was offered v. 27. And he giveth a third form on ch 8. and addeth 〈◊〉 simile est Christum quibusdam quae in his precibus continentur usum fuisse It is likely that Christ made use of some things in these prayers but of this hereafter Hoernebeck repeating the seven precepts of Noah viz. 1. For avoyding Idolatry 2. Not cursing of God 3. Not shedding of blood 4. Not discovering of nakedness or fornication 5. Of theft and rapine 6. Of Judgement 7. Of not eating any part of a living creature all which the Jewes say were given by Noah and so continued till Abraham who received a precept for circumcision and appointed Morning-prayer Isaac consecrated Tithes and added another prayer to be said before day Jacob added another precept De non comedendo nervo oblivioso of not eating the nerve of forgetfulness and prayers for the Evening and at length by Moses was the Law consummate Mr. Herbert Thornedike proves the use of forms from 1 Chron. 23. 30. where the Levites were to bless and praise the God of Israel using some Psalmes of David particularly those Psalmes of Degrees from Psalm 121. to Psalm 135. which being ended they pronounced the blessing appointed in the Law And indeed the Titles of those Psalmes directed for the Masters of Musick do intimate that they were to be used in the service of the Temple and learned men also assure us they were constantly so used many of Davids Psalmes were used as the Jewish Liturgy on all occasions Psalm 104 105 106 107. were of frequent use Psalm 92. was appointed for the Sabbath Psalm 118. for Festivals Psalm 102. for the afflicted Saint Hierome observes that four of them are expresly called Prayers Mr. Perkins saith that most of them are so Psalm 90. is called A Prayer of Moses the man of God which because Scripture saith it we ought to believe it was so Hezekiah we read commanded the Levites to praise God in the words of David and Asaph and that he had a form of thanksgiving which he used all the dayes of his life is very probable from Isa. 38. 20. for it was appointed for the House of the Lord. Calvin saith Consilium Spiritus Sancti meo judicio fuit ordinariam precandi formam Ecclesiae tradere cujus usum ex verbis fuisse colligimus quoties discrimen aliquod instabat It was the counsel of the Spirit of God to give his Church an ordinary form of Prayer which was used in words as oft as any danger approched In a Samaritan Chronicle which the renowned Archbishop of Armagh procured from the Library of the admirably learned Joseph Scaliger is another testimony of the Antiquity of forms Postea mortuus est Adrianus c. After this died Adrian in whose time the high Priest took away that most excellent booke that was in their hands ever since the calm and peaceable times which contained those Songs and Prayers which were ever used before the Sacrifices for before every several sacrifice they had their several songs still used in those times of peace All which accurately written were transmitted to the subsequent generations from the time of the Legate Moses unto this day by the Ministery of the high Priest this book he the high Priest took away then which no History besides the Pentateuch of Moses was found more ancient These memorials of forms of publick and prescribed Prayer before the time of Ezra may suffice here the studious Reader may observe many more in the Rabbines works and from them in Scaliger Selden Fagius Buxtorfe c. From the time of Ezra until Christs it is yet more evident that publick forms were used Mr. Selden saith that certain forms of Prayer were to be used dayly by every one by Law or received custome which were composed by Ezra and his house or consistory Capel us relateth the same and that Ezra and his house the great Synagogue appointed eighteen forms of Benedictions Rabbi Tanchum saith The wise men made these eighteen Prayers for so many bones in the back of a man which are to be bowed at the rehearsal of them because David saith All my bones shall praise thee which Benedictions were to be pronounced in words already conceived And that the number of their Prayers was according to the number of their Sacrifices their morning Prayer their mincha minor and major i. the lesser and greater oblation their Evening Prayer their additionary Prayer and the concluding Prayer and he addeth The Prayer for which Peter and John Acts 3. 