will confider a little the true import of the word (c) which the writer of the Acts hath used to exprefs St. Peter's meaning, will perhaps be difpofed to doubt whether it ought to be underflood as having any reference at all to the law of Mofes, As to that clofe connection or intimate affociation with Gentiles which might induce a Jew to become a follower of idolatrous practices, and which St. Luke feems to have intended to convey an idea of by the remarkable word (d) which he has made use of, the general tenor of the law undoubtedly forbids it. But with regard to a lefs intimate intercourse with Gentiles, there seems to be, at least, some reason to suppofe that it was rather permitted and encouraged, if not enjoined by the law, than forbidden. For even "the progeny of an obnoxious Ammonite or Moabite, it seems, was to be received into the congregation of the Lord in the tenth generation." (e) And the Jews are exprefsly forbidden to "abhor an Edomite or Egyptian," and enjoined to receive their respective defcendants" into the congregation of the Lord, in the third generation." (f) Moreover it is faid "The stranger that dwelleth with you fhall be unto you, as one born among you, and thou fhalt love him as thyself." (g) And again "Thou fhalt lend unto many nations, but thou fhalt not borrow." (h) Some may find themfelves encouraged to acquiefce in this interpretation of the Law, by confidering the extraction of the person whofe property the Lawgiver himself appointed David to ufe, in order to flop the ravages of that peftilence which the execution of his prefumptuous project had brought on the people under him (i)-the ftep which he directed Elijah to take to avoid the fury of Ahab (j)-and that remarkable inftance of concern which he manifefted for the prefervation of the reprobate inhabitants of the metropolis of Affyria, by compelling his reluctant prophet to go among them, and to use his beft endeavors to reclaim them. (k). They may however ftand a fairer chance of being perfuaded of the propriety of it by confidering the practice of the Jewifh nation from time to time till the arrival of the Meffiah, as they will find that alliances were not unfrequently entered into by the rulers of the Jewish with thofe of other nationsthat Joshua did not fcruple to make a league with the subtile (c) Αθεμίτον. (α) Κολλασθαι. chiefs (e) Deut. xxiii. 3. 4. (g) Lev. xix. 34. (i) Sam. xxiv. 18. (k) Jonah i, 2. chiefs of the Gibeonites as belonging to a diftant country, and that the Almighty would not fuffer it to be violated with impunity by Saul, notwithstanding it had been obtained by a falfe pretence on their part ()-that David fent ambaffadors to Hanun to comfort him on the loss of his father (m)—that Solomon fent others to Huram king of Tyre, to request that he would continue as amicably difpofed towards himself, as he had before been towards his father David (n)—that he also married the daughter of the king of Egypt, and notwithstanding that connexion, ftill continued an object of the divine favor (0)-that the temple was built and beautified by the joint fkill and labor of Jewish and Gentile artificers (p)→→ and that certain Tyrians were shipmates with the Jews in the voyage to Ophir. (q)· Moreover, by the account which we have of the first publication of Chriftianity, they will find, that the Jews were at that time difperfed every where-that they had fynagogues in the more populous Gentile cities-and-that profelytes conftantly reforted to them to join in their religious worship. But they will perhaps be inclined to think that there is no great occafion to have recourfe either to the letter of the law, or to the practice of the Jewish nation at large to fettle this point, when they come to compare our Lord's profeffion with his practice. We are affured by St. Matthew that he expressly declared "that he came not to deftroy the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfil them." (r) And yet we are told both by the fame Evangelift and by St. Luke that when an application was made to him by a Centurion of Capernaum, through the rulers of that town, to come and heal his servant, that he inftantly faid "I will come and heal him," (s)-and-that he not only faid fo, but that "he went with them," without making any remark on its being confidered by any one as an irreligious step. Now can it be fuppofed that the Jews of Capernaum would have taken upon them to intercede with Jefus to heal the Centurion's fervant-or-that our Lord would have confented fo readily to comply with their request, if it had been understood to be contrary to the Law? And though every fort of communication whatever between Jews and (m) 2 Sam. x. 2. (0) 1 Kings, iii. 1. (1) Josh. ix. 15. and 2 Sam. xxi. 9. (q) 2 Chron. viii. 18. and Gentiles be even supposed to have been interdicted by the law of Mofes, yet as our Lord by fulfilling that Law "broke down the middle wall of partition and thereby made both one," (t) St. Peter, it may be thought, having been apprised of that event, ought to have fuppreffed the remark which he made to Cornelius and his party on the illegality of taking fuch a step. 66 Moreover-Cornelius, it feems, was a Centurion as well as the perfon of Capernaum, for whofe fick fervant the rulers of that town befought Jefus; and though we are not told that he had built a fynagogue," (u) yet we are affured of a thing as much to his credit-namely that " he was of good report among all the nations of the Jews." (v) And we are informed too that he was a worshipper of the one true God," (w) and the other, it seems, was not more;-why then fhould St. Peter have hesitated a moment to visit so respectable a character, efpecially after our Lord had fo graciously condefcended to vifit the fervant of a perfon in no religious point of view more refpectable?