and SAVIOUR, JESUS CHRIST, and his APOSTLES, &c. 375 his efcape ; which fo exafperated Herod, that he commanded thofe to be put to death who were intrufted with the care of the prifoner. After this miraculous deliverance of St.. Peter, a controverfy arofe between the Jewiflt and the Gentile converts, with re- gard to the obfervation of the Mofaic law, a difpute which gave great uncafinefs to the minds of many perfons; the Jews zeal - oufly contending, that it was abfolutely neceffary to falvation to be circumcifed, and obferve the precepts of the ceremonial law, as well as . thofe of the gofpel. To compofe this difference, it was thought ne- ceffary to fummon a general council of the apofiles and brethren to meet at Jerufalem. This was accordingly done, and the cafe thoroughly debated. At laft Peter flood up, and declared, that God having chofen him out of all the apoftles to be a preacher of the gofpel, not only to the Jews, but alfo to the Gentiles, God, who was belt able to judge of the hearts of men, had borne witnefs to them, that theywere accepted ofhim, by giving them his`Holy Spirit, as he had done the Jews; and, confequently, that there was no difference between them. St. Peter's declaration convinced the church, and it was unanimoufly decreed, that no other burthen than the temporary obfervance of a few particular precepts, equally convenient to the Jew and Gentile, Should be impofed on them : and the deci- fion was drawn up into a fynodical epiftle, and fent to the feveral churches, for al- laying the .heats and controverfies which had been occafionedby this difpute. Peter foon after left Jerufalem, and went down to Antioch ; where, ufing the liberty given him by the gofpel, he freely ate and converfed with the Gentile profelytes, con- fidering them now as fellow-citizens with the faints, and ofthe houfholdof God. This he had been taught by the vifion of the Sheet let down from heaven ; this had been lately decreed at Jerufalem; this he had before prallifed. with regard to Cornelius and his family, and juflified the action to the fatisfaluion ofhis accufers ; and this he had freely and innocently done at Antioch, till fome of the Jewifh brethren coming thither, he, for fear of offending them, withdrew himfelf from the Gentiles, as if it had been unlawful for him to hold con- verfation with uncircumcifed perfons ; notwithftanding he knew, and was fully fatisfied, that our bleffed Saviour had bro- ken down the partition-wall between the Jew and Gentile, under the gofpel. Having thus ailed againll the light of his own mind and judgment, Peter con- demned what he had approved, and de- flroyed the fuperftrullure he had before erecfed ; at the fame time, he confirmed the Jewifh zealots in their inveterate errors, filled the minds of the Gentiles with fcruples, and their confciences with fears. Nor was this all, the old prejudices between Jew and Gentile were revived, and the whole number of Jewifh converts, follow- ing the apoltle's example, feparated them - felves from the company of the Gentile Chriftians : nay, even Barnabas himfelf was carried away by the torrent of unwar- rantable praiiee that now unhappily pre- vailed. The apoftle Paul was now at Antioch, and refolutely oppofed St. Peter to Isis face ; he publicly reproved him as a per- fon worthy to be blamed for his grofs pre- varication. He reafoned and feverely ex- poffulated with him that he who was him- felf a Jew, and confequently under a more immediate obligation of obferving the Mofaic law, Should throw off the yoke himfelf, and at the fame time endeavour to impofe it on the Gentiles, who were never under -the necellity of obferving the ceremonies ofthe Ifraelites: a fevere though an impartial charge. Thus far we have had an infallible, guide to direét us in writing the life of this great apoftle ; but here the facred hiflorian bath left us, and therefore we muff have recourfe to the ancients for materials in the further profecution ofhis hiftory. Before
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