Sketches from the Life of Paul (1883) — PDF Scan 71

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64 LIFE OF PAUL . salem, calledupon the brethrenof the cities throughwhichtheypassed,andencouragedthemby relatingtheirexperienceinthework ofGod,and the conversion of the Gentiles to the faith. Upon arrivingat Jerusalem,thedelegatesfrom Antioch relatedbefore the assembly of the churches the success that had attended the ministrywiththem,and theconfusionthathad resulted from the fact that certain converted Pharisees declared that the Gentile converts must be circumcisedand keep the law of Moses inorder to be saved . The Jews werenotgenerallypreparedtomove asfastastheprovidenceof God openedtheway . It was evident to them from the result of the apostles' labors among the Gentiles, that the convertsamong the latterpeoplewould far exceed the Jewish converts; and that if the restrictionsand ceremonies of the Jewish law were not made obligatoryupon theiracceptingthe faithof Christ,the nationalpeculiaritiesof the Jews, which kept them distinctfrom allother people,would finallydisappearfrom among those who embracedthegospeltruths. The Jews had pridedthemselvesupon their divinelyappointedservices; and theyconcluded that as God once specifiedthe Hebrew manner of worship,itwas impossiblethathe shouldever authorizea change in any of itsspecifications. They decidedthat Christianitymust connect itself with the Jewish ławs and ceremonies. They were slow to discern to the end of that which had been abolishedby the death of Christ, and toperceivethatalltheirsacrificialofferings had butprefiguredthedeathof the Son of God , in which type had met itsantityperendering