came down from Judaea and taught the brethren, saying,
"Except ye keep the custom of Moses, ye cannot be saved." And when Paul
and Barnabas had no little disagreement and questioning with them, the
brethren decided that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them,
should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this
question. They therefore, being brought on their way by the church,
passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, declaring the conversion of
the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. And when
they were come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the
apostles and the elders, and they repeated all the things that God had
done with them.

{389}

And the apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider of
this matter. And when there had been much questioning, Peter rose up and
said unto them, "Brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made
choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of
the gospel, and believe. And God, who knoweth the heart, bore them
witness, giving them the Holy Spirit, even as he did unto us; and he
made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by
faith. Now therefore why tempt ye God, that ye should put a yoke upon
the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to
bear? But we believe that we shall be saved through the grace of the
Lord Jesus, in like manner as they."

And all the multitude kept silence; and they hearkened unto Barnabas and
Paul as they told what signs and wonders God had wrought among the
Gentiles by them. And after they had ceased speaking, James answered,
saying,--

"Brethren, hearken unto me: Symeon hath rehearsed how first God did
visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. And to
this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,--

'After these things I will return,
And I will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen;
And I will build again the ruins thereof,
And I will set it up:
That the residue of men may seek after the Lord,
And all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called,
Saith the Lord, who maketh these things known from
the beginning of the world.'

{390}

"Wherefore my judgment is, that we trouble not those who from among the
Gentiles turn to God; but that we write unto them, that they abstain
from the pollutions of idols, and from uncleanness, and from what is
s