1. went into the Temple was the mincha minor which answered to the Evening-sacrifice of the Law and the hour according to our account was three of the clock in the afternoon Selden addeth that the Prayers prescribed by Ezra were to be learned by every man that so the prayers of the unskilfull might be as perfect as of the eloquent man that every act of praying was begun with O Lord open thou our lips c. and concluded with Into thy hands I commit my spirit The learned Scaliger saith Rara illis benedictio erat sine his verbis solennibus Benedictus es Domine Deus noster c. There was seldome a blessing without these words Blessed art thou O Lord God King of Ages who hast sanctified us and hast given commandment about these and these things Joseph Albo Ikkar saith The men of the great Synagogue attributed the work of the Resurrection only to the power of God in this form Tu potens in seculum Domine c. Thou O Lord art Almighty for ever thou restorest the dead to life and art of great power to save A little before the dispersion of the Jewes R. Gamaliel added a nineteenth Prayer to those of Ezra and after him others until the dayly service grew to an hundred Prayers The Jewes Talmud especially that part called the Mischna is full of such forms which carrie the names of the ancient Rabbines that composed them the first Chapter of the Talmud is intitled as Buxtorf observeth Berachos i. of Blessings and Prayers for the fruits of the Earth and the practice of the Iewes ever since the penning of the Talmud in recording their set forms of Prayers upon divers occasions is an Argument that it was their use to compose such and use them in more ancient times Now this is evident by the many volumes of publick Devotions published by them of which it shall suffice to name these following In the History of Pascha are the Blessings and Prayers belonging to that Festival The second part of Sepher Haa haua is concerning Prayers Also a great Rituall and commentary upon the Prayers of the Iewes Another Precationes quibus utuntur ante post cibum Of Prayers used before and after meat which were divers some at publick Feasts and others at private meals Another named Selichos being Prayers appointed for obtaining mercy
some in St. Augustines time had it for in cap. 28. de verbis Domini he reciteth the whole prayer out of St. Luke as out of Saint Matthew and it seems such copies were of use and authoritie in those dayes for St. Ambrose relates it in like manner From whence saith Chemnitius it may be gathered that the Latine copies did differ in Augustines time some reading this Prayer in St. Luke as the Greek copies doe whole and intire Besides Lucas Brug numbers eight Latine Manuscripts wherein the third Petition is retained in St. Luke where he adds that it agrees to the Greek Text of the Kings Bible and to the Syriack Translation of the same and of the other particulars Qui es in Coelis and libera nos à malo he saith some Latine exemplars have them Now here that I may give more full satisfaction and because the consequence of what I shall say may resolve another scruple concerning the Doxologie I shall briefly discuss these four things 1. The authoritie of the Greeke Copies above others 2. Which of the Greeke Copies are most authentick 3. In what ancient Beza's Greeke Copie is to he had 4. What is the rise and authoritie of the Vulgate Latine First the authority of the Greek Copies is acknowledged even by the Papists themselves when they are serious to be Apostolical Bellarmine saith Constat N. T. Graece scriptum esse ab Apostolis vel Evangelistis quorum nomina titulis praefiguntur It is manifest that the New Testament written in Greek by the Apostles or Evangelists were theirs whose names are prefixed to the Titles And it cannot be doubted saith he that the Apostolical editions are of highest authoty unless it could be proved that they were corrupted of which I have reason to think the same as of the Hebrew Copies viz. that neither they nor the Greek are generally corrupted and this saith he may be easily demonstrated for there never wanted Gatholickes which did discover the indeavours of those hereticks that sought to corrupt them and did not permit those sacred Scriptures to be depraved Thus he wherein he speaks as much like a Protestant as those that make the Objection and indeed when we hear the complaints of the Greeke Fathers in those Primitive times sounding loud against those bold and busie Hereticks as Ireneus against Marcion Origen Chrysostom Eusebius Epiphanius Theodoret c. against the Arians Macedonians Manichees Valentinians Nestorians and others they shewed themselves careful and faithful shepherds in watching and withstanding those morning-Wolves Bellarmine notes that Ambrose did so by the Arians who from John 4th took away Spiritus est Deus for so the Vulgate read it which all the Greeke books have saith he So that although those vermine did impair some of those books yet seeing the Fathers of the Church did hunt them out of their lurking places and observed all their haunts and through Gods providence by their care did prevail to preserve the greater number of those books pure and intire which were so owned and received by the common consent and practice of the Church I know not what any adversarie can say against the authoritie of them Take these instances of the watchfulness of those Ancients Origen noteth that those Hereticks took away that in Rom. 16. 