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    lowing passages . Acts xiv . 1 st and following verses , we read of a Christian church planted in a Gentile city by Paul and Barnabas , consisting of both Jews and Gentiles in one communion : < ' It came to pass in Iconium that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews , and so spake that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed" Here we find a great multitude of Jewish and Gentile believers who were

    fellow-converts to the same teachers ; and no room at all is given even to suppose that they formed more than one communion . Acts xvii . we read of the planting of a similar church at Thessalonica ; 1 st and following verses it is said ; , " They came to Thessalonica ,

    where was a synagogue of the Jews , and some of them believed , and consorted with Paul and Silas ; and of devout Greeks a great multitude , * &c . Writing to this church , Paul congratulates the Gentile converts , saying , < % Ye turned to God from idols , " &c . Who that reads of Jews and devout

    Greeks that believed , and of persons turned from idols at Thessalonica , can doubt for a moment that a Christian church was formed in that city , consisting of believing Jews and Gentiles in one communion ? Acts xviii . we

    have the history of another church of Christian Jews and Gentiles being planted in the great city of Corinth ; 4 th verse it is said of Paul , " He reasoned in the synagogues every Sabbath , and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks . " Verse 8 it is said , " Crispus , the chief ruler of the synagogue ,

    believed on the Lord with all his house ; and many of the Corinthians hearing , believed and zaere baptized . " Here one naturally thinks of the apostle ' s words in writing to this church— " By one spirit we are baptized into one l > ody 9 " 1 Cor . xii . 13 ; also vii . 18 and 19 , where he addresses the church as

    < ting of both Jews and Gentiles : f Is any man called being circumcised ? Let him not become uncirqumcised . Is any called in uncircuincision ? Let Mm not be circumcised , " &c . At Ephesus , also , it appears very clearly that a Christian church was established , consisting of both Jewish and Gentile believers ; it is said , Acts xix . 1 st and following verses , " Paul came to Ephesus finding certain disci-

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    ples , " &c « . It appears the $ e disciples were Jews i ; for , ver . 3 , it is said they were " baptized with John ' s baptism . " Ver . 8 , we are informed , " Paal went into the synagogue and spake boldly for the space of three inoMha $ " in which we find he made some converts there of the Jews ; for it is said , verse 9 , "When divers hardened themselves , &c ., he departed from them , and se * parated the disciples , disputing daily

    in the school of one Tyranntts . " It is added , this continued "by the space of two years , so that all they that dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord , both Jews and Greeks" From this it

    is surely reasonable to conclude , that converts were made from both parties ; but especially from what follows respecting certain Jewish exorcists , who pretended to imitate the miracles of the apostles . 17 and . following verses : " This was known to all the Jews and

    Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus , and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified , and many believed , and came and confessed and shewed their deeds ; many of them also which used curious arts brought their books and burned them /* &c , " so mightily grew the word of God and prevailed /*

    No one can reasonably suppose that the believers in the gospel , under the above circumstances , did not consist of both Jews and Gentiles , nor that these believers formed more than one communion or church . But what Paul says in his Epistle to the Ephesian Church places the subject beyond doubt ; he congratulates them on the catholic union of Jews and Gentiles in

    one body . Chap . h . 14 , he says , "For he ( Christ ) is our peace , who hath made both one , and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between , us , having abolished in his flesh the ^ enmity , even the law of commandments , consisting in ordinances , for to . make in himself of twain one new man ,

    so making peace ; and that he might reconcile both unto God , in one body by the cross / ' Again , chap . iii . 3 and following verses : t € The mystery—which , in other ages was not made known to the sons of men , as it is now revealed unto the hol y apostles and -prophets by . the Spirit . That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs of the same body , " &c . See also 15 th and 16 th verses ; chap , iv , 3 and 4 verses ; alsa

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    Mr . R . Martin on the Difficulties of Unituriwii&m . 405

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    VOL . XVI . 3 G

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1821, page 405, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2502/page/25/