who heard Peter preach on the day of pentecoft, and who were converted by him, ftrangers of Rome are mentioned, Acts ii. 10. 41. Thefe Roman Jews, on their return home, no doubt preached Christ to their countrymen in the city, and probably converted fome of them : fo that the church at Rome, like most of the Gentile churches, began in the Jews. But it was foon enlarged by converts from among the religious profelytes; and in procefs of time, was increased by the flowing in of the idolatrous Gentiles, who gave themselves to Chrift in fuch numbers, that at the time St. Paul wrote his epiftle to the Romans, their converfion was much spoken of.

These facts merit attention; because the oppofers of our religion represent the first Christians as below the notice of the heathen magistrates, on account of the paucity of their numbers, and the obscurity with which they practised their religious rites. But if the faith of the Roman brethren was spoken of throughout the whole empire, at the time this letter was written, the disciples of Christ in Rome must have been numerous, and must have profeffed their religion openly: for the turning of a few obfcure individuals in the city from the worship of idols, and their worshipping the true God clandeftinely, could not be the subject of discourse in the provinces.-Farther, that there were many Chriftians in Rome when St. Paul wrote this epistle, may be inferred from the tumults occafioned by the contests which the Jews had with them about the law, and which gave rife to Claudius's decree, banishing the whole of them from Rome, Acts xviii. 2. See fect. 3. page 168. at the beginning. -The falutations likewife in the end of this epiftle, show how numerous the brethren in Rome were at that time, fome of whom were of long standing in the faith, as Andronicus and Junias, who were converted before Paul himself; others of them were teachers, as Urbanus; others were deacons and deaconeffes, as Mary, Tryphena, Tryphofa, and Perfis, all of whom were active in spreading the gofpel; others were perfons of station, fuch as the members of the family of Narciffus, if, as is commonly supposed, he was the emperor's favourite of that name. But although this fhould not be admitted, the faints in Cafar's household, whofe falutation, fome years after this, the apostle fent to the Philippians, may have been perfons of confiderable note,

Se&t.

Sect. II. Of the State of the Chriftian Church, at the Time St. Paul wrote his Epiftle to the Romans.

The gofpel being offered to the world as a revelation from God, the Jews justly expected, that it would agree in all things with the former revelations, of which they were the keepers. And therefore, when they perceived, that many of the doctrines taught by the apoftles were contrary to the received tenets, which the fcribes pretended to derive from the writings of Mofes and the prophets, the bulk of the nation rejected the gospel, and argued against it with the greatest vehemence of paffion, in the persuasion that it was an impious herefy, inconfiftent with the ancient revelations, and destructive of piety.

To remove this fpecious cavil, the apostles, befides preaching the doctrines of the gofpel as matters revealed to themselves, were at pains to fhew that these doctrines were contained in the writings of Mofes and the prophets; and that none of the tenets contrary to the gospel, which the Jewish doctors pretended to deduce from their own facred writings, had any foundation there. Of these tenets, the most pernicious was, their misinterpretation of the promise to Abraham; that in his feed all the nations of the earth fhould be blessed. For the Jews, confidering the moral precepts of the law of Mofes as a perfect rule of duty, and its facrifices and purifications as real atonements for fin, and believing that no man could be faved out of their church, affirmed that the bleffing of the nations in Abraham's feed, confifted in the converfion of the nations to Judaism by the Jews. Hence the Jewish believers, ftrongly impreffed with these notions, taught the Gentiles, Except ye be circumcifed after the manner of Mofes, ye cannot be faved, Acts xv. 1. But this doctrine, though obftinately maintained, was a grofs error. The law of Mofes was no rule of justification. It was a political institution, established for governing the Jews as the subjects of God's temporal kingdom in Canaan. And therefore the apoftles, elders, and brethren, affembled in the council of Jerufalem, juftly decreed, that the yoke of the law was not to be imposed on the Gentiles, as neceffary to their salvation.

A decifion, fo deliberately and folemnly pronounced, by such an affembly, ought, among the difciples of Chrift, to have

filenced all difputations on the subject. Nevertheless, the converted Jews, having been accustomed to glory in their relation to God as his people, and in the privileges which they had so long enjoyed, were extremely offended, when, according to the new doctrine, they found the Gentiles under the gospel, raised to an equality with them in all religious privileges. Wherefore, disregarding the decrees which were ordained of the apostles and elders, they exhorted the Gentiles every where to become Jews, if they wished to be faved. And this exhortation made the ftronger impreffion on the Gentiles, that the Jewish worship by facrifices, purifications, and holidays, was, in many respects, fimilar to their former worship. Befides, as the Jews were the only people who, before the introduction of the gospel, enjoyed the knowledge of the true God, and a revelation of his will, and as the Chriftian preachers themfelves appealed to that revelation in proof of their doctrine, the Gentiles naturally paid a great regard to the opinion of the Jews in matters of religion, and efpecially to their interpretations of the ancient oracles. Hence fome of the Gentile converts, especially in the churches of Galatia and Phrygia, who before their converfion were extremely ignorant in religious matters, hearkening to the Judaizing teachers, received circumcifion, and thereby bound themselves to obey the law of Mofes, in the perfuafion that it was the only way to fecure the favour of the Deity.

