AFTER the partition of Gaul among the Franks, the Alemanni, the Visigoths, and the Burgundians, the next notable movement of any of the barbarians was the emigration of the Vandals from Spain into Africa. We have already traced the Vandals and the Suevi into Spain; and we have seen Wallia and his Visigoths [A. D. 415-418] sweep over eastern Spain from the Pyrenees to the Straits of Gibraltar. The effect of Wallia's power was, that,—
"He exterminated the Silingi, who had irretrievably ruined the elegant plenty of the province of Bœtica. He slew in battle, the king of the Alani; and the remains of the Scythian wanderers, who escaped from the field, instead of choosing a new leader, humbly sought a refuge under the standard of the Vandals, with whom they were afterwards confounded. The Vandals themselves, and the Suevi, yielded to the efforts of the invincible Goths. The promiscuous multitude of barbarians, whose retreat had been intercepted, were driven into the mountains of Gallicia, where they still continued, in a narrow compass and on a barren soil, to exercise their implacable hostilities."
Wallia "restored his Spanish conquests to the obedience of Honorius," and returned into Southwestern Gaul, where, as we have shown, they "were established [A. D. 419], according to the faith of treaties, in the possession of the second Aquitain."
"After the retreat of the Goths, the authority of Honorius had obtained a precarious establishment in Spain; except only in the province of Gallicia, where the Suevi and the Vandals had fortified their camps, in mutual discord and hostile independence. The Vandals prevailed; and their adversaries were besieged in the Nervasian hills, between Leon and Oviedo, till the approach of Count Asterius compelled, or rather provoked, the victorious barbarians to remove [A. D. 428] the scene of the war to the plains of Bœtica. The rapid progress of the Vandals soon required a more effectual opposition; and the master-general Castinus marched against them with a numerous army of Romans and Goths. Vanquished in battle by an inferior enemy, Castinus fled with dishonor to Tarragona; and this memorable defeat, which has been represented as the punishment, was most probably the effect, of his rash presumption. Seville and Carthagena became the reward, or rather the prey, of the ferocious conquerors; and the vessels which they found in the harbor of Carthagena might easily transport them to the Isles of Majorca and Minorca, where the Spanish fugitives, as in a secure recess, had vainly concealed their families and their fortunes. The experience of navigation, and perhaps the prospect of Africa, encouraged the Vandals to accept the invitation which they received from Count Boniface; and the death of Gonderic served only to forward and animate the bold enterprise.
"In the room of a prince not conspicuous for any superior powers of the mind or body, they acquired his bastard brother, the terrible Genseric; a name, which, in the destruction of the Roman Empire, has deserved an equal rank with the names of Alaric and Attila. The king of the Vandals is described to have been of a middle stature, with a lameness in one leg, which he had contracted by an accidental fall from his horse. His slow and cautious speech seldom declared the deep purposes of his soul; he disdained to imitate the luxury of the vanquished; but he indulged the sterner passions of anger and revenge. The ambition of Genseric was without bounds and without scruples; and the warrior could dexterously employ the dark engines of policy to solicit the allies who might be useful to his success, or to scatter among his enemies the seeds of hatred and contention. Almost in the moment of his departure, he was informed that Hermanric, king of the Suevi, had presumed to ravage the Spanish territories, which he was resolved to abandon. Impatient of the insult, Genseric pursued the hasty retreat of the Suevi as far as Merida; precipitated the king and his army into the river Anas, and calmly returned to the sea-shore to embark his victorious troops. The vessels which transported [A. D. 429, May] the Vandals over the modern Straits of Gibraltar, a channel only twelve miles in breadth, were furnished by the Spaniards, who anxiously wished their departure; and by the African general, who had implored their formidable assistance.
