Numb. xv. 15. "One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you-as ye are, so shall the stranger be before the Lord. 16. One law, and one manner shall be for you, and for the stranger, that sojourneth among you.' . In all these places by "stranger," and "stranger that sojourneth among you," I suppose to be meant men circumcised, according to the law of Moses.

Perhaps, it may be here asked, Could none, then, dwell among the Israelites in the land of Canaan, but proselytes, or circumcised men? To which I answer. It seems to me, that no other had the privilege of a settled abode, or residence there, that is, to sojourn in the land. However, I think, there must have been an exception for travellers, passing through the country, even though they were idolaters, and for some, whose traffic was needful, and therefore allowed of. As Patrick says upon Deut. xiv. 21, There were some called Nocherim, which we here ⚫ translate aliens: who were mere Gentiles, and not suffered to have an habitation among them, but only to come and go in their traffic with them.'

And, if I mistake not, an argument of the apostle may be hence illustrated; Eph. ii. 13. "But now, in Christ Jesus, ye, who some time were far off, are made nigh," very nigh, even to a coalescence," by the blood of Christ." Ver. 19, "Now therefore ye are no more strangers, and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God." The apostle alludes to the state of things in the Jewish commonwealth. "Now therefore," says he, "ye are no more strangers, and foreigners." Those are not terms of distance, as they seem to be in our translation, and as some have supposed, but of nearness. They are expressive of all the favour and privilege which could be vouchsafed to any, not of the natural seed of Israel, before the manifestation of the gospel. "Now therefore ye are no longer guests." Such you might be, and be well, and civilly entertained for a while, though you were aliens, and sojourners, as the Jewish proselytes were, who might live in the country, but had few privileges, they not being allowed to possess land, nor to have any share in the government of it; but ye are fellow-citizens with the saints:" you have equal rights of citizenship with the ́people, and natives of the country; "and are God's domestics." You are brought into the court and family of the king of the country, and are admitted to his presence, and to attend upon his person.' The whole of this is much the same with what is said 1 Pet. ii. 9, 10, and Rev. i. 6. I place below a Latin version of this text, which appears to me to be right. Proselyte is a word of Greek original, equivalent to stranger, long since become a technical word, denoting a convert to the Jewish religion, or a Jew by religion.

In the fourth commandment they are called "thy stranger within thy gates." Exod. xx. 10, and Deut. v. 14.

According to the Jewish way of reckoning, agreeably to the law of Moses, there were three sorts of men in the world: Israelites, called also home-born, or natives; strangers within their gates, and aliens. So Deut. xiv. 21. "Ye shall not eat any thing that dieth of itself. Thou shalt give it to the stranger that is in thy gates, that he may eat it or thou mayest sell it to an alien.' Or, otherwise, there were two sorts of men, circumcised and uncircumcised, Jews and Gentiles, or Heathens.

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A proselyte, as before said, is a man circumcised according to the law of Moses, or a Jew by religion. This is the sense of the word in all the texts of the New Testament, where it is used. Matt. xxiii. 15, "Ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte." Acts ii. 10, "Jews and proselytes." Acts vi. 5, Nicolas, a proselyte of Antioch." Ch. xiii. 43, Religious proselytes." There was never any doubt about preaching to these, and receiving them into the church. Such were among St. Peter's hearers of his first sermon. And one such person at least was among the seven deacons in the church of Jerusalem.

In this sense the word is always understood by ancient Christian writers. Says Bede in his exposition of the second chapter of the Acts: They called those proselytes, that is, strangers,

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Nempe igitur non amplius estis hospites, et inquilini, sed concives sanctorum, ac domestici Dei.

Judæi quoque et proselyti.'] Proselytos, id est, advenas, nuncupabant eos, qui, de Gentibus originem ducentes, circumcisionem et Judaïsmum eligere malebant. Non solum ergo, inquiunt, [f. inquit,] qui naturâ suâ Judæi ex diverso orbe convenerant; verum et ii, qui de præputio nati, eorum adhæere ritui. Bed. Expos. in Act. Ap. cap. ii.