25. Ei qui potens est c. which saith he was in other copies that had not suffered by them Theodoret speaking of Tatian saith Ego inveni plusquam ducentos hujusmodi libros I found more then two hundred depraved books which were had in honour in our Churches which when I had gathered I caused them to be laid aside and in their stead I placed the four Evangelists for as he saith this Tatian had composed a Gospel which he called the Gospel by four leaving out the Genealogies and whatever doth prove that Christ descended from David according to the flesh which Gospel not only those of his sect did use but such also who following the Doctrine of the Apostles did not discern the fraud but in simplicitie made use of it as a Compendium of all the Gospels Dionysius Bishop of Corinth observed such endeavours Dominicas Scripturas nonnulli corrumpere sunt cornati Of many that would corrupt the holy Scriptures And in truth whatever the Papists say in the heat of dispure yet in cold blood they all prefer the Greek copies So Brugensis Sic esse legendum Graeca clamant Thus the Greeke Exemplars vote it The Divines at Lovaine Ita in Graecis exemplaribus legi and by the Greek they do frequently correct their Latine copies So Maldonat on Matthew 6. 5. where the Latine read qui amant the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for they love in this place I judge saith he that our copies ought to be corrected rather then the Greek So Stapleton Where the Latine read Sanguis qui pro nobis fundetur i. the blood that shall be poured out for us the Greek reads in the present tense the blood that is poured out these words saith he are to be read in the present tense according to all the Evangelists in the Greek text So Faber on John 1. 30. The Latine read Qui ante me factus fuit i. who was made before me the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is only fuit was before me unhappy Arius would admit no other Exposition saith he that he might belch out his madness against us and confute us by an Interpreter which he could not do by the truth Bellarmine himself saith the Fathers doe teach every where that we must have recourse to the Greek and Hebrew Fountains Vega Ribera Vives Costa and others do acknowledge the same and whereas some of them have sifted the Greek books to discover corruptions in them Chamier Glassius and others have sufficiently vindicated them Secondly the constant interpretations of the Text by the Greek Fathers with whom many of the Latine do agree according as it is in the Greek copies is an argument that they are preserved pure and entire for seeing these sacred books were written originally in Greek it was more facile for the Fathers of that Church to find which doubtless they did seek the best copies then for any others And secondly supposing they had greater helps to find and obtain we cannot in Charitie deny them care and integritie to preserve them intire from all corruption addition or detraction for they were not ignorant of that curse Revel 22. 18. neither as in fact it appeareth were they wanting in this dutie Thirdly The Greek Churches which then owned these copies were of a far greater number and extent then the Latine were The Church of Asia and Palestine the Greeks in Egypt and Europe with whom the Syrians also joyned To which add Fourthly The providence of God who would not permit the fountain of Holiness and Truth to be depraved which providence as it did appear in preserving those Oracles of God that were committed
from the most and best copies and from the judgement of almost all Protestant Divines concerning the intireness of our Lords Prayer in Saint Luke Beza saith Haec non legit vetus interpres ut apparet ex Augustino The ancient Interpreter viz. the vulgate Latine doth not regard these things as appears out of Augustine and so Grotius Cùm non extet in Latinis antiquis illud Because it is not in the ancient Latine therefore he suspects it was not in the Greek But the reading of the Latines will not at all prejudice the more constant and unanimous readings of the Greek if we consider the rise and authority of it 1 There were in the Latine Church in the time of St. August and Hierom divers Latine Editions besides that which is now called the vulgate some of which did agree much better with the Greek but this was most approved by that Church This especially was so miserably corrupted that Pope Damasus sent to Saint Hierome to amend it by the Greeke and accordingly he sets about the work not to translate it de novo that the Pope would not have but to correct it where the greatest faults were and how he did that himself tells us in his Preface to the Evangelists Ita in hac commendatione calamo temperavimus ut his tantùm quae sensum mutare videbantur correctis reliqua manere permitteremus ut fuerant We have so guided our pen in this Edition that amending onely those things which did seem to alter the sense we have suffered other things to stand as they were and this was his rule as wel in the translating the Old Testament as in correcting the New Quod semel aures hominum occupaverat nascentis Ecclesiae roboraverat fidem justum erat etiam nostro silentio comprobari i. That which had once