5 
197°] 
would exprefs the indignation which fol- 
dows the dete&tion of fraud and deceit. 
Iam fir, your's, &c. 
Fuly 10, 5797+ C.. €..C. 
— ae 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
fe explanation of Hebrews, xi. 3, 
given by, Mr. THomas TAyLor, 
in your Magazine for February, has, in 
your laft, been juftly controverted, under 
the illufirious fignature of G. W.” The 
meaning, however; which that great 
critic has annexed to the verfe, is nor, in 
my opinion, the true one. The affertion 
of the author appears to me to be 
levelled again{t the favourite and diftin- 
guithing principle of atheifm: that the 
phenomena of nature are produced by 
vifible material caules, as their wltimare 
and owly fource. Now, if this principle 
‘be true, the doétrine of a future {ftate, 
which is the grand article of the Chrif- 
tian faith, and which the apoftle had in 
view, when defining faizh to be evidence 
of things vot een, necefiarily falls to the 
ground; fince it evidently re%s upon the 
independent exiftence of a Being, “who, 
though zzw/ible, is, notwithftanding, the 
origin of all things. In fupport of this 
fundamental point, the author of the 
epiitle afferts, ‘ By faith we underftand 
that the ages have becn framed by the 
word of God; fo that vifible things pro- 
ceed not from things that are manifef ;’ 
which may be thus briefly paraphrafed : 
‘By the evidence of truth, our reafon 
comprehends, and our judgment believes, 
that time, at firft, originated from, and 
till continues, with all its concomitant 
events, natural and moral, to revolve 
acgording to the apporatment of an infinite 
invifible Being. To Him, therefore, and 
wet to perceptible caufes, all effects are 
ultimately to be afcribed.’ ‘This belief, 
which is fo juft in itfelf, fo conneéted 
with the mora/ agency of man, and with 
the credibility of the gofpel, the writer 
more clearly infifts upon, im the fixth 
verfe: Without faith, it is impoffible to 
pleafe God: for whofoeyer cometh to 
God, muft believe that HE IS; andshat 
He 1s the rewarder of them that dili- 
gently feek him.’ 
In the ‘ir chapter of the Epiftle to 
the Romans, there is a claufe which, in 
import and phrafeology, much refembles 
the preceding: the original of which is 
as follows: Ta yuo aradle avlov, ato xliorug 
KOTMOWy “TOS Toimanss vouuzrive, xeOouedns. 
This, with little laticude, may be rendered 
“<The attributes of God, though invifiblé 
to En, yet, when reason contemplates 
On Mr. Taylor’ s Verfian of Heb. xi. 33 
- 
Ar 
them in created forms, become vifibl®, 
from the formation of the world. Ob- 
ferve, reader, the force and beauty of 
the expreflion—The ftructure of the 
ubiverfe renders w/ble the otherwife 
invifible properties of God. The lan- 
guage carries ailufion to a mirror which 
refleéts to the eye an. image, while the 
object projecting it remains unperceived. 
1 cannot help {ubjoming another paflage 
of the fame epiftle, which, though not 
parallel! to the above paragraph, may, 
neverthelefs, be acceptable to the learned 
reader. In refpeét to fome perfons who 
had introduced falfe doétrines into the 
church, at Rome, the apoftle ufes this 
fingular language 2 Aten snc Xonsonoysas nove 
Evroyies eSaralwct tag nuodias Twy axnanwye 
The term Xexconoyie, which, in our tranf- 
lation, is rendered. ¢ good words,’ will 
appear, if analyfed, to mean an “ account 
or interpretation of Cbrefius.” @Ororsyimey 
With many others taken from the Greek, 
isa word of the fame ftruéture, and fig- 
hihes, in ftri€t propriety, an account or 
defcription of God. ‘The men here alluded 
to, who, it will appear, were pretended 
converts to Chriftianity, from the “2 gyp- 
tian fuperftition, changed Xgeoe. which 
means avointed, into Xoncoss fignifying 
good; this they, perhaps, did, in order to 
repel the unjuf& odium attached, by his 
enemies, to the name of Chrift, and con- 
ciliate efteem to it, as denoting a charace 
ter virtuous and laudable ; fuch fhift, 
however plaufible might be its objeét 
(which, low as it was, has been, for the 
fame purpofe, adopted by the fathers) 
the ingenuoufnefs of Paul rejected with 
difdain, and infifted upon the expulfion 
of its authors. But what chiefly feems 
to have excited the indignation of the 
apofile, was a vile ftory they fabricated 
in re{pect of our lord, which, in oppofi- 
tion to the curfe (xelazn) or difarace thrown 
upon him by the unbelieving Jews, as 
the fon of Fofeph, and native of Nazareth, 
they held up as an (evasyie) ewloy y upon 
him. -What this pretended etlogy was, 
it will far exceed the limits of a letter in 
your ufeful Publication to unfold. 
bey dhall.. therefore,» ati). pheterit, 
only obferve that, though the apoftle 
pronounces it covtrary to the doctrine 
which the firft converts in Rome had 
learned, and the fabricators of it to be 
J/laves of their own belly, and not fervants 
of our Lord Jefus Chrift, it will be 
found, I prefume, to have prevailed over 
the original purity of the gofpel, and to 
be now a fundamental article in_ the 
Chriftian faith. 
May 24,1797, CAMBROBRITANNUS' 
Cz To 

