Gentiles about six years afterwards, when he preached to Cornelius and his friends: and on both occasions God had given the same testimony of his acceptance to the people, pouring out upon the uncircumcised Gentiles, precisely as he had done on the circumcised Jews, his Holy Spirit, both in his miraculous and sanctifying operations"1. From hence he in- ferred, that God had unequivocally declared his mind and will, and had shewn, beyond all controversy, that in his eyes " neither circumcision was any thing, nor uncircumcision was any thing ; but faith, that worketh by love," was all that he required. To require therefore from the Gentiles an observance of the Mosaic law was to " tempt God, and to put on their necks a yoke," which God had never intended to impose.
Having stated thus the grounds of his judgment, he pro- ceeded to give, what we may call, his confession of faith. He viewed salvation as a free gift of God to man, for the sake, and through the merits, of the Lord Jesus Christ. This salvation he regarded as wholly gratuitous in all its parts, and as equally so both to Jews and Gentiles : to the Jews it was not given because they were circumcised : nor should it be withheld from the Gentiles because they were uncircumcised : both to the one and the other it would be freely given, the very instant they believed in the Lord Jesus Christ". No good works were required to merit it ; nor was any thing required to make the merits of Christ more effectual : it was given freely, with- out money and without price ; and from first to last must be wholly of grace.]
2. The sentence of the whole College of Apostles at Jerusalem —
[After Peter's sentiments were delivered, Paul and Bar- nabas confirmed his argument, by stating what God had done among the Gentiles by them ; and, by thus uniting their testi- mony to his, they convinced at once the whole assembly. James, who appears to have presided in the council, drew up the sentence in which the whole Church concurred. He appealed to Simeon's, that is, Simon Peter's, testimony, as exactly according with the words of prophecy : and then declared that no such yoke was to be imposed on the con- verted Gentiles. There were indeed some things which, under existing circumstances, it would be necessary for the Gentiles to forbear. They in their unconverted state had not merely regarded fornication as lawful, but had actually practised it in their idolatrous worship : they must therefore be especially on their guard against this, not only because it was sinful in itself,
m Compare Acts xi. 15 — 18. with ver. 7 — 9. n Compare the text with Rom. iii. 29, 30.