-Why fhould he have thought of making that unpleasant remark to Cornelius and his friends concerning the unlawfulness of the ftep which he had prefumed to take, as foon as he was introduced to them, when the request of the rulers at Capernaum, and his Lord's ready compliance with that requeft,feem clearly to indicate that it could not have been confidered either by him or them as being contrary to the law of Mofes, however contrary it may have been, in the opinion of fome, to the law of tradition? -And why fhould he have been fo forward to declare that the impreffion which an emblematical appearance had made on his mind while he was in a trance at Joppa, was the cause of his prefuming to take it, when he might have recollected a precedent fo very oppofite that had been established by the Meffiah himself a long while before at Capernaum ?-If we had not been informed that he was an inhabitant of that very city, and that there is a good reason to suppose that his wife's mother (x) may have been cured of a fever under his own roof by a touch of Jefus, on the very day when the Centurion's fervant was healed, one would be almost inclined to doubt (t) 2 Eph. 14. (v) Acts x. 22. Luke vii. 5. (w) Acts x. 22. (x) It is evident from St. Matthew's relation, that the cure of St. Peter's mother-in-law happened on the same day, as the two just mentioned miracles,-viz.-the cure of the Centurion's servant, and the cure of the leper. M's MICHAELIS. doubt whether he had ever been brought acquainted with that tranfaction:-that his memory fhould not have preserved the impreffion which fo extraordinary an occurrence must have made on him, till he was fent for by Cornelius, if he had been brought acquainted with it, would feem not a little furprifing, even if nothing had happened to renew it in the course of his attendance on his Lord:-but fince his Lord had, it feems, in the mean time, reminded the inhabitants of Nazareth, openly in the fynagogue of that town, that a distressed Gentile widow (y) had in the days of Elias been an object of his father's providential care, above all the indigent widows of Ifrael;-fince he had intimated at Jerufalem his being appointed to fulfil a more comprehenfive fcheme of providence than that which related to the defcendants of Abraham (z)-fince he had exprefsly declared not a long while after in the fame city, that he was commiffioned to adminifter distributive juftice to all the nations of the earth; (aa)-that the righteous among them would be rewarded with eternal life, (bb) and the children of the kingdom be caft into outer darknefs where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth; (cc)— that a less fevere punishment would be inflicted on the inhabitants of the most profligate heathen cities, than on the inhabitants of those, where most of his mighty works had been done; (dd-and fince, after all this, he pofitively commanded the Apostles to become his meffengers of reconciliation to all the world, one is at a lofs to conceive why St. Peter should have been ftill fo averfe to a communication with Gentiles, as to ftand in need of the additional incitement of a vision to induce him to engage in this affair;and why he should have attributed his determination to act contrary to his avowed notion of the obligation of the Law to what had been fuggefted to him in the vifion, without adverting in the leaft to any thing that had been foretold by the Prophets, or faid, or done by his Lord. In vain then, it seems, had our Lord apprised the Apostles before his crucifixion "that all things which were written in the Law of Mofes, and in the Prophets, and in the Pfalms, concerning himself must be fulfilled," and reminded them after his refurrection of his having so done. (ee)-In vain too (y) Luke iv. 25, 26. (aa) Matt. xxv. 31. (dd) Luke xxiv. 44. (2) John vi. 16. (cc) Matth. viii. 12. and Luke xiii. 23...........30. (bb) Luke iii. 10, 12, &c. (ec) Luke xxiv. 45,.. 48, did did he at the fame time " open their understandings, that they might understand the fcriptures, and fay to them: thus it is written, and thus it behoved Chrift to fuffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remiffion of fins fhould be preached in his name, beginning at Jerufalem. And ye are witneffes of these things." So flow of heart was St. Peter too, it feems, to believe all nat the prophets had spoken, even after his Lord be taken fuch pains to explain their mea...g -Had they not expreffed themfelves in a language familiar to him, or had their words never been recorded, his misapprehenfion might have been perhaps in fome degree excufable.-But fince they declared future events in his own native language-fince their fayings were recorded faithfully in a book-fince the reconciliation of the nations to God had been foretold by almoft all of them, (f) and repeatedly by moft of them,fince he had been accustomed to hear them read every sabbath day for feveral years after his Lord had opened his understanding and had explained their meaning to him, as well as in all the preceding part of his life, his conduct feems to have been fo exceedingly reprehenfible as to juftify a fufpicion that he may have been the very perfon alluded to in the parable of the unjuft fleward. (gg)-It feems however to be hardly poffible to fix on a character in which that parable has been better exemplified: for the steward there spoken of, seems to be a steward of the myfteries of God. But, be that as it may, before it be condemned as a whimfical or ridiculous conceit to imagine that fuch an allusion may have been intended, it should be confidered whether it would be more for his credit to fuppofe that the "vail remained untaken away from his heart, in the reading of the new teftament" (hh) for nearly the space of seven years after his understanding had been opened by the Son of God and enlightened by the Holy Spirit.-And though that parable, as far as it relates to the fteward's waftefulness, be thought after all, to be inapplicable to the conduct of Peter on this occafion; yet it will not furely be faid, that that other parable of "a faithful and wife fteward who gave thofe of his Lord's household their meat in due feason" (ii) is more applicable to it. Whether (f) Deut. xxxii. 48. 19. Isaiah 66. Psalms 18 and 127. Isaiah xi. 5. Isaiah (kh) 2 Cor. 3. 14. Matth. xxiv. 45. |