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Page 48
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.
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