Kitabı oku: «Not Paul, But Jesus», sayfa 18

SECTION 3.
THE PARTITION TREATY, AND THE PROCEEDINGS, IN RELATION TO IT, DOWN TO THIS PERIOD, REVIEWED

In regard to the Partition Treaty, – taking the matter from Paul's first, or Reconciliation Visit, A.D. 35, to his departure from Antioch, on his missionary excursion, after the interview he had had at that city with Peter, – the state of the affairs, between Paul and the Apostles, seems to have been thus: —

1. On the occasion, and at the time, of his first Jerusalem Visit – his Reconciliation Visit – a sort of reconciliation – meaning at least an outward one – could not, – consistently with the whole train, of what is said of his subsequent intercourse and interviews with the Apostles, – could not but have taken place.

2. Of this reconciliation, the terms were – that, on condition of his preaching in the name of Jesus, —they would not, to such persons in Jerusalem and elsewhere, as were in connection with them, —speak of him any longer in the character of a persecutor: for, by his disobedience and breach of trust, as towards the Jerusalem constituted authorities, – such he had put it out of his power to be any longer: not speak of him as a persecutor, but, on the contrary, as an associate: – he taking up the name of Jesus: and preaching – never in his own, but on every occasion in that holy, name.

3. On this occasion, – it being manifest to both parties, that, by his intimate acquaintance with the Greek language, and with the learning belonging to that language, he was in a peculiar degree well qualified to spread the name of Jesus among the Gentiles in general; – that is, among those to whom the Jewish was not a vernacular language; – whereas their acquaintance with language was confined to their own, to wit, the Jewish language; – on this occasion, it followed of course, from the nature of the case, and almost without need of stipulation, that, – leaving to them, for the field of their labours, Jerusalem, and that part of the circumjacent country, in which the Jewish alone was the language of the bulk of the population, —he should confine his exertions, principally if not exclusively, to those countries, of which Greek was, or at any rate Hebrew was not, the vernacular language.

To him, at that time, it was not in the nature of the case, that absentation from Jerusalem, or any part of the country under the same dominion, should be matter of regret. Within that circle, he could not, for any length of time, abide publicly, for fear of the legal vengeance of the constituted authorities: nor yet among the Christians; although from their chiefs he had obtained, as above, a sort of prudential endurance; considering the horror, which his persecution of them had inspired, and the terror, with which, until his conversion had been proved in the eyes of all by experience, he could not as yet fail to be regarded.

Whatever was the object of his concupiscence, – whether it were the fund – and we have seen how attractive the bait was – which, at that time, in that metropolis of the Christian world, offered itself to an ambitious eye, – still, though his opportunities had as yet confined his exertions to the second city in that increasing world, his eyes never ceased looking to the first.

Twice, accordingly, between the first of his Visits, – his Reconciliation Visit – and this his last interview with Peter, – we see him visiting that inviting spot: each time, protected and escorted by the munificent Barnabas and his influence – to make him endurable: each time with a public commission – to make him respected: – the first time with money in his hand – to make him welcome.

That, all this while, neither good faith nor prudence were capable of opposing to the violence of his ambition, any effectual check, – is abundantly manifest.

That good faith was not, we learn distinctly from himself. For though, from the very nature of the two correlative situations, it is out of all question, as above, that, without some agreement to the effect above mentioned, he could not, even with the benefit of every possible means of concealment, have been preserved for two days together from the vengeance which pressed upon him, from below as well as from above; yet still was he, by his secret intrigues, Gal. 1:11, violating the treaty, at the expense of those upright, patient, and long-suffering men, to whose observance of it, he was every day indebted for his life.

SECTION 4.
PETER AND THE APOSTLES JUSTIFIED AS TO THE FINANCIAL STIPULATION IN THE TREATY, AND THE SUCCEEDING MISSIONARY LABOURS OF PETER AMONG THE GENTILES

Of the financial stipulation, the account we have has been seen: – an account given by one of the parties to it – Paul: – the other party being – the Apostles. In the instance of Paul, in the demonstration, supposed to be given of it, the worldliness, of the motives which gave birth to it, has in a manner been taken for granted. Well, then, if in the one instance such was the character of it, – in the other instance, can it have been any other? The question is a natural one; but not less so is the answer. For note, the stipulation is express – that, by Paul – by Paul out of the profits of his vocation – the poor, meaning the poor of Jerusalem – the poor among the disciples of the Apostles – should be remembered. Remembered, and how? Remembered, by payment of the money – into the hands, either of the Apostles themselves, or, what comes to the same thing, some other persons, in connection with them, and acting under their influence. Now, then, once more. Of the man, by whom the money was to be paid– of this man, the motives, you say, were worldly: is it credible then, that they should have been less so, in the instance of the men by whom they were to be received?

