Industry to preserve Scripture from Corruption We may gather from this Diversity of Readings that Men have been very inquisitive and careful in their comparing of Copies but we cannot thence argue that the Text is adulterated yea rather we may infer that it is not for from this comparing and vying of Copies we come to know and be ascertain'd which is the True and Authentick one And we may farther add with the same excellent Author That it is morally impossible since our Saviour's time and indeed for many hundred Years before that that the Scriptures particularly of the Old Testament should have been corrupted for the Multitude of Copies was then such hath been since much more such and so far dispersed that neither one Man nor one Body of Men could ever get them into their hands to corrupt them and if some few or mâââny Copies had been corrupted but not all thââ sincere Number would have detected the corrupt Again let it be consider'd that the antient Orthodox Writers of the Church do all ciââ these Scriptures as we now have them in everything material Yea that most Hereticks have pleaded these same Scriptures and denied them not to be genuine To establish us yet further we must remember that these Writings have been openly read to the People in all their solemn Assemblies in the several Ages since Christianity began and they being thus constantly used could not possibly be altered and corrupted Besides that all private Christians were exhorted to read and use them in their Families whereby they became so known and familiar that whenever any Alteration was made they could presently observe it Lastly notwithstanding the Author of a late Tractate hath brought divers Objections against the usual Tradition that such and such Books of the Bible were wrote by the Authors whose Names they bear and though Mr. Hobbs before him had done the same yet neither of them have effected it with any Success This is all they have done they have only shewed that they are not so civil to the holy Writings as they are to the profane ones for it is every whit as clear that the Books of the Holy Scripture were written by the Persons under whose Names they go as that any other Writings were put out by those whose Names they bear Nor can these Men vouchsafe to shew that Civility to these Sacred Books which even Iews and Gentiles have done for when both âhese opposed these Books you will not find that they ever questioned the Authors but the Doctrine only We are therefore to look upon these Men and such as take part with them as acting with higher Prejudice than either Jews or Heathens did and accordingly we are to slight what they say unless it be thus far that from their impotent and malicious Cavils we may be further confirmed in this Perswasion that these Books of the Old and New Testament were indeed written by those Authors under whose Names they are now received that these Scriptures which we now have are the same which the Primitive Church received from the Apostles that the Copies we have of the Bible are not corrupted that God hath preserved the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament from all considerable Change and Depravation his Providence not suffering any such thing that the Canon of Scripture which is now received is the very same that it was at first and which is the Sum of all that the Truth and Authority of it are impregnable It may be expected I should speak of the Apoâryphal Books which I have not reckoned among the Inspired Writings For doing this I have good reason for I find them excluded from the Canon of Scripture by those that are the best Judges of it I mean the Iews who were the great Keepers of the Scripture They never took these into the number of the Books of Holy Writ and that for these two Reasons First because they were not writ by the Prophets The Jews believed that the Spirit of Prophecy ceased among them as soon as Malachi had done prophesying They owned no Divine Inspiration after his time and accordingly received not the Apocryphal Books into the Canon of Scripture i. e. Books Divinely inspired ãâã was written after Malachi's time who was ãâã last Prophet was not Canonical was not of ãâã Authority and therefore is not emphatical called Scripture For as St. Paul informs us ãâã Scripture is given by Inspiration of God 2 Tim. 3. ãâã That is the Mark and Criterion of Scripture ãâã is back'd by St. Peter 2 Pet. 1. 21. Holy Men ãâã God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost ãâã those Writings which were not by Inspiration ãâã God nor from the immediate Motion of the ãâã Ghost are not to be reckoned as Holy Scriptuââ and such are the Apocryphal Writings they werââ written after the cessation of Prophecy and Diviââ Inspiration and so they are not of Divine Authâârity and cannot be esteemed Canonical Scriptureââ Secondly the Jews received not the Apocrypha ãâã to their Canon because it was written in Greek not in Hebrew as all the Canonical Books are For God would not they say give them Scripturâ in an Unknown Tongue The Oracles of Goâ were to be committed to his People in the Authentick Language which is that of the Jews The Apocryphal Writings being not such are rejected by them and not taken into the Canon of Sacreâ Writ And as they were not received by the Jewiâ Church so not by the Christian one You cannot but observe that Christ and the Apostles who frequently quote the Canonical Books never quoââ any of the Apocryphal ones which gives us to understand that they were not reputed as Inspired Writings otherwise it is most reasonable to think that our Saviour or his Apostles and Evangelists would at one time or other have cited some one Passage at least out of these Books it being their great Work as you may see to prove the Truth of what they delivered from the holy Scriptures which were inspired by God in former Times They embraced all Occasions of establishing Christianity upon the Writings of the Inspired Prophets who went before therefore if the Apocryphal Writers had been of that number they would certainly have been quoted by them and because they are not it is an Argument that they are not Inspired Writers Again the Christian Church which immediately succeeded that which was in the Days of Christ and the Apostles received not these Writings as Divinely inspired and therefore excluded them from the Canon of Scripture Look into the Writings of the antient Fathers of the Church who without doubt made it their business to search into the Canon of Scripture and to be satisfied which were the Divinely inspired Books and there you will see that those of the Eastern Church received only the Jews Canon of Scripture as to the Old Testament Thus Origen recites the Canonical Books of it as they are now reckoned viz. two
and twenty after the number of the Hebrew letters And Cyril of Ierusalem hath these express Words Read these two and twenty Books but have nothing to do with the Apocryphal ones Study and meditate only on these Scriptures which we conâidently read in the Church The Apostles and first Bishops were true Guides and were more wise and religious than thou art and these were the Men that delivered these Scriptures to us Thou then being a Son of the Church do not go beyond her Bounds and Orders but acknowledg and study only the two and twenty Books of the Old âââstament And other Fathers of the Churââ as Melito Bishop of Sardis Athanasius Amphiloââus Epiphanius Eusebius Gregory Nazianzen Gââgory the Great Basil Chrysostom testify that ãâã Books and no others of the Old Testamâââ which we receive now were the Canonical Booââ of old and received so by the first Christiââ Those eminent Lights of the Latin Church Rât Ierom Hilary disown as Uncanonical ãâã Books of Apocrypha The two latter especially ãâã very positive Ierom expresly tells us that ãâã Canonical Books of the Old Testament are but ãâã and twenty just the number of the Hebrew Alâphabet and no more and he enumerates the particular Books which constitute the whole ãâã saith indeed that some make them four and twââty but 't is the same Account for they reckââ Ruth and Lamentations separately But as for ãâã others he saith they are not part of Inspired Scripture and the Church doth not receive theâ among the Canonical Writings So Hilary givâ us the just Catalogue of the Books of the Old Tâstament and peremptorily affirms that there ãâã but two and twenty Canonical Books of it in all which are the same with the thirty nine according to the reckoning in our Bibles To Fathers wâ might add Synods and Councils as that antieââ one of Laodicea conven'd A. D. 364. which drew up a Catalogue of the Books of Scripture and makes mention only of these which we now râceive but leaves out the Apocryphal ones This Canon was received afterwards and confirmed by the Council of Chalcedon one of the first four General Councils And the sixth General Council held at Constantinople A. D. 680. expresly ratified the Decrees of that old Laodicean Council and particularly this that the Canonical Books of the Old Testament were but two and twenty There is another Reason also besides the Universal Suffrage of the Christian Church why the Apocryphal Books are ejected out of the Canon viz. because some things in them are false and contrary to the Canonical Scriptures as in Ecclesiasticus 46. 20. 2 Esdras 6. 40. and some things are vitious as in 2 Maccab. 14. 42. After all this it is easy to answer what the Romanists say on the other side They quote the third Council of Carthage which they tell us received the Apocryphal Books into the Canon And among the Fathers St. Augustin they say owns them besides that two Popes viz. Innocent the First and Gelasius took those Books which we stile Apocryphal into the Canon As for the Council which they alledg it was but a Provincial one and therefore is not to be set against those more Authentick and General Councils which I produced Nor must that one single Father whom they name stand out against that great number of Greek and Latin Fathers whom I mentioned The Popes bear a great Name among our Adversaries but they are but two and must not be compared with those Councils and that multitude of Fathers who are on our side Or if they lay such great stress on a Pope I can name them one and he one of the most eminent they ever had viz. Pope Gregory the Great who declares that the Book of Maccabees a main Piece of the Apocryphal Wrââtings is no part of the Canon of Scripture Wâ may set this One Pope for he is Great enough against the other Two Besides their own ãâã are against them the Apocryphal Books are ãâã received as part of holy Inspired Scripture by Iââdorus Damascen Nicephorus Rabanus Maurus Hâgo Lyranus Cajetan and others who are of greââ Repute in the Church of Rome We regard ãâã what the pack'd Council of Trent hath decreed viz. That besides the two and twenty Books ãâã the Hebrew Canon those also of Tobias Iuditâ the Wisdom of Solomon Ecclesiasticus Maccabeâââ Baruch are to be received as Canonical and thâ they are of equal Authority with the Canon oâ the Old and New Testament What is this to the general Suffrage of the Primitive Councils Fathers and Writers who have rejected the Apocryphal Books and received but twenty two into the Canon of Scripture belonging to the Old Testament You see what Ground we have no other than the Vniversal Church We reject some Books as Apocryphal because they were generally rejected by the antient Primitive Church and we receive the rest as Canonical because they were believed and owned to be so by the universal Consent of the Church See this admirably made good in Bishoâ Cousins's History of the Canon of Scripture Yet aâter all that hath been said we count the Apocryphâ Writings worthy to be read and perused The there be some things amiss in them yet we give great Deference and Respect to them as containing many Historical Truths and furnishing us witâ Matter of Jewish Antiquity as likewise because there are many Doctrinal and Moral Truths in them especially in the Books of Wisdom and Ecâlesiasticus For this Reason I say we bear great Respect to them and rank them next to the Holy Canon and prefer them before all Profane Authors This was done by the antient Fathers who frequently alledg'd them in their Sermons and Discourses which is one Reason I question not why these Apocryphal Books came to be made Canonical by some of the Church of Rome namely because they were so often quoted by the Fathers and in some Churches read publickly But this is no Proof of their being Canonical but only lets us know that these Books were in their Kind useful and profitable as indeed they are Therefore St. Ierom saith the Church receives not these Books into the Canon of Scripture though she allows them to be read And concerning these Writings our Church saith well quoting St. Ierom for it She doth read them for Example of Life and Instruction of Manners but yet doth not apply them to establish any Doctrine Which gives us an exact account of the Nature of these Books namely that they contain excellent Rules of Life and are very serviceable to inform us of our Duty as to several weighty things but they being not dictated by the Holy Ghost as the other Books of Scripture are they are not the infallible Standard of Divine Doctrine and therefore are not to be applied and made use of to that purpose This and the other Reasons before mentioned may prevail with us to think that these Writings ought not to be
numbred among the Books of Canonical Scripture And thus we have argued from the Tradition and the Testimony of the Church And if this be done as it ought to be done it is valid for the Truth of the Copies the Canonicalness of the Books and the like are not decidable by Scripture it self but in the Way that all other Controversies of that nature are As you would prove any other Book to be Authentick so you must prove the Bible to be viz. by sufficient and able Testimony There is the same reason to believe the Sacred History that there is to believe any other Historical Writings that are extant Nay the Testimonies on behalf of the Holy Scriptureâ are more pregnant than any that are brought for other Writings Besides all that can be said for the Sacred Volume of the Bible which is wont to be said for other Writings I have shewed you that there are some things peculiar to this above aââ others The main thing we have insisted upon is this that the Books of the Old and New Testament have been faithfully conveyed to us and that they are vouched by the constant and universal Tradition both of the Jewish and Christian Church and that these Books and no others are of the Canon of Scripture for to be of the Canon of Scripture is no other than to be owned by the Universal Church for Divinely Inspired Writings The Church witnesseth and confirmeth the Authority of the Canonical Scriptures for she received them as Divine and she delivers them to us as such Yet I do not say that the Church's Testifying these Books to be the Holy Scriptures gives an Absolute and Entire Authority to them A Clerk in the Parliament or any other Court writes down and testiâies that such an Act or Decree or Order was pass'd by the King Magistrate or People and he witnesses that he hath faithfully kept these by him and that they are the very same that at such a time were made by the foresaid Authority but the Authority of this Act Decree or Order rests not in the Clerk but wholly in the King Magistrate or People So the Church recordeth and keepeth the Sacred Writings of the Bible and bears witness that they have been faithfully preserved and that they are the Genuine Writings of those Persons whose Names are presixed to them bât the Divine Authority of the Scriptures depends not on the Church but on the Books and Authors themselves namely their being Inspired And indeed this Authority of the Scriptures cannot depend on the Church because the Church itself depends on the Scriptures These must be proved before the Church can pretend to be any such thing as a Church We cannot know the Church but by the Scriptures therefore the Scriptures must be known before the Church It follows then that the Papists are very unreasonable and absurd in making the Ultimate Resolution of Faith to be into the Testimony and Authority of the Church This we disown as a great Falsity but yet it is rational to hold that the Church's Testimony is one good Argument and Proof of the Truth of the Sacred Scripture according to that known Saying of St. Augustine I should not believe the Gospel if the Authority of the Church did not move me Not that he founds the Gospel i. e. the Doctrine of Christianity and the Truth of it on the Testimony of the Church as the Papists are wont to infer from these Words and frequently quote them to this purpose No the Father's meaning is this that by the Testimony and Consent of the Church he believed the Book of the Gospel to be verily that Book which was written by the Evangelists This is the Sense of the Place as is plain from the Scope of it for he speaks there of the Copies or Writings not the Doctrine contained in them The good Father relies on this that so great a number of knowing and honest Persons as the Church was made up of did assert the Evangelical Writings to be the Writings of such as were really inspired by the Holy Ghost and that they were true and genuine and not corrupted And the whole Body of Sacred Scripture is attested by the same universal Suffrage of the Church i. e. the unanimous Consent of the Apostles and of the First Christians and of those that immediately succeeded them several of which laid down their Lives to vindicate the Truth of these Writings This is the External Testimony given to the Holy Scriptures It is the general Perswasion and Attestation of the Antient Church that these are the Scriptures of Truth that they were penn'd by holy Prophets and Apostles immediately directed by the Spirit who therefore could not err It was usual heretofore among the Pagan Lawgivers to attribute their Laws to some Deity tho they were of their own Invention intending thereby to conciliate Reverence to them and to commend them to the People But here is no such Cheat put upon us God himself is really the Author of the Holy Scriptures these Sacred Laws come immediately from Him they are of Divine Inspiration There is no doubt to be made of the Divinity of the Scriptures and consequently there is assurance of the Infallibility of them CHAP. III. The Authority of the Bible manifested from the Testimonies of Enemies and Strangers especially of Pagans These confirm what the Old Testament saith concerning the Creation the Production of Adam and Eve their Fall with the several Circumstances of it Enoch's Translation the Longevity of the Patriarchs the Giants in those Times the Universal Flood the building of the Tower of Babel I Have propounded some of the chief Arguments which may induce us to believe the Truth and Certainty of the holy Writings of the Old and New Testament I will now choose out another for the sake chiefly of the Learned and Curious which I purpose to inlarge upon yea to make the Subject of my whole ensuing Discourse I consider then that we have in this Matter not only the Testimony of Friends but of Enemies and Strangers and it is a Maxim in the Civil Law and vouched by all Men of Reason that the Testimony of an Enemy is most considerable The Iewish and Christian Church as I have shewed already give their Testimony to the Scriptures but besides these Witnesses there are Others there is the Attestation of Foreigners and Adversaries These fully testify the Truth of what is delivered in the Holy Bible we have the Approbation of Heathen Writers to conâirm many of the things related in the Old Testament and both Professed Heathens and Iews for we must now look upon these latter as profess'd Enemies when we are to speak of the Christian Concern attest sundry things of the New Testament and vouch the Truth and Authority of them Here then I will distinctly proceed and first begin with the Old Testament and let you see in several Particulars that even the Pagan World gives Testimony to this Sacred Volume
have are not to be subjected to the Examination of the outward Testimony of the Scriptures but are above them Thus these bold Men out of a pretence of Inspiration vilify the Sacred Volume of the Bible Thus absurdly and irreligiously these deluded Persons out of an Enthusiastick Heat prefer their own private Spirit before the Holy Spirit of God speaking in the Scriptures The Men hold themselves to be Perfect but the Scripture must by no means be so it is weak and imperfect and ought to give way to the Inward Impressions in their Minds which according to them are that more sure Word of Prophecy whereunto they think they do well to give heed as unto a Light shining in a dark Place But we see that they are thereby led into gross Error and Darkness And as to this particular Perswasion concerning the Meanness of the Scriptures they therein as in several other things symbolize with the Church of Rome whence they had their Original They confound Natural Light or Reason with Revelation they hold that Pagans are in as good a Condition as Christians they make their private Dictates as Authentick as the Bible yea they must needs hold that there is no Infallible Rule of Truth or Practice but their own Notions and Sentiments which some of their Writers call Canonical I might observe to you that besides Iews Papists and Enthusiasts there are Others that deny the Excellency and Perfection of the Holy Scriptures as Atheists and mere Politicians who indeavour to perswade the World that all Religion is a Cheat and that This Book is so too Likewise the Generality of Hereticks Seducers and Impostors who it is no wonder debase that which they design to pervert But the bare mentioning of these Persons is sufficient to beget a Dislike of them with all that are Wise and Sober and who are convinc'd of the Scriptures perfection from those Topicks which I have propounded It may be said of most Books as Martial said of his There are some good and some bad things in them and some of a middle Nature But in this Divine Book there are no such Allays all is pure and uncorrupt entire and unmixed there are no Defects no Mistakes in this Infallible Volume given us from Heaven Shall the Turks then when they find a Leaf or any part of the Alcoran on the Ground take it up and kiss it and deposite it in some safe place affirming it to be a great Sin to suffer that wherein the Name of God and Mahomet's Laws are written to be trodden under Feet And shall not we Christians highly value and reverence the Sacred Volume of the Bible the Writings of the Old and New Testament which contain the Words of God Himself and the Laws of the Blessed Jesus which enrich us with that Sublime and Supernatural Learning which is the Rule of our Faith the Conduct of our Manners and the Comfort of our Lives CHAP. II. The Bible is furnish'd with all sorts ofHumane as well as Divine Learning Hebrew wherein the Old Testament was written is the Primitive Language of the World The True Origine of the World is plainly recorded in no other Writings but these The first Chapter of Genesis is a real History and records Matter of âact It is largely proved that the Mosaâck History gives us a particular Account of the first Rise of the several Nations and People of the Earth and of the Places of their Habitation Also the true Knowledg of the Original of Civil Government and the Increases of it and the diffârent Changes it underwent is derived from these Writings The Courts of Judicature and the several kinds of Punishment among the Jews distinctly treated of The Government among the Heathen Nations The four Celebrated Monarchies or Empires of the World I Proceed now to the Second General Head of my Discourse viz. the Vniversal Vsefulness of the Bible as to things that are Temporal and Seculaâ Not only all Religious Divine and Saving Knowledg is to be fetch'd hence but that likewise which is Natural and Humane and bâlongs to the World and Arts. Many believe the former but can't be induc'd to credit the latter for they think the Bible was writ only for the saving of Mens Souls but that all other Knowledg and Discoveries are to be derived wholly from other Writers I have sometimes observ'd that Persons who have had a good Desire to Learning and were greedy Devourers of all other Authors yet have no regard to the Scriptures and fondly imagine there is no Improvement of Mens Notions no enlarging of their Understandings no Grounds of Excellent Literature from the Sacred Writ They perswade themselves that the Bible may serve well enough for the Use of those that study Divinity or make Sermons but that the Writings of Profane Authors must be wholly consulted for other things But this is a gross Surmise and possesses the unthinking Heads of those only that consider not the Matchless Antiquity of the Bible or that on a worse Account refuse to acquaint themselves with these Writings and care not for that Book which speaks so much of God and Religion and checks the Disorders of Mens Lives All honest industrious and impartial Enquirers into Learning know that the Scriptures are the Greatest Monument of Antiquity that is Extant in the whole World and particularly that the First and Earliest Inventions of things are to be known only from the Old Testament especially the five first Books of it In vain do you look for these in the Writings of other Men for though some of them relate very Antient Occurrences yet they are not so old as these and as for those Writers who pretend to some Greater Antiquity and have been so impudent as to think that they could impose upon the World they have been exploded by all Persons of Sobriety and serious Thoughts In Pagan Writers we have some wild Guesses at the Origine of things and the First Inventors of Arts but he that is desirous to have Certain and Infallible Information concerning these must consult the Writings of Moses and other Books of the Old Testament From these alone we learn what were the Antientest Usages in the World and what was the first Rise and Original of them Wherefore I may safely pronounce that no Man can have the just Repute of a Scholar unless he hath read and studied the Bible for in this one Book there is more Humane Learning than in all the Books of the World besides And therefore here by the way I cannot but look upon it as a very Scandalous Mistake that the knowledg and Study of the Holy Scriptures are for Divines only as if these were not to be skill'd in any Humane Learning They that talk after this rate understand not what the Study of Divinity and True Scholarship are for there is no Compleat Divine that is not well vers'd in Humane Literature and there is no Compleat Scholar that is not skill'd in
Close of it when Christ shall come to Judgment Thus I have attempted to evince the Perfection of Scripture by enumerating all the Books of both TESTAMENTS and giving you a brief Account of them These Excellent and Incomparable Books are the True Pandects indeed the Books that comprehend all that treat of every thing that is necessary They are the most Valuable Collection of Writings under Heaven they are of all the Books in the World the most worthy of all Acceptation because they are our Infallible Rule and Surest Guide to Wisdom Holiness and Blessedness to the Attainment of the most Desirable Things here and of the most Eligible hereafter If this and all that I have said before do not prove them to be Compleats and Perfect I despair of ever telling you what will CHAP. XI None of the Books of the Holy Scripture are lost Not the Book of the Covenant Nor the Book of the Wars of the Lord Nor the Book of Iasher Nor the Acts of Vzziah An Account of the Book of Samuel the Seer the Book of Nathan the Prophet the Book of Gad the Seer the Book of Iddo the Books of Shemaiah Iehu c. What is to be thought concerning the Books of Solomon mention'd Kings 4. 32. 33. Objections drawn from Jam. 4. 5. from Luke 11. 49. from Acts 20. 35. from Judev. 14. from 1 Cor. 5. 9. from Col. 4. 16. fully satisfied Other Objections from 1 Cor. 7. 6 12 25 2 Cor. 8. 8. 11. 17. particularly answer'd But tho this be a clear and demonstated Truth yet it is question'd and doubted of by some Wherefore the Fourth General Undertaking which I propounded was this to clear the Point of those Objections which are wont to be brought against it and to shew that notwithstanding these the Prefection of Scripture is unshaken First Some tell us that there is a considerable Number of Books mention'd or quoted in Scripture as the Books of the Covenant the Book of the Wars of the Lord the Book of Iasher c. which seem to have been once a Part of this Holy Volume but now are lost Among the Fathers St. Chrysostom who is followed by Theophilact is of this Opinion Bellarmine and several of the Papists hold it Yea some Protestants acknowledg as much Calvin and Musculus and our Whitaker encline this way And Drusius is very angry with any Man that denies that there any Books of Holy Scripture missing Now if this be true there is ground to complain of a Defect and Imperfection in the Sacred Writings by reason of the loss of these Books That therefore which I am to undertake here is to shew that there are no Books mentioned in Scripture as belonging to it but what are now to be found in it and are really a Part of it and consequently that the Holy Writings are not Defective that the Body of Sacred Scripture is not Maimed and Imperfect First As to the Book of the Covenant mention'd in Exod. 24. 7. which some fancy is lost it is not any distinct Book from the Body of the Iewish Laws If we impartially weigh the Place we shall find that it is no other than a Collection or Volume of those several Injunctions and Institutions which we read in the foregoing Chapters viz. 20 21 22 23. which God delivered to Moses on the Mount It is the very same with the Book of the Law Deât 31. 9. That which hath caused a different Perswasion in some is this that these Laws are call'd a Book but I shall make it evident afterwards that this Appellation is of a great latitude and is applied to any sort of Writing by the Hebrews Secondly As for the Book of the Wars of the Lord Numb 21. 14. which is thought to be now wanting the Answer given by some is that this was an Apocrypbal Author and so cannot be said to belong to the Holy Scriptures and consequently the loss of this Book doth not argue the Imperfection of the Bible But tho this way of Solution be tolerable when made use of as to some Other Books hereafter mentioned yet I think there is no need at all of using it here because it is not unlikely according to the Judgment of our Learned English Rabâi that Moses refers here to himself and a Book of his own composing for we read that upon the Discomfiture of Amalek God commanded Moses to write it for a Memorial in a Book Exod. 17. 14. and as it follows to rehearse it in the Ears of Joshua So that it may seem to have been some Book of Directions written by Moses for Ioshua's managing of the Wars after him Thus this Learned Writer makes this Book only to be of private use and dictated by an Ordinary not a Divine Spirit wherefore it cannot be one of the Books of the Bible And if this be true then though it be lost yet no Canonical Scripture is lost hereby But from what I shall propound I think it will be found reasonable to believe that the Book in this Place mention'd is one of the received Books of the Old Testament i. e. it is the Book of Iudges which deservedly hath the Name of the Book of the Wars of the Lord because it recounts those Warlike Enterprizes which those Heroâck Spirits stirr'd up by God in an extraordinary Manner were famous for Or Milchamoth Iehovah the Wars of the Lord are as much as the Great Wonderful and Renowned Wars for perhaps the Name of God is used here as in several other Place to augment the Sense and to express the Greatness and Excellency of the Thing fought by the Valiant Iews To any one that consults the Text together with the 26th v. of that Chapter it will plainly appear that this Passage particularly refers to the 11th Chapter of Iudges v. 15 16 17. But if you ask how Moses who was dead long before could write this I answer though he undoubtedly writ the Book of Numbers as well as the rest of the Pentateuch yet some few Passages in this and the other Books may reasonably be supposed to be inserted afterwards by some other Inspired Persons as I have had Occasion to advertise before Ezra it is likely revising this Book added this of what God did in the Red Sea and at the Brooks of Arnon And to give yet more ample Satisfaction to this Scruple I desire it may be observed that though we translate the Text thus It is said in the Book of the Wars c. yet in the Original the Verb is in the future Tense ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã diceture it shall be said and so we may look upon it as a Prophecy of Moses He here foretels that afterwards it shall be commemorated how God fought for his People When there shall be at solemn Times a Rehearsal of the Jewish Wars then this Passage shall be call'd to mind and made mention of And then we must look upon these two Verses not as cited
out of the Book of Iudges but proposed to be inserted there afterwards The plain Answer then is that the Book of the Wars of the Lord is the Book of Iudges together with that of Ioshua where are related the Particulars of the Holy War i. e. the War of the Jews against the Infidels and that in one of these it shall be particularly remembred and recorded what God did in the Red Sea and in the Brooks of Arnon c. and accordingly we find it inserted in the forecited Place in Iudges Thus you see it can't be proved hence that the Church hath lost any Part of the Book of God Another Book said by some to be lost is the Book of Iasher mention'd in Iosh. 10. 13. 2 Sam. 1. 18. But some of the most celebrated Hebrew Doctors say they have found it telling us that it is the Book of Genesis wherein are contain'd the Acts of Abraham Isaac Iacob and other Patriarchs who were by way of Excellence call'd Iasherim Recti Iusti. But surely that Man is easily satisfied who can acquiesce in this Dr. Lightfoot holds the Book of Iasher to be the same with that which I asserted the Book of the Wars of God to be But there is little Foundation for it for though the particular Narrative of the Sun 's standing still be in the Book of Iasher as we learn from the Text yet there is no intimation that all Ioshua's Wars or the Wars of the Israelites were registred there This Book was according to the Excellent Grotius an ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a Triumphal Poem in which ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã was for the Verse sake contracted into ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã But though this be very Ingenious yet it wants solidity and it is not probable that the Word would be twice mention'd i. e. both in the Book of Ioshua and in the 2d Book of Samuel in its Abbreviated Form The Learned Iewish Historian seems to me to bid fairest for Truth who âaith by this Book are to be understood certain Records kept in some safe Place on purpose and afterwards in the Temple giving an Account of what happen'd among the Jews from Year to Year and particularly the Prodigy of the Sun 's standing still and the Directions and Laws about the Vse of the Bow i. e. setting up of Archery and maintaiâing Military Exercises And if it be ask'd why the Title given to these Jewish Annals was the Book of Iasher i. e. Rects this may be rendered as a probable Reason viz. because it was by all Persons reckon'd as a very Faithful and Authentick Account of all those Events and Occurrences which it recorded it was composed with great Vprightnesâ and Truth Thencâ it was commonly known by the Name of Iasher's Book or Chronicle And if you remember that Iasher is translated ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by thâ Seventy in several Places of the Book of Ioâ it will âurther confirm what I say and induce us to believe that Iasher's Book is as much as a True Book a Book that is not counterfeited It was not the Work of any Inspired Person but was of the Nature of Common Civil Annals and consequently we cannot infer hence that any Book properly belonging to the Holy Scripture i. e. that was written by Inspiration of the Holy Ghost is at this Day missing Again some reckon the Acts of Uzziah written by Isaiah the Prophet 2 Chron. 26. 22. in the Cataâogue of such Books of Scripture as are lost But they have little reason to do so for by thoââ Words is plainly meant that Part of the Life and History of that King which we now have in the Prophecy of Isaiah for the first six Chapters are â Relation of what was done in his Days They give an Account of several Passages which belong to the Church and State in that King's Reign And Isaiah is truly said in the foremention'd Place in the Chronicles to have written his Acts first and last because you will find that the Prophecy of Isaiah begins at the Days of Uzziah v. 1. and the sixth Chapter relates what happen'd in the Year that King Uzziah died v. 1. So that something of what was first and last in his Time is here recorded This I look upon as a very substantial and satisfactory Answer to the Scruple about that Place Also some would infer from 1 Chron. 29. 29. that all the Canonical Books of the Bible are not extant at this Day bâcause there is mention of the Book of Samuel the Seer and the Book of Nathan the Prophet and the Book of Gad the Seer in which it is said all David ' s Acts were written But no such Inference can rationally be made only this we gather which is the Solution of the Difficulty that Nathan and Gad as well as Samuel compiled the History that goes under the Name of this last and because it was made by them all three therefore it is represented here as three different Books But the true Account is that those two Books in the Old Testament which bear the Name of Samuel were written partly by him the greatest Part of the first Book relating things that happen'd in his time and partly by Nathan and partly by Gad two eminent Prophets in those Days and who survived Samuel Then as to 2 Chron. 9. 29. where we are told that Solomon's Acts were written not only in the Book Hebr. Dibrim the Words as the Book of Chronicles is call'd the Words of Days of Nathan of which before but in the Prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite and in the Visions of Iddo the Seer which last are call'd Midrash the Story or Commentary of the Prophet Iddo Chap. 13. v. 22. And as to 2 Chron. 12. 15. where we read also of this Book of Iddo the Seer and of Shemaiah the Prophet in which it is said Rehoboam's Acts were written the Answer which I give relating to these Books in brief is this that few of them if any are different from those of the Kings but are only a Part of them though they are here spoken of as Distinct Books and that for this reason because that individual Part of the Story viz. concerning Solomon and Rehoboam is quoted which these particular Persons here named wrote You must know then that this Historical Part of the Old Testament was the Work of several Persons it was a Collection made by sundry Prophets and Holy Men as Samuel Nathan Gad Ahijah Iddo Shemaiah and the Books which they wrote are called the Books of Samuel and the Books of the Kings and are generally known by these Names but when those Parts of them which were particucularly inserted and written by Samuel himself or Nathan c. are quoted or referr'd to in the Books of the Chronicles they are mentioned as Distinct Books the meaning of which is that they are Distinct Parts of such a History and wrote by such Particular Persons who altogether made up that
Historical Part of the Bible Those Books then for so the Hebrews call any Writings which those Authors above-named wrote are not lost as some imagine âât are still extant in the Bible for they are Parâ of the Books of Samuel and the Kings This Answer is grounded on 1 Chron. 29. 29. The Acts of David the King first and last behold they are written in the Book or History of Samuel and in the Book of Nathan the Prophet c. which shews that the foresaid Books were a Collection made by several Prophets viz. Samuel Nathan Gad c. This I think is very plain and the foresaid Objection is wholly removed by it Then as to the rest of those Books which are said to be lost as the Sayings of the Seers 2 Chron. 33. 19. and the Book of the Acts of Solomon 1 Kings 11. 41. and the Book of Jehu the Son of Hanani 2 Chron. 20. 34. or any other which the Objectors mention it is granted by some very Sober Writers not only Foreigners but of our own Country that these Books are really lost but they deny that this is any Argument of the Imperfection of Scripture because these Books were not absolutely necessary neither are we certain that they were Divinely endited And this was the Opinion of the Antients as well as the Moderns Yea St. Chrysostom and some others of the Fathers who speak of these Books say positively that they were not written by Inspiration from Heaven To this Purpose St. Augustine hath this useful Distinction the Penmen of the Sacred Scripture saith he write some things as they are Men with Historical Care and Diligence other things they write as Prophets by Inspiration from God This then may satisfy us that all that was written by the Prophets and even by those Holy Men who were Authors of some Part of the Bible was not Canonical and Divine because they writ some things not as Inspired Persons but as meer Historians Some of this sort of Writings are referr'd to in the forecited Places and though they be not extant now yet the Scripture is not hereby rendered Imperfect because these were not such Parts of it as were Essential to it or were of Divine Inspiration The like may be said when in the Book of Kings there is frequent reference to the Book of Chronicles those of the Bible are not always meant being not then penned Besides that many things that are referr'd unto there are not found in these Books Wherefore it is probable that these were Additional Writings not belonging to the Body of the Canonical Scripture nor written by Persons that were Inspired and consequently though they are lost yet the Canon of the Bible is not impaired And indeed we find that those of the Protestant Perswasion as Whitaker Willet c. and among Foreigners Calvin Beza c. who acknowledg the loss of these Books do at the same time strongly assert the Perfection of the Holy Scriptures which they very consistently may do because they hold these Books to be no part of the Canon of the Bible Again if what we have said be not fully satisfactory this may be further added that the Complaint of the Loss of some Books of Holy Writ proceeds from the mistaking of the Word Sepher which is translated a Book but among the Hebrews is oftentimes no more than a Rehearsal or Commemoration of something a brief Narrative or Memoir a setting down any thing in Writing as you 'l find in these following Places Num. 5. 23. Iosh. â8 9. 1 Sam. 10. 25. Esth. 9. 20. Isa. 30. 8. Ier. 32. 12 14. And sometimes it is nothing but a meer Genealogy as Gen. 5. 1. The book of the Generations of Adam So St. Matthew begins his Gospel The Book of the Generation of Iesus Christ Mat. 1. 1. i. e. his Genealogy or Pedigree a brief Enumeration of the Persons he descended from which is the proper Denotation of the Word Sepher from Saphar numerare recensere whence Siphra or Ciphra a Word that is used in most Languages Some not attending to this have fancied that a great many Books of the Sacred Writ are embezzled because they do not find such Formal Books as those of Iehu or of the Acts of Solomon c. now belonging to the Bible This arises from a misunderstanding of the Hebrew Word which signifies generally any Short kind of Writing or Memorandum This with the Answer before given will solve all Doubts concerning the Places afore alledged As to the common Objection concerning the Loss of Solomon's Books which are said to be mentioned in 1 Kings 4. 32 33. I answer 1. That when some call them Books it is more than they can prove it is not said that Solomon wrote but that he Spake of Trees and spake of Beasts c. i. e. he learnedly discoursed of these several Subjects upon occasion and Spake such a Number of Proverbs Here can be no Loss of Books then But 2. Suppose he committed these Disquisitions and Discourses to Writing and they are now lost it may be consumed when Nebuchadnezzar burnt Ierusalem or by some other Means imbezzled afterwards yet still this is nothing to the purpose because they were no Part of Canonical Scripture His Universal History of Vegetables from the Cedar even to the Hysop that grows out of the Wall and his Books of the Nature of all Animals in the Sea on the Land and in the Air appertained to Philosophy and might indeed have serv'd to have set up a Royal Society and have been advantageous to the Men who are employ'd in the Study of Nature for these questionless were full of Admirable Philosophy according to that great and matchless Measure of Wisdom which God had endued him with Thus far the Loss of those Writings is great but none but Philosophers ought to bewail it Tho I must suggest this by the way that perhaps there is no ground of complaining for them neither for it may be these Books of Plants and Animals were extant till Alexander the Great 's Days and being perused and understood by Aristotle and Theophrastus by the Help of an Interpreter they were transcribed by them and so set down as we find them in their Writings which have gain'd them so great Fame and Renown This may be the more credible especially as to Aristotle because we read that he was a Great Plagiary and burnt or otherwise made away those Writings from whence he borrowed his Notions If this be true it is likely we have these Books of Solomon extant still in those forenamed Authors we read his Natural History concerning Vegetables and Animals But as touching the three thousand Proverbs which he spake it is most reasonable to believe that most of them were only spoken not written down and as for those that were penn'd we have them at this Day in the Book of Proverbs which is Part of the Canon of Scripture There we have those Proverbs which the Holy
or their conforming to the Dialect of their Countrey for these are consistent with That Isaiah being a Courtier and a Person of Quality hath a neat and elegant Stile and yet so as he knows how to vary it according to the Matter he treats of But generally he is Lofty and Eloquent his Stile being raised by his Education which was sutable to his Noble Extraction for he was of the Blood Royal. Ieremiah and Amos being used to the Countrey are mean and homely in their Language the latter especially discovers his Condition and way of Life in his low and rural Strain So in the New Testament St. Luke who had improved himself by Art and Study is very observant of the Greek Elegancy and avoids all improper and exotick Terms in his Gospel and in the Acts. Indeed the Stile of the Sacred Penmen is very different and that Difference is an Excellency in this Book of God But that which I say is this the Writers leave not off their peculiar Stile though they were moved by the Spirit As this furnished them with new Expressions so it let them make use of their own usual ones but immediately directed and assisted them in the applying of them So that at the same time when they used their Natural Stile they were Divinely help'd to make it âerviceable to that purpose which the Holy Ghost intended Hence I conclude that the Stile and Words and Composure of the Sacred Writings are such as ought to be reckoned Divine For this is one difference between this Book and others that every thing of it is Divine And therefore those Persons who dream of Solecisââ in Holy Scripture are the greatest Solecisers themselves but especially those who assert there are Mistakes and literal Falsities in the Holy Book are utterly to be condemned Such is Episcopius who dares affirm That the Spirit left the Writers of the Holy Scripture to their own humane Frailty in delivering such things as belonged to Circumstances of a Fact Their Knowledg and Memory were deficient and fallible The Spirit did not tell St. Iohn how many Furlongs Christ's Disciples went chap. 6. 19. The same is to be asserted he saith as to some Names and other Circumstances of Time and Place which are not of the substance of the thing And before this you are told by ââo others that the Pen-men of Scripture ãâã in some light things not that they would falââty but that they might forget some Passages Melchior Canus is of the opinion that there are some considerable Slips in Scripture from the weakness of the Evangelists and Apostles Memories Yea among the antient Fathers there was one who more grosly held that the Writers of the New Testament sometimes abused the Testimonies of the Prophets of the Old Testament and that they applied them to their present purpose although they were nothing to it Thus St. Paul he saith quoteth the Old Testament in his Epistles to the Romans Galatians and Ephesians only to serve his turn and to confute the Jews his Adversaries Read saith he these Epistles wherein the Apostle is wholly on the Polemick part and you will see how prudently and dissemblingly he acts in those Texts which he citeth out of the Old Testament And at other times this bold Man is not afraid to say that some of the Matters and Things in Scripture are set down wrong This is no less than Profane and Blasphemous Doctrine wherefore that Father is to be read with great Caution in such places as these We on the contrary assert that God was not only the Author of the Matter and Contents of Holy Writ but also of the Words and Expressions yea even when those Writers express their Sense in their own Terms i. e. according to the Way and Dialect which they were Masters of and which was most familiar to them even then they were immediately assisted ãâã the Spirit Which was absolutely necessary that this Book might have no Errors and Failings in it of any kind but that it might transcend all other Writings whatsoever If you do not hold this you make no considerable difference between the Holy Scriptures and other Writings Therefore I am thorowly convinced that this is a Truth and ought to be maintained viz. that the Holy Spirit endited the very Stile of Scripture that even this was by the immediate Inspiration of Heaven To the Manner of its writing I may well annex its Harmony and thence also prove it to be Divine Though there are several seeming Repugnancies of which I shall treat afterwards in a Discourse of the Stile of Scripture and endeavour to clear them up to the Satisfaction of every sober and considerate Person yet it cannot but be acknowledged that all the Parts of this Book do entirely agree and are consistent with one another This in other Books which are composed and written by one Author is not so admirable tho in those Pieces we oftentimes meet with very palpable Disagreements and Contradictions but here we are able to remember that notwithstanding these Books were written by different Persons and those many in number and disagreeing in Quality and extremely distant as to Time and Place yet their Writings contradict not one another but there is an excellent Harmony in all their Parts there is a perfect Concord and Consent among them all such as is not to be found in any other Authors in the World though of the same Sect and Party Excellently to this purpose a very Wise and Judicious Man thus speaks When several Men in several Ages not brought up under the same Education write it is not possible to find Unity in their Tenents or Positions because their Spirits Judgments and Fancies are different but where so many several Authors speaking and writing at several times agree not only in Matters Dogmatical of sublime and difficult Natures but also in Predictions of future and contingent Events whereof it is impossible for humane Understanding to make a Discovery without a superiour Discovery made to it I must needs conclude one and the same Divine Spirit declared the same Truths to these several Men. And as to the seeming Contrarieties of some Places of Scripture this should not at all trouble us for this is rather an Argument of the Truth and Authority of it it is a sign the Writers did not combine together to cheat and delude us If they had designed any such thing we should not have met with any Difficult and seemingly Repugnant Places in these Writings But seeing we do so this among other things may confirm us in this Belief that the Scriptures were not contrived by Men who had a design to impose upon us for if they had had such a Design they would have so ordered it that not the least appearance of Contradiction and Difference should have been found But truly there is no necessity of proceeding thus in this Discourse for to an unprejudiced and industrious Enquirer there is
nothing in Scripture that looks like Inconsistent and Contradictory Upon a diligent Search we shall discern a mutual Correspondence in the Stile Matter and Design of these Writings we shall find a happy Concurrence of Circumstances and an admirable Consistency in the Doctrines and Discourses in so much that we shall be forced to acknowledg that upon this single Consideration it is reasonable to believe that these Writings were endited by the Holy Spirit This Harmony then of the Scriptures I may justly reckon among the Inward Notes of the Truth of Scripture because it is adjoined to the Matter of it which is of the very Intrinsick Nature of it What Iustinian professes and promises concerning his Digests in his Preface to them that there is nothing Clashing and Contradictory in them but that they are all of a piece is true only of the Sacred Laws of the Evangelical Pandects which contain in them nothing Dissonant and Repugnant The Old and New Testament the Prophets and Apostles are consonant to themselves and to one another which is a great Argument of the Truth of them There is nothing in one Place of Scripture opposite to the true Meaning which the Holy Ghost hath revealed and asserted in another The Contents of the whole Book whether you look into the Doctrinal or Historical Part of it have nothing contradictory in them All the Authors of it agree in their Testimonies and assert the same thing and consent among themselves It is the Nature of Lies and Forgeries that they hang not together as Lactantius on the like Occasion hath observed Especially if you search very inquisitively and narrowly into them you will perceive that they are thin and slight and may easily be seen through But the Contents of these Writings have been diligently inquired into and with great Care and Industry examined by all sorts of Persons and yet they are found to be every ways Consistent with themselves and the Testimony of the Writers is known to be Concurrent and Agreeing All wise and curious Observers must needs grant that there is no Book under Heaven that parallels the Scriptures as to this Which shews that they are more than Humane Writings yea that they were Divinely inspired and dictated And this I take to be the Sense of St. Peter who assures us that no Prophecy of the Scripture is of private Interpretation He speaks of the first Rise of those Prophecies which are in Scripture they are from God they are not of private Interpretation they are not from Man's Invention they are not of his own Brain and Fancy but they are to be esteem'd to be as they are Divine and Heavenly Oracles Thus the Word of God is Witness to it self and stands in need of no others The Scripture is sufficiently proved by what is in it and is to be believed for its own sake Which made an antient Writer say We have compleat Demonstrations out of the Scriptures themselves and accordingly we are demonstratively assured by Faith concerning the Truth of the things therein delivered Which cannot be said of any humane Writings in the World for they carry no such Native Marks with them But the very Inward Notes of the Truth and Authority of the Scriptures create in us a certain and unshaken Belief They may be known from all other Writings whatsoever by the Excellent Transcendent and Divine Matter contained in them and by the peculiar Manner of delivering and publishing it These I call Internal Proofs because they are taken from the Books themselves because they are something that we find there These assure us that they were written not by Man but by God There is yet another Internal Testimony I call it so because it is within Vs though not in the Scriptures As I have shewed you that the Holy Spirit speaks in the Scriptures and bears Testimony to the Truth of them so now I add that this Spirit speaks in Vs and works in our Hearts a Perswasion that the Scriptures are the Word of God By this Spirit we are enabled to discern the Voice of the same Spirit and of Christ in those Writings This witnessing Power of the Spirit in the Souls of Believers is asserted in Acts 5. 32. 15. 7 8. and in 1 Iohn 5. 6. From these Places it is clear that there is an Illumination of the Spirit joining with our Consciences and Perswasions and this Spirit powerfully convinces all Believers of the Truth of the Scriptures This Testimony follows immediately on our setting before us the Inward Excellencies of the Scripture as I have represented them for God makes use of those Evidences and Arguments to beget a Belief in us of the Divine Authority of Scripture The Spirit enlightens and convinces Mens Minds by those Means but more especially he urges these Evidences on the Hearts of the Religious and Faithful and thereby brings them to a firm Perswasion of the Scriptures being the Word of God This is no Enthusiasm because it is discovered to us by proper Means and Instruments whereas that is without any and is generally accompanied with the despising of them But the Evidences and Notes in the Scripture are the Reasons and Motives of our Belief only the Holy Spirit comes and prepares and sanctifies our Minds and illuminates our Consciences and causes those Arguments and Motives to make Impression upon us and effectually to prevail with us and to silence all Objections to the contrary Thus the Truth of Scripture is attested by the Holy Spirit witnessing in us But when I say the Testimony of the Spirit is a Proof of the Truth of the Scripture I must adjoin this that this Proof serves only for those that have this Spirit it may establish them but it cannot convince others No other Man can be brought to be perswaded of the Truth of those Sacred Writings by the Spirit 's convincing me of the Truth of them Besides this Proof is not in all that really believe the Truth of these Books some may be convinced of the Truth of them without this but where this is it is most Powerful and Convictive and surpasses all other degreâ of Perswasion whatsoever There is no such câtain knowledg of the Truth of these Holy Wâ tings as by the Testimony of the Sacred Spirit ãâã the Hearts of Men produced there in a ration â way and in such a manner as is most sutable ãâã our Faculties CHAP. II. External Proofs of the Truth of the Holy Scriptureâ Viz. the wonderful Preservation of them and Vniversal Tradition Which latter is defended against the Objections of those that talk of a New Character wherein the Old Testament is written Thâ Iewish Masoreth attests the Authority of these Writings The Hebrew Text is not corrupted The Points or Vowels were coexistent with the Letters F. Simon 's Notion of Abbreviating the Historicââ Books of the Old Testament rejected The New Tement vouched by the unanimous Suffrage of the Primitive Church The
