REFLECTIONS

On the Late

Lord BOLINGBROKE'S LETTERS

ON THE

Study and Use of History;

Efpecially fo far as they relate to
CHRISTIANITY,

AND THE

HOLY SCRIPTURE S.

The FIFTH EDITION, Corrected.

N. B. These Reflections were first published in the Year 1753, and before any Part of this View of the Deistical Writers was wrote.

CONTENTS

OF THE

REFLECTIONS, &c.

A

'N account of fome illuftrious Laymen, who have either profelfedly written in defence of Christianity and the holy Scriptures, or have in their writings fhewn an high esteem and veneration for them, Pref. p. cclvii, cclviii. The inquiry whether Christianity be true, and of a divine original, is of the highest importance,

cclviii, cclix. A brief reprefentation of the excellent nature and defign of the Christian religion,

cclx, cclxi.

Thofe are no friends to mankind who endeavour to fubvert its divine authority,

PART I.

On the Study and Ufe of Hiftory.

cclxii.

266, 267

268

The high encomiums Lord Bolingbroke is pleased to bestow upon himself, There is a great appearance of vanity in bis Letters, and a Strong affectation of novelty, He difcovers great keennefs and bitterness of spirit,—and writes as if he were out of humour with mankind, 269 Many of his obfervations on history are juft and curious, but there is not much in them that can be called entirely new, 270 Hiftory rightly improved is of great use; but not, as his LordShip feems to reprefent it, the only proper means of inftruction, 272, 273 He would have us read the hiftories of the antients, but not to ftudy any but thofe of the two laft centuries,

274

The reflections Lord Bolingbroke has made upon literature examined,

275

He paffes the most contemptuous cenfure upon grammarians, critics, revifers, and publishers, of antient manufcripts-but efpecially upon antiquaries and chronologers, p. 275, 276, &c. and upon the learned in general, 278, 279

The tendency of his reprefentations is to bring learning into contempt, and introduce barbarism,

281

279, 280 The labours and writings of ftudious men are of great advantage for promoting improvement in knowlege, An arrogant felf-fufficiency, and contempt of the labours and judgments of others, no proper difpofition for finding out truth,

PART II.

ibid.

An examination of the principal things offered by Lord Boling broke, to invalidate the authority and credibility of the facred history.

SECTION I.

His Lordship's objections against the Scriptures of the Old Teftament confidered.

A fummary account of those objections, 286, 287 It is no juft prejudice against the authority of those writings, that the Jews had been flaves to the Egyptians, Affyrians, Perfians, &c. 286. Or, that they were for a long time unknown to the Greeks, or defpifed by them, 287,288 The heathen writers generally took up with idle reports against the Jews, without making a due enquiry, The advantageous teftimony given by Strabo concerning Mofes and the Jewish nation, 289, marg. note. The excellent nature and tendency of the Jewish Scriptures, fhews they were not fictions of a superftitious and lying people,

289

290, et feq. There are peculiar characters of fimplicity, and an impartial regard to truth, in the facred hiftory, 292, 293 The Scriptures were not forged or corrupted by the latter Jews, 293. Nor by Ezra, and the compilers of the facred canon, upon their return from the Babylonish captivity, 294, et feq. The Hebrew language was not intirely forgotten in the captivity, but continued in ufe after it,

ibid.

295, et feq.

The Jewish facred books not loft in the captivity,
The people were in poffeffion of those books, and had a great vene
ration for them before Ezra was fent to Jerufalem, 296, 297,

298

The

The establishing of the facred canon by Ezra, and the men of the
great fynagogue, how to be understood,
298, 299
Ezra did not give authority to the law of Mofes, nor first publish
the facts by which that law was attefted,
299
Thofe facts were of a very public nature, and could not have
been impofed upon the people, if they had not been true-and
were in all ages received and acknowleged by the whole na-
tion,

300, 301

No parallel between the Hellenistical fables and the facred records,

301

The accidents to which the Scriptures were liable from errors of tranfcribers, &c. no argument against their truth or divine authority,

302, 303

303, 304

The variations of the copies in smaller inftances confirm their har-
mony in the main,
The objections drawn from the differences between Jews and Chri
ftians examined,

305

1

They are generally agreed in what relates to the divine authority of the Jewish Scriptures,

306

The curfe pronounced by Noah upon Canaan largely confidered, and fbewn to be no just objection against the authority of the Mofaic writings,

SECTION II.

307, &c.

The Scriptures and Hiftory of the New Testament vindicated against his Lordship's exceptions.

319

The frauds and falfhoods of professed Chriftians no just prejudice
against the authority of the facred books of the New Tefta-
ment, or the credibility of the facts recorded there,
No encouragement given to fuch frauds in the New Teftament,
nor have any perfons taken more pains to detect thofe frauds
than Chriftian divines and critics,
319, 320
The pretence that the Church deftroyed the heathen writings, efpe-
cially thofe that were written against Christianity, examined,

320, 321 Lord Bolingbroke charges Chriftians, even the most learned, as not having honefty or fagacity enough, to take an accurate examination of the Jewish and Christian system, 322 He allegeth, that Chriftianity is wholly founded upon facts, and that thofe facts have not been proved, as all other facts which pafs for authentic, ought to be proved, 322, 323, 324 All the conditions requifite to render the accounts of any past

facts