to the end of time. It is called “an everlasting covenant” to be kept
by his posterity through all their generations. See the ch. where the
condition of the covenant is, that God would give to Abraham and
his posterity, the perpetual inheritance of the promised land with
whatever privileges were implied in his being their God, on
condition that their male children were circumcised in testimony of
putting themselves under that covenant. There is no limitation with
respect to time; nay it is expressly said that the covenant should be
perpetual.

The ordinance of the Passover is also said to be perpetual, Ex. xii.
14, &c. “And this day shall be unto you for a memorial, and you
shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations.
You shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.” This is repeated
afterwards, and the observance of this rite is confined to Israelites,
Proselytes, and slaves who should be circumcised, v. 48.

The observance of the Sabbath was never to be discontinued, Ex.
xxxi. 16. “Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath
throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign
between me and the children of Israel for ever.”

The appointment of the Family of Aaron to be Priests, was to
continue as long as the Israelites should be a nation. See Lev. vii.
35.

The Feast of Tabernacles was to be forever. Lev. xxiii. 41. “It
shall be a statute for ever, in your generations.” The observance of
this Festival is particularly mentioned in the prophecies, which
foretell a future settlement of the Jews in their own land, as
obligatory on all the world; as if an union of worship at Jerusalem
was to be, according to them, effected among all nations by the
united observance of this Festival there, see Zech. 14; what he
there says is confirmed by what Isaiah prophecied concerning the
same period. Is. 2. “It shall come to pass in the last days, that the
mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the
mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations
shall flow unto it. And many people shall go, and say, Come ye,
and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the
God of Jacob, and He will teach us of his ways, and we will walk
in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the Law, and the word
of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations,
and rebuke many people, and they shall beat their swords into
ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation. shall not
lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any
more.”

With respect to all the Laws of Moses, it is evident from the
manner in which they were promulgated, that they were intended
to be of perpetual obligation upon the Hebrew nation, and that by
the observance of them they were to be distinguished from the
other nations, see Deut. xxvi. 16.

The observance of their peculiar Laws was the express condition
on which the Israelites were to continue in possession of the
promised land; and though on account of their disobedience they
were to be driven out of it, they had the strongest assurances given
them that they should never be utterly destroyed, like many other
nations who should oppress them; but that on their repentance God
would gather them from the remote parts of the world, and bring
them to their own country again. And both Moses, and the later
Prophets assure them, that in consequence of their becoming
obedient to God in all things, which it is asserted they will, (and
which may be the natural consequence of the discipline they will
have gone through,) they shall be continued in the peaceable
enjoyment of the land of promise, in its greatest extent to the end
of time. See to this purpose Deut. iv. 25, &c.; also. Deut. 30,
where it is thus written.

“And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon
thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and
shalt call them to mind among all the nations whither the Lord thy
God hath driven thee; and shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and
shall obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day,
thou and thy children, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul; that,
then, the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have
compassion upon thee, and will return, and gather thee from all the
nations whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee. If any of
thine be driven out unto the utmost parts of heaven, from thence
will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch
thee. And the Lord thy God will bring thee unto the Land which
thy Fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it, and He will do
thee good, and multiply thee above thy Fathers. And the Lord thy
God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, that thou
mayest live; and the Lord thy God will put all these curses upon
thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee.
And thou shalt return, and obey the voice of the Lord, and do all
his commandments which I command thee this day." &c.

“What an extent of prophecy, and how firm a faith in the whole of
it do we see here! (says Dr. Priestly.) The Israelites were not then
in the land of Canaan. It was occupied by nations far more
numerous, and powerful than they; and yet it is distinctly foretold
in the 4th ch. that they would soon take possession of it, and
multiply in it: and that afterwards they would offend God by their
idolatry, and wickedness, and would in con-sequence of it be
driven out of their country; and without being exterminated or
lost, be scattered among the nations of the world; that by this
dispersion, and their calamities, they would at length be reformed,
and restored to the divine favour, and that then (as in the quotation)
in the latter days they would be gathered from all nations, and
restored to their own country, when they would observe all the
laws which were then prescribed to them. Past history, and present
appearances, correspond with such wonderful exactness to what
has been fulfilled of this prophecy, that we can have no doubt with
respect to the complete accomplishment of what remains to be
fulfilled of it.”

