righteousness over iniquity, grace over sin, happiness over misery, and life over death."-Paige. - Beareth all things. Some suppose the meaning to be that love is disposed to cover or conceal the faults of others; others that love is forbearing, patient, slow to anger, and ready to forgive. "In either sense, the meaning is evidently that love seeks no revenge, but chooses that the errors and faults of others, so far as is consistent with the safety and welfare of the community, should be overlooked and forgiven." "Love taketh up no malign elements, such are not its natural affinities, — its spirit prompteth it to cover in mercy all things that ought not to be exposed, to believe all of good that can be believed, to hope all things that a good God makes possible, and to endure all things that the hope may be made good." - Thom. "Observe that many of those qualities which the apostle names as characteristic of charity are what we should assign to other graces. .. For St. Paul saw down to the root; he saw that it was perfectly possible for any one of these to exist alone, but it was in the coexistence of them all that the real life of the under-root of love was shown." - Robertson.

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8. Charity never faileth. "It never gives way, or gives out. Paul then contrasts with this enduring grace of charity the fleeting and fluctuating character of those gifts and accomplishments which are so much prized, and of which men are so proud. - Prophecies, tongues, and knowledge were only transient means, not ends; the scaffolding, not the temple itself. The principle itself infinitely outweighed the apparatus employed to energize the principle." - Livermore.

9. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. As though the apostle had said, This earthly state is imperfect; here our knowledge is imperfect; here our teaching and preaching are imperfect. In the Bible, to "prophesy' "often means to preach, or to teach.

11. When I was a child. . . . but when I became a man. The meaning is that as we put away childish things in manhood, so we shall put away many human things in the life that is to be.

12. For now we see through a glass, darkly. "In a mirror, darkly." Revised Version. "In a mirror, obscurely." -Noyes. Most commentators are of the opinion that the apostle had in mind the mirror of the ancients, which was a smooth, flat plate of metal, highly polished, but in which images were, at best, indistinct. A few, however, are of the opinion that Paul had in mind the transparent substance which served the ancients for window-glass. "Glass in this place more properly means window, for the ancient windows were made of horn, or talc, a thin substance through which things were seen, but in a dim, confused, and colorless manner. So, now we see divine things 'darkly.' We see God through the colored glass, as it were, of our limited human impressions. . . . Heaven, also, is but a place erected by our earthly imagination. . . . Just what the going out of a room lighted through horn windows into the clear daylight would be to us now, will be the entrance of the purified spirit into God's realities out of this world of shadows."- - Robertson.

LESSON XXIX.

THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT.

Galatians V. 22-26.

Not mighty deeds make up the sum

Of happiness below;

But little acts of kindliness

Which any child may show.

GOLDEN TEXT: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; against such there is no law. —GAL. v. 22, 23.

1. Will you repeat the Golden Text?

2. Do you know who wrote these verses?

3. How many good qualities are mentioned in them?

4. Is there one of these fruits of the Spirit that you are willing to do without?

5. Is there one that your life cannot be made to bear?

6. How can it be made to bear them?

7. What does Paul say that true Christians have done?

He says that they "have crucified the flesh, with its affections and lusts."

8. What does he mean by this?

He means that they have tried to give up all that is wrong.

9. What does he say that we should not do?

He says that we should not provoke one another.

10. Do children ever do this?

11. What else does he say that we should not do?

He says that we should not envy one another.

12. What is it to envy any one?

1. When, where, and by whom was the Epistle to the Galatians written?

2. Where was Galatia?

3. When had Paul visited this province?

4. What does he say to the Galatian Christians of the "fruit of the Spirit"? Gal. v. 22, 23.

5. What does he mean by this expression?

6. What "fruit of the Spirit" does he name first?

7. What did you learn in the last Lesson about Christian love?

8. Why will the true Christian have joy?

9. Why will he be at peace with himself and with others? 10. What is the word "long-suffering" equivalent to? 11. What is the meaning of "gentleness" here, and how does it differ from "goodness"?

12. What is here meant by "faith"?

13. What is the meaning of "meekness" in verse 23?

14. What word might be used instead of " temperance" in this verse?

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15. What does the apostle mean by saying that there is no law" against these things?

16. What would you say of a person that had all these qualities in a high degree?

17. How can we gain more of each of them?

18. What is the meaning of verse 24?

19. What does verse 25 mean?

20. What admonition does Paul give in verse 26?

21. What is "vain-glory"?

22. Will you name some of the bad effects of envy?

INTRODUCTION. The Epistle to the Galatians was written by Paul, probably at Corinth, about A.D. 57, although some authorities think that he wrote it two or three years earlier while living at Ephesus. Galatia was a province in the central part of Asia Minor, and here the apostle had founded several churches during the early part of his second missionary journey, about A.D. 51. It was to these churches that this epistle was addressed.

