The life and work of St. Paul

522 ?HS LIFK AND WOSK O? ST. PAUL.
greater part of it was spent by St. Paul and his little company in an assembly
of the elders, who met to receive him under the presidency of James. 1 The
elders were already assembled when the visitors canie in, and we may imagine
that it was with something more than a thrill of curiosity that it must have
been with an almost painful shyriess that " iimid
"
provincial neophytes like
Timothy and Trop'amus (the laUer especially, an nncircumcised Gentile, whom
his teacher had encouraged to regard himself as entirely emancipated from the
Jewish law) found themselves in the awful presence of James, the Lord's
brother James, the stern, white-robed, mysterious prophet, and the conclave
of his but half-conciliated Judaic presbyters. No misgiving could assail them
in their own free Asiatic or Hellenic homes ; but here in Jerusalem, in fe the
Holy, the Noble city," under the very shadow of the Temple, face to face with
zealots and Pharisees, it required nothing loss than the genius of a Paul to claim
without shadow of misgiving that divine freedom which was arraigned in the
tame of a history rich in miracles, and a whole literature of inspired books.
That free spirit was a lesson which the Jews themselves as a body could not
learn. It required, indeed, the earthquake shock which laid their temple in
ruins, and scattered their nationality to the four winds of heaven, effectively
to teach them the futility of the convictions to which they so passionately
clung. They would have resisted without end the logic of argument had not
God Himself hi due tiroe refuted their whole theology by the irresistible logic
of facts. The destruction of Jerusalem did more to drive them from an immemorial
" orthodoxy " than the Epistles of St. Paul himself.
As we read the narrative of the Acts in the light of the Epistles, it is diffi-
cult to resist the impression that the meeting between tho Apostle and tho
Elders of Jerusalem was cold. It is, of course, certain that tho first object of
the meeting was the presentation of the contribution from which Paul had
hoped so much. One by one he would call forward the beloved delegates,
that they might with their own hands lay at the feet of James tho sums of
money which his Gentile Churches had contributed out of their deep poverty,
and which in many and many a coin bore witness to weeks of generous self-
denial. There lay all this money, a striking proof of the faithfulness with
which Paul, at any rate, had carried out his share of the old compact at Jerusalem,
when almost by way of return for concessions which the Judaisers had
done their best to render nugatory the Three had begged him to be mindful
cf the poor. It must have been a far larger bounty than they had any reason
to expect, and on this occasion, if ever, we might surely have looked for a
little effusive sympathy, a little expansive warmth, on the part of the community
which had received so tangible a proof of the Apostle's kindness. Yet
we are not told about a word of thanks, and we sea but too plainly that Paul's
1 AJJ none of the Twelve are mentioned, it ia probable that none were present. The
twelve years which, as tradition tells us, had been fixed by Christ for their stay in Jem
salem, had long elapsed, and they were scattered on their various missions to evangelise
the world. St'. Luke was aware cf the contributions brought by St. Paul (ixiv, 17)j
though ha dofis not mention them here.