blessed saviour call'd an High-Priest in one Epistle And in his kind of Priest-Hood he was as much a Priest as ever Aaron was in his and he offered himself as really as ever any expiatory and propitiatory Sacrifice were offer'd under the Law therefore his pretious Blood which was shed upon the Cross till Death intervened is so often mention'd in Scripture chap. 9.12 ver 14. By his own Blood he entered in once c. and the Blood of Christ which through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God even to Death Again Now once in the end of the World hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself ver 16. ver 26. Ephes 5.25 Acts. 20.28 thereby to save and sanctifie his Church for he loved it and gave himself for it and so hath purchased it with his own Blood which could not be done without a Sacrifice and a Priest there 's no true proper and real Effect without a true proper and real Cause As the Article of Christ's Satisfaction is one of if not the most Fundamental of our Salvation so the Holy Ghost hath in Scripture taken special care to confirm it in both Testaments Isaiah 53.10 read the whole chap. His Soul was made an Offering for sin saith Isaiah and the Lord hath laid on him the Iniquities of us all thereby the Prophet alluding to the Ceremony of the scape Goat Asasel Levit. 16.21 1 Joh. 2.2 1 Pet 2.24 which was loaded with the Sins of the People so in several places of the Psalms c. in the New Testament he is said to be the Propitiation for our sins and who his own self bare our sins in his Body on the Tree with several others to the same Effect full and plain enough 2 Cor. 4.4 except to those in whom the God of this World hath blinded the Minds Yet Smalcius as if once had not been enough * Exam. 100 Err. Err. 57.66 said elsewhere That Christ is Metaphorically and improperly called a Priest and that he never offered a true but only a metaphorical sacrifice Again 't is false that Christ upon Earth purged our sins therefore they utterly deny the Merit of our Saviour's Death and thus impiously would overthrow the Foundation of our Salvation whilest St. Paul in several places of his Epistle to the Hebrews doth plainly demonstrate the Necessity Excellency and Efficacy of our Saviour's Sacrifice of himself for our Deliverance from God's Wrath the Curse of the Law and from Sin and Death Here I may shew an instance how far in an Impious way Men can go when God hath left them unto themselves These are the Words Et si nunc Vulgo c. * Racov. Cat. p. 177. And though now it be the Common Opinion of Christians that Christ by his Death hath deserved Salvation for us and fully satisfied for our sins yet that Opinion is Deceitful Erroneous and very Pernicious Where is that Fear of God Modesty Soundness and Humility which that worst sort of Men would in their Opinions and Expressions seem to pretend to But to omit so many other Evidences of their Blasphemous Writings I shall only add some Words of the same Smalcius †Exam. Err. 47.72 Christum nobis c. Christ hath not reconciled God to us nor when offended appeased him towards us God of himself and of his own Will is become favourable to Men without any ones Reconciliation Christ hath not obtain'd the Forgiveness of our sins by the shedding of his Blood for us So then with Paul we may say the Preaching of the Gospel is vain 1 Cor. 15.14.15.17 our Faith is also vain we are yet in our sins and the Apostles are found false Witnesses of God at one blow they with denying Christ's Satisfaction for us to Divine Justice would blast our whole Joy Comfort and Assurance in this Life and hope of Happiness in that which is to come 'T is certain that in the Work of Redemption to give and receive are Relatives for as a Man cannot properly be said to receive a thing except it be given him by another so no Man can properly be said to give except there be another to receive Thus in the Work of Redemption the price which Christ gives the Father receives it as Scripture saith Rev. 5.9 Ephes 5.2 Heb. 10.5.7.10 1 Pet. 1.18.19 Thou hast Redeemed us unto God through thy Blood and Christ hath loved us and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor Again Ye know that ye were not Redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold But with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot The Blood of Christ and his Death by the Sacrifice of himself is the Meritorious Cause of our Redemption and Salvation This Gospel-Doctrine should not be scoffed at by Men who would pass for Christians yet thereby make Heathens of themselves in joyning with Heathens to mock God's Institutions of the Ceremonial Law which represented Christ's Sacrifice upon the Cross let an Heathen who knew no better say †Cat. Distich de Morib l. 4. Stultitia est morte alterius Sperare Salutem 'T is a Folly to look for Salvation by another Man's Death but no Christian should say so I