106 liORiE PAULINA. 



whom these things were transacted, as to ren lei the TCord* 

 which Peter is said to have used concerning him, j roper and 

 natural for him to have used ? If this would be pertinent 

 in. the discussion of oral testimony, it is still more so in 

 appreciating the credit of remote history. 



It must not be dissembled that the comparison of our 

 epistle with the history presents some difficulties, or to say 

 the least, some questions of considerable magnitude. It may 

 be doubted, in the first place, to what journey the words 

 wliich open the second chapter of the epistle, " then, four- 

 teen years afterwards, I went to Jerusalem," relate. That 

 which best corresponds with the date, and that to which 

 most mterpreters apply the passage, is the journey of Paul 

 and Barnabas to Jerusalem, when they went thither from 

 Antioch, upon the business of the Gentile converts ; and 

 which journey produced the famous council and decree 

 recorded in the fifteenth chapter of Acts. To me this opin- 

 ion appears to be encumbered with strong objections. In 

 the epistle, Paul tells us that he "went up by revelation." 

 Chap. 2:2. In the Acts, we read that he was sent by the 

 church of Antioch. After no small dissension and disputa- 

 tion, " they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain 

 other of them, should go up to the apostles and elders about 

 this question." Acts 15 : 2. This is not very reconcilable. 

 In the epistle St. Paul writes, that when he came to Jeru- 

 salem, " he communicated that gospel which he preached 

 among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of 

 reputation." Chap. 2 : 2. If by "that gospel" he meant 

 the immunity of the Gentile Christians from the Jewish 

 law — and I know not what else it can mean — it is not easy 

 to conceive how he should communicate that privately 

 which was the object of his public message. But a yet 

 greater difficulty remains, namely, that in the account which 

 the epistle gives of what passed upon this visit it Jerusa- 

 lem, no notice is taken of the delibeiation and dec ee which 

 are recorded in the Acts, and which, accordino^ to that hiy 