What was first announced by Moses, is repeated by Isaiah and
other prophets, assuring them of their certain return wherever
dispersed, to their own land in the latter days; and that they should
have the undisturbed possession of it to the end of time.

It has been objected, that the term "for ever" is not always to be
understood in its greatest extant, but is to be interpreted according
to circumstances. This for the sake of saving time I will
acknowledge. But the circumstances in which this phrase is used in
the passages already adduced, and in a number of others of similar
import which might be adduced, clearly indicate, that it is to be
understood in those passages to mean a period as long as the
duration of the Israelitish nation, which elsewhere is said to
continue to the end of the world.

For this reason, among others, this final return of the Jews from
their present dispersed state, cannot at any rate be said to have
been accomplished at their return from the Babylonish captivity.

For that captivity was not by any means such a total dispersion of
the people among all nations, as Moses, and the later prophets
have foretold. Nor does their possession of the country subsequent
to it, at all correspond to that state of peace, and prosperity, which
was promised to succeed this final return.

Figures of speech must, no doubt, be allowed for. But if the whole
of the Jewish polity was to terminate at the destruction of
Jerusalem by Titus, (as is maintained by Christians,) while the
world is still to continue, the magnificent promises made to
Abraham, and his posterity, and to the nation, in general,
afterwards, have never had any proper accomplishment of all.
Because with respect to external prosperity, which is contained in
the promises, many nations have hitherto been more distinguished
by God, than the Jews. Hitherto the posterity of Ishmael has had a
much happier lot than that of Isaac. To say, as Christians do, that
these prophecies have had a spiritual accomplishment in the spread
of the Gospel, when there is nothing in the phraseology in which
the promises are expressed, that could possibly suggest any such
ideas, nay, when the promise itself in the most definite language
expresses the contrary, is so arbitrary a construction as nothing
can warrant. By this mode of interpretation, any event may be said
to be the fulfillment of any prophecy whatever.

Besides, it is perfectly evident, that these prophecies, whether they
will be fulfilled, or not, cannot yet have been fulfilled. For all the
calamity that was ever to befall the Jewish nation is expressly said
to bear no sensible proportion to their subsequent prosperity:
whereas, their prosperity has hitherto borne a small proportion to
their calamity; so that had Abraham really foreseen the fate of his
posterity, he would on this idea, have had little reason to rejoice in
the prospect.

It may be said, that the prosperity of the descendants of Abraham,
was to depend on a condition, viz., their obedience, and that this
condition was not fulfilled. But, besides that the Divine Being must
have foreseen this circumstance, and therefore must have known
that he was only tantalizing Abraham with a promise which would
never be accomplished; this disobedience, and the consequences of
it are expressly mentioned by Moses, and the other Prophets, only
as a temporary thing, and what was to be succeeded by an effectual
repentance, and perpetual obedience, and prosperity.

Among others, let the following prophecy of Isaiah (in which the
future security of Israel is compared to the security of the world
from a second deluge) be considered, and let any impartial person
say, whether the language does not necessarily lead those who
believe the Old Testament, to the expectation of a much more
durable state of Glory, and Happiness, than has, as yet, fallen to the
lot of the posterity of Abraham.

Is. 54, 7. “For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great
mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee
for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on
thee, saith the Lord, thy Redeemer. For this is as the waters of
Noah unto me. For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should
no more go over the earth, go have I sworn, that I would not be
wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall [or
“may”] depart, and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not
depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be
removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.--All thy
children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of
thy children. In righteousness shalt thou be established. Thou shalt
be far from oppression, for thou shalt not fear; and from terror, for
it shall not come nigh thee. No weapon formed against thee, shall
prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment,
thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the
Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.”

