we may conclude that it was written in the interval between his two visits, and most probably in A.D. 52, while he was at Corinth, or, as Michaelis conjectures, in Macedonia, before he went to Corinth. It is proper to observe that St Paul wrote the Epistle with his own hand, and did not, as in other cases, employ a person to write to his dictation.

The object or design of the Epistle to the Galatians is similar to that of the Epistle to the Romans, its argument being to restrain the Christians of the province from submitting to the Mosaic law. He refers to what he had personally taught them:-" 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," Gal. i. 8, 9. It will be observed in perusing this valuable Epistle, that St Paul does not recapitulate and explain at length the doctrines of the gospel to the Galatians as he does to the Romans, who, not being the fruits of his own personal ministry, but converted to Christianity by others, were not intimate ly acquainted with him; and, therefore, not aware how far they were instruct ed in all those particulars necessary to be known by them, he wrote to them a comprehensive treatise, embodying the chief doctrines of Christianity. But he acts in a different manner towards his own disciples the Galatians, to whom he writes not as a stranger, but as a master or governor, conveying his reproofs and exhortations in the language of authority. There is another peculiar feature in this Epistle which ought not to be forgotten. The doctrine contained in it goes farther than the decree of the Council of Jerusalem mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. St Paul maintains that no persons, whether Jews or Gentiles, after embracing Christianity, ought to consider the observance of the Mosaic ritual as essential to salvation, or as in any way contributing to a greater degree of perfection.

He says to the Galatians, "Christ is become of no effect to you, whosoever of you are justified by the law," meaning that whoever relies upon legal ordinances as the means of justification will certainly lose all the benefits of the profession of the gospel; whereas the decree of the Council of Jerusalem merely decided that it was not necessary for Gentile converts to be circumcised, or to conform to the rites and ceremonies of the Mosaic law, which had been abrogated by the sacrifice of our Saviour on the cross.

The contents of the Epistle may be summed up in a brief manner. After the usual salutation in the name of himself and of the brethren who were with him, in which he asserts his Apostolical commission-that he was "an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead"-St Paul shows, by a summary recapitulation of the leading events of his own life, that he received the gospel not from man, but by immediate revelation from God-that he entered upon his ministry by Divine appointment, without any instruction from those who were members of the Apostolical College before him, or even at first holding any direct communication with them-and that he afterwards conferred with the heads of the church at Jerusalem, and was by them, after the fullest conviction and deliberation, acknowledged to be an apostle, equal in power and authority to themselves, through the especial grace of God. He says that he was previously "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 preached the faith which he once destroyed; and they glorified God in me." Having thus sufficiently proved the divine authority of his Apostleship, St Paul proceeds to refute the imputation of inconsistency with which he had been charged, by showing that he had always opposed the Judaizing Christians, and in particular, that he had withstood and reproved St Peter at Antioch, who, through fear of the Jewish converts.

had refused to associate with those of the Gentiles. "But when Peter," he says, 66 was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles; but when they were come he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?" The Apostle contends that he had always maintained that the gospel was alone able to save those who believe it, "knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ," for " 'by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified," and declaring that "if righteousness came by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." He expostulates with the Galatians in the beginning of the third chapter, for allowing themselves to be seduced by false teachers from the doctrines he had taught them, and reminds them that when they embraced the gospel, and not the Mosaic law, they received the Holy Ghost. St Paul then pursues the chief argument of the Epistle, and proves, in the third and fourth chapters, that the obligation of the ritual part of the Mosaic law is completely abolished, both with respect to Jews and Gentiles. He then contrasts the present defection of the Galatians with their former zeal and affection for him, and expresses his fears lest he should have preached to them in vain. They are earnestly exhorted to "stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made them free, and not to be entangled again with the yoke of bondage." The moral and spiritual nature of the gospel, in opposition to outward observances, is pointed out, and the Epistle is concluded with a variety of directions and precepts tending to the cultivation

of practical virtue, and authoritatively binding on the Christian Church in every age throughout the whole world.

