LETTER

VI.

LETTER VI.

St. Paul vindicated against Lord Bolingbroke's charge of madness. The revelation published by Chrift's apoftles under the direction of his Spirit, truly and properly the revelation of Jefus Chrift, as well as that which he delivered himself in the days of his perfonal miniftry. Some manufcripts of the Jacred writings, particularly the Alexandrian, fo ancient, as to bring us near to the firft ages of the Chriftian Church. Some of Chrift's precepts in his fermon on the mount, which have been exclaimed against as exceffively fevere, ownd by Lord Bolingbroke to be reafonable and juft. The primitive Chriftians unjustly charged by him with owning themselves to be Gnoftics. The profperity of the Roman ftate, according to him, owing to the belief of Religion and a Providence, and the neglect of Religion the cause of its

rain.

IN

SIR,

N the beginning of p. 529. before the firft line, let there be a new paragraph inferted, as follows:

Among other charges Lord Bolingbroke bringeth against St. Paul one is that of madness. He

asks,

vi.

asks," Can he be less than mad, who boafts a LETTER revelation fuperadded to reafon to fupply "the defects of it, and who fuperadds reafon દ to revelation, to fupply the defects of this દ too, at the fame time? This is madness, or

there is no fuch thing incident to our nature." And he mentions feveral perfons of great name as having been guilty of this madness, and particularly St. Paul * That reafon and revelation are in their feveral ways neceffary, and affiftant to each other, is easily conceivable, and so far from being an abfurdity, that it is a certain fruth. But the stress of his Lordship's obfervation lies wholly in the turn of the expreffion, and in the improper way of putting the cafe. That revelation may be of fignal ufe to affift and enlighten our reason in the knowlege of things which we could not have known at all, or not fo certainly by our own unaffifted reafon without it, is plainly fignified by St. Paul, and is what the whole Gofpel fuppofcs. And on the other hand it is manifeft, that reason is neceffary to our understanding revelation, and making a proper ufe of it, and that in judging of that revelation, and of its meaning and evidences, we must exercise our reafoning faculties and powers: i. e. revelation supposeth us to be reafonable creatures, and to have the use of our reafon, and addreffeth us as fuch. But this doth not imply that revelation is defective, or that

Lord Bolingbroke's works, Vol. IV. p. 172.

LETTER reafon is fuperadded to fupply the defects of it.
VI. For let revelation be never fo fufficient and per-

fect in its kind, or well fitted to answer the
end for which it is given, yet still reafon is ne-
ceflary to understand and apply it. This is St.
Paul's fcheme, and there is nothing in it but
what is perfectly confiftent. It is evident from
his writings that he fuppofeth the revelation
which hath been given to be fufficient for all
the purposes for which it was defigned, able to
make us wife unto falvation, and to inftruct us
in things of great importance, which reafon, if
left merely to itself, could not have difcovered.
And at the fame time he fuppofeth thofe to
whom the revelation is publifhed to be capable
of exercising their reafoning faculties for exa-
mining and judging of that revelation, and ex-
horteth them to do fo*. And though he fre-
quently afferteth his own apoftolical authority,
and the revelation he received from Jefus Chrift,
yet he ufeth a great deal of reasoning in all his
epiftles. Thus are reafon and revelation to be.
joined together, and are mutually helpful to
one another. And in this view there is a real
harmony between them. And what there is
in this scheme that looks like madness is hard
to fee.

In p. 540. 1. 4. add as follows, without breaking
the line-And whereas he urgeth, That" if
"we do not acknowlege the fyftem of belief

* Sce 1 Cor. x. 15. 1 Thess. v. 21.

"and practice which Jefus left behind him to LETTER "be complete and perfect, we must be reduced to the greatest abfurdity, and to little lefs than blafphemy; and that it must be "otherwife faid, that he executed his commif"fion imperfectly *." It will appear, if the matter be rightly confidered, that it was no way difhonourable to our Saviour, that there were feveral things more explicitly revealed to the apoftles afterwards, than was done during his perfonal miniftry. Some things were not proper to be openly and diftinctly published till after Chrift's refurrection: nor were his difciples fully prepared for receiving them before that time. He himself told them before his paffion, that there were fome things they did not know then, but fhould know afterwards. And the revelation published by his apoftles according to his commiffion, and under the influence of his Spirit, and by power derived from him, was as truly the revelation of Jefus Christ, as St. Paul calls it, as that which he delivered himself in the days of his perfonal miniftry. Nor did it really differ from it in any article, but more fully explained feveral things than was feafonable, or could be conveniently done before. So that Chrift was faithful to the commiffion he had received, and the whole was conducted with admirable wifdom, and condescending goodness.

*Vol. IV. p. 315, 316,

In

L_3g

LETTER

In p. 543, line 20, et feq. it is obferved, that VI. by the acknowlegement of all mankind, there may be fufficient evidence of the truth and au thenticity of ancient writings, though neither the originals, nor any attefted copies of the ori ginals be now in being. Let a marginal notes be here added, as follows:

-

How long the originals of the apostolic writ ings continued in the churches we cannot cer tainly take upon us to determine. Whether the noted paflage of Tertullian, in which he fpeaks of the Authenticæ litere Apoftolorum as ftill read in the apoftolical churches, relateth to the original manufcripts of the apostolic writings, or not, about which the learned are not agreed; it is very poffible, and not at all improbable, that fome of the originals might have continued to that time. And confidering how long pieces of that kind may be preserved, we are not removed at fo vaft a diftance from the originals as may appear at firft view. In the year 1715, when Cardinal Ximenes fet forward the Complatenfian edition of the scriptures, there were fome manufcripts made ufe of which were looked upon to be then twelve hundred years old. The famous Alexandrian manufcript prefented by Cyrillus Lucaris to our King Charles, the first, though learned men are not quite agreed about its age, is univerfally allowed to be of very high antiquity. Dr. Grabe thinks it might have been written about the latter end of the fourth century. Others, as Dr. Mill,

suppose

1