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On Mr . Belsham ' s Scheme of interpreting Paul ' s Epistles . MR . BELSHAM ' s Exposition of the Epistles of Paul is a work which I frequently take in my hands with great pleasure ; nor can any critic , however profound , help being * gratified with the solid and useful matter , the
good sense and luminous arrangement which characterise that elaborate and most useful production . As to myself , actuated as I am by a conviction of the author ' s superior talents ,
indefatigable industry and undaunted courage in discussing and defending whatever he thinks to be the meaning of lhe sacred writers ; actuated as I am hy the remembrance of the benefits , which , in common with his other
pupils , I have derived from his Moral , Metaphysical and Theological Lectures at Hackney , and by the hope that his labours will prove highly beneficial to the Christian world , I feel thankful to the great Disposer of all eventn , that his life has been spared to finish it : and the friends of genuine
Christianity must join with me in the wish that Christians of every denomination might become liberal and enli ghtened enough to profit by it . But notwithstanding the useful and important matter which abounds in it , and " * the justice of which eVer . y reader of sense must acquiesce , there are mflny Jiangs in Wiutfh I ^ wnot but dMfer
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from the ] author . The grounds which he has adopted 4 u imitation of iLocke and Taylor , to explain the Epistles of Paul , are stated by him , and illustrated with his usual vigour and clearness ; but he is silent as to the most effectual way of explaining , as appears
to me , whatever is obscure or ambiguous in these divine writings . The Epistles of Paul are letters addressed to the several churches , and rendered necessary by the circumstances peculiar to those churches ; and the onlyrational way to ascertain their
meaning , in all obscure or doubtful places , is to know the local events which called them forth . The writings of Paul , according to Mr . Belsham , are theoretical , dictated in the ease and calmness of speculation , and to be interpreted , like the ethics of
Aristotle , with the latitude of abstract and general truths . The Apostle wrote , as he has wntten ^ foecause he was a Jew , with ideas modified more by Jewish modes of thinking and speaking , than by the changes which took place in his views as an Apostle of Christ , and in the character of those whom he had
converted to the faith . This scheme of interpretation , though supported by the high names of Locke , Taylor and Belsham , is undoubtedly erroneous , as standing in direct opposition to the evidence of facts . The Great
Apostle of the Gentiles was not a recluse - y he led a life of incessant toil and activity , not of speculation . Matters of actual occurrence and vital importance pressed on his heart , occupied all his thoughts , and put not only
his mind , but his person and limbs , in constant requisition . As a Jew , indeed , he could not be free from Jewish ideas : a 3 a Hellenistic writer , born and educated a Hebrew , he could not but think in Hebrew first what he next
expressed in Greek . But this could affect only the idiom of his style , his figures of speech , his methods of illus ^ tration , aud not the facts which ' are the groundwork of his epistles . These facts could be brought home to the bosom of the persons addressed , only
by being selected as falling within the range of their knowledge and experience . The respective churches felt their force cuid propriety for no other reason than that they turned upon opinions and ev ^ ats peculiar to thema elves , I shall illustrate these general
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Oh Mr * Beteham ' s Scheme of interpreting Paul * k Epkttzs . 407
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and consigned to ^ roel boMage * as well as for those who are held ill slavery in the coldlnte 8 "fof this country . And we desire that friends ; every where , may not fail to remember all who are thus deprived of their liberty ,
with feelings of sorrow , and to pity them in their degraded condition ; and also that they would embrace every favourable opportunity that may present itself for pleading the cause of these our oppressed fellow-men .
" Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling , and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy , to the only wise God our Saviour , be glory and majesty , dominion and power , both now and ever . Amen . "
Signed in and on behalf of the meeting , by JOSIAH FORSTER , Clerk to the meeting this year
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1823, page 407, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1786/page/39/
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