CHAPTER IV.] COMMENTARY ON GALATIANS. 35 Ver. 28. "Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise." It is not merely that the Church was barren like Sarah, or became a mother of many child ren like her, but she bore them in theway Sarah did. As it was not nature but the promise of God which rendered Sarah a mother, [for the word of God which said. " At the time appoint ed I will return unto thee, and Sarah shall have a son," (Gen. xviii : 14.) this entered into the womb and formed the babe,] so also in our regen eration it is not nature, but the Words of God spoken by the Priest, 1 (the faithful know them,) which in the Bath of water as in a sort of womb, form and regenerate him who is baptized. Wherefore if we are sonsof the barren woman, then are we free. But what kind of freedom, it might be objected, is this, when the Jews seize and scourge the believers, and those who have this pretence of liberty are persecuted ? for these things then occurred, in the persecution of the faithful. Neither let this disturb you, he replies, this also is anticipated in the type, for Isaac, who was free, was persecuted by Ishmael the bondman. Wherefore he adds, Ver. 29, 30. " But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Howbeit what saith the Scripture? (Gen. xxi : 10.) Cast out the handmaid and her son : for the son of the handmaid shall not inherit with the son of the freewoman." What ! does all this consolation consist in showing that freemen are persecuted by bond men ? By no means, he says, I do not stop here, listen to what follows, and then, if you be not pusillanimous under persecution, you will be sufficiently comforted. And what is it that fol lows? " Cast out the son of the handmaid, for he shall not inherit with the son of the free- woman." Behold the reward of tyranny for a season, and of reckleness out of season ! the son is cast out of his father s house, and becomes, 1 [ " Chrysostom assumes the prevailing conception of a real priesthood and sacrifice, baptismal regeneration, etc." Schaff, Prolegomena, p. 8. G. A.] together with his mother, an exile and a wan derer. And consider too the wisdom of the re mark ; for he says not that he was cast forth merely because he persecuted, but that he should not be heir. For this punishment was not ex acted -rom him on account of his temporary persecution, (for that would have been of little moment, and nothing to the point,) but he was not suffered to participate in the inheritance provided for the son. And this proves that, putting the persecution aside, this very thing had been typified from the beginning, and did not originate in the persecution, but in the pur pose of God. Nor does he say, "the son of Abraham shall not be heir," but, " the son of the handmaid," distinguishing him by his infer ior descent. Now Sarah was barren, and so is the Gentile Church ; 2 observe how the type is preserved in every particular, as the former, through all the by-gone years, conceived not, and in extreme old age became a mother, so the latter, when the fulness of time is come, brings forth. And this the prophets have proclaimed, saying, " Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not ; for more are the children of the desolate than of her which hath the husband." And hereby they intend the Church ; for she knew notGod, but as soon as she knew Him, she surpassed the fruitful synagogue.3 Ver. 31. " Wherefore, brethren, we are not children of a handmaid but of the freewoman." He turns and discusses this on all sides, de siring to prove that what had taken place was no novelty, but had been before typifiedmany ages ago. How then can it be otherwise than absurd for those who had been set apart so long and who had obtained freedom, willingly to subject themselves to the yoke of bondage ? Next he states another inducement to them to abide in his doctrine. 5 [See note above on this interpretation. G. A.]* [" Before the emergence of the Christian people of God, the heavenly Jerusalem was still unpeopled, childless, vreipa, barren, oil TiKToutra not bearing, and so like Sarah before she became the mother of Isaac. But with the emergence of the Christian people ofGod this heavenly Jerusalem has become a fruitful mother richer in children than the Jerusalem that now is." Meyer. G. A.|