This is what--though they not only should have gained, but might also reasonably have expected to gain--they did _not_ gain. For, not to insist any more on his secret intrigues in Jerusalem itself, and his open opposition in the second Jerusalem, Antioch, as above; we shall--when we come to the next and last of his interviews with the Apostles on the occasion of his Invasion Visit--see, to what lengths the madness of his ambition carried him, in that birthplace and metropolis of the Christian world. By the sort of connection, which, notwithstanding such obvious and naturally powerful principles of discrimination, have on each occasion, been visible, as between the undoubted Apostles, and this self-styled one--three distinguishable questions cannot but, from time to time, have been presenting themselves:--1. The sort of countenance--partial, cold, and guarded as it was--shown by the old established and goodly fellowship to the ever-intruding individual--is it credible? 2. Can it, in fact, have been manifested, in conjunction with a disbelief, on their part, of his pretensions to a degree of supernatural favour with the Almighty, equal or superior to their own? 3. And, if not only possible, but actual--was it, in point of morality, justifiable? By a few obvious enough considerations, an answer--and, it is hoped, a not altogether unsatisfactory one,--may be given to all these questions. As to whatever was natural in the course of the events, Barnabas was necessary to the rising Church: and Paul was, all along, necessary, or, at least, was so thought, to Barnabas. 1. Barnabas was necessary to the Church. Already, it has been seen, how preeminent was the support received by it from his munificence. In him, it had found at once the most liberal of benefactors, and, unless Peter be an exception, the most indefatigable of agents. On the part of no one of even the chosen servants of Jesus, do proofs of equal zeal and activity present themselves to our view. In an ensuing chapter, we shall see Peter trying his strength among the Gentiles. Yet, from the direction thus given to his Apostolic zeal, no violation of the treaty, it will be seen, can with justice be imputed to him, if the interpretation above given to the word _Gentiles_ be correct. 1. In the first place,--according to the Acts, the date of this excursion is _antecedent_ to that third interview, which took place on the occasion of Paul's third Jerusalem Visit--his Deputation Visit: that is to say, to the time, at which, and not before, though, if the above reasoning be just, in a sort of general terms the preliminaries had been agreed upon, the general preliminary arrangements were followed, confirmed, explained, and liquidated, by more particular ones.