it ignorantly; they were not aware that they finned, but thought they did God fervice; for they looked upon him as a falfe prophet, and a deceiver of the nation, whofe life was forfeited to his country, as this fame apostle himself declares, Acts iii. 17. and his brother Paul owned long afterwards, Acts xiii. 27. Whereas Ananias and Sapphira could not believe it was innocent to withhold part of the price of their lands, when they pretended to beftow the whole upon the church, and to endeavour to put a fallacy and trick upon the apoftles about this matter, who were, according to their own profeffion, the servants of God, commiffioned and authorized to fhew his will to the world, and endowed with fupernatural abilities for perfuading the world of it.

Farther, as to what our author calls a pretty fingular remark of Erafmus concerning Peter, That the head of the Chriftian religion began his apoftlefhip by denying Jefus Chrift, and the high-priest ' of Judaism began his miniftry by making a golden calf, and worshipping it.' I need not give myself much trouble with it. Every reader may eafily perceive, that Peter's denial happened long after he was made an apostle, while it was also only a fhort and momentary prevalence of fear, fucceeded with deep forrow and contrition for it, and a long life of ftedfaft adherence to, and activity for the gospel of Jefus, amidst all the evils and inconveniencies which Jewish and Gentile enemies threatned or inflicted upon him. -And that Aaron's tranfgreffion was committed a confiderable while ere he was vefted with the facerdotal office, or made high-priest to the Ifraelites, and brought under the additional obligation which it in

ferred to oppose fuch a flagrant corruption in their principles and manners. See Exod. xxxii. and xl. Nor is it unlikely, fince the falfhood of the remark is fo glaring, that he hath injured that great fcholar in afcribing to him what was only his own fuggeftion. So himself tells us*, in a paffage above cenfured, that Aaron was only Created high pontiff after the fhameful action of making and worfhipping the calf.'

SECTION XXV.

Of his account, in the fame piece, under the article Refurrection, of James's advice to Paul about obferving all the ceremonies in the temple, that he might perfuade every perfon he ftill continued to conform to the law, and of the effect of it.

UNDER the article Resurrection, again, Mr. Voltaire writes thus, + The Acts of the Apoftles men⚫tion a very fingular transaction, and well worthy of

notice. St. James, and feveral of his companions, ' advised St. Paul, though fo thorough a Chriftian, 'to go into the temple of Jerufalem, and obferve all

the ceremonies of the antient law, to the end all 'may know, fay they, that every thing which is faid ' of you is false, and that you still continue to ob' ferve Mofes's law. St. Paul, accordingly, went in" to the temple for seven days; but being known on the feventh, he was accufed of having brought

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⚫ strangers into it with a view of prophaning it.'

See above, part 2. chapter 1. fect. 2. page 53.

+ Phil. Dict. page 322, 323.

But is this a juft account? Quite otherwise. Neither did James, and the elders of the church at Jerufalem advise Paul to obferve all the ceremonies of the antient law, but only to practise conformably to it in a particular inftance. We,' fay they, Acts xxi. 21, 24. have four men who have a vow on them; 'them take, and purify thyself with them, and be

at charges with them, that they may fhave their heads,' and offer the appointed facrifices, Num. vi. 14. Nor did they defire him to do this, to the end all might know that every thing which was faid of him was falfe, which would have been very wild and ridiculous; but only that all might be thereby fatiffied, more than they would be by any verbal declaration of his fentiments and doctrine, that the information they had received of him was falfe, viz. that he taught all the Jews who were difperfed and fcattered among the Gentiles, to forfake the law, faying, "That they ought not to circumcise their children, • neither to walk after the customs,' that is, that it was offenfive to God, and unlawful or criminal for them to obferve the Mofaic rites, wherefore they were bound in duty to forbear their use. And indeed this was a principle which he never held or inculcated, tho' he affirmed it was unneceffary to fubmit to them, in order to attain the favour of God, and the bleffedness of heaven. It is true they add, in explaining the intention of their counsel, But may know that thou 'thyself walkest orderly, or regularly, and keepest 'the law. Nevertheless, their meaning cannot be, that all might be perfuaded, that he did, at all times, and in all places, act according to its prescriptions, but only, that they might be convinced that he did,

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at fome seasons, and upon fome occafions, obferve its inftitutions; which was the cafe, where he found the fame expedient to remove prejudice, and fecure more extenfive usefulness, instead of abftaining from all conformity to them as in itself finful and forbidden.-The term in the original, Taxes, which we tranflate here, walk orderly, as if an invariably even and uniform agreement in behaviour to the appointments of Mofes was thought of, is by us rendered in all other places † fimply, walk. With the fame limitation or reftriction words as general are alfo understood, Gal. ii. 14. when Paul tells Peter, That he, being a Jew, lived after "the manner of the Gentiles, and not as did the Jews.' For the allowed fenfe is, not that he lived conftantly according to the cuftoms of the Gentiles, about meats and days, &c. but that he did fo at fome times. Befides, Paul's compliance here, could not prove any other thing, than that he reckoned it innocent to practife thefe Jewith ceremonies; for how could it be an evidence that he judged it his duty, or neceffary to avoid the difpleasure of God, and the penal confequences of it? Finally, it cannot be reasonably fuppofed that his friends aimed to prove more by his action now, fince it could not but be notour to multitudes in Jerufalem, at the feast of Pentecoft*, that

See Rom. iv. 12. Galat. v. 25. vi. 16. Phillip. iii. 16. And the Greek here is, Thou thyfelf walkeft keeping the law, TX και αυτός τον νόμον φυλασσων.

* It is well known this was the fecond of the three grand festivals on which all the Jewish males were required to appear before the Lord at Jerufalem. The length of the days, as it fell in the fummer, made it more commodious for the Jews to gather thither then from the different places of their difperfion. And what a concourse there might be now from the countries where Paul had preached, may be

he often lived as a Gentile in refpect of the ordinances of the ritual law. As this was the cafe, to have propofed to evince that he judged their obfervation incumbent on him every where, and requifite to divine acceptance, would have been extremely foolish, as it would have given his and their enemies, a fine handle to triumph and infult over them, by an eafy and clear confutation of his having held fuch an opinion.

Such was the nature and design of the advice to which Paul yielded; very different, therefore, from Mr. Voltaire's reprefentation of it; till, not on the feventh day, as he fays, nor, indeed, when the feven days were almoft finished, as our verfion hath it, but, probably +, foon after these feven days of purification commenced, which were to run before the oblation of the facrifices, that fhould clofe the vow upon which he acted, he was interrupted, calumniated, and traduced, and violently apprehended by certain Afiatic Jews in the manner which Luke relates.— And in Paul's falling in with this counfel, what was there blameable? We are not under an obligation to justify Paul's actions at all times, more than Peter's, as Dr. Lardner* hath observed. Nevertheless, it is difjudged from the enumeration we have of the stranger Jews and profelytes, at that feaft of Pentecoft, in which the Holy Ghost was poured down on the difciples, Acts ii. 1-12.

The Greek is literally, When the feven days were about to be accomplished. These feven days, it is plain, commenced only the third day after his arrival in Jerufalem. And it is likely, it was not near their conclufion, that his arreft happened, from his words in his apology to Felix, which was at least seven days after the tumult in the temple. Compare Acts xxii. 30. ххііі. 12.32. xxiv. I-II. and Doddridge on the Acts.

*See his Remarks upon Dr. Ward's Differtations, page 164, &c.