Reasons why the Apocryphal Writings are not received into the Canon of the Bible with an Answer to the Objections made by the Romanists SEcondly I proceed to the External Testimonies of the Truth of the Scriptures which being added to those Arguments which proved them to be True in Themselves will exceedingly corroborate our Belief of the Divine Authority of those Books And here I might mention the Testimony given to them by God in the wonderful Preservation of them through all Ages since they were first written In all the Changes of Affairs and the Overthrow of so many Cities and Kingdoms that Incomparable Treasure hath not been lost The Books of the Old Testament were kept untouched and inviolable at the sacking and burning of Ierusalem and all the time of the Captivity in Babylon and of the Dispersion of the Jews And ever since that time the Scriptures have been Unaltered in Words and Sense notwithstanding the frequent Endeavours of Satan's busy Agents to corrupt them yea utterly to destroy them And next to God's Providence in preserving these Books thrô all Times and Ages we might add the marvellous Success which hath attended the Holy Faith and Doctrine contained in these Writings They have prevail'd against the Power of Men and Devils and to this very day they are maintained and upheld maugre the Attempts of both of them to root them out of the World But I wave this intending not to insist upon Divine but Humane Testimony in this place By External Testimony then I mean here no other than this that Scripture is attested by Vniversal Tradition and this Tradition is both of Jews and Christians And what would a Man desire more in a humane way for attesting the Truth of these Writings From the joint Attestation of these Witnesses I shall make it appear that these Books which we now have are the true Copies of the first Originals that the same Books and Authors are faithfully delivered down to us which were first of all delivered to the Jews and to the Primitive Christians and that there is nothing in these Writings as we now have them that is falsified or corrupted First to begin with the Books of the Old Testament the Names of which are as follow Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Ioshuâ Iudges Ruth the 1st and 2d Books of Samuel thâ 1st and 2d Books of Kings tho 1st and 2d Books ãâã Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah Esther Iob the Psalmâ Proverbs Ecclesiastes the Song of Solomon the foââ Greater Prophets and the twelve Lesser These and none but these were admitted into the Canâ of the Holy Scriptures by the antient Church oâ the Iews whose Testimony is very Authenticâ here yea indeed we cannot have a better They acquaint us that these were the Only Writingâ that were universally agreed by them to be extraordinarily Inspired and they further tell us that these Books which were writ by different Persons and at diverse Times were first compiled and collected into One Body or Volume by Ezra and the Assembly of Doctors for that purpose and consequently that the Canon of Sacred Scripture of the Old Testament as it is at this time was not constituted till Ezra's days by the Great Synagogue as they call it Upon his Return from the Captivity he undertook this good Work he gathered together all those dispersed Books before named and after he had reviewed them he publickly owned and solemnly vouched the Authority of every one of them that the Church for the future might not doubt of their being Authentick and True But some add here by way of Objection that this holy Man caused these Books to be written over in a New Character because the Jews had lost their knowledg of the former one as well as of the Tongue and consequently the Bible is not the same that it was at first Eusebius and Ierom are alledged for this especially the latter who seems to say that the Samaritan Character was the Old Hebrew Character in which the Bible was first writ and that it was first changed by Ezrd after the Return from Babylon he writing âhe Sacred Volume over in Assyrian or Chaldee Letters and neglecting the Old Hebrew ones which were the same that the Samaritan are And the reason of this was they say because the Jews were best acquainted with this Character at that time And some Modern Writers are gain'd over to this Opinion who talk much of the Change of the Character and endeavour to perswade us that the first and old Letters of the Hebrew Text were Samaritan but that those which we now have are Assyrian and of quite another sort But upon an impartial Enquiry I find little or no Foundation for this Opinion It rather seems to me to be an Invention and Dream of those who design to disparage the Hebrew Bible They would perswade us that the Authority of the Original is impaired because we have it not now as it was at the beginning for the Old Bible was in Samaritan Letters these being the first and antientest Hebrew Characters This is like the Story of the Hebrew Points being invented five hundred Years after Christ of which afterwards which tends to the same End namely to discredit the Hebrew Text which we now have and wholly to take away its Authority for if the Letters were changed it is probable some Words and consequently the Sense of some Places are altered But that this is groundless and that the Hebrew Bible is written in the same Characters now that it was at first you will find very largely and convincingly proved by the famous Buxtorf from the Authârity of the Talmud especially the Gemara ãâã the Cabala from the Suffrage of the most Notâ Rabbins of old and of the Learned Modern Jeââ as Aben Ezra R. Solomon R. Ben Maimon â who without doubt are very competent Judges ãâã this Case To these may be added several of ãâã Christian Perswasion as Picus Mirandula F. Iuniâ Skikkard Postellus with those three Eminent Persons of our own Countrey Nic. Fuller Broughtââ Lightfoot If you consult these they will satisfyâ you that the Hebrew Letters which we have now in the Bible were the Primitive ones the very same that were of old But to give you my Thoughts impartially in this Point I do believâ from what I find asserted by Writers on both sides that there were two sorts of Characters used by the Jews as there were two sorts of Cubits and Shekels the Sacred and Common and I gather that the Samaritan Letter was of the latter sort that which was commonly used and even sometimes in transcribing the Bible but the Sacred Character in use among the Jews was this which we now have and in which the Bible is at this day This is the true Original Hebrew Letter and was used from the beginning by them This I think may reconcile the Disputes among Writers for so far as I can perceive the Quarrels arise from this that there is
that the Gentiles relate the very same things that this doth that the Great Truths and Notable Histories Notions and Practices in the Books of the Old Testament are to be met with in Profane Writings but taken from these Sacred ones The Heathens borrowed many of their Rites and Vsages from Traditions which were founded in the Holy Scriptures They derived many things in their Religion and Manners from these Sacred Fountains though it is as true that they have laboured to pollute them But I will make it clear and manifest that they fetch'd them thence and I will abundantly prove that most of the chief things in the Old Testament have been attested both by the Fables and the Serious History of the Pagans There have been some High-fliers I know who have carried on this Notion to a ridiculous Extravagancy Thus Zimmeranus speaks of an odd Capuchin who hath vented very wild things in prosecuting this Argument viz. that the Gentile Mysteries were taken from the True God and from the Scriptures inspired by him And one Iacobâ Hugo in his Historia Romana is quoted by the same Person as very extravagant in this kind for he holds that the Roman Story was a Narrative of the History of the Gospel Pious Aeneas was St. Peter and his sailing from Troy to Latium was the Story of St. Peter's leaving the Chair at Antioch and going to Rome Homer and Virgil's Heroick Poems are an account of St. Peter and the Church and of the Shipwrack and Misfortunes which this latter meets with in the World Ilium or Aelia is Ierusalem that was the Name which Aelius Adrianus gave it The Acts of the Apostles the Jewish War and the Destruction of Ierusalem are contain'd in Homer's Iliads and so are the Life and Death of Christ and the whole Gospel He tells us that Romulus and Remus signify the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul the Founders of the Roman Church And more extravagantly yet he goes on telling us that Diana signiâies the Holy Trinity Curtius on Horse-back swallowed up in the Lake is the Virgin Mary whose Temple is seen there in the Market-place at Rome with this Inscription D. Virginis Templum à poenis inferni liberantis And a great deal more of such Stuff this Hugo hath which no Man of Consideration and Sense is able to bear Indeed such wild and far-fetch'd Conceits may be justly entertain'd with Laughter and Contempt Nor do I look upon some things which some others of more composed Thoughts mention as any real Testimonies given to the Scriptures They strangely fancy an Affinity between Scripture and Paganism between what they read in the one and what they meet with in the other though there be no Cognation at all Thus the Greek Fable of Minerva's being the Offspring of Iove's Brain took its Rise from the Doctrine of the Trinity and the Eternal and Ineffable Generation of the Son of God saith a Learned Man and Isis the Egyptian Goddess is saith he Ishah Mulier or Virgo i. e. the Virgin Mary from a Tradition among them that a Virgin shoulâ bring forth a Son who was to be the Redeemer ãâã the World And I could mention others whoââ Names are better known who have been too eâtravagant in this kind carrying the Notion on toâ far and strongly fancying every thing almoââ which they meet with in Pagan Story to havâ some reference to and be taken from the holâ Scriptures But I shall very industriously avoââ this Vanity and Folly and only represent to the curious and critical Reader those Passages in Pagââ Writers which with great Probability and Reasoâ we may conclude to have been taken from the Books of the Old Testament I shall endeavoââ to let you see the Sacred History of the Bible eveâ through the Fables and feigned Stories of the Heathens and thereby confirm you in the belief of the Truth and Reality of that Sacred History whence they were taken 1. To begin first where all things began the Creation this as it is particularly described iâ the first Chapter of Genesis is plainly to be found in Pagan Authors who without doubt had it froâ this first Entrance of the Scripture For thougâ a Man by the Light of Nature may know that the World had a Beginning yet this particular way of its beginning as 't is there set down could not be attained to but by Divine Revelation wherefore it is rationally to be asserted that the Pagaââ took this Notion from God's Revealed Will in Scripture and at the same time they do hereby attest the Truth of that holy Book The genârââ Opinion of the antient Gentiles was that the World was made out of a preceding Chaos which they represent to be a rude disordered and indigested Mass of Matter reduced to no Shape and Form Sanconiathon the Phoenician Historian so much prais'd by Porphyrius the Philosopher in Eusebius makes mention of this Chaos as the Source of all things in his Fragments of Phoenician Theology The antient Poet Orpheus held that this Chaos was the first Principle of all things And Hesiod agrees with him affirming that the Chaos was that out of which all Bodies were made ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. It is described by Ovid after this manner Ante mare terras quod tegit omnia Coelum Vnus erat toto naturae vultus in orbe Quem dixere Chaos c. Where in forty or âifty pair of good smooth Verses he most excellently describes the Origine of all things and makes the very Chaos beautiful This is the same with Hyle the first original Matter of all things the Poets Demogorgon which was borrowed from the shapeless Lump of the Chaos And in the Phoenician Language we may find it in the very sound of the words Thoth and Bau which are but a small Variation from Tohu and Bohu in the Hebrew Text the same with Chaos among the Greeks and Latins This is founded on those Words of Moses Gen. 1. 2. The Earth was without form and void and Darkness was on the face of the Deep This dark and formless Heap of Water and Earth mingled together contain'd in it the fiâ Elements of all things that were made afterwardâ hence sprang the World as it is now shaped ãâã modelled From this Account which Moses givâ here of the Creation the old Pagan Theologer i. e. the Pocts made the Ocean to be the Origiâ of all Generation which is no other than thâ if you give the plain meaning of it that thâ moist and fluid Matter gave beginning to all Bodâ that are Orpheus own'd this Hypothesis calliââ the Ocean the Parent of all things in one of ãâã Hymns and out of some other Pieces of ãâã Works the same might be proved Homer ãâã the like asserting the Ocean to be the Antiente of the Gods ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And again ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Iliad On which Words the Scholiast gives this Reason
to King Ptolomee by the foresaid Demetrius a very serious Man and it was assigned as a Reason why the Contents of these Sacred Writings which were so Divine and Admirable were but rarely mention'd by the Historians and Poets These Examples had struck a terrour into some of them having heard how some Prophaners of these Holy Things were Animadverted upon by a Divine Hand they were afraid to Record any passages in the Old Testament Therefore some of them chose rather to disguise the Sacred Stories and to stuff them with Fabulous Narrations that they might scarcely be known to have been borrowed from that Holy Book Lastly the Devil hath a design in all this Tertâlian's Words are remarkable when he had said that the Things which are contrary to Truth i. e. the Heathen Fables Rites and Usages are made out of the Truth i. e. the Holy Scriptures he further adds that this Imitating of the Truth is wrought by the Spirits of Error that is the Devils who affect sometimes to Ape God and what he doth This is most apparent that they are a Mimical fort of Creatures and shew themselves sometimes diligent Emulators of the most Holy Pârsons and Things Their great Subtilty and Craft are to be discern'd here for when they brought the Hebreâ Rites and Ceremonies of Gods own appointment into the ãâã Worship and Service they did this to Prophane them and âo make them contemptible and ridiculous They did it that those Divine and Sacred Things might be despised and that they might be turn'd into Superstition and Idolatry So likewise they cunningly mixed something of sacred Truth with Fables that thereby they might make the things that are True to be suspected Satban is desirous to pervert and even erase the whole Sacred Scripture and Antient Truth but because he sees he cannot effect this he therefore contrives how he may disguise the Scripture-Stories he sets the Poets to work to make them into Fables and thinks by that means to take off our Esteem of those Inspired Writings and to diminish that Credit which we ought to give to those Sacred Truths He pushed on those Grecian Wits to obscure and deface the Old Names in Scripture that the Original of them might not be known He out of direct malice moved those fanciful Men to invent Fables to defame the Primitive Stories to blemish the Sacred History to obscure and pervert the Truth The Poets turning the Scriptures into Fabulous Narrations was the way to invalidate the Testimony of them and to make them seem a meer Poetick Fiction a Dream a Fansie that hath no real bottom It is no wonder then that the Devil imped their Fancies and assisted their Inventions and help'd them to change the Truth into a Lie that thereby he might rob God and the Scripture of their Honour This I say might be a device of that Evil Spirit as he hath Devices and Wiles of all sorts to elude the Authority of Sacred History and to take away the Credit of Divine Truth Again as that Crasty Spirit designs by this means to disparage yea to null the Truth so he thinks hereby to gain assent to Falshood and to promote the greatest Impiety imaginable for when Truth is mixed with Falshood he hopes that this latter will be entertain'd for the sake of the former And when Lewd and Vitious Practices are founded in those that are Innocent and Religious he expects that these should justifie those Perhaps when he added the Sacred Ceremonies of the Iews to the prophane Worship of the Gentiles he thought thereby to take away the difference between them and to render them alike so that Men should not be able to distinguish between a True and False way of Worship Thirdly the Devil's Design in introducing several Sacred rites and Customs into the practice of the Heathens was to conciliate to himself a greater Authority and Esteem a greater Glory and Repute among them He commends those things to the Pagans which were Religiously used and even by God's own People and prescrib'd by God himself this he doth to inveigle the Pagan World and to bring them to Admire and Worship him Wherefore an Answer may easily be return'd to that Objection of a late Learned Writer What advantage can the Devil have by his imitating the Divine Worship He ever Acts for some end that may be prositable to himself but how can this prove so seeing it would be more advantageous to him to institute a Worship and Ceremonies that are Diametnically contrary to those in the Divine Law that by those as by so many proper and peculiar Characters his Herd might be distinguished from the Flock of the Shepherd of Israel The Answer I say to this is very easie and obvious for there can be nothing more Advantageous to that Evil Spirit than his emulating of Divine Worship and appointing Ceremonies suitable to it for by this means his Kingdom is most sensibly advanced and that with the greatest Artifice and Craft imaginable because this Vile Fiend is Adored even whilst the Divine Worship of the True God seems to be earried on It was the Subtilty of this Great Mimick to approach as near to God and True Religion as he could to make use of those things which by God's own express Command were used in his Worship This is a cunning way of gaining Proselytes and increasing the number of his Worshippers Thus he Acts for some End and that a very Profitable one too certainly much more Profitable to him than if he had Instituted Proper and Peculiar Ceremonies of Worship for these would too palpably have distinguish'd his Herd from the True Flock whereas those bring them into a kind of Rivalty with it Besides this fond Emulation in the Devil is a gratifying of his first Proud Inclination and aspiring to be like God He is still Ambitious of Divine Honour otherwise certainly he would not have desired to be Worship'd by the Son of God himself And he would be Worshipp'd in the same way that God is with the same Signs and Badges of Adoration Hence most of those Sacred Rites enjoyned by God himself and made use of in his Worship by the Iewish Church were transferred by Sathan to his Idolatrous and Impious Worship This is the effect of his Haughty Spirit which thirsteth after Divine Honour even such as is given to the only True God Thus I have amply shew'd you how it came to pass that the Rites and Practices and the greatest Truths contained in the Holy Scripture were corrupted disguised misapplied and abused by the Pagans I have given you the Reasons and Arguments which may convince you of this and render you an account of the manner of it CHAP. IX The Author's Assertions Confirmed by the ample Suffrage of the Ancients and Moderns Consectaries drawn from the whole viz. That we cannot with any shew of Reason admit of the Opinion of those who hold that the Jews borrow'd all or most of
for Prestegian or Protegian as some think but this is disputable Maldon in Essex by the Saxons called Malodune is a Corruption of Camalodunum the old Colony of the Romans here Godmanchester in Huntingdon shire is so written in stead of Gormonchester from one Gormon a Danish Prince that had this part of the Country alotted to him But Charter-House for Chartreuse the Covent heretofore of the Carthusians and Shingles the common word for St. Anthony's Fire because it incompasses the Body like a Girdle for Cingles and Good Morrow for Good Morning are not so great Depravations of the Words Refer this to Page 254. Line 25. If ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signified any such thing as furtum we might perhaps think the English Felony came thence If ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or stola signified Sedile we should be inclined to fetch Stool thânce We should have derived Smoke from the Greek ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã if it had signified any thing like fumus and so a Spade from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and Spado Nay If ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã denoted any thing like Placenta or laganum we then should have vouched even our English word of that sound to be derived from it FINIS BOOKS Sold by Richard Wilkin at the King's-Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard THE Glorious Epiphany with the Devout Christian's Love to it The Second Edition Octavo Search the Scriptures A Treatise shewing that all Christians ought to Read the Holy Books With Directions to them therein Twelves A Discourse concerning Prayer especially of frequenting the Daily Publick Prayers Twelves All Three by the Reverend Dr. Patrick now Lord Bishop of Ely The Old Religion demonstrated in the Principles and described in the Life and Practice thereof By I. Goodman D. D. The Second Edition Twelves Imprimatur April 6. 1694. CAROLUS ALSTON R. P. D. Hen. Episc. Lond. Ã sacris A DISCOURSE Concerning the Authority Stile and Perfection OF THE BOOKS OF THE Old and New Testament Vol. II. Wherein the Author 's former Underta king is further prosecuted viz. an Enquiry into several Remarkable Texts which contain some Difficulty in them with a Probable Resolution of them By IOHN EDWARDS B. D. sometime Fellow of St. Iohn's College in Cambridge LONDON Printed by I. D. for Ionathan Robinson at the Golden Lion and Iohn Wyat at the Rose in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCXCIV Imprimatur Cantab. Oct. 19. 1693. Geo. Oxenden LL. D. Procan Jo. Beaumont S. T. D. Regius Theologiae Professor Nath. Coga S. T. D. Aul. Pembr Custos Jo. Covell S. T. D. Coll. Christi Praefect TO THE Right Reverend Father in God SIMON Lord Bishop of ELY My LORD I Once more presume to prefix your Lordship's Name which is so Great and Celebrated to my Obscure Papers thereby to create them some Credit and to derive a Repute upon my self Your Matchless Pen hath purchas'd You a lasting Renown and Your Exemplarly Life and Practice have added a farther Glory to You. So that all the understanding World counts You worthy of douâle Honour If You had lived in the Primitive times You would have been one of the most Eminent Fathers of the Church in those Days as You have the Honour to be now in these And Your Strict Life would have entituled You a Saint You do all the Parts of an Excellent Man and a Christian Bishop You perform Great and Worthy things Your self and You countenance even the lower and meaner Attempts of others In a word all that are intelligent proclaim You the Chief Glory of our English Prelacy My Lord I do not apprehend that this can offend You for He that is eminently Vertuous and Learned provokes the World to speak his Worth and they would be infinitely blameable if they robb'd him of his due Praise Therefore I must confess I do not see the Reasonableness of those Writerâ that tell their Patrons they will not praise them lest they should offend their Modesty I would not dedicate my Labours as mean as they are to a Person of a mean Figure in the Learned World or in the Accounts of the Religious For the Design of the Dedication is to let the World know that such a Person is really Praise-worthy and tâat even to a Wonder that he is one that ought to be extremely honoured and venerated for his Transcendent Excellencies and that he is to be a Pattern to the rest of Mankind And yet my Lord You see I do not enter on the Task of Enlarging on Your Lordship's Praises the Reason is not because it is unlawful or unfit but because it is too Great for me Not to give Your Lordship any farther Trouble if I have offended by this repeated Presumption I have this to plead in my Excuse that Your Merits as well as my Own Inclinations have made me Criminal And seeing my Fault bears the Name of Duty I despair not but that it will meet with a Pardon and that Your Lordship will aceept of this poor Oblation from My Lord Your Lordship 's most Devoted Son and Servant J. EDWARDS THE PREFACE WHen I had by my long Forbearance satisfied the World that I was not fond of shewing my self in Publick and offering any Discourses in Print at leâst with open Face I at last prevail'd with my sâlf to venture visibly to the Press And truly I think I may appear now with the more Confidence because I have a great while deliberated on what I have done in this Nature Though I was very shy at first yet now being enter'd into thiâ employment I believe I shall make a Practice of it till it may be I shall be thought by some to run into another Extream But I shall not consult or attend to the Opinion of a few prejudiced or envious Folks but go on with my Work which I design'd And if it be said that some of the Texts and Other Subjects which I discourse upon have been often treated of by others my Answer is that I âm glad they have for then it will appear what I have done then the Reader will see I hope that I am no Filching Plâgiary no Apish Imitator no Rash and Credâlous Swearer unto other Mens Opinions that when I handle the same Matter which others have before me I present the World with something beside Different Phrase and New Method that by offering a fresh Critical Gloss upon several Dubious and Difficult Passages in the Old and New Testament I have cleared up the Sââse of them and in short that I hâve made some Remarkable Observations on the Best Book in the World If I have not perform'd this which the Iudicious only can be Iudges of I âm sure I have endeâvour'd it and have all along made it my grand Design and Business to âelp my Readers to understand the Bible aright which certainly is of the highest Concern next to the Religioâs Practice of it In order to the pursuit of this I had sufficient Warrant to break out of my Retirement to
in them to all their Posterity Those Places Psal. 22. 16. They pierced my Hands and my Feet And ver 18. They part my Garments among them and cast Lots upon my Vesture Calvin is enclined to interpret simply and not concerning Christ he would have them to be only metaphorical Expressions of David's Calamities and Sufferings notwithstanding it is expresly said by the Evangelist St. Matthew that those things were done to Christ that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet Matth. 27. 35. And by the Evangelist St. Iohn This was done that the Scripture should be fulfilled ch 19. 36 37. And so as to that Text Ier. 31. 22. The Lord hath created a new thing in the Earth a Woman shall compass a Man The same Author will not have this Prophecy for such it is though it seems to speak of a thing past it being the Custom of prophetick Writers to signify the future Time by the past as you shall hear afterwards he will not I say have this Prediction refer in the least to Christ and the Virgin Mary It is ridiculous he saith to understand it so And some other Prophecies which are meant of Christ he understands otherwise confining himself to the bare Letter of the Words Thus this excellent Person out of an Affectation of Novelty perverts those Scriptures which the antient Fathers quoted as spoken of Christ and he plainly tells us that the Fathers abused those Places But which is far worse he refuseth to expound some of those Texts of the Old Testament concerning Christ notwithstanding the Evangelical Writers in the New Testament alledg them as punctually fulfilled in him and in what he suffered For this Reason that renowned Man may be thought to incline to Iudaism or Arianism as much as Erasmus is thought by some for you shall find the one as well as the other interpreting Places of Scripture which speak of Christ quite to another Sense One of the Worthies of our Church excuseth the former of these Persons after this manner and why may not the same Excuse serve for the latter It was saith he rather fear lest he should give Offence unto the Jews than any Desire or Inclination to comply with them which makes him sometimes give the same Interpretations of Scriptures which they do without Search after farther Mysteries than the Letter it self doth administer It was the Candour of this excellent Divine to apologize thus for that great Man and the same Apology may serve for the other yet certainly we ought to supply the Defect of their Expositions on those Places by adding the secondary and mystical Sense to them else we leave those Texts maimed and imperfect yea we rob them of that which is most considerable and precious in them that which is the Dabar Gadol as the Jewish Masters call the mystical Sense this being great in comparison of the literal one which is call'd by them Dabar Katon little and inconsiderable viz. in respect of the other This was the Fault of another great Man great in Name as well as Worth Herein he disdains not to tread in the Steps of Mr. Calvin though in many other things he is very averse to his Expositions We shall find that when he treats of the Texts in the Old Testament which speak concerning Christ he generally interprets them in the first and literal Sense contrary to the Practice of all Apostolical and Antient Expositors who constantly search into the mystical Sense of Scripture as the choicest Treasure that is to be found in it Gold and Diamonds and the richest Gems lie hid in the Bowels of the Earth The richest and most precious Truths of Heaven are treasured up in the Entrails of this Holy Book they are hid in the most inward Recesses of it Demoâritus could say Truth lies hid in a deep Pit This is most certain of Divine Truth contained in the Holy Scripture besides what we meet with in the Letter and Surface of it there is yet a more choice Discovery to be made by searching into the Depths of it and by Discerning the spiritual Meaning those deep things of God which lie covered under the Letter and History It is a Rule that holds good concerning the Divine as well as Humane Laws He that conâines himself to the Letter sticks in the mere Bark and Outside and can go no further he reacheth not to the inward Sense Pith and Mind of those Laws We must needs fall short of the Truth of Scripture that sacred Law given us by God unless we indeavour to acquaint our selves with both these not only the historical but the more sublime and mystical Sense of it Both these jointly make up Divine Truth Therefore that is a good Rule in interpreting Scripture which was practised by Athanasius We saith he do not take away the Literal Sense to bring in the Spiritual one but we maintain the more powerful Meaning of the Spirit by keeping up the literal Sense These two must go together If we lay aside the former the Scripture is no longer Scripture i. e. a written Law made up of Letters and if we lay aside the latter we do Despite to the Spirit of Grace who hath lodged a farther Meaning in the Holy Scriptures which were inspired by him than that which is contained in the Letter Wherefore to understand the Scriptures as we should do we must be careful to find out the secondary or mystical Interpretation of the Words as well as the primary or literal And that we may know when the Sense is of the former and not of the latter sort it will be needful to observe these following Rules The first is given us by R. Ben-Ezra thus If any Precept in Scripture be not consonant to Reason it must not be taken in the simple or literal Sense as that Place Circumcise the Foreskin of your Hearts Deut. 10. 16. We cannot suppose this to be understood literally because saith he it is so unreasonable and absurd a thing yea indeed it is utterly impossible for there is no such thing as the Praeputium of the Heart In these and the like Places a spiritual Sense must be searched for otherwise we must assert that the Scripture enjoins us the doing of those things which cannot be done Besides if we understand it literally i. e. of the circumcising or paring off any Part of the Heart this is an inhumane and bloody thing to do this is to be cruel to our selves yea 't is Self-murder Therefore according to a second Rule which I am to propound this cannot be the Sense of the Place and consequently the literal Meaning is not intended here The Rule is this That all Precepts or Prohibitions which as to their Sound are wholly repugnant to the Moral Law and the express Command of God there contain in them some mystical or spiritual Sense By this you may judg of the Meaning of those Places of Scripture Prov. 23. 2. Put a
Saviour The World is gone after him John 12. 19. which only expresses the Vast Numbers of People that flock'd to him wheresoever he went Such is the Stile here The World it self cannot contain c. The Evangelists and Apostles must in a manner have fill'd the World with their Writings concerning Christ the Books would have been so Numerous that even the Whole World could scarcely have held them that is in plainer terms there must have been an Incredible Number of Books to have contain'd all those Matters There are many other Instances of this Hyperbolical Manner of speaking in the Holy Writings but my Design is only to give you a Taste of these and the like Figurative Expressions in order to your being better acquainted with the Stile of Scripture There is a Learned Modern Divine who thinks there is no such thing as an Hyperbole in Scripture he will by no means grant that this way of speaking is to be found in the Sacred Writings because it is a kind of Lie But all that is to be said in answer to him is this that it is impossible to give any other Account of some of the forenamed Instances and several others than by resolving them into an Hyperbole which is no Lie nor a kind of one because it is not contrary to the Mind of him that speaks it nor is it spoken to impose upon them that hear it Yet it is to be granted that there is a Moderation to be observed by us as there is in Scripture in using this sort of speaking You meet with but few Hyperboles in the Holy Writers and as they are rarely and sparingly used so it is done in a fit and convenient Subject and where there is no likelihood of their degenerating into a Lie and where the Story or other subject Matter is not thereby falsly misrepresented But it is otherwise where Writers immoderately affect an Hyperbolick Strain for they make use of it in Matters where it is not fit to be used and where the Truth and Reality of the Subject are endangered and where it administers to Falshood Thus it is in the Poems of that Historical Poet Lucan who is a Prodigious and Unsufferable Hyperbolizer And thus it is in Monsieur Balsac An Extravagant Hyperbole goes all along through his Letters though to the Greatest Persons and Men of profess'd Gravity A great Fault certainly it is in those Ingenious Pieces of his But there is no such thing in the Sacred Writings there is nothing there Romantick and Extravagant the Hyperbole is seldom used and when it is it is Modest and Becoming Fit and Convenient and doth not in the least administer to Levity or impair and endamage the Truth Again in this Holy Book as well as in Other Writings there is that sort of Speaking which is call'd an Irony i. e. when something is said in way of Derision or Scoff contrary to what is meant as in that commonly observed Place Gen. 3. 22. Behold the Man is become as one of us to know Good and Evil which refers to Satan's Words to Adam Ye shall be as Gods knowing Good and Evil ver 5. And so Man is here upbraided with his Belief of the Devil before the God of Truth Look you now is not Man become a God Yes this mightily appears indeed from what hath befallen him he hath lost the Divine Image wherein he was created and is become a Wretched Sinner and Apostate Is not this Creature then become as one of us or now he hath been as one of us he hath already experienced what it is to be like God Hath he not Thus he is justly derided for his wilful Folly by the Sacred Trinity And if they think fit to speak after this manner it will not unbecome the Sons of Men. This Ironical way of speaking you meet with in 1 Kings 18. 27. Cry aloud for he that is Baal is a God either he is talking or he is pursuing or he is on a Iourney or peradventure he sleepeth and must be awaked Thus the Prophet Elijah mocks those deluded Priests of Baal he makes himself pleasant with them Even Grave and Austere Elijab laughs at the Baalites invoking of a Deaf Deity he plays upon their serious but idolatrous Devotion Whence I gather that it is not light and unbecoming to scoff at Superstition and jeer Idolatry Those Words of the Prophet Micaiah to King Abab 1 Kings 22. 15. Go and prosper are a plain Ironical Concession In this Sense those Woâds are to be understood Iob 5. 1. Call now if there be any that will answer thee and to which of the Saints will thou turn And chap. 12. 2. No doubt but ye are the People and Wisdom shall die with you And that of Solomon to the Youthful Sinner Rejoice O young Man in thy Youth c. Eccles. 11. 9. Which manner of speaking is more particularly suted here to the Humour and Genius of the Young Man whose Fashion is immoderately to scoff and to entertain himself and others with Pleasantry and Drollery But that he might see that this was intended as a Rebuke to him and that he might be sure that Solomon was serious and in good earnest notwithstanding this way of speaking 't is added in the Close of the Verse Know that for all these things God will bring thee to Iudgment And he that considers that will have no Reason to rejoice i. e. to be loose and inordinate in his Mirth but rather to be sober and retired and to be preparing for Judgment and to set about so great a Task betimes and not fondly presume on Health and Length of Days No Man need question whether those Words of Isaiah ch 8. 9. Associate your selves O ye People be not spoken Ironically which are parallel with Ioel 3. 11. Assemble your selves and come all ye Heathen and gather your selves round about c. And those in Isa. 50. 11. Walk in the Light of your Fire and in the Sparks that you have kindled i. e. trust in those things that cannot help you Sparkâ that give a short Light and soon vanish That is a terrible Biting Taunt in Ier. 22. 23. How gracious shalt thou be when Pangs come upon thee the Pain as of a Woman in Travail And so is that other Lam. 4. 21 Rejoice and be glad O Daughter of Edom the Cup viz. of Vengeance shall pass through to thee Who doubts whether Ezek. 20. 39. be not Sarcastical Thus faith the Lord God Go ye serve ye every one his Idols The like Command we read in Amos 4. 4 5 Come to Bethel and transgress at Gilgal multiply Transgression c. That also in Mic. 5. 1. must be reckon'd as spoken Ironically Now gather thy self in Troops O Daughter of Troops c. i. e. O Assyrians come and do your worst with your joint Forces invade us and most severely treat our Prince and People yea by all means destroy extirpate and even annihilate the Church
our selves with some that commend themselves c. are spoken meerly in Derision of the False Apostles and Teachers who had gain'd upon the Corinthians and other Churches by their confident Boasting and vain Brags I dare not presume âaith the Apostle to think my self as worthy as they are and so rank my self with thâse high-flown Teachers Yet we know he commends himself in the beginning of the 11th Chapter and again in ch 12. 11. which shews that these Words are said in an Ironical way This is that which he seems to say in ch 11. 17 c. That which I speak I speak not after the Lord but as it were foolishly in this Confidence of Boasting Seeing many glory after the Flesh brag of their Parts and Attainments I will glory also For ye suffer Fools gladly seeing ye your selves are wise Which is all of the same biting Strain and is as much as if he had said You that are so great Admirers of the false Apostles and are Men of such wise Heads and of so profound Capacities I know it is below you to censure such a shallow Fool as I am who cannot forbear prating of my Gifts and Abilities of my great Feats and Exploits forsooth which alas are nothing in comparison of what your famous Teachers and new Evangelists may glory in and value themselves upon But then in the following Verses he leaves off and 't was time to do so this looser sort of Stile and in a plain and close manner vindicates his Reputation and Dignity by vying with those bragging Impostors Are they Hebrews so am I c. That is a plain downright Irony in 2 Cor. 11. 4. If he that cometh preacheth another Iesus ye might well ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã fairly and honestly bear with him As if he had said Yes indeed you Men of Corinth are a civil easy sort of People if a new upstart Teacher should bring another Gospel to you you would do very well to receive him and bid him welcome Thus he in an Illusory kind of way rebukes their shameful Inconstancy and Levity In the same Vein is that in 2. Cor. 12. 13. Forgive me this wrong He had told them in the same Verse that they were inferiour to no Churches in any thing i. e. in any Privileges or Excellencies whatsoever except it was in this that he was not burdensom to them that is he put them to no Charges for his Preaching he preach'd the Gospel gratis For which great Wrong and Injury done to them he hopes he saith they will pardon him A very smart and pleasant Irony Thus it appears that this Figurative way of Speech is frequent in the Holy Writings Some perhaps would scarcely believe that there are so many Ironical Passages in this Holy Book they may think it is below the Gravity of the Sacred Stile to use Expressions of this kind But herein they are mistaken for the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures uses several different ways of dealing with Mankind and sutes himself to the various Dispositions Genius's and Inclinations of Men and therefore among other ways of Address and Application he disdains not This in particular because it may be made serviceable to very good Ends and be fitted to the Purposes of Religion Even in the Holy Tongue the same Word signiâies to Deride and to Argue or Ratiocinate Both these may go together when there is a fit occasion for them A Man may use his Rational and Risible Faculty at once Ridentem dicere verum Quid vetat A Man may laugh and speak Truth at the same time This Urbanity may sometimes be very useful Very excellent things may be suggested in a Scommatick way For this Reason it is not unworthy of the Holy Ghost it is not unbecoming the Gravity and Seriousness of the Holy Prophets Apostles and even Christ himself to use this nipping sort of Raillery sometimes A Synecdoche is another common Figure in the Holy Writings whereby the Whole is mentioned instead of a Part and a Part instead of the Whole Of the former which is but rare there are some Instances in Glassius and such other Writers as treat of the Grammatical and Rhetorical Part of the Bible which the Reader may consult if he please Of the latter which is most observable there are various kinds but it will be sufficient to mention these which follow Sometimes the Soul which is but one half of Man is put for the whole Person All the Souls that came with Jacob into Egypt were threescore and ten Gen. 46. 26. i. e. so many Men and Women came with him And there are abundant Examples of this sort both in the Old and New Testament Sometimes the other Moiety the Body is expressive of the Whole Man as Rom. 12. 1. Present your Bodies i. e. your selves a living Sacrifice And Phil. 1. 20. Christ shall be magnified in my Body i. e. by me my whole person There is another Text which I will name Luke 21. 34. wherein there is this kind of Synecdoche though I find not that it is observed by those that comment on it Take heed to your selves lest at any time your Hearts be overcharg'd with Surfâiting and Drunkenness and Cares of this Life your Hearts i. e. your selves It must be meant of the Whole Man Body and Soul because not only Surfeiting and Drunkenness which belong to the Body only but Cares of this life which belong to the Soul and Mind are expresly mentioned Again some Parts of the World are mentioned for the whole as in Zâch 8. 7. I will save my People from the East Country and from the West Country i. e. from all Regions and Parts of the World And in other Places two or three of the Cardinal Points stand for them all To the Synecdochical way of speaking belongs the using of an Even Number for an Odd one or a Round Number for one that is lesser or greater So some think the Year of Iubilee is call'd the Fiftieth Year Lev. 25. 10. meerly for the Evenness or Roundness of the Number and not because full Fifty Years go to every Jubilee for they hold that Forty nine Years make a Jubilee or rather that the forty ninth Year is the Year of Jubilee And truly it is adjusted to Reason and the Discovery we have concerning this Matter for the Jubilee is the Great Sabbath of Years and is composed of seven times seven Years which is exactly forty nine the last of which is the Jubilaean Year Odd Numbers are not regarded sometimes The Scripture is not so minute and critical as always to reckon preciâely It is not unusual to omit a small Number of Years in a greater and bigger one In Numb 11. 24. the Elders are said to be seventy though two of the Number be wanting as is plain from ver 26. But others solve this by saying the full Number of them was seventy two It is recorded that the Persian King reigned over a hundred
Grammar and no Shadow of Soloecising when this Divine Writer saith ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã One of our own Annotators hath pick'd up this false Notion concerning the Stile of Scripture viz. that it is not reconcileable with Grammatical Syntax in some Places two especially he takes notice of Eph. 4. 2. Col. 3. 16. In the former he observes that it is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the Greek whereas it should have been ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Nominative being put instead of the Accusative But by this Worthy Annotator's leave ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã may yea and certainly doth refer to ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the former Verse and so it is but inserting ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and then the Grammar is salved ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I beseech you that you forbear one another And if you say it should have been ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã because of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the former Verse it is easily answered that the Apostle might express himself in the way of a Subjunctive as well as an Infinitive seeing it could be done by either of them as this Learned Critick cannot but acknowledg In the latter Place alledged by this Learned Man he takes notice that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is misplaced instead of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a Nominative for a Dative Case which is a great Flaw in Grammar But this is soon taken off by referring ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã not to ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in that Verse as the Doctor doth but to ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the Verse just before for to these it hath reference and not to that and so the Grammatical Concord is very âood and sound In several other Places where there have been the like Objections made you will find the Sense rendred intire by the industrious Pen of that Learned Knight Sir Norton Knatchbull Though to speak freely and impartially he sometimes represents the Stile of the New Testament more perplex'd and disturb'd that I can believe it to be and though he fancies Trajections in some Places where there are none yet to the perpetual Honour of this Worthy Gentleman it must be said that he hath discovered several Trajections or Transpositions Parentheses Transitions Ellipses and Changes of Numbers and Persons with other Enallages which were scarcely taken notice of before he hath rectified some Comma's and Stops he hath set the Words and Periods right he hath cleared the Syntax and Grammatical Construction mended the Sense in several Places removed the Difficulties shew'd the Propriety and Emphasis of the Words discovered the Coherence of the Texts In short he hath cleared the New Testament of Soloecisms and particularly the Writings of the Great Apostle St. Paul So that though Tarsus the Apostle's Birth-place was in the same Province with and a Neighbour to Solae the Country of those that corrupted their Language whence came Soloecisms yet it appears that there is no such thing in the Apostle's Stile But suppose these Texts above named could not have been reconciled to the exact Laws of Grammar yet one would think the Transcribers might better have been blamed than the Writers themselves the Greek Copy should have been found fault with rather than the Holy Ghost the Mistake might have been imputed to the Amanuenses and not to the Apostles I must profess to you plainly that it is bordering upon Blasphemy to say that the Holy Spirit from whom was the Gift of Tongues dictate Barbarisms and Soloecisms in these Sacred Writings which were immediately inspired by him Again suppose or rather grant that some Periods of the New Testament are not exactly adjusted to Grammar-Rules yet this will not justify the Language of those Men who charge this Book with Soloecisms and Barbarisms for they will be unwilling to grant that there are such things as these in Homer and Virgil and such approved Authors Or if they will grant that there are such then they have no Reason at all to find fault with the like in Holy Scripture And this is that which I maintain and which no knowing Person can deny that the same things which some call Soloecisms and Undue Syntax in the New Testament are to be found in the most Noted and Celebrated Authors among the Greeks and Latins Criticks have taken notice of several of these in Homer and Pindar especially among the Greek Poets and in Herodotus and Thucydides among the best Historians that have writ in that Language and in Demosthenes among the Noted Orators These do not always observe Grammatick Laws they lay them aside sometimes and speak Irregularly as one of the Greatest Criticks of this last Age hath acknowledged Profane Writers have Soloecistical Phrases Botches Fillings up Repetitions Lucian long since observed that Epithets are not always used by Poets because they are fit and convenient and sutable to the purpose but to help out the Matter to fill up the Gapings to prop up the Ruines of a Verse And both Plutarch and Eustathius who were morâ serious Men than the other have taken notice of this in Good Authors Sometimes the Poet is at a stand and his Muse is restive thus Virgil hath Broken and Half-verses which the Criticks excuse by saying that he had not time to finish his Book or that he did it on purpose to stop his Readers in the Career that they might stay and consider the thing he is speaking of This Account they give of his Blanks and Chasms But Homer suffers not his Muse to make a halt but then which is as bad he fills up his Verses with such Expletives as ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. and besides these lesser Particles he useth entire Words and Phrases in many Places only to supply his Verse We have nothing of this sort in the Sacred Writings nothing that is really superfluous But there are some Words indeed that are look'd upon as Redundant and not absolutely Necessary especially in the Old Testament which is Poâtical in many places The Lord rained Brimstone and Fire from the Lord Gen. 19. 24. where the last Words from the Lord seem to be redundant So it is in 2 Tim. 1. 18. The Lord grant unto him that be may find Mercy of the Lord in that Day Thus in Psal. 90. 10. The Days of our Years are threescore Years and ten We may look upon the first Word as an Expletive for the Divine Poet means this only that the ordinary Term of our Life extends to seventy Years So that the word Days might have been left out The same Pleonasm you read in 2 Sam. 19. 34. How many Days are the Years of my Life for so it is according to the Hebrew and it is the Hebrew way of speaking and therefore cannot be blamed Yea to speak strictly there is nothing redundant in the Stile of Scripture All those Words which seem to be Expletives are Significant and
sufficiently dispatch'd it I hope I have let you see that those are no impartial Judges of Scripture-Stile who cry out of its Barbarisms but the Truth is they betray both their Ignorance and Irreligion at once in giving such a Judgment of it their Ignorance in that they shew themselves unacquainted with the Best Authors who are not always wont to bind themselves to the strict Observation of Grammatical Rules To this purpose the Learned Henry Stephens's Animadversions and Appendix at the End of his Thesaurus Gr. L. are worthy of the Perusal of all Curious Persons that would be fully acquainted with the Genius of the Attick Phrase and Idiom and the reading of these will abundantly satisfy them that the New Testament is like other Greek Writers and that the most Classick Greek Authors speak in the same strain that this doth This Accomplish'd Critick shews that there are pure Atticisms sometimes in these Holy Writings and particularly that an Ellipsis which is so frequent in them is a common Atticism in the best Grecians If those who raise Objections against the Stile of the New Testament would converse with These they might see that those Passages which seem not so proper or elegant in Scripture and that whatever looks like Soloecisms and favours of Rudeness or Defect of Language in these Holy Writings may be parallelled with what they meet with in the most Applauded Authors Their Irreligion likewise is discovered in this that nothing pleaseth them in the Holy Book and that what is not thought Improper or Rude in other Writings is accounted such in These yea that what are Soloecisms in a Sacred Writer are look'd upon as Atticisms and Elegancies in a Profane One. Having hitherto been in pursuance of this that the Holy Scripture hath many things in it according to the Strain of Other Writers I am to pass to the next Proposition CHAP. VII The Scripture-Stile hath some things in it that are not in common with Other Writers but are proper and peculiar to it self The LXX's Greek Version and the New Testament have words that are not extant in any other Authors ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Mark 14. 3. was coin'd by the Evangelist It s true Signification enquired into Inward Goodness or Righteousness is express'd by Terms which are unknown to other Writers Instances of several other Peculiar ways of Speaking Some Profane Authors differ from the rest as to the use of some particular Words and Phrases Ecclesiastical Writers have Words proper to themselves The Difficulty of Scripture proceeds partly from the Different Acception of Words which we meet with there Many Instances in the Old and New Testament The various Significations of the Word Spirit enumerated and reduc'd to distinct Heads The Author confines himself to the Hebrew Verbs of the Old Testament and shews how Different the Senses of the same words are and endeavours to remove the Ambiguity of them in the several Texts which he cites and to determine the Sense which is Proper to those particular Places The like he attempts in those Texts where Hebrew Nouns of a different meaning occur THE Third Proposition is That the Scripture-Stile hath some things in it that are not in common with Other Writers but are Proper and Peculiar to it self For though it is true some Other Authors have words proper to themselves which are not found in others thus in Pindar Plato Isocrates Homer Aristophanes Hippocrates c. there are some particular Words and Phrases peculiar to them alone yet the Bible hath Words and Expressions which are not to be met with in any of these nor in any other Writers The Original Hebrew hath greater choice of Words than any Book extant in that Language it is the most Copious Vocabulary that is in the World and all Hebrew Writers of note borrow from this The Septuagint have words peculiar to themselves as ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is proper to them and was made on purpose to answer to the Hebrew ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and the Writers of the New Testament took it from them They also made the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Cant. 4. 9. to express the Hebrew word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ex. 2. 5. is of their coining and the Apostle thought fit to use it Tit. 2. 14. And some have thought the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as it signifies Sleep or Slumber Isa. 29. 10. was made by them as if it were from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã This word is also used by the Apostle Rom. 11. 8. The New Testament in Greek hath words never heard of before as ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the Lord's Prayer a word which was first used by the Evangelists And St. Luke's ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the Angels Salutation of the Virgin Mary Luk. 1. 28. is a new Greek word which the Evangelist himself made as some have thought but that is a Mistake because the Apocryphal Writer had used it before Eccles. 18. 17. Yet this is not to be denied that the word is no where to be found in any other Greek Author i. e. any Prophane one but St. Paul useth it viz. the Active ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã though not the Passive ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in Eph. 1. 6. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the Passive Voice have a peculiar Signification in Mat. 5. 24. Rom. 5. 10. 1 Câr 11. 7. 2. Cor. 5. 20. which is in no other Writer saith Grotius upon Mat. 5. 24. That likewise in Mark 14. 3. and Iohn 12. 3. is scarcely used by any Writer whatsoever and therefore the Grammarians and Criticks know not well how to assign the meaning of it some deriving ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which is the word there used and joined with ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and so it denotes that Ointment to have been faithfully prepared and compounded for ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã according to this Etymology is as much as ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã true pure not adulterated approved it being rightly and faithfully made This is according to the Syriac Version and 't is approved of by St. Ierom and Theophylact Others think ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is put here for ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the vulgar Latin having it Spicata and so it is translated Spikenard by us Beza and Camerarius are of this Opinion and think the Ointment had this Name because it was made ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã spicis nardi that is of the choicest part of Nard A third fort among whom Casaubon is Chief tell us that it is the same with ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã potabilis à ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and so signifies such a Liquid Ointment as might be drank And lastly some have thought that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is for ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as if it were call'd so from a place viz Opis a City not far from Babylon whence