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'who being of Gentile original, had embraced circumcision, and judaism.' To the like purpose another Latin writer, of the ninth century, in his commentary upon St. Matthew's gospel. So likewise Theodoret, and Euthymius. Nor do I believe, that the notion of two sorts of Jewish proselytes can be found in any Christian writer before the fourteenth century or later. Cornelius is not called a proselyte in the New Testament. It is said of him, that he was "a devout man, and one that feared God with all his house:" that is, he was a truly good man. What is there said of him is only his personal character. Here is not any thing, denoting a religious denomination, as some have thought. And it is plain, that notwithstanding his piety, he was an alien. Peter would not have conversed with him, if he had not been directed by an express command. The reason is, that there is no appointment in the law of Moses for receiving any men into covenant with God, or to communion with his people, but by circumcision which implied an obligation to obey all the laws of the Mosaic institution.

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Let us now go over, and observe the most remarkable particulars of this history.

Cornelius, and his friends, are called Gentiles, ch. x. 45; ch. xi. 1, and 18; ch. xv. 7, that is, gojim,' a Hebrew word, very frequent in the Old Testament, and rendered by us "nations," or "heathen" or "heathens." And in our version of the New Testament likewise is several times put "heathen" instead of "the nations,' or the Gentiles." 2 Cor. xi. 26; Gal. ii. 9, ch. iii. 8.

In the next place we take notice of the vessel let down from heaven, and set before Peter. There were in it "all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air :" some of them altogether abominable, and exceeding filthy in the eye of Jews. Hereby are represented the people, who had sent for Peter, though pious, because they were uncircumcised. But it is likely, that herein are also included, and represented Gentiles of all sorts, men of every nation, all men uncircumcised in general, whether worshippers of God, or not. Ver. 13-16, "And there came a voice to him, saying: Arise, Peter, kill, and eat. But Peter said: Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second time: what God has cleansed, that call not thou common. This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into

"What God has cleansed, that call not thou common:" denoting, that those people, which were most impure in Jewish esteem, were now cleansed, or to be cleansed, and to be received as pure and holy.

Omitting some other things, in the next place we observe Peter's address at the house of Cornelius, ver. 28; "Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or to come to a man of another nation." The people, therefore, to whom Peter had been sent, and among whom he now was, were such, as no Jew might converse with, according to the law of Moses, and their established custom. "A man of another nation:" aλλoQuλw: an αλλοφύλω alien or foreigner Jerom observes, that though the Greek word signifies in general a man of another nation; the seventy translators of the Old Testament constantly made use of it, to

Proselytus dicebatur Græce advena; quia de alia gente ad legem ipsorum convertebatur, ut fuit Jethro, et Achior. Et multa millia virorum fuerunt, qui de Gentibus circumcisi fuerunt, et Deum cœli crediderunt. Christian. Druthmar. Grammatic. Exp. in Matth. ap. Bib. PP. tom. XV. p. 156. A.

» Οἱ εξ εθνών προσεληλυθότες, και κατα τες σες νομες που θήσαντες πολιτευεσθαι, την αδικον παρ' αυτων σφαγὴν ὑπομενεσι προσηλυτος γαρ τοτος ωνόμασε. Theod. in Ps. xciii. al. xciv. ver. 6. tom. I. p. 775. Conf. Suid. V. Пpoonλutos.

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Proselytum vero Judæi appellabant, qui ex Gentili effectus fuisset Judæus. Euthym. in Ps. xciii. p. 396. ap. Bib. PP. T. XIX.

• Ευσεβης και φοβεμενος τον θεον, συν παντι τῳ οικῳ αυτό. * Κολλασθαι η προσερχεσθαί αλλοφύλῳ. By which words is not to be understood, as if a Jew might have no dealing at all with a Gentile, and traffic with them: for it was next to impossible to do otherwise, they living, very many of them, in Heathen cities. And Gentiles came continually, in the way of trade, to Jerusalem, Neh. xiii. 16. What was unlawful, was conversing with Gentiles in near and close society, as the word xoλλaσbaι signifies, and that especially in these

two things, "not to eat with them," and "not to go into their houses." And this is that, for which they of the circumcision excepted at Peter upon his return. "Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them,” ch. xi. 3. So Lightfoot in his commentary upon the Acts of the apostles, vol. I. p. 844. Where follow other things, relating to this subject, very worthy of observation.

Pro Philisthiim semper lxx. alienigenas interpretati sunt, nomen commune pro proprio; quæ est hodie gens Palæstinorum, quasi Philistinorum. Hieron. in Is. cap. ii. 6. tom. III. P. 24. Philistæos autem, ut sæpe diximus, Palæstinos significat, quos alienigenas vulgata scribit editio; quum hic non unius gentis, sed omnium cæterarum gentium vocabulum sit. Id. in Is. xiv. 29. p. 116.