Answer. Oh! yes, that it is. Between the two cases, there is this broad difference. Whatever Paul might receive, he would receive for himself: whatever, after payment made, under the treaty, to the use of the Jerusalem poor, he retained, – he might retain for his own use. But the Apostles – that which, if anything, they received, in the name of the poor, and as for the use of that same poor, – would they – could they, for their own use, retain it, or any part of it? Not they, indeed. Not in their hands were the poor's funds: not in theirs, but in a very different set of hands: – in the hands of a set of trustees – of the trustees already mentioned in this work, Ch. 2 – of those administrators, whose function, to every reader who has not the Greek original in view, is so unfortunately disguised by the word Deacons. And these deacons, by whom appointed? By the Apostles? No; but, by the whole communion of the saints – by the whole number of the members of the Christian commonwealth; – and in the way of free election, —election, on the principle of universal suffrage. Monarchists and Aristocrats! mark well! —of universal suffrage.

So much for the treaty itself. Now, as to the subsequent conduct of the parties, under it, and in relation to it. As to the partition – Paul to the Gentiles, Peter and his associates to the Jews – such was the letter of it. Such being the letter – what, at the same time, was the spirit of it? Manifestly this: on the one hand, that the field, to which Paul's exertions should apply themselves, and confine themselves, should be that field, for the cultivation of which, with any prospect of success, he was exclusively qualified: on the other hand, that the field, to which their exertions should apply themselves and confine themselves, should be that, for the cultivation of which, they were – if not exclusively, at any rate more peculiarly, qualified. In a word – that, of all that portion of the world, that presented itself as open to the exertions, of those who preached in the name of Jesus, – they should reserve to themselves that part which was already in their possession, to wit, Jerusalem, and its near neighbourhood, together with such parts of Judea, and its neighbourhood, of which their own language, the Hebrew, was the vernacular language: this minute portion of the world reserved, all the rest was to be left open to him: over every other part of it he was to be at liberty to cast forth his shoe. Judea – the country of the Jews? say, rather, the Jews themselves: – the Jews wherever found: for, revelation apart, it was in language, that Paul's pretensions – his exclusive qualifications – consisted. The Apostles spoke nothing but Hebrew: Paul was learned, and eloquent, in a certain sort, in Greek.

In regard to the interpretation to be put upon this treaty, – suppose any doubt to have place, – in the word Gentile, would obviously the seat and source of it to be to be found. Suppose, on the one hand persons to be the objects, of which it was meant to be designative, – then, let there be but so much as one single uncircumcised man in Jerusalem, or elsewhere, – to whom, in the view of gaining him over to their communion, the Apostles, or, with their cognizance, any of their disciples, addressed themselves, – here would, on their part, be a breach of the treaty. Suppose, on the other hand, places to be the objects, of which it was meant to be designative, – on that supposition, within that tract of country, within which alone, the necessary means, of communicating with the bulk of the population, were in their possession, – they might apply themselves, to all persons without restriction: and this, still without any real breach of the agreement – of the spirit and real import of the agreement.

In respect either of persons or places, by the agreement, according to this – the obvious sense of it – what was it that Paul gave up? In truth, just nothing. Had his mind been in a sober state, – strange indeed, if the field thus afforded by the whole heathen world, was not wide enough for his labour: in all parts of it he could not be at once; and the most promising parts were open to his choice. Cessation of Paul's hostilities excepted, what was it that the Apostles gained? Not much more.

As already observed – what was not gained by it, is what is above: what was really gained by it, is what follows.

What Paul gained was – exemption from the annoyance, which otherwise he would everywhere have been exposed to have received, by being designated as the quondam notorious persecutor, and still unreconciled enemy, of the Apostles and their disciples: – in a word, of all others who preached in the name of Jesus.

That which the Apostles actually gained, was – that confirmation and extension of their influence, which followed of course, upon every extension, received by that field, within which the influence of the name of Jesus was extended.

