the Gentiles, had disregarded the distinctions of the Jewish law, which he knew to be no longer binding ; and had acted according to the customs of the Gen- tiles amongst whom he dwelt : but upon the arrival of certain persons from Jerusalem, where the ordi- nances of the Mosaic law were still continued in the Church, he returned to the observation of the Jewish ritual, and constrained the Gentiles also to follow his example. Now this was highly reprehensible, being,
1. Most sinful in itself —
[Had he from a tender regard to the prejudices of his less enlightened brethren conformed to their customs, he would have done well ; even as Paul himself did, when, " to the Jews, he became a Jew, and to those who were under the law, as under the law." But, whilst he did this, he should have taken care to maintain the liberty of the Gentile con- verts, and to explain to them his reasons for reverting to Jewish ceremonies, that they might not be ensnared by his example. But instead of acting with this caution and ten- derness towards the Gentile converts, he withdrew from them, and compelled them to conform to Jewish rites : and this he did too, not from love to the Jews, but from fear of their displeasure. Now this was gross " dissimulation :" He knew, that the Jewish law was abrogated : he kneiv, that he himself was liberated from the observance of it: he knew, that the Gentiles could have no concern with it ; and that to enjoin the observance of it on them, was to impose a yoke on them, which neither he himself nor any of his ancestors had been able to sustain. In this therefore he walked not uprightly ; but betrayed the trust which had been committed to him, the apostolic trust, of enlightening and saving a ruined world.]
2. Most pernicious in its tendency —
[This conduct of his tended to sanction the most fatal error, and, in fact, to subvert the whole Gospel. The Jewish converts had an idea, that the Gospel itself could not save them, unless they added to it the observance of the law : and it was found impossible at once to eradicate this prejudice from the Jewish mind, because they could not see how that, which God had so strictly enjoined under one dispensation, could be wholly set aside under another. Indeed this was the great stumbling-block to the Jews : and if they could have been allowed to blend their law with the Gospel, they would almost universally, and with great readiness, have embraced the Gospel. But of such a mixture the Gospel does not admit. Christ has in his own person fulfilled the law; and, by his