and down to rest or be quiet Sharash to take root to eradicate or extirpate Taab to desire in Kal to abominate in Piel Gnuph to shine to be obscure Natzar to save to destroy Gnazab to desert to help Batzar to rob or prey to defend one's self from âobbers Bara to make or create also to remove or destroy Salah to tread under foot to esteem Garaph to gather to disperse Asaph to gather or preserve also to remove or destroy Nacham to grieve or repent to abandon Grief or to be comforted Chissed to consecrate to desecrate There are Instances of all or most of these viz. the same Hebrew Verbs and Nouns which have not only Different but Contrary Senses in the Writings of the Old Testament which the Reader may consider at his leisure and thereby be help'd to a distinct understanding of the Words in those Texts where they occur BOOKS written by the Reverend Mr. JOHN EDWARDS AN Enquiry into several Remarkable Texts of the Old and New Testament which contain some Difficulty in them with a Probable Resolution of them In two Volumes 8o. A Discourse concerning the Authority Stile and Perfection of the Books of the Old and New Testament Vol. I. with a continued Illustration of several Difficult Texts throughout tâe whole Work 8o. A Discourse concerning the Authority Stile and Perfection of the Books of the Old and New Testament Vol. II. wherein the Author 's former Undertaking is further prosecuted viz. An Enquiry into several Remarkable Texts which contain some Difficulty in them 8o. All sold by Ionathan Robinson Iohn Everingâam and Iohn Wyat. Imprimatur Ian. 10. 1694 5. CAROLUS ALSTON R. P. D. Hen. Episc. Lond. Ã sacris DISCOURSE Concerning the Authority Stile and Perfection OF THE BOOKS OF THE Old and New Testament Vol. III. Treating of the Excellency and Perfection of the Holy Scriptures Wherein are also several Remarkable Texts interpreted according to the Author 's Particular Judgment By IOHN EDWARDS B. D. sometime Fellow of S. Iohn's College in Cambridge LONDON Printed by I. D. for Ionathan Robinson at the Golden Lion Iohn Taylor at the Ship and Iohn Wyat at the Rose in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCV Octob. 13. 1694. I judg the Reverend Author shall do well to print the following Discourse wherein he hath Learnedly demonstrated the Excellency and Perfection of the Books of the Old and New Testament Io. Beaumont D. D. The King's Professor of Divinity in Cambridge TO THE Most Reverend Father in God His Grace THOMAS Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Primate and Metropolitan of all England and one of his Majesties most Honourable Privy Council May it please Your Grace I Imbrace this welcome Opportunity of congratulating Your late Access to the Highest Station in our Church which all Wise and Good Men look upon as an Happy Omen of the future Felicity of these Realms For in Your Grace conspire all those things which can render us by the Divine Blessing a Prosperous People viz. Your unstained Faithfulness and Loyalty to his Majesty Your most Ardent Love to Your Country Your Great Ability for Publick Counsels and Affairs Your perfect Abhorrence of all Immorality and Debauchery Your Zealous Concern for the Church of England and in that for the whole Protestant Religion Of this last You have afforded the World such an Illustrious Proof as will give an immortal Reputation to Your Name For you have not only with Your Learned Pen encountred the Idolatry of the Church of Rome and therein vindicated the Reformed Cause but in all Your Actions You have demonstrated Your singular Care for this latter and Your Detestation of the former Especially when in the late Reign this Idol began to be set up again and too many fell down to it You with the utmost Zeal Vigour and Courage remonstrated against this Practice You bore the Insolencies and Insults of the Enemy with an unimitable Bravery You withstood their Boldness with a Confidence becoming the Goodness of Your Cause You obviated their Folly and Madness with a profound Wisdom and Prudence You defeated their Diligence by a more unwearied Industry And in brief You were the Successful Maul and Scourge of the Hectoring Jesuits that lifted up their Heads in that Day For this You were hated and defamed and are so at this Hour by all the sworn Friends to the Pontifician Interest who look upon You and that justly as their most Dreadful Enemy But this very thing deservedly makes Your Grace to be loved admired and honoured by all Sincere Protestants and True English men I am one that glory in being of that Number and accordingly I now attempt to express my infinite Regards and Veneration of Your Grace's Transcendent Undertakings in behalf of our Religion and our Church and of the Whole Nation And as a Testimony of my Resentments and Duty I here offer to Your Grace a Discourse of the Perfection of the Holy Scriptures which was designed to be presented to Your Lordship before you were advanced to this Supreme See to which Your Merits have called You. Wherefore I having then consecrated it to Your Name I hold it unlawful now to alienate it especially it being the Choicest and Noblest Subject that I have yet treated of and therefore I hope not unworthy of Your Grace's Patronage I submit the Work wholly to Your Grace's Judgment and beg leave to have the Honour of professing my self to be Your Grace's most Humble and Obedient Son and Servant JOHN EDWARDS The PREFACE I Now present the Reader with that Part of my Discourses concerning the Holy Scriptures wherein I have attempted to display the matchless Worth and Perfection of those Divine Records Besides the Great and Important Remarks which I have offer'd I could have mention'd other things barely Critical and which though they be of an inferiour Nature in comparison of those which I have insisted upon are deemed to be Excellencies and Embelishments in other Authors of good Rank Thus some Criticks have observed concerning that of Virgil Aen. 8. Quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum That in the very Sound of the Words the swist Career of the Horses beating and shaking the Ground with their Hoofs seems to sârike the Ear. The Poetick Feet are so form'd that they express those of the Steeds And so in the same Writer Aen. 5. Procumbit humi bos is thoght to be a great Elegancy and Pulchritude as if it represented in a lively manner the Dull and Heavy Fâll of that Creature Both in this and the former Instance the very Noise of the Words the very Composure of the Syllables are justly applauded by the Admirers of that Poet. The like I could have observ'd in the Inspired Writings especially those that are Poetical among which I reckon the Book of Isaiah to be one for tho it be not in Verse yet a Poetick Genius and Strain may be observ'd in most Parts of it Those Words ch 21. v. 5. Prepare the Table watch in
of it Anah's Invention of Mules Writers borrow from one another The Bible only is the Book that is beholden to no other Here is the Antientest Learning in the World and that of all Kinds 'T is common with Authors to contradict themselves and one another they are uncertain lubricous and fabuâous But the Divine Writers alone are certain and infallible How strange and improbable soever some of the Contents of this Holy Book may seem to be they justly command our firm Assent to them p. 263 CHAP. VII A particular Distribution of the several Books of the Old Testament Genesis the first of them together with the four following ones being written by Moses his ample Character or Panegyrick is attempted wherein there is a full Account of his Birth Education Flight from Court retired Life his Return to Egypt his conducting of the Israelites thence his immediate Converse with God in the Mount his delivering the Law his Divine Eloquence his Humility and Meekness his Sufferings his Miracles and his particular Fitness to write these Books A Summary of the several Heads contain'd in Genesis to which is added a brief but distinct View of the Six Days Works wherein is explained the Mosaick Draught of the Origine of all things and at the same time the bold Hypotheses of a late Writer designed to confront the First Chapter of the Bible are exposed and refuted The Contents of the Book of Exodus to which is adjoined a short Comment on the Ten Plagues of Egypt A Rehearsal of the remarkable Particulars treated of in Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy That Moses was the Pen-man and Author of the Pentateuch notwithstanding what some have lately objected against it p. 305 CHAP. VIII A short Survey of the Books of Joshua Judges Ruth which is a Supplement to the History of the Iudges Samuel the Kings Chronicles Ezra which is a Continuation of the Chronicles Nehemiah Esther The Author Stile Composure Matter of the Book of Job discuss'd An Enquiry into the Penmen Subjects Kinds Titles Poetick Meter and Rhythm of the Psalms p. 350 CHAP. IX The Book of Proverbs why so call'd The transcendent Excellency of these Divine and Inspired Aphorisms Some Instances of the Different Application of the Similitudes used by this Author The Book of Ecclesiastes why so entituled The Admirable Subject of it succinctly displayed The particular Nature of the Canticle or Mystical Song of Solomon briefly set forth It is evinc'd from very cogent Arguments that Solomon died in the Favour of God and was saved The Books of the Four Great Prophets Isaiah Jeremiah with his Lamentations Ezekiel Daniel are described So are those of the Twelve Lesser Prophets Hosea c. p. 379 CHAP. X. An Account of the Writings of the Four Evangelists the peculiar Time Order Stile Design of their Gospels The Acts of the Apostles shew'd to be an Incomparable History of the Primitive Church The Epistles of St. Paul particularly delineated He is proved to be the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews An Enquiry into the Nature of this Apostle's Stile and manner of Writing The excellent Matter and Design of the Epistles of St. James St. Peter St. John St. Jude An Historical Series or Order is not observ'd in the Book of the Revelation p. 415 CHAP. XI None of the Books of the Holy Scripture are lost Not the Book of the Covenant Nor the Book of the Wars of the Lord Nor the Book of Iasher Nor the Acts of Vzziah An Account of the Book of Samuel the Seer the Book of Nathan the Prophet the Book of Gad the Seer the Book of Iddo the Books of Shemaiah Iehu c. What is to be thought concerning the Books of Solomon mention'd 1 Kings 4. 32 33. Objections drawn from Jam. 4. 5. from Luke 11. 49. from Acts 20. 35. from Jude v. 14. from 1 Cor. 5. 9. from Col. 4. 16. fully satisfied Other Objections from 1 Cor. 7. 6 12 25. 2 Cor. 8. 8. 11. 17. particularly answer'd p. 451 CHAP. XII A short View of the Eastern Translations of the Old Testament especially of the Targums The several Greek Translations more especially that of the LXX Jewish Elders The impartial History of them and their Version Some immoderately extol it others as excessively inveigh against it The true Grounds of the Difference between the Hebrew Text and the Greek Translation of the Septuagint assigned viz. One Hebrew Vowel is put for another One Consonant for another Sometimes both Vowels and Consonants are mistaken The Difference of the Signification of some Hebrew Words is another Cause sometimes the Sense rather than the Word it self is attended to Some Faults are to be attributed to the Transcribers Some because the LXX are Paraphrasts rather than Translators they take the liberty to insert Words and Passages of their own The Greek Version hath been designedly corrupted in several Places Why the Apostles in their Sermons and Writings made use of this Version though it was faulty Sometimes the Sacred Writers keep close to the Hebrew Text and take no notice of the Seventy's Translation of the Words At other times in their Quotations they confine themselves to neither but use a Latitude The Greek Version is to be read with Candour and Caution and must always give way to the Hebrew Original The chief Latin Translations of the Bible especially the Vulgar examined Modern Latin Translations and lastly our own English one consider'd p. 477 CHAP. XIII Our English Translation shew'd to be faulty and defective in some Places of the Old Testament But more largely and fully this is performed in the several Books of the New Testament where abundant Instances are produced of this Defect and particular Emendations are all along offer'd in order to the rendring our Translation more exact and compleat The Date of the Division of the Bible into Chapters and Verses p. 532 CHAP. XIV The Reader is invited to the Study of the Bible as he values the Repute of a Scholar and a Learned Man That he may successfully study this Holy Book he must be furnish'd with Tongues Arts History c. It is necessary that he be very Inquisitive and Diligent in searching into the Mind and Design of the Sacred Writers In examining the Coherence of the Words In Comparing Places together In observing and discovering the peculiar Grace and Elegancy and sometimes the Verbal Allusions and Cadences of the Holy Scripture of which several Instances are given He must also be Morally qualified to read this Book i. e. he ought to banish all Prejudice He must be Modest and Humble He must endeavour to free himself from the Love of all Vice He must with great Earnestness implore the Assistance of the Holy Spirit p. 532 OF THE EXCELLENCY PERFECTION OF THE Holy Scriptures CHAP. I. The different Esteem and Sentiment of Persons concerning the Authors they make choice of to read No Writings can equal the Bible It hath been highly valuâd in all Ages by
Men of the greatest Learning Wit and Judgment A Scheme of the following Discourse briefly propounded The Holy Scriptures are the perfect Rule of Faith They are the best Conduct of our Lives and Actions They are the only Ground of solid Consolation Joy and Happiness This Perfection of Scripture is opposed by many of the Rabbins An Account of their Cabala and Oral Law The Papists by preferring their Traditions before the Scriptures and by indeavouring to keep these latter in an unknown Tongue deny the Perfection of them So do Familists Quakers and all Enthusiasts IT may be observed that the Minds of Men have been differently disposed as to the choice of the Authors they would read and their Esteem and Value of them have been as various It hath been usual for Persons to express a particular Kindness for one Writer above another Thus Homer of old was excessively magnified by those famous Warriors Agesilaus and Alexander the Great The former read him continually at home and in the Camp and whenever he had any time to spare for Reading The latter could not sleep without his Iliads under his Pillow Scipio âirnamed the African had a great Opinion of Xenophon's Institution of Cyrus and was always consulting it and valued it at a high rate So among Christians St. Cyprian was a great Admirer of Tertullian and when he had a mind to read him his usual Saying was Give me my Master Charles the Great was hugely taken with St. Augustine de Civitate Dei and had it constantly read to him yea even at Supper King Alphonsus in all his Expeditions and at all other times carried Iulius Caesar's Commentaries others say Livy's History with him Theodore Gaza gave his Vote for Plutarch's Works and was so pleased with them that he protested if he could have but one Man's Writings he would certainly choose His before all others Thomas Aquinas was no less in love with St. Chrysostom on St. Matthew and expressed his high Esteem of him by saying he preferr'd him before the goodly City of Paris Charles the V th gave a greater Deference to Comines than to any other Writer and perpetually conversed with him Scaliger would rather be the Author of the ninth Ode of Horace than be Emperor of Germany And to come down yet lower Grotius gives Cujacius the Prefârence to all the other Commântators on the Imperial Laws Salmasius admired no Divine so much as Calvin and particularly preferred his Institutions And the Reverend Mr. B. Oley tells us if he were to be conâined to one Author he would choose Dr. Iackson's Works Thus have Mens Sentiments and Esteems been various about Books âome preferring one Writer and some another according as their Genius or Studies led them âut when we mention the Bible i. e. the Book of Books we are certain there is no Comparison between This and any others whatsoever This Sacred Volume is emphatically and by way of Eminence call'd ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as if other Books in respect of This deserv'd not the Name For in what other Writings can we deâcry thoâe Excellencies which we find in This None of them can equal it in Antiquity for the first Penman of the Sacred Scripture who relates the Origine of the World and whose Writings contain the Acts and Monuments of the Patriarchs hath the start of all Philosophers Poets and Historians and is abâolutely the Antientest Writer extant in the World No Writings are equal to these of the Bible if we mention only the stock of Humane Learning contain'd in them Here Linguists and Philologists may find that which is to be found no where else Here Râetoricians and Orators may be entertained with a more loâty Eloquence with a choicer Composure of Words and with greater Variety of Stile than any other Writers can afford them Here is a Book where more is understood than expressed where Words are few but the Sense is full and redundant No Books equal This in Authority because ãâã is the Word of God himself and dictated by an unerring Spirit It excâls all other Writings in the Excellency of its Matter which is the Highest Noblest and Worthiest and of the Greatest Concern to Mankind Lastly to name no more at present that I may not anticipate what is intended in the following Discourse the Scriptures transcend all other Writings in their Power and Efficacy This Word of God is pure enlightning the Eyes irradiating Mens Minds with Supernatural Truth affecting their Hearts and Consciences subduing the Refracotriness of their Wills transforming their Lives and changing them into other Persons Thence it is that all Men of well-disposed Souls find a plain Differene between their reading This and other Books When they read those it is true they are something affected and pleased the Stile or the Matter give them some Satisfaction but if they read them often and confine themselves to them their former Pleasure and Satisfaction abate and the Authors seem not to be so entertaining and acceptable as they were before and at length they become burdensom and nauseous and hence it is that some Writers grow out of fashion and other New ones are called for But it is far otherwise with this Holy Book the Affection and Pleasure which you feel in the reading it are lasting and durable because this Blessed Word sinks down into the Center of the Soul and is always present with it Though you lay this Book aside and afterwards take it up and do so again and again yea never so often you will not âind it grow worse but much better i. e. it will yield you greater Delight and Satisfaction and the oftner you converse with it the more you will discern the Worth of it yea the more pleasing will the very Words and Syllables of these Divine Writings be to you For what the Great Critick observes of Homer's Poem that there is a certain kind of Peculiar Easiness and Sliding in his Verse which are not to be found in any other Poets is eminently true of the Holy Scriptures if compared with other Authors there is a peculiar Sweetness a matchless Softness and Pleasantness in the Stile of these Holy Books the Words as well as the Matter are Winning and Ravishing and all pure and sanctified Minds have a clear Perception of this yea the clearer because they so frequently converse with these Inspired Writers We may then on this Account as well as on others challenge the World to shew us where there is any Book like this where there is any Author comparable to it In all Humane Writers there is something wanting something imperfect but in this Sacred Volume there are all things and every thing here is compleat To the Holy Scriptures therefore all other Writings must vail to this Best of Books they must all submit and acknowledg their Meanness and Inferiority Hence it was that the Wisest and Best Men as we may observe did always extol the Scriptures I adore the Plenitude
of the Scripture said Tertullian and to him have ecchoed the rest of the Antient Fathers especially St. Cyprian Ierom Augustine Chrysostom who have highly magnified the Writings of the Prophets and Apostles and have been very Rhetorical in their Panegyricks upon them These and some other Brave Men in the first Ages of the Church signalized themselves by their Reverence and Esteem of the Scriptures and some of them consecrated their Wit and Poetry to this Noble Cause Nor have thse latter Ages been destitute of Persons of the most Celebrated Parts and Learning that have adored the Fulness and Perfection of the Scripture and have used their Wit and Eloquence in setting forth its Praiââs ãâã âicinus that Great Philosophick Soul and the Noble Piâus Mirandula who was the best Linguist and Scholar of his age two as Learned Italians as that Nation ever bred and who may more than compound for those two other Italians mentioned in my former Discourse who so impiously vilified the Sacred Writings after they had read all good Authors rested in the Bible as the only Book and particularly it was pronounced by the latter of them that now he had found the ãâã Eloqueââe and Wisdom Yea these last Times have produced Men of the Choicest Brains of the Briskest Parts of the Greateât Humane Learning who have employâd these excellent Talents in embelishing the Sacrâd Scriptures witness Caâââllio who hath turned the Whole Bible into Purâ Terse Elegant Latin able to tempt us to read this Book And ârotius hath incompaâably asserted the Propriety and Elegancy of the Sacred Stile and many Other excâllâât Persons who have defended this Holy Book against the Insults and Cavils of profane Men. We could name Others of the most Sparkling Wit and Fancy who have exercised their Poetick Genius in descanting either on the Sacred Hiâtory of the Bible or on those Divine Matters which are contained in it and have thought their Pens yea Poetry it self ânobled by such a Subject We could mention others of the most Serious Thoughts and of the most Impartial Judgment not only among those that are Prââessed Divines and that have adorned the Sacred Scripture by their Learned Expositions Comments Annotations Paraphrases Lectures Sermons Discourses but also among Persons of another Rank and Capacity who have given the Bible the Pre-eminence of all Writings I will at present mention only Mr. Selden and Judg Haâe the former was one of the greatest Scholars and Antiquaries of this Age and made a vast Amassment of Books and Manuscripts from all Parts of the World a Library perhaps not to be equall'd oâ all Accounts in the Universe This Man of Books and Learning holding some serious Conference with Archbishop Vsher a little before he died professed to him that notwithstanding he had poââessed himself of that vast Treasure of Books and Manuscripts in all antient Subjects yet he could rest his Soul on none but the Scriptures And hear what the other Gentleman of the same Studies and Profession declares I have been acquainted somewhat with Men and Books and have had long Experience in Learning and in the World There is no Book like the Bible for excellent Learning Wisdom and Vse and it is want of Vnderstanding in them that think or speak otherwise This is sufficient to shew that the most Noble and Refined Wits the most Knowing and the most Judicious Heads bear the greatest Regard and Esteem for the Holy Scriptures and prefer them before all other Writings in the World It may pass for a Certain Maxim that the more learned any Man is the more he prizeth the Bible the greater Regard he hath for these Sacred Records It was said of old that it was a Sign of a great Proficiency in Good Letters to love Tully's Writings It is much more a Sign of our Improvement in true Learning that we delight in the Holy Scriptures and love them above all Writings whatsoever We shew our Proficiency by reverently esteeming the Bible and preferring it before all other Authors We discover that we have a Sense of True and Useful Knowledg when we value this Book wherein it is contain'd when we admire this Volume where all Excellencies meet together To evince this I will undertake these following things I. To shew the matchless Usefulness of the Bible in respect of Spiritual Divine and Supernatural Matters II. To demonstrate its Transcendent Excellency in regard of things Temporal and Secular such as are for the Improvement of all kinds of Humane Learning and for the Use of Life III. To give a Proof of this Excellency and Perfection by a particular displaying of the several Books contain'd in this Holy Volume IV. To let you see that this Perfection is not impaired by what is objected and alledged 1. Concerning the Loss of some Books which had formerly been a part of the Old and New Testament 2. Concerning the great Difference between the Hebrew of the Old Testament and the Greek Translation of the Seventy Where I will endeavour to discover the true Grounds and Foundations of those Mistakes that are in the LXX's Version and shew whence it arises that there is such a Discrepancy between that and the Original Verity V. I will attempt an Emendation of the present English Version which in several Places seems to me to be defective that I may hereby restore the New Testament for of that I shall chiefly speak to its native Perfection and Lustre Lastly I will invite and solicit the Reader to the Study of the Bible and direct him in so laudable and worthy an Employment First I will demonstratively prove the Transcendent Excellency of these Writings in respect of the things which are Divine and have an immediate relation to Religion Thus they are the only Canon of our Faith the exact Standard of our Lives and they mark us out the Way to solid Comfort peace and Happiness These are the three things I will insist upon 1. This Holy Book is the Absolute and Perfect Rule of our Faith This comprises in it every thing that is the Object of our Belief the Maâââr of our Assent Here we are taught to believeâ a God an Immortal Independent All-sufficient Self-subsisting Spirit who is infinitely Wife powerful Just and Merciful who though he was ineffably happy in the fruition of his own immense and transcendent Perfections yet that he might communicate his Goodness to others was pleased to frame the World with all the excellent Furniture which we behold in it By the Word of the Lord the Heavens were made and all the Host of them by the Breath of his Mouth Psal. 33. 6. He laid the Foundations of the Earth and gave to the Sea his Decree and set a Compass on the Face of the Deep Psal. 104. 5. Prov. 8. 27 29. We are assured from these Writings that God's Providence governs the World and all things in it whether great or small Psal. 147. 8 c. Matth. 10. 29
Authority of them equal with that of the Bible For as the Canonical Scriptures were dictated by Divine Inspiration so these Laws they hold were from God Himself and are of the same Authority with those Scriptures They make no difference between the Inspired Writings of the Old Testament and the Books of Mishnaioth or the Talmuds which are in truth an Amassment only of the Traditions of the Jews and of the Diverse Decisions of the Schools of Hillel and Shammai of the Different Determinations of R. Akiba and R. Eliezer of R. Simeon and R. Ioshua c. bandying against one another or rather if we speak plainer they are a Rhapsody of Idle Dreams Groundless Fables Cursed Errors Superstitious Rites and Practices yea if we should instance in the Babylonick Talmud of Horrid Blasphemies against Christ of Obloquies against the Mosaick Law it self and of Contradictions even to the Law of Nature These are part of the Books so highly prized by the Jewish Masters these go along with their Oral Law which was first given by God himself and consequently is of the same Original with the Canon of Scripture But they go yet higher for they do not only equalize these Traditions with Scripture but they prefer them before it They do not only say in a Proverbial Manner that they cannot stand upon the Foundation of the Written Law without the Help of the Vnwritten one i. e. the Oral Law which they talk of and that the Words of the Law as they are found in the Text are poor and wanting but as they are expounded by the Doctors have great Riches and abundance in them And again that very Great and Weighty Matters depend upon these Little Traditions which they contend for but they are so bold and presumptuous as to proceed further and give a far Greater Deference to these Traditions and Doctrines of their Wise Men as they call them than to the Holy Scriptures themselves For they tell us that their Doctors have done more good viz. as to strengthning and confirming of Religion by their own Sayings than by the Words of this Holy Book it self And accordingly their Advice is My Son attend more to what the Scribes say than to what is said by the Law though I know this may admit of another Sense viz. that we ought to look more to the Sense of the Law than the bare Letter of it But that in the Talmud is plain and can have no other Meaning To read the Holy Scripture and to be studious in searching out the Sense of it is good and not good i. e. it is not of any considerable Advantage but to turn over the Mishnah Night and Day is a Vertue which will have a great Reward hereafter and to learn the Gemara is an incomparable Vertue Yea the Jews blasphemously say that God himself studies in the Talmud every Day Here you see they prefer their Delivered Law before the Written one they make the Infallible Scriptures truckle to the Fabulous Traditions of the Mishnah To this purpose it is a Noted Saying of the Hebrew Rabbies that the Text of the Bible is like Water the Mishnah like Wine and the Six Books of the Talmud are like the Sweetest Honey'd Wine Thus to magnify the Traditions of their Fathers they vilify the Scriptures They are not content with the Rites and Injunctions written in the Law which in way of Contempt they call the Precepts of the Law but they admire those most which are taken from their Wise Men which they call the Precepts of the Rabbins and which are summarily contain'd in the Talmud these they hold to be of greater Value than the other The Persons that are skill'd in these are sliled by them Tannaim Profound Masters and Doctors but they that study the Scriptures only are but Karaim Poor Readers and Men of the Letter All this shews how these Men depretiate the Written Word of God and exalt above it their Oral Law which is a mere Fiction and Forgery as to the pretence of its being given to Moses by God and therefore is not owned by the Karaint among them who stick close to the Text nor by some of their Perushim their sobrest sort of Expositors who think those Traditions are derogatory to the Holy Scriptures Secondly Papists as well as Ieâs disparage the Holy Scriptures and deny its Perfection Nor by the way is this the only thing wherein they agree with the Jews a great Part of their Religion being no other than Jewish Rites and Ceremonies These Modern Talmudists will not own the Sufficiency of the Sacred Writings they have their Cabala the Doctrine Received from their Ancestors they are for their Oral Law delivered from one to another they supply the defect of Scripture so they are wont to speak with their Traditions They are of the same Mind with the Jews that there must be a Fence made about the Law that it must be hedged in with Traditions The Scripture is not a Perfect Rule of Faith and Manners say they but the things which are necessary to Salvation are partly contained in the Scripture and partly in unwritten Traditions A very absurd and wild Doctrine because they have no way to prove any thing to be necessary to Salvation but by proving it to be found in the Scripture Whatever was or is necessary for the Universal Church is revealed in these Writings and no New Doctrine necessary to Salvation is delivered since to the Church or any particular Person But notwithstanding the Absurdity of this Tenent they hold it fast and make it a Great Article of their Belief For they are taught by an Oecumenical Council as they repute it that Unwritten Traditions are of equal Authority with the Scriptures that they are to be received with the same pious Affection and Reverence those are the words wherewith the Infallible Writings of the Prophets and Apostles are to be entertained and consequently they are to be made a Rule of Faith equal with the Scriptures But they rest not here they not only equal Humane and Ecclesiastical Traditions with the Written Word of God but following the Steps of the Old Talmudists they proceed yet further preferring Traditions before Scripture Thus a Renowned Divine in their Church tells us plainly that Traditions are exceeding necessary for the welfare of the Church yea that they are more requisite than the Scripture it self and this he endeavours to make good With him concur several others of their Writers whom we find extolling Traditions but at the same time speaking very meanly and slightly of the Holy Writ Hence they blasphemously call it a Nose of Wax and a Leaden Rule and many such vilifying Terms are used by Pighius and Melchior Canus and other Great Doctors of that Church We deny not the Usefulness nay even the Necessity nay the Perpetuity of Tradition viz. That Tradition whereby the Doctrines which were entrusted in the
bold Man that asseâts the Primitive Earth to have been without Sea and without Mountains and the Airy Expansion to be without Clouds which are a plain contradicting of Moses who saith the Waters were gather'd together and were called Seas ver 10. and informs us that there were other Waters above the Firmament or Air ver 7. and in another Place lets us know that all the high Hills and Mountains were cover'd by the Waters of the Deluge Gen. 7. 19 20. Thus it must needs be ill philosophizing in defiance of Moses the first of the Philosophick Order This is Confutation enough of his Hypothesis and herein I am satisfied that the Excepter against his Book is in the right Now to support his own Opinion and to run down Moses he tells us that instead of a History we are here presented with a Parable with an Ethical Discourse in an obscure way This Philosophick Romancer turns the Holy Scriptures into Aesop's Fables and seems with his Friend Spinosa to hint that the Writings of the Prophets are only high Flights of Imagination God forbid that I should fasten any such thing upon him or any the like Imputation on any other Man of Learning or so much as suspect it unless there were some ground for it I appeal therefore to all persons of correct Thoughts whether his asserting that Moses the Prime and Leading Prophet is so fanciful that he presents us with mere Allegories and Parables even when he seems to speak of the Creation of the World and the Fall of our First Parents whether I say this doth not argue that the rest of the Prophetick Writers who could not do amiss in imitating so Great a Guide are led wholly by Imagination and dictate not things as they really are but as they fancied them to be Nay he not only overthrows the Truth and Reality of Moses's Writings but he blasts the Integrity of the Penman himself telling us that he was a Crafty Politician and Dissembler one that did all to comply with the People one that cheated the ignorant Jews with a thing like an History merely to please them whâlst in the mean time it is nothing but a piece of Morality in an Allegorized way and is to be understood so by us Certainly Moses needed not to have been Inspired by the Holy Ghost as I suppose most grant him to be to have merited this Character But I have animadverted on him with some Freedom in a former Discourse and therrfore I will not say any more here Nor should I have said any thing then or now if I had not been verily perswaded that the Credit of Moses and of the Scriptures themselves and consequently of our whole Religion lay at stake for if this 1st Chapter of Genesis together with the rest which follow which have all the Marks of History upon them be not Literal and Historical we know not what Judgment to make of any other Places of Scripture which recite Matter of Fact we can't tell whether any Text bears a Literal Sense or no and so we throw up the whole Bible into the Hands of Scepticks and Atheists After all that I have said under this Head I would not be thought to mean any such thing as this that the Scripture was designed for Philosophy No there are Nobler things that it aims at Yet this is most certain that here is the Best Philosophy both Moral and Natural It is the latter I am now speaking of viz. the Knowledg of the Works of Nature God's creating of the World which is the fârst âtep to all Natural Philosophy This is to be learnt in the Beginning of this Holy Book whose Excellency and Perfection I am treating of Here the Birth and Original of all things are distinctly set down which is a Subject that all the Philosophers are defective in I grant whaâ Cyril speaking of Moses saith that he design'd not to play the Philosopher in a subtile and curious manner and to be accurate in his Discourse of the First Principles of things but notwithstanding this it is an undeniable Truth that no Book in the World teacheth us the True Origine and Age of the World the Epoche of the Universe the Particular Order and Method of the Creation and more especially the manner of the Production of Mankind but This. By this alone we are fixed and determined in these Points and we have no longer any Reason to doubt and waver We may plainly discern from these Sacred Writings the Invalidity of those Notions which some Philosophick Heads have entertain'd viz. the Eternity of the World the Production of it by Chance or the Mechanical Rise of it by virtue of mere Matter and Motion All these fond Conceits are silenced by this Sacred Author an Happiness which we could not have had if this most Antient and Authentick Book were not extant Thirdly We have no Account of the first Rise of Nations and People in the World but ârom the Mosaick History Here and only here we have an Exact Narrative of the dividing of the Earth among the Sons of Noah and their Posterity It is in the Tenth Chapter of Genesis that we have the History of the First Plantations A Choice Monument of Antiquity and to be priz'd by all Lovers of Antient Learning those that delight to enquire into the First Originals of things Here we are inform'd that Iapheth the eldest Son of Noah and his seven Sons were the first that peopled that part of the World which is call'd Europe with a part of Asia the Less His Sons are reckon'd up in this manner 1. Gomer whose Progeny seated themselves in the North-East part of that Leââer Asia which contains Phrygia Pontus Bithynia and a great part of Galatia These were the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã saith Iosephus call'd by the Latins Galatae among whom is the City Comara according to Pliny and Mela speaks of the Comari The People that dwelt in this Tract were as Herodotus and other Antient Historians testify callâd Cimmerii and had their Name from Gomer if we may give Credit to some of the Learnedest Criticks such who are not wont to rest in fanciful Derivations They tell us that Gomeri Comeri Cumeri Cimbri Cimmerii are the same The Old Germans are thought by them to have been a Colony of these Cimmerians or Gomerians for German is but a Corruption of Gomerman The Old Galls were another Colony of the Gomerians who by the Grecians were call'd ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and contractedly ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Celtae for it appears that the Cimbri or Cimmerii were the antient Inhabitants of Old Gallia And our Ancestors the Britains were of the same stock for that they descended from the Galls or Celtae who were the Gomeri or Cimbri of old our own Learned Antiquary Mr. Cambden attempts to prove from their Religion Manners Language c. The Inhabitants of Cumberland as he thinks retain the Name still
Cheese The other Product of their Milk as well as of their Housewifery was Chemeah Butter Gen. 18. 7. Deut. 32. 14. Judg. 5. 25. which was not known to some other Nations a long time Among the Greeks there was no such thing and no Word for it Homer and the Antient Writers mention Milk and Cheese but of this nothing is said Neither doth Aristotle in his History of Animals so much as name it though he mentions those two forts of Food and would certainly have made mention of this if there had been any such thing among them Nor was it made use of among the Romans as we understand from Pliny's Words è lacte fit butyrum barbararum gentium laudatissimus cibus The Barbarous are not Greek or Latins but the Oriental People and accordingly the antient Use of this among the Easterns we learn only from Moses and such Inspired Writers As to the antient feeding on the Flesh of Animals Abraham's entertaining his Guests with a Calf Gen. 18. 7. i. e. part of a Calf a Joint of Veal for it is not likely that he set a whole boil'd or rosted or otherwise dress'd Calf before three Men for Sarah was in her Tent and Abraham sat not down with these Guests neither did eat as may be gathered from those Words He stood by them and they did eat and many other Instances of making Repasts on other sorts of Creatures as Kids Sheep Oxen might be produced out of this Sacred History But it appears that there was but little Art and Cookery used at first in dressing of Meat There was no great Distinction in preparing it as we may gather from the Hebrew Word Aphab which signifies to boil to bake to fry and so Bashal indisserently denotes Rosting and Boiling But the particular Denotation of these Words in the Texts where they occur is known only from the particular Matter spoken of there Concerning the Paschal Lamb there is a strict Injunction not to boil but rost it Exod. 12. 8. Deut. 16. 7. which hath a secret and my sterious Meaning in it it is likely but concerning Common Eatings and Repasts I do not find a Difference observed yet this latter way of dressing hath had the Preference generally to the other Accordingly it may be observed that the Poots for the most part present their Heroes feeding on rost and not on boil'd Meat All Homer's Dinners for his Great Captains and Worthies are of the former sort And Servius who was no mean Critick tells us that in the Times of the Heroes they were not fed with Boil'd but Rost. We cannot but take notice that though at first the Preparing of Diet was simple and artless yet at length it became a kind of Science and much Time Study and Cost were bestowed upon it Thence we have many Examples of Extravagant Feastings in this Sacred History on which several Critical Remarks might be made to shew what Customs were prevalent at eating in those Days Cookery was grown to a great Height and as great an Esteem there was Sar Hatabbachim Gen. 39. 1. i. e. according to the Version of the Seventy ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Prince of the Cooks and there were Tabbachoth Royal She-Cooks 1 Sam. 8. 13. Much more might be said on these Particulars but I design'd only a Taste of them to invite the Curious to study the Bible for here is the Antientest Learning in the World and that of all Sorts But the most Useful and Strengthning as well as the most Common Food was Bread made of Corn concerning which it may be acceptable to the Inquisitive to know how in those first Ages it was beaten out of the Ear how it was ground into Meal and how it was made into Bread which can be learnt from these Antient Books of Scripture only And this I must needs say if Varro and some other Authors before named be consulted and prized by Lovers of Antiquity for what they have deliver'd concerning Country-Affairs and Husbandry surely then much more are these Holy Writings to be esteem'd seeing they far excel them in Antiquity for Varro Cato Columella or any others that have written de re Rustica are Modern Authors in respect of the Sacred Pen-men First then as to Threshing or beating the Grains of Corn out of the Ears it was performed divers ways as 1. By drawing a loaded Cart with Weels over the Corn backwards and forwards so that the Wheels running over it did forcibly shake out the Grain Of this is express mention in Isa. 28. 27. where we read that Opban gnagalah the Cart-whell was trun'd about upon some sort of Corn. And this in the next Verse is call'd Gilgal gnagelah which is the same and therefore by the Vulgar Latin is rendred both here and in the former Place Rota Plaustri To this bruising of their Corn with Loaded Carts perhaps that Place Amos 2. 13. refers although otherwise applied by Expositors generally which may be rendred thus I am pressed under you as a full Cart presseth the Sheaves or Sheaf for it is in the singular Number It sets forth the Manner of Threshing in those Days which was by pressing the Ears of Corn with a Heavy Cart and forcing out the Grain by bringing the Wheels often over it 2. Another antient way of Threshing was with a Wooden Slead or Dray without Wheels full of Iron Nails or Teeth on the Side toward the Ground and loaded with massy Iron or some other heavy Weights at top to make it heavy and this was drawn by Oxen over the Corn till the Ears were so pressed that the Grain flew out This Instrument was commonly known as the Hebr. Masters and Talmudists report by the Name of Morag and also of Charutz and accordingly it hath these Names given it in 2 Sam. 24. 22. and Isa. 28. 27. and both of them together we meet with in Isa. 41. 15. where it is translated by us a sharp Threshing-Instrument And in the same Place it is said to have Teeth which plainly refers to the foresaid make of it viz. that this great wooden Plank was set at the Bottom with Iron Teeth or Pikes to cut the Sheaves and make way for the Grain to come out And to these Iron Nails or Teeth refers Amos 1. 4. where this sorst of Country Tackling is call'd Threshing-Insturments of Iron Upon the whole it appears that the Instrument wherewith Husbandmen at this Day break the Clods of Earth was used heretofore when they had not attain'd to any great Skill in these Affairs in Threshing the Corn for by the Description that is given of it it was a kind of Harrow 3. They thresh'd with Oxen who with their Hoofs which for that purpose were generally shod with Iron or Brass were wont to beat and tread out the Corn and sometimes they brought in a whole Herd of Oxen to trample upon it This way of Threshing is referr'd to when they were forbid to muzzle the Ox when he
contain'd and here are those Choice Materials which no other Histories furnish us with But I should be endless if I should enlarge here by particularizing therefore I will not launch out but only commend to the Reader the Learned Endeavours of Strigelius in his Commentaries on the Books of Samuel Kings Chronicles where he will be amply convinc'd of the unparallell'd Diversity Multiplicity and Peculiar Excellency of the Historical Examples in Scripture The Antientest Poetry is in the Old Testament for as Moses was the first Historian so he is the first Poet that is âxtant A Proof of this we have in that Eucharistick Song which he composed upon his passing the Red Sea and is recorded in Exod. 15. An Admirable Hymn it is and in Hexameter Verse if Iosephus may be Judg in this Matter and if a Christian Father may be credited who had more Hebrew than most of the Writers of the Church in his time yea more than all of them except Origen But whether this be true or no this is without Controversy that there is no Piece of Poetry in the World that hath the Priority of this of Moses for Orpheus who is reckon'd by the Pagans as the First Poet was according to the most favourable Computation of some of their Historians three hundred Years after Moses and Homer was towards six hundred Besides this Divine Hymn there are other Antient ones of the like nature recorded in the same Authentick Writings viz. Deborah's Song Iudg. 5. which hath many Noble Flights of Poetry and that of Hannah the Mother of Samuel 1 Sam. 2. 1 c. which hath Excellent Poetick Raptures And here by the way I will offer this Conjecture that perhaps from Miriam's bearing her part in Moses's Song Exod. 15â 20 21. and from these other Womens Poetick Inspiration which came to be celebrated among the neighbouring Nations the Poets who as I have largely shew'd elsewhere have frequent References to the Old Testament took occasion to report that Poetry was of Female Extraction and that Calliope one of that Sex was the Author of their Faculty Other famous Instances there are here of this Sacred Art as David's Incomparable Elegy on the Death of Saul and Ionathan 2 Sam. 1. 16 c. that Gratulatory Hymn in the 12th Chapter of Isaiah Hezekiah's Song of Praise in the 38th of the same Prophet Habakkuk's Lofty Description of the Divine Majesty and Greatness in Poetick Numbers chap. 3. the Stile of which is far more sublime and majestick than any of Orpheus or Pindar's Odes I appeal to any Man of Skill and that hath a right Poetick Genius whether this be not true And as there are these single Hymns and Songs so there are Just Poems for of the Books of the Old Testament there are six that are composed and writ in Verse viz. the Books of Iob the Psalms Proverbs Ecclesiastes Canticles Lamentations As to the Nature of the Hebrew Poesy and the Kinds of Verses which are in the Bible the Learned Mersennus and others have given us some Account of them but it is very short and mean and much of it is mere Surmise and therefore I will not trouble the Reader with it A late Writer hath attempted to prove that the Hebrew Verse or Poetry of the Old Testament is in Rhythm which I believe is true in many Places and if the Pronuntiation and Sound were the very same now that they were when these Poetick Books were composed we should observe the Cadence in them more frequently But he goes too far in asserting that all the Hebrew Poesy in Scripture is Rhythmed for they were not so exact at first though the Verses end with the same Sound sometimes yet generally they took a Liberty Upon Examination we may find this to be true and I may have occasion to say something further of it when I come to speak particularly of the Psalms But the other Assertion viz. that the Psalms and other Pieces of Hebrew Poetry are always Rhythmical necessarily infers a great many Faults and Mistakes in the Scripture it supposes several Places to be corrupted and mangled for we do not find all the Poetry of the Bible to be such at this day and consequently subverts the Truth and Authority of the Bible which is by no means to be allowed of All that I will add under this Head is that even among the Gentiles the first and antientest Writers were Poets Strabo undertakes to shew that Poetry was before Prose and that this is but an Imitation of that It can't be denied that the First Philosophers writ in Verse as Orpheus parmenides Empedocles Theognis Phocylides c. and thence as One of the Learnedest Men of our Age observes the Moral Precepts of the Philosophers were call'd of old ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and Carmina The Grecian Oracles were delivered in Verse Concerning the Agathyrsi we are told by Aristotle that their Laws were all in Metre Concerning the Old Germans Tacitus relates that their very Records and Annals were in Verse And all this it is probable was in Emulation of the First Sacred Writers the Penmen of the Old Testament in whose Writings there are several things dictated in Measure and some entire Books are altogether Metrical for it was the Design of the Holy Ghost to delight as well as profit With Poetry let us join Musick it being of so near Affinity with it and the First Inventer of this also is to be known only from the Scripture which informs us that Iubal the Son of Lamech the sixth from Adam was the Father of such as handle the Harp and Organ Gen. 4. 21. From whose Name some have thought the Iubilee was called because it was proclaim'd with Musick The poets tell us that Apollo and Mercury were the first Authors of it by whom it is not improbable they meant Moses who first gives an Account of the Original of this Art and might well be represented by Apollo because of his Singular Wisdom and by Mercury because he was the First Interpreter of the Divine Will in his Writings and on other Accounts merited that Name as I have evidenc'd in another Place Perhaps the Story of Pythagoras's finding our Musical Notes from the Strokes of the Hammers upon the Smith's Anvil was suggested from this that the first Musical Instrumeâââ were made of Iron and Brass the Metals of the Smith and Brasier Or if I should guessâ it a downright Mistake of Tuâal for Iubal Sons of the same Father a Smith for a Musician or that it was suggested from the Musick of their Nameâ Tuâal and Iubal having some affinity in the Sound it would be hard to disprove it But that which is certain is this that as the First Inventers oâ other things are recorded in Scripture so particularly is he that found out Musick and by the Harp and the Organ all other Musical Inâtrumentâ are meant whether Pulsative or Pneumatick And it is not improbable that the