Here, as also in Moses, and other Prophets, an establishment in
righteousness is promised to the Israelites, such as shall secure
their future prosperity; and this promise has not yet been fulfilled.
The promise of future virtue as connected with their future
happiness, is also clearly expressed in Jer. ch. iii. 18.

Had the Jewish nation become extinct, or likely to become so, it
might, with some plausibility, have been said by Christians, that
the purposes of God concerning them were actually fulfilled, and,
therefore, that the words of the promise must have had some other
signification than that which was most obvious. But the Jews are as
much a distinct people as they ever were, and therefore seem
reserved for some future strange destination.

On the whole, it must be allowed, that the settlement of Israel in
the land of Canaan, foretold with such emphasis by the Prophets, is
a settlement which has not yet taken place, but may take place in
that period so frequently, and so emphatically, distinguished by the
title of “the latter days;” and therefore that whatever is said of
Jewish customs, or modes of worship in “the latter days?” is a
proof of the meant restoration of their ancient religious rites.

That the institutions of the Mosaic Law are to be continued on the
restoration of the Jews to their own land after their utter dispersion,
is asserted by Moses himself in one of the passages already quoted;
but is more clearly expressed by the subsequent Prophets. In some
of their prophecies, particular mention is made of the observance
of Jewish festivals, and of sacrifices; and in Ezechiel we find a
description of a magnificent Temple, which being closely
connected with his prophecy of the future happy state of the
Israelites in their own land, cannot be understood of any other than
a Temple which is then, according to the Hebrew Prophets, to be
reared with greater magnificence than ever. Mention is also made
of “the Glory of the Lord,” or that effulgent Shechinah which was
the symbol of the divine presence, filling this Temple, as it did that
of Solomon.

Ezech. xliii. 1, &c. “Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the
gate that looketh toward the East; and behold the glory of the Lord
came from the way of the East, and his voice was like the noise of
many waters, and the Earth shined with his Glory.--And the Glory
of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate, whose
prospect is toward the East. So the Spirit took me up, and brought
me into the inner court, and behold the Glory of the Lord filled the
house.--And he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my
Throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in
the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name shall
the house of Israel no more defile,” &c.

Towards the end of the same chapter we read an account of the
dedication of this new Temple by sacrifices; and particular
directions are given in the succeeding chapters for the Priests, and
for the Prince. If, therefore, there be any truth in these prophecies,
the Jews are not only to return to their own country, and to be
distinguished among the nations, but are to rebuild the Temple, and
to restore the ancient worship.

Having proved that the Old Testament declares the perpetuity of
the Mosaic Law, I proceed, 2dly, to prove that it is declared to be
perpetual by Jesus himself.

But before I adduce my proofs, I beg leave to premise, that when
any Law is solemnly enacted, we expect that the abrogation of it
should be equally solemn, and express, in order that no room for
dispute may remain upon the subject. Accordingly, it is the
custom, I believe, in all countries, not to make any new Law,
contradictory to another before subsisting, without a previous
express abrogation of the old one. And certainly it appears to me a
strange notion to suppose, that the elaborate and noble Law given
from mount Sinai amidst circumstances unexampled, awful, and
tremendously magnificent, and believed to have been declared by
the voice of God to be a perpetual and everlasting Code, should
vanish, perish, and be annihilated by the mere dictum of twelve
fishermen!!

But the fact is otherwise, for Jesus was so far from teaching the
abrogation of that law, that he expressly says--” Think not that I
am come to destroy the law, or the Prophets, I am not come to
destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and
earth pass, one jot, or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law,
till all be fulfilled.” This is a most explicit declaration that not the
smallest punctilio in the law of Moses was intended to be set aside
by the Gospel. Nay more, he expressly commanded his disciples to
the same purpose--“The Scribes and Pharisees (says he,) sit in
Moses’ seat; all therefore whatsoever they command you, that
observe, and do.”

