said in the Epistles with regard to the Apostolic vocation and the Holy
Spirit of God which inspired them, has reference to their former preaching,
except in those passages where the expressions of the Spirit of God and the
Holy Spirit are used to signify a mind pure, upright, and devoted to
God. (38) For instance, in 1 Cor. vii:40, Paul says: But she is happier if
she so abide, after my judgment, and I think also that I have the Spirit of
God." (39) By the Spirit of God the Apostle here refers to his mind, as
we may see from the context: his meaning is as follows: "I account blessed
a widow who does not wish to marry a second husband; such is my opinion, for
I have settled to live unmarried, and I think that I am blessed." (40) There
are other similar passages which I need not now quote.

(41) As we have seen that the Apostles wrote their Epistles solely by the
light of natural reason, we must inquire how they were enabled to teach by
natural knowledge matters outside its scope. (42) However, if we bear in
mind what we said in Chap. VII. of this treatise our difficulty will vanish:
for although the contents of the Bible entirely surpass our understanding,
we may safely discourse of them, provided we assume nothing not told
us in Scripture: by the same method the Apostles, from what they saw
and heard, and from what was revealed to them, were enabled to form and
elicit many conclusions which they would have been able to teach to men had
it been permissible.

(43) Further, although religion, as preached by the Apostles, does not come
within the sphere of reason, in so far as it consists in the narration of
the life of Christ, yet its essence, which is chiefly moral, like the whole
of Christ's doctrine, can readily, be apprehended by the natural
faculties of all.

(44) Lastly, the Apostles had no lack of supernatural illumination for the