Great Man that he was learned in all the Wisdom of the Egyptians Acts 7. 22. which comprehends not only Arithmetick Geometry Astronomy all Parts of Mathematicks Physicks of all which there are several remarkable Strictures in the Pentateuch but Moral Philosophy with which his Books are every-where fraught Solomon also was a most profound Philosopher as those Words in 1 Kings 4. 29 c amply testify God gave Solomon Wisdom and Vnderstanding exceeding much His Wisdom excell'd the Wisdom of all the Children of the East-Country and all the Wisdom of Egypt He spake of Trees from the Cedar-tree that is in Lebanon even to the Hyssop that springeth out of the Wall he spake also of Bâasts and of Fowl and of creeping things and of Fishes And as Iosephus adds after the same manner he discours'd of All Terestrial Things for he was ignorant of no natural Things he pass'd by none of them unexamin'd but philosophized concerning every one of them and fully discuss'd the Properties and Nature of them Thus he was certainly the Greatest Natural Historian that ever was and his Book of Proverbs and that which is entituled Ecclesiastes abundantly inform us what skill he had in Ethicks Oeconomicks Politicks so that we may justly stile him an Vniversal Philosopher Iob's skill in the choicest Parts of Physicks is evident from his excellent Discourses and Disquisitions concerning Thunder the Clouds the Sea Chap. 26. concerning Minerals and other Fossiles and Fountains Chap. 28. concerning Rain Vapours Snow Hail and other Meteors Chap. 37. 38. And several sorts of Animals both wild and tame with their chiefest Properties and Qualities are discours'd of in Chapters 39 40 41. And here I must insert this that the Knowledg and Study of the Bible are absolutely necessary in order to the Study of Natural Philosophy It is a very good Thought of an Ingenious Man The Doctrine of the Scriptures saith he is to be well imbiâed before young Men be enter'd into Natural Philosophy because Matter being a thing that all our Senses are constantly conversant with it is so apt to possess the Mind and exclude all other Beings but it self that Prejudice grounded on such Principles often leaves no room for the admittance of Spirits or the allowing any such things as immaterial Beings in the nature of things Which shews the necesâity of our conversing with the Inspired Writings wheâ we have abundant Proofs of the Existence and Operation of those Invisible Agents No Book â so fully and demonstratively convince us of their Being and Power as the Holy Scriptures And the grand Reason in my Opinion why so many reject the Notion of Spirits and run into wild and extravagant Notions which are the Consequent of it is because they are unacquainted with and which is more dislike this Book which is the Basis of aââ Natural Philosophy in that we have here an irrefragable Demonstration of those Incorporeal Beings Whence it follows that no Man can be a Good Naturalist if he be a Stranger to the Holâ Writings much more if he slights and vilifiââ them We shall perpetually fluctuate without an Adherence to these Infallible Records The Cartesian and indeed the whole Corpuscularian Philosophy depraves Mens Minds unless it be temper'd by these Nay I may say the Study of Nature abstract from them will lead us into Scepticism and Atheism for many Substantial Notions as well as Phaenomena are utterly unaccountable without Help from this Book But this rectifies our Apprehensions and gives us a true Account of the State of Things and of the Government of the World which is managed chiefly by Spiritual and Immaterial Substances This salves the most surprizing Difficulties by acquainting us with the Spring of the Generality of those Motions and Transactions which are observable in Natural Bodies In short this will season and qualify our Speculations concerning Nature and all its Operations for when the Operations and Results of Matter are defective here we are taught to have Recourse to a Higher Principle Thus the Bible lays a Foundation for our Study of Philosophy and is it self the Best Body of Philosophy I mean on the foresaid Account because it assures us of the Existence of Spirits by whose Influence so many Works of Nature and those of the greatest Importance in the World are effected This was known of old by the Name of the Barbarick Philosophy and 't is frequently call'd so by Clement of Alexandria and both he and Eusebius and some Modern Writers have shew'd that the Grecian Philosophy was derived from this Which indeed was the Confession of some Considerable Men among the Pagans whence Diogenes Laertius tells us this was their Saying Philosophy had its Original from the Barbarians i. e. the Hebrews which is as much as to say that all the true Notions about God and Providence and the Souls of Men and other great Doctrines in Philosophy are taken from the Jewish Writings the Sacred and Inspired Scriptures In the next Place the Antiquity of Medicks Chirurgery Anatomy Embalming is likewise discover'd here For Ioseph commanded the physicians to embalm his Father and the physicians embalmed Israel Gen. 50. 2. The Word here repeated is Rophim and it is the proper Hebrew Word for Men skill'd in Medicks and there is no other Wherefore Vatablus and some others are mistaken who fancy this Place is not meant of Physicians properly so called because this Term is translated ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by the Septuagint and because they are bid to embalm Jacob. Whence they infer that they were not Physicians in the Sense that we use the Word in at this day viz. for such as take care of sick and diseased Persons and endeavour by their Skill and Art to restore them to Health but that they were only Embalmers that is that their sole Office and Employment was to take care of the dead Bodies and to preserve them from putrifying But this Misapprehension had its Rise from this that they judged of Physicians and their Employments according to what they see now according to the Practice of these Days which no Man of due Coâsideration and unprejudiced Judgment ought to do For of old the Physician was both Chirurgeon and Embalmer yea even in Hippocrates's time the Work of the Physician and Chirurgion was not different but the very same In Antienter times much more these Professions were united and were the Employment of the same Person It is no wonder therefore that Embalming was annex'd to it and constantly went along with it for the Chirurgion or Physician call him which you will or both was the Man that had Skill to dissect Bodies in order to their Pollincture He knew what Parts to take out and how being acquainted with the Situation of the Vessels for Anatomy was first of all practised among the Egyptians as we may gather from Pliny and others who attest that the Egyptian Kings used it to find out the Cause and
part of it extant before there were any Writers in the World and so it was utterly impossible to borrow from Others This is the Peculiar Excellency of this Book this is the Particular Commendation of these Writings that they were the First of all and could not be taken from any else These Holy Scriptures borrow from none unless you will say they do so from Themselves as the 18th Psalm is taken out of 2 Sam. 22. or this out of that The Evangelists borrow from one another The Virgin Mary's Magnificat refers in several Places of it to Hannab's Song 1 Sam. 2 and St. Paul takes some things out of his Epistle to the Epbesians and puts them into that which he wrote to the Colossians and so st Iude may be said to borrow from St. Peter but this is not the Plagiarism which Other Writers are guilty of and which is an Argument of their Wants and Defects whereas the Holy Spirit supplied the Penmen of the Bible both with Matter and Words In the Old Testament especially and more particularly in the Books of Moses there is nothing at second hand all is fresh and new thâ things there spoken of were never delivered by any Writer before But most of the Profane Historians began when the Holy History was just ending And Herodotus himself the Father of History writ not till Ezra and Nehemiah's time The Greeâ Historians go no further back than the Persjan Eâpiâe and most of the Roman History takes not its Rise so high Indeed the Egyptians boasted that they had been ruled by Kings above ten thousand Years as Herodotus relates and thence perhaps it was that one of their Pharaoh's which was the common Name of all their Kings bragg'd that he was the Son of antient Kings Isa. 19. 11. The Chinoises pretend to give an Account of Passages almost three thousand Years before Christ and we are told by Martinius in his Atlas that they preserve a continued History compiled from their Annual Exploits of four thousand and five hundred Years yea they have if we may credit the younger Vossius Writers antienter than Moses But these high Flights are exploded by all Considerate Men and upon a View of whatever Pretences are made by Others they conclude that Moses was the Antientest Writer and that the earliest Discovery of Transactions and Occurrences in the World is to be learnt from him alone Some of the Wisest Pagans had a hint of this and travell'd into the Eastern Countries to acquaint themselves with these Records And it was observ'd long since by Plato as I took notice before that the Oldest and most Barbarous Tongues meaning the Hebrew and Chaldee were very requisite for the finding out the first Beginnings of things for the first Names of them which are now grown obsolete by length of time are preserved in those Languages they being the antientest of all In the Hebrew especially are to be found the Primitive Origines of things and most of the Pagan Historiââs have borrowed from these And so have their Poâts Orators and Philosophers as a great Number of the Christian Fathers whom I have particularly quoted in another Place to evince the Authority of the Scriptures have largely proved In a word all other Antient Writings refer to these or suppose them this Inspired Volume alone being the Fountain from whence either they or we can derive any Truth and Certainty And as there is the Antientest Learning so there is All Learning I speak now of that which is Humane and is reckon'd the Accomplishment of Rational Persons and all the kinds of it in this Book of Books Here is not only Prose but Verse here are not only Poems but Histories Annals Chronicles Here are things Profound and Mystical and here are others that at the first sight are Intelligible and Clear here are Prophecies Visions Revelations for even in the Narratives which are given of These there are some things serviceable to promote the Study of Humanity here are Proverbs Adagies Emblems Parables Apologues Paradoxes Riddles and here are also Plain Questions and Answers Propositions Discourses Sermons Orations Letters Epistles Colloquies Debates Disputations Here are Maxims of Law and Reason Rules of Iustice and Equity Examples of Keen Wit and Deep Politicks Matters of Church and State Publick and Private Affairs and all manner of Subjects either treated of or referr'd unto Thus the Bible is excellently sitted to entertain any Persons as they are Students and Scholars for here is a Treasury of all Good Letters here are laid up all things that conduce to Humane Knowledg Porphyrius is said to have writ a Book of Homer's Philosophy wherein he attempts to prove that he was as much a Philosopher as a Poet and no less a Person than Maximus Tyrius affirms him to be the Prince of Philosophers and another Grave Author undertakes to shew that the Seeds of all Arts are to be found in Homer's Works This is said by his Admirers to inhanse his Credit and Repute but far greater things and more justly may be pronounced concerning these Famous Records of Learning and Antiquity With more Reason may we maintain that the chiefest Arts and Inventions are originally in the Sacred Volume and that the Foundations of all Humane Learning and Science are laid here for though these are not the chief things designed in this Book it being writ to higher Purposes yet they are occasionally interspersed every where and a Studious Enquirer cannot miss of them It is rationally and undeniably to be inferr'd from the Particulars above-mention'd though many more might have been added that the Bible is the most Compleat Book and hath All Learning in it This truly deserves the Name which Diodore the Sicilian gives his History that is it is indeed a Library an Universal one and contains All Books in it As the Writers of it were Persons of Several Conditions Kings Noblemen Priests Prophets c. so the Matters of it are Various and Different and by reading and studying these Writings we may Commence in all Arts and Sciences we may be accomplish'd Grammarians Criticks Chronologers Historians Poets Orators Disputants Lawyers Statesmen Preachers Prophets Many valuable Monuments of Learning have been lost The famous Library of Alexandria which contain'd six or seven hundred thousand Volumes and that of Constantinople which consisted of an hundred and twenty thousand perished by Fire And the Works of Varro the Learnedsâ Man of all the Romans are extinct And many others might be reckon'd up besides those that Historians say nothing of But having the Scriâture Hacatub as the Jews rightly call'd it by way of Eminence the most Excellent Writings in the World fraught with all manner of useful Literature we may afford to be without the other for this is a certain Verity that if we have the Bible we want no Book And more particularly I have made it appear that the Choicest Antiquities are to be found here A prying Antiquary may
I find it is yea flatly denied by Aben Ezra and Pererius and lately by Hobbs and Spinosa A very little Portion of them was writ by him saith Monsieur Simon who hath a new Notion of certain Publick Scribes or Registers that penn'd this and other Parts of the Old Testament which sort of Abbreviating Notaries he borrows from the Egyptians as he confesâes himself because there were such Officers in the Egyptian Court who had a Privilege to add to or take away from to amplify or abridg the Publick Records he thence groundlesly infers there were such among the Iews who made what Alterations they pleased in the Sacred Writings which Paradox of his I have consider'd and made some Reflections upon in a former Treatise This I may truly say that it is not necessary that we should know who was the Particular Penman of this or any other Book of the Holy Scripture because the Authority of them depends not on the Writers of them but on the Holy Ghost who endited them They are the Books of God that is their peculiar Character and Dignity and that alone makes them Authentick after they have been delivered to us by the unanimous Consent of the Church so that there is no absolute Necessity of our certain knowing who penn'd them Yet this must be said that it cannot with Reason be denied that the Authors of some of these Sacred Books are well known and particularly there are very convincing Proofs that Moses wrote the Books which I have been giving an Account of This may be evinc'd from our Saviour's Words Luke 16. 31. 24. 27. where by Moses as is most evident he means the Books of the Pentateuch and consequently thereby lets us know that Moses was the Writer of them And more expresly the Book of Exodus is call'd the Book of Moses by our same Infallible Master Mark 12. 26. And St. Paul tells us that when these Books are read Moses is read 2 Cor. 3. 19. And both our Saviour and this Apostle distinguish between Moses and the Prophets Luke 16. 29. Acts 26. 22. plainly signifying that as those Books which pass under the Prophets Names are theirs so these that are said to be Moses's were written by him I think this is very plain and needs not to be further insisted on As to the Objections of those Men before named against this I forbear to produce them and to return particular Answers to them because this is so lately done by Monsieur Clerk and because another Learned Frenchman hath laudably performed this Task Especially he hath with great Vigour and as great Success attack'd Spinosa a Iew as they tell us by Birth but neither Iew nor Christian by Profession but a Derider of both We may also find his Arguments which are generally borrow'd from Aben Ezra refuted with great Clearness by the Learned Professor of Diâinity at Paris who at the same time betakes himself to the Positive Part and renders it unquestionable that Moses himself was the Author of the Five Books that go under his Name Wherefore the particular Fancies of those few Objectors and those no Friends to the Sacred Text are not to be heeded by us As to that common Scruple which is so much insisted upon that in the last Book of the Pentateuch there is mention of Moses's Death and some things that happen'd after it whence they conclude that Moses wrote not those Books or at least not the last of them I take this to be a sufficient Answer that Moses being a Prophet might foresee and have revealed to him a particular Account of his own Death and so he committed it to writing by a Prophetick Spirit wherefore none can from thence prove that he was not the Penman of all this Book However we will not contend here for perhaps the Conclusion of this Book was affixed by Ioshua or afterwards by Ezra who was an Inspired Person likewise and who revised the Books of the Old Testament and inserted some things into them by the same Spirit that endited the rest Notwithstanding then the foresaid Objection which refers only to a few Passages in the End of the Book of Deuteronomy wâ have Reason to assert that the whole Five Books excepting that little Addition in the Close were written by Moses these are his Authentick Records consisting chiefly of History which compriseth in it the Occurrences of about 2400 Years and Laws which were given by God Himself to his own People and will be of use to the End of the World Here is the Cabinet of the greatest Antiquity under Heaven here are the First and Oldest Monuments of the World CHAP. VIII A short Survey of the Books of Joshua Judges Ruth which is a Supplement to the History of the Iudges Samuel the Kings Chronicles Ezra which is a Continuation of the Chronicles Nehemiah Esther The Author Stile Composure Matter of the Book of Job discuss'd An Enquiry into the Penmen Subjects Kinds Titles Poetick Meter and Rhythm of the Psalms NExt unto this is that Excellent History written by Ioshua the Captain General of the Israelites and Moses's famous Successor whose very Name without doubt was as terrible to the Canaanites as those of Hunniades and Scanderbeg were afterwards to the Turks Here he admirably describes the Holy War the Martial Atchievements and Stratagems of the People of God against those Nations whose Lands they were to possess and at length their Victory over them Here are very particularly set down their Conquests over those Kings and Countries This Book is the Fulfilling of the Promises which were made to them concerning the entring into Canaan and enjoying that Land which is a Type of the Heavenly Canaan the everlasting Rest which remaineth to the People of God Heb. 4. 9. Here is the Actual Possession of that Promised Inheritance and the Division of it among the several Tribes by Lot The short is in the whole Book which I must not now give you by retail there are abundant Demonstrations of the Divine Providence repeated Instances of the Infinite Kindness of God to his Servants remarkable Examples of the Divine Vengeance on his Enemies yea and visible Proofs of his Severe Dealings with his own People when they refuse to obey his Will and when they act contrary to it Here is in the large Account which is given of Ioshua and his Actions an Exact Character of a Worthy Prince a Ruler a General who ought to signalize himself by his Exemplary Piety and Zeal for Religion by his constant Sobriety Justice and Charity by his undaunted Courage Valour and Prowess by his deep Wisdom Policy and Conduct And his Great and Wonderful Success which is so much required in a General crowned all The Whole contains the History of the Jews from Moses's Death till the Death of their Great Commander Ioshua in all about eighteen Years And 't is not to be wondered at that the Age Death and Burial of this latter are
Circumstances of it are feigned There is no Fiction in it because it is as to the whole Matter of it Real and relates what actually happen'd only as to the Words and Stile it is Poetically composed I might observe that this Historical Poem is in way of Dialogue or rather is made up of feveral Dialogues and Colloquies It is a Dramatick Piece wherein Six Persons have their Parts Iob Eliphaz Bildad Zophar Elihu and GOD who speaks in the Close of all Nor is this unusual in some other Books of the Holy Scripture where we find that some of David's Psalms are Dialogue-wise and nothing is more evident than that Solomon's Song is after that manner besides that as a worthy Person hath observ'd in some of the Other Writings of this Wise Man and in many Places of St. Paul's Epistles a Tacit Dialogue is contain'd whence it happens that that sometimes is taken by unskilful Readers for an Assertion or an Argument which is indeed a Question or an Objection Indeed this Dialogizing way is of great Advantage and carries a peculiar Excellency with it and therefore was as we may take notice made use of by the Antients Drawing forth and pressing out the Truth by way of Dialogue was the Socratick Mode which Plato also used laying down his own Opinion in the Person of Socrates Timaeus c. and other Mens Opinions and Sentiments in the Person of Gorgias c. And Cicero dealt in this way in some of his Writings The same likewise we find practised of old by some of the most Eminent Writers of the Christian Church as Iustin Martyr who sets forth the manner of his becoming a Christian in the Platonick way i. e. of a Colloquy and the whole Discourse with Trypho is no more perhaps than the Personating of a Christian and a Jew by way of Dialogue Minutius Felix's Debate between Octavius and Caecilius a Christian and a Gentile is of the same Nature It is probable that this Antient Practâce of delivering Truth in this manner was derived from the Book of Iob the Oldest Dialogue in the World and which moreover is in way of a Disputation where Iob is Respondent his three Friends the Opponents and Eliâu yea and at last God himself the Moderator And one thing by the by I would here observe that it is said ch 31. v. 40. The Words of Job are ended which we must understand with reference to this Contrast between him and his Friends for otherwise Iob had not made an end of Speaking as we find in some of the following Chapters Therefore the Meaning is that his Words in way of Contention and Controversy with those Men were ended and thus the first Verse in the ensuing Chapter explains it So these three Men ceased to answer Job The whole affords us many Excellent Observations viz. that the greatest Wealth and Riches are uncertain that suddenly and unexpectedly they make themselves Wings and fly away from the Possessors and leave them in Want Distress and Misery that Integrity and Holiness of Life exempt no Man from this Changeableness of his Condition are no Protection against the worst of outward Evils whatsoever whether procured by Satan or by Evil Men. This is taught us in the Example of this Great Man yea the Greatest of all the Men in the East i. e. in Arabia and who was as Good as he was Great for he was a Perfect and Vpright Man nay there was none like him in the Earth This was the true Arabian Phoenix there was none but he at that time But this Person who was so famed for his Greatness and Goodness came at last to be as noted for his Low and Mean Condition his Troubles and Distresses of all kinds and those too of the highest Degree for he was bereft of all his Dear Children by the Fall of the House where they were he was despoiled of all his Goods and Estate by the Chaldean and Sabean Free-booters he was deprived of his Bodily Health and smitten with Painful and Loathsom Diseases by the immediate Hand of the Malicious Demons he was despised scorn'd derided by the vilest Race of People Hence we are instructed that the worst of Temporal Evils do sometimes befal the most Upright Persons And we are taught from Iob's Example also that the Holiest Men have their Fits of Impatience they are heard sometimes to complain and cry out under their Burden they expostulate with God and question the Reasonableness and Justice of his Dealings with them they magnify their own Innocence at too high a rate they are weary of their Lives and passionately wish for a Period of them This was Iob's Case and may be of other Righteous Men they may through humane Frailty be for a time subject to the same Disorder and shew themselves as uneasy under their Afflictions especially when with this Holy Man they are wounded in Spirit and buffeted by Satan and lie under the Sense of God's Wrath and have no Apprehension of his Grace and Favour But as the Hebrew Doctors say a Man is not to be taken in the Hour of his Grief and Perplexity It is not imputed to him if he utters things that are unfitting when he is in the Extremity of Pain and Anguish But yet we are to observe likewise that this Good Man even in the midst of his most pressing Calamities was never quite run down by them but at one time or other shew'd by his Words and Behaviour that he had got the Conquest of them You have heard of the Patience of Job saith St. Iames and this Patience was as eminent as his Disasters for we hear him blessing the Name of the Lord not only for what he gave but for what he took away from him we hear him protecting that though God should stay him yet he would trust in him we hear him expressing his Foresight Perswasion and Assurance that his Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter Day upon the Earth and tho after his Skin Worms destroy his Body yet in his Flesh he shall see God All which are most evident Arguments of his Patience under his Crosses of his Thankfulness to God for them of his Strong Faith and Confidence in him that he should be delivered from them and of his hearty Perswasion that nothing doth or can happen to Mankind without God's Good Pleasure nothing can betide us without his Leave and Consent which is the greatest Comfort and Refreshment the highest Repose and Satisfaction to our Minds imaginable This indeed is one grand Design of this Book to bring the Spirits of good Men to an even and placid Frame on this Consideration that God hath the Government of the World and doth what he thinks fit with his Creatures as to the outward Condition they are liable to in this Life that the Providence of God orders all the Actions and Enterprizes either of Men or Devils so that nothing can
not always observ'd here things are not related constantly in a certain continued Method and Series nor are we to understand or take them as written so A great and prevailing Mistake it hath been to think that the Course and Order of Time are duly and all along observ'd in these Writings Whereas to a considerate Person it will appear that there is no such thing and that the Chapters are not writ and disposed in any Method This because it may be look'd upon and censured as a New Notion I will make good thus the Day of Iudgment is represented and described three or four times in these Visions and Revelations as first at the opening of the Sixth Seal ch 6. v. 12 to the end where the Description of the Last Day agrees exactly with others in the New Testament especially that of our Saviour in Mat. 24. and therefore to allegorize it where there is no Occasion for it is unreasonable If it be said that the Disorder of the Sun Moon and Stars which is here spoken of signifies sometimes temporal Judgments as the Destruction of Babylon Isa. 13. 10. and of Egypt Ezek. 32. 7. I answer that though it doth so yet these Remarkable Judgments and Devastations were Figures and Representations of the Last and Terrible one and were so design'd by Heaven and therefore this may well be set forth to us by the Holy Ghost in this manner nay the darkning of the Sun and Moon and the like Expressions are but Metaphorical in those former Instances but here are Proper Natural and Real and therefore ought so to be understood in this Place Again St. Iohn hath another Revelation of this Great Day in the End of the 11th Chapter from ver 15 to the Close of the Chapter but especially those plain Words in ver 18. Thy Wrath is come and the time of the Dead that they should be judged place it beyond all doubt that the Final Iudgment of the last Day is here meant Again the Seventh Vial mention'd Rev. 16. 17. which contains the Last Plague is no other than the Indignation and Punishment of That Day as appears from the Prodigies which accompany it and particularly from what is said ver 20. Every Island fled away and the Mountains were not found which expresses the terrible Dissolution of the World at that time Besides that it is observable in the Conclusion of the preceding Vial which made way for this last that Christ saith I come as a Thief v. 15. which manner of Expression is particularly applied and made use of when the Day of Iudgment is spoken of Mat. 24. 43. 1 Thess. 5. 2 4 2 Pet. 3. 10. And lastly in the 20th Chapter from the 11th Verse to the end there is another Vision of this Last and General Appearance of the World as is universally acknowledg'd by Interpreters and therefore we need not stand to clear it Now from all this it is evident that there is not observed in the Visions of this Book an Historical Order or Course of Time for if there were the General Day of Doom which is the last thing of all could not be represented here three or four times This must have come in the shutting up of all when all other things were past whereas now we see it is represented in the Beginning in the Middle and in the End of these Revelations Which if it be well attended to is one admirable Key to open the Secrets of this Book for hence we understand that this Prophecy is not what it hath been thought to be one Entire Historical Narration of what shall be and that first one thing is foretold and then what follows that in time is next set down and so on in order No the Day of Judgement being thrice at least inserted shews that the Visions of this Book end and then begin again and then have a Period and commence again and after that the same or the like Scene is opened and things of the same Nature are repeated Which is a most evident Argument that this Book consists of Three or Four Grand Prophecies or Prophetick Representations of the Condition of Christ's Church from the time when this was âânned to the Consummation of all things Here are represented by different Types Prophetick Symbols and Visions the most remarkable things which happen on the Stage of the World and theâ are these three the Troubles and Persecutions which âbefal the Servants of the most High the ââliverââde of them out of those Trials and God's ãâã ââââshing of their Enemies These you will ãâã set forth and illustrated by diverse Schemes and Apparitions by different and reiterated Reââesentations And the Reason why things tho the same are diversly represented i. e. in diffeâânt Visions over and over again and why they are express'd in different Terms and Words the âââson I say why they are so often repeated is âââuse they so often come to pass in the several Ages of the World by the wise Disposal of Proviâânoâ These Prophecies have been and they ââall be yet fulfilled for the State of the Church as to the Cruelty of its Enemies and Persecutors and the Wonderful Deliverance from them and Avenging their Cause upon their Heads is the same in different Ages until the time when Babyâââ shall fall and never rise again To use the Words of a most Eminent and Learned Bishop of our own One may easily see saith he that Rome is here intended and not Pagan but Christian Rome which is degenerated into an Idolatrous and Tyrannical State It is easy to see in the Book of the Revelation that the Roman Church is doomed in due time to Destruction You see then how Useful this Book is you may be convinc'd of the Truth of what is said in the Beginning of it Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the Words of this Propheoy ch 1. v. 3. Thâ we cannot so clearly descny the Particular and ãâã dividual Things times and Personâ contain'd in tââ tho this last Book of the Holy Scripture be in this Respect the Obscurest of them all tho in some Places there be as many Mysteries as Words yet thus far it is properly Revelation that herein the State of the Christian Church and the Particular Methods of God's Providence towards it in all times are plainly revealed and discovered to us plainly I say because they are so often repeated that it is impossible to mistake them As Pharaââ's Dream was doubled to shew the Certainty of the things represented Gen. 41. 32. so these Prophecies and Visions are doubled and tribbled yea more than so to assure us of the Certain Truth and Reality of these Events to confirm us in this Perswasion that tho the Church of Christ here on Earth be often troubled and persecuted yet she hath her times of Restoration and Reviving and there is a time of Vengeance and Recompence to her Enemies even in this World but more especially at the
Ghost saw to be most profitable and necessary for the Church That one would think should content us So as to his Songs which were a thousand and five as we read in the fore-mentioned Place there is but One of them that hath arrived at our Hands and was thought worthy to be inserted into the Sacred Writings unless we reckon the Forty fifth Psalm to be a Song of his This then adds to the Excellency of these Writings of Solomon which we have that they are Choice Pieces selected even by the Holy Ghost who was the Prime Author of them This surely may satisfy us that the Books or Writings of this Wise Prince which were most Excellent and which were dictated by the Spirit are transmitted to us and are Part of the Bible Thus there is nothing lost that belongs to the Canonical Scripture of the Old Testament And whereas it is Objected that some Places are quoted in the New Testament as taken out of the Old and yet are not to be found there as Mat. 2. 23. Iames 4. 5. Iude v. 14. I answer as to the first that from those Words That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophets He shall be called a Nazarene no Man can gather that some of the Canonical Books of Scripture are missing because if you take the Prophets here for Prophetick Men who spoke only and did not write then there were no Books of theirs to be lost Or if by Prophets you understand the Penmen of the Bible it may be shew'd that what they foretold is still extant in their Writings For though those individual Words He shall be call'd a Nazarene are not found among the Prophecies of the Old Testament yet the Purport and Sense of them are there and the Places to which they have reference are very obvious as I have shewed in that particular Interpretation of the Words which I have offered to the Publick in my Enquiry into some Remarkable Texts of the New Testament Thence I hope it will appear that the Objectors have no ground for what they alledg and also that the Iews Cavil against this Place of St. Matthew where they say he quotes a Text out of the Prophets which is not to be found in any of them is void of all Reason Another Place which is wont to be mention'd on this Occasion is Iam. 4. 5. Do you think that the Sâripture saith in vain The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to Envy Which Words are no where to be found in Scripture therefore say they some Part of the Holy Writings is lost And Sir N. Knatchbull seems to say that this is Passage taken out of the Writings of the Prophets which âre missing at this Day In answer to this some say that Gen. 6. 3. is the Place of Scripture here referr'd to but after they have taken a great dealâof Pains to make this out their labour is in vain for surely no Man of free and unprejudiced Thoughts will be perswaded that those Wordâ My Spirit shall not always strive with Man are of the same Import with these The Spirit that dwelleââ in us lusteth to Envy This Exposition is built upon a mistaken Notion of the Hebrew word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã contendet which our Translators truly rendââ shall strive some fancying that it is to be derivââ from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a Sheath and then forsooth the Soul or Spirit is a Sword Lowis Chappel and some Others as groundlesly make these Words an Interrogation Doth the Spirit that dwelleth in us lust to Envy and think they refer to Numb 11. 29. Enviest thou for my sake The Question say they is a Negâtion and is as much as if it had been said Doth the Scripture and the Holy Spirit teach you to contend to be envious and quarrelsom No. But this likewise is forced and strained and an impartial Eye cannot possibly see any Affinity between the two Places of Scripture besides that there is one Interrogation to introduce another which confounds the Stile The plain and unforced Answer is this that St. Iames doth not here quote any Particular Place of Scripture as if there were such express Words in the Old Testament as are here set down by him He only tells us what is generally deliver'd in Scripture viz. that Man's Nature is depraved and corrupted that it is enclined to Envy as well as to other Lusts and Unlawful Affections Or If any âne Particular Place be referr'd to more than another it is probable it is that of Gen. 6. 5. or ch 8. v. 21. where we are told that the Imaginations or the Purposes and Desires of Mens Hearts are evil from their Youth yea they are only evil and that contiâually The Words then are not to be understood of the Divine Spirit but of that Corrupt Spirit which is in Men not the Spirit which is of God âât the Spirit of the World as the Apostle Paul distinguisheth 1 Cor. 2. 12. This Spirit lusteth to Envy and prompts Men to all other Vices And ãâã for the next Words He giveth more Grace they refer not to the Spirit here spoken of but to God who though he be not named in this Verse is twice in the immediately foregoing one He giveth ãâã Grace he according to his good Pleasure restrains Mens Lusts and envious Desires and teâcheth them Humility Submission and all other Divine Vertues Or according to a late Worthy Critick it i. e. the Scripture giveth more Grace for that it saith c. In this Holy Book there are Examples of some Persons in whom this Spirit of Envy was restrained When the Apostle then here saith Do you think that the Scripture saith in vain c. we must not wonder that those very Words are not found in any Part of the Old Testament for the Apostle only speaks here of what may be deduced from these Sacred Writings or what is said in them to the same purpose though in other Words There are many Places of Scripture which speak of the Lusts of that corrupt Spirit which is in us whereby we are stirr'd up to Envy and Strife From several Texts we may gather that Man's Nature is prone to these and the like Passions This I take to be the true Account of the Words In the same manner we are to understand Luââ 11. 49. Therefore said the Wisdom of God I will send them Prophets and Apostles c. There is no partâcular Text that hath these Words but there are several Prophecies to this Purpose So Ephes. 5. 14. He saith Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give the Light is not meanââ of any such particular and individual Words ãâã of the Spirit 's speaking in the Gospel to that Effect though I know Dr. Hammond and others refer iâ ãâã Isa. 60. 1. and some Interpreters to Isa. 51. 9. ãâã you will not find these or such Words in either of those Places That Passage in
use was drawn up in haste whereby some Matters that should have been united are severed and vice versâ The 1st Verse of the 4th Chapter to the Colossians should have been joined to the third Chapter and the Division of the Verses in many other Places ought to be corrected and altered as Sir N. Knatchbull hath in several Instances shew'd We may take Iunius and Tremellius for an Example who have alter'd the Chapters sometimes in the Latin and it might be as convenient to imitate them both in the Old and New Testament in English Nor will this Changing or any other Alteration which I have before suggested be any Argument at all of the Imperfection of Scripture This remains entire in it self and is not in the least changed And the âesign of my present Enterprize was to assert this and to evince the Perfection of the Original Text and to let us see that all Translations must be regulated by that No Version of the Bible is so absolutely Authentick that we ought to adhere to that and no other The Hebrew of the Old Testament and the Greek of the New are the only Standard and all must be examined and tried altered and amended by this It is granted there is some Variation in the Copies but the Diligent and Unprejudiced may find out what is Genuine Some have fancied that the carelessness of Transcribers hath caused some Literal Faults but then they acknowledg that none of them are Material and Considerable they relate not to Faith and Good Manners This is the very Confession of Spinoza who hath spoken so ill of the Bible This I can certainly affirm saith he that I have not found any fault or variety of readings about the moral Documents which may render them obscure and dubious Wherefore our Assertion still remains impregnable and unshaken that the Sacred Volume of the Scriptures is Compleat and Perfect and hath all things in it which can speak it a most Consummate Work CHAP. XIV The Reader is invited to the Study of the Bible as he values the Repute of a Scholar and a Learned Man That he may successfully study this Holy Book he must be furnish'd with Tongues Arts History c. It is necessary that he be very Inquisitive and Diligent in searching into the Mind and Design of the Sacred Writers In examining the Coherence of the Words In Comparing Places together In observing and discovering the peculiar Grace and Elegancy and sometimes the Verbal Allusions and Cadences of the Holy Scripture of which several Instances are given He must also be Morally qualified to read this Book i. e. he ought to banish all Prejudice He must be Modest and Humble He must endeavour to free himself from the Love of all Vice He must with great Earnestness implore the Assistance of the Holy Spirit IT remains that I conclude with a serious Address and Invitation to the Reader to admire and value this Book which is so transcendently Excellent and Compleat to prize it above all others whatsoever constantly to read peruse and study these Holy Writings The Laws of that Vile Impostor Mahomet are stiled the Alcoran from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã legit as much as to say the Book is to be read And shall we not think that that Sacred Volume which contains the Laws of our Heavenly Master and Infallible Teacher deserves that Respect from us For this reason the Hebrews call the Holy Scripture Mikra i. e. lectionem because it is to be read by all because this Divine Book is to be universally perused revolved and searched into We are not forbid to be acquainted with Other Authors such as may conduce to uâeful Knowledg whether secular or religious especially such as may be someways helpful towards the understanding of the Scriptures But there is a great Number of Writers that are trifling vain and useless others are dangerous and pernicious Meddle with neither of these or if you have lay them out of your Hands forthwith and take up the Bible the only Book that is Worthy of your most serious perusal Behold here the Book of God! There are no Writings any where like these none can afford any thing comparable to them It may be observed that the Holy Spirit hath made use of divers Sorts of Persons in the penning of this Volume Moses bred up in the Schools of the Egyptians Daniel one of the chief of the Wise Men and Princes of the Persian Court David and Solomon Kings Ieremy and Ezekiel Priests Amos a Herdsman in the New Testament Matthew a Converted Publican Paul broâght up at the Feet of Gamaliel the rest of the Evangelists and Apostles Fithermen and Tradesmen that hence Persons of all Ranks and Degrees may be admonish'd to converse with these Sacred Writings that they may think themselves concern'd in these Messages deliver'd by different Embassadors I have sometimes observed that some Men of no contemptible Learning and Reading and who are acquainted with store of Good Authors have no regard for this Excellent Book and never think themselves obliged to look into it But this argues a great defect of Judgment to say no worse now for even in the Point of Scholarship they cannot be without the Knowledg of the Bible So far as they are Ignorant of this they are deficient in Learning for as I have demonstrated this Book is fraught with all Humane Learning and gives Instructions concerning the choicest Arts and Sciences Upon which account it is of such universal use tâat no sort of Persons can be ignorant of it without great Inconvenience and Damage He is no Antiquary that is not skill'd in these Writings which are of the greatest Antiquity He is no Historian that is not acquainted with the Important Transactions of this Book He is no Statesman or Politician who hath not insight into the Excellent Maxims and Laws which are found here He is no right Natural Philosopher who is not acquainted with the Origin and Make of this Mundane System as they are represented in the Mosaick Physiology in the first Chapter of Genesis He is no Accomplish'd Grammarian Critick or Rhetorician who is ignorant of that Philological Learning which these Writings afford And chiefly he is no Good Man or Christian who is a Stranger to those Admirable Rule which are here laid down Wherefore it is the concern of all Persons to converse with the Scriptures and to apply themselves with great diligence to the reading of them and that daily and frequently Let this Holy Book be seldom out of your Hands Though you have often perused it yet continue to do so still for you will thereby receive infinite Advantage There is ever something gain'd by a fresh and repeated reading of it Some new Matter is discover'd or the old is illustrated and confirm'd We either know more or know better than we did before That our Reading of the Holy Scriptures may be of this Nature and that we may study and
be great Moral and Religious Qualifications likewise for this is the Book of God and therefore we must come to it with agreeable Inclinations Wills and Affections Men complain that there is a great Contention about the interpreting of Scripture and Different Parties can't agree whence they proceed to blame the Obscurity and Uncertainty of the Scripture it self But herein these Persons themselves are very blameable for this Disagreement in the interpreting of Sacred Writ arises not wholly from the Obscurity of it nor doth it proceed from the Uncertainty of it as some would suggest but from Mens Depraved Minds and Passions Wherefore our main Care ought to be 1st To free our selves from all Wilful Prejudice and Perverseness which have been the first and original Causes of misunderstanding the Scriptures Thus the Infernal Spirit when he tempted our Saviour most perversly quoted Psal. 91. 11. and misapplied it to his purpose And from him Hereticks and Seducers have learnt to cite and make use of Scripture to evil Designs viz. to uphold some Error or Vice What an Antient Writer of the Church saith of one sort of Heretical Teachers that they interpret the Sense of the Holy Writ according to their own Pleasure is true of them all their constant Practice is to strain and distort these Sacred Writings to construe them according to their own Fancies and to make them like an Echo speak what they please Their great Work in consulting and turning over this Volume is to find something they may misinterpret for their own Ends. Their Affection to a particular Cause makes them believe and assert any thing though never so improbable and then they alledg Scripture to back it though it be wholly foreign to the purpose These Persons are of the Number of those Depravers of Truth who as One of the Antient Fathers gives us their Character do not accommodate their Minds to the Scripture but pervert and draw the Mind of the Scripture to their own Wills This glossing and expounding of the Bible according to Mens corrupt Fancies is as M. Luther hath expressed it like straining Milk through a Colesack it blackens and deâiles the pure Word of God it depraves and falsifies the Mind of the Spirit Those Men are to be abhorr'd that submit not their Thoughts and Conceptions to this Sacred Standard who compel the Scripture to serve their Private Opinions who make no conscience of putting a Text upon the Rack to make it speak what it intended not of miserably torturing it that they may force it to confess what it never meant These Persons should be reminded how great a Sin it is to distort and deprave the Holy Writ and designedly to draw it to another Sense than it naturally bears And the Penalty is as grievous as the Crime for as the Apostle St. Peter informs us this Generation of Men wrest the Scripture unto their own Destruction 2 Pet. 3. 16. Wherefore let none presume to be guilty in this Nature and dare to follow their own sinister Imagiâations in the interpreting of the Inspired Writings but let them attend to that Advice of a Pious and Learned Author We should be more willing to take a Sense from Scripture than to bring one to it Let us strive to know the naked and pure Meaning of the Spirit and in order to that read the Bible with an Unprejudiced and Sincere Mind which is an Excellent Interpreter Whereas 't is a certain Truth that Perverse Minds will pervert the Scriptures 2dly We ought to read these Divine Writings with great Modesty and Humility Let it not trouble us that some Parts of them are not level to our Understandings And where we cannot solve some things let us not arrogantly pretend to do it It is no Disgrace to confess our Ignorance here I can assure you this hath been done by the Learnedest Heads There is a Learned Ignorance as St. Augustin terms it and we need not be ashamed to be Masters of it These four things mention'd in Eccles 12. 6. I understand not saith Castellio I scarcely understand the thousandth Part of this Book saith he concerning the Apocalypse And 't is frequent with this Learned Man to say I know not the Meaning of this Place That Man is impudently rash who dares profess that he understands one single Book of the Bible in all its Parts saith Luther I own it that I am so blind that I cannot see any thing at all in that dark Place of Scripture Amos 5. 26. saith the Great Selden But the contrary Temper and Spirit have swell'd some with proud Conceits of their understanding some Passages of this Book when they have no true Apprehension of them in the least and accordingly they have endeavour'd in a supercilious manner to impose their crude Sense upon others not craving but commanding Assent to what they have propounded These bold Men forget what the Wise King saith It is the Glory of God to conceal a Matter to speak sometimes in so dark and hidden a manner that there is need of great searching studying and enquiring into the things that are said and yet at last they remain abstruse and unintelligible It hath pleased God the Wise Governour of the World that the Scripture should have Difficulties and Obscurities in it that there should be some things hard to be understood But as Socrates said of Heraclitus's Writings What he understood of them was very good and so he believed that to be which he understood not the like may we with more Reason pronounce concerning the Sacred Scriptures The Matters which we have Knowledg of which are the main Body and Substance of the Book are Excellent and Divine and so there is Reason to conclude that those Parts of it which are hidden from us are of the same Nature There is no occasion to find fault with the Sovereign Wisdom of God but it is our apparent Duty to lay aside Pride and to exercise Humility which will capacitate us to understand even those Great Mysteries and Abstrusities when we have with much Diligence and frequent Study search'd into them 3dly We must think our selves concern'd to purge our Hearts and Lives from all Deâilements of Vice For 't is certain that a quick Brain a subtile Head and a nimble Wit are not so much required to the understanding of Divine Truth as an Honest Mind and a Religious Practice To Men of polluted Consciences and profane Manners the Scriptures seem dark and mysterious but to those of sanctified Minds and holy Lives they are as to the most part plain and clear These Qualifications render them as bright as a Sun-beam What the Turks are said to write on the back-side of the Alcoran Let none touch this Book but he that is pure may with great Reason and Justice be written on the Holy Book of Scripture and that only for a Pure Life is the best Commentator on these Writings A wonderful measure of
Knowledg and Insight into these Divine Truths which are here contain'd is the Effect of observing and practising the Holy Precepts of this Book This then we ought to urge upon our selves to come to the reading of Scripture with defecate and purged Minds with Love to what it dictates and with Obedience to it This should be our principal Care to live well and to walk according to this Excellent Rule All our Religion and the whole Conduct of our Actions in this World depend upon the Scriptures therefore let us be directed and govern'd by the Infallible Maxims Precepts Promises and Threatnings of this Book We see Men live by Custom by the Dictates of Others or by their Own Opinions which oftentimes prove erroneous and lead them into unwarrantable Practices But they would not be thus misguided if they consulted These Lively Oracles of God this sure Word of Prophecy if they regulated their Actions by this Exact Canon And hereby we are certain to improve our Knowledg in this Holy Book for by living according to it we shall the better understand it by minding the Practical Contents of it we shall have a full Discovery of its Principles and Doctrines Lastly That we may attain to a right understanding of the Sense of Scripture that we may have a due Perception of the Meaning of what is deliver'd here let us most earnestly invoke the Divine Aid and Assistance He that reads this Book without Prayer can never expect to be bless'd with a compleat Knowledg of it For it is the sole Work of the Divine Spirit to illuminate our Minds effectually There is required the special Help of this Heavenly Instructor to direct us into Truth wherefore he is call'd the Spirit of Truth and the Vnction from the Holy One whereby we know all things The same Spirit that endited these Holy Writings must enlighten our Minds to understand them Which I find thus expressed in the Words of our Church The Revelation of the Holy Ghost inspireth the true meaning of the Scripture into us in truth we cannot without it attain true Saving-knowledg And a Learned and Pious Son of our Mother gives his Suffrage in these Words Wicked Men however learned do not know the Scriptures because they feel them not and because they are not understood but with the same Spirit that writ them Seeing then a Spiritual Illumination is requisite in order to the comprehending of Scripture-Truths we ought with great Fervour and Zeal to request it we ought with a singular Devotion to repair to this Infallible Teacher and with mighty Importunity beseech him to open our Eyes that we may behold wondrous things out of the Divine Law and to conduct our Reasons aright in our Enquiry into this Sacred Volume And He that commands us to implore his Help will certainly vouchsafe it to all sincere and devout Supplicants The Eyes of our Understanding shall be irradiated with a Celestial Beam and we shall feel an internal Operation of the Spirit on our Hearts communicating Light and Wisdom By the Assistance of this Blessed Guide we shall not miscarry in our Searches and Endeavours This Divine Book shall be laid open to us and we shall have its Mysteries and Depths disclosed to us so far as is convenient for us and no rational Man ought to desire any more Yea as it is with some of those that have studied for the Phâlosophick Elixar though they attain not to it yet in their impetuous Search after it they find out many Excellent Things admirably useful for Mankind which are a Recompence of their Labours so though we may fall short of some Grand Secrets which are treasured up in this Inspired Volume yet we shall not faâl of some Choice Discoveries that will make us amends for our most laborious Enquiries We shall mightily improve our Knowledg and we shall likewise be under the special Benediction of Heaven The Rabbins tell us that when R. Ionathan writ his Targum on the Bible if at any time the least Fly lit upon his Paper it was presently consumed with Fire from Heaven But though this be Romantick and after the rate of the Rabbins yet it is a sober Trutlâ that God will protect us in reading and studying the Holy Scriptures Whilest we are thus employed nothing shall disturb or hurt us the Divine Arm will defend and prosper us and we shall peruse this Book with that happy Success which we pray'd for In short by continual conversing with this Book which is the only one that hath no Errata's we shall know how to correct all the Failures of our Notions and of our Lives we shall enrich our Minds with a Stock of Excellent Principles and we shall be throughly furnish'd unto all good Works we shall be conducted to the highest Improvements of Knowledg and Sanctity in this Life and to the most Conââmmate Happiness in another FINIS Books written by the Reverend Mr. John Edwards AN Enquiry into several ãâã Texts of the Old and New Testament which contain some Difficulty in them with a Probable Resolution of them In two Volumes in 8â A Discourse concerning the Authority Stile and Perfection of the Books of the Old and New Testament Vol. I. with a Continued Illustration of several Difficult Texts throughout the whole Work A Discourse conâârning the Authority Stile and Perfection of the Books of the Old and New Testament Vol. II. wherein the Author 's former Undertaking is further prosecuted viz. An Enquiry into several Remarkable Texts which contain some Difficulty in them A Discoeurs concerning the Authority Stile and Perfection of the Books of the Old and New Testament Vol. III. treating of the Excellency and Perfection of the Holy Scriptures and illustrating several difficult Texts occurring in this Undertaking All sold by Ionathan Robinson Iohn Taylor and Iohn Wyat. * Plataic â Panegyr Plataic â¡ Plataic * Orat. 2. ad Nicocl â Panegyr Orat. â Orat. ad Philip. â¡ Panegyr ad Philip. Epist. ad Philip. Epist. ad Mitylen * Panegyr Orat. â Plataic Orat. 1. â Orat. ad Philip. * Panegyr Orat. Plataic Orat. bis â Olynth 1. â Philip. 1. * ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Clem. Alex. in Protrept â Gen. 9. 27. * Deut. 28. 49 c. â 1 Kings 13. 2. * Antiqu. 1. 11. c. 1. â Dr. Jackson * Dan. 2. â Temporum conscius totius Mundi Polyhistor Epist. ad Paulin. * Ver. 2. â Ver. 20. â Ver. 5. * Ibid. * John 21. 18. â Ver. 22. * Earum rerum quae foââuitae putantur praedictio atque praesentio De Divinat l. 1. * Lib. 3. c. 8. * Colloqu Mensal * ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Orig. cont Celâ l. 6. * Lib. 1. â ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Isid. Pelus Ep. l. 5. * ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Just. Mart. Dialog cum Tryph. â Arnob. lib. 1. â Sozom. l. 1. c. 11. ââ Gr. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Mark 2.
ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Dialog * Beza Caninius in locum * In ãâã 26. â In Mâre 14. â Critie Dec. 2. â 6. * Naâ Hist. l. 1â â 2. * Diog Laârt in Platone * Hom. 28. in Epist. ad Hebr. â ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã devita Tiâ 3. 9. * In Hesychio â In Locum * Isa. 11. 2. â Isa. 11. 2. â Eph. 1. 17. * Gal. 6. 1. â 2 Tim. 1. 7. â Rom. 11. 8. ââ Hos. 5. 4. ââ 1 John 4. 3. * Isa. 19. 14. * ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Spiritus * Lib. dâ Cultu Sâellar â De Diâ Syr. Proleg â Antiqu. ââ1 c. 4. * Not. Miscell in Port. Mos. * See at the End of the Book â It hath 4 Significations urere discere dividere convivic excipere * Lexicon ex Talmud in Sanhedrim * See Buxtorf de Abbreviat Hebraic * See at the end of the Book * Vatablus Munster Drusius â De Animal sacr l. 1. â Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 20. l. 18. c. 21. Solin cap. 43 65. Strabo Geogr. lib. 15. Aelian Hist. Animal l. 6. c. 20. ââ Scâliger Exercit. 205. * Et nova velocem cingula laedat Eqâââ Ovid de Remed * Dag gadol Jon. 1. 17. â Mr. Bochart De Cero Jonae * Contra Cardan de balaenis * ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in visceribus * ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Hom. Od. â â Maâ 12. 40. * Bochart de Anim. Sacr. * 2 Kings 9. 37. Psal. 83. 10. Jer. 8. 2. * Contr. Haeref l. 1. â Druthmarus in loc â In Matth. cap. 3. * Clemens Alex. Chrysostom Nicephorus Hist. l. 1. c. 14. Isidor l. 1. Epist. 5. â Hieron Montius de Tutela salubritatis â Annotat. in Matth. 3. 4. * Lib. 4. c. 3. â Advers Jovinian * Lexic Hebraic â Jon. 4. 6. * Miscell l. 4. c. 5. * Annotat. in Exod. 3. 23. * Antiqu. l. 3. c. 1. â ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã â Paul Fagius in Exod. 28. 20. * Deut. 3. 11. â 1 Sam. 17. 4. â Origen Hom. 2. in Gen. Augustin de Civ Del l. 15. c. 27. * Butâo de Arcâ Noc Kircher Arc. Noâ * ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã â Manipuli spicarum * Dr. Lightfoot Hor. Hebraic * De Asse â Lib. 9. c. 1â * Denarius à denis aeris * Georgius Agricola Budaeus Alciat Porâius Glareanus Fuschius Waserus Brerewood Dr. Cumberland * De bel Jud. l. 4. c. 18. * Grotius Dr. Lightfoot * Antiqu. l. 2. c. 5. * Gen. 10. 11 * ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Matth. 1. 20. ch 1â ãâã Luke 1. 27. and sevâral other times in the same Evangelist * Matth. 27. 56. Mark 15. 40. â Matth. 27. 61. * ãâã Solomon Aben Ezra c. â Antiqu. l. 8. c. 6. * Communi nomine Candacae appellatae sunt Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 29. * R. Levi Mercerus Cocceius * Sir Norton Knatchbull 's Annotations on St. Matthew * ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Suidas ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Hesych â Jam. 3. 9. * Significat vel genu vel sermonem flectere ad aliquem alloqui cum geniculatione Forster Heb. Dict. * See in the End of the Book * In Epist. ad Philem. v. 2. â Haeres 78. â Epist. 22. ad Eustoch * John 2. 10. â Gen. 43. 34. â Lib. 5. ââ Lib. 26. c. 11. * Dionys. Halicarn * Dr. Brown's Vulgar Errors * Tiberium non fortunae non solitudines protegebant quin pectoris tormenta suasque ipse poenas fateretur Annal. c. â â Sueton. in Nerone cap. 34. â Thuanuâ * Antiqu. l. 1. c. 3. * Sir Norton Kâatchbull on Mat. 27. 9. * Luke 12. 49. * Commentar in Pentatâuch * Aâtiqu l. 7. c. 10. â Urâââh Urajoth * Not. in Act. â Mesopotamia tota Assyriorum fâit c. Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 6. â Reliqua pars Mesopotamiae Assyriaeque ââbylonia appellata est * Lib. 25. * John 2. 1. * De Dâs Syr. Proleg c. 1. * Joseph Antiqu. 1. 1. * Lib. 16. â Virgil. Georg. 1 2. â ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Mat. 12. 42. * Antiqu. 1. 2. c. 5. ââ Ludolph Hist. Ethiop * Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 29. â Psal. 72. 10. â Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. * In Phaleg * Antiqu. l. 8. c. 2. â In Phaleg â China illustrata * ãâã Antiqu. l. 8. c. 2. * Rev. 1. 1. * 1 John 2. 18. â 1 Pet. 4. 7. â 1 Cor. 10. 11. * 2 Epist. ch 3. v. 13. * Mat. 26. 13. this Gospel Acts 5. 20. this Life and other Places So that Mat. 7. 22. 1 John 3. 12. and these 1 Cor. 12. 2. 2. Tim. 1. 12. are prefixed where there is no reference to any thing going before * Antiqu. I. 2. c. 6. * Usher Knatchbull * Antiq. Jud. l. 6. c. 15. * Mr. Abraham Cowley in his Davideis * Concent of Scripture â The Câronicle of the Times of the Old Testament * Comment in S. Matth. * Jul. African Greg. Nazianz. Auguslin Jerom Eusebius Ambrose â Baronius Jansenius c. * Academ cap. 2. * Soepe pellibus tabernaculi allevatis ut conspiceres hostium ignes Hist. lib. 7. â Tentoria militum erant ex pellibus c. De gest Alex. M. l. 1. â Decad. 1. lib. 5. * Lib. 1. cap 12. â De Bello Gall. l. 3. c. 4. â Lib. 8. cap. 2. ââ 4 Acad. * Therapeut â Hom. 5. ân 2 Tim. â Comment in Epist. âd Eplies * Lib. 4. â Voss. Etymolog 2 Psal. 19. 8. 3 Lib. advers Hermogenem 4 Juvencus Nazianzen ãâã Sedulius Prudentius Aâaâor Rusticus Elpidius 5 Dâ-Bartas Bâchanan Bishop Hall Sir George Sandys Dr. Donne Mr. ãâã Mr. Hârbârâ Dr. Beauâoââ Mr. Câwley Mr. Milton Dr. More Mr. Norris Mr. Wâoâford Dr. Patrick Vida Wesâây 6 In his Liâe 7 Iudg Hale in his Letter to one of his Soâs 8 Cicâronem amâââe proâecisse est Qâintil 1 Dr. Iackson Vol. 1. Book â 1 Article the 6th viz. of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation 1 Imbecillior est Medicina quam Morbus Epist 16. ad Attic. Lib. 10. 2 Psal. 119. 50. 3 v. 92. 1 Rom. 15. 4. 1 Job 5. 17. Psal. 94. 12. Prov. 3. 11. Matth. 5. 10. 11. Acts 14. 22. Râm 5. 3. 8. 17. Jam. 1. 2 12. 2 Job 7. 17. 1 2 Cor. 1. 12. 1 Iudg Hale in his Discourse of the Knowledg of God and of our Selves 1 2. Tim. 3. 17. 2 a kibbel accepit quia à Majoribus accepta est 1 In Deuteron cap. 34. 1 Impossible est stare super Fundamento Legis scriptae nisi beneâicio Legis ore traditae 2 Verba Legis in loco proprio egena funt in alieno verò locupletissima 3 Magni montes dependent à pilo 4 Sapientes suis ipsorum verbis robur secerunt majus quà m ipsis Legis verbis
A DISCOURSE Concerning the Authority Stile and Perfection OF THE BOOKS OF THE Old and New-Testament WITH A Continued Illustration of several Difficult Texts of Scripture throughout the whole Work By IOHN EDWARDS B. D. sometime Fellow of St. Iohn's College in CAMBRIDGE LONDON Printed and Sold by Richard Wilkin at the King's-Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCIII Imprimatur S. Blithe Procan Deput Io. Beaumont S. T. P. Io. Covell S. T. P. C. Roderick S. T. P. Cantabr April 13. 1693. TO THE Right Reverend Father in God SIMON Lord Bishop of ELY MY LORD YOVR Kind and Generous Acceptance of my former Vndertakings which justly merits my most Thankful Acknowledgments which I here render to Your Lordship hath encouraged me to make this Offering of another little Treatise and to request You to take both it and its worthless Author into Your Protection Your Name alone is a sufficient Amulet against the Censures which these Papers may be exposed to by being made thus Publick None will venture to damn that Book which Your Lordship shall be pleased to Patronize I am confident of the Goodness of the Cause which I have Espoused but I am as sensible on the other hand of my great and manifold Defects in the managing it However I entertain good hopes of finding my Readers in some measure favourable to this Enterprize when they shall behold Your Lordship's Name which is the known Name of Learning and Piety prefixed to it by My Lord Your Lordships Most Humble and Devoted Servant Iohn Edwards THE PREFACE WHAT I had prepared for the Publick View concerning the Authority Stile and Perfection of Scripture I intended to have Published together in one Volume but finding that the Present Age is not for Great Books I am content to comply with it so fâr especially perceiving the First Part of this my Undertaking to swell into a moderate Octavo I am willing it should go into the World alonâ and accordingly I now Publish that First Pârt only intending to treat of the Stile and Perfection of Scripture either in one or two Volumes afterwards The whole Attempt is of near Aââinity with my foâmer Undertaking viz. of Criticizing on several Texts of Scripture especially such as are Difficult and giving the Resolution of them I have all along whilst I have mention'd sâveral Passages of Holy Writ to which the Opinions or Practises of the Pagans refer given an Explication generally of them So that I am still in pursuit of my former Dâsign and I make it my Business to clear and illustrate the Sacred Writings especially that part of them which is most Obscure and Difficult But the more particular Design of these Papers is to aââeât the Truth and Authority of those Ancient and Divine Writings and that from the Testimonies of our professed Adversaries viz. Pagans and Iews It were folly to deny that divers of these things are mentioned in other Authors and partly to the same purpose that I have produced them as indeed what useful Subject is there that hath escaped the Pens of the Learned but then it will be fitting if not necessary for me to add in a just Vindication of my present Attempt that so far as I have conversed with Writers I never met with any that Traced this Noble Subject both through the Old and New-Testament which is the Design of this present Work I know some have hinted at a few of these Remarks and most commonly without insisting on the Reasons and Grounds of them and without examining the particular Circumstances belonging to them But I have not contented my self with this superficial way of delivering these things but have endeavoured to Search into the true and genuine Original of them which hath occasioned several Just Discourses and enlarged Disquisitions on the various Matters which occur under those Heads In brief I have amply prosecuted this Argument by offering a vast number of Particulars from my own Enquiry and Observation I have designedly Treated on this Theme which scarce any have done I have methodically digested my Materials according to the Histories or other Passages in the Bible to which they have reference in Iewish or Pagan Writers And Lastly I have made the whole Serviceable to this excellent Purpose viz. the attesting and confirming the Truth of the Sacred Scriptures But the main of this Preface shall be spent in vindicating my Interpretation of 1 Cor. 15. 29. In my former Enquiry into that Text where I maintained that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which our Translators rendeâ Baptized for the Dead is according to the truâ and proper Signification of the Words in that place to be Translated Baptized on the Account or by reason of or for the sake of the Dead Which Interpretation I perceive some are backward to entertain because they doubt whether the Preposition ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã join'd with a Genitive Case be taken in that sense in Prophane Authors They grant it is Equivalent with the Latin causâ gratiâ or in gratiam but they think that these and consequently the Greek Preposition always refer to and denote some Advantage or Benefit Therefore according to these Persons ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã should rather be rendred for the benefit of the Dead because this is the Acception of the Preposition in the Writings of all Prophane Authors But to this I might reply and that with most justifiable Reason that I am not obliged to prove that this Preposition is used in Pagan Writers in the same Sense that I assert it to be used in this place of St. Paul Who knows not that some Authors have a particular and individual Sense of some Words appropriated to themselves and it is in vain to look for the same Acception of them in other Writers The Commentators on Homer Aristophanes Herodotus or any other good Greek or Latin Author take notice that such a Word or Phrase is used by these Writers in a Sense different from what is found in others and this is Satisfactory to the Learned But especially if they find that one of these Authors useth the same word more than once in this peculiar Sense they are confirmed in the belief of this singular meaning of it So it should be here for this is certain that the Authority of the New-Testament is every whit as good as that of the foremention'd Authors or any other Any fair Critick will readily grant that if I produce two or three places in the New-Testament where the Preposition ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã hath the Signification which I affix to it I perform my Task well enough And this I have already done in my Enquiry into that Text where more than the fore-named number of places is brought to confirm that particular Sense of the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which I have propounded I could have mentioned Gal. 1. 4. and 1 Pet. 3. 18. and other Texts made use of by Grotius where he thinks ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is to be rendred
Import signifies a disposing of something is most commoââly applied to such a Disposal as is either by Covenââ or Testament Hence it is sometimes rendred ãâã Covenant and sometimes a Testament especially among the Lawyers the latter Sense prevails and accordingly you will find that a Last Will and Testament is express'd by this word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the Imperial Institutions and other Law-Books translated into Greek We may here join both Senses together for what God hath agreed to by Covenant with Man that Christ bequeaths and gives by Testament Now we must prove both these i. e. we must make it evident that the Covenant and Testament are True before we can receive any Advantage and Benefit from them There is a Necessity of evidencing the Truth of the Scriptures which are this Covenant and this Testament otherwise we can build nothing upon them Here then I. I will evince the Truth and Authority of the Scriptures which is the great Basis of all Theology II. After I have largely insisted on this I will proceed to give you an account of the Nature of the Stile and Phrase of these Holy Books III. I will advance yet farther and demonstrate the Excellency and Perfection of them The Subject of our present Undertaking is the first of these in handling of which I shall but briefly and concisely make use of those Arguments which are commonly insisted upon by Learned Writers till I come to fix upon a Topick which is not commonly yea which is very rarely and by the by used in this Cause and this I will pursue very largely and fully I hope with some Satisfaction to the Reader There are many Arguments to demonstrate the Truth and Authority of the Holy Scriptures and shew that they are worthy to be believed and imbraced by us as the very Word of God Some of these Arguments which are to prove the Truth of these Writings are in common with those that prove the Truth of the Christian Religion on which I shall have occasion to insist at another time but my Design at present is to propound those which are more peculiarly and properly fitted to evince the Truth of the Scriptures And these are either Internal or External The Internal ones I call those which are either in the Scriptures themselves or in Vs. The Characters of Divinity which the Scriptures have in Themselves are either their Matter or the Manner of the writing them I begin with the first the Matter of them and here I will mention only these three Particulars 1. The Sublime Doctrines and Verities which are in Holy Writ In reading this Book we meet with such things as cannot reasonably be thought to come from any but God himself In other Writings which are most applauded the choicest things which entertain our Minds are the excellent Moral Notions and Precepts which they offer to us which are all the Result of Improved Reason and Natural Religion But here are besides these Notices of a peculiar Nature and such as are above our natural Capacity and Invention as the Creation of the World in that Manner as is represented to us in these Writings the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity the Eternal Decrees the Incarnation of Christ the Son of God the Redemption of the World by his Blood the whole Method of Man's Salvation the stupendous Providence of God over his Church in all Ages the Coming of Christ to Judgment and in order to that the raising of all Men out of their Ashes These and several other Doctrines deliver'd in the Sacred Writings cannot be imagined to come from any but God they carry with them the Character of Divinity as being no common and obvious Matters but such as are towring and lofty hidden and abstruse and not likely to be the Product of Humane Wisdom A God is plainly discovered in them for the most Improved Creatures could never have reach'd to this pitch Any serious and thinking Man cannot but discern the peculiar Turn and singular Contrivance of these Mysterious Doctrines which argue them to be Divine We may therefore believe the Writings of the Prophets and Apostles to be the Word of God because of the wonderful Height and Sublimity of those Truths which are contained in them 2. The Exact Purity and Holiness both of Body and Soul of Heart and Life which are enjoin'd in these Writings are another Testimony of their being Divinely Inspired For though some other Books dictate Religion and Piety yet this is certain that all the true and just Measures of them were taken originally from this one Exact Standard which was prior to them all as I shall shew afterwards Besides the Love and Charity the Humility Meekness and all other Vertues which the Scriptures describe to us far exceed the most advantageous Representations the most exalted Ideas which the Heathen Moralists give of them These therefore are emphatically and eminently called by St. Paul the Holy Scriptures 2 Tim. 3. 15. because they breath the most consummate Goodness and Piety and that antecedently to all Writings whatsoever because every thing in them advanceth Holiness and that in Thought Word and Actions The End and Scope of them are to promote Sanctity of Life to make us every way better and even to render us * like God himself The Holy Scripture was intended to set forth the Divine Perfections to display the Heavenly Purity and thereby to commend the Excellency of a holy Life And it is certain that if with sincere and humble Minds we peruse this Book of God we shall find this blessed Result of it it will marvellously instruct us in the Knowledg of the Divine Attributes especially of God's Unspotted Holiness it will tincture our Minds with Religion it will pervade all our Faculties with a Spirit of Godliness and it will thorowly cleanse and sanctify both our Hearts and Lives which proves it to be from God But because I shall have occasion to say more of this when I treat of the Perfection of the Scriptures I will now dismiss it 3. To the Matter of Scripture we must refer the Prophecios and Predictions which are contained in it These I reckon another Internal Argument because they are drawn from what is comprehended in the very Scripture it self What a vast number is there of Prophecies of the Old and New Testament which we find fulfilled and accordingly are Testimonies of the Truth of these Scriptures Here I will a little enlarge and first I will begân with that ancient Prophecy of Noah God shall enlarge Japheth and he shall dwell in the Tents of Shem and Canaan shall be his Servant Where are foretold things that happened above two thousand Years afterward for the Posterity of Iapheth viz. the Europeans especially the Greeks and Romans among other Conquests gain'd the possession of Iudea and other Eastern Countries which were the Portion of Shem. Again it was fulfilled thus by Christ's coming and preaching the Gospel and by his
Books with us We need not stay to attend here to what a late Learned Writer before named hath with much Confidence but slender Reason suggested viz. that the Bible of the Old Testament is an Abbreviated Collection from Antient Records which were much more large He confesseth that the Canon of Scripture is taken out of Authentick Registeries but the Authors who collected it added and diminished as they pleased especially he asserts this concerning the Historical Books that they are Abridgments of larger Records and Summaries of other larger Acts kept in the Jewish Archives and these publick Scribes who writ them out took the liberty to alter Words as they saw occasion So that in short according to this Critick here are only some broken Pieces and Scraps taken out of the first Authentick Writings A bold and daring Assertion and founded on no other Bottom than F. Simon 's Brain Who would expect this from one that is a Man of great Sense and Reason one that is a great Master of Critical Learning and hath presented the World with very choice Remarks on the History of the Bible for truly I am not of his Opinion who saith he sees not any thing in this Author's Writings buâ what is common It is to be lamented that a Person otherwise so Judicious and Observing hath given himself up here to his own Fancy and Conceit He invents a new Office of publick Registers that were Divinely inspired he makes Notaries and Prophets the same He gives no Proof and Demonstration of that Adding and Diminishing which the Scribes he talks of made he hatâ not one tolerable Argument to evince any of thâ Books of Scripture to be Fragments of greater ones Indeed I should mightily have wondred that so Ingenious so Sagacious so Learned a Man haâ broach'd such groundless Notions if I did noâ consider that this subtile Romanist designs hereââ as most of that Church generally do to depreciaâââ the Bible and to represent it as a Book of Fragments and Shreds that so when our Esteem ãâã the Authority of Scripture is weakned yea taken away we may wholly rest upon Tradition anâ found our Religion as well as the Scriptures ãâã that alone This is that which he drives at in ãâã Critical History both of the Old and New Testamenâ But all sober and considerate Persons will bewarâ of him when they discover this Design Theâ will easily see through his plausible Stories foââ Surmises bold Conjectures and seeming Argâmentations and they will have the greater Reverence for the Bible because he and others havâ attacked it with so much Contempt and Rudenesâ and purposely bring its Authority into question that they may set up something else above ãâã Notwithstanding then the Cavils and Objection of designing Men we have reason to believe anâ avouch the Authority of the Old Testament and to be thorowly perswaded that the Books are entirely transmitted to us without any Corruption and are the same that ever they were without and Diminution or Addition We have them as they were written by the first Authors we have them entire and perfect and not as some fondly suggest contracted abbreviated curtail'd Unto the Iews the antient People of God were committed his Oracles as the Apostle speaks and they shewed themselves conscientious and diligent Conservators of them The Jewish Nation saith St. Augustin have been as 't were the Chest-keepers for the Christians they have faithfully preserv'd that Sacred Depositum for them they have safely kept that Ark wherein the Law and the Prophets were Lock'd up God would have the Jews to be Librarii Christianorum saith Drusius Keepers of those Sacred Volumes for us Christians and it is certain they kept them with great Care the like whereof is not to be found to have been taken in preserving any other sort of Writings under Heaven And seeing they have so carefully handed the Old Testament down to us we are concern'd to receive it with a proportionable Thankfulness and to reckon this their Delivering of those Writings down to us as no mean Argument of their Truth and Certainty Secondly The Authority of the New Testament is confirmed by External Testimony or Tradition no less than that of the Old Testament We have the Authentick Suffrage of the Primitive Church the Unanimous Consent of the Christians of the first Ages that this Book is of Divine Inspiration and that it is Pure and Uncorrupted Some of the Fathers and first Writers give us a Catalogue of the Books of the New Testament and they are the very same with those which we have at this day Athanasius particularly enumerating those Books sets down all those which we now embrace as Canonical and no others And many of the Fathers of the first Ages after Christ as Irenaeus Iustin Martyr Clemens Alexandrinus Origen Tertullian c. quote the Places in the New Testament as they are now If it be objected that in the Fathers sometimes the Text of Scripture is not exactly what we find it and read it at this day This must be remembred that they sometimes quoted the Meaning not the very Words At other times their Memories fail'd them as to the Words and thence they chang'd them into others and instead of those in the Text used some that were like them So when they were in haste and not at leisure to consult the Text they made use of such Words and Expressions as they thought came nearest to it Heinsius shews this in a vast many places Sometimes they contract the Word of the Text and give only the brief Sense of it at other times they enlarge it and present us with a Comment upon it yea sometimes as they see occasion and as their Matter leads them to it they invert the Words and misplace the Parts of the Text. But no Man ought hence to infer that the Scriptures of the New Testament then and now are not the same And as for the Number of the Sacred Writers and their Books it hatâ been always the same i. e. the same Catalogue and Canon have been generally acknowledged and received by the Christian Church It is true some Particular Books have been questioned but by a few only and for a time but the Church was at last fully satisfied about them the Generality oâ Christians agreed to own all those Books which are now owned by us All the Eastern Churches held the Epistle to the Hebrews to be Canonical though the Latins it is granted were not so unanimous This Epistle and that of St. Iames the second Epistle of St. Peter the second and third of St. Iohn and the Epistle of St. Iude and the Apocalypse were questioned in the first Century saith Eusebius but he acquaints us withal that they were afterwards by general Consent received into the Canon of Holy Scripture for the Doubts were resolved upon mature Deliberation So that the questioning of those Books is now a Conâârmation of the Truth and Authority of
it were easy to prove All which it is likely had its first Rise from the Old Testament and the Practice of the Antients recorded there Is it not reasonable to think that the Cities of Refuge among some Pagan Nations whither Offenders fled for Protection had their Origine from those so expresly mentioned in Numb 35. 13 14 15. Hence we read that Cadmus when he built Thebes founded a Place for all sorts of Criminals to repair to and Romulus at the building of Rome erected a Sanctuary for Offenders to fly to Further I could observe that the New-Moons were celebrated by the Athenians and other Grecians Concerning the first Plutarch is very positive and as to the rest that Proverbial Saying ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in use among them shews that they solemnly observ'd the first Day of the Month. The Romans likewise had the same Custom as is manifest from that of Ovid Vendicat Ausonias Iunonis cura Calendas And these New-Moon Festivals are referr'd to by Horace more than once as you may see in Turââbus All which is of Hebrew Extraction I could take notice that the Latin Iubilare and Iubilatio which are found in Varro and other old Romans which signify great Rejoicing and Shouting for Joy are from the old Jewish Law of Iubilee a Time of exceeding Gladness being the Year when Servants and Debtors were restored to their Liberty and Possessions which occasioned great Rejoicing And I could propound more Instances yet to prove that several Customs among the Heathens were extracted from the Holy Scriptures and that Heathen Worshippers shaped New Strange and Profane Rites and Ways of Worship out of the Passages they âead or heard of there and that most of the Heathen Usages are corrupt Imitations of the Jews I will add to the several Particulars this one more which though I will not confidently pronounce was borrowed from the Jews yet I propose it as a thing very probable It is this that the Hieroglyphicks of the Egyptians were in imitation of that People for they were brought up under Shadows Types and Symbols dark Representations and mystical Rites which might give occasion to the Egyptians to teach Religion and Morality by Hieroglyphick Figures I am not positive here nor would I be any where else unless I had good Grounds to go on because I am not altogether certain that the Hieroglyphick Learning began after Moses But there is great probability that it did and consequently that it was derived from what they observ'd among the Jews This is the Perswasion of the Inquisitive Kircher who without âây hesitation averreth that the Symbolical and Hieroglyphick Learning was imbibed from the Hebrews Nay to go yet farther now we are come thus far there are those who conjecture that a great part of the Antient Gentile Philosophy was collected from the Holy Book of Scripture Among the antient Persians the Mosaick Religion might be âiscovered in many Instances which might be given of their Principles and an Ingenious French Author hath lately proved that their Zoroastres was the same with Moses And as for the Pythagârick and Platonick Philosophy which consists much in Figures and Numbers in Dark and Symbolical Precepts it is evident that it was made up out of the Sacred Hebrew Writings The Platonists Books concerning God the Genii the Spirits and Souls of Men though stuff'd with many Errors and Superstitions discover a great Resemblance and Affinity with those things which the Bible delivers about the Nature of God Angels and Humane Souls Eusebius particularly insists on this and derives the Platonick Doctrines from the Scriptures Hence both he and Clement of Alexandria take notice of what Numenius the Pythagorean Philosopher said of Plato namely that he was the Greek Moses And indeed most of the antient Sages and Philosophers were obscure and mystick in their Stile and way of delivering their Notions as the Sacred Writers are observ'd to be very often Hence it is said by the antient Father whom I last quoted That the way of Philosophizing among those Pagans was after the manner of the Hebrews that is Aenigmatical But as to the Matter as well as Stile the chiefest of the old Greek Poets and Philosophers as Orpheus Homer Hesiod Thales Anaxagoras Parmenides Empedocles Democritus Socrates besides Pythagoras and Plato before named agree with Moses We may say of them all as an Historian saith of the first of them after he had set down several Particulars of sound Philosophy in his Poems They have pronounced many things concerning God and Man which are consonant to that Truth which we who are taught by the Holy Writings profess This may give light to what an Egyptian Priest told Solon Yoâ Grecians saith he are but of yesterday and know nothing of the Rise and Antiquity of Arts there is not one of you that is Old and there is no Learning among you that is Antient. His meaning was that all their Knowledg was borrowed and that the Sacred Mosaick Philosophy and Theology were the oldest of all From this the Heathens took theirs though sometimes they express it in different Terms Thus we have gone through the Moâaick Records and in many Instances shew'd the Derivation of Gentile Philosophy Principles Praâtices and Usages from those Sacred Writings and consequently we have evinced the Truth and Antiquity of these Records Before I leave this Head of my Discourse I will here add the Testimony of Pagan and Profane Authors concerning this great Law-giver Moses the first Penman of Holy Scripture which is still in prosecution of what I undertook to shew that the Writings of the Old Testament and with them their Authors and Penmen are attested by Profane Writers It appears first from what these have said that there was such a Person and that he was what his Writings represent him to be This is he that is called by Orpheus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã alluding to his Name Mosheh Exod. 2. 10. which was given him because he was drawn out of the Water He is celebrated by Alexander Polyhistor Philochorus Thallus Appion cited by Iustin Martyr by Manethon and Numenius alledged by Origen and Eusebius by Lysimachus and Molon quoted by Iosephus by Chalcidius Sanchoniathon Iustin Pliny in Porphyrius Moses is placed by Dioâorus the Sicilian in the Front of his famous Law-givers only a little disguised under the Name of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã who is there said to have received his Laws from Mercury And why from Mercury Perhaps because some Chronologers acquaint us that the Great Mercurius stiled Trismegistus the antientest Philosopher among the Egyptians was either contemporary with Moses or is thought to have lived about his time But St. Augustine tells us in his Noted Book de Civitate Dei that this ãâã was Nephew to another Mârâurius whose ãâã was Atlas the famous Astrologer and he it was belike that flourished in Moses's time Whââââ if I
Alah nor Chi Alon nor Chi gnolam but Chi Elohim or Chi El take which you please that is referr'd to here by the Poet for these are the very words used in Scripture and we read that one of them especially is the express form of Swearing among the Hebrews Which is the thing I alledged this passage for viz. To let you see how Pagan Writers have frequent references to the Book of God and particularly the Name of the True God and to the Customs and Usages there spoken of and thereby do in some measure give testimony to the Truth and Reality of those Writings I would offer to the Learned another Notion in prosecution of the Subject I have been so long upon I am of the Opinion that from The frequent mention of Horns in the Old Testament the Heathens borrow'd the like expression and apply'd it in that very sense in which 't is used in those Holy Writings The Hebrew Keren whence the Greek ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Latin Cornu and the German and English Horn signifies Might Strength Fortitude as also Ioy Safety Prosperity whence you read of the Horn of Salvation 2 Sam. 22. 3. Psal. 18. 2. and the exalting lifting up and setting ãâã the Horn 1 Sam. 2. 1. Ps. 75. 4 10. Ps. 89. 17. Ps. 112. 9. Lam. 2. 17. Zach. 1. 21. On the contrary cutting off the Horn signifies debasing degrading a mournful unsafe afflicted Condition ãâã is clear from Ps. 75 10. Ier. 48. 25. Lam. 2. 3. And defiling the Horn is of the same import ãâã 16. 5. From the signification of the Verb Kuran we may be partly confirmed in this sense of the Noun Keren for 't is said of Moses's Face that it shone Ex. 34. 29. it was very Bright and Glorious The vulgar Latin renders it it was Horn'd and thence was said before Moses is âsually Pictured with Horns But we must unâârstand it spoken Metaphorically viz. of those âays or Beams of Light which darted from his face and which were as 't were Horns of Light So in Hab. 3. 4. by Horns is meant Brightness or Light and it is so expresly interpreted in that rerse The Radiency the Splendour of Moses's Face was very great and is rightly called by the Apostle the Glory of his Countenance 2 Cor. 3. 7. So that hence we may gather that the word imports Outward Glory And as this word Keren signifies more generally Power Grandeur Ourward Glory and Prosperity so it more particularly denotes Kingly Power Soveraign Dominiou and Empire the Greatness and Splendor of Crowned Heads Whence by the way I propound it as probable that from the Eastern words Karan and Keren are derived the Greek ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Dominus Imperator and the Latin Corona Thus Horn is applied in 1 Sam. 2. 10. He shall give strength unto his King and exalt the Horn of his Annointed And in the Psalms you will find that this word hath particular reference to David as King Ps. 89. 24. 91. 10. So in Ps. 132. 17. 't is spoken of him as the Lord 's Annointed and 't is joyn'd with a Crown in the next verse In the Book of Daniel this Language is very common in the 7th and 8th Chapters a Horn and Horns signifie Princely Dominion and the Persons that exercis'd it and in the latter of these Chapters those two Horn'd Beasts a Ram and a Goat are Representatives of Kings and Kingdoms It is in express words said in two places Horns are Kings Dan. 7. 24. 8. 7. Now from this particular stile and idiom of the Ancient Holy Book of the Scriptures the Heathen Writers learnt to speak after the same manner Not only in a general way was the word Horn used by some of their Authors to express Vigour Spirit Strength and Power but more especially and signally they makâ use of it to signifie Supream Power and Dignity such as that of their Gods and of their Kings Thus Corniger was the Epithet of Iupiter Hammon and we may inform our selves from several Writers that he was commonly pictured with Horns which had its rise I conceive from the like representation of Great Ones in the Old Testament as you have heard I know other Reasons are alledg'd as that of Servius who thinks this Iupiter had that Title and was represented Horned because of his Winding Oracles because his Answers had as many crooked Turnings as a Ram's Horn. Macrobius and some others tell us that this Hammon was no other than the Sun whose Beams are Cornute whose Rays are in the fashion of Horns If the Moon had been meant then I confess the Epithet of Horned had been very Natural But I don't think that the Metaphorical Horns of the Sun which are its Rays were thought of here by the Antients Wherefore I look upon these as mean and trifling Reasons But the true occasion if I mistake not of their describing Iupiter Hammon with Horns and of representing other Gods as Pan and Bacchus after the same manner was this that they complied with the Stile of the Sacred Writings as was an usual thing with them which set forth Great Power Magnificence and Glory especially Kingly Power and Greatness by the expression of Horns This suited well with their Gods who were Great Folks and generally Deified Kings We read that a Ram and a Goat are Symbols of Regal Strength in the Prophetick Writings in imitation of which it is probable Iupiter Hammon was worshipp'd in Afsrick in the shape of an Image which had partly the proportions of a Ram and partly of a Goat And from the same Original viz. the Holy Scriptures it was that Antiently the Pagan Kings and Monarchs were represented and stiled Horned as we may satisfie our selves from several Authors It is well known that Alexander the Great was called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã bicornis of which some give this Reason because say they of the amplitude of his Empire which was extended to both the extream Horns of the World East and West Others say he would have been thought to be the Son of Iupiter Hammon who was Cornute and accordingly they drew Alexander so And there are other Reasons assign'd by Authors why this Great Conquerour had the denomination of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but they seem to be far fetch'd and not to give us the true and genuine account of it which I take to be this viz. That this Title was derived to the Gentiles from the frequent Language and Phraseology of the Old Testament which expresses Kingly Power by Horns and more especially from the Prophecy of Daniel where the Grecian Monarchy is deseribed by a He Goat an Horn'd Animal and the first King of that third Monarchy viz. Alexander the Great is signified by Keren Chazuth a Notable Horn Dan. 8. 5. a Great and Visible Horn as the Hebrew word properly signifies And again he is call'd in the same Chapter the Great Horn v. 21. All Interpreters agree in
this that Alexander the Great is meant here although they differ in expounding other parts of the Chapter Hence this Mighty Monarch would in his Pictures and Coins be ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã represented as Horn'd yea his choice Horse which he most prized is known by this Character And from this Great Man his Successors learnt to stamp their Coine with Horned Images and Impressions Hence âlexander is called Dulcarnain in the Alcoran by Mabomet which is equivalent to ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for that I suppose to be the meaning of that Eastern word And 'till some others give a better Interpretation of Chaucer's at Dulkernoon I presume to say it signifies as much as to be in a âaze to be at ones wits end to be dilemma'd to be push'd at on one side and the other as 't were with a double Horn. So much for that Name given to that Great Monarch of which many Writers have disputed and I have made bold to put in among the rest and to offer my apprehensions concerning that Epithet I refer it to the Old Testament which was not unknown to some of the wisest of the Gentiles who thence borrow'd many Words and Phrases and more Customs and Practices Hence Horns came to be significatâve of Kingly Greatness and Power Hence it was a Custom among the Persians to wear a Rams Head of Gold for a Diadem Hence Attila King of Hunns was pourtray'd with Horns as is to be seen in Ancient Medals And that Horns were a Badge of Regality and Dominion is clear from what we read in Valerius Maximus viz. That when on a sudden Horns were seen to appear on the head of Genitius Cippus as he was going out at the door the Response was that he should be King if he return'd into the City I have now almost finish'd my Task I mean so far as it respects the Old Testament Let me only add this after all That many things in Homer Euripides Sophocles Theognis c. may not only be reduced to but seem to be borrow'd from David's Psalms Solomon's Proverbs the Book of Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus which are but an imitation of these and other parts both of the Canonical and Apocriphal Writings This hath been partly shew'd by some of late but might be carried on much further I do not think every Saying that is like another in Scripture was taken thence That of the Apostle 1 Cor. 2. 9. which he takes from Isai. 64. 4. Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither hath it enter'd into the Heart of Man is very like that passage in Empedocles ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but no Man can think there was any reference to it I do not say that Lucretus's Cedit item retro de terrâ quod fuit ante In terras Et quod missum est Aetheris oris c. was copied out of Solomon Eccles. 12. 7. Toen shall the dust return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit shall return unto God who gave it I know many Sentences may happen to be alike yea the same in Sacred and Prophane Writers The Moral Subject they Treat upon might afford the like matter and words sometimes but in comparing the Hagiographa and those Writings you will find that that there is more than this the Genius of the Stile is the same the manner of Expression the forms of Speech the particular Phrases and proverbial Sayings which had their first rise among the Hebrews are the very same This is excellently shewed by the Learned Hugh Grotius in his Annotations and it plainly discovers whence the Pagan Writers had those things Some of the Prophane Poets borrow'd their strain of Love-Songs and Epithalamiums from Solomon's Canticle Especially Theocritus as Sanctius hath observed from whom the rest learnt that way of Verse hath not a few passages in his Idyllia expresly taken out of that Sacred Song And in that Dialogue of Plato which he entitles Symposium or his Eroticks there are several things which you would guess are allusions to Solomon's Love-Dialogue or Epithalamium And to heap up several particulars together it was said by Solon in his Discourse with Craâsus as both Herodotus and Diogenes Laertius report that the Term of Mans Life is threescore years and ten as if he had had it from the Pen of the Holy Psalmist Psal. 90. 10. The Acclamation or Shout which was used among the Heathens in War when there was an occasion of Joy and Thanksgiving was ãâã which you may eaâily conceive was a corruption of Allelujah Some Chapters and Psalms of the Old Testament are disposed in an Alphabetical Order which gave rise to that sort of Verses call'd Acrosticks Such are the Arguments of Plautus's Comedies and the Elogium of Christ in one of the Sibylls which you will find also in Tully This piece of Wit and Fancy was borrowed from the Holy Writings which were Endicted by the Sacred Spirit And here when I am speaking of the Pagans borrowing from the Hebrews I might even observe to you that the very Greek Alpbabet is taken from them which the Grecians themselves in part confess for they say they had their Letters from the phaniâians who were near Neighbours to the Hebrews and who indeed are usually mistaken for these I will add in the last place that the Old Testament hath left some remains of it in most remoto Countries of the World as China India America as our Modern Travellers will inform us In all these parts there are evident and apparent footsteps of the History of the Bible Mastinius in his History of China acquaints us that the Chineses have Records concerning the Vniversal Flood and that there are among that People several Memorials of the Old Patriarchs and accordingly one hath given us a brief account out of him of Cain Enoch and Noah That in India the footsteps of Mosaick Doctrine remain among the Brachmans is proved by Huetius The highest Mountain of Zeilan an Isle in the East-Indies is call'd by the Inhabitants Adam's Top and there is Adam's Cave where he lamented himself after his Fall The Ceremony of putting their Hands under one another's Thighs when they solemnly Swear to one another of which we read in Gen. 24. 2. 47. 29. is observ'd among some of the Indians at this day The Americans saith ââosta have Traditions of the Deluge and make mention of it in their Discourses And Huetius ââeweth that several Rites and Laws of Moses are observed by them The Antient Patriarchs left behind them remembrances of their Actions even in these places their Memory is still preserv'd and retained in many Names Customs and Practices that are among them The Name Ioseph is often found there and Hallelujah is used in their Songs as Hornius observes The People of Peru report that all their Earth was overwhelm'd with waters and lay cover'd with them a long time that
their Religious Rites from the Gentiles That from what hath been premised we may take notice of and admire the singular Providence of Heaven That we are ascertain'd of the Antiquity Reasonableness and Certainty of our Religion That we are reconcil'd to the writings of Prophane Authors That we are assured of the Truth and Authority of the Scriptures of the Old Testament I Will now add unto Reason and Evidence the Suffrage of the Learned and Wise whether Ancients or Moderns It was averr'd long since by Demetrius Phalereus that Great Historian and Philosopher in an Epistle of his to King Ptolomey that the Gentile Philosophers took many things from the Holy Scriptures as you will find him cited by Eusebius in his Evangelical Preparation This is an early Testimony to the truth of what I have asserted By this it appears that the Notion which I have offered is above two thousand years Old Iosephus the Learned Iew who lived about half a thousand years after attests the same and professedly proves that both Philosophers and Poets borrowed from the Sacred Fountains of Scripture This is abundantly testified by the Christian Fathers as Tatianus who hath a set Oration on this Subject that what Learning the Greeks gloried in was received all of it from the Barbarians as they call'd the Iews Tâeophilus Bishop of Antioch who lived likewise in the Second Century asserts this in defence of Christianity proving that whatever the Pagan Poets writ of Hell and the pains of it and several other Subjects in Divinity was stolen from the Writings of the inspired Prophets and that the Christian doctrine which is in a great part taken from them is the Ancientest Religion Iustin the Christian Philosopher and martyr speaks to the like purpose and proves that all the true Notions in Theology among the Pagans sprang from Moses and the Holy Writings and he instanceth in and enlargeth on many Particulars shewing that Orpheus Homer and Plato had several of their Words Phrases Opinions Traditions Descriptions from the Prophetick Writings He maintains that the Fables of Bacchus Hercules Aesculapius c. were made out of the depraved sense and meaning of the Holy Writ At another time he pursueth the same Argument and attempts to demonstrate that all the Great and Brave things in the Philosophers and Poets Writings are from the Holy Book Clement of Alexandria is very copious on this Theme The Scope of the first Book of his Stromata is to shew that the Philosophy of the Hebrews was many Generations older than that of the Gentiles and in prosecution of this he endeavours to evince that the Opinions of the Greek Philosophers and others were taken from Moses and other Hebrews And in the Second Book of his Stromata he farther insisteth on this Subject and proves that the Greeks were Notorious Plagiaries and stole their Philosophy from the Barbarians And so he goes on in the following Books to prove that all the good Notions among the Greeks came from the Hebrews that whatever Excellent Truths the former taught thây had from the latter they Sacrilegiously took them from the Holy Patriarchs and Iews This is the sense of the forty seventh Chapter of Tertullian's Apologetick he there maintains that both Poets and Philosophers were beholding to the Prophets and derived all their best things from them Yea those very Arguments which the Pagans bring against the Christian Truth are fetch'd from it as I observ'd from him before I have mention'd Origen already but if you consult his Fourth Book against Celsus you will find this more largely asserted viz. That the Pagan Rites and Stories were taken from the Scriptures Eusebius likewise hath been quoted before but if the Reader think good to peruse the Author he will see this Argument insisted on in four or five Books together where he proves that the Greeks had some understanding of Moses's Theology and follow'd the Iewish Writers in several things which he makes good by alledging several passages out of Theophrastus Hecataeus Porphyrius Numenius Megasthenes c. And afterwards he goes on and more designedly clears this Proposition that what is good in the Writings of the Gentile Philosophers is all stoln from the Hebrews and that the Wisdom of the Greeks especially came from the Iews I might add the Testimony of St. Augustin who shews that the Platonists borrowed from the Scripture And of Theodoret who agrees with him in this and farther proves that other Philosophers had their Theologick Notions from Moses and the Prophets Thus we see this is an Old and Received Truth Nor doth it want the Sâffrage of the most Learned Modern Writers some of whom without any order of time I will briefly mention Stuckius is very plain and peremptory and speaks the Sum of what we have delivered in the preceeding Discourse The whole Religion of the Old Pagans saith he proceeded from a depraved perverse and preposterous kind of imitating that Ancient and truly Divine Religion which the Patriarchs and their posterity the Iews had such a reverence for as being prescribed them by God himself Villalpandus on the Pentateuch professedly declares that the Sacrifices and other Usages among the Gentiles came from the Iews Who can deny saith another that the Laws which were given to those Holy Men the Hebrews came first to the Egyptians and then out of Egypt went to Greece The Elder Vossius hath in almost innumerable places assorted this that the Gentiles made a great number of their Fables out of the Histories which are in the Sacred Writings Bochart hath with great Wit and Learning traced and discovered the footsteps of Scripture-History among the Heathens in their Mythology It is the Opinion of Marcus Marinus that the Theological Sentiments concerning Divine Things were the same among all the Ancient Hebrews and Patriarchs but afterwards they were depraved by the Greeks and Converted into Fables Lewis Capell hath these express words In the Old Fables of the Greeks you may perceive some shadow and Image some dark and flying footsteps as 't were of several of the Histories in the Bible Which might be demonstrated by a manifold induction of particulars It is the declar'd judgment of another that the Gentiles were wont to transferr the more remarkable Histories of the Old Testament and the Divine Miracles related therein to their false Gods And he instances in several And because I have asserted in the foregoing Discourse that the Sacred Mysteries and Rites of God's own appointment have been prophaned and abused even to Magical purposes I will adjoyn here the Testimony of Petrus Crinitus who expresly tells us that the Egyptians and others made and invented Magical Ceremonies out of the Scacred Rites and Observances of the Iews and that they were wholly indebted to these for them Kircher and Isaac Vossius have done their part in this Subject but Huetius in his Evanââlical