That which, besides what is above, they ought to have gained, but did not gain, is – exemption from all such annoyance, as could not but be inflicted on them, in proportion as Paul, preaching to persons, to whom they had access, a Gospel which was his, and not theirs, – should, while in pretence and name an associate, be, in truth and effect, an adversary and opponent.

This is what – though they not only should have gained, but might also reasonably have expected to gain – they did not gain. For, not to insist any more on his secret intrigues in Jerusalem itself, and his open opposition in the second Jerusalem, Antioch, as above; we shall – when we come to the next and last of his interviews with the Apostles on the occasion of his Invasion Visit – see, to what lengths the madness of his ambition carried him, in that birthplace and metropolis of the Christian world.

By the sort of connection, which, notwithstanding such obvious and naturally powerful principles of discrimination, have on each occasion, been visible, as between the undoubted Apostles, and this self-styled one – three distinguishable questions cannot but, from time to time, have been presenting themselves: – 1. The sort of countenance – partial, cold, and guarded as it was – shown by the old established and goodly fellowship to the ever-intruding individual – is it credible? 2. Can it, in fact, have been manifested, in conjunction with a disbelief, on their part, of his pretensions to a degree of supernatural favour with the Almighty, equal or superior to their own? 3. And, if not only possible, but actual – was it, in point of morality, justifiable?

By a few obvious enough considerations, an answer – and, it is hoped, a not altogether unsatisfactory one, – may be given to all these questions.

As to whatever was natural in the course of the events, Barnabas was necessary to the rising Church: and Paul was, all along, necessary, or, at least, was so thought, to Barnabas.

1. Barnabas was necessary to the Church. Already, it has been seen, how preeminent was the support received by it from his munificence. In him, it had found at once the most liberal of benefactors, and, unless Peter be an exception, the most indefatigable of agents. On the part of no one of even the chosen servants of Jesus, do proofs of equal zeal and activity present themselves to our view.

In an ensuing chapter, we shall see Peter trying his strength among the Gentiles. Yet, from the direction thus given to his Apostolic zeal, no violation of the treaty, it will be seen, can with justice be imputed to him, if the interpretation above given to the word Gentiles be correct.

1. In the first place, – according to the Acts, the date of this excursion is antecedent to that third interview, which took place on the occasion of Paul's third Jerusalem Visit – his Deputation Visit: that is to say, to the time, at which, and not before, though, if the above reasoning be just, in a sort of general terms the preliminaries had been agreed upon, the general preliminary arrangements were followed, confirmed, explained, and liquidated, by more particular ones.

2. In the next place – of all the places, – which, in the course of this excursion of Peter's, are mentioned as having been visited by him, – there is not one, that Paul is mentioned as having ever visited: whereas, in the first of them that is mentioned, the Apostles are mentioned as having already a band of disciples.⁴⁴

3. In the third place, – the date, assigned to this excursion of Peter's, is, by several years, antecedent even to the first, of the several excursions of Paul's, of which mention is made in the Acts. In the received chronology – date assigned to the commencement of Peter's excursion, A.D. 35; date assigned to Paul's first excursion, A.D. 45.

While Peter was thus occupying himself, Paul was still at Tarsus:⁴⁵ at Tarsus – his own birthplace – whereto, – in consequence of the danger, to which his life had been exposed by his first Jerusalem Visit, his Reconciliation Visit, – he had taken his flight.⁴⁶

4. In the fourth place, – notwithstanding the perpetual hostility of Paul's mind, as towards Peter and the rest of the Apostles, – on no occasion, on the score of any breach of this article in the partition treaty, is any complaint, on the part of Paul, to be found. When dissatisfaction is expressed, doctrine alone is mentioned by him as the source of it: doctrine, the ostensible; dominion, the original and real source.

Spite of the treaty, – spite of the manifest interest, of the only genuine religion of Jesus – the Gospel taught by the Apostles, – still in places to which they had access – in places in which, in consequence, they had formed connections, – he persisted in intruding himself: intruding himself, with that Gospel which he says himself, was his, not theirs – and not being theirs, was not Jesus's: – intruding himself, in places, in which, even had his Gospel been Jesus's, their connections being established, there existed no demand for him and his. Can this be doubted of? If yes, all doubt will at any rate be removed, when, – spite of all the endeavours that could be employed, either by them or by his own adherents, to prevail upon him to desist, – we shall see him entering Jerusalem on his Invasion Visit: as if, while, for preaching the religion of Jesus, all the world, with the exception of the Jewish part of it, was not enough for this intruder, – the Apostles of Jesus – eleven in number, with their elected associate, Matthias, – were not, all together, enough, for that small part of it.

