with a great multitude, and with the armour of human power; their journey was encompassed with defeat and death; their arrival at Attaleia was disastrous and disgraceful; and they sailed to Antioch a broken and dispirited army. But the Crusaders of the first century, the Apostles of Christ, though they too passed "through much tribulation," advanced from victory to victory. Their return to the place "whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled,” 1 was triumphant and joyful, for the weapons of their warfare were "not carnal." The Lord Himself was their tower and their shield. turmis maturat navigio, Isauriam Ciliciamque a læva deserens: a dextris autem Cypro relicta, prosperis actus flatibus, fauces Orontis fluminis, quod Antiochiam prælabitur, qui locus hodie dicitur Symeonis portus, juxta antiquam urbem Seleuciam, et ab Anfochia decem plus minusve paulo distat miliaribus, ingreditur." From Fellows' Asia Minor, p. 191. This sculpturing of a shield upon a tower may also be seen in a drawing of Isaura in Hamilton's Researches, vol. ii. p. 332. CHAPTER VII. "Inter hos scopulus et sinus, inter hæc vada et freta... velificata Spiritu Dei fides navigat. ... Propterea Spiritus Sanctus consultantibus tunc Apostolis vinculum et jugum nobis relaxavit, ut idololatriæ devitandæ vacaremus."-Tertull. de Idoll. § 24 CONTROVERSY IN THE CHURCH.-SEPARATION OF JEWS AND GENTILES.-OBSTA CLES TO UNION, BOTH SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS.-DIFFICULTY IN/THE NARRA TIVE.-SCRUPLES CONNECTED WITH THE CONVERSION OF CORNELIUS.-LINGERING DISCONTENT.-FEELINGS EXCITED BY THE CONDUCT AND SUCCESS OF ST. PAUL, ESPECIALLY AT JERUSALEM.-INTRIGUES OF THE JUDAIZERS AT ANTIOCH.-CONSEQUENT ANXIETY AND PERPLEXITY.-MISSION OF PAUL AND BARNABAS TO JERUSALEM.-DIVINE REVELATION TO ST. PAUL.-TITUS.JOURNEY THROUGH PHOENICE AND SAMARIA. THE PHARISEES.-PRIVATE CONFERENCES.-PUBLIC MEETING.-SPEECH OF ST. PETER.-NARRATIVE OF BARNABAS AND PAUL.-SPEECH OF ST. JAMES. THE DECREE.- CHARITABLE NATURE OF ITS PROVISIONS.-IT INVOLVES THE ABOLITION OF JUDAISM. PUBLIC RECOGNITION OF ST PAUL'S MISSION TO THE HEATHEN.-ST. JOHN.— RETURN TO ANTIOCH WITH JUDAS, SILAS, AND MARK.-READING OF THE LETTER. -WEAK CONDUCT OF ST. PETER AT ANTIOCH.-HE IS REBUKED BY ST. PAUL.PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF THE TWO APOSTLES.—THEIR RECONCILIATION. Ir, when we contrast the voyage of Paul and Barnabas across the bay of Attaleia, with the voyage of those who sailed over the same waters in the same direction, eleven centuries later, our minds are powerfully drawn towards the pure age of early Christianity, when the power of faith made human weakness irresistibly strong;-the same thoughts are not less forcibly presented to us, when we contrast the reception of the Crusaders at Antioch, with the reception of the Apostles in the same city. We are told by the Chroniclers', that Raymond, "Prince of Antioch," waited with much expectation for the arrival of the French King; and that, when he heard of his landing at Seleucia, he gathered together all the nobles and chief men of the people, and went out to meet him, and 1 1 Raymond ... princeps Antiochenus . . . adventum diebus multis ante expecta verat, cum desiderio sustinens, convocatis nobilibus totius regionis, et populi primori bus, cum electo comitatu ei occurrens, in urbem Antiochenam, omnem ei exhibens reverentiam, occurrente ei universo clero et populo, magnificentissime introduxit. Will. of Tyr. xvi. 27. brought him into Antioch with much pomp and magnificence, showing him all reverence and homage, in the midst of a great assemblage of the clergy and people. All that St. Luke tells us of the reception of the Apostles after their victorious campaign, is, that they entered into the city and "gathered together the church, and told them how God had worked with them and how He had opened a door of faith to the Gen tiles." Thus the kingdom of God came at the first "without observation," with the humble acknowledgment that all power is given from above,--and with a thankful recognition of our Father's merciful love to all mankind. 1 2 No age, however, of Christianity, not even the earliest, has been without its difficulties, controversies, and corruptions. The presence of Judas among the apostles, and of Ananias and Sapphira among the first disciples,3 were proofs of the power which moral evil possesses to combine itself with the holiest works. The misunderstanding of "the Grecians and Hebrews" in the days of Stephen,', the suspicion of the apostles, when Paul came from Damascus to Jerusalem, the secession of Mark at the beginning of the first missionary journey, were symptoms of the prejudice, ignorance, and infirmity, in the midst of which the Gospel was to win its way in the hearts of men. And the arrival of the apostles at Antioch at the close of their journey was presently followed by a troubled controversy, which involved the most momentous consequences to all future ages of the Church; and which led to that visit to Jerusalem which, next after his conversion, is perhaps the most important passage in St. Paul's life. We have seen (Ch. I.) that great numbers of Jews had long been dispersed beyond the limits of their own land, and were at this time dis tributed over every part of the Roman Empire. "Moses had of old time, in every city, them that preached him, being read in the Synagogues every Sabbath-day." In every considerable city, both of the East and West, were established some members of that mysterious people, who had a written law, which they read and re-read, in the midst of the contempt of those who surrounded them, week by week, and year by year,- —who were bound everywhere by a secret link of affection to one city in the world, where alone their religious sacrifices could be offered,whose whole life was utterly abhorrent from the temples and images which crowded the neighbourhood of their Synagogues, and from the gay and licentious festivities of the Greek and Roman worship. In the same way it might be said that Plato and Aristotle, Zeno and Epicurus, "had in every city those that preached them." Side by side with the doctrines of Judaism, the speculations of Greek philosophers 1 Acts xiv. 27 P. 163. Luke xvii. 20. 7 Acts xv. 21. 3 Acts v. P. 102. |