Renowned Acts of several of the Patriarchs and first Worthies c. It is a great establishing of our Faith that those Pagans derived so many things from Scripture The Gentile Writers vouch a great part of our Religion Wherefore we must needs imbrace it when it is attested by such Disinteressed Persons 3. We ought to take notice of the Wonderful Providence of God in this matter Behold the Scripture is attested by those who never owned its Authority yea the very Enemies of these Holy Writings ratiâie the Truth and Certainty of them The Heathen Poets whilst they Corrupt Divine Truth assert it Their very Lies and Fictions bear witness to the Sacred Verities their Fables confirm the Infallibility of the Bible This is the Lord 's doing here the Great and Over-ruling Wisdom of God is seen Here his Almighty Power in baââing Satan's Contrivances and Designs may be discern'd He as was said before intended the Corruption of the Scriptures the silencing of the Truth the Exalting of himself and the Advancing of his Kingdom But the All-Wise and Powerful Moderator of the World disappointed his Designs and made this thing we are speaking of serviceable and beneficial to Religion he made it become an Argument of its Antiquity Reasonableness and Certainty against the Cavils of Atheists and Infidels 4. Henceforth we are reconciled to the Writings of Prophane Authors We have this considerable advantage by reading the Works of the Ancient Heathens and by perusing their Stories and Fables that we shall find some Greater Thing couched in them than the bare Narrative For these Writers borrow'd many things from the Holy Book their broken Stories are often-times an imperfect account of Scripture Relations Sundry things in their Writings are gather'd out of the Divine Volume but are strangely wrested pervertrd and obscured by having new Names and âeigned Circumstances affix'd to them Almost all the Gentile Fables and Theology flowed from a depraved sense of the Sacred Writings The Poets disguise true Stories with many Fictions and some Reliques of Divine Truth are buried under their ingenuous Fancies and Fabulous Narrations Ovid Transcribed the Greek Theology from Orpheus Homer Hesiod and other Ancient Poets and these had it from the Bible The very Poetick Fictions refer unto real Story and are drawn from the Divine Source of Truth So that we are reading the Holy Scripture in a manner whilst we are turning over Pagan Writers In these we meet with Truths Transplanted from the Sacred Book we find many passages stollen from the Hebrew Fountains It is not to be denied then that Scholars and Students yea the very Candidates of Sacred Theology may with great profit prie into these Writings of the Pagans for here are the footsteps of Divine Verities Prophane and Sacred Learning are to be joyn'd The Gentile Monuments illustrate the inspired ones We may notwithstanding the disguise which Poets have put upon the Stories see the foundation of them and perceive that those vain Figmentsâ are grounded on some Solid Truth and that a Sacred Treasure lies hid under those confused Fables For this is not to be denied that Palestine afforded Greece matter of fancy and invention the Pagan Poets were befriended by the Iews Athens was indebted to Ierusalem Parnassus was beholding to Sinai and Helicon to Iordan You see then the advantage we may reap by being acquainted with Prophane Writers whilst we look further than the outward shape which they have given to many things and search into that Truth which lies hid under it even the Sacred and undoubted History of the Old Testament Thus we may make them serviceable to far higher and better ends than they are intended This is the best improvement that can be made of them to see the true Source of what is written by them to understand whence they borrowed their matter and to confirm our selves in the belief of the Truth of the Sacred Writings by perusing these which are Prophane 5thly and lastly then See the Authority Truth and Certainty of the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament which is the main thing I have been aiming at I had proved this before by several Arguments and those perhaps on some accounts more Forcing and Convictive than this but I thought good to add this to them as no contemptible way of proving the Antiquity and Authority of the Sacred Book The Truth of the Historical part of the Old Testament is evidenced from Heathen Writers not only Historians but Philosophers and Poets A Man may by comparing these with the Sacred Volume find out the Original of the Pagan Traditions and Fictions and observe the Lineaments of true and unquestionable History among them Hence we shall have no reason to doubt that there were such Persons and Things in being as are spoken of in the Old Testament and that the Passages and Transactions there mention'd were real and true This admirably serves to evince the Authority of those Writings this proves the Truth of the Records of Holy Writ and that they ought to be received as the Oracles of God i. e. as Infallible CHAP. X. The Authority of the Books of the New-Testament confirmed by Pagan and Iewish Writers who speak of a King or Lord that should come out of the East and particularly out of Judaea An Enumeration of the Opinions of the Learned concerning the Sibylls with the particular Sentiment of the Author viz. That the Contents of their Verses were horrow'd from the Old-Testament and that those Women were not Prophetesses but only related what they found in the Inspired Writings or heard of thence A full Answer to the Objections of those who hold the Sibylline Writings to be Spurious NExt I am to shew how the Scriptures of the New-Testament are vouched and confirmed by an External Testimony i. e. how professed Pagans ând Iews Enemies to Christianity have related ând asserted the very same things that are set down ân those Evangelical Writings First I will begin with that which is of a middle nature between what I have been discoursing of before and what â am now to ingage in which therefore may aptây serve as a Transition from one to the other I âean the belief and report recorded in Pagan Writers that a King or Lord should come from the âast and do great and mighty things This was deâived from the Scriptures of the Old Testament and ãâã belongs to the former Discourse but becaâse it is mentioned by Historians that were after Christ's time and the Application is with all reason to be made to Him I rightly bring it in here It was I say a constant Report that prevail'd about the time of our Saviour's Birth and afterwards that some eminent Person or Persons should rise out of those Eastern Nations and be Lords of the World We find Tacitus asserting this and that great Politician and Statesman would needs have it fulfilled in Vespasian and Titus because they were called out of Iudea unto the Empire of Rome Suetonius
had any seminal Cause or observable Original out of which they were to grow the greater the Variety of their Senses or Constructions is the more admirable Proof doth their Accomplishment exhibit of that infinite Wisdom which did dictate them ânto the Prophets And he instances in such Prophecies as were fulfilled in a double Sense and at two different times as Isa. 9. 23. Ier. I. 6 8. and others which had a first and second Accomplishment This is the very thing which I have been asserting and which I hope I have made sufficiently evident The historical Books of the Old Testament are not bare Narratives and naked Stories of what is past but in the largest and most comprehensive Construction of them they refer even to the Affairs of future Times So that what Thucydides called his History a Possession or Treasure that was to last for ever a Monument to instruct all the Ages to come we may most truly and justly apply to the historical Part of the Old Testament It is of never-failing Use to the World Whatever is recorded here concerning the Transactions of Divine Providence towards the Jews and other People is typical and representative of what God now doth and will always do to the End of the World In the several Particulars of the sacred Story we may read the Condition and Lot of the Church in all succeeding Ages for what is to come is but a Transcript of what we find here And as for the Doctrinal Part it is mysterious and allegorical in many Places there is a hidden and invisible Treasure lies under the visible and outward Letter Many of the Precepts Prohibitions Threatnings and Promises reach a great deal farther than the Words simply and absolutely denote and spiritual and heavenly Matters are couched in those Texts which primarily speak of earthly and temporal ones Lastly when you read a prophetick Passage in the Bible the bare thing there literally expressed is not all that is intended but there is oftentimes much more implied As Ezekiel tells us of a Wheel within a Wheel so 't is as true there is a Prophecy within a Prophecy in the Holy Scriptures One and the same Prediction there is to be fulfilled more than once In short the Bible is not like other Books In the History Doctrines and Prophecies both of the Old and New Testament there are secret and hidden Meanings besides those which are plain and obvious and which lie uppermost in the bare Letter This is the peculiar and transcendent Excellency of the inspired Writings This one thing alone may invite us to study this sacred Volume and with incessant Labour penetrate into the inmost Sense of it and acquaint our selves not only with the literal Meaning which first comes to our View but with that which is more remote and mysterious Here then we must carefully avoid these two Extreams viz. of laying the Letter of Scripture aside and of resting altogether in the Letter First some despise the Letter of Scripture and mind nothing in it but the Mystery Of this sort were the Cabalistick Iews who depraved the most substantial Parts of the Old Testament by interpreting them in a mystical Sense only Some of the Christian Fathers were too guilty of this especially Origen the Prince of the Allegorists St. Hilary in his Commentaries on St. Matthew and on the Psalms explains several Places in this mystical way whereby he fastens on them a Sense very different from that which they naturally have Indeed his Comments are generally taken from Origen St. Ambrose in his Exposition of the Scripture is generally allegorical Optatus Bishop of Milevi is too often faulty as to this in his Books against the Donatists But it is to be observed that none of these Fathers do utterly exclude the literal and historical Meaning And as there have been Cabalists and Allegorists of Old so some high-flown Men of late have run all the Bible into moral and mystical Interpretations and in the mean time have either disbelieved or slighted the historical and literal Sense I cannot wholly condemn those who have indeavoured to present us with Mysteries in all the several Steps of the Creation in the whole six Days Works and in every particular Instance of the Mosaick Philosophy For this without doubt is not wholly external material and sensible and to be interpreted only according to the most obvious Signification of the Words it is most true even here that Moses hath a Vail over his Face and there are certain Mysteries and Allegories contained under the very History But though we are not to be mere Sons of the Letter yet we have no Reason to think that the Mosaick Philosophy or Hiââory are made up of Allusions and Metaphors and are altogether mysterious This were to soar aloft with our modern Chymists to dote after the rate of a Rosy-crucian whose Brains are so inchanted that they turn all into Spectres Dreams and Phantasims But especially that Part of the Beginning of the Book of Genesis which gives an Account of the Fall of our first Parents must not be turned into mere Mystery and Allegory for it is sufficiently evident that Moses speaks of Matter of Fact Wherefore a late Writer cannot be enough rââuked for his Attempt of turning all the Mosaick History concerning Adam and Eve the Serpent Paradise eating the forbidden Fruit and all the Passages relating to them into Parable yea into Ridicule for he makes himself hugely merry with the several Particulars recorded by Moses Yea his Fancy was so low and groveling that he picks up any vulgar Stuff to present the Reader with Upon those Words They sewed Fig-leaves and made themselves Aprons he triflingly cries out Behold the first Rise of the Tailors Trade And then that trite and popular Cavil is fetch'd in to embelish his Book Where had Adam and Eve Needle and Thread And again this he saith exceedingly troubles and puzzles his Brain How the Woman's Body could be made of one single Rib. Such is the profound Wit and Philosophy of this Allegorical Gentleman who because the Scripture sometimes speaks as I shall have occasion to shew afterwards after the manner of Men and in compliance with their common though mistaken Apprehensions he here stretches this too far and extravagantly tells us That all the Account given by Moses not only of the Origine and Creation of the World but of Adam and the first Transgression and the Serpent and the cursing of the Earth and other Matters relating to the Fall is not true in it self but only spoken popularly to comply with the dull Israelites lately âlavish Brickmakers and ââelling strong of the Garlick and Onions of Egypt To humour these ignorant Blockheads that were newly broke loose from the Egyptian Task-masters and had no Sense nor Reason in their thick Sculls Moses talks after this rate but not a Syllable of Truth is in all that he saith This is very strange Language from a Reverend Divine
who thereby destroys the whole System of Theology and of Christianity it self for if there were none of those things before mentioned if in a literal and historical Sense there was no such thing as that first Disoâedience of Adam if there be nothing true concerning the Temptation and the Apostacy of our first Parents and the Evils and Misery that ensued upon it then it will follow thence that Mankind had no need of a Saviour and Redeemer then Christ's Coming in the Flesh was in vain then all Christianity falls to the Ground then when the Writings of the New Testament speak of Eve's being deceived and being in the Transgression when they acquaint us that the Serpent beguiled Eve through his Subtility and that by one Man's Disobedience many were made Sinners and that in Adam all died all is mere Romance and Fiction there was nothing of these in Reality And then likewise we have as good Reason to believe that the other Parts of the New Testament which speak of our Saviour and all his Undertakings are to be understood in the same manner that is they are but a cunningly devised Parable they may have some moral meaning as Esop's Fables have but they contain nothing of real Fact This is the natural Result of allegorizing the 3d Chapter of Genesis By dealing thus with this Part of the Bible he hath baffled all the rest he hath wretchedly subverted the whole Scheme of our Religion he hath spoil'd the whole Fabrick of Christianity and he hath made the Scripture useless and insignificant So that by this one Attempt of his he hath shaken not to say overturn'd the Foundations of Religion he hath taken part with the known Despisers of all revealed Theology he hath encouraged and patronized the wild Conceits of Scepticks he hath strengthned the Hands of the Profane he hath abundantly gratified the whole Tribe of Atheists and Deists he hath won their Hearts for ever And indeed we cannot but observe what fort of Men they are that applaud his Undertaking viz. the Wits of the Town as they are call'd Men disposed to very ill Thoughts of Religion and the Scriptures yea Men generally indulging themselves in Immorality and Debauchery These are the Persons that promote his Notions and cry up his Writings This Theorist is become much more pleasing to them than Mr. Hobbs This new Archaeologist is far more taking than the Leviathan because he nips the Bible more closely and also because he is not as the other a Layman but a professed Divine and that of the Church of England This makes his Enterprize so acceptable to these Men for now they have a Clergyman to vouch them they have the Warranty of a Church-man I will not question or so much as suspect the Prudence of our Ecclesiastical Governors but in my Judgment if there be no publick Censure pass'd upon such a daring Attempt as this by a Member of our Church Atheists will have just Ground to laugh at our Discipline as well as they do at our Doctrine To excuse himself he saith this way of speaking is used in the Writings of the New Testament and confessed to be Metaphorical and Symbolical and why not then in Genesis I answer Because though there are some Expressions of that Nature as the Trumpet sounding and the Books opened at the Day of Judgment which are but metaphorical it is likely yet it is easy to discern it And in other Places it is intimated and sometimes plainly declared that the Passages are metaphorical and myââical as in the Parables of the Prophets and of our Saviour But it is quite anothâr thing which we are speaking of viz. not an Expression or two but a whole entire History delivered in plain Words and with all its Circumstances as Matter of Fact and there is not the least Intimation of any other Sense yea many of the Particulars are mentioned in other Places of the Old and New Testament as direct Matter of Fact Wherefore when he attempts to solve his Undertaking by alledging some Passages in the New Testament of Christ and his Apostles he cannot but see that it is very foreign to his Business Again in a short Appendix to his Book where he seems to retract in a manner what he âad said having been informed he âaith that it was displeasing to pious and wife Men he excuses himself by alledging the Fathers who 't is true present us with several allegorical Interpretations and Descants on some Places of Scripture and particularly on the 3d Chapter of Genesis but this is âothing to his purpose because those antient Writers do not deny the literal Sense which he doth He is not content to allegorize that Chapter but he wholly rejects the literal Meaning and confidently avers that Moses all along tells a Story that âath nothing of Truth in it and is not spoken according to the Nature of the things So I grant that some of the old Iewish Doâtârs moralized Mâses's History but they did not slight much less âupersede and lay aside the historical Sense And moreover he hath neither the Fathers nor the Rabbies as an Example of ridiouling the Mosaick History which yet he doth throughout his whole Discourse on that Chapter shewing his little Talent of Jesting and Droâling So that in brief it might become Hudibras better than a Doctor of Divinity I appeal to any that are acquainted with the antient Monuments of the Church whether he doth not perfectly tread in the Steps of the old Adversaries and Blasphemers of Christianity Iulian Celsus c. The former of these speaking of and deriding what is said in Genesis concerning Adam and Paradise and eating the forbidden Fruit c. positively declares that these are altogether fabulous And again afterwards What Difference is there saith he between these and the Fables of the Greeks What Dr. Burnet saith amounts to the same for when he expresly saith Moses delivered nothing of the Physical Truth concerning the Creation of the World c. but wisely dissembles to accommodate himself to the People and when he tells us that Moses said these things only to conciliate Force and Authority to his Laws which are his own Words he doth as good as say that what he delivers is a Fable He might in plain Terms have stiled the Mosaick History a Fabulous Tradition as Simplicius calls the Account which Moses gives of the Creation Yea he might as well have spoken the Language of his Friend Celsus who call'd the Mosaick Relation concerning Adam and Eve an old Wife's Fable Thus we see what Examples he follows some of the craftiest and subtilest but yet the most malicious Enemies of the Christians who laugh'd at their Religion whilst others persecuted it and did more harm by that dâriding it than others by violent oppressing it But lo a remarkable Example of the Divine Justice viz. on the bold Gentleman who lately englished that part of the Doctor 's Book
which derides the 3d Chapter of Genesis and who committed it to the Press for the sake of some of the witty Folks of the Town and to please the Atheistical Rabble This signal Act of avenging Providence is well known to the World and I wish the ingenious Theorist would seriously reflect upon it and learn thence to make Sport with the Bible no more And I request him not to be offended at my plain Dealing with him for I assure him that I have said nothing out of any disrespect or ill Will to his Person but wholly from a deep Sense of the great Mischief which is like to ensue upon this late Attempt of his I abhor the treating of any learned Man's Writings with Contempt yea on the contrary I have always paid a due Respect and Deference to them though they are not adjusted to the Notions which I have of things But when I see the Holy Scriptures struck at and Religion it self shock'd and extremely hazarded I cannot forbear from uttering my Sentiments and âhewing my just Indignation on such an Occasion Christian Charity which beareth all things endureth all things cannot by any Means brook this And I must freely tell this learned Writer that let his Character otherwise be never so fair and 't is not my Design to âisown it or blemiââ it in the least it is certain that the better this is the worse is his Enterprize for he seems to come sober and demure to undermine the Bible and destroy Christianity as many a Cracovian Reasoner hath done before him But truly there is little Sobriety in jesting and buffooning in jeering and drolling away our Religion and that under the Pretence of Philosophick Antiquity Nay let me tell him and I hope by this time his own Thoughts do so too that to trifle and droll after the Rate that he doth on the inspired History concerning Adam and Eve is a near Approach to Blasphemy I heartily wish he may be apprehensive of his Delinquency in this kind and that for the future he may guide himself by that wholsome Rule viz. that we are not to quit the literal Interpretation in any Place of Scripture unless there be a necessity of doing so And 't is certain there is none in the present Case nay there is an absolute Necessity of acknowledging the literal and historical Meaning unless we will subvert the very Foundations of our Religion He that makes this first Book of the Bible to be wholly mystical doth not observe the Distance between Genesis and some Part of the Revelation We must be careful that we follow not the Masters of abstruse Divinity so far that we exclude the literal Sense of Scripture for this will prove fatal to the Scriptures themselves and to all Religion especially Christianity If we dote upon Allegories and defy the Letter and History of the Bible we quite null these Sacred Writings because we thereby render them ambiguous and precarious we authorize any wild Interpretations that can be made of them If we may leave the literal Sense of Scripture when we please and fly to metaphorical and mystical ones then the Certainty of the Word of God will soon vanish for then we cannot tell what is true or what is false or if we know it we can never confute any Error or maintain any Truth from the Holy Writ For by this Means theââwill be innumerable Explications of Scripture and who can possibly determine which of them is to be made choice of If you offer any Text to prove âuch or such a Doctrine it will easily be evaded if the Letter may not be our Guide for it is but saying The Place is not meant as the Words sound but must be taken figuratively and mystically Thus Scripture it self is destroyed by cashiering the literal Acception of the Words Yea we destroy the whole Gospel and pluck up the Foundations of Christianity we deny Christ and all his blessed Undertakings for our Redemption and Salvation for these being Matter of Fact are founded upon the literal Account we have of them upon the historical Relation of them which we have in the Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles Thus dangerous and fatal it is to let go the literal Sense of Scripture and to catch at a mystical one only By this wild Practice Men attempt to thrust Religion out of the World or which is the same thing to present us with a metaphorical and allegorical Religion instâad of a true and real one Therefore there is good Reason why we should not quit the literal Construction of Scripture Secondly The other Extream which is to be avoided by us is the resting altogether in the outside the looking no farther than the literal Meaning of Scripture There is such a thing as mystical or symbolical Divinity however some have mistaken and abused it and this if it be rightly used is exceeding profitable yea necessary for it is no other than the Reâult of the mystical Sense of Scripture which I have been speaking of He is truly a Divine he may deservedly be said to have Skill in Christian Theology who contents not himself with the primary or literal Import of the Sacred Writings but dives into the secondary but more abstruse Meaning of them who penetrates into the hidden Mind of the Word of God If there be a ãâã Sense in Scripture as I have proved in several Instances it must be reckoned a great Oversight to say no worse in the Expositors of this Holy Book not to take notice of this Interpretation but to acquiesce wholly in the literal Meaning This is observable in the Expositions which some of the Rabbins give of the Bible for as the Jewish Caâalists are too allegorical as we took notice before so another Set of their Doctors is too much devoted to a literal Interpretation This they stick to when there is no Reason for it yea when the Words are plainly figurative and must needs be taken so Yet even then they interpret them according to the Letter and thence are produced some of those foolish Propositions and childish Assertions those groundless Fables and Legends yea those gross Lies and Forgeries which are found in the Books of the Rabbins Erasmus was faulty in this kind his Readers may observe that he neglected the mystical Sense of Scripture and resolutely adhered to the bare Letter In which he is followed by Calvin who generally leaves out the secondary and more sublime Sense of many Texts of Scripture and satisfies himself with the literal one only This he doth in his Comment on Gen. 3. 15. I will put Enmity between c. which he interprets simply of the Antipathy between Men and Serpents which is the poor and lank Interpretation which Iosephus the Jew gives of it as you have heard whereas those Words in the highest Meaning of them as the antientest and learnedest Fathersâ have suggested are the first and grand Promise of the Messias made to our first Parents and
excellent Philosophy in several Places of Holy Scripture yet these Writings were never intended mainly for this End but for one far higher and nobler Hence it is that you hear the Holy Writers speaking sometimes not according to the very Nature of the things but according to their Appearance and the Opinion Men have of them Yea they oftentimes express themselves according to the received Opinions although they be erroneous and false as in the Instance before mentioned Theodoret gives us the Reason of it in his first Interrogatory upon Genesis he bâgins his Work with This that the Holy Script ãâã wont to sute its ãâã of Teaching to the ãâã of the Learneâ ãâã d in another Place ãâã like purpose ãâã Scripture saith he ãâã as is most ãâã and fit for Men. The ãâã Ghost in it is pleased to condescend to their Capacities and to adapt himself to their shallow Apprehensions Thus frequently in the Scripture corporeal Properties are attributed to God you read of his Face and Back-parts Exod. 33. 23. and that these latter were seen by Moses which is spoken by way of Anthropopathy as Divines commonly speak i. e. after the manner of Men in compliance with their weak Capacities As when a Man's Face and Fore-parts are seen there is a considerable Discovery and Knowledg of his Person but when he is seen behind only it is imperfectly so was it when God appeared to Moses he shew'd himself to him not fully but in part as when a Man turns away his Face from another and lets him see only his Back-parts And so in other Places of Scripture we read of God's Eyes Ears Hands Feet and other bodily Parts and Members but we must not forget here the old Rule of Cyril of Alexandria When Members and Parts are attributed to God it is said after the manner of Men but it is to be understood in a Sense sutable to the Divine Nature And Athanasius hath the like Words on this Occasion But the not attending to this gave Rise to the Sect of the Anthropomorphites who pervesly understanding those Texts which ascribe these Parts to God held him to be Corporeal and of Humane Shape Tâey ãâã not knowing not rightly interpreting the ãâã which sometimes speak after the Guise of ãâã in condescension to ãâã shallow Understandâââ Thus Gen. 6. 6. It ãâ¦ã Lord that he ãâã Man and 1 Sam ãâã The Lord repented ãâã he made Saul King are ãâã that is as spoken in a vulgar manner and after the way of Mortals who when they repent abandon their former Doings So when God is said to repent that which we are to understand by it is this that he acts in a contrary manner to what he did before As in the forementioned Places it repented the Lord that he made Man the meaning is that he purposed to destroy Mankind viz. with a Deluge for so you find it explain'd in the next Verse the Lord said I will destroy Man whom I have created And when 't is said The Lord repented that be made Saul King the meaning is that he ââââosed to depose him and set up another as you read he gave Order in the Words immediately following in the next Chapter Therefore Theodoret saith well God's Repenting is no other than the changing of his Dispensation And thus we are to interpret this Expression where-ever it occurs in Holy Writ for in many other Places God is said to repent of what he did as knowing that the Phrase of this Sacred Book is oftentimes fitted to the Apprehensions and Language of Men and not the absolute Reality of the thing That of St. Chrysostom is certainly true God accommodates himself sometimes to humane Infirmity when he speaks in Scripture So those Words are to be understood in Gen. 11. 5. The Lord came down to see the City And again ver 7. Let us go down which are spoken in a vulgar manner and with respect to the shallow Conceptions of Mankind And the same Expression is used in Gen. 18. 20 21. Exod. 3. 7 8. Psal. 144. 5. Isa. 64. 1. God is here said to come down which signifies God's taking more than ordinary Notice of the Actions of Men and his designing to do some extraordinary thing The Scripture calls the Angels that appeared to Abraham Men because they feem'd to be such The Man Gabriel you read of in Dan. 9. 21 because he appear'd in the Shape of Man And so in the New Testament the Angles at our Saviour's Sepulchre are stiled young Men because as to outward Appearance they were such Nothwithstanding what some Commentators have said upon 1 Sam. 28. 15. Samuel said to Saul and again ver 16. Then said Samuel I am fully perswaded that those Words are spoken according to the Appearance not the real Truth of the thing The Name of Samuel is given to the Devil or Spectre that appeared but we are not to think that Samuel himself in Body and Soul appear'd for 't is ridiculous as well as impious to imagine that the departed Saints are at the Command and Disposal of a Necromantick Witch a Cursed Sorceress a Hellish Hag as if she could fetch them down from the Celestial Regions when she pleaseth But this she did she raised a Spectre or substituted some Person who resembled Samuel whom she represented to Saul's Sight as if he were the Prophet Samuel indeed Thence we read in this Sacred History that Samuel said to Saul because he who appear'd in Samuel's Likeness was thought to be Samuel and thought to speak to Saul Thus a Learned Father long since expounded this Passage of Scripture and gives us this as the Reason of it We find this saith he to be the Custom of Scripture that oftentimes it relates that which is only in appearance instead of what is true and real And with him agrees another of the learned Antients The Sacred History saith he calls the Apparition Samuel because Saul believed it to be the real Samuel for the Scripture speaks frequently according to other Mens Belief and Notions So it usually calls those Gods that are not really such but because the false and feigned Deities of the Heathens were reputed True Gods by them therefore the Name of Gods is given them often in the Old Testament and sometimes in the New But to confine my self to this latter here we find several things delivered not according to the Reality of the Matter spoken of but according to the Sense and Notion of others So I understand our Saviour's Words Matth. 12. 5. The Priests in the Temple profane the Sabbath i. e. by killing of Beasts and doing other laborious Work they according to you profane that Holy-day according to the Notion which you Pharisees have of keeping and breaking the Sabbath and according to which you condemn me and my Disciples as Profaners of that Day The Phrase used by St. Mark ch 1. 32. is according to a very vulgar Conceit
Moses or of others who writ those Books whence it is that we now read of the Names of Places which were not given at that time when they are mentioned but are only by way of Anticipation inserted into the History Near of kin to this is Hysterosis another Usual Figure in Scripture which is when the proper and genuine Order of the Words is not kept And this is observable either in some single Words and Verses or in some Chapters Of the former sort is Gen. 10. 1. where the Sons of Noah are reckoned in this order Shem Ham and Iapheth yet Iapheth was the Eldest Brother It is true Scaliger holds the very order of the Generation which this Verse sets down and saith Shem was Noah's First-born and Iapheth his youngest But 't is generally agreed on by the Learned that this is not the right order for first the Septuagint expresly say Iapheth was the Elder Brother of Shem v. 21. Again Iosephus in his Jewish Antiquities reckons them thus Iapheth the eldest Son C ham the next and Sheâ the youngest of all Moreover according to the Chaldee Paraphrast who is of good Repute this is the true Order Lastly you will find it observ'd in the following Parts of this Chapter the Generations begin first with Iapheth then pass to Cham and end with Shem. All which shews that there is a Transposition in the first Verse and that the true ranking of them is not there kept We read in Gen. 11. 26. that Terab begat Abram Nahor and Haran but the naming of Abram first of the three Brethren doth not prove that he was eldest but there is some Ground to believe that he was not And as the true Order of Words in some Verses is not always exact so neither is the true Series of History observ'd in some Chapters Thus in Gen. 2. after God's resting on the seventh Day v. 1. you read of God's forming Man and Woman v. 7. 18. which was the Sixth Day 's Work and therefore according to the True Order of things should have been part of the Contents of the First Chapter So the Division of the Earth which is the Subject of the 10th of Genesis is set before the Confusion of Tongues spoken of in the 11th Chapter notwithstanding this was before that and was the occasion of it And some Instances of this Nature are in those Historical Books of Samuel the Kings and Chronicles The seventh and eighth Chapters of Daniel are misplaced they should of right have been inserted before viz. immediately after the 4th Chapter for they speak of what happened in Belshazzar's time although the foregoing Chapter relates what was done by Darius after Belshazzar was slain and the Kingdom of Babylon became his And in many other Places of the Sacred Writings there is a Transposing of things and sometimes that is placed first which was done last To which purpose the Hebrew Doctors have long since pronounced that there is neither Before nor After in the Law A late Author tells us that the Reason is because the Books of the Pentateuch and some others were written upon little Scrolls or Sheets of Paper not so well fastned together as our Books now are and so the Order of these Scrolls was changed But this is an upstart Invention of this Gentleman's Brain and hath no Foundation but his own Fancy for as he mistakes Paper for Parchment there being perhaps no such thing as the former in those Days so he is mistaken in his Conceit about fastning those Parchment-Writings together First I say he proceeds upon a wrong Foundation because he asserts the antientest Books of the Bible to have been written on Paper whereas it doth not appear that this Invention is so old and on the other side there are undeniable Proofs of the great Antiquity of Parchment and that it was made use of for Books to write upon That which hath occasioned some Learned Men and 't is likely our present Author who is most justly rank'd in the Number of the Learned to think otherwise was that Passage in Pliny's Natural History where he reports that Ptolomee Philadelph King of Egypt forbad the exporting of the Papyrus of which Paper was made at that time out of his Territories Whereupon Eumenes King of Pergamus found out another way of making Paper of the inmost Skins of Beasts which was call'd Pergamena because 't was invented in Pergamus first But this was a great Oversight of Pliny for that was not the first Use of them they were much antienter than that time Diodorus the Sicilian tells us that the Persian Annals were writ in Parchment which is a great Proof of its being very Antient. Salmuth in his Commentary upon Pancirol thinks the Antiquity of this Membrana is proved from Iovis diphthera the Skin of the Goat that suckled Iupiter in which the Antientest Memorials of things in the World were thought to be written And out of Herodotus the great Father of History he hath a very considerable Quotation who relates that some of the Old Grecians made use of the Skins of Goats and Sheep to write in and therefore they call their Books Skins And he adds that many of the Barbarians write in such Skins Now we know who they were that the Pagans used to call Barbarians viz. the Iews and therefore it is probable these are meant here It may have relation to their writing the Books of the Old Testament in Parchment But if This concerning the particular Reference of these Words to the Iews be a Conjecture only yet the other things which have been suggested are a clear and evident Proof of the Antient Use of the Membrana and we have no reason to question that the Bible it self was written in it That it was so we learn from Iosephus who assures us that Eleazar the High Priest sent away the 72 Elders or Interpreters to Ptolomee with the Bible written in âine Parchment and he tells us in the same Place which is very remarkable and to our purpose that King Ptolomee was astonished to see the Parchments so fine and delicate and to observe the whole Form of them so exactly joined together that no one could possibly discern where the Seams were From which Testimony of this Learned Jew it is evident that there was Parchment found out and used in Writing before the time that Pliny talks of i. e. before Eumenes's time And as for this Eumenes who is by some Writers also call'd Attalus for it appears plainly that 't is the same Man the same King of Pergamus he was not the Person that invented it nor was it in his time invented he only procured a great Quantity of it to be made and so it became common in Greece and Asia whence some and Pliny among the rest thought he was the first Inventer of it This was the Rise of the Mistake But the Truth of the Matter is this which the Learnedest Men
are not Nice and Accurate in giving every Occurrence or Event its right Place whence it is that you meet with some things in these Writings that are transposed and out of Order and it is left to the Diligent and Inquisitive Reader to amend and reform thoâe Dislocations Those who would see farther Reasons of that frequent Metathesis and Misplacing which are in the Sacred Books may consult the Learned Dr. Lightfoot in his Chronicle of the Times of thâ Old Testament CHAP. IV. There are not only Grammatical but Rhetorical Figures in the Sacred Volume The Psalmist's Words Psal. 120. 5. are Hyperbolical though not generally interpreted to be such So are our Saviour's Words Matth. 13. 32. though commonly expounded otherwise Luke 19. 44. rejected form being Hyperbolical John 21. 25. proved to be an Hyperbole This way of speaking in Scripture is no Lie Ironies are frequent in this Holy Book of which several Examples are produced Luke 22. 36 is shew'd to be of this sort And so is Acts 23. 5. I wist not that he was the High Priest This manner of speaking is not unworthy of the Sacred Penmen Synecdoches frequent in Scripture proved from several Instances Metaphors also common Solomon's Metaphorical Description of Old Age in Eccles. 12. expounded in all its Parts THere are not only Grammatical but Rhetorical Figures in this Sacred Volume the chief of which I will briefly speak of not to say that I have mentioned some of them already And though as I said of the former they have been observed by several Writers yet one Reason why I mention them here is because I shall have occasion to reduce some Texts to these Figures which have not been so interpreted by other Authors First Hyperboles are not unusual in these Holy Writings these are such Speeches as seem to surpass the bare Truth either by augmenting or diminishing it Thus a Great Caldron one of the Vessels of the Temple that held a vast Quantity of Water is call'd a Sea a molten Sea 1 Kings 7. 23. a brazen Sea 2 Kings 25. 13. It is said that the Cities were walled up to Heaven Deut. 1. 28. and that Solomon made Silver in Jerusalem as Stones 1 Kings 10. 27. and that at his being anointed King the People rejoiced with great Ioy so that the Earth rent with the Sound of them 1 Kings 1. 40. Upon which Places and some others the Jews found that Saying of theirs The Law sometimes speaks Hyperbolically The Description of Behemoth is full of this sort of Language He moveth his Tail like a Cedar his Bones are as strong pieces of Brass and Bars of Iron he drinketh up a River he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his Mouth Job 40. 17 c. Xerxes's Army was said to drink whole Rivers dry in that Hyperbolical Sense in which this is spoken of Behemoth which proves what I have asserted that the Scripture symbolizeth with other Writers or rather they with it The like Hyperbolical Description you have of the Leviathan Job 41. 18 to the end And such is that of the Locusts Joel 2. 2 12. all which is indeed one Continued Hyperbole wherein he elegantly and pathetically describes them as a well-formed Army as Virgil in his Georgicks loftily doth the Ants It nigrum campis agmen So all is Poetical and Hyperbolical in Psal. 18. 7 16. As for Psal. 120. 5. Wo is me that I sojourn in Mesech and dwell in the Tents of Kedar few Expositors take it to be of this kind Becausâ Mesech signifies protracting or prolonging some interpret the first Clause thus I have a LONG time dwelt and because Kedar signifies Blackness they understand it of the Sadness of his Condition Others would translate the pious King to those Places and Countries which bear the Name of Mesech and Kedar thinking that he was for some time confined to those Places And there are other Conjectures about the Words but the true Import of them in my Apprehension is this David being banished from home expresseth it as if he were among the barbârous Scythians as if he were in the wild Desarts of Arabia Or if you take Mesech and Kedar to be both of them in Arabia as some do then still the Sense is the same I sojourn I dwell I inhabit among the inhospitable People of Arabia call'd Scenitae because they lived in Tents or in that part of the Wilderness where the Israelites pitchâd in Tents when they travell'd to the Land of Canaan There is my Abode at present I am no longer one of Iudea This is an Hyperbolical Speech to set forth the Nature of those Inhumanâ and Malicious People into whose Hands he was fallen and with whom he was forced to converse at that time To this sort of Speech we may refer Psal. 97. 5. The Hills melted like Wax Isa. 34. 3. The Mountains shall be melted with their Blood Ezek. 32. 6. I will water with thy Blood c. I will makâ the Blood of the slain so abundant that it shall reach upto the very Mountains and all the Rivers shall be âill'd with Blood which is to be look'd upon as an Hyperbolical Description of Egypt's Destruction So Ezek. 39. 9 10. They shall burn the Weapons with âire seven Years so that they shall take no Wood out of the Field nor cut down any out of the Forests is an elevated Strain of speaking to express the Multitude of the Weapons and Spoils taken from the Enemy and the vast Slaughter of them At the first View those Words in Obadiaâ ver 4. Though thou set thy Nest among the Stars must be acknowledged to be highly Hyperbolical Neither is the New Testament without this kind of speaking as to instance in Matth. 13. 32. which I grant is not reckoned by Writers among the Hyperboles of Scripture but I appeal to the Learned whether it ought not Of the Mustard-seed there in the Parable Christ saith It is indeed the least of all Seeds for though ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã be the Greek Word yet as hath been noted before it is here put for ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as is plain from its being joined with ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and so it is rightly rendred the least of all Seeds but this is not exactly true for the Seeds of Sweet-marjoram and Wild Poppy are far less and the Seeds of Tobacco are so small that a thousand of them make not above one single Grain in Weight but all must give place to the Seed of Moon-wort which cârtainly is a Seed of the least size that is And another reckons among the smallest Seeds of Plants those of Reed-mace and of Harts-tongue and of some sorts of Mosses and Ferns And of these latter I have read that some of them are so small that they cannot be seen without the Help of a Microscope But our Saviour to set forth and magnify the wonderful Power of the Word of God and the Increasing and Spreading of his
Kingdom though from very small Beginnings compares them to a Grain of Mustard-seed and by a Lessening Hyperbole calls this the Least of all Seeds though in exact speaking it be not so But if this way of interpreting Christ's Words which I now offer be not approved of then you may expound them thus that this Seed is oâe of the least of all Seeds or you may understand them spoken Respectively that is it is the Least of all such Seeds as extend to large Productions no Seed so little sendeth forth Branches so wide or bringeth forth its Fruit after that plentiful manner Thus you may understand the Words but in my Judgment the resolving them into an Hyperbole is the best way though it be not made use âf by Expositors And how indeed could it when they took the Seed of Mustard to be Absolutely the least of all Grains whatsoever That of our Saviour in Luke 19. 44. They shall not leave in thee one Stone upon another which is spoken of the Last and Final Devastation of Ierusalem is generally supposed to be an Hyperbolical Expression and consequently not true in Strictness of Speech for can we think say some that the Roman Armies had nothing else to do but to pick out all the Stones in the Foundations and throw them away Those who talk thus do not remember what was done at several times towards the compleat and total Destruction of that Place This Passage of our Blessed Lord seems to refer particularly and signally to the digging up the Foundations of the City and Temple and the very ploughing up the Ground by Titus's Command which the Jews themselves do not deny and also to that Prodigious Earthquake in Iulian's time whereby the remaining Parts of the Foundations were wholly broken up and scattered abroad Here was an Exact fulfilling of Christ's Prediction without any Hyperbole As for that Close of St. Iohn's Gospel Even the Woâld it self could not contain the Books that should be written chap. 21 25. Eusâbius and St. Aâgustin of old and others more lately understand it thus The World that is the Men of the World could not contain that is conceive comprehend and digest the Books that should be written concerning our Saviour's Deeds Their Understandings are weak and must needs have been oppressed with so many Books on that Subject So ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the word here used is to be taken in Matth. 19. 11. All Men cannot receive or contain this Saying and in this Sense it is used by Philo who speaking of the Knowledge of the Nature of God and how unsearchable it is saith that neither Heaven nor Earth are able to contain i. e. to comprehend it But a modern Critick thinks ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã here signiâies to entertain and approve of and accordingly his Gloss on the Words is this The whole World would scorn reject and slight all the Books which should be writ of Christ it having despised these that are already writ The World hath other Employment it would not read and peruse such Writings This seems to be the meaning of the Verb in 2 Cor. 7. 2. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã receive entertain approve of us And Dionys. Halicarn uses the word thus saying ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the City admits not of i. e. scorns good Men. But though this and the other be the meaning of the Word sometimes yet it is very Rare and Unusual besides that it is Improper and Metaphorical and in such a case it is more reasonable to choose and imbrace that Sense of the Word which is common and usual as also genuine and proper and then the meaning is that the World as capacious and wide as it is is not able to hold oâ contain all the Books that might have been written concerning Christ and his Works But this cannot be the Sânsâ here you will say because then our Saviour'â Words would not be true for the World is able is wide enough to contain to hold those Books and many more besides I answer I grant this to be true in the strict way of speaking but the Evangelist St. Iohn had a mind to conclude his Book with some Great Word concerning his Dear Master and Saviour and therefore expresseth himself thus in a High and Hyperbolical manner The World it self could not contain the Books that should be written of him As if he had said Though I and otherâ have recorded the Sayings and Doings of the Blessed Jesus yet this is nothing in comparison of what might be said on this vast Subject Theâe is unspeakably much more reânaining than hath been told you What he said and did was so Great and so Admirable that Innumerable Volumes might be filled with enlarging on that copious Matter I may say to you the Whole World as wide and ample as it is is not able to contain those Immense Treatises those Infinite Discourses which might be written in relating all the Passages that concern'd our Blessed Lord and in commendation of them Observâ it the Evangelist saith the World it self i. e. this Material Local World therefore it cann't be understood of the Men of the world as those of the former Opinions fancied Besides it is observable that he speaks not Absolutely here but in a Qualified Manner I suppose I think I conceive the World it self cannot contain c. which plainly shews that the Words cannot be meant in the former Senses For what Sense can you make of this I suppose I think that all the Men in the World cannot comprehend the Books which should be written or I suppose all the Men in the World cannot entertain and approve of them Whether he supposed it or not it would be so and this is a thing not to be supposed but really believed and directly asserted if it be true But if you admit of the plain Sense of the Words which I have propounded then his supposing may be very pertinent and consisâent here for it is but a kind of a Supposition not an Exact and Strict Truth which he here uttereth it is a Lofty Strain or Hyperbole which he shuts up his Gospel with I think in a manner âaith he that the Whole World it self cannot contain the Books that might be composed and written on this Glorious Theme which is so Various so Voluminous Thus you see the Words must be understood in this way for the others are not reconcilable to good Sense And indeed this manner of Stile is but parallel with other Passages in Scripture as Gen. 13. 6. The Land was not able âo bear them viz. Lot and Abraham and their Flocks which expresses how exceeding Numerous they were So some understand Luke 2. 1. There went out a Decree that all the World should be taxed which sets forth the Largeness and Vast Extent of the Emperor's Dominions not that all the World strictly speaking was to be taxâd for 't was not all in his Power It was said of our
suââice to have mention'd the foregoing ones the explaining of which is sufficient to give us an account of the Stile of Scripture so far as it is Figurative And from what hath been said we may gather that these Divine Writings come not short of the most Applauded Pieces of the Greek or Latin Orators for here are those very Schemes and Modes of Speech which imbellish those Authors Works here are all the Graces and Elegancies which enrich and adorn them Therefore in that place beforementioned where Origen saith the Scriptures are not written Politely his meaning is that that is not the Scope and Design of those Writings and that it is not the thing that is pursued generally there being a Greater and Higher Design yet in many places there are very Excellent Strains of Oratory there are very Artificial Periods and Sentences there are Words Phrases and Expressions in a very Rhetorical Dress But where you find others that are as you think Inartificial Uncouth and no ways Graceful you must remember this to take off your prejudice against the Sâripture-Stile that the Eastern Eloquence is vastly different from ours in the West The Mode and Guise of their Oratory were unlike that of the Greeks and Romans and of Ours at this Day and therefore we are not to expect that they should be fitted to it It is certain though we perceive it not that their Stile was Graceful and Fashionable which is clear from the considering the Persons that were the Penmen of some parts of Scripture namely Moses David Solomon Isaiah Daniel Men of great Improvements and Accomplishments and Masters of the Language they spoke Neither are the Scriptures in some parts of them Defective in the Western Oratory they abound with the Choicest Schemes of Speech with the Greatest Ornaments of Language with the Chiefest Elegancies which Greece or Rome were famous for Yet notwithstanding this there are those who have vilified the Stile of Scripture Some Pretenders to Criticism but of debauched Minds and loose Lives have endeavour'd to render it very Mean and Despicable You have heard of the Canon of Florânââ who preferr'd an Ode of Pindar before the Psalms of David though he could not deny as Caspar Peucer tells us that there were Excellent Sentences Histories Examples and Figures of Speech in this Divine Poem Yet such was the Sottishness of Politian for that was his Name that he profess'd he never spent his time worse than in reading this and other parts of the Bible and at last he desisted from reading any further because of the Barbarity of the Stile But observe what Character Ludovicus Vives a Man of his own Religion gives him he represents him as a Person who though he had more Polite Learning than was frequent in those Days made but ill use of it and employ'd it wholly in the worst sort of Criticism and Playing with words It was this Busy but Idle Critick that spoke so contemptibly of the Bible where because he met with some things unsutable to his Grammatical and Critical Genius he censured and condemned all Of the same Profane Disposition was Domitius Calderinus who advis'd his Friends especially those that were Youthful not to read the Bible for it would be of no use to them But what it was that these two Persons were employ'd about which wholly estrang'd their Minds from that Sacred Book may be guess'd from the Shameful Epigram which the former composed and the Obscene Comment which the latter made both which they publish'd to the World It is no wonder such Men disrelish'd the Sacred Truths contain'd in the Inspired Writings and found fault with the Language and Stile of them this proceeded from their aversion to that Purity and Holiness which those Holy Writers urge upon the Practices of Men and which these two Vile Italians knew were directly contrary to what they both loved and acted Who would not think the better of this Holy Book because it was despised and vilified by these Men Who would not highly esteem those Writings which by such Dissolute Wretches as these were scorn'd and trampl'd under Feet If it was an Argument that Christianity was Good because Nero persecuted it then we may with as much reason infer that the Bible is an Excellent Book because this pair of Lewd Varlets disparaged it This certainly was founded in the Wickedness and Profaneness of their Lives They could not think or speak well of those Writings which contradicted their beloved Lusts and Vices It was thus with Ierom and Augustin whilst they were wicked and unreclaim'd Persons the Scripture-Language seem'd very harsh and unpleasant to them so far were they from discerning any Elegancy in it The former of these tells his Eustochium that he us'd when he awaked in the Night and could not sleep to read Plautus and if after that he read the Prophets as sometimes he did their Speech seem'd to be horribly rough and ânpolished devoid of all Fineness and Eloquence And the latter of these Persons freely confesseth that before his Conversion the Stile of Scripture was deemed by him very Rude and Unstudied and as having nothing Neat and Delicate in it This is the apprehension which those Men have of it who are not Competent Judges and they are not so not because they have not Understanding enough but because they have an Inward Abhorrence of the Sacred Verities which they find in that Book This is the true Reason why so many in this Age yea within our own Borders scoff at and ridicule the Language of the Bible The Matter of this Volume makes them dislike the Stile of it Nothing can be Eloquent which speaks against their Vices Bât let it offend none that this most Excellent Book is depretiated by some Vitious or by some Half-witted Men for there are no other that ever spoke against it In the Stile of this Book of God there are no Blemishes but what are approved of in the Best Classical Authors as those who were of the greatest Skill in Grammar and Rhetorick have fully demonstrated therefore the Bible is not a Book to be disparag'd no not by the greatest Grammarians and Rhetoricians The Excellent and Choice Wording of the Scripture is commended by St. Chrysostom When I read the Bible saith St. Augustin I find that as nothing is more Wisely said so nothing is more Eloquently spoken than there And particularly I have shew'd that it is beautified and enrich'd with many Figures Thus I have largely proved that the Stile of Scripture is generally of the strain of Other Approved Writers as to its Phraseology or manner of Expression I proceed and add 3dly This Observation that Proverbial Sayings and commonly received Adagies used by other Writers are mention'd also in the Holy Scriptures This is abundantly proved by those who have Purposely writ on this Subject I will remit you to them and at present only confine my self to the New Testament and
