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Untitled Article
If this was his argument , it is undoubtedly inconclusive , and proceeds upon a misapplication of Scripturew But though I am by no means prepared to assert the strict logical accuracy of the apostle ' s reasoning in all cases , it seems to me very questionable how far he is liable to the charge of inconclusive reasoning in the present instance , —because , in fact , it is not
clear that he meant any argument at all to be founded upon this series of quotations . It is abundantly manifest that it was the constant practice of the Jews at this period to resort on all occasions to their own Scripture for citations applicable immediately or remotely to the case in hand , without either intending or being supposed to employ such citations for any other purpose than as a striking and impressive mode of conveying their own ideas . Their object was much the same as that of many of our eminent
classical scholars , who ( with what degree of taste or judgment I do not at present inquire ) are continually interlarding their discourses and compositions with passages from those ancient writings of Greece and Rome with which their memories are replete , and which are consequently apt to rise io their minds spontaneously , and with more facility than any original forms of expression . That the Jews should adopt such a practice was very natural , because , in point of fact , the collection to which we now give the n ^ ame of the Old Testament constituted , if I may so express it , the entire body of Hebrew literature , —being , I make no doubt , the complete
collection of all the writings , sacred or otherwise , which in Ezra ' s time had survived the general wreck of the Babylonish captivity . For the sake of convenience , they were often thrown together into one volume , and thus a common character of sacredness was gradually imparted to the whole , which is really due only to certain portions ; but that any such character originally belonged , or was supposed to belong , to such performances as the Book of Ruth , the Book of Esther , or Solomon ' s Song , I can see no reason to believe . " Since , however , the Jews had no other books written in that Hebrew language to which , from its being the depository of their law , they
of course attached a high degree of veneration , these books were naturally the objects of their frequent and diligent study , and remarkable passages from them would be continually presenting themselves to their recollection as apposite to a variety of passing occasions , with which they had no original connexion in the minds of their respective authors . In conformity with this well-known practice , it seems to me that the apostle in this series of quotations , introduced by the phrase naSrws yEypccnlaci , meant nothing
more than to avail himself of expressions w ith which both he and his correspondents were perfectly familiar , and which were well fitted to describe the stajte of moral depravity at that time prevalent among his countrymen . Upon such principles , passages like tjiat to which we have referred , admit , I think , of- a satisfactory explanation ; but the general inquiry is , 1 believe , acknowledged by all who have studied it , to be by no means without its . difficulties . It may be granted that in many instances in which
Untitled Article
700 Remarks on the Citations from , the Old Testament , r *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1831, page 700, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2602/page/48/
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