"Our fancy, so long accustomed to exaggerate and multiply the martial swarms of barbarians, that seemed to issue from the North, will perhaps be surprised by the account of the army which Genseric mustered on the coast of Mauritania [A. D. 429]. The Vandals, who, in twenty years, had penetrated from the Elbe to Mount Atlas, were united under the command of their warlike king; and he reigned with equal authority over the Alani, who had passed, within the term of human life, from the cold of Scythia to the excessive heat of an African climate. The hopes of the bold enterprise had excited many brave adventurers of the Gothic nation; and many desperate provincials were tempted to repair their fortunes by the same means which had occasioned their ruin. Yet this various multitude amounted only to fifty thousand effective men; and though Genseric artfully magnified his apparent strength, by appointing eighty chiliarchs, or commanders of thousands, the fallacious increase of old men, of children, and of slaves, would scarcely have swelled his army to the number of fourscore thousand persons. But his own dexterity and the discontents of Africa, soon fortified the Vandal powers, by the accession of numerous and active allies.
"The parts of Mauritania which border on the Great Desert and the Atlantic Ocean, were filled with a fierce and untractable race of men, whose savage temper had been exasperated, rather than reclaimed, by their dread of the Roman arms. The wandering Moors, as they gradually ventured to approach the sea-shore, and the camp of the Vandals, must have viewed with terror and astonishment the dress, the armor, the martial pride and discipline, of the unknown strangers who had landed on their coast; and the fair complexions of the blue-eyed warriors of Germany formed a very singular contrast with the swarthy or olive hue which is derived from the neighborhood of the torrid zone. After the first difficulties had in some measure been removed, which arose from the mutual ignorance of their respective language, the Moors, regardless of any future consequence, embraced the alliance of the enemies of Rome; and a crowd of naked savages rushed from the woods and valleys of Mount Atlas, to satiate their revenge on the polished tyrants, who had injuriously expelled them from the native sovereignty of the land.
"The persecution of the Donatists was an event not less favorable to the designs of Genseric. Seventeen years before he landed in Africa, a public conference was held at Carthage, by the order of the magistrate. The Catholics were satisfied that, after the invincible reasons which they had alleged, the obstinacy of the schismatics must be inexcusable and voluntary; and the Emperor Honorius was persuaded to inflict the most rigorous penalties on a faction which had so long abused his patience and clemency. Three hundred bishops, with many thousands of the inferior clergy, were torn from their churches, stripped of their ecclesiastical possessions, banished to the islands, and proscribed by the laws, if they presumed to conceal themselves in the provinces of Africa. Their numerous congregations, both in cities and in the country, were deprived of the rights of citizens, and, of the exercise of religious worship. A regular scale of fines, from ten to two hundred pounds of silver, was curiously ascertained, according to the distinctions of rank and fortune, to punish the crime of assisting at a schismatic conventicle; and if the fine had been levied five times, without enforcing the obstinacy of the offender, his future punishment was referred to the discretion of the Imperial court.
"By these severities; which obtained the warmest approbation of St. Augustin, great numbers of Donatists were reconciled to the Catholic Church; but the fanatics, who still persevered in their opposition, were provoked to madness and despair; the distracted country was filled with tumult and bloodshed; the armed troops of Circumcellions alternately pointed their rage against themselves, or against their adversaries; and the calendar of martyrs received on both sides a considerable augmentation. Under these circumstances, Genseric, a Christian, but an enemy of the orthodox communion, showed himself to the Donatists as a powerful deliverer, from whom they might reasonably expect the repeal of the odious and oppressive edicts of the Roman emperors. The conquest of Africa was facilitated by the active zeal, or the secret favor, of a domestic faction; the wanton outrages against the churches and the clergy, of which the Vandals are accused, may be fairly imputed to the fanaticism of their allies; and the intolerant spirit which disgraced the triumph of Christianity contributed to the loss of the most important province of the West."
(Concluded next week.)
A Pressing Need.
By Methodist Recorder
A PRESSING need of to-day, demanded by both the church and the world, is that Christians shall feel their personal responsibility. Among professors of Christianity there is quite too strong a tendency—may we not say desire—to conform to the world. From the one point of not making religion odious by a peculiarity of manner or dress, bearing the stamp of sanctity and "stiffness," people have gone to the other extreme, that of adopting the sinful habits of the populace, and aping their practices. "Being all things to all men for the sake of gaining some" is the plea, but God knows it is a lie, and the issue is different from what it was in the case of Paul, because his real motive was to win men not only from evil, but to Christ.