GALEED, the name of the heap of stones which Jacob set up for a pillar when he made his covenant with his father-in-law Laban, Gen. xxxi. 47, 48. Laban designated it in Syriac, Jegarsahadutha, or the heap of witness; and Mizpah, a beacon or watch-tower, “for he said, The Lord watch between me and thee when we are absent one from another." Jacob called it Galeed, which is the same in Hebrew as the Syriac word.

GALILEANS, or GALILEI, a sect among the Jews, the founder of which was one Judas of Upper Galilee, or the Gaulonite, Acts v. 37. The Evangelical writer informs us (Luke ii. 1), that immediately before the birth of our Saviour, "there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus that all the world (the Roman Empire) should be taxed, and this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria❞—that is, under the superintendence of Cyrenius, who was afterwards governor of Syria, he being subsequently better known by this title. Josephus informs us that about the time of our Saviour's birth, the whole Jewish nation took an oath to be faithful to Cæsar, which was probably occasioned by the assessment or enrolment mentioned by St Luke. Ten years after this taxing, or "the days of the taxing," as they are termed by St Paul's preceptor Gamaliel, Judas of Galilee excited an insurrection among the Galileans against their Roman masters, alleging that it was a mark of slavery to pay tribute to the Romans, and that they ought to acknowledge none but God as their superior. In other respects they held generally the same doctrines as the Pharisees; but as they maintained that it was unlawful to pray for infidel princes, they separated themselves from the rest of the Jews, and performed their sacrifices apart. Judas was slain, Acts v. 37; his two sons were crucified in the reign of Claudius; and his grandson Eleazar, after Jerusalem was

taken, defended a strong battlement with upwards of nine hundred and fifty of his followers. When the military engines had made a breach in the walls they slew their wives and children, and then fell upontheir own swords.

Our Saviour and the holy Apostles being of Galilee, were suspected to belong to the sect of the Galileans, and hence they are often so designated by way of reproach. Dr Lardner has proved that the early Christians were opprobriously called Galileans, which conveyed an insinuation that they were disaffected towards the existing governments; and Epictetus, in the time of the Emperor Adrian, about A. D. 120, evidently refers to them under this appellation. The Emperor Julian the Apostate, who hated and despised the Christians, invariably designated them by this name; and as our Saviour was often so called, when that prince was dying he exclaimed with indignation, "Thou hast conquered, O Galilean!" He found, with most mortified feelings of rage and disappointment, that all his endeavours to extirpate Christianity were unsuccessful.

Every reader of the Evangelical narratives is familiar with the celebrated circumstance relating to the tribute money, and our Saviour's reply, "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things which are God's." St Jerome is of opinion that on this occasion the Pharisees wished to accuse him of being one of the sect of the Galileans, anticipating that he would declare it unlawful to acknowledge the justice of tribute. The Pharisees were themselves adverse to the payment of the tribute, and held opinions similar to the Galileans on that subject, but as their sole object was to "entangle" our Saviour in his conversation, He, who knew them well, asked them, "Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?" The Galileans, however, appear to have been rather a political faction than a religious sect, and perhaps there was some reference to this in representing our Saviour to Pilate as one of them. His accusers, to render him suspected of sedi

tion as well as heresy, charged him with "perverting the nation, and forbidding to pay tribute to Cæsar, saying that he himself is Christ a king," Luke xxiii. 2. We are farther told by the Evangelist in the 6th verse, that "when Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether the man were a Galilean."

