alem, and Paul and
Barnabas were sent thither to procure a decision. This was the origin
of what is called the Council of Jerusalem, at which this question was
authoritatively settled.

The decision of the apostles and elders was in harmony with Paul's
practice: the Gentiles were not to be required to be circumcised; only
they were enjoined to abstain from meat offered in sacrifice to idols,
from fornication, and from blood. To these conditions Paul consented.
He did not, indeed, see any harm in eating meat which had been used in
idolatrous sacrifices, when it was exposed for sale in the market; but
the feasts upon such meat in the idol temples, which were often
followed by wild outbreaks of sensuality, alluded to in the prohibition
of fornication, were temptations against which the converts from
heathenism required to be warned. The prohibition of blood--that is,
of eating meat killed without the blood being drained off--was a
concession to extreme Jewish prejudice, which, as it involved no
principle, he did not think it necessary to oppose.

153. So the agitating question appeared to be settled by an authority
so august that none could question it. If Peter, John and James, the
pillars of the church at Jerusalem, as well as Paul and Barnabas, the
heads of the Gentile mission, arrived at a unanimous decision, all
consciences might be satisfied and all opposing mouths stopped.

154. Attempt to Unsettle.--It fills us with amazement to discover that
even this settlement was not final. It would appear that, even at the
time when it was come to, it was fiercely opposed by some who were
present at the meeting where it was discussed; and, although the
authority of the apostles determined the official note which was sent
to the distant churches, the Christian community at Jerusalem was
agitated with storms of angry opposition to it. Nor did the opposition
soon die down. On the contrary, it waxed stronger and stronger. It
was fed from abundant sources. Fierce national pride and prejudice
sustained it; probably it was nourished by self-interest, because the
Jewish Christians would live on easier terms with the non-Christian
Jews the loss the difference between them was understood to be;
religious conviction, rapidly warming into fanaticism, strengthened it;
and very soon it was reinforced by all the rancor of hatred and the
zeal of propagandism. For to such a height did this opposition rise
that the party whic