As things seem to be going, there is a "gaining," it is true, but it is on the wrong side. There is a vast difference between reaching out towards the world to win it to truth and purity, and a running after it with a hunger for conformity to the very things from which the Christian should seek to save it. Paul was all things to all men indeed, but to win them to Christ. But he was not sin to all men. To the Jew, he spake as to a Jew; to the Gentile, as to a Gentile, conforming himself to their standpoint of education and outlook, that he might show forth the excellency of Christ.
As heroes leap into the waves to rescue drowning ones, so Paul plunged in amid the sins and strifes of men to turn them from their evil ways, and save them to God and truth. If that was "conformity," it was to the divine model. He did not compromise truth, nor do evil that good might follow. His one purpose was to follow his Master in saving men, and if he was persecuted for Christ's sake, he endured all things for the world's sake, and kept himself pure and unspotted all the while. A non-aggressive religion, tested in a world teeming with sin and crime, must surely be graded to a low standard if it do not find persecutors. Christianity means a warfare with all that is impure and groveling.—Methodist Recorder.
The Law in Romans.
By R. F. Cottrell
HOW ANY one can read Paul's letter to the Romans, and come to the conclusion that the law of which so much is said in it is abolished, is the greatest mystery imaginable.
It is a law which existed from the most ancient times. Those who "did not like to retain God in their knowledge," but became idolators, worshiping "the creature more than the Creator," were violators of this law, and therefore were condemned and subject to the wrath of God on this account. See Rom. 1:17-32.
It is a universal law. It applies to man in the broadest sense. There is no difference in this respect between Jews and Gentiles. All have sinned; and "sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4. Therefore he says he will render "tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil; of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; but glory, honor, and peace, to every man that worketh good; to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile; for there is no respect of persons with God." Rom. 2:6-11. Says the apostle: "We have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin." Rom. 3:9. This simply means that all have transgressed the law. Hence the law is binding on all, Jews and Gentiles. All are subject to one law. Hear him again: "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." Verse 19. How many are amenable to this law? The whole world.
But has not this law been abolished? does not the gospel supersede it, and faith make it void? Paul has answered this question directly; for when he came to speak of justification from "sins that are past" simply by faith in Jesus Christ, the propitiatory sacrifice, he seems to anticipate that some one would be just simple, or sinful, enough to raise this question, and so he asks it himself, that he may give it a decisive and emphatic answer. Said he, "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law." Verse 31.
But are Christians, those who by the grace of Christ have had their sins forgiven, still bound to keep the precepts of the law? Does not grace make them free to transgress it? Hear the answer: "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" Rom. 6:1, 2. Bear in mind that sin is the transgression of the law. The teaching, then, is this: Shall we Christians, who have become dead to sin by the faith and grace of Jesus Christ, and have professed this by being buried in baptism in the likeness of his death, shall we continue longer to transgress the law? The apostle gives the question an emphatic negative. Then those who have been made free from sin by the grace of Christ, are not free to transgress the law thereafter. There is but one other thing that they can do in respect to the law, and that is to keep every one of its precepts. "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" Verse 16.
Again the apostle says: "Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." Rom. 7:12. Will God abolish that which is holy, just, and good? The Son of God came "in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Rom. 8:3, 4. On account of sin, Jesus came and condemned sin. The condemnation of sin is the approval of the law. Had he condemned the law, he would have justified sin. But Christ condemned sin; and for what purpose? "That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us." There is still righteousness in the law. What can be said of the righteousness of a law that is abolished? Christ died because we were out of harmony with the law, that he might bring us into harmony with it, his obedience to it being imputed to us for our past transgressions. Being made free from our past sins, what shall we do? Shall we sin? or shall we keep the precepts of the law? Whiting's translation of this text says: "That the precept of the law might be fulfilled by us." Rom. 8:4.
But does not Paul say right in this connection: "The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death"? Now, as sin is the transgression of the law, and the wages of sin is death, is it not evident that by the law of sin and death he means the moral law, the ten commandments?