It is said in answer to this by Christian Divines, that his discourse
relates to things of a moral nature, and that he only meant, that no
part of the Moral Law was to be abolished. But besides that the
expression is general, there could be no occasion to make so
solemn a declaration against what he could not have been
suspected of intending, viz. of abolishing the moral law. He seems
in his discourse to have had in view the additions that had been
made to the law. These he sets aside, but no part of the original law
itself.

It has also been urged that by fulfilling, may be meant such an
accomplishment of it as would imply the superseding of it when
the purposes for which it was instituted should be answered. To
silence this explication it will be sufficient to produce a few out of
many passages of the New Testament where the term fulfil occurs
in connexion with the term law. Thus Paul says, Gal. v. 14, “All
the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself,” and again. Rom. xiii. 8, “He that loveth
another, hath fulfilled the law.” But certainly, notwithstanding this
fulfilment of the moral law, it remains in as full force as ever.

The Apostles understood Jesus to mean as we have asserted. For it
is evident from the Acts, that the Christians at Jerusalem were
zealous in attachment to the law of Moses; this is evident from
their surprise at Peter's conduct with regard to Cornelius; and in
the dispute about imposing circumcision upon the Gentiles;
observe there was no dispute about its being obligatory upon Jews.

Paul was indeed vehemently accused of teaching a contrary
doctrine, as we find in the history of the transactions respecting
him in his last journey to Jerusalem. Acts xxi. 21,” They (i. e. the
Christians) are informed of thee (says James to Paul) that thou
teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles, to forsake
Moses, saying that they ought not to circumscise their children,
neither to walk after the custom.” Here James gives Paul to
understand that he considered the report as a calumny, and
accordingly, to convince the Jewish Christians that it was a false
report, he advises Paul to be at charges with some Jewish
Christians, who were under a vow of Nazaritism, (which is an
instance in point to prove that the first Christians kept the law,) and
thus publicly manifest that he himself “walked orderly, and kept
the law.” Paul complies with this advice, and purified himself in
the temple, and did what was done in like cases by the strictest
Jews. He also circumcised Timothy, who was a convert to
Christianity, because he was the son of a Jewish Mother. And he
solemnly declared in open court. Acts xxv. 8, “Against the law of
the Jews, neither against the Temple, have I offended any thing at
all,” and again, to the Jews at Rome, Acts xxviii., 7, he assures
them that “he had done nothing against the people, or the customs
of the fathers.”

But some men will say,” did not Paul expressly teach the
abrogation of the law, in his Epistles, especially in that to the
Galatians?” I answer, he undoubtedly did; and in so doing he
contradicted the Old Testament, his master Jesus, the twelve
Apostles, and himself too. But how can this be? I answer, it is
none of my concern to reconcile the conduct of Paul; or to defend
his equivocations. It is pretty clear, that he did not dare to preach
this doctrine at Jerusalem. He confined this “hidden wisdom,” to
the Gentiles. To the Jews he became as a Jew; and to the
uncircumcised as one uncircumcised, he was “all things to all
men!” and for this conduct he gives you his reason, viz. “that he
was determined at any rate to gain some.” If this be double
dealing, dissimulation, and equivocation, I cannot help it; it is none
of my concern, I leave it to the Commentators, and the
reconciliators, the disciples of Surenhusius; let them look to it;
perhaps they can hunt up some “traditionary rules of interpretation
among the Jews,” that will help them to explain the matter.

Lastly, it has been said that there was no occasion for Jesus, or his
Apostles to be very explicit with respect to the abolition of the
laws of Moses, since the Temple was to be soon destroyed, when
the Jewish worship would cease of course.