Videamus autem, quid Philisthiim, et urbes ejus peccave-rint, quos septuaginta semper alienigenas transtulerunt. Ubicumque enim in veteri testamento aλλoçuλes, id est, alienigenas,' legimus, non commune nomen omnium externarum gentium, sed proprie Philisthiim, qui nunc Palæstini vocantur, accipiendi sunt. Id. in Amos. cap. i. ib. p. 1376.

denote the Philistines, or heathen people of the land of Palestine. That observation is repeated by him. And I have transcribed below several of his passages. This character, an alien, or a man of another nation, satisfies us, that the people, to whom Peter was now sent by divine order, had not been before received into the Jewish church, or admitted to communion with them, but were aliens from their commonwealth.

It follows in the same address of Peter: "But God has shewed me, that I should not call any man common or unclean." Those expressions are as general and comprehensive as any that can be used; plainly including all mankind, who now were cleansed, or to be cleansed and purified by faith, and received into the church of God without circumcision.

Cornelius having declared the occasion of sending for him, "Peter opened his mouth, and said, of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation, he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him." These expressions are as general and comprehensive as the former, including men of all nations, without exception.

The conclusion of St. Peter's discourse at the house of Cornelius, is this, "To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins." Which, so far as I am able to perceive, is preaching the gospel as clearly as ever it was preached by Paul himself.

"While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them that heard the word." Or, as St. Peter himself expresseth it, rehearsing the matter at Jerusalem, ch. xi. 15, “ As I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on all them, as on us at the beginning;" whereupon Peter ordered them to be baptized, and so received into the church. And, as he says in the defence of himself, Forasmuch then, as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I that I could withstand God?"

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That very extraordinary manifestation, the coming down of the Holy Ghost immediately from heaven upon these persons, leads us to think, that the transaction at the house of Cornelius was a very important thing, and no less than cleansing the whole Gentile world: or encouraging the preaching of the gospel to them, and receiving them to communion, without the rites of the law. And from this time forward it was so preached to them, as appears from the history in the Acts.

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I suppose that what I have now said is agreeable to the sense of all Christians in ancient times; who call Cornelius the first-fruits of the Gentiles, and the beginning of the Gentiles. And say, that in him all Gentiles were cleansed and sanctified, and that the living creatures of all kinds, which were in the vessel let down to Peter, and held by four corners, represented all Gentiles throughout the world.

Many learned men of late times make a great difference between preaching the gospel to what they call" devout Gentiles," or "proselytes of the gate," and " idolatrous Gentiles." But I do not perceive, that Christians in ancient times had any notion of this. Nor is there any foundation for it in the New Testament. But all men, uncircumcised, whether worshippers of God, or idolatrous, are called Gentiles. That Cornelius, and his family, and friends, are called Gentiles, though pious, has been lately seen. And in almost innumerable places of St. Paul's epistles the same word is used of such as then were, or had been idolaters.

Nor can I conceive, how there should be an objection against preaching to idolatrous Gentiles, in order to convert them from idolatry. It is well known, that the Jewish people were very

a Ex quibus esse arbitror etiam Cornelium illum, qui Casariensis ecclesiæ cum iis cum quibus Spiritum Sanctum meruit accipere, primitiæ merito dicitur. Et non solum hujus ecclesiæ, sed fortassis et omnium gentium primitiæ Cornelius appellandus est. Primus enim credidit ex gentibus, et primus Sancto Spiritu repletus est. Et ideo recte primitiae gentium appellabitur. Origen. in Num. hom. xi. p. 306. T. II. Bened. • Opas water & apxy Viveraι Twy tywy. Chrys. in Act. Ap. hom. 22. T. IX p. 180.

• Sub Apostolis vero, cum ii, qui in Christum ex circumcisione crediderant, eos qui Gentiles erant, dicebanturque præputium, justificationem gratiæ arbitrarentur participes esse non posse, docet B. Apostolus Petrus, quam indiscretus apud Deum uterque sit populus, si in unitatem fidei denuo convenerint.

Cum autem,' inquit, cœpissem loqui,' &c. De Vocatione Gentium. Lib. II. cap. 18.

d Etenim Ecclesia necdum erat in gentibus. In Judæâ crediderunt ex Judæis, et putabant-solos se pertinere ad Christum. Missi sunt Apostoli ad gentes, prædicatum est Cornelio. Discus ille, qui habebat omnia animalia, significabat omnes gentes. Ideo autem quatuor lineis pendebat, quia quatuor sunt partes orbis, unde futuri populi erant. August. Enarr. in Ps. xcvi. num. 13. tom. IV.

