EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 106 



intimations occur, conveying the same idea of James' situ* 

 ation. When Peter was miraculously delivered from prison, 

 and had surprised his friends by his appearance among them, 

 after declaring unto them how the Lord had brought him 

 out of prison, " Go show," says he, " these things unto 

 James and to the brethren." Acts 12 : 17. Here James is 

 manifestly spoken of in terms of distinction. He appears 

 again with like distinction in the twenty-first chapter and 

 the seventeenth and eighteenth verses : " And when we.' 

 Paul and his company, " were come to Jerusalem, .... the 

 day following Paul went in with us unto James ; and all 

 the elders were present." In the debate which took place 

 upon the business of the Gentile converts in the council at 

 Jerusalem, this same person seems to have taken the lead. 

 It was he who closed the debate, and proposed the resolu- 

 tion in which the council ultimately concurred: "Where- 

 fore my sentence is, that we trouble not them which from 

 among the Gentiles are turned to God." 



Upon the whole, that there exists a conformity in the 

 expressions used concerning James, throughout the history, 

 and in the epistle, is unquestionable. But admitting this 

 conformity, and admitting also the undesignedness of it, 

 what does it prove ? It proves that the circumstance itsell 

 is founded in truth ; that is, that James was a real person, 

 who held a situation of eminence in a real society of Chris- 

 tians at Jerusalem. It confirms also those parts of the nar- 

 rative which are connected with this circumstance. Sup- 

 pose, for instance, the truth of the account of Peter's escape 

 from prison was to be tried upon the testimony of a witness 

 who, among other things, made Peter, after his deliverance, 

 say, " Go show these things unto James, and to the breth- 

 ren ;" would it not be material, in such a trial, to make out 

 by other independent proofs, or ])y a comparison of proofs, 

 drawn from independent sources, that there was actually at 

 that time living at Jerusalem such a person as James ; 

 that this person held such a situation in the society among 



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