This argument, flimsy as it is, is nevertheless the instar omnium of
the Christian Divines to prove the abolishment of this Law: (for the
other arguments adduced by them as prophecies of it from the 1
ch. of Isaiah, and some of the Psalms, are nothing, to the purpose;
they being merely declarations of God, that he preferred obedience
in the weightier matters of the Law; Justice, Mercy, and Holiness,
to ceremonial observances; and that repentance was of more avail
with him than offering thousands of rams, and fed beasts,) and this
argument like so many others, when weighed in the balance, will
be “found wanting.”

For, as the destruction of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar certainly
did not abolish the Law, so neither did the destruction by Titus, do
it. And as it would be notoriously absurd to maintain the first, so it
is equally so to maintain the last, position. Besides, a very
considerable part of that Law can be, and for these seventeen
hundred years, has been kept without the Temple. As for example,
circumcision, distinction of meats, and many others. And when, if
ever, they shall return to their own land, and rebuild the Temple,
they will then, according to the Old Testament, observe the whole,
and with greater splendour than ever.



CHAPTER XII.

ON THE CHARACTER OF PAUL AND HIS MANNER OF
REASONING.


As Christians lay great stress upon their argument for the truth of
their Religion, derived from the supposed miraculous conversion
of Paul; and since almost the whole of Systematic Christianity is
built upon the foundation of the Epistles ascribed to him, we shall
pay a little more attention to his character and writings.

Paul was evidently a man of no small capacity, a fiery temper,
great subtilty, and considerably well versed in Jewish Traditionary,
and Cabbalistic Learning, and not unacquainted with the principles
of the Philosophy called the “Oriental.” He is said by Luke to have
been converted to Christianity by a splendid apparition of Jesus,
who struck him to the ground by the glory of his appearance. But
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.”

These strokes of character enable us to understand the man; and I
shall now go into the consideration of some of the arguments he
has deduced from passages in the Old Testament in support of his
opinions; after premising, that the truth of the story of the manner
of his conversion depends entirely upon his own assertion; and
whether his credibility be absolutely unimpeachable, can be easily
determined by an impartial consideration of the history of his
conduct already mentioned. I will only add upon this subject, that
in telling the story of his conversion, he ought to have had a better
memory; for in telling it once in xxvi. ch. of Acts, he says, in
describing his miraculous vision, that “those that were with me,
saw indeed the light, and were afraid, but heard not the words of
him that spake to me;” and thus he directly contradicts the story of
it recorded in Acts ix., where it is said, “that the men who
journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing the voice, but seeing
no one.”

In the 9th chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, v. 24, he thus
proves; that the Old Testament prophecied of the conversion of the
Gentiles, to the Gospel--“Even us whom he hath called, not of the
Jews only, but also of the Gentiles, as he saith also in Hosea “I
will call them my people, which were not my people; and her
beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in
the place where it was said unto them, you are not my people, there
shall they be called the sons of the living God.”--Is not this to the
purpose? yet, in applying this passage to the Gentiles, Paul has
wilfully, (yes wilfully, for Paul was a learned man, and knew better)
perverted the original from its proper reference, and has passed
upon his simple converts., who did not know so much of the
Jewish Scriptures, as he did, a prophecy relating entirely to the
Jews, as referring to the Gentiles!! By turning to Hosea, Reader,
you will find this to be verily the case; here is the passage, “Then
said God, call his name (Hosea’s son) Loammi, for ye (the
Israelites) are not my people, and I will not be your God, yet the
number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea,
which cannot be measured, nor numbered. And it shall come to
pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my
people, there shall it be said unto them, ye are the sons of the living
God.” Hosea chapter i

“Again v. 33. “As it is written, Behold I lay in Zion a stone of
stumbling, and a rock of offence, and every one who believeth in
him shall not be ashamed.” Here Paul has pieced two passages
together, which in the originals are disconnected. For in the 8th
chapter of Isaiah it is written, “Sanctify the Lord of Hosts
himself, and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And
he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling, and for a
rock of offence, to both the houses of Israel; for a gin, and for a
snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” And in the 28th chapter it is
written, “therefore, thus saith the Lord God, behold I lay in Zion
for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a
sure foundation, he that believeth shall not be ashamed,” (or
disappointed) Here “you see, reader, that he jams two distant
passages together no ways related; and alters some words, and
applies them to Jesus, with whom, it appears from the context of
Isaiah, they have no concern.