Siquidem cum Sanctus Petrus per visionem omne genus animalium, de baptizando Cornelio, ac perinde de omnibus gentibus doceretur, atque ille immundum et indiscretum cibum Judaïcâ observantia recusaret, trina ad eum vox facta sit, dicens: quæ Deus mundavit, tu ne commune dixeris. Prosp. ep. ad Rufin, cap. vi. ap. Aug. T. X. in Append. Ed. Bened.

diligent in making proselytes to their religion. Our Lord himself has taken notice of it, Matt. xxiii. 15. The obstructions given to Paul were not owing to his converting men from idolatry, but to his manner of receiving them. If he had taught, and required them to be circumcised, and keep the law, all had been well. For certain, I think, there could have been no offence taken by any believers from among the Jews, however bigoted. "And I, brethren," says the apostle to the Galatians, "If I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offence of the cross ceased." Gal. v. 11.

These thoughts, which are now proposed to public consideration, are not new. A thorough examination of this point was occasioned by the Miscellanea Sacra, which was published in 1725. And in a few years I came to a full determination. Nor have I concealed my sentiments. They have been communicated to several; and by some they have been approved.

Nor do I make any question, but that others likewise are of the same opinion. I shall therefore here transcribe a paragraph of a letter from my honoured friend, Mr. Joseph Hallet, of Exeter, received from him in the year 1735. It is certain fact,' says he, that the scripture never mentions the difference between preaching to devout Gentiles, and idolatrous Gentiles, 'which some do. The original instruction was: "Go, disciple all nations," Matt. xxviii. 19. "Preach the gospel to every creature." Mark xvi. 15. The order in which the apostles were to preach the gospel, was in "Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth." Acts i. 8. In these, and all other places, one and the same character comprehends ⚫ all Gentiles. When St. Peter stuck at preaching the gospel to Cornelius, the plain reason was, 'because he was uncircumcised. See Acts xi. 3. Neither he at first, nor they that afterwards quarrelled with him, would have any more hesitated to preach to idolaters, than to Cornelius. • Only in that case, they must have begun with proving the unity of God; which they had no ⚫ need to do in the case of Cornelius, since he already believed it.'

And as I have this opportunity, I shall now communicate to the public some other thoughts of Mr. Hallet, relating to the same subject, which I received from him at the same time. . That the

decree in Acts xv. relates to the idolatrous Gentiles in particular, is manifest. Indeed it is demonstrable from ver. 19. where St. James speaks of those," who from among the Gentiles are • turned to God." Their being "turned to God" here is the same, as their becoming Christians. They were not turned to God before. And therefore they were (not devout, but) idolatrous Gentiles. They were plainly of the same sort with the Thessalonians, who "turned to God ⚫ from idols." 1 Thess. i. 9. who are acknowledged to be idolatrous Gentiles. The same character ⚫ then will prove, that the others were so too. The same thing is demonstrable from ver. 17. For the expression," all the Gentiles," can never be restrained to a few proselytes of the gate. Farther, the letter of the church of Jerusalem was directed and sent to the believing Gentiles in Antioch, &c. ver. 23. to decide a dispute, which was raised there. But the dispute there was about ⚫ idolatrous Gentiles in particular, yer. 2, 3, 5. Consequently, the letter must be interpreted to speak of the same persons. Nay the church at Antioch was composed of such as had been idolatrous Gentiles. And therefore the letter must relate to that sort of men. And when Paul • went through Syria, Cilicia, Derbe, Lystra, &c. (where it is allowed, there were converts from among the idolatrous Gentiles) "he delivered the decrees to them," i. e. the said idolatrous • Gentiles, to "keep," ch. xvi. 1, 4.' So Mr. Hallett.

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Dr. Doddridge, in the third volume of his Family Expositor, which is upon the Acts of the apostles, has many acute and judicious observations, relating to this subject. And I am well satisfied, that he intended to write a dissertation concerning Jewish proselytes. Which is also acknowledged by the learned editor of his posthumous volumes: though no such thing has been found among his papers. And in his general introduction to the first epistle of St. Peter, Dr. Doddridge freely declares, that there is no sufficient ground to suppose, that there ever were ⚫ any such persons, as proselytes of the gate.' And he thinks, that what he has suggested in his • notes upon the Acts may convince an attentive reader.' And indeed I am of the same opinion concerning what he has said in those notes. For which reason I do not so much regret the loss of the dissertation, as otherwise I should.

