Here then, in support of the proposition maintained, by James,--here, was an assembly of the rulers of the Church convened: the Elders--the elected coadjutors of the Apostles all of them present: of the Apostles themselves, not one: James excepted, whose presence, it is evident, could not, on this occasion, be dispensed with. Of this assembly, the object, and sole object, was--the insisting upon Paul's taking, for the sake of the peace of the Church, a certain measure. Now, the measure thus insisted upon, what was it? The clearing himself of a certain charge then mentioned. And this charge, what was it? A charge--of which, consistently with truth,--of which without such direct falsehood, as if committed would be notorious,--he could not clear himself. In this case, one of two things would absolutely be the result. Either he would be rash enough to commit the falsehood,--in which case his reputation and power of disturbing the peace of the Church would be at an end; or, shrinking from the summons, he would virtually confess himself guilty: in which case likewise, he would find his situation, in the midst of an universally adverse multitude, no longer tenable. For this clearance, a ceremony was prescribed to him:--a ceremony, the effect of which was--to declare, in a manner, beyond all comparison, more solemn and deliberate than that of anything which is commonly understood by the word _oath_,--that he had not done anything, of that which he stood charged with having done, and which it could not but be generally known that he had done. Witness those Epistles of his, which in another place we shall see, Ch. 12:--Epistles in which he will be seen, so frequently, and upon such a variety of occasions, and in such a variety of language, not only proclaiming the needlessness of circumcision--its uselessness to salvation,--but, in a word, on all points making war upon Moses.