Ch. x. v. 6. “The scripture saith, ‘say not in thine heart, who shall
ascend into Heaven? (that is, that he may bring down Jesus from
above.) Again, ‘who shall descend into the abyss?’ (that is, that he
may bring up Jesus from the dead.) But what saith it? ‘ The word
is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart.’ (that is the
word of Faith which we speak.) For if thou confess Jesus with thy
mouth, and believe in thine heart that God raised him from the
dead, thou shalt be saved.” Here you will see another instance of
misapplication of Scripture by Paul, in order to dazzle the eyes of
his simple and credulous converts, for let any one took at the place
in the Scripture whence the quotation is taken, arid he will
immediately see the inapplicability of the words, and the
adulteration of those of the original, in order to make them apply.
For the Scripture quoted speaks of, and refers to penitence, and.
not at all about believing on, or bringing down Jesus from Heaven,
or up from the dead; for here are the words, Deut. 30.--“If thou
be converted to the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all
thy mind.”--Immediately is subjoined--“For this Law which I
command you this day is not far from thee; neither is it afar off. It
is not in Heaven, that thou shouldst say, who shall ascend for us
into Heaven, that he may bring it unto us, and declare it to us that
we might do it,” &c. The sense of the whole is, that God wills us to
repent of sin; and that you may know when you have sinned, you
have only to look at his Law, which is not in Heaven, nor afar off,
but is put in your own hands, and is perfectly familiar with your
heart, and lips.

1 Cor, ch. v. 1. Paul accuses one of the Christians of the church of
Corinth of the crime of incest, because he had married his
step-mother, and orders them to excommunicate him. But Paul, in all
his Epistles and teachings to the Gentiles, pronounced them free
from the Law of Moses. Wherefore then for the violation of one of
those Laws interdicting such a marriage, does he so vehemently,
blame them? Such a marriage is not forbidden in the Gospel: it was
forbidden to them no where in the Scriptures but in the Mosaic
Code. Therefore, Paul must have founded his judgment against the
criminal upon the dictum of that law in such cases. Paul puts the
man under a curse; and it is the Mosaic Law which says, Deut. 27,
“Cursed is he who lieth with his father’s wife.” It seems,
therefore, that Jesus did not deliver his followers from “the curse
of the law,” as Paul taught them it did in Gal. iii. 13.

1 Cor. ch. x.:--“And let us not pollute ourselves with fornication,
as some of them were polluted, and fell in one day to the number
of twenty-three thousand.” Here is a blunder, for it is written “
twenty-four thousand.”--Num. 25.

Gal. iii., 13, Paul says, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of
the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, cursed is every
one that hangeth on a tree.” What he says of the Christ, or the
Messiah redeeming from the curses written in the law, that by no
means agrees with truth; for no Jew can be freed from the curses of
the law, but by repenting of his sins, and becoming obedient to it.
And in alledging the words “cursed is every one that hangeth on a
tree,” from Deut. xxi., he, as usual, applies them irrelevantly.