imagine that this shaking off the Dust of the Feet or Shoes hath assinity with the Jewish Rite of pulling off the Shoe mention'd Deut. 25. 9. Ruth 4. 7. which was a Ceremony of Disgrace performed by the Relict of the Deceased Brother to the Surviving one who refused to marry her But this Opinion hath but few Abettors and indeed 't is a wonder it hath had any for there is a vast difference between the shaking off the Dust of the Feet and the plucking off the Shoe Others think this Practice is of the same Nature with shaking the Lap or Garment which was an usage among the Hebrews and they would by this shâw that they wish'd or pray'd that such an one might bâ shakân removed deprived of his Goods and Possession Thus Nehemiah used this Rite against those that exacted Usury of their Brethren Neâ 5. 13. And this shaking of the Rayment was practis'd by St. Paul against the blaspheming Jews Acts 18. 6. But this is a quite different thing from what we are speaking of unless we can prove that Dust and Clothing are convertible But Dr. Lightfoot refers this Passage to that particulaâ Saying of the Jews That the Dust of a Heathen Land defiles a Man and makes him Unclean So that our Saviour bad the Apostles shake off the Dust from their Feet to shew how they reputed those People viz. as Heathenish and Prophane and consequently they were not to be convers'd with The Apostles scorn'd to have any thing to do with them and as a Sign of that they would not carry away any thing that belonged to that Place no not so much as the Dust of it But if I may be permitted to offer my Thoughts there is something more in these Words than this It is true this is signified that they would not hold Correspondence with those unworthy Persons that rejected the Gospel they would not suffer the very Dust of the Place to adhere to the Soles of their Feet but that is not all It is further and more particularly signified that the Apostles were to leave the Place speedily When they are commanded to shake off the Dust of their Feet the more especial Meaning is that they must stay no longer in the Place but be gone from it with all the Expedition they can and they must not carry so much as the Dust to burden them It is something related as I apprehend to that other Counsel of our Saviour in the very same Chapter or rather it seems to be the same but mentioned again in other terms as is usual with our Lord When they persecute you in one City flee ye into another ver 23. with what Speed you can depart from the Place where you are so ill used When you find that your Preaching is wholly despised make no Delay but hasten away that you may be in a Capacity to do good in some other Places where you may be kindly received As soon as you see your Message is scorn'd and rejected shake the Dust off your Feet and be gone away immediately This seems to be the genuine Tendency of the Words for we must know that Iudea some part of it especially was a dry hot and dusty Countrey whence it was a Custom among them to have their Feet wash'd as soon as they came into a House this was part of the Welcome which they look'd for and when this Ceremony was omitted they gathered thence that they were Unacceptable Guests Therefore saith Christ if you find not this Welcome if your Feet are not wash'd and the Dust wiped off by some of the House do this part your selves that thereby you may be somewhat refresh'd lightly shake off some of the Dust and go your way and leave the Habitation forthwith So that these Words denote Haste and Expedition which may be confirmed from that Saying of the Jews which they used in Traffick Whilst the Dust is on your Feet before 't is all wiped off sell what you have i. e. sell quickly So Pie-Powder-Court among us which is incident to every Fair and Market as a Court Baron to a Mannor is that where Causes are tried cursorily and in haste This Dusty-foot Court is so call'd to signify the Quickness of Dispatch in it Thus among the Greek Lawyers ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã rendred by the Latins Pedaneus Iudex was a sorry mean inferiour Judg a Pedant in Law that judged standing on foot on the plain Ground and had not a Chair or Tribunal he judg'd as it were in transitu passing going on foot He was a Judg of the Court of Pie Powder pedis pulverisati as our Lawyers call it because they came to it in haste and had no time to wipe off the Dirt which they contracted in their Travels Thus there is some Analogy between this way of speaking and that which I am now treating of Our Saviour adviseth his Travelling Apostles to use Prudence to be gone as fast as they could out of those Cities and Towns where the Inhabitants were wholly averse to the Preaching of the Gospel and especially when they saw it would be attended with Persecution And we read that the Apostles put this in practice when they were at Antioch where they were severely handled and saw they should be expell'd out of those Coasts they shook off the Dust of their Feet against them and came to âconium in all haste Acts 13. 50 51. This was a Sign of Speed and so the Meaning of Christ's Injunction was that when they perceived the Gospel was rejected and themselves were in great Danger they should presently depart from the Place and stay no longer among such vile People But withal I deny not that this was to be for a Testimony against them as 't is said Mark 6. 11. it was to bear witness against the Despisers of the Gospel and the Persecutors of the holy Professors of it And moreover it was a Token of Contempt and Abhorrence and with reference to a Jewish Saying before mention'd might be spoken in a Proverbial way Lastly it might be shew'd here that many of Christâs Parables of which I have treated before were borrowed from the Iewish Doctors That of Dives and Lazarus is cited in the Gemara on the Babylonian Talmud The Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard is mentioned in the same Place in the Title Beracoth and that of the five wise and five foolish Virgins is spoken of in the Book of the Sabbath and some others might be instanc'd in but I will add no more under this Head CHAP. VI. There is in Scripture a great and delightful Variety of Languages Some Chapters and Verses of the Old Testament are in Chaldee Here are Persian African Arabick Syriac Phoenician Words In the New Testament there are some Hebrew and Persian many Latin and Syriac Words Hebraisms i. e. Phrases proper to the Hebrews are not only in the Old Testament where many Examples are produced but in the New where besides
as we english it or People cannot be determined because the Word signifies both in several Places of Scripture Because Zaba denotes both a determinate Time and military Order that of Iob 7. 1. may be rendred either thus Is there not an appointed time to Man or Is there not a Warfare to Man And so in ch 14. 14. you may read it All the Days of my appointed Time or all the Days of my Warfare In all these Places there is no point of Religion endanger'd if you take the Words in either Sense There must needs be a double Reading in Iosh. 11. 20. because the word Techinnah signifies Grace or Favour and likewise Prayer or Supplication so that we may translate it either that there might be no Favour for them or that there might be no Supplication for them Both which Senses may be united thus that there might be none to pray for Grace and Favour for them And so both the Translations meet There is a great deal of Difference between the Rain filleth the Pools and the Teacher is fill'd or cover'd with Blessings and yet Psal. 84. 6. the latter part of the Verse may be read either of these ways because the word Moreh is pluvia and doctor and Beracoth is both piscinâ and benedictiones These two have but little Affinity he hath given you the former Rain moderately and he hath given you a Teacher of Righteousness and yet the Hebrew Words in Ioel 2. 23. are capable of being rendred either ways and accordingly our English Translators imbrace the former and the Vulgar Latin the latter Sense The Reason is because Moreh is a Teacher and Rain The word beged is perfidia Ier. 12. 1. and also vestis in above a hundred Places ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is an Isle Job 22. 30. a Region or Province Isa. 20. 6. a Bird or other Animal that frequents Islands Isa. 13. 22. Cir signifies a Laver Exod. 20. 18. a Hearth Zech. 12. 6. a Scaffold or Pulpit 2 Chron. 6. 13. Chajah is the Soul Life a Beast a Company a Village wherefore 't is no wonder that the Word in these Places admits of different Constructions Psal. 68. 30. Psal. 74. 19. Isa. 57. 10. but the Scope of the Texts will conduct a diligent Enquirer to the proper Denotation of the Word in each Place Pagnam is a Blow a Stroke Judg. 5. 28. a Foot or Footstep Psal. 85. 14. an Anvil Isa. 41. 7. and moreover it hath the Force of the Latin vice or hac vice this once 1 Sam. 26. 8. How vastly different are the Senses of the Word Tsir viz. Grief Isa. 13. 8. a Hinge Prov. 26. 14. an Ambassador or Messenger Prov. 25. 13. Idols Isa. 45. 16. So the Word which we translate Frost Psal. 78. 47. is of a large Import and signifies not only Frost but vehement Hail and therefore in the Margin of our Bibles is rendred great Hail-stones Avenarius renders it Thunder or Thunder-bolts R. Chasen understands by it not a Meteor but an Infect and reads the Place thus He destroyed their Sycomore Trees with the Locusts Tzitz hath five distinct Rendrings a Flower Isa. 28. 1. a Feather or Quill or Wing Jer. 48. 9. a Plate Exod. 28. 36. a Fringe Numb 15. 38. a Lock of Hair Ezek. 8. 3. The words Bad and Baddim signify Linen or Linen Cloth Ezek. 9. 3. Branches Ezek. 19. 14. Bars Exod. 27. 6. Greatness or Strength Job 18. 13. Members or Ioints Job 41. 3. Liars and Lies Jer. 50. 36. Isa. 44. 25. Iob 11. 3. Here are six different Senses of one Word and there is not any Affinity or Resemblance between any of them Basar to which answers ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the Greek is subject in the Sacred Writings to as great a Multiplicity of Meanings as might easily be proved And to conclude the word Iad is of a vast Latitude I know none that equals it as to its wonderful Variety of Senses It is to be understood and applied at least twenty several ways in the Old Testament but yet though it is sometimes difficult it is never impossible to distinguish the Senses These Words and many more are Proofs of what I at first asserted that there is a great Number of Words in the Scripture of Different Significations and that the Hebrew Tongue especially abounds with such For the Hebrews have but few Words very few in comparison of what there are in other Languages but they make their small Stock go as far as it can by making one Word serve for diverse things so that oftentimes the subject Matter must determine the Signification I need say no more Look but into the Margins of the English Bible and there you may be fully satisfied from the Diversity of rendring the Texts that many Nouns as well as Verbs have different and unlike Meanings which we must needs apprehend to be the Cause why some Places are Obscure and Difficult CHAP. VIII Many Hebrew Nouns whereby the several sorts of Brute Animals are signified admit of different Interpretations which is one Reason why some Places of Scripture are obscure and difficult The Great Fish Ion. 1. 17. which devour'd Jonas was a Whale properly and strictly so called but perhaps the Belly of this Fish is not to be understood in a strict Sense of the Abdomen or Iower Venter but of the Wide and Capacious Mouth of that Animal The proper Names of some Birds and Insects are ambiguous The Author 's particular Opinion concerning Kirjonim 2 Kings 6. 25. the Doves Dung that was sold at so dear a rate at the Siege of Samaria What the Locusts were that John Baptist fed on in the Wilderness The Names of Flowers Trees Plants mentioned in the Bible are somewhat uncertain So are the Words for Minerals Precious Stones Musical Instruments Yet this is so far from being a Blemish to the Sacred Writings that it is a Commendation of them The Hebrew Measures whether of Longitude or Capacity are another Instance of the Difficulty which arises from our being ignorant of the exact Significations of some Words in the Bible The Words whereby the Hebrew Weights are express'd are something dubious And so are those whereby the Jewish Coins are denoted Likewise there is Vncertainty in the Greek and Roman Coins mentioned in the New Testament IN farther Prosecution of this I will observe that many Hebrew Words which signify Brute Animals whether four-footed Beasts and other Creatures on the Earth or Fishes and Birds and Insects admit of Different Interpretations and may be applied to Animals of divers kinds It is acknowledged both by the Antient and Modern Jews themselves that they have no certain Account of the Proper Names of divers of those Animals which are mentioned in the 11th Chapter of Leviticus some of which were forbidden others allowed to be eaten by that People When they come to speak of some of them particularly they exceedingly disagree about them and variously determine what they are Sus is
when he rid forth in State signifying as they think that the People ought to salute him most humbly and even to bow the Knee to him This is certain that Barak is a general Word for Saluting whether at meeting or parting either by Word or Gesture and is equivalent with the Greek word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And because at such times they generally used to bow the Knee it hath that particular Signification as in 2 Chron. 16. 13. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã according to the LXX So in Dan. 6. 10. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And in Gen. 24. 11. the Kneeling down of Camels to take up their Burden is expressed by it Yea the word Barak is sometimes transferr'd from its signification of Civil Respect and Kneeling and applied unto Religious Worship as in 2 Chron. 6. 13. Solomon when he pray'd kneeled upon his Knees c. And in Psal. 95. 6. Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker The Word is here made use of to denote bending the Knee in Divine Worship and prostrating themselves before God So that this word Barak in the Original Denotation of it answers to the word Nashak which signifies to salute in a lowly and humble manner to submit and do Obeisance and more particularly Kissing is express'd by it which was a Token of Homage and Subjection of old 1 Sam. 10. 1. But from this first and simple Import of the Word another ariseth which is this viz. to take leave of one because Salutations and Greetings at last end in this Men part and go their way after a short saluting and accosting one another Thus the Word is taken in 2 Sam. 14. 22. Joab âell to the Ground on his Face and bowed himself and thanked the King Hebr. Jeberek he took his leave of him he made that Salutation which was becoming at his going out of his Presence In which Notion it likewise answers to Nashak which besides its former Sense signifies to take leave of to bid adieu to one as in Gen. 31. 28. therefore that Valedictory Salutation of Kissing was call'd Neshikah Parashah osculum separationis the Kiss at parting or taking their leave of one another And then there is another derivative Sense of the Word which flows both from this and the former meaning of it and that is twofold for Persons are wont at Saluting and taking Leave to wish well or ill to one another and to express these by good or evil Words whence it is that Barak is either benè or malè precari it imports either to bless or to curse This as I take it is the true and exact Account of the Word and so you see what is the primary and more restrain'd Acception of it and what is the secondary and more general Sense of it Now that which I offer is this that the Word in that Place of Iob is to be understood chiefly in the first and most proper Denotations of it i. e. as it signifies humbly to salute to bow down and do Obeisance or as it signifies to take one's leave According to the former Acception of the Word Iob's Wife speaks thus to him Do not continue to retain thine Integrity or to hold fast thy Perfection as it is in the Original Do not justify thy self before God as if thou wert void of all Guilt but with humble Reverence bow thy self before the Lord adore and worship the most High and submit thy self to him and acknowledg thy Meanness and Sinfulness Do thus and then thou mayst die with Peace and Comfort In this only she might incur the Imputation of speaking foolishly because she like Iob's Friends afterwards had wrong Apprehensions of this Good Man and imagined that he justified himself and was in his own Thoughts a Sinless Person Or else this was the Worser Language of that Woman Take now thy leave of God and die i. e. seeing thou art in this miserable Condition smote with fore Boils from the Sole of thy Foot to the Crown of thy Head ver 7. think not of living but rather desire to quit this World and to be gone Bid God adieu take your Farewel of him and only beg this of him that you may die as soon as may be Or you may suppose this Woman's Language or Meaning rather to be much worser yet even after this sort Take your last Valâ of Heaven utterly renounce God as well as your Integrity shake him off and have nothing to do with him since he deals so severely with you abandon him for ever and hasten out of the World Though this be not so harsh as downright Cursing of God yet this was indeed speaking like one of the foolish sottish Women as he roundly told her v. 10. The Stile was something too rough to say Curse God She would not speak after that rate to her Pious Confort but she impiously counsels him to take his Leave of God and Religion and to bid an eternal Farewel to both In three other Places in this Book the Word is taken in this latter Sense for it is most probable that in this particular Book the Word is always used in the same Meaning as in ch 1. 5. It may be my Sons have as 't were taken their leave of i. e. tacitely renounced God in their Hearts in the midst of their Pleasures and Entertainments it may be they have had an Aversion to God they have in some measure departed from him for it is not likely that Iob's Children openly blasphemed or strictly speaking cursed God So that part of the 11th Verse of this Chapter and of the 5th of the next which we translate he will curse thee to thy Face seems to be too harsh a Representation even from the Mouth of the Devil of that Holy Man's Carriage for though he cursed the Day of his Birth he never curs'd and blasphemed the Almighty and that to his Face i. e. openly and audaciously but he might be said in some Degree to have forsaken and abandoned God and to have turned himself from him by indulging too much to Impatience and Murmuring And not only these Places in Iob but that in 1 Kings before-mentioned which we translate thus Naboth blasphemed or cursed God and the King may be understood in this Sense He by certain Actions discovered as was pretended that he had forsaken God and revolted from his Duty to the King But I submit this to the Judgment of the Learned Thus you see that Words of Different much more of Contrary Significations occasion some Difficulty in interpreting the Texts where they are found There are many Other Hebrew Words in Scripture which signify Contrary things the Sense sometimes as well as the Letters must be read backwards Nor is the Greek wholly destitute of such Words as in Tit. 1. 12. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã may be rendred either slow or quick Bellies for ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is both piger and celer The Cretians of whom this is spoken might be said
and so the meaning of those words the high Places were not removed may have reference only to these latter and shew that he had not expell'd Idolatry out of every part of the Kingdom The short is this Good King took away very many he removed most of the high Places but not all Where now is the Contradiction But in the New Testament perhaps they will bâ more successful They are pleas'd to make or find there a great number of contrarieties as in Mat. 27. 9. this Evangelist quotes Ieremiah the Prophet yet it was not Ieremiah but Zechary that spoke the words which are there quoted Some have answer'd this by saying here is a Mistake of the Transcribers they have writ Ieremiah instead of Zechariah But this is not to be allowed seeing there is no need of flying to such a sorry Refuge as this A Learned Critick of our own tells us that it is an oversight in the Evangelist it is a slip of his Memory but this is much worse than the former and if we should once admit any such thing the Truth and Authority of the Bible as I have shew'd in a Former Discourse are endanger'd But one of these three Answers may remove the difficulty 1. Grotius on the place salves it thus many of the Old Prophets Sayings were not written down but preserv'd in Memory and deliver'd down to those that came afterwards of which he gives some Instances so that it is probable Zechary makes use of one of these Sayings and Oracles of Ierâmy but when our Saviour quotes this Passage he mentions the first Author of it viz. the Prophet Ieremy The short is though the words are in Zechary yet he had them from Ieremy that is there was a Tradition it is likely that they were his Which is consirmed by that Saying of the Jews that the Spirit of the Prophet Jeremy rested on Zechary For this reason those words of Zechary may be said to be spoken by Jeremy the Prophet 2. Those words are jointly to be found in Ieremy ad Zechary but the former speaks only of buying the Field Ier. 32. 9. the latter makes mention of the Price Zech. 11. 12. But neither are these the very words which are in Zechary's Prophecy but are recited with some considerable alteration as is not unusual in Scripture as you shall hear afterwards If then the Substance of the words be taken out of both the Prophets the Evangelist might quote one of them only without any Error and Mistake and particularly Ieremy might be named as the more known and eminent Prophet 3. Dr. Lightfoot reconciles it another way asserting that there is no Mistake of Transcribers here but that Ieremy was the Name first used in this place by St. Matthew and yet Zecharias is not excluded but intended This he makes good from the ordering and ranging of the Books of Scripture in use among the Jews in which this Learned Author was well skill'd Ieremiaâ had the first Place among the Prophets and he is mention'd above all the rest because he stood first in the Volume of the Prophets Therefore when St. Matthew produced a Text of Zechary under the name of Ieremy he cites the Words out of the Volume of the Prophets under his Name who stood first in that Volume that is the Prophet Ieremiah Any of these Answers may satisfy a Man whose Mind is not tainted with Prejudice against the Sacred Writings Those Words of St. Stephen Acts 7. 15. Iacob went down into Egypt and died he and our Fathers and were carried over into Sichem and laid in the Sepulcher that Abraham bought for a Sum of Money of the Sons of Emmor the Father of Sichem seem to have a double Repugnancy in them to what is recorded in the History of Moses for first we read there that not Iacob but Ioseph was carried to Sichem And secondly that Abraham bought the Sepulcher not of the sons of Emmor but of Ephron the Hittite Gen. 23. 17. ch 49. 30. This latter is the greater Difficulty and seems to be most inextricable because 't is so positively express'd that Abraham purchased the Field of Ephron the Son of Zoar and that Iacob bought the Field of the Children of Emmor Gen. 32. 19. Iosh. 24. 32. How therefore can it be said in the Acts that Abraham bought the Field for a Sepulcher of the Children of Emmor Grotius takes away this Repugnancy by bidding us write Ephron for Emmor but this way of answering the Scripture-Difficulties is not to be tolerated as I have suggested already on the like occasion Besides this Alteration will not be sufficient to take away the Difficulty because Ephron was not the Father of Sichem which is here added A late Sagacious Critick tells us that those of whom St. Stephen here speaks viz. the Patriarchs were part of them buried in Sichem and part of them in the Field that was Ephron's They were carried over into Sichem i. e. saith he our Fathers not Iacob were carried thither And the Sense of the next Words he thinks he salves by a Parenthesis thus and laid in the Sepulcher which Abraham had bought for a Sum of Money of the Sons of Emmor the Father of Sichem So that this Place doth not say the Fathers were laid in the Sepulcher which was bought by Abraham of the Sons of Emmor no for that contradicts the Sacred History which assures us that he bought it of Ephron the Hittite but only they were laid in the Sepulcher of the Sons of Emmor So Sir Norton Knatchbull This doth in part satisfy the Scruple but in my Judgment the best and shortest Solution of it is that which I have before suggested and abundantly proved that 't is usual for Persons in Scripture to have two Names So here Abraham bought a Field for a Burial-place of Ephron the Son of Zohar Gen. 23. 8 9. and yet he bought it of the Son ãâã Sons of Emmor for this Zohar and Emmor were the same Man only with two different Names which he was called by as was very common among the Hebrews This is a plain and easy resolving of the Doubt And if there seems to be any Repugnancy as to the Places of Burial Sichem and Hebron I offer this that the Bodies of the Patriarchs might be translated from the first Place where they were deposited to another i. e. they might be entomb'd at Sichem the Sepulcher of the Sons of Emmor and afterwards be carried to Hebron and laid in a Sepulcher there If we admit of this then Moses's History concerning their Burial might refer to one Place and St. Stephen's to another Those Places also may seem to be Contradictory If I bear witness of my self my witness is not true John 5. 31. and though I bear Record of my self yet my Record is true ch 8. 14. But the Resolution is easy Christ's Testimony concerning himself was not true i. e. valid in the Opinion of the Cavilling Jews to whom he spake because
with Hard and Dark Passages we ought to be so far from blaming and disparaging this Divine Book because of these that we should rather reckon them an Ornament to it The Dubiousness of Scripture in some things is part of its Excellency It is a great Commendation of this Sacred Volume that it is not destitute of Absârusities and Difficulties that we are not wholly tied up and confined in our Interpretation of it that there is a Freedom of Disquisition allowed us that in several Places every Man is at his Liberty to imbrace what Sense he pleaseth of the Words so it be according to the Analogy of Faith and the Tenour of the other Parts of this Inspired Book This gives us an opportunity of exciting our Care of exerting our Industry of improving our Knowledg of enlarging our Faculties by continual Researches and Examinations Thus the Obscurity of some Parts of Scripture is of great and excellent Use. But then where-ever the Indispensible and Necessary Points of Faith and Manners are treated of in these Writings their Stile is sufficiently clear and plain and the Matter which is express'd by it is easy to be understood In brief the Scripture is plain where it should be so But if in some other Places there be Controversy and Perplexity if some Texts seem to oppose and clash with one another let us remember this that the Scriptures were inspired by the Holy Ghost and therefore there can be no real Oppositions or Repugnancies in them because Truth cannot contradict it self By impartial Study and Enquiry let us dive into the Meaning of these Antient Writings and by the Helps which I have tendred in the foregoing Discourse endeavour to reconcile those Places which seem to differ but let us never be so daring as to accuse the Scriptures which were endited by God himself of Contradiction FINIS FINIS ADDENDA Refer this to Page 267. Line 19. HEBREW Verbs of different Significations 1. Those of two Significations Anah in Kal to grieve or mourn Isa. 3. 26. ch 19. 8. in Piel to deliver up Exod. 21. 13. Dabar in Kal to speak in Piel to reduce into order Chalatz in Piel to save in Hiphil to arm Iaal in Hiphil to will or desire in Niphal to be foolish or mad Pala in Niphal to be admired in Piel to separate Alam in Niphal to be silent in Piel to gather Mashal in Kal to rule in Niphal to be compared with or likened to any thing or Person Sabar in Kal to consider in Piel to expect to hope for Rakah in Kal to spit in Hiphil to attenuate Tanah in Kal and Niphil to hire in Piel to discourse with Gaal in Kal to redeem in Piel to pollute Bara in Kal to create in Hiph to make fat Cacash in Kal to be lean in Piel to tell a Lie Lamad in Kal to learn in Piel to teach Cabad in Kal to be heavy in Piel and Niph to be honoured Puk to stumble to produce Gnarak to ordain to esteem Saphak to suffice to clap Hands Shabar to break to buy Kut to loath or abominate to contend Katar to offer Incense to bind Kam or Kum to stand or rise to be dim-sighted Ragang to quiet to break or cut asunder Ramah to dart to deceive Shaal to request to borrow Panah to behold to remove Nakaâ to bore or make a Hole to curse Samaâh to rejoice to shine Pharash to separate to interpret Lutz to laugh to arguâ or dispute Zachah to be innocent to overcome Lacham to eat to fight Gnatsam to strengthen to shut Gnatsab to disturb to fashion or form Gnaraph to cut the Throat to distil Gnathak to wax old to be removed 2. Those of three Significations Rab or Rahab and so the Verb Rabah to be many or much to shoot Arrows to educate Ragal to search to calumniate to walk or make to walk or go Halal to praise to shine to be mad Shalam to be peaceable to be perfect to recompense Gnabar to pass to be with Child to be angry Nashaâ to forget to let out Money upon Interest to put out of joint Gnur to be watchful to make blind to make naked Alaph to learn to teach to make or produce a thousand Ruang to do Evil to break or bruise to make a great Noise Charash to plough to think to be silent Gnaraâ to be emptied or poured out to make naked to adhere Mahar to make haste to be liberal to be foolish or inconsiderate Gur to travel abroad to gather together to fear Damah to be quiet to be like to one to consent Pharang to be open or naked to be free to vindicate Aphah to boil to bake to fry Zur to abhor to sneeze to compress Gnanaâ to answer to humble to commit Adultery Shar to sing to walk to observe Shalah to be quiet to be fortunate to err or be faulty Kutz to rise or awake betimes to be weary of or nauseate to summer or spend the Summer-time Kara to call to read to meet one 3. Verbs of four or more Significations Natzah to bud forth to fly to fight to overcome Salad to strengthen to warm or heat to harden to desire or beg Kalal to be light or vile to curse to destroy to polish Shagnah to behold to be astonish'd to abstain or desist to shut Pathach to open to engrave to plough to expose to loose Carah to open to pierce to dig to prepare to entertain one with a Feast to traffick or merchandize Chalal to begin to profane to bring forth Young to wound to mourn or grieve to cut or bore to leap Lastly no Verb in the Holy Tongue hath so many different Significations as Gnarab the Import of which is to mingle to negotiate to be sweet or pleasant to undertake for or be Surety to be dusky as in the Evening c. Refer this to Page 274. Line 1. Hebrew Nouns of two Significations Ed a Vapour Calamity Siach a Shrub Speech Tagnar a Whetstone a Sheath Goel a Redeemer a Kinsman Sheber Corn or any Food interpreting or unriddling Racham the Womb a Girl so Mother hath this double Signification with us Lahat a Flame the Edg of a Sword Kesil a Fool a certain Constellation Aven Iniquity Vanity Nagnal a Shoe a Glove Nouns of three Significations Nachal an Inheritance a Floud or Torrent a Valley Alluph a Teacher a Prince a Bull or Ox. Keren a Horn Strength Splendor Gevah Pride Excellency a Body Nouns of four or more Significations Chebel Corruption Grief a Rope or Cable a Croud or Multitude besides other collateral ones as an Inheritance c. Shebet a Rod a Staff a Scepter a Tribe a Stroke or Plague a Quill a Writing-Pen Charutz cut off industrious Gold pretious a Ditch a Flail a Rake Refer this to Page 343. Line 7. Hebrew Words that have Contrary Significations Nacar to be known to be unknown Kalas in Piel to slight or disesteem in Hithpael to praise or extol Ragang to move and roll up
the Watch-Tower eat drink arise ye Princes anoint the Shield express the Speediness of the Preparations made for Babylon's Fall They are so order'd that the Quickness of the Dispatch is signified by them There are six Parts or Divisions in this Verse without a Copulative meerly to signify the Celerity of the Vndertaking And the Vision wherein this Speedy Ruine of that Nation is foretold is thus represented v. 7. He saw a Chariot a couple of Horsemen a Chariot of Asses a Chariot of Camels There is Expedition in the very Words there is no Conjunctive Particle to retard them You may in the very Frame of the Words perceive the Chariots running speedily But if we look into those Parts of the Bible which are strictly and properly Poetical that is which consist of certain Measures and Numbers we shall find Examples of this sort very frequently The Egyptians furious Pursuit after the Israelites is thus express'd in Moses's Song Exod. 15. 9. I will pursue I will overtake c. Where there are âix Verbs denoting Action and Expedition and not one Conjunction between them In the Conciseness and Roundness of the Words especially if we consult the Original which is more Emphatick we may discern the Speediness of the thing it self spoken of The like might be taken notice of in the Song of Deborah Iudg. 5. and in several Places of the Psalms and the Lamentations Thus if we would be very Curious we might parallel the Inspired Poetry with that of the best Masters in that Art among the Gentiles But because these things are but mean in respect of those Weightier ones wherein the Bible's Excellency doth appear I have not inserted them or any other Observations of the like Nature into the ensuing Discourse and the rather because it was my Design to mention only those Particulars which are of Vniversal Vse and which may without Exception be acceptable to all Persons who have a due Esteem either of True Learning or Piety Those who value the former and are well acquainted with it will most readily give their Suffrage here and proclaim to the World that Scripture-Learning outvies all others that the Original of most Arts and Sciences is to be fetch'd hence that a Library without the Bible is an imperfect thing Those who have a Sense of the latter will be as forward to assert the Preheminence of this Sacred Volume for here is the Source of all Religion and no Man can be Devout and Pious who is a Stranger to this Wherefore when with a becoming Regret I saw that the Sense of Religion and Piety is generally lost among us at this Day I apprehended that the best way to retrieve it is to read and peruse the Scriptures And that this may be done with Success I thought it requisite to set forth the Excellency and Perfection of this Holy Book that thence Persons might be effectually invited to acquaint themselves with it And I hope how meanly soever I have performed this Task some who light upon these Papers will from them be inspired with a hearty Regard and Reverence an entire Love and Veneration of the Holy Writ and be reminded from what is here suggested to converse more intimately with it themselves and to encourage others to follow their Example This would in a short time make a great Change in the World and the Bible it self would be read in the Lives and Behaviour of Mankind Wherefore with great Seriousness and Importunity I request the Reader that he would entertain such Thoughts and Perswasions as these that Bible-Learning is the Highest Accomplishment that this Book is the most Valuable of any upon Earth that here is a Library in on single Volume that this alone is sufficient for us tho all the Libraries and Books in the World were destroyed And this is the Grand Truth which I have laboured to demonstrate in the following Papers A CATALOGUE of most of the Texts of Scripture which are interpreted in the following Discourse according to the Author 's Particular Iudgment GENESIS THE whole first Chapter Page 3 â Chap. 3. v. 7. They made themselves Aprons What the word Câagoroth signifies p. 235 Ver. 21. Vnto them the Lord God made Coats of Skins Why so called p. 237 Ch. 4. v. 20. Jabal was the Father of such as dwell in Tents p. 112 Ch. 18. v. 7. He took the Calf which he had dressed and set it before them p. 117 Ch. 24. v. 22. The Man took a Golden Ear-ring What is meant by Nezem zahab p. 242 Ch. 50. v. 2. Joseph commanded the Physicians Rophim to embalm his Father The large Extent of that Word is fully shew'd p. 187 EXODUS Ch. 21. v. 7. His Master shall bore his Ear through with an Awl and he shall serve him for ever p. 247 NUMBERS Ch. 21. v. 14. The Book of the Wars of the Lord. Besides several other Texts from which some indeavour to infer that some part of the Writings belonging to the Bible is lost p. 453 JOSHUA Ch. 2. v. 4. The Woman took the two Men and hid them p. 153 Ch. 7. v. 26. They raised over him a great Heap of Stones p. 280 Ch. 23. v. 2. Joshua called for their Elders and for their Heads and for their Iudges and their Officers p. 85 JUDGES Ch. 20. v. 16. There were seven hundred chosen Men left-handed or shut of their right Hands p. 212 SAMUEL Book I. Ch. 17. v. 6. He had a Target Cidon of Brass between his Shoulders p. 204 SAMUEL Book II. Ch. 1. v. 21. There the Shield of the Mighty is vilely cast away the Shield of Saul as though he rather it had not been anointed with Oil. p. 206 207 Ch. 3. v. 35. All the People came to cause David to eat Bread KINGS Book I. Ch. 9. v. 28. And they came to Ophir In what Part of the World this is p. 194 CHRONICLES Book II. Ch. 21. v. 19. His People made no Burning for him like the Burning of his Fathers p. 273 JOB Ch. 1. v. 21. Naked came I out of my Mother's Womb and naked shall I return thither p. 264 PROVERBS Ch. 1. v. 17. Surely in vain is the Net spread in the Sight of any Bird. p. 385 JEREMIAH Ch. 34. v. 5. He died with the Burnings of his Fathers p. 272 EZEKIEL Ch. 24. v. 17. Bind the Tire of thy Head upon thee p. 275 AMOS Ch. 2. v. 8. They lay themselves down upon Clothes p. 134 St. LUKE Ch. 10. v. 42. Mary hath chosen the good Part. p. 141 ACTS Ch. 7. v. 22. He was mighty in Words and in Deeds p. 312 c. CORINTHIANS 1 Epist. Ch. 5. v. 9. I wrote unto you in an Epistle p. 467 Ch. 7. v. 6. I speak this of Permission and not of Command p. 472 Ver. 12. To the rest speak I not the Lord. ibid. CORINTHIANS 2 Epist. Ch. 3. v. 17. Now the Lord is that Spirit p. 434 Ch. 8. v. 8. I speak not by Commandment p. 472
Infallible This is that more sure Word of Prophecy which St. Peter preferreth before Eye-Witnesses and Voices from Heaven 2 Pet. 1. 16 c. Yea though an Angel from Heaven should preach any other Doctrine than what the Apostles preach'd and afterwards committed to Writing St. Paul pronounceth him accursed Gal. 1. 8. These Infallible Records these undoubted Oracles of the Holy Ghost in Scripture are the standing Rule of Belief to all christians even to the End of the World On this they may rely with Confidence as on an Unerring Guide for it is not like other Books which are made by Men and therefore are not void of Errors and Mistakes but the Author of it is God who is Truth it self and can neither deceive nor be deceived Thus the Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament are the Compleat and Absolute Rule of our Belief and of all Supernatural Truth 2. They are the Perfect Rule of Life and Manners they contain all things to be Done as well as to be Believed Here is the Decalogue the Sum of all our Duty towards God and Man and the Necessary Precepts of Life comprised in it are often repeated enlarged upon and explained through the whole Sacred Book To these are added the Evangelical Duties of Self-denial Mortification Poverty of Spirit Purity of Heart Brotherly Love Heavenly-Mindedness Circumspect Walking Redeeming the Time Abstaining from all appearance of Evil Giving no Offence to any and many others of the like Nature The Writings of the Gospel forbid us to be Carnal Sensual and Earthly and call upon us to converse with Spiritual and Celestial Objects to to set our Affections on things Above and to work our Minds to such a Temper that we may desire to depart out of this Body and to be with Christ which is far better than groveling here below And Christianity promotes this Heavenly-mindedness by giving us a Power over Our selves by restoring us to a Government of our Bodily Appetites and Passions so that the Soul thereby becomes Pure and Defecate purged from all mundane Dross and Filth fitted for Heavenly Joys and therefore most earnestly breathes and longs after them Here we learn that Christianity is repugnant in all things to Satan's Kingdom and designedly promotes the Kingdom of God it bids us not seek our selves and aim chiefly at worldly Respects but it enjoineth us to Humble and Debase our selves and to Glorify God in all to advance his Honour in the World and next to that to look after the Salvation of our own and others immortal Souls These are the Noble and Worthy Designs of Christianity and the Laws of it their Business is to take us off from those low and mean Projects which Men of the World carry on and to set the Soul of Man in a right Posture and to fix it on right Ends. The Christian Precepts reach to the Hearts of Men they restrain the secret Thoughts and inward Motions of the Mind they curb the inordinate Desires and Wishes they temper the Affections and Passions especially they forbid Revenge Malice Hatred and they direct us to love God and to bear Love to all Men for his Sake The Christian Laws give Rules for our Words and Speeches and will not allow them to be Idle and Vain much less Prophane and Impious but they command our Discourse to be always with Grace season'd with Salt to favour of Goodness and Piety and to be for the Edifying of those we converse with The Commandments of the Gospel do also govern the Outward Actions of our Lives and bid us be Holy in all manner of Conversation They enjoin Chastity and Continence Temperance and Sobriety they forbid Lust and Luxury Pride and Sensuality They teach Courtesy Affability Meekness Candour Gentleness towards our Brethren They bid us be Kind and Charitable to all and even to love our Enemies Christianity is a Religion that is exactly Just and gives the strictest Rules of dealing Honestly and Uprightly with our Neighbours Even Morality which is the very Foundation and Ground-work of All Religions is most Illustrious here Christianity hath the Impress of Reason Civility and all Acceptable Qualities It forbids nothing that is Fitting and Decorous it countenances all that is Manly and Generous it is agreeable to the Law of Nature and the Reason of Mankind In these Sacred Writings the Duty of Christians is set down not only as they are Single but as they stand in relation to others and as they are Members of the Community There are Peculiar Lessons for Persons in every Condition for Husbands and Wives for Masters and Servants for Parents and Children for Superiours Equals and Inferiours They are all provided here with Instructions and Directions proper to that State they are in They are very Remarkable Words which a Reverend Divine of our Church uttered Would Men apply their Minds saith he to study Scripture and observe their own and others Course of Life Experience would teach them that there is no Estate on Earth nor humane Business in Christendom this Day on foot but have a Ruled Cafe in Scripture for their Issue and Success This is a Great Truth and is no mean Demonstration of the Excellency of these Holy Writings which I am speaking of Here are also the most Notable Instances of all those Vertues and Graces which adorn the Life of Man Here is the Example of Abel's sincere and acceptable Devotion of Enoch's walking with God of Noah's untainted Faithfulness amidst the Temptations of the corrupt World of Abraham's Faith and Self-denial when he offered his only Son on the Altar of Ioseph's Resolved Chastity when he once and again resisted the lustful Solicitations of his Mistress Here is the Example of Moses's Publick Spirit who desired his Name might be blotted out of the Book of Life rather than that Nation should perish Here you read of Aaron's submissive Silence of Reuben's fraternal Commiseration of Rohab's Seasonable Wisdom which was the Effect of her Faith in concealing the Spies that were search'd for Here we may observe Phineas's Active Zeal Eli's Entire Submission to the Divine Pleasure Iob's Invincible Patience Iosiah's Early Piety his and Iehosaphat's Care to reform the Church Ionathan's entire Friendship Manasses and Peter's Repentance Iohn Baptist's Austerity the Centurion's Faith Stephen's Charity to his Enemies at his Death Briefly here is commemorated the Religious and Holy Demeanour of all Ranks and Degrees of Persons whether in Prosperity or Adversity whether in Youth Manhood or Old Age or in whatsoever Condition of Life they were placed Where can we find such glorious Atchievements as the Sacred History recounts unto us Where are there such Perfect Paterns of Vertue Where do you meet with such Noble Acts as some of the Holy Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles are celebrated for The Great Heroes spoken of in the Writings of the Pagans are generally but Ideas of Vertue and a kind of Harmless Romances to preach Goodness to Men. Virgil's Aeneas Xenophon's
Cyrus Curtius's Alexander Plinty's Trajan are rather Ingenious Portraictures and Images of Worthy Princes than Real Characters of them They represent rather what they should be than what they are They imitate some Limners who study not to draw the Face exactly like that of the Person they are to pourtray so they make it Fair they think it is enough But the Sacred Writers have not done so they have no ways flattered or misrepresented the Originals they drew They have set them before us in their proper Features native Lineaments and genuine Colours What we read of the Worthies mention'd in the Bible is Certainly True and Real Matter of Fact Such was their Incomparable Spirit that they did braver and greater Actions than Others ever thought of witness the matchless Valour Fortitude and Conduct of Ioshua Iephthah Gideon yea of those Masculine Women Deborah and Iael witness all the Other Eminent Instances of Heroick Undertakings in the Sacred Records witness those Exact Paterns those Accurate Examples of the rest of the Vertues which we read of these And to illustrate and set off these there are added very Signal and Memorable Examples of all sorts of Vices as of Cain's Persidious Murdering his Brother Laban's Fraud and Ingratitude Esau's unruly Appetite Reuben and Iudah's Incest Pharaoh's impious Obstinacy Abimelech's unnatural Cruelty to his Brethren Dinah's wanton gadding Amnon's Rape Achitophel's evil Policy Shimei's Railing Haman's revengeful Pride Rabshakeh's Blasphemy Belshazzar's sacrilegious Debauchery Potiphar's Wife is an Example of the Impudence and Outragiousness of Lust when it is repulsed Eli is an Instance of Fond Indulgence to his Children Absalom Achitophel Sheba and Zimri of Treason and Rebellion Samson and Solomon of an Vndue Love of Women And in the New Testament the Hypocrisy of the Pharisees the Treachery of Iudas the Timorous Compliance of Pilate the Malice of the Jews against our Saviour the Apostacy of Demas the Ambition of Diotrephes are notorious And innumerable other Examples there are of all manner of Immorality and Wickedness And with these are mixed the most Signal Instances of the Punishment of Vice and the Reward of Vertue Here are abundant Proofs of God's Extreme Severity and Vengeance against profligate Offenders and here are as frequent Tokens and Assurances of the Divine Love and Kindness towards those that lead a holy and religious Life Here are set before us the most Conspicuous Acts of God's Providence in reference both to Bad Men and Good that by the former we may be discouraged yea deterred from continuing in the ways of Vice and that by the latter we may be incouraged yea as 't were bribed to be Vertuous and Good Here we may observe and admire God's Wonderful Care of his Servants in all Ages of the World and here we may take notice of the Variety of those Evils and Miseries which he inflicteth on those who wilfully decline his Service and give themselves up to their Lusts. There are no where such Eminent Examples of this Nature to be found as these which we meet with in the Sacred Volume of the Bible No other Writings can produce such Remarkable Discoveries of God's Will towards Men and of his Dealings with them Wherefore These must needs be the Best Conduct of our Lives and Actions the Best Reformers of our Ways and Manners Which is the Meaning of the Psalmist in Psaâ 1 19. 9. Wherewith shall a young Man cleanse his way By taking heed thereto according to thy Word i. e. by making the Holy Scripture his Rule and by adjusting all his Actions to it If the Youthful and Passionate Sinner may be reclaimed and reformed by attending to God's Word and that only the Pentateuch or the Laws of Moses for this was all the Inspired Scripture extant at that time which we certainly know of then we cannot despair of the Success and happy Influence of the whole Body of the Scriptures upon Others It will throughly change and amend their Lives by making a full Discovery to them of all their Lusts and evil Affections by representing Sin to them in its own native Desormity and by setting before them the Beauties and Excellencies of a Religious Life by being a Faithful Monitor and Guide to them whenever they undertake any thing by shewing them the true Boundaries of Good and Evil and by directing them how to accomplish the one and to avoid the other The Sum of all is that these Inspired Writings acquaint us with the Whole Will of God whether it refers to our Belief or to our Practice and consequently that not only our Faith but our Manners are to be regulated by this Holy Book Especially by the Principles and Laws of the New Testament they will more conspicuously be exalted and all Righteousness and Godliness more visibly promoted in our Lives For here is the most Perfect and Consummate Exemplar of Holiness in the Evangelical Writings the Blessed Iesus still speaks and lives In these you may hear what he said and see what he did and know how you are to conform your Lives according to His. Whence you have Reason to infer that as these Writings are the Compleat Canon of our Faith so they are the Adequate Rule of our Actions Nay although we should suppose some Mistakes in them by the Fault of Transcribers which yet no Man can certainly prove nay it is not by any means to be allowed and therefore it is the most culpable thing in Sir N. Knatchbull that he is several times finding Faults in the Transcribers of the New Testament which if we once grant we bid farewel to the Certainty of Scripture But if we should I say suppose some Slips in the Copying out of the Books yet still they retain the same Character because those supposed Mistakes are not of Moment and belong not to Faith or Manners Neither do the Obscurity or Difficulty of Scripture hinder it from being our Rule because all the Matters in it which relate to our Salvation are clear and easy For when I say it is an Adequate Rule of Faith and Manners the Meaning is that it is so as to such Matters of Faith and Manners as are Necessary to be believed and practised by us Now nothing is Necessary but what is absolutely requisite to our Salvation This then is the thing which we maintain that the Scriptures contain in them either in express Terms or by just Consequence all things to be asserted and done by us in order to our being Saved The Reason of which is evident namely because the End for which the Scriptures were written was this to direct us how to be Saved This is the grand Design of it and therefore there must be in it all things that are requisite to this great End and Design Which is expressed thus in the Words of Our Church Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to Salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein nor may be proved thereby is not to be required of any Man that
it should be believed as an Article of the Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to Salvation And this is a sufficient and solid Proof of a thing 's not being Necessary to Salvation that it is not contain'd in Scripture This then we assert that these Writings are Plain and Perfect as to all Matters that are Necessary and accordingly are able to put an End to all Controversies which relate to Salvation And if Men will not end them with This Rule they will never do it with any This is the Chief Perfection of Scripture that in it the whole Will of God as to those things that have a necessary Tendency to our Happiness and consequently are the only Necessary Things to be known and done by us is plainly revealed The New Testament particularly is the last Revelation of God's Will and Counsel and nothing is to be added to it or taken from it which makes it a Perfect Standard of Belief and a Compleat Rule of our Lives in which there is nothing short and defective nothing superfluous and redundant Here are all the Principles of True Religion and all the Measures of Holy Living so that whilst we proceed according to this Perfect Canon we are infallibly certain of the Truth of what we believe and of the Rectitude and Lawfulness of what we act On this sole Account the Holy Writ excels all Writings in the World besides 3. We are to adjoin this that as it is a Light to our Vnderstandings and a Rule of our Lives so it is the grand Procurer of our Comfort Ioy and Tranquillity Alas they are Cold Topicks of Consolation which the Writings of the Best Moralists afford us When our outward Distresses and Miseries much more when our inward and spiritual Maladies increase upon us Epictetus and Seneca with all their Spangled Sayings are too mean Physicians to take us in Hand The Great Cicero when in the Close of his Life he was reduced to marvelous Difficulties declared that his Learning and his Books afforded him not any Considerable Arguments of Comfort that the Disease of his Mind which he lay under was too great and too strong to be cured by those Ordinary Medicines which Philosophy administred to him There must be some greater Traumatick some more powerful Application to these Wounds to work a perfect Cure And this Divine Book is able to furnish us with it This alone can remove our Pains and Languors and restore us to an entire Health This faith the Psalmist is my Comfort in my Affliction Thy Word hath quickned me And again Vnless thy Law had been my Delight I should then have perished in my Affliction It was this which upheld and chear'd him in his greatest Straits and yielded him Light and Joy when all things about him look'd black and dismal If but a small part of the Bible had this blessed Effect how powerful and successful will All of it prove if we duly consult it seriously meditate upon it and give it admittance into our Hearts If the Apostle could say Whatsoever things were written asore time in this Book were written for our Learning that we through Patience and Comfort of the scriptures might have Hope how much greater Hope must needs be administred to us in all Conditions of Life but more especially in the Day of Trouble and Calamity when we have the Scriptures not only of the Old but New Testament to repair unto This latter especially will be a never-falling Spring of Contentment and Joy to us In these Books we have a true and perfect Landskip and View of the World Here is unmask'd and laid open the Vanity of it Here we are assured that many of the Gay things which it presents us with and which fond Minds so dote upon are but empty Bubbles deceitful Phantoms and Apparitions mere Conceits and Castles in the Air. Here we are inform'd that a Prosperous State is not really Good that an Overplus of Riches and Worldly Abundance does frequently prove a Clog to vertuous Minds and that Excess of Pleasures is too fulsom and luscious and takes away that purer Relish of spiritual and heavenly Delights yea that Men generally find a worse Effect of them for when they are gorged and clogg'd with them they revolt from God when they are waxen fat they kick against Heaven So their Worldly Plenty is turn'd into the worst of Punishments and this Plethory is their Disease On the other side we are taught in these Writings that Crosses and Afflictions are not evil in themselves yea that they are Good and Medicinal and advance our spiritual Health that they are so far from being a hindrance to our Happiness that they are a part of it for otherwise the Afflicted would not be so often pronounced Blessed That God's Afflicting a Man is Magnifying of him and setting his Heart upon him It shews that God is greatly concern'd for his Good and that the Almighty hath more care of him than he hath of himself Here we are instructed that we have ground to suspect our Condition if we be wholly exempted from the Distresses of this Life and that not to be Chastised is a Mark of Bastardy Here we learn the true use and end of all those Adverse Dispensations which we meet with viz. that they were designed to try us to make us know our selves and to inform us how evil and bitter a thing it is to offend the Divine Majesty to awaken us out of our Sloth and Security to hold us in Action to keep us in Breath and Exercise as Carthage was useful to rouze Rome's Valour to abate our Pride and Haughtiness and make us humble and submissive Creatures to check our immoderate Passions and Pursuits after earthly things to disintangle us from these Snares to free us from these Charms to keep us from being suck'd in and swallowed up in the powerful Circle and Eddy of this World as who knows not that it is True Philosophy that the World is made up of Vortices to cause us to look after Better Things when these are taken from us to reclaim us from our evil Courses and to reduce us unto Vertue and Goodness to excite us to a Renunciation of all Trust and Confidence in our selves and the transitory Enjoyments of this World and to depend upon God alone It is this Book whence we are acquainted that our Sufferings make us conformable to Christ our Master and therefore are Honourable Badges of Christianity That the Curse which usually attends outward Crosses is taken away by our Saviour's Death That the Calamities of the Faithful are Chastisements rather than Punishments That no Adverse Accidents can do us any hurt if we believe in Jesus and abandon our Sins That the Pressures of this Life are serviceable to make us pity those that are in Misery to know and relish the Love of Christ in suffering for us to inhanse the Comforts of a Good Conscience to commend
