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Page 45
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.
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