by the Jews and the Nazarene Christians, he is represented as having been converted to Christianity from a different cause.  They say that being a man of tried abilities and of some note, he demanded the High Priest’s daughter in marriage, and being refused, his rash and rageful temper, and a desire of revenge, drove him to join the “sect of the Nazarenes,” at that time beginning to become troublesome to the Sanhedrim.  However this may be, whether he became a Christian from conviction, or from ambition; it is certain from the Acts that he always was considered by the Jewish Christians, as a suspected character; and it is evident that he taught a different doctrine from that promulgated by the twelve apostles.  And this was the true cause of the great difficulty he was evidently under of keeping steady to him, his Gentile converts.  For it is evident from the Epistles to the Galatians, and the Corinthians, that the Jewish Christians represented Paul to them as not “sound in the Faith,” but as teaching a different doctrine from that of the Twelve, and so influential were these representations, that Paul had the greatest difficulty in keeping them to his System.

That there were two Parties, or Schools in the first Christian church, viz. the adherents of the Apostles, and the Disciples of Paul, is evident from the New Testament, and has been fully, and unanswerably proved by the learned Semler, the greatest scholar certainly in Christian Antiquities, that ever lived.  The knowledge of this secret, accounts for the different conduct of Paul when among his Gentile converts, from that which he pursued when with the apostles at Jerusalem.  He had a difficult part to act, and he managed admirably.  He was indeed, as he says, himself, “all things to all men,” a Jew with the Jews, and as one uncircumcised among the uncircumcised.  To the Jews, he asserted, that he " taught nothing contrary to the Law, and the Prophets,” and when brought before the Sanhedrim for teaching otherwise than he said, he dexterously got himself out of tribulation, by throwing a bone of contention among the Council, and setting his Judges together by the ears.  “And when Paul perceived that the one part (of the Council) were Sadducees, and the other, Pharisees, he cried out in the Council:  Brethren, I am a Pharisee, and the son of a Pharisee; concerning the hope of the resurrection of the dead, I am now judged.  And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the multitude was divided.  For the Sadducees say there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees confess both.  And there was a great cry, and the Scribes that were on the part of the Pharisees, arose and strove, saying, “We find no evil in this man” &c.  This, indeed, was a masterly manoeuvre, and produced the desired effect; and Paul by this shows his knowledge of the human heart, in trusting to make his Judges forget what he was accused of, by making an appeal to their sectarian passions.  For, in truth, he was not accused concerning his opinion about “the hope, and the resurrection of the dead,” but for the following cause, as his accusers vociferated (in the xxi. ch.) when they seized him in the Temple, “Men of Israel, Help!  This is the man, who teacheth all men every where against, the people, and the Law, and this place.”