“Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law: and they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.” They therefore urged, that as it was impossible but that his arrival should be known, and that it would call the Christians together to hear from him, he should do something to refute these calumnies, and disarm hostility. They therefore suggested that he should take charge of four _Jewish Christians_ who were under a vow, accompany them to the temple, and pay for them the necessary charges. This would prove that Paul, so far as the Jews were concerned, still respected the law of Moses. As to the Gentile converts, they reiterated the advice given by the council. Paul, who had laid it down as his principle, that to the Jew he would become a Jew, and to the Gentile a Gentile, that he might win all to Christ, accepted this suggestion. He was ready to accept or reject mere outward observances as expediency might dictate. In his view, circumcision was nothing, and uncircumcision nothing, but faith that worketh by love. The next day was the great feast of Pentecost. Jerusalem was crowded with Jews from all parts of Syria, and even from remoter lands. Those who had already persecuted Paul on his missionary tour were there, ready to renew their violence. When Paul entered the temple with the men who had taken the vow, they sprang upon him, seized him, and cried out,―― “Men of Israel, help! This is the man that teacheth all men everywhere against the people, and the law, and this place; and, further, brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath polluted this holy place.”[157] A terrible mob was at once excited among the fanatic Jews. They seized Paul, dragged him out of the temple, and were about to kill him in the streets, when the chief captain in command of the Roman garrison heard of the uproar. Placing himself at the head of a band of soldiers, he assailed the mob, rescued Paul, chained him by each wrist to a soldier, and then inquired what he had done that they were thus beating him. The tumult and uproar were such, “some crying one thing, and some another,” that no definite charge could be heard.