Paul says, Gal. iii, 10:--“For as many as are of the works of the
law, are under the curse; for it is written, Deut. xxvii. 26, ‘ Cursed
is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of
the law to do them.’” And he interprets this to mean that all
mankind, Jews and Gentile, are liable to damnation, (except those
who are saved by faith) because no man ever did continue in all
things written in the law. Now, in the first place I would observe,
that Paul has inserted the word “all” in the passage he quotes from
Deuteronomy, (in the original of which it is not) in order to make it
support his system; for the whole of his argument is built upon this
one surreptitiously inserted word. 2. The words according to the
original are simply these:--“Cursed is he that continueth not the
words of this law to do them;” i. e.,--He who disobeys, or neglects
to fulfil the commands of the law, shall be under the curse
denounced upon the disobedient. But who would conclude from
this that repentance would not remove the curse? Does not God
expressly declare in the xxx. ch. of Deut., that if they repent, the
curses written shall be removed from them? And have we not
innumerable instances recorded in the Old Testament, of sinners,
and transgressors of this very law, received to pardon and favour,
upon repentance and amendment? So that this argument founded
upon an unwarrantable undeniable interpolation, and supported by
bad logic, is every way bad, and insulting to God and his (by Paul
acknowledged) word.

Gal ch. iii. 16:--“To Abraham, and his seed were the promises
made, He saith not ‘ and to seeds,’ (as of roomy) but as of one, ‘
and to thy seed,’ which is Christ.” Here is an argument which one
would think too far-fetched, even for Paul; and it is built on a
perversion of a passage from Genesis, which Paul, bold as he was
in these matters, certainly would not have ventured, if he had not
the most assured confidence in the blinking credulity of his
Galatian converts. His argument in this place is drawn from the
use of the word “seed” in the singular number, in the passage of
Genesis, from whence he quotes. And because the word seed is in
the singular number, fag tells the “foolish Galatians,” as he justly
calls them, that this “seed” must mean one individual (and not
many,) “which,” says he, “is Christ.” Now, let us look at the xv.
ch. of Gen., from whence he quotes, and we shall see the force of
this singular argument, derived from the use of the singular
number. “And He (God) brought him (Abraham) forth abroad, and
said. Look now towards heaven, and tell the stars if thou be able to
number them, and He said unto him, so shall thy seed be.--And He
said, know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that
is not theirs, and they shall afflict them, &c., afterwards they shall
come out with great substance.--In that same day the Lord made a
covenant with Abraham, saying, unto thy seed have I given this
land,” &c. Again, ch. xxii., God said to Abraham by his Angel, “I
will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which
is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his (or
its) enemies, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be
blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice! Reader, what do you
think now of Paul’s argument from the use of the singular number?
Which is most to be admired? His offering such an argument to
the Galatians; (for being a learned man, he certainly knew that the
argument was nought,) or their credulity in receiving such
reasoning as Divine? Really, I fear there is some reason for
admitting as true what Celsus maliciously says of the simplicity of
the Primitive Christians, if Paul could with impunity feed his
“spiritual babes” with such pap as this!

I intended to have concluded this subject, by bringing under
examination some of the arguments and quotations in the Epistle
to the Hebrews; but upon looking over that Epistle, and
contemplating my task, I confess I shrink from it. That Epistle is so
replete with daring, ridiculous, and impious applications of the
words of the Old Testament, that I am glad to omit it; and I think
after the specimens which have been already brought forward, that
my reader is quite as much satiated as myself. I will, therefore,
bring forward only one quotation, which is alledged in that Epistle
to prove the abolition of the law of Moses; and as for the rest, I
content myself with referring those who want to know more of it,
to the pieces written by the celebrated Dr. Priestley upon Paul’s
arguments in general, and those in that Epistle in particular,
preserved in his Theological Repository, where he will see
absurdity in reasoning, and, something worse, in quotation,
exposed in a masterly manner. Indeed, some learned Christians are
so sensible of the insuperable difficulties attending every attempt
to reconcile that Epistle to the Doctrine of inspiration, or even to
common sense, that they avoid the trouble, by denying that Paul
could have been the author of such a work, and attribute it to the
same, or a similar, hand, with that which forged the marvellous
Epistle ascribed to Barnabas.