Law, in this verse, is used in a figurative sense. Neither the law of the spirit of life, nor the law of sin and death, is a literal law or code of precepts, but an effective principle; as when we speak of the laws of nature we do not mean laws that may be obeyed or disobeyed, but we mean fixed principles that certain causes will produce certain effects.
The objector may not have noticed that the apostle has told us where both these laws are to be found. That of the spirit of life is in Christ Jesus. "But," says Paul, personating the carnal man, "I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man!" etc. The law of sin and death is in the members of the carnal man. It is a controlling power, urging him on to sin, and to death as the result. Nothing can deliver him from it but the law of the spirit of life in Christ, who gave his life for ours, and now offers us life on the terms of the gospel,—repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
But the law which is a leading theme in this epistle is the moral law, the ten commandments. This we know, because the apostle quotes its tenth precept, "Thou shalt not covet." Rom. 7:7. By this law, he assures us, sinners will be judged in the last day. He says: "As many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;" "in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel." Rom. 2:12, 16. If the gospel has superseded the law, then men of this age will be judged by the gospel. In this Judgment the doers of the law will be justified. "For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified." Rom. 2:13.
In that day those who shall be found to have obtained pardon of their sins, being reconciled to God by the death of his Son, having come into harmony with the law so as to love and practice its precepts, will be accounted worthy of eternal life and a part in the everlasting kingdom. "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven." Matt. 7:21. "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." Matt. 19:17. "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." Rev. 22:14.
R. F. COTTRELL.
Grace and Law United in Christ
BETWEEN grace and law there is no quarrel; they are made one in Christ. No one finds fault with natural law because it is arbitrary; why should they with moral law?—Dr. John Hall.
Faith Shines Through the Arctic Skies
WHEN joy's day is over, faith shines through the Arctic skies like a midnight sun.—From the German.
Practical Missionary Work.
THE Missionary Herald says: "English Protestant missionary societies are now acting in concert in presenting an appeal to Her Majesty's Government, showing the immense evils of the liquor traffic, and what a menace it is to the native population of Africa. It is affirmed that in large portions of the continent the people were entirely ignorant of the existence of ardent spirits, and were wholly unable to obtain them except through the agents of European merchants. Our own Board has now cordially united with other American missionary societies, including the Presbyterian, the Methodist, and the Baptist Boards, in appealing to the United States Government to aid in preventing the exportation of distilled liquors to Africa. It is hoped that by this united effort some practicable way may be devised for the suppression of a traffic which is fearfully corrupting both to the foreigners who engage in it and to the natives who are supplied by it."
Pay Thy Vows.
By S. S. Times
IRRESOLUTION is faithlessness to one's self. It is but little less contemptible than faithlessness to one's friends. Indeed, a man faithless to his own personality can hardly be faithful to the friends and duties of that personality. Every intelligent resolution is a promise made to one's own character, upon the fulfillment of which the integrity of the character depends. But a promise can be dissolved only by the consent of both parties; a resolution, therefore, is, in a sense, indissoluble, for there are not two parties to give such consent. In common with a promise, a resolution can be broken justly only when its fulfillment involves an immorality. Tentative plans may be changed at will; but no inconvenience, nor any danger, can justify the non-fulfillment of a sacred resolution.—S. S. Times.
Self Deceived.
CHRIST compared the Pharisees of his day to whited sepulchers—attractive without, but forbidding within—beautiful to look upon, but full of pollution. If he were on the earth to-day, would he not find many of a similar character? not, perhaps, intentional deceivers, but self-deceived persons, who, because they cry Lord, Lord, imagine that they are his discples, but who in reality never knew him. But few professing Christians, it is presumed, attempt to deceive others; but it is to be feared that there are a great number who are deceived themselves. Profession amounts to nothing—mere morality amounts to nothing, so far as the salvation of the soul is concerned—without the renewing and converting grace of God. It matters not what the life may be, a man's heart must be right before God, in order to be saved.—Sel.