find more Work and much more to his Advantage in the Writings of the Old Testament especially of the Five Books of Moses than in all the Mouldy Manuscripts and Records in the whole World besides Therefore you will find Mr. Selden as Great an Antiquary as this last Age afforded continually conversing with these Sacred Records and presenting the World with the Noblest and most Useful Pieces of Antiquity from thence Here we learn what they did in the Primitive Age of the World how things went before and immediately after the Flood The Scriptures give the Oldest Account and Discovery of things All Curious Observations of the First Times all Antient Notions and Inventions are to be met with here So that if you look upon the Bible but as an Antient Book of Learning we are invited to study it We are furnish'd here with some of the most desirable Antiquities of the Babylonians Persians Egyptians Arabians Syrians Canaanites Phoenicians Jews Greeks Romans and several other Nations On which very Account alone the Bible is the best Book that a true Lover of Learning can take into his hand Briefly from the whole I make this Conclusion that no Man can be a Consummate Scholar without reading the Scriptures which are the Source even of all Humane Learning But as the Antiquity and the Vniversal Learning contain'd in this Book so the Certainty of it gives it the preference to all others What we meet with here we are sure is true whatever is related as said or done in so many Ages past we have reason to yield a full Assent to because the Penmen of this Book were divinely inspired and therefore could not err in what they deliver'd This we cannot say of any other Writers for we find them to be uncertain and lubricous and they too often take up Stories on trust or invent them as they please As for the Writings of the Poets the best of them are mere Fictions Yea One that knew the Nature of an Heroick Poem very well tells us that Fable is the chief thing in it it is the very Soul and Life of it Thus it is in Homer and Virgil's Poems and generally the other Poetick Writers as Orpheus Hesiod c. are fabulous Rhapsodists Even the Father of Latin Poetry whom I just now mention'd brings Eneas and Dido together though he lived several Ages before her And many such Historical Incongruities and fabulous Inconsistencies the Poets put us off with instead of true Relations Yea professed Historians are full of Uncertainties and Contradictions every where Xenophon avers that Cyrus the first Persian Monarch died peaceably in his Bed but Herodotus and Iustin say he was vanquish'd in Battel by Tomyâis Queen of Scytâia who caused his Head to be cut off and thrown into a Vessel full of Blood Some tell us that Alexander the Great died of Drunkenness others that he was poisoned Hannibal poison'd himself saith Iustin he was kill'd by his Servants saith Plutarch but this Author also acknowledges that he drank Bulls Blood and thereby procured his Dissolution The same Writer sets down the several Opinions concerning the Deaths of Romulus and Scipio Africanus and makes this Observation that the Deaths of Great Men are uncertainly reported Athenâus saith of Plato that he was eaten up of Lice by his frequent eating of Figs which he so exceedingly loved that he was call'd ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but this is contradicted by others Some say Aristotle drowned himself in Euripus because he could not find out the Cause of its ebbing and flowing others would perswade us that he poisoned himself but some affirm he died a natural Death There is scarce any Philosopher but dies twice or thrice in Laertius Nor is there almost any Life in Plutarch without two or three Deaths as a Learned Man hath observed To pass to other Historians from whom we might think to have better and certainer Information Antiochus in the Book of Maccabees died three several Deaths 1 st In his Bed at Babylon 1 Mac. 6. 8 16. 2dly He was stoned in the Temple of Nanea 2 Mac. 1. 15 16. 3dly He died on the Mountains by a Fall out of his Chariot 2 Mac. 9. 28. There were different Reports concerning Iulian's Death but the respective Historians are consident in them all He was killed by one of his own Souldiers saith Socrates by a Demon saith Callistus who wrote in Verse of the War at that time with the Persians It is probable that he died by a Stroke which a Christian Souldier gave him according to Sozomen but none knows whence that Stroke came according to Theodoret. Eusebius and Zosimus speak diversly concerning the Life and Death of Constantine the Great Procopius gives an Account of Iustinian contrary to what all other Historians do And before this we find the Fathers differing about the Character of Nicolas the Deacon Clemens of Alexandria and Theodoret say he lived a chaste Life but that being reprimanded by the Apostles for his Jealousy towards his Wife he thereupon brought her out and exposed her to any one But Tertullian and Epiphanius affirm that he allowed of and practised all Obscenity and Lewdness and the promiscuous Use of Women The Person who goes under the Name of St. George was a Cappadocian Tribune a great Hero and at last a Martyr say some he was an Heretick an Arian Bishop of Alexandria say others there was no such Man say a third sort If we should look into our own British Concerns there we shall find History very dark and uncertain nothing is tolerably related of this Country till Iulius Caesar's time and then and afterwards we are involv'd in great Uncertainties and we can look no where but things are diversly reported Great Men die several Deaths and the Lives and Actions of Persons are variously represented King Edward sirnamed Ironsides his Death is four or five ways related in our Chronicles and so is King Iohn's Some Writers tell us that King Richard the Second died of Famine by Force others that he voluntarily famish'd himself Some say he was kill'd with the Blow of a Poll-Ax on his Head others that he escaped out of Prison and led a solitary Life in Scotland and there expired Concerning King Henry the 5th it is said by some that he was poâsoned by others that he died of a Pleurisy by others that a Palsey and Cramp took away his Life and there are others that considently report his Death was by St. Anthony's Fire Yea our Writers are often grosly mistaken about Matters of very late Occurrence as Baker Heylin Fuââer professed Historians tell us that Richard Sutton a single Man founded the Hospital at the Charterhouse whereas his Christian Name was Thomas and ãâã was a married Man So Mr. Hooker died in holy Celibacy say Gauden and Fuller but the contrary is known to be too true But I should be infinite if I should undertake to set before you the palpable Mistakes and Misreports in
as This of the Pious King and Prophet Here are all things that are proper to beget Religion and Piety in us here is every thing that is serviceable to nourish and sustain all our Vertues and Graces and that in the utmost height of them Before I pass to the next Book I will add a few Words concerning the Nature of the Poetry here used This is to be said with great Truth that these Poetical Measures are far different from those which we have been acquainted with in Other Writers But then it is not to be question'd that tho we are ignorant of the true Quality of these Poetick Numbers yet they are very Melodious and Lofty and not unworthy of the best Poets It is not to be doubted that there is a certain Artificial Meter observ'd in this Book which renders the several Odes and Hymns very delightful The Younger Scaliger denies and that with some Earnestness and Sharpness otherwise he would not shew himself his Father's own Son that there is any thing like this in this Book though at the same time he grants that the Proverbs and almost all Iob are Metrical But Iosephus and Philo two Learned Jews and who may reasonably be thought to be Competent Judges in this Matter attest the Meter of these Psalms as well as of the Books of Iob c. So do Origen Eusebius Ierom and some of the most Judicious Criticks among the Moderns But then they confess that the Meter is not so regular as that of succeeding Poets And who sees not that even these exceedingly vary in their Measures It is not denied that Sophocles and Euripides Plautus and Terence write in Verse but they can scarcely be said to do so in comparison of Homer and Virgil. There are some Hexameters Iambicks Saphicks and other known kinds of Verses in David's Psalms but they are very rare and seldom pure and unmix'd but notwithstanding this it is easy to perceive if we be observant and attentive that there are several Verses together that are Matrical The Arabian Criticks tell us that the Alcoran is written in a sort of Verse and sometimes in Rythme but every Reader cannot find this No more can an ordinary Eye or Ear discern the Numbers in the Hebrew Verse for the Hebrews way of measuring their Feet was different from that which is in use among the Greek and Latin Poets yet so as we may oftentimes perceive a certain Harmony of Syllables And as the Psalms are Metrical so some of them are Rhythmical This is clear in the very Entrance of these Divine Hymns ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Again in Psal. 6. 2. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã This is evident in Psal. 8. 5. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã This is plain in Psal. 12. 4. 51. 16. 63. 3. 116. 7. 148. 1 2. And in abundance of other Places there is not only a certain Orderly Number of Syllables but the last Words of the Verses end alike in Sound CHAP. IX The Book of Proverbs why so call'd The transcendent Excellency of these Divine and Inspired Aphorisms Some Instances of the Different Application of the Similitudes used by this Author The Book of Ecclesiastes why so entituled The Admirable Subject of it succinctly displayed The particular Nature of the Canticle or Mystical Song of Solomon briefly set forth It is evinc'd from very cogent Arguments that Solomon died in the Favour of God and was saved The Books of the Four Great Prophets Isaiah Jeremiah with his Lamentations Ezekiel Daniel are described So are those of the Twelve Lesser Prophets Hosea c. WHO should succeed David but Solomon as in the Throne so in the Sacred Canon of the Bible And He like his Father was a Divine Poet his three Books viz. the Proverbs Ecclesiastes and his Song being written in Hebrew Verse The first of these Books is composed of Excellent Proverbs whence it hath its Name By this word Mishle which is here rendred Proverbs sometimes are signified I. Parables strictly so call'd which are no other than Apologues or Artificial Fables of which I have spoken under the Stile of Scripture but there are none such in this Book 2. By this Word is meant any Trite and Commonly received Saying any Vulgar Proverbial Speech as that in ch 26. v. 11. The Dog returneth to his Vomit But there are few of this sort here 3. Sarcastick Speeches Gibes Taunts as in 2 Chron. 7. 20. Psal. 69. 11. are intended by this Expression and this Book of Solomon is not wholly destitute of these 4. The Hebrew Word denotes such Speeches as are by way of Similitude Ezek. 18. 2. of which kind there are many in this Book as that in ch 11. 22. As a Iewel of Gold in a Swine's Snout so is a fair Woman without Discretion and in ch 25. 11. A Word fitly spoken is like Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver This we find to be the frequent manner of the Wise Man's speaking in this Book he generally illustrates and amplifies his Doctrine by some fit Simily or Comparison so that thereby it is as it were twice deliver'd 5. Sayings that are mixed with some Obscurity and Intricacy such Speeches as require Sharpness of Wit and Understanding both for propounding and conceiving them are denoted by this Word in Scripture Thus an Intricate Question or Problem Mashal is set down in Psal. 49. 4 5. and in the rest of the Psalm there is an Answer to this Problem a Resolution of this Difficult Point Proverbial Sentences are sometimes Enigmatical and have a Meaning far different from what the Words directly signify Thus you 'l find some Sayings that carry a Mystical Sense with them in this Book as that in ch 9. 17. Stolen Waters are sweet and in ch 25. v. 27. It is not good to eat much Honey and such like Allegorical and Allusive Speeches which contain in them a higher Sense than the bare Words import This Proverbial manner of Speaking and Writing was in great Use and Esteem among the Hebrews and all the Eastern Countries whence it was that the Queen of Sheba came to prove Solomon with hard Questions 1 Kings 10. 1. Parables according to the Chaldâe Problems Riddles These were the Chidoth which the propounded to be solv'd by him Yea this way of Speaking may generally be taken notice of in the Writings of most of the Wise Men of Antient Times Pythagoras and Plato were much addicted to this Abstruse way and all their Followers were delighted in Mystical Representations of things 6. By this Word we are to understand all Wise and Excellent Sayings graviter dicta as the Latins call them Sentences of great Weight and Importance but plain and easy to be understood The Hebrews antiently call'd any Saying that had Graces and Wit in it Mashal but especially any Eminent Speech or Smart Saying for the Use of Life and Direction of Manners went under that Name A Moral or Religious Saying that was of singular
as the Original if we will be exact in rendring it expresses it And if we interpret this Proverb in this Sense it Exactly comports with the next Verse They lay wait for their own Blood they lurk privily for their own Life Those that thus design Mischief against innocent Persons bring Ruine upon themselves and are frequently taken in that Net which they spread for others This seems to be the most Genuine Exposition of the Words but every one is left to his Liberty to choose any other Interpretation which is agreeable to the Context and opposes no other Text of Holy Scripture Which of all these Senses was at first design'd by the Holy Ghost we cannot certainly tell It may be in such Places as these of which there is a considerable Number in this Book there is a Latitude and questionless it is best it ââould be so that we may with the greater Freedom search into and descant upon these Sacred Writings that we may understand the full Extent of these Excellent Moral Observations and Remarkable Sayings of this Wise King which for the most part are short and concise and therehy sometimes become somewhat difficult But if ãâã Imâeratoria brevital as Tacitus calls it was commendable no wise Man surely will dislike it in Solomon especially when such Divine and Admirable Truths are couched in it His next Book is entituled Ecclesiastes for the LXX by whom the worââ Kabal is generally rendred ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã do accordingly render Kobeleth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã It is probable he penn'd it when ãâã was Old and had pass'd the several Stages of Vanity It is an open Disowning of his former Folies and Extravagancies it is the Royal Preacher's Recantation-Sermon wherein he tenders himself a Publick Penitentiary Which is the Meaning as One thinks of that Title of this Book in the Hebrew Kohelâth or the Gathering Soul because iâ this Book he recollects himself and gathers and râduceth others that wander after Vanity To this end he makes a clear and ample Discovery of the Vanity of all things under the Sun i. e. in this Life or in the whole World a Phrase peculiar to Solomon and in this Book only where it is often used Here the Wise Man convinceth us from his own Experience that none of the Acquists of this World are able to satisfy the Immortal Spirit of Man that the greatest Wit and Learning the most exquisite Pleasures and Sensual Enjoyments the vastest Confluence of Wealth and Riches and the highest Seat of Honour even the Royal Throne it self are insufficient to make a Man Happy and consequently that our Happiness must be âought for some where else Here we are taught that notwithstanding this World is Changeable and ââbieât to Vanity though at one time or other all things come alike to all in it yet the Steady and Unârring Providence of God rules all Affairs and Events here below and in the Conclusion of all God will bring every Work into Iudgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil Here are âarticular Directions given us how we are to discharge our Duty first with reference to our selves viz. that we ought very strictly to observe the Laws of Sobriety and Temperance and to live iâ a Thankful Use of the good things of this World and to be Content with our Portion and Allotment in this Life and to banish all Covetous Desires and Projects As we must go to the House of Mourning i. e. be very retired and solemn very âââlous and composed and banish all superfluous Mirth and Gaiety so we must eat our Bread with Ioy i. e. live in a comfortable Fruition of these earthly Blessings and delight in these Enjoyments so far as they are lawful and innocent Our Duty to Others is here also briefly prescribed us viz. that we ought to pay a Profound Respect to Good Kings and to keep their Commandments yea that our very Thoughts towards them ought to he Reverent Then as to those who are of an Equal Level with us or inferiour to us that we shew our selves Just and Righteous to them in all our Converse and Dealings and that when we see any of them reduced to Poverty and Straits that we extend our Charity to them that we cast our Bread upon these Waters that we relieve their Wants and Necessities Lastly we are instructed in our Duty to God we are taught to approach him with âeverence and Devotion to keep our Feet when we go to his House to pay our Vows to him to remember him our Creator and Preserver to fear him and keep his Commandments and we are assured that this is the whole of Man his whole Duty and his whole Concern The Canticles or Solomon's Song is another Piece of Hebrew Poetry which he writ when he was Young and in an Amorous Vein and yet breathing most Divine and Heavenly Amours If you take it according to the Letter only it is King Solomon's Epithalamium or Wedding-Song of the same Nature with the 45th Psalm which is a Song on his Nuptials with the King of Egypt 's Daughter but in a Spiritual Sense it sets forth the Glory of Christ and his Kingdom and the Duty and Privileges of the Church which is there called the King's Daughter Such is this Dramatick Poem wherein are brought in the Bridegroom and Bride and the Friends of both alternately speaking but we must not be so gross in our Apprehensions as to conceive this to be barely a Marriage-Song as Castellio groundlesly fancieth and therefore deems it to be Scripture not of the same Stamp with the rest Besides the Literal Import of the Words in this Love-Song there is a Mystical Sense couched in them Carnal Love is here made to administer to Religion the Flesh is subservient to the Spirit and therefore by reason of this Mystery in this Love-Poem the Iews were not permitted to read it till they were of Maturity of Years If we take this Mystical Weddingâ Song in the highest Meaning of it it is an Allegorical Description of the Spiritual Marriage and Communion between Christ and the Church it iâ a Representation of the Mystical Nuptials of thâ Lord Christ Jesus and Believers Their Mutuââ Affections and Loves are deciphered by the Soâ Passions and Amours of Solomon and his Royal Spouse This though the Name of God be not in it makes it a most Divine Poem and highly worthy of our most serious Perusal and Study For here we see the Gospel anticipated and the most Glorious Subject of the New Testament betimes inserted into the Old Object But is it not a great Disparagement to this and the other before-mentioned Books of Solomon that âe was a Reprobate and finally rejected by God Are we not discouraged from receiving these Writings as Canonical Scripture when we know that the Author of them was a Damned Person For what can He be else who towards his latter end revolted from the True Religion
Acts 20. 35. It ãâã more blessed to give than to receive is recited as the Words of the Lord Iesus yet we find them not recorded in the Gospel But our Blessed Master freqâently utter'd Words that were of the like Import as is easy to prove or rather I conceive we may truly say that he spoke this very Sentence for it may be observ'd that what is here quoted is not only call'd the Words of the Lord Iesus but this is added how he said to let us know that he said these very Words when he was upon Earth And many the like Excellent Sayings and Aphorisms he prenounced which as well as innumerable Actions that he did were kept in remembrance by the Apostles but were not written down of which St. Iohn speaks ch 20. v. 30. 21. 25. So that it is impossible to prove hence that any Book belonging to the Sacred Canon is lost As for the Objection grounded on St. Iude v. 14. viz. that Eâoch's Book which is quoted by this Apostle and if it had not been Canonical it would not have been quoted by him is lost some as Origen Ierom Augustine grant it to be so but deny it to be Canonical it being their Judgment that St. Iude might if he thought âit alledg an Apocryphal Writer But according to my Apprehension the brief and satisfactory Answer is that there is no mention there of any Book or Writing of ââoch and therefore none can infer thence that âny Book or Writing of his is lost It is only said He prophesied saying c. which he might do and questionless did without penning down any of hiâ Prophetical Sayings but they were transmitted from Generation to Generation and thence it was ãâã the Apostle Iude inserted this into his Epistle Nor are we to be concern'd that a Book of Enooh is mention'd by some of the Antient Writers of the Church for 't is well known that they had several Spârious Authors among them and as a Learned Doctor of the sorbon observes all the Fathers exââpt Terâullian reckon this that went under the Name of Enoch as such But are not some of the Writings of the New Teââament wanting seeing there was a Third Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians in order the first I ârote unto you in an Epistle not to keep Company with âornicators 1 Cor. 5. 9. Therefore it appears hence that there was another before this which passes commonly for the first But this is not extant for we have now but two that bear the Name of that âlessed Apostle Answ. Nor were there ever any more for when he saith he wrote to them in an Epistle he means this very First Epistle he was now writing He refers to what he had said bâfore in the former Part of that Chapter and the meaning is When I even now wrote unto you in this Epistle ver 2. not to keep Company with Fornicators I do not mean the Fornicators of this World Thus St. Chrysostom and Theophylact interpret the Place But if I may be permitted to vary from those Excellent Fathers I would propound one of these two ways of understanding the Apostle's Words First it may be he hath reference here to what he saith afterwards in this Epistle ch 6 v. 13. and again v. 18. ch 7. v. 2. where he writes to them to avoid Fornication Wherefore upon reading over this Epistle after he had finish'd it he thought good to insert this and to take notice here of what he saith afterwards ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I have saith he written to yââ in this Epistle viz. in some of the following Chapters against Fornication and joining your selves to Persons that are noted for that Vice Or else I conceive the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is put for ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Preterit for the present Tense of which there are very near an hundred Instances in the New Testament and all Men vers'd in Criticism know that there is nothing more common Thus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is used in this very Epistle ch 9. v. 15. Neither have I written these things i. e. at this time in this Epistle that I am now writing This any Man that consults the Context will be forc'd to acknowledg to be the true Sense of the Place whence it appears that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is equivalent with ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã So you will find the Word must be taken in the 1st Epistle of St. Iohn 2d Chapter you will see and be throughly convinced that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã v. 12 13. is expressed by ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã v. 14 21. And thus in the Text that is before us ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is no other than ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. I write unto you in this Epistle not to c. Which that it ought to be rendred so is evident from ver 11. which is but a Repetition or Reassumption of this ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã now I write unto you the Adverb ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã shews that it is spoken of the Present Instant Time though the Greek Verb be in the Praeterit This then I offer as the plain Sense of the Text and Context I write unto you O Corinthians in this my Letter not to be mingled so the Word properly denotes with Fornicators or with the Covetous or Extortioners or Idolaters for then you must needs go out of the World there being so great a Multitude of them but this is that which I mean that you should avoid the Company of a Brother i. e. a Professed Christian if he be given to Fornication Covetousness Extortion or Idolatry This is the Thing which I at this time write and signify to you So that you see ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is instead of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the simple and plain Tenour of the Words may convince any Man of it And therefore the true and genuine Translation both of the former and latter ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is I write which makes the Apostle's Sense clear and perspicuous I appeal to any Man of Judgment and Sagacity whether this Account of the Words be not exactly adjusted to Grammar and Criticism to the Scope of the Apostle and the Design of the Context besides that it is serviceable to the Business in hand viz. utterly to overthrow the Surmise of an Epistle written to the Corinthians before this which the Apostle is here writing If the Learned Drusius or the Excellent Grotius had weighed these things which I have suggested I doubt not but they would have chang'd their Minds they would not have cried out that this Epistle here spoken of is lost But it is further said that the Apostle writ ãâã Epiââle to the Lâodiceaâs as may be collected from Câl 4. 16. which is wanting at this Day that is although iâ be extant and allowed of by somâ Authors yet it is not put into the Canon of the New Testament wherefore the Canon is
Imperfect I answer 1. It is true there is an Epistle to the Laodicâans which goes under St. Paul's Name but it is generally voted to be Spârioâs and Counterfeit 2. The Apostle in that Place to the Colossians speaks not of an Epistle to the Laodiceans buâ from Laodicea for ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã cannot conveniently be âranâââted otherwise Yet I know ãâã how it comes to pass that so sharp a Critick as Sir N. Kâaâchbull holds it was an Epistle written by the Apostle to the Laodicâans and saith it is lost Hiâ Critical Genius fail'd him here for ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã carries no such Sense with it As he himself illustrates the Phrase it should be an Epistle not ãâã but of thâ ãâã for he saith this way of speaking is frequent as ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã some of the Synagogue ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã some of the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Stoicks or those that âelong'd in the Stoa According to this Idiom whicââhis Learned Gentleman alledgeth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã should be an âpistle of the Laodiceans and then 't is nothing to his purpose unless he could have proved that of the Laodiceans or of Laodicea is the same with to Laodioea ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is âendred by the Old Latin ea qua est Laodicensiurn which Version this Learned Man produces and applauds as if it were on his side but I conceive the âmport of the Latin is not what he represents it to be viz. the Epistle which was written to the Laodiceans by the apostle At least there is no necessity of making this Construction for it may as well signify an Epistle written from Laodicea by the Apostle If it be demanded what Epistle this was and conââquently what Epistle is here meant The Answer is that it is probable it is the first Epistle to Timothy that being written from Laodiâea as you will find in the Close of it Or 3. if he speaks of an Epistle brought to the Colossians from Laodicea it being wrote to the Christians of that Place by St. Paul it may be the Epistle to the Ephesians because Laodicea was a Church within the Circuit of the Ephesian Church which was the Metropolitan of all Asia And Ephesus being the chief City of this Proconsular Asia this Epistle may refer to all the Province As to the Ground and Occasion of producing an Epistle to the Laodiceans perhaps it was this St. Paul order'd that his Epistle to the Colossians should be read in the Church of the Laodiceans which was near to Colosse Col. 4. 16. And we must remember this that though Colosse was a considerable City yet Laodicea was more considerable in that Province But it is likely there were more Christians in the former than in the latter and that moved the Apostle to direct his Epistle to the Colossians but withal he enjoins it to be read in the Church of Laodicea the chief City Now it being read there it was said to be an Epistle to the Laodiceans whence in time some feigned this Epistle which is now extant This I conceive may be the Cause of the Mistake and Forgery Lastly if after all we should suppose though I see no Reason for it that the Epistle which St. Paul here speaks of is lost yet if the Substance of it be contain'd in the Other Epistles or in the rest of the Books of the New Testament which we have the Scripture is not maimed and therefore the Objectors have no Reason to cavil against it as Imperfect and Defective But an Objection of another Nature is shaped oât of 1 Cor. 7. 6. I speak this of permission and not of Commandment And v. 12. To the rest speak I nââ the Lord And v. 25. I have no Commandment of the Lord yet I give my Iudgment And 2 Cor. 8. 8. I speak not by Commandment And again Chap. 11. v. 17. I speak not after the Lord. From all which Texts they gather that there is something in St. Paul's Epistles that is not divinely dictated He acknowledgeth as much himself say they and we ought to give credit to him And if it be thus wherein doth this Part of Scripture excel any other Writings I will return a distinct Answer to the several Quotations The first speaks of the mutual rendering that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã v. 3. required in the Conjugal State and the Apostle shews the Extent of the Obligation of this Advice which he gives about it I speak this saith he ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in way of Permission that is I herein permit you to do as you shall see Occasion as you shall find your selves disposed If you can refrain in those Circumstances I mention then do so but if not I allow you to act otherwise I speak to you ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã not of Commandment i. e. in a peremptory way I am not positive I do not command you I have no Absolute Injunction to lay upon you in this Matter If you can forbear you had best to do so but I have no Authority to force it upon you Thus the Apostle lets them see how far his Doctrine obliges and what Authority it hath And this he speaks as an Inspired Person So that it is ridiculous to collect hence that he was not Inspired when he wrote this Passage in his Epistle The Second Place speaks of Divorce or the Separation of married Persons in case of unequal Marriages viz. between Christians and Infidels These are the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Rest which he now distinctly applies his Discourse to To these saith he speak I i. e. I as an Apostle I as a Person divinely enlightn'd declare this that their best course is to live together and not to think of parting This is that which I say to those who are married to Unbelievers and I say it by immediate Revelation ârom God That is the true Meaning of Speak I And any considerate Man that well weighs the Words cannot but discern it It follows and not the Lord i. e. God hath given us no express Command about this We find nothing of it in Moses's Law which was from the Lord himself The Apostle refers here to what he had said before in this Chapter about Married Persons v. 2 3. which was according to the Mosaick Law Exod. 21. 10. and a Law before that viz. in Genesis ch 2. v. 24. which obligeth the Married Couple to be faithful to one another But here saith he in our present Case the Lord hath left no positive and Absolute Precept or Prohibition Or it may have respect also to Christ our Lord and then the meaning of I speak and not the Lord is this what I now deliver to you is not from our B. Saviour directly It is not expresly set down in the Gospel as spoken by Him when he was here on Earth but I gather it from the general Doctrine of the Gospel and I make this Collection and Inference by the
understand them aright I propound these ensuing Rules and Directions First It is requisite that we furnish our selves with other Learning to make our selves capable of understanding the Bible All Arts require a Master and Teacher even the lowest and mechanical All Trades and Sciences are to be learn'd none presumes to meddle with them till they have been instructed in them And yet we may observe that all degrees of Persons pretend to interpret the Scriptures though they were never instructed never prepared as St. Ierom complain'd of old A great many imagine that the Weakest Brains can comprehend the Contents of this Book and without all other knowledg attain to the meaning of them But this is a gross Mistake and is one cause of Mens wresting and corrupting the Scriptures They are ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 2 Pet. 3. 16. unlearned and unwilling to be taught for so the Word imports they neglect the means of Knowledg they use not the proper Helps conducing to it Or whatever they were in St. Peter's Time we are sure that now a competent Measure of Humane Learning is required to understand these Writings For though they surpass all Humane Wisdom yet it is as true that they have strictures of all Arts and Sciences in them and are written in the Learned Languages and as I have shew'd formerly contain in them all sorts of Words Phrases and Idioms Wherefore there is a Necessity of the Arts and Tongues for understanding this Book In the Writings of Moses and the Prophets of the Apostles and Evangelists there are the Rites Customs Manners Opinions Sayings Proverbs of almost all Nations in the World especially of the Antient Hebrews Wherefore a Knowledg of their Writings and Antient Monuments a Converse with History and Antiquities are absolutely requisite especially for explaining the difficult Places And to have a true Notion of several Passages in the Epistles of the Apostles Ecclesiastical History in needful which gives us nitice of the Hereticks of that time or of those concerning whom the Apostles prophetically speak The Writings of the Fathers are to be consulted and that with great application of Mind that we may not mistake the Interpretations which those Learned and Pious Men give of the respective Places of Scripture that we may be ediâied by their Religious Comments but not imbibe any of their Errors This which I now say principally concerns the Guides and Ministers of the Church who are supposed to be Men of Learning and Scholarship and truly a great Part of the Bible is more especially fitted for such It is their province to expound and teach this Holy Book which is it self a Library and is of that Nature that it cannot be rightly understood and explain'd without acquaintance with the Antient Writers of the Church without skill in the Tongues Rhetdrick Logick Philosophy History Criticism for as it is furnish'd with all Literature so it requires all to unfold it aright As for the Apostles tho some of them had no knowledg in Arts and Sciences yet that Defect was abundantly recompensed by the extraordinary Gifts and Endowments of the Holy Ghost So most of the Primitive Christians in the Apostles Days who were not Hebrews understood the Language in which the Old Testament was written by their Gift of Tongues And as for the Greek of the New Testament it was universally known and so was in a manner the native Tongue both to the Jews and others of that time But Men are not now instructed in Strange Languages by the Spirit nor are they born with Hebrew or Greek neither are they Inspired with Arts and Humane Knowledg and consequently Study and Reading and Long Exercise are indispensably requisite Clement of Alexandria would have his ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã i. e. his Perfect and Compleat Theologuâ be skill'd in Humane Literature and Philosophy Inshort to be a Consummate Divine and thorowly knowing in the Bible it is necessary that he be a Man of Universal Learning Secondly that we may read and understand the Scriptures it is requisite that we be exceeding Attentive Observing Considerate that we be very Inquisitive Thoughtful and Diligent This Rule may be explain'd in several Particulars 1. We must use great Thoughtfulness Diligence and Care in penetrating into the Design and Sense of those Inspired Writings St. Chrysostom delivers the Rule thus we must not only examine the meer naked Words and insist upon them simply and absolutely consider'd but we must chiefly attend to the Mind and Intent of the Writer Sometimes instead of an Absolute meaning of the Words in Scripture they are to be taken Comparatively or with Limitation they must be restrain'd to the Matter in Hand As to Instance No Man can say that Iesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost 1. Cor. 12. 3. i. e. no Man can say so from his Heart There is that Reserve implied Where I am ye eannot come John 7. 34. i. e. ye can't come yet but afterwards you shall All that came before me are Thieves and Robbers John 1 o. 8. i. e. all False Prophets for he means them are such It is reported that there is such Fornication among you as is not so much as named among the Gentiles that one should have his Father's Wife 1 Cor. 5. 1. This sort of Fornication was not only named but practis'd among the Gentiles for there are several Examples in Pagan Story of marrying the Father's Wife therefore here must be meant the more Sober Sort of Gentiles And so in many other Places things which seem to be absolutely spoken are to be understood in a restrained Sense 2. It is necessary that we be very thoughtful and inquisitive about the Context the Dependance the Connection of those Places which we search into We are to be exceeding mindful what the Words refer to what Coherence they have with what went before and what follows To Know the true Sense of them we must carefully observe the Subject-matter for this is certain that Propositions are true or not true according to this You will meet with several Instances of this in my former Discourses on the Holy Scriptures and therefore I will forbear to mention any here Only I offer this at present as a General Rule for guiding us to the true and genuine meaning of Scripture 3. This Attentiveness and Care must be exercis'd in Comparing one Place with another or with divers others if there be occasion For as an Intelligent Person rightly suggests all Truth being consonant to it self and all being penn'd by one and the self-same Spirit it cannot be but that an industrious and judicious Comparing of Place with Place must be a singular help for the right understanding of the Scriptures This One Rule if well and duly observ'd will carry us through most of the Difficulties of the Bible For this we may depend upon that the Scripture is its own Interpreter that the best Comment on this Book is it self Wherefore let
us not be hasty and giddy but diligently compare the Scripture with it self for there are certain Texts and Passages of the Bible that are allied to and symbolize with one another The observing of this will be of great Advantage to us Thus Gen. 49. may be explain'd out of Deut. 32. The Blessings and Prophecies of Iacob concerning the Tribes receive Light hence and also from the particular Histories in Ioshua and Iudges concerning the Actions of the several Tribes This ought to be remembred that Obscure and Difficult Places of Scripture are to be explain'd by those that are Clear and Easy We must interpret those that are Uncertain by Texts that are undoubtedly certain and plain So as for those that are Brief and Contracted the best way is to expound them by those that are Large and Full. The Beatitudes in Luke 6. are the same but epitomized with those in Matth. 5. and therefore there is good reason to explain the former by the latter That Text of Isaiah ch 6. v. 9. Hear ye indeed but understand not c. is contracted in Mark 4. 12. Luke 8. 10. Iobn 12. 40. but it is at large in Mat. 13. 14 15. and accordingly thence the Sense appears best And whilest we are expounding one Place by another we must not forget to search diligently into all the Circumstances of either and to consider distinctly by whom of what particular thing to whom at what time on what occasion they were spoken If we be thus Industrious and Attentive we shall be effectually directed to the right meaning of the Texts and we shall find none of those Contradictions which Unthinking and Careless Readers through want of Collation of Texts imagine to be in Scripture 4. This Inquisâtiveness and Observation will lead us to a discovery of the singular Elegancy and Beauty of the Sacred Stile There are peculiar Forms and Modes of Speech in several Nations proper to them and 't is very hard to rendeâ them in another Tongue or if you attempt it the Elegancy vanisheth Thus there is a particular Excellency and Lustre in the Phrase and manner of Expression which the Holy Ghost useth in this Book it is such that it sometimes rises above the strain of the most Eloquent Orators of Greece or Rome But this cannot be taken notice of by the generality of Readers because it is impossible to discern it unless with great sedulity they search into the Words themselves and by being acquainted with the Original come to perceive the peculiar Grace of the Words and Phrases Thus in the Greek of the New Testament there is in many Places a most Remarkable Choice of Words and a Wonderful Accommodating them to the Matter spoken of Many Words in this Language are so full and comprehensive that they cannot be express'd in English We do not reach the pregnancy of the Word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Gal. 6. 3. and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Tit. 1. 10. for in these Words is included not only deceiving but self-deceit or deceiving and imposing upon a Man 's own Mind Yea the latter Word which is barely rendred Deceivers may import the deceiving of the Minds or Souls of others Our Translators are forced to use two Words to render that single one ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Iam. 5. 16. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 1. Pet. 4. 15. is translated by a Poriphrasis six Words in English for one in Greek but indeed this is a Compound or Double Word There is more in the Original Luke 21. 34. than can be express'd in the Translation We render it thus Take heed lest your Hearts be overcharged But there is a Marvellous Elegancy in the Greek which ordinary Readers cannot perceive For ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is an equivocal Word and signifies not only the Soul and its Faculties but that noble Visous of the Heart well known by that Name and also that Part of the Body which is the receptacle of Meat and Drink viz. the Stomach This is a Criticism not unworthy the taking notice of and it much inhanses the Sense of our Saviour's Excellent Caveat here That ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã hath this latter Signification sometimes is evident from the Name of that Distemper which Physicians give to the Pain in the upper Oriâice of the Stomach which being near to the Heart affects that whence the Distemper is call'd ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã It is vulgarly call'd Heart-burning which is indeed a Distemper of the upper Mouth of the Stomach and should rather be call'd Stomach-burning which is when this part of the Body is pained and disordered by reason of some sharp and noxious Humour The Stomach and the Heart affecting one another by Consent the former hath been call'd by the Greek Word which is given to the latter Thus Galen testifies that the old Physicians used the Word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in this Sense and accordingly the Cardiac Distemper was that of the Stomach The affinity of these Words might also be shew'd in the Latin Stomachus and the English Stomach which denote sometimes that Great Spirit and Stubborness which âave their Seat in the Heart But it most manifestly appears as I have shewâd in that Language wherein the New Testament is written and St. Luke who was a Greek Physician and well skill'd in the Terms of the Art did particularly refer to this and notably uses a Word that signisies both the Stomach and Heart properly so call'd because this fitly agrees to what our Saviour saith that they should not be overcharg'd with Surfeiting and Drunkenness wherein the Stomach is mainly concern'd nor with the Cares of this Life wherein the Heart and Affections are most interested Wherefore a Word that imports both is very elegant A parallel Place is that Acts 14. 17. filling our Hearts with Food and Gladness where 't is plain that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is an equivocal Term and signifies something else besides Hearts for if there were not this Ambiguity in the Word filling their Hearts with Food would be a very odd and unaccountable Expression But the Translators could not use both Senses therefore they set down one and left the other to be understood But the Doubtful Word according to the Subject matter may be applied both ways that is their Stomachs were replenished with Food and their Hearts as that signifies the Soul and its Affections with Gladness And further to corroborate this Criticism and to shew the peculiar Excellency and Pregnancy of the Scripture-Stile the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is appropriated to the Stomach in Iam. 5. 5. Ye have nourish'd your Hearts as in a Day of Slaughter for here by a Day of Slaughter as all Expositors of any Note grant is meant a Day of Feasting because on Great Festivals many Beasts were kill'd for Sacrifice and a great part of them were eaten by the Sacrificers and their Friends Prov. 7. 14. Isa. 22. 13. And consequently by Hearts we
are to understand their Stomachs and whole Bodies and by nourishing them is meant feeding and pampering of them The Apostle rebukes the Gluttony and Intemperance of the Voluptuous Men of that Age who made every Day a Day of Slaughter a Day of Feasting and Revelling I could parallel this with a Passage in the Old Testament where leb hath the same ambiguous Signification with ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Comfort ye your Hearts Gen. 18. 5. which is spoken of Abraham's entertaining the Angels and refers to the Morsel of Bread there mention'd for so he was pleas'd to call his Generous Provision which he made for his Guests Stay saith he support sustain for so the word sagnad signifies your Stomachs and thereby refresh and comfort your Hearts with this Entertainment So the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is used in an equivocal Sense by Homer on the like occasion for speaking of Mercury's being entertain'd by Calypso he saith ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He supp'd and stay'd his Heart or his Stomach with Meat Thence Bread is call'd Mishgnan fulcrum sustentaculum Iâa 3. 1. a Stay a Staff And among the Old Hebrews Segnudah i. e. fulcimentum was a Dinner and so Food among us is known by the vulgar Name of Sustenance I hope that from all these things which I have alledged the Critical Notion which I offer'd is made very plain and obvious And in several other Instances I could make it good that there are those Peculiar Graces of Speech in the Sacred Writings which the most Exquisite Translations cannot fully reach I will particularly instance in one sort which are usually call'd Paranomasia's i. e. Elegant Allusions and Cadences of Words Thus there is a clear Allusion to Iapheth's Name in Gen. 9. 27. Iapht lejepheth There are no less than three of these in one Verse Gen. 11. 3. Nilbenah lebenim nisrephah lisrephah hachemar lachomer In Gen. 49. there are several of these Verbal Allusions as Iehudah joduka v. 8. Dan jadin v. 16. Gad gedud jegudennu v. 19. which are plain References to the Names of Iudah Dan and Gad. There is a Paranomasia in the word Chamor Judg. 15. 16. which signifies both an Ass and a Heap but this is quite lost in our Translation Heaps upon Heaps with the Iaw-bone of an Ass. The Mount of Olives is in way of Contempt call'd the Mount of Corruption Mashchith 2 Kings 23. 13. alluding to Mishchah anointing for which the Oil of Olives was serviceable In Psal. 39. 11. the Pâalmist alludes to the Names of Adam and Abel when he saith ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã All Adam is Abel or every Man is Vanity And Selah is here added to denote the Emphatick Elegancy of this Passage And again Psal. 144. 4. Adam is like Abel We render the Hebrew right enough Man is like Vanity but then the Nominal Allusion is not express'd There is a great Number of Paranomasia's in Isaiah as in ch 1. v. 23. Sare sorerim the Princes are rebellious Ch. 5. v. 7. he looked for Mishphat Iudgment but behold Mishpah Oppression for Tzedekah Righteousness but behold Tzegnakah a Cry Four of these pleasant Cadences you meet with together in ch 24. v. 3 4. Hibbok tibbok hibboz tibboz dibber dabar oblab noblah Ch. 32. v. 7. Chelai chelav the Instruments of the Churl Some observe the Likeness of Sound in the Hebrew Words for Bridegroom and decketh himself and for Bride and Iewels ch 61. v. 10. We may observe in Ier. 6. 1. a plain Allusion to the word Tekoah in the Word preceding it A remarkable Cadence is to be taken notice of in Mic. 1. 14. the Houses of Aczib the Name of a Place shall be Aczab a Lie and the Learned Dr. Pocock observes that the Prophet in the next Verses hath Allusions to the Names of those other Cities Mareshah and Adullam in what he there saith of them The like you find in Zeph. 2. 4. where the Destruction of Gaza and Ekron is foretold but there are no Footsteps of it in the Translation The last Place I will mention in the Old Testament is Zech. 9. 3. Tyre built her self a strong-hold Tzor built her self Matzor This way of speaking is used also in the New Testament by our Saviour and his Apostles ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Wind bloweth where it listeth so is every one that is born ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of the Spirit John 3. 8. The same Word signifying Wind and Spirit Christ takes occasion thence to speak after this Allusive Manner which no Translation can express So ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Mat. 16. 18. cannot be discern'd in the English Translation St. Paul hath several Verbal Likenesses in his Epistles as 1 Cor. 0. 21. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 2 Cor. 5. 8. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Philein v. 11. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 2 Thess. 3. 11. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which Henry Stephens hath express'd by the like Paranomasy in Latin âiâil agentes sed curiosè satagentes And several others of this kind there are in this Apostle's Writings which are more commonly taken notice of and therefore I omit them Grotius and some others think there are Allusions to the Names of the Seven Asiatick Churches in the things that are said of them in the Epistles to them Rev. 2d and 3d Chapters but perhaps that is too fanciful This we are certain of that this Mode of Speech was not unusual among the Oriental Writers and so 't is no wonder that it occurs sometimes in the Holy Scripture Even among some of the best Roman Authors this is no unfrequent thing thus Verres the Avaritious and Extorting Pretor of Sicily is by Tully call'd Verrens Sweep-all And many such Verbal Iests this Grave Pleader hath in his Orations and other Parts of his Writings which shews it was thought to be a Pulchritude in their Stile So Martial plaid upon the idle Mariners Non nautas puto sed vos Argonautas Horace begins his Epistle to one Albius a Patron of his thus Albi nostrorum sermonum candide judex Alluding in that Epithet to his Name and he hath several other of these Charientisms Which we cannot but sometimes observe likewise in other Antient Writers of good Account But that which I remark at present is that even the Sacred and Inspired Stile disdains not this manner of speaking which none are capable of taking notice of but those that have some Knowledg of the Original Languages in which the Sacred Text is writ And in several other Particulars it were easy to shew the Gracefulness of the Holy Stile and that singular Turn and Peculiar Air in the Original which cannot be express'd in the Translation There are many Words Phrases and Sentences which must lose a great deal of their native Weight and Spirit by being done into another Language Therefore on this as well as on the other Accounts before-named we must be very Considerate and Attentive when we read this Divine Book Thirdly There must