The name he preached in, that indeed not his own, but Jesus's: but the doctrine he preached – the Gospel, as he called it – not Jesus's, nor anybody else's, but his own. All this, as he has the assurance to declare, – all this did he preach without their knowledge. And why without their knowledge? because, as he himself has the still more extraordinary assurance to declare– for confession is the result not of assurance, but weakness – because, as he himself acknowledges, – if so it had been, that this Gospel of his had come to the knowledge of the Apostles – of those associates, to whom he was all along holding out the right hand of fellowship, this Gospel of his could not have been listened to – this preaching of his would have been in vain.

Already, however – for in this he may be believed – already, throughout this first intercourse, though the expression is not used till he came to speak of the third, – already must the right hand of fellowship have been held out, and on both sides: and, what followed of course, – and was not only affirmed by his statement, but demonstrated by the result, – on this last occasion was the treaty again brought upon the carpet and confirmed, after such modifications as it may naturally have received, from the consideration of intervening incidents.

CHAPTER IX

Paul disbelieved continued – The Fourth and Last Jerusalem Visit. The Purpose concealed: Opposition universal; among his own Disciples, and among those of the Apostles

SECTION 1.
MOTIVES TO THIS VISIT

Of this momentous visit to say what were the real objects, must in a great part be left to conjecture: – to inferences drawn from the known circumstances of the case. By himself, as will be seen, they were concealed with the most persevering anxiety.

But, in default of direct evidence, the point may without much danger of error be settled by circumstantial evidence. The common objects of political concupiscence – money, power and vengeance – were all before his eyes: money– in no less a quantity than that of the aggregate mass of the property of the whole church: – that fund, for the management of which, the Apostles' seven trustees, under the name of Deacons, were not more than sufficient: – that fund, by which the repulsed concupiscence of the sorcerer of Samaria had so lately been excited: —power, that which was exercised by the direction of the consciences of the whole number of the faithful, some time before this, not less in number than three thousand: vengeance, for the repeated rebuffs, by which, at the interval of so many years from each other, his endeavours to supplant the Apostles had been repelled.

In a general point of view, ambition, – rival ambition, – the same motive which sent Caesar to Rome, may be stated as having sent Paul, at this time, to Jerusalem: to Jerusalem – the metropolis of the Christian world, by design; and thence, eventually and undesignedly, to the metropolis of the whole civilized world.

By two opposite desires – two antagonizing but correspondent and mutually explanatory desires – desires, in both parts intense and active, the external marks of which are sufficiently visible in two different quarters, – the nature as well as prevalence of this motive, will, it is believed, be found sufficiently proved: – a desire, in the breast of the self-constituted Apostle, to establish himself in the original metropolis of the Christian world: – a desire on the part of the Apostles – of the Apostles constituted by Jesus – to keep him out of it.

SECTION 2.
THE VISIT ANNOUNCED BY PAUL AND DEFERRED

Ephesus, at which place he had arrived not long after his departure from Corinth, where he had made a stay, as it should seem, of more years than one,⁴⁷ touching in the way at Cenchrea, where he shaved his head for the performance of a vow – Ephesus is the place, at which, by the author of the Acts, Paul is for the first time made to speak of himself, as harbouring, having in mind the making of this visit: and on that occasion, the visit is spoken of, as being the subject of a settled determination, and in particular as being the time fixed upon by him for the execution of this design. Acts 18:20, 21. "When they, the Jews at Ephesus, desired him to tarry longer with them, he consented not; but bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again to you if God will."

As to the keeping of this or any other feast at Jerusalem or at any other place – if it was under any such notion as that of contributing to his own personal salvation by any such Mosaic work, it was an object inconsistent with his own principles – with his own so repeatedly and strenuously advocated principles: – and the like may be said of the head-shaving and the vow, performed by him, at Cenchrea, in his way to Ephesus from Corinth: and moreover, in this last-mentioned instance, more particularly in contradiction with a precept so positively delivered by Jesus, namely, Swear not at all, – if, under swearing, the making of vows is to be understood to be included.

