which affords the best security against doubt

or error.

We ought not, therefore, to be much surprised, that a large proportion of the first Jewish converts to Christianity manifested a strong propensity to intermingle with it the peculiarities of the Mosaic Law. Convinced, as they appear to have been, of the Divine pretensions of Jesus, and that they had found in Him the very person "of whom Moses in "the Law and the Prophets did write";" they were yet reluctant to yield to Him that exclusive or preeminent authority, which Moses and the Prophets had declared to be His due. They were slow to believe that justification and sanctification were to be obtained by Christ alone, without the continuance of those means of pardon and acceptance which the Law had provided. They could not be prevailed upon to regard that Law but as still in force, with respect to those, at least, who had already been brought within its covenant; and they were even dissatisfied with the supposition that other nations might be excused from becoming proselytes to Judaism, in order to obtain the full benefits of Christianity.

In considering the important question of

a John i. 45.

the cessation, or abrogation, of the Mosaic Law, this state of the general feeling of the Jews must not be overlooked. In every dispensation of revealed religion, we may discern the gracious disposition of the Almighty to adapt its provisions to the infirmities and prepossessions of those for whose benefit it was more immediately designed. This disposition our Lord Himself manifested, in his manner of communicating to his chosen disciples, as well as to the multitude at large, some truths, at which they would probably have revolted, if pressed upon them with less caution and consideration. This was His declared reason for so often speaking to them in parables; and for touching sparingly on those points, which the Apostles themselves were not yet sufficiently rooted in the faith to receive. "I have many things," said He, "to say unto you; but ye cannot bear them now." These things were to be imparted to them more fully and distinctly, by that gradual illumination of the Spirit, which He promised to send after His departure.

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That the discontinuance of the Mosaic Law was one of those points on which the disciples were least able to bear a full and unqualified disclosure, is evident from their

b John xvi. 12.

conduct on several occasions. Their lofty notions of the Messiah's kingdom clearly indicate that they looked to a vast enlargement of the Jewish polity, not to its extinction or diminution. They expected that other nations would be brought by the great Shepherd of Israel into the Jewish fold; not that they themselves were to become a people dispersed and undistinguished in one universal fold, common both to Jew and Gentile. The sons of Zebedee doubtless coveted honours which they conceived none but an Israelite could claim: and when the whole company of the Apostles interrogated our Lord, after his resurrection, as to the time of his "restoring again the kingdom to Israel"," they little expected the dissolution of that polity by which it had for so many ages been upholden. Hence their reluctance to receive the intimations, not obscurely given by our Lord, that the time was approaching, when "not one stone should be left upon another" of that goodly temple, which they beheld with unbounded veneration, and deemed to be secured by Divine protection against every possible assault. These mispersuasions tended to create feelings and prepossessions almost

c Acts i. 6.

d Matt. xxiv. 2.

as untractable as those that actuated even the bitterest of our Lord's opponents.

A still more decisive proof of this may be traced in the doubts entertained, even after the miraculous occurrences on the day of Pentecost, respecting the admissibility of the Gentiles to a participation of Christian privileges. It was not until the extraordinary vision of St. Peter, and the subsequent conversion of Cornelius the centurion, that the offer of the Gospel appears to have been directly made to any but of the Jewish nation. For his conduct on that occasion, St. Peter was called to a rigorous account by his brethren of the circumcision. Convinced, however, by his recital of the circumstances, that God had indeed "to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life";" the rest of the Apostles thenceforth joined in extending the saving knowledge of the Gospel far and wide. But the question respecting the observance of the Jewish Law still remained undecided by any authoritative declaration. It seems probable, that the Apostles in their respective ministries, no longer imposed this condition upon their Pagan converts; and it is evident, that Paul and Barnabas incurred the vehe

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e Acts xi. 18.

ment displeasure of some of the Jews, by forbearing to insist upon it. Perhaps the matter was left to the discretion of each individual Apostle, until the occurrence to which the text relates called for their collective judgment, and made it necessary to establish some rule for general observance.

"Certain men," says the sacred historian, "which came down from Judæa, taught the "brethren, and said, Except ye be circum"cised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot "be saved. When therefore Paul and Bar"nabas had no small dissension and disputa"tion with them, they determined that Paul "and Barnabas, and certain other of them, "should go up to Jerusalem, unto the Apo"stles and Elders, about this question. And

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being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: "and they caused great joy unto all the "brethren. And when they were come to

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Jerusalem, they were received of the church, "and of the Apostles and Elders; and they "declared all things that God had done with "them. But there rose up certain of the "sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, "That it was needful to circumcise them, “and to command them to keep the Law of