The quotation brought forward in the Epistle to the Hebrews, to
prove the abrogation of the Mosaic Law, and the substitution of a
new one, is taken from Jer. xxxi. 31, &c.--“Behold the days
come saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the
house of Judah. Not according to the covenant which I made with
they fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them
out of the land of Egypt, (which my covenant they brake, although
I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord.) But this shall be the
covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days
saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it
in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people;
and they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, saying
know the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of them
unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord, for I will forgive their
iniquity, and will remember their sins no more.” Upon this passage
the author of the Epistle observes “in that he saith ‘a new
covenant,’ he hath made the first old;” and he sagely concludes “
now that which decayeth, and waxeth old, is ready to vanish away!!”
and takes the quotation to be a prophecy of the abolition of the
old law, and the introduction of the Gospel Dispensation.

Now, I would observe on his reasoning, in the first place, that,
allowing for a moment his interpretation of the prophecy to be
correct, (i. e., that it signifies the abolishment of the old, and an
introduction of a new law) the prophecy, at any rate, cannot refer to
Jesus, or the Gospel; for so far from having been fulfilled in the
time of Jesus, or his Apostles, it has not been fulfilled to this day;
for certainly God has not yet made a new covenant with the Jews,
to whom the prophecy refers, nor has he yet “put his law in their
hearts;” nor “caused them to walk in it;” neither has he yet “
forgiven their sins, or forgotten their iniquities,” since they are
even now suffering, the consequences of them.

I will now retract what I granted, and assert that the prophet did not
mean an abolition of the Mosaic, and the introduction of a new,
law; for though the prophet speaks of a new covenant, he says
nothing of a new law; but on the contrary, asserts that this new
covenant would be effectual to make them obey the law. God
promised to put his law within their hearts (not out of
remembrance, as the catechisms say;) and in this alone this
covenant differs from the one entered into at Mount Sinai. For,
then, though the law was given them, it was not “put within their
hearts,” but they were apt, to their own controul, to obey it, or not,
being assured, however, that happiness should be the reward of
obedience, and death and excision the punishment for revolt
and disobedience. And you will moreover observe, that,
notwithstanding what is here called a new covenant, nothing is
here said of the abrogation of any former covenant, or constitution,
or of any new terms, that would be required by God on the part of
the Israelites. The prophet, by expanding his idea, sufficiently
explains his whole meaning, which is evidently this, viz.: That God
would make a new, and solemn promise to the Israelites, that they
should be no more out of favor with him; that their hearts would be
hereafter so right with God, that in consequence of it, they would
continue in the quiet possession of their country to the end of time;
and all this is intimated by Moses, in the quotation from
Deuteronomy, quoted in the last chapter.

Thus is the passage perfectly consistent with those in the Old
Testament, which affirm, (whether right or wrong is not my
concern) the perfection and perpetuity of the Mosaic Law. “
Remember,” are the last words of the last of the prophets,
Malachi,--“Remember the Law of Moses, my servant which I
commanded unto him in Horeb, with the Statutes, and Judgments.”
Also in the Psalms:--“The Law of the Lord is perfect, converting
the soul. The Testimony of the Lord is faithful, bringing wisdom
to the simple. The Precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the
heart, and enlightening the eyes.” “The works of his hands are
Truth, and Judgment. All his Precepts are sure. They stand fast for
ever and ever: being done in Truth and Uprightness.”



CHAPTER XIII.

EXAMINATION OF SOME DOCTRINES IN THE NEW
TESTAMENT DERIVED FBOM THE CABALLA, THE
ORIENTAL PHILOSOPHY, AND THE TENETS OF
ZOROASTER.

I have said in the preceding chapter, that Paul was well versed in
Cabbalistic Learning, and not unacquainted with the principles of
the Philosophy styled “the Oriental;” and to prove and exemplify
this assertion, is the subject and intention of this chapter. None but
the learned know, how much of Systematic Christianity is derived
from the Cabbalism of the Jews; the Religion of the Magi of
Persia; and the Philosophy of the Bramins of Indostan. I shall
attempt to lay open these Theological Arcana, and make them