Of this design, the next intimation which occurs in the Acts, is in the next chapter, Acts 19:21, "When these things were ended," namely, the discomfiture of the exorcists, and the burning of the books of curious arts at Ephesus, – "Paul, it is said, purposes in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome."

Fortunate it is for the credit – either of the spirit, or of Paul, or of the author of the Acts, that it was on this second occasion only, and not on the first, that it was in the spirit that he proposed to go to Jerusalem by the then next feast: for, notwithstanding the "must" and the "by all means," – so it is, that between those his two determinations as above, no less a space of time than two years is stated as elapsing, on one occasion, at one and the same place.⁴⁸ And this place – what was it? it was Ephesus: the same place, at which, on his departure from it, the first determination was declared: after which, and before this his second visit to Ephesus, – he is represented as having visited Cæsarea and Antioch.

The next mention, is that which occurs in the next chapter, chapter 20:16. "Paul," we are there told, being then at Miletus, "had determined to sail by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia: for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost."

At Miletus it is, that he sends for, and receives, from Ephesus, a number of his adherents in that place. Upon their arrival, he is represented as making a formal speech to them: and now, he not merely proposes in the spirit, as before, but is "bound in the spirit," to go thither.⁴⁹ Vain would be the attempt to ascertain, with any approach to exactness, the interval of time, during which the operation of the spirit remained in a sort of suspense between purpose and obligation: it may have been months, only: it may have been years.

While, by one spirit, Paul was thus urged on, every now and then, towards Jerusalem; – by the same spirit, or by another spirit, he was pulled back.⁵⁰

In the very next verse, Acts 20:22, in which he speaks of his being "bound in the spirit unto" that place, not knowing, as, in his speech, he thereupon adds, – "not knowing the things that shall befall me there," – he goes on, and says: "Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying, that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things," says he, ver. 24, "move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the grace of God."

To raise, in the breast of Paul, the expectation, that of his proceeding in the course it was his way to take in preaching that religion, to which, from a persecutor, he had, in appearance, become a convert, affliction, in a variety of shapes, might prove to be the fruits, – needed no information from the spirit; if, by receiving information from the spirit, he meant any communication of a supernatural kind – anything beyond information in the ordinary shape; – be the effect – be the purpose, good or bad, – such is the lot, that awaits innovation in the field of politics – the spiritual part included, as well as the temporal – at all places, and all times.

A passage, which now presents itself, helps to show how easily and copiously, out of a few words, written in ancient times, mysteries and miracles have been manufactured in modern times. In Acts 20:22, we have seen Paul, "bound in the spirit," as he is made to assure us, to go unto Jerusalem. In the next chapter, 21:4, we find disciples … who said to Paul, "through the spirit," that he should not go up to Jerusalem. Oh! what a useful word this word spirit! Let a man say plainly and simply, I shall go, or be going, to Jerusalem – or, Don't go to Jerusalem, – his words go for no more than they are worth: in either case, with a proper proposition to introduce it, add the word "spirit," the matter becomes serious. Out of a word or two, you thus add to the Godhead a third person, who talks backward and forward for you, and does for you whatever you please.

At so small a price, even to this day, are manufactured, every day, a sort of verbal miracles, which, as many as are disposed, are welcome to improve into real ones.

To reconcile men to this expedition of Paul's, the spirit was the more necessary, – inasmuch as it was not in his own power, or even in that of any one of his numerous attendants and dependants, to assign so much as one ostensible reason for it.

That, to the advancement of religion – of the religion of Jesus – no such presence of his was necessary; – that no good could result from it; – that much evil could not but result from it; – was obvious to all eyes. Of the original number of the Apostles, – for aught that appears, not less than eleven were still remaining on the spot: men, to every one of whom, all acts and sayings of Jesus were, by memory, rendered so familiar: – men, on the part of some of whom, and, at any rate, on the part of the chief of them, Peter, – there was no want of zeal and activity. While to these men a single city, or, at the utmost, one small region – composed the whole field of exertion – the whole earth besides is left open by them to Paul: still, such is the ravenousness of his ambition, nothing can content him, but he must be intruding himself – thrusting his restless sickle into their ripening harvest.