The Mischief of Tale-Bearing
The tale-bearer has been compared to a sieve, the contents of which are no sooner in than they are out. He gathers up all the gossip he can about other people's affairs, and instead of keeping it to himself, scatters it abroad. There is nothing in the neighborhood but what he knows, and he knows nothing but what he tells. Such a person soon acquires an unenviable reputation, and becomes the dread of those around him. The natural tendency with such persons is to add coloring to their tales, and by that means to stir up mischief. A person who finds such a habit growing upon him, should check it at once for his own sake, as well as for the sake of others. The psalmist describes the man who shall be accounted worthy to dwell in the holy hill of Zion, as one who backbiteth not with his tongue, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor. If you find the wag of your tongue too great, check it up at once.—Sel.
Peter's Vision.
By Editor
A SHORT time ago we answered a question concerning the use of swine as food, promising to consider Peter's vision of the net full of beasts if, as we expected, somebody should offer that as Bible authority for pork-eating. It was but a few days before we received a request for an explanation of that vision, with which we cheerfully comply. We will first state the circumstances under which the vision was given; the entire narrative may be found in the tenth chapter of Acts.
A Roman by the name of Cornelius, a centurion, was stationed at Cæsarea. This man, although a Gentile, was very devout and benevolent, serving God to the best of his knowledge. To him an angel of God came one day, telling him that his prayers and alms had come up for a memorial before God, and directing him to send men to Joppa to call for Simon Peter, who would tell him what further he ought to do. Accordingly Cornelius sent two of his household servants and a devout soldier to Joppa, with instructions to bring Simon Peter back with them. But Peter was a Jew, with all the natural Jewish prejudices against associating with Gentiles, and therefore he would have refused to follow the Heaven-directed messengers if the Lord had not prepared him for their visit. This was done by means of a vision, which we quote:—
"On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour, and he became very hungry, and would have eaten; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance, and saw heaven open, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth; wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. This was done thrice; and the vessel was received up again into heaven." Acts. 10:9-16.
What was taught by this? Pork-lovers claim that the Lord meant by this vision to teach that Peter might eat pork, and that everybody else may do likewise. Indeed, many people seem to think that the vision teaches that we ought to eat pork. But why stop at the hog. That sheet contained "all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air." Then besides the hog, there must have been in it dogs, cats, rats, hyenas, jackals, monkeys, porcupines, weasels, buzzards, vultures, crows, bats, lizards, snails, centipedes, scorpions, toads, etc. Now if that vision meant that we should eat the hog, it meant that we should also eat all other scavengers and reptiles. We say this: If the vision has the slightest thing to do with the hog, which we deny, it teaches: (1) That it is a Christian duty for us to eat him; and (2) That it is equally our duty to eat every beast, fowl, or creeping thing, however filthy it may be. No one can dissent from this; and certainly swine-lovers should not shudder at the thought of eating anything filthy. There is nothing in creation more filthy than the hog; and we cannot see why it should be preferred to crow, bat, buzzard, vulture, hyena, jackal, or any other scavenger.
But now to show what the vision does mean. When the three men that were sent by Cornelius reached Peter's lodging-place, while he was wondering what the vision could mean, the Spirit said to him: "Behold, three men seek thee. Arise therefore, and get thee down and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them." Verses 19, 20. Notice that Peter did not understand the vision to teach that he might eat hogs, hyenas, buzzards, etc.; he knew that God meant by it to convey to him some important truth. What that truth was is learned before he reached the house of Cornelius the next day, for when he entered and found a company of Gentiles assembled, he said to them: "Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean." Verse 28. Still later he stated more particularly what he had learned: "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons; but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him." Verses 34, 35.
That this is what the vision was designed to teach, no one who reads the chapter can deny. And if it teaches this it cannot teach something else entirely different. It was designed to show that God's love to man is not confined to one race, and that, partaking of the divine love, we should as readily preach the gospel or give other aid to the meanest specimen of the most despised heathen race as to the most refined citizens of an enlightened land. By this vision Peter was taught what Paul teaches in Eph. 2:11-21, and what David teaches in Psalm 68:13, "Though ye have lain among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold." The gospel brings all men to the same level, whatever their position or condition in this life. And it seems to us one of the clearest evidences of the perverseness of human nature, that so many can see in this illustration of the divine love to man, nothing more than a divine permission to eat pork. It certainly is a magnificent display of the divine mercy and pity that he forbids the regarding of even such persons as unclean. W.
