Page:Lives of the apostles of Jesus Christ (1836).djvu/426

 when some persons came down from Jerasalem, from James, he entirely withdrew himself, all at once, within the strict bounds of Mosaic observances. Perhaps these visitors from James had been specially instructed by him to note the demeanor of Peter, and to see whether, in his zeal for removing all obstruction out of the way of the Gentile converts, he might not forget what was due to his own character as a descendant of Abraham, and a disciple of him who so faithfully fulfilled all the righteousness of the law. However this might be, Peter's actions plainly expressed some dread of offending James, and those who came from him; else he certainly would not have refrained, in this remarkable manner, from a course of conduct, which he had before followed unhesitatingly, as though he had not the slightest doubt of its perfect moral propriety; and the conclusion is reasonable, that he now changed his demeanor, only from views of expediency, and a regard to the jealous sensitiveness of his great associate, on points of Levitical law.

HIS APOSTOLIC OFFICE.

From these and other passages, implying a great eminence of James in the direction of the plans of evangelization, it is evident, that, in the absence of Peter, he must have been the most important person among the apostles at Jerusalem; and after the permanent removal of the commissioned apostolic chief, to other and wider fields of action, his rank, as principal person among all the ministers of Christ in Jerusalem, must have been very decidedly established. From this circumstance has originated the notion that he was "bishop of Jerusalem;" and this is the title with which the later Fathers have attempted to decorate him,—as if any honor whatever could be conferred on an apostle, by giving him the title of a set of inferior ministers appointed by the original commissioned preachers of Christ, to be merely their substitutes in the instruction and management of those numerous churches which could not be blessed by the presence of an apostle, and to be their successors in the supreme earthly administration of the affairs of the Christian community, when the great founders had all been removed from their labors, to their rest. How nearly the duties performed by James corresponded to the modern episcopal function, it is utterly impossible to say, for the simple reason that not the slightest record of his actions is left, to which references can be made, on this interesting question. That he was the most eminent of the apostles resident at Jerusa