GALILEE, wheel, revolution, or heap; or revolution of the wheel, a province of Palestine, which varied in its limits at different periods. It is divided by the Rabbins into the Upper, the Lower, and the Valley, but Josephus, who was governor of it, divides it into the Upper and Lower Galilee exclusively, and says that the boundaries of all Galilee were Samaris and Scythopolis on the south, to the river Jordan. In the times of the New Testament, Galilee was the third division of the Holy Land, the other two being Judea and Samaria. The province is first mentioned in the Book of Joshua (xx. 7), and Solomon presented twenty of its cities to Hiram, who rejected the gift, 1 Kings ix. 11, 12. It was ravaged by Tiglath-pileser, and its inhabitants carried into captivity, 2 Kings xv. 29. LOWER GALILEE contained some places celebrated by the Evangelical writers. Near Mount Tabor stood Nazareth, where our blessed Saviour was educated; Capernaum, mentioned in the Gospels; Tiberias, on the Lake of that name, or Sea of Galilee, in the vicinity of which were, and still are, the hot-baths of Emmaus ; Bethsaida, afterwards Julias; Bethshean, or Bethshan, called Scythopolis by the Greeks; and Sipphoris, elevated, under the name of Dio - Caesarea, to be the capital of the province by Herod Antipas. In Upper Galilee, called also Galilee of the Nations, Isa. ix. 1-which comprehended the territory of the half-tribe of Manasseh, and once formed a part of the kingdom of Israel, though reckoned by the Romans as belonging to Phoenicia-were situated Dan, the most northern town in the land of Judea, anciently called Lais or Leshem; Caesarea Philippi, otherwise Paneas, Baneas, and Belinas; Gabara, known in the war of Vespasian; Caua,

The province of Galilee was formerly very fertile, and is chiefly level, except on its northern side towards Syria. It produced corn, wine, oil, and fruits of all descriptions, with little labour; and its towns and villages were very populousa fact which is easily proved without crediting the exaggerated statement of Josephus, that the least of its villages contained 15,000 souls. Its inhabitants were active, industrious, and warlike, and noted for their zealous attachment to the Jewish religion. They appear to have had a peculiarity in their dialect which made them well known, as in the case of St Peter, who was on that account designated a Galilean.

Galilee is chiefly illustrious in the Evangelical history. To Nazareth in Lower Galilee the infant Saviour was brought by Joseph, when he returned from the exile caused by Herod's cruelty, and it was honoured as the scene of our Redeemer's personal ministry-he preached in the synagogues "throughout all Galilee, and cast out devils," Mark i. 39. After his temptation in the Wilderness "he returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about; and he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all," Luke iv. 14, 15.

GALILEE, SEA OF, called also Kinnereth, or Chinnereth, the Lake of Gennesareth, and the Sea of Tiberias, a celebrated lake of Palestine in the province of Galilee, formed by the river Jordan, which runs through it and supplies it with fresh water. The Jewish historian, who extols it for the peculiar excellence of its water and the abundance and variety of its fish, says that it is about one hundred and forty furlongs in length and forty in breadth; and the description he gives of it could only have been delineated by one resident in the country. "The size," says Mr Buckingham, "is still nearly the same; the borders of the lake still end at the beach, or the sands, at the base of the mountains

sweet and temperate as ever, and the lake abounds with great numbers of fish of various sizes and kinds. The appearance of the lake, as seen from the point of view at Capernaum, is very grand; its greatest length runs nearly north and south, from twelve to fifteen miles, and its breadth seems to be in general from six to nine miles. The barren aspect of the mountains on each side, and the total absence of wood, however, give a cast of dulness to the picture, and this is increased to melancholy by the dead calm of its waters, and the silence which reigns throughout its whole extent, where not a boat or vessel of any kind is to be seen. There were fleets of some force on the lake during the wars of the Jews with the Romans, and many bloody battles were fought between them.-The waters of this lake lie in a deep basin, surrounded on all sides by lofty hills, excepting only the narrow entrance and outlets of the Jordan at each extreme, for which reason long-continued tempests from any one quarter are unknown here; and this lake, like the Dead Sea with which it communicates, is for the same reason never violently agitated for any length of time. But the same local features render it occasionally subject to whirlwinds, squalls, and sudden gusts from the hollow of the mountains, which, as in every other similar basin, are of momentary duration, and the most furious gust is instantly succeeded by a calm." The Evangelical writer directs our attention to this great feature of the Sea of Galilee. "And they launched forth; but as they sailed, Jesus fell asleep, and there came down a storm of wind on the lake, and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy; and they came to him and awoke him, and said, Master, Master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind, and the raging of the water, and there was a calm,” Luke viii. 23, 24. "Tiberias," says Mr Carne, "is a scene where Nature seems still to wear as sublime and lovely an aspect as in the days when it drew the visitations and