Something To Be Followed.
By Editor
IN reply to some queries an exchange has a column of replies, among which is the following categorical answer: "We should not follow Christ's example in washing one another's feet." And this notwithstanding Christ's emphatic statement: "If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you." John 13:14, 15. An "example" is something "which is to be followed or imitated;" and Christ said that he designed that his disciples should follow his example. He wished them to do as he had done to them. More than this, "ought" implies duty; it is the old form of the past tense of the word "owe," and therefore indicates obligation. If we say a person ought to do a certain thing, we indicate that to do that thing is a debt that he owes. So when Christ says, "Ye ought to wash one another's feet," he means that to do so is a duty; it is a debt that Christians owe.
Again Christ says: "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." John 13:17. "Happy" is equivalent to "blessed." A blessing is pronounced on those who do according to Christ's example in this respect. And what if, knowing these things, we do not do them? Certainly the blessing will be withheld.
The matter is as plain as words can make it. True, there is only one mention of it in the Bible; but do those who plead this fact as against the adoption of the ordinance, mean to imply that Christ never did and said the things recorded in the thirteenth chapter of John? We believe not, for we never heard any doubt expressed as to the truthfulness of the account. Then if it is a fact that Christ washed his disciples feet, and said "Ye also ought to wash one another's feet; for I have given you an example," isn't it just as valid as though the account were repeated fifty times? It certainly is.
We are morally certain that if such evidence could be found in favor of Sunday-keeping, or of infant "baptism," those who believe in these practices would not ask for any stronger testimony in their support. We also know that there are hundreds of men who would shout for exultation if they could find as strong an argument for Sunday-keeping as the thirteenth of John contains for feet-washing. The trouble is, it is too humiliating an ordinance to be generally adopted; and the strong tendency nowadays is to reject all of the Bible except Christ's own words, and to reject all of his words that are unpalatable.
THE next verse that we come to, the 13th, is another "stone of stumbling" to many, but with an understanding of the 10th verse, it is impossible to go wrong on this. We quote it with the 14th:—
"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree; that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."
What is the curse of the law? Is it obedience to the law? No; for it is written, "This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not grievous." 1 John 5:3.
The psalmist also says: "Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord." Ps. 119:1. Now if the keeping of the law is a blessing, disobedience, with its consequences, must be the curse. And so Paul, after warning the Ephesians against whoredom, covetousness, and idolatry, says: "For because of these things the wrath of God [or the curse of God] cometh upon the children of disobedience." Eph. 5:6. And "the wages of sin is death." So "the curse of the law" is, in a word, death.
That death is the curse from which Christ has redeemed us, is evident from the latter part of the 13th verse. He redeemed us from the curse by being made a curse for us, and the curse which he suffered was his death,—being hanged on a tree. It was absolutely necessary that Christ should be made in all respects like those whom he would redeem. Heb. 2:17. He came to save sinners, therefore he was counted as a sinner. Isa. 53:12; 2 Cor. 5:21. And being found in fashion as a man, he suffered the curse which hung over guilty man. He died that we might live. And because he was made a curse for us, we may all through faith share in the blessing of Abraham.
"Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ." Gal. 3:15, 16.423Here the apostle introduces a new point, the conclusion of the argument being, as stated in verse 21, that the law is not against the promises of God. He makes the positive and unquestionable statement that if a covenant be once confirmed it cannot afterwards be altered. Now the covenant was confirmed to Abraham by "two immutable things [God's promise and his oath] in which it was impossible for God to lie" (Heb. 6:15-18); therefore, as is stated in verse 17, the law given from Sinai four hundred and thirty years after, cannot make the promise void, nor destroy the fact that the inheritance is solely by promise. Thus the main idea of the chapter, that God's grace as manifested in Christ is man's sole hope, is kept prominent.