NOTES. Gal. v. 22. But the fruit of the Spirit. "Essentially the same idea that would be expressed by 'the works of the Spirit,' the moral result which the Holy Spirit brings about as its fruit."-Meyer. "The fruit of the Spirit is that which naturally grows out of the operation of the Spirit." - Ellicott. Opposed to "works of the flesh" mentioned in verse 19. Love. This properly stands at the head of the list. It was the subject of our last Lesson, and need not be dwelt on here.Joy. The holy joy produced by consciousness of the divine love and the certainty of

future blessedness. - Peace. Concord, peace with others, is here meant. "Love is the foundation, joy the superstructure, peace the crown of all.” -Lightfoot. "The remainder of the list, it will be seen, made up of those delicate and fragile forms of virtue which the ordinary course of society is least likely to foster." - Ellicott.- Long-suffering. Patience under injuries, forbearance.-Gentleness, goodness. "Kindness, goodness."- Revised Version, and Noyes. The word rendered "gentleness" conveys the idea of kind feeling towards others; the word rendered "goodness," that of kind acts towards them. "The passive virtue comes first (long-suffering); then

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a kindly disposition (gentleness); lastly, active goodness." - Faith. "Faithfulness." Revised Version, and Noyes. "True religion makes a man faithful. No man can be a Christian who is not faithful, and all pretensions to being under the influence of the Spirit when fidelity does not exist are deceitful and vain."- Barnes.

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23. Meekness. Probably something more than mildness is meant. "Mildness is that side of the virtue which is turned towards man, but it has also another side, which is turned towards God, a gentle submissiveness to the divine will."— Ellicott. - Temperance. Self-control. "Our word 'temperance' we use now in a much more limited sense, as referring mainly to abstinence from intoxicating drinks. But the word here used is employed in a much more extended signification. It includes dominion over all evil propensities, and may denote continence, chastity, selfgovernment, moderation in regard to all indulgences, as well as abstinence from intoxicating drinks.". Barnes. Against such there is no law. No condemnation. These delicate Christian graces are not the things that the law of God denounces. They fulfil its high moral purpose.

24. They that are Christ's. "They that are of Christ Jesus.". - Revised Version. "They who belong to Jesus Christ." -Noyes. - Crucified the flesh. We who are Christians renounced our passions and evil desires when we became Christians. "Paul treats the matter as ideally done once for all, whereas this moral crucifixion of our evil propensities is a continuing process."

25. "If we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us also walk."- Revised Version. "That is, if we are imbued with the true principles of spiritual life, let us manifest this spirit by our ways, habits, actions, and dispositions." - Livermore. "If we enjoy the blessings which the Spirit communicates, let us also obey all its promptings to righteousness." — Paige.

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26. Let us not be desirous of vain-glory. "Let us not become vainglorious."-Noyes. "The word here used means proud, vain of empty advantages, as of birth, property, eloquence, or learning. The reference here is probably to the paltry competitions which arose on account of these supposed advantages." - Barnes. 'When he left the Galatian churches, St. Paul was satisfied with their condition; but he fears they will change. The warning that he addresses to them exactly hits the weak points in the national character, — fickleness, vanity, and a quarrelsome disposition.” - Ellicott.

CONTINUANCE IN WELL-DOING.

Galatians VI. 1-10.

We scatter seeds with careless hand,
And deem we ne'er shall see them more;
But for a thousand years

Their fruit appears,

In weeds that mar the land,

Or healthful store.

GOLDEN TEXT: And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. — GAL. vi. 9.

1. What does Paul say that we should do if any one be overtaken in a fault?

He says that we should "restore such an one in the spirit of meekness."

2. Why should we do it in the spirit of meekness?

Because we also are liable to be tempted.

3. What are some of the ways in which we can try to restore one that is overtaken in a fault?

4. What does Paul next say?

"Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ."

5. Do you know what is meant by bearing one another's burdens?

6. What does Paul say about sowing and reaping?

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption: but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”

7. When a man sows wheat, what does he expect to reap? 8. If you lead a good life in youth, what may you expect in manhood?

9. If you lead a good life in this world, what may you expect in the next world?

10. If you follow wicked ways, what will be the fruit? 11. Will you repeat the Golden Text?