Says Sueur, speaking of St. Peter's vision See the note at the bottom of p. 218. of the sixth volume of the Family Expositor.

Et puisque Dieu rompoit cette séparation, il montroit à son serviteur, que de-là en avant il vouloit appeller indifférem

of the sheet: God thereby shewed unto his ment tous les peuples du monde à son alliance de grâce en son fils Jésus Christ, et à sa salutaire connoissance. J. Sueur Hist. de l'Eglise, &c. A. C. 41. tom. I. p. 165.

servant, that thenceforward he would have all the people of the world, without exception, called 'to partake in his gracious covenant in his son Jesus Christ, and to the knowledge of salvation by him.' That it was so understood by the primitive Christians, we have lately seen. And that this whole transaction was so understood by the apostles, and by the evangelists, their fellowlabourers, is manifest from the sequel of the history in the book of the Acts.

For removing difficulties, and fully clearing up this point, it may be needful to consider that text. Gal. ii. 1, 2. "Then fourteen years after, I went up again to Jerusalem, with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also. And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel, which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run in vain.

Some who contend for the supposition of two sorts of proselytes among the Jews, and think that the gospel was preached several years to such as they call "proselytes of the gate, before it was preached to idolatrous Gentiles, and understand the decree of the council of Jerusalem to bind those proselytes only, say, that the conversion of idolatrous Gentiles was unknown to the church at Jerusalem, when that decree was made, and explain the above cited words after this manner: That Paul communicated what he had preached to the Gentiles, only to James, ' and Peter, and John, the three renowned apostles of the circumcision, and that under the seal of the greatest secrecy."

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way.

But that cannot be St. Paul's meaning. For most, if not all the converts at Antioch, must have been idolaters. But, supposing for the present, that they had been devout Gentiles; it is universally allowed, that before the controversy arose at Antioch about circumcising the Gentiles that believed, the gospel had been preached for a good while by Paul and Barnabas to idolatrous Gentiles in Cyprus, Perga, Antioch in Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, and other places: of which a particular account is given Acts xiii. xiv. And presently after, St. Luke, relating the journey of Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem, says ch. xv. 3, 4, "And being brought on their by the church [of Antioch] they passed through Phenice, and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles [or heathens:]and they caused great joy to all the brethren. And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church, and by the apostles, and elders; and they declared all things, that God had done with them." In which must have been included their preaching not only at Antioch in Syria, but also in all the other countries and cities mentioned just before. Of this they gave an account to the church of Jerusalem in general, and particularly to the apostles and elders.

And Acts xv. 12, in the council. Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.

And ver. 25, 26, the apostles and elders in their epistle, speaking of Barnabas and Paul, say, they were men that had hazarded their lives for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." Intending, as may be reasonably supposed, the dangers, and sufferings, which they had met with, when preaching the gospel to idolaters at Antioch in Pisidia, Iconium, and Lystra, of which St. Luke has given an account Acts xiii. near the end, and ch. xiv. to which St. Paul also refers, 2 Tim. iii. 11. These things Paul and Barnabas, or the brethren that went up with them from Antioch, had related to the church at Jerusalem, and to the apostles and elders. For we hence plainly perceive, that these things were well known here.

That is St. Luke's history. Let us now observe St. Paul's own words in this text. "Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem.And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel, which I preach among the Gentiles:" meaning, as seems to me, the church, or the believing brethren there. So say all the best interpreters in general. Dr. Hammond's paraphrase is in these words: And by God's appointment, either first signified, or afterwards confirmed to me by vision (such as Paul had about several matters) I went up at this time to Jerusalem, and gave the church there an account of my preaching, and the success of it among the Gentiles. This I thought fit to do, and yet first to do it to those that were the principal men among them.' So Hammond. To the like purpose Estius, whom I

• See Miscellanea Sacra in the Preface, and Essay iv. and Dr. Benson's History of the first planting the Christian Religion. Vol. ii. chap. iii. sect. i. ii. &c.

b Miscell. Sacr. Ess. iv. p. 50. Dr. Benson, as before, Vol. ii. p. 52. second edit.

<< Et contuli cum illis evangelium, quod prædico in Gentibus.' Augustinus legit: Et exposui illis.' Sed intellige, more conferentis. Id enim vult, etiam Hieronymo teste, quod in Græco est, avelεury aurois. Nam sensus est: Communicavi cum illis qui Jerosolymis erant, de evangelio, quod prædico