am apt to believe that Roman was not a meer stranger to the Custom of the Jews but as well as Ovid he might have read Moses's Books whereof the Translation by the Septuagint was then Extant and long before for by what that other in his Metamorphoses saith of the Flood of the Tower of Babel represented by the Gyants attempting to scale up to Heaven and some such other things we have ground to believe that he had read the Book of Genesis so might also Cato who though accounted a Wise Man by the World if he by the Verse of his already Quoted intended any thing against the Ceremonies of the Law about Sacrifices which represented that of the Messiah's Death whereby Salvation to Mankind was to be purchased according to the Prophecies of David Isaiah Daniel c. then we may reckon him to have been one of those whom Paul speaks of who professing themselves to be Wise became Fools Rom. 1.22 1 Cor. 1.23 24. so we may all others of his Opinion because as the Doctrine of the Messiah or Christ was to the Jews a stumbling Block so to the Greeks or Gentiles it was Foolishness but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks Christ is the power of God and the Wisdom of God but we find Socinians to take part with those who barely are Jews and Greeks but not with them which are called so are more unexcusable than Cato and other Heathens who never had the Gospel-Light shining upon them as they have As they deny Christ's Satisfaction so wholly to deprive him of his Priestly Office they also would take away his
Learned and Pious Mr. Toland makes me doubt your Reasons being clouded by Priest-craft and Court-craft To-redeem you from both I sent to be left at your Lodging in the beginning of the last Week two Books as a Specimen of Mr. Toland's Labour and Parts They will I hope if you will not willfully shut the Eyes of your Reason convince you of the Errors that Education and a Superstitious standing Army of Black Gowns worse by far than a standing Army of Red Coats have wrought in you the last will only take away your Liberty but the first your Reason the last will only settle Arbitrary Power the first Nonsense Contradictions Suspicion and Blasphemy against the only true God who is and will be most jealous of his Honour I pray to him and him only to give you this Grace and Understanding in all things your Friend if you will be your own Tho. Firmin Redivivus This betrays no Wit nor Wisdom in the Scribler but on the other side can any thing more rashly maliciously and insolently be Penn'd It affords sufficient Matter for Observation I have only time to take notice of that Spirit of theirs which makes them charge those who differ from them with Nonsense Contradictions and Blasphemy and as they so falsely and easily charge the Orthodox with Blasphemy so as sharply and easily there they would punish it if once they had the Power in their Hand as for the Learn'd and Pious Mr. Toland I doubt he would make his own Panegyrick which is indecent and fulsom in a thing not true nor to the purpose But they go farther and presume to deprive the Magistrate of the Authority which God hath given him and this should make him concern'd to look to himself for they deny him the Right to put any Man to death for any Cause whatsoever thus the State is pester'd with these Vipers in its Bosom * Ostorod inst c. 28. praecepta Christi c. Christ's precepts allow no Man to take away another Man's Life saith one they make no difference between a private and a publick Person no private Man indeed ought to do so but 't is otherwise of the Civil Magistrate whom God hath Constituted to do Justice Nay they come to Particulars and would not have Thieves Adulterers and Murtherers punish'd with Death which is to settle such a Society of Men as Romulus call'd to set up his new State How can People live with and be safe among such a Generation yet one of theirs is plain enough †Smalc Disp de rebus Civil Sect. 2. Quemadmodum c. As Christ commanded not to put murtherers to death much less may we say he ordered thieves and adulterers to be put to death Yet before the Law Adultery or Whoredom for the Woman was a Widow was punish'd with Death Gen. 38.24 as we read in the Case of Tamar which Frantzius in his Thes 30. brought in for an instance who should have been burnt but 't is all one to them for saith the same Author in the same place As well the things before as those under the Law we must look upon to have been abolish'd by Christ as far as they relate to Judgment which is as if he had said Christ by taking away all Penalties and Punishments from Malefactors hath by this Impunity encourag'd and allow'd them to commit Thefts Adulteries and Murthers c. Is this the Gospel of Christ who came to destroy sin and reclaim Men from their evil ways and plainly tells us He came not to destroy Matth. 