possessed the ears of men and had built up the faith of the growing Church was justly approved by our silence and upon this account he past over many things which he knew did greatly need amendment So that the ground-work of this edition is an old vulgar Latine used by Pope Damasus amended in some few things by St. Hierome but to this day differing from the Greek copies which translation was not received into the Church untill Gregories time i. about two hundred years after Saint Hierome as Bellarmine saith this is the rise of it now concerning its authority hear what Bellarmine saith Mirificè c. All the Hereticks i. Protestants do wonderfully agree against the Romish Church and the Lutherans and Zuinglians so he names the Calvinists urge this against its authority Innumerabiles in ea deprehenduntur errores That innumerable errours are found in it and this as it hath already and may more largely be proved by the Papists and especially by comparing the vulgate Latine with that of Montanus his interlineary version of the New Testament so more especially from the observation of Protestant Divines for although Sixtus Quintus boasted much of his Edition how many things he had reform'd yet Dr. James reckoneth 2000 faults mended in that Edition by Pope lement the Eighth and yet this Pope saith modestly divers things were still to be amended and the Councel of Trent did take some care for the effecting of it but still Brugensis observes six hundred faults more and when Bellarmine saw Brugensis his emendations he sends him this with his thanks You may know that the vulgate Bibles are not accurately mended by us for many things are purposely past by which seemed to need amendment which for just cause we did not amend this cause is so secret that we cannot judge how just it is But I remember Bellarmine falls foul with Calvine for saying of the vulgate Edition Adeo nullam esse in vulgatâ editione integram paginam nt vix tres sunt continui versus non insigni aliquo errore faedati That the vulgate Edition is so far from having any entire page that it hath scarce any three continued verses free from some gross errour This holds true of the New Testament as well as of the Old Whatever Bellarmine Huntly and other Jesuites have said in defence of it hath been confuted by Chamier Chemnitius Glassius and others One argument of Bellarm. for the defence of it I cannot but take notice of Because saith he it hath been used by the Latine Fathers for a thousand years this makes little for the authority of it if we consider the reason that he himself giveth why the Latine Fathers did so generally use this so faulty a translation in his fourth argument viz. that few of them did understand the Greek he instanceth in the six hundred Latine Bishops at the Councell of Ariminum whereof not one Nemo fuit understood the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for when the subtile Arians propounded to them An vellent Christum colere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they all answered nolumus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed Christum But what if the Latine Church and Fathers have used it for above a thousand years such a prescription as that is not a sufficient warrant for us to believe and practice all that was then believed and practised and when no Protestant doth acknowledge it to be a convincing proof that the Greek reading of the Old Testament is therefore authentique above the Hebrew because the Apostles themselves did use it much less will the use of the vulgate by the Latine Fathers convince any of its authority above the Greek wherein the several books were first written and which do generally accord in all necessary truths especially in the things which we have now controverted and Bellarmine saith Plus credendum uni testi loquentì quà m mille nihil dicentibus One witness that speaks out a truth is rather to be credited then a thousand that say nothing As for its purity having said some things in general from the writings of those that make it their Diana I shall onely adde a few particulars the absurdity of which should long since have made them intolerable among Christians Thus Luke 15. 8. the vulgate reads evertit domum the poor woman having lost a piece of silver c. overthrowes her house instead of sweeps it as the word is also used Luke 11. 25. So Luke 16. 22. mortuus est Dives sepultus in inferno they read thus the rich man also died and was buried in hell whereas Montanus reads as we do and ends that verse thus the rich man also died and was buried Romans 12. 19. Non vosmetipsos defendentes they read Not defending your selves the word signifies not revenging your selves They seem to make a great improvement of the precept but how contrary their practice is the Mysteries of Jesuitisme lately printed will inform us out of their own authors 1 Pet. 2. 23. where our Saviour is said to have committed himself to him that judgeth righteously they read se injustè judicanti that judgeth him