The life and work of St. Paul

THE SAMABITANS THE EUNUCH THE CENTURION. 149
levirate marriage might be set aside if the brother-in-law of the childless
widow was a tanner. A tanner's yard must be at least fifty cubits distant
from any town, 1 and it must be even further off, said Rabbi Akibha, if built
to the west of a town, from which quarter the effluvium is more easily blown-
Now, a trade that is looked on with disgust tends to lower the self-respect of
all who undertake it, and although Simon's yard may not have been contiguous
to his house, yet the choice of his house as a residence not only proves
how modest were the only resources which Peter could command, but
also that he had learnt to rise superior to prejudice, and to recognise the
dignity of honest labour in even the humblest trade.
It is certain that two problems of vast importance must constantly have
been present to the mind of Peter at this time: namely, the relation of
the Church to the Gentiles, and the relation alike of Jewish and Gentile
Christians to the Mosaic, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say though
the distinction was not then realised to the Levitical law. In the tanner's
house at Joppa these difficulties were to meet with their divine and final
solution.
They were problems extremely perplexing. As regards the first question,
if the Gentiles were now to be admitted to the possession of full and equal
privileges, then had God cast off His people ? had the olden promises failed ?
As regards the second question, was not the Law divine ? had it not been
delivered amid the terrors of Sinai? Could it have been enforced on one
nation if it had not been intended for all? Had not Jesus himself been
obedient to the commandments P If a distinction were to be drawn between
commandments ceremonial and moral, where were the traces of any distinction
in the legislation itself, or in the words of Christ ? Had He not bidden the
leper go show himself to the priest, and offer for his cleansing such things as
Moses has commanded for a testimony unto them? 2 Had He not said
" Think not that I am come to destroy the Law and the Prophets ; I am not
come to destroy, but to fulfil?" 3 Had He not even said, "Till heaven
and earth shall pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the
law till all be fulfilled?" 4
These perplexing scruples had yet to wait for their removal, until, by the
experience of missionary labour, God had ripened into its richest maturity tho
inspired genius of Saul of Tarsus. At that period it is probable that no living
man could have accurately defined the future relations between Jewand Gentile,
or met the difficulties which rose from these considerations. St. Stephen,
who might have enlightened the minds of the Apostles on these great
subjects, had passed away. St. Paul was still a suspected novice. The day
when, in the great Epistles to the Galatians and the Romans, such problems
should be fully solved, was still far distant. There is no hurry in the designs
1 Bdbha Bathra, t. 25, 1, 16, 2 (where the remark is attributed to Bar Kappara).
"No trade," says Kabbi, " will ever pass away from the earth ; but happy be he whose
parents belong to a respectable trade . . . The world cannot exist without tanners,
, . . but woe unto him who is a tanner " (Kiddushtn, f. 82, 2).
Matt. viii. 4 ; Mark 1. 44, Matt. v.
*
17.
Matt. T. 18; Luke rri. 17,