequently the people of God. But they are the children of Abraham, not by carnal generation, but by the promise. The kingdom of heaven, then, life, and the eternal inheritance, belongeth to the Gentiles. And this the scripture signified long before, when it saith: "I have made thee a father of many nations." (Gen. xvii. 5.) Again, "In thy seed shall all nations be blessed." (Gen. xxii. 18.) Now, therefore, because we which are Gentiles do believe, and by faith do receive the blessing promised to Abraham, and exhibited by Christ, therefore the scripture calleth us the children and heirs of Abraham, not after the flesh, but after the promise. So that promise, "In thy seed," &c. belongeth also to all the Gentiles, and according to this promise Christ is become ours.

Indeed, the promise was made only to the Jews, and not to us that are Gentiles. (Psal. cxlvii.) "He sheweth his word unto Jacob, &c. He hath not dealt so with every nation," &c. Notwithstanding, that which was promised cometh unto us by faith,

by the which only we apprehend the promise of God. Albeit, then, that the promise be not made unto us, yet is it made as touching us and for us: for we are named in the promise: "In thy seed shall all nations be blessed;" for the promise sheweth plainly that Abraham should be the father, not only of the Jewish nation, but of many nations, and that he should be the heir, not of one kingdom, but of all the world, (Rom. iv.) So the glory of the whole kingdom of Christ is translated unto us. Wherefore all laws are utterly abolished in the heart and conscience of a Christian: notwithstanding they remain without, still in the flesh. And hereof we have spoken largely before.

CHAP. IV.

VERSE 1. This I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;

VERSE 2. But is under tutors and governors, until the time appointed of the father.

YE see with what vehement affection Paul goeth about to call back the Galatians, and what strong arguments he useth in debating the matter, gathering similitudes of experience of the example of Abraham, of the testimonies of the scripture, and of the time, so that oftentimes he seemeth to renew the whole matter again; for before, he had, in a manner, finished the disputation concerning justification, concluding that a man is justified before God by faith only and alone. But, because he calleth also to remembrance this political example of the little heir, he bringeth the same also for the confirmation of his matter; thus trying every way, he lieth in wait, with a certain holy subtlety, to take the Galatians unawares; for the ignorant people are sooner persuaded with similitudes and examples, than with deep and subtle disputations. They will rather behold an image well painted, than a book well written. Paul therefore now, after that he hath brought the similitude of a man's testament, of the person of the schoolmaster, useth also this similitude of an heir, (which is familiar and well known to all men,) to move and to persuade them. And, surely, it is a very profitable thing to be furnished with similitudes and examples, which not only Paul, but also the prophets, and Christ himself also did often use.

Ye see, saith he, that it is ordained by the civil laws, that an heir, albeit he be the lord of all his father's goods, differeth not from a servant. Indeed, he hath an assured hope of the inheritance: but before he come to his years, his tutors hold him in subjection, like as the schoolmaster doth his scholar. They commit not unto him the ordering of his own goods, but constrain him to serve, so that he is kept and maintained with his