According to this view of the matter, the controverfy which in the first age difturbed the Chriftian church, was not, as Locke fuppofes, whether the Gentiles, in their uncircumcised state, should be admitted into the church, and enjoy equal privileges with the Jews; and whether it was lawful for the Jews to hold religious communion with them, while they remained uncircumcifed; but plainly, whether there was any church but the Jewish, in which men could be faved. For when the Judaizers taught the Gentile brethren, except ye be circumcifed after the manner of Mofes, ye cannot be faved, they certainly meant that falvation could be obtained no where, but in the Jewish church.

In this controversy, the unbelieving Jews, and all the Judaizing Chriftians, ranged themselves on the one fide, ftrongly and with united voices affirming, that Judaism was the only religion in

which men could be faved; that there was no gospel church different from the Jewish, nor any revealed law of God but the law of Mofes; and that the gospel was nothing but an explication of that law, of the fame kind with the explications given of it by the prophets. On the other fide, in this great controverfy, ftood the apoftles and elders, and all the well-informed brethren, who, knowing that the Jewish church was at an end, and that the law of Mofes was abrogated, ftrenuously maintained, that a new church of God was erected, in which all mankind might obtain falvation by faith without circumcifion; and that the gospel was the only law of this new church. They therefore maintained the freedom of the Gentiles from the law of Mofes in all its parts, and boldly afferted, that the gofpel alone was fufficient for the falvation of the Gentiles; confequently, that they were under no obligation to have recourse to the Levitical facrifices and purifications, for procuring the pardon of their fins.

The controverfy concerning the obligation of the law of Mofes, viewed in the light wherein I have placed it, was a matter of no small importance, fince on its determination depended, whether the law of Mofes or the gospel of Chrift should be the religion of the world. No wonder, therefore, that St. Paul introduced this controversy in fo many of his epiftles; and that he wrote three of them in particular, for the exprefs purpose of confuting an error so plaufible and fo pernicious: I mean his epiftles to the Romans, to the Galatians, and to the Hebrews. These learned epiftles, in procefs of time, produced the defired effect. By the ftrength of the arguments fet forth in them, and by representing the fame things every where in his preaching and conversation, the apoftle enlightened many of the Jewish converts; and thefe well-inftructed Jewish brethren, in their feveral churches, effectually oppofed the errors of the Judaizers: by all which, Judaifm hath at length been banished from the chriftian church, in which for a while it had taken root, through the misguided zeal of the Jewish converts; and the gospel now remains the only revealed religion, authorized by God, and obligatory on men.

Sect. III. Of the Occafion of writing the Epifle to the Romans.

The controverfy concerning the law of Mofes, described in the foregoing fection, was agitated very early at Rome, where the Jews being rich and factious, disputed the matter with greater violence than in other churches. And the unbelieving part, taking a share in the controverfy, they occafioned fuch tumults, that the emperor Claudius, in the eleventh year of his reign, banished the contending parties from the city. So the Roman hiftorian Suetonius informs us, who, confounding the Chriftians with the Jews, calls the whole by the general name of Jews, and affirms that they were excited to these tumults by Chrift, (Chrifto impulfore, Claud. c. 25.) because he had heard, I fuppofe, that Chrift was the subject of their quarrels.

Among the banished from Rome was Aquila, a Jew, born in Pontus, and his wife Prifcilla, both of them Christians. These came to Corinth, about the time St. Paul first visited that city; and being of the fame occupation with him, they received him into their house, employed him in their bufinefs, and gave him wages for his work, with which he maintained himself all the time he preached the gospel to the Corinthians. During his abode with them, Aquila and Prifcilla, no doubt, gave the apostle a full account of the state of the church at Rome, before its dispersion: and, among other things, told him, that the unbelieving Romans, following the Greeks, affirmed the light of natural reason to have been from the beginning a fufficient guide to mankind in matters of religion: that, being great admirers. of the Greeks, they confidered their philosophy as the perfection of human reason, and extolled it as preferable to the gospel,which they fcrupled not to pronounce mere foolishness: that, on the other hand, the unbelieving Jews, no lefs prejudiced in favour of the law of Mofes, affirmed, it was the only religion in which men could be faved; and condemned the gospel as a deteftable herefy, because it did not adopt the facrifices, purifications, and other rites enjoined by Mofes.-They farther told the apostle, that many, even of the converted Jews, extolled the inftitutions of Mofes, as more effectual for the falvation of finners than the gospel, and, in that perfuafion, preffed, the Gentiles to join the law with the gospel, that, by its facrifices and purifications, the

gofpel