But there is still another point which we should not fail to consider in connection with the fifteenth verse. 1. Although the law "was four hundred and thirty years after" the covenant with Abraham, it was nevertheless in existence at that time, and long before, and was the basis of that covenant. Said God to Abraham, before making the promise: "Walk before me, and be thou perfect." Ex. 17:1. And in renewing to Isaac the promise made to Abraham, God said it was "because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws." Ex. 26:5. Thus the law could not be against the promises of God, because the law was the foundation of the promises.
2. Although the covenant was confirmed in Christ to Abraham, it was only in anticipation. As the first covenant was confirmed by blood,—the blood of beasts,—so the second covenant was also ratified by blood,—the blood of Christ. Christ himself "confirmed the covenant with many for one week," in the midst of which he shed his blood on the cross, thus affixing the final seal to the covenant of God's grace.
3. As the commandments were the condition of the Abrahamic covenant, so they are of what is known as "the second covenant," which is in every respect the same as that made with Abraham. See Jer. 31:33; Heb. 8:10. None can deny that in his earthly ministry Christ taught the necessity of obedience to the law of God. See Matt. 5:17-19; 19:17; Luke 16:17, etc. Always, in the strongest terms, he proclaimed the enduring nature and obligation of God's law. Now since the death of Christ was the final ratification of the covenant, and since, as Paul says, when a covenant is confirmed no man can disannul or add thereto, it follows that after the death of Christ, no change in the covenant was possible. And since the law was one of the terms of the covenant, we are assured that not one jot nor one tittle could pass from it. The fact that God's law cannot be changed, we have learned before; but it is well to emphasize it in connection with the death of Christ. That which some suppose marked the abolition of the law, was that which emphasized its perpetuity. It is admitted, even by antinomians, that the law of God was in full force until the death of Christ, and therefore Gal. 3:15 should convince them that it is in full force now. Says Paul, "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law." Rom. 3:31.
Verse 16 also shows that the promise is made only to Christ and to those who are his. In the verses following, 17-26, the apostle shows the relation of the law to the promise of God. "And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise." Verses 17, 18.
What covenant was it that "was confirmed before of God in Christ"? Manifestly it was the covenant with Abraham, quoted in verse 8 from Gen. 12:1-3; 13:14, 15; 17:7, 8, and 22:18. The promise was that Abraham should be "heir of the world" (Rom. 4:11), and that in his seed all nations should be blessed. The condition was that he should walk before God and be perfect. Gen. 17:1-8. But this was not such a covenant as was made with the Israelites at Horeb. That one contained no reference to Christ, and no provision for the forgiveness of sins; the one with Abraham was confirmed "in Christ" (Gal. 3:17) and was made not on condition that he should be righteous by his own unaided efforts, but was made on condition of his having the righteousness of faith. Compare Rom. 4:11 with 3:22-25. This of course involved the forgiveness of his sins; and so we see that the covenant with Abraham (which is the one referred to in this chapter) was exactly the same as "the second covenant," which is made with us. The covenant made at Horeb, and called "the first covenant," although it was after that made with Abraham, was, as we have before learned, only for the purpose of showing the people the need of the help promised in the Abrahamic or second covenant.
Now the apostle says that the law, which was formally announced from Sinai four hundred thirty years after the covenant with Abraham, cannot disannul that covenant, that it should make the promise of none effect. "For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise." That is, if the inheritance be given to those who depend upon their own deeds for justification, then it is not by promise. If it be bestowed because of works, then faith in Christ is ruled out. But this, he says, cannot be; for God gave the inheritance to Abraham by promise, contingent on his faith.
The reader can readily see the force of the apostle's argument. He is trying to convince the Galatians, and with them all men, that out of Christ there is no salvation. The man who hopes to gain an inheritance in the kingdom of God through his own works, no matter how high his aim may be, will fail. The promise is not for works, lest any man should boast; but it is through faith in Jesus Christ, that he may be "Lord of all." "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:12.