The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-05-04
posal for peace, presented to the
Judaists by the Pauline party"

service done to the church by the
labors of Baur and his successors.
They have called attention to many
points hitherto unnoticed. They have
reused remarkable ardor of inquiry
into the condition of the early church.
They have caused every part of the
New Testament to be examined and
discussed as never before. 1t is curl
GUS that critics, who regard most of
the books of the New Testament as
unhistoric, and as coming from un-
known writer's, should be the authors
OF vast series of monograms on
single books and single passages of
these writings, seeking to find the
exact truth concerning them. This,
of itself, shows that their work is not
mainly destructive.
The work of destruction soon
wearies. Such writer's as Strauss and
Froude tire of it, and turning to some
other field of literature, become his
torians, dramatists or novelists. But
the vast productivity of the Tubingen
school, shows that it is not seeking to
destroy, but to create and discover.
1t has pointed out the fact that the
bitter opposition to Paul by the Juda-
izing Christians, was only an extreme
tendency of the Jewish Christian
party at Jerusalem. There is no evi-
dence that the Jewish apostles op-
posed Paul, but the course of Peter
at Antioch, rebuked by Paul, makes
it probable that when the Jewish
Christians were together, they had
little interest in Paul's universalism.
Since Peter withdrew from the Gen
tiles at Antioch as soon as the Jewish
Christians came from James at Jeru-
salem, it is plain that the Church at
Jerusalem, considered Gentle Chris
tians as their interiors. Just as the
whites in this country have recognized
the rights of the colored people in
theory, but practically have regarded
them as lower race, SO the Jewish
Christians felt toward the Gentiles.
But the critics are mistaken, who see
anything essentially unhistoric in the
a ccount of Peters course toward Cor
nelius (Acts x.) or his speech at the
council (Acts xv.) For this is singu-
larly in harmony with his character
as given in the Gospels; which is that
of man very liable to be influenced
by his surroundings. Phrenologi-
cally speaking, Peter had large or
gan of the love of admiration, large
sympathy, and little caution. He
acted on the impulse of the moment.
He could not bear the ridicule of the
maid servants and the soldiers, and
SO denied his master, whom he had
just before been ready to defend at
the risk of his life. First of all the
disciples, he could see the Christ, the
mighty king and deliverer,in his Gal
ilean master. First of them all, he
saw that in every nation those who
feared God, and did right might be-
come followers of Christ. In both
cases he could see the principle; in
both cases he found it hard to prac-
tice it.
The very rebuke addressed to him
by Paul (Gal. ii, 14) assumes that
Peter accepted in principle the same
universalism as Paul himself Paul
charges Peter with inconsistency,
dissimulation, and with not acting up
to his principles,-thus taking it for
granted, as well known, that Peter
agreed with himself that it was
right to treat the Gentiles as fellow
Christians. Therefore this passage
in Galatians is in full agreement with
Acts xi, II, Is, and Acts XIV, I'll.
Nor is there any Inconsistency be-
tween Paul's course and his declara-
tions. Even Pfleiderer points out
this, showing that the cases of Tim
othy and Titus were wholly different,
one being half Jew by birth and
the other wholly Gentle. Paul
willingly admitted that it was right
for the Jews to keep their law; but
he denied that any such demand
should be made on the Gentiles. A
Congregational minister might be
perfectly willing to immerse a man
brought up as Baptist, to whom
this seemed the true form of baptism;
while he would utterly deny the
claim that only those thus baptized
were members of the Christian church.
So Paul admitted that Jewish rites
were good and useful for the Jews,
but denied that they were necessary
for the salvation of any Gentle who
believed in Christ. If Gentiles who
already believed in Christ were led
to think it necessary for their saliva