CLAUSES from the WILL of the Rev. JOHN HULSE,

late of Elworth, in the county of Chester, clerk, deceased: dated the twenty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven; expressed in the words of the Testator, as he, in order to prevent mistakes, thought proper to draw and write the same himself, and directed that such clauses should every year be printed, to the intent that the several persons, whom it might concern and be of service to, might know that there were such special donations or endowments left for the encouragement of Piety and Learning, in an age so unfortunately addicted to Infidelity and Luxury, and that others might be invited to the like charitable, and, as he humbly hoped, seasonable and useful Benefactions.

He directs that certain rents and profits be paid to such learned and ingenious person, in the University of Cambridge, under the degree of Master of Arts, as shall compose, for that year, the best Dissertation, in the English language, on the Evidences in general, or on the Prophecies, or Miracles in particular, or any other particular Argument, whether the same be direct or collateral proofs of the Christian Religion, in order to evince its truth and excellence; the subject of which Dissertation shall be given out by the ViceChancellor, and the Masters of Trinity and Saint John's, his Trustees, or by some of them, on New-Year's Day annually; and that such Dissertation as shall be by them, or any two

Clauses from Mr. Hulse's Will.

of them, on Christmas Day, annually, the best approved, be also printed, and the expence defrayed out of the Author's income under his Will, and the remainder given to him on Saint John the Evangelist's Day following; and he who shall be so rewarded, shall not be admitted at any future time as a Candidate again in the same way, to the intent that others may be invited and encouraged to write on so sacred and sublime a subject.

He also desires, that immediately following the last of the clauses relating to the prize Dissertation, this invocation may be added: "May the Divine Blessing for ever go along with all my Benefactions; and may the greatest and the Best of Beings, by his all-wise Providence and gracious influence, make the same effectual to his own glory, and the good of my fellow-creatures !"

INTRODUCTION.

Illis (legis zelotis) animosè se opposuit in Epistolâ ad Galatas, eosque vocat falsos fratres, qui subintraverant, ut eorum libertatem in Christo specularentur, et contra illos docuit, circumcisionis susceptionem esse totius legis ritualis observandæ obligationem, et gratiæ ac libertatis per Christum acquisita abnegationem.

LIMBORCH. in Act. Apost. xxi. 15.

No sooner has Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians recognized them as a Christian Church, than he reproves them for a serious declension from the essential peculiarities of their religion'.

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From various passages in this Epistle, it appears that there had arisen in the Galatian Church, a party which in contradiction to the doctrine, and in contempt of the authority of St. Paul, taught the necessity of observing circumcision, and some other ordinances of the Jewish Law, in order to obtain salvation through Christ.

These persons did not maintain the necessity of observing the whole law, whilst they inconsistently adopted the rite of obligation to it. Influenced by secular motives, they endeavoured through a partial accommodation of prin

1 Gal. i. 6-9. and iii. 1.

2 Gal. iv. 9, 10, 11, 19, 20, 21. v. 1-4. and vi. 12-15.

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ciple, to avoid the reproach without rejecting the profession of Christianity; and were thus involved in errors absolutely incompatible with the claims of their religion, as their only and sufficient guide to future happiness. By it, they were taught to expect salvation without obedience to the Law of Moses; to bring in obedience to that Law as a condition of salvation, was to declare Christianity imperfect, and to slight the privileges which it was the peculiar glory of Christianity to bestow, and the distinction of the Christian to receive.

These Galatians are said to have " sought justification by the Law," both because they considered the observance of some parts of it essential to their salvation, and because they adopted that rite which was a sign of obligation to the whole Law.

The Gentiles were from the first admitted into the Christian Church without circumcision or any other obligation to the Jewish Law. As soon as ever the Judaizing teachers urged its imposition upon them, they were confronted with the charge of innovation *. St. Paul denounces those who made the same attempt in the Galatian Church as preachers of another gospel," and "accursed," and in contradiction to their errors, maintains that the religious uses of the Mosaic Law are at an end. This conclusion he establishes upon the following rea

sons:

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1. That the obligation of the Jewish Law is not recognized by Christianity, but even formally removed by it. Gal. ii. 15.—iii. 5.

2. That men being saved through their faith imputed to them for righteousness, previously to the existence of the Law, the observing the Law is not a natural and indispensable duty of religion. Gal. iii. 6-9.

3. That the object of the Law was not the final salvation of its subjects; that it could not from the very nature of a law be a provision for the justification of men before God; and that it was not in its design religious, but political. Gal. iii. 9—14.

4. That justification having been promised irrespectively of the Law by a covenant, no new condition could be added to the terms of that covenant, so that the Law could not be made indispensable to final justification. Gal. iii.

15-18.

5. That the occasion by which the Law was superinduced, and the circumstances of its confirmation upon Mount Sinai, prove it to have been no essential part, but a mean and instrument of religion. Gal. iii. 19—21.

6. That the end of the Law was to prepare all men for the accomplishment of the promise made to Abraham of the Messiah, upon which the promise of justification by faith had in all ages depended. Gal. iii. 21. to the end. Whence the Apostle Paul concludes that the intention of the Jewish Law being answered, no reason remained for its continuance under religious