5.17 but to fulfil the law Nay that Man spares not the Moral Law for he adds * Ib. Resp ad Thes 47. Legent Divinam Moralem c. The divine moral law and with it the law of nature ought to be reformed limited and moderated by the law of Christ What Reformers are these this is a very great step towards Antinomians if they be not such already but such Principles lead not into Holiness Righteousness Good-Life and Conversation But the Law of Christ is not contrary to the Moral the abuses of which he indeed went about to Reform for the Jews had through their Inventions and Innovations brought in many but the Law it self he never Reform'd we find the contrary when he said to the Man If thou wilt enter into life keep the Commandments Matth. 19.17 18 19. which are thou shalt do no murther thou shalt not commit adultery thou shalt not steal These are the three he mentions to be Reformed and Moderated yet our Saviour far from mitigating them and bringing in a moderation puts a higher tye thereupon when he saith Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her chap. 5.28 hath committed adultery with her already in his heart So to the same purpose he speaks about Murther wherein he appears very far from dispensing from the strictness of the Law whilest he presseth the inward Obedience in the Heart but to return to the Socinianp-rinciple about abolishing and moderating the Moral Law and putting no Man to Death for any Crimes it is of a dangerous Consequence for after this rate 't is not lawful either for the Prince by Arms to stand in the just defence of himself or of his Subjects nor for the Subjects to take up Arms to defend themselves and their Prince Thus if Socinians had the upper hand and were about to destroy those who oppose them then they would not have the Magistrate make use of Arms against them though Blasphemers and Seditious there are several things more of that nature which I omit for fear of engaging too far in so fulsome a matter leaving it for those whom it doth concern to make farther Observations upon 't However as to the use of forcible means I say we are against it thereby to promote and propagate but not to defend Religion if by Arms it be assaulted by the same it may be defended for Vim vî repellere licet an unjust Violence may justly be repulsed yet we by no means do approve of the Popish interpretation given that Text Compell them to come in Those that are without may not well be forced but invited and persuaded co come in but the case is very different for those who are in for being Members of a Church or of a State or of both as they enjoy the benefit of the Laws so they must not presume to break them but in things not against God's commands they must be made to yield Obedience thereunto curb'd and punish'd when they do the contrary and when gentle and fair means have been try'd but prove ineffectual this is not to violate the Conscience but to break the obstinacy of the Mind about Fundamentals in Religion I own this was not practised by the Apostles nor in their time because indeed it was not their work nor their Commission which was of another nature but at that time there were no Christian Magistrates all Jews or Gentiles but the
God himself Psal 68.8 David witnesseth that Mount Sinai was moved or trembled at the presence of the God of Israel now certainly the Son is the Presence or Face of the God of Israel Heb. 12.26 v. 18. and he whose Voice then shook the Earth This is the same to whom in the same Psalm he saith Thow hast ascended on high thou hast led captivity captive thou hast received gifts for Men yea for the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell among them which being compar'd with Ephes 4.8 shews it to have been spoken of Christ Now in the Tabernacle which was set up for the glory of God Schechina or the Son of God not only appeared sometimes but continually dwelt therein Levit. 9.23 24. chap. 1.1 Num. 1.1 Ex. 25.22 upon all occasions manifesting his Glory thence he rendered his Oracles and called unto Moses to speak unto him so that whensoever God spake unto Moses Aaron and their Successors ever it was from that place according to his own appointment R. Kimhi saith that according to the Psalm 82.1 God standeth in the Congregation of the Mighty Schechina is always in the midst of the Congregation of Israel The Inscription over the Ark was this The Name of the Lord of Hosts sitteth among the Cherubims they call'd it the Glory of Israel Psal 4.22 therefore after it had been taken by the Philistines 't was said The Glory is departed from Israel Now by the Glory and Name of the Lord the * Bechai in Leg. p. 88 89. Masters of the Cabbala always understand the Messiah who is God the Face of God King David and the Mouth of Jehovah which to apply we must take notice of what John saith And we beheld his glory Joh. 1.14 the glory as of the only begotten of the Father chiefly in his Transfiguration He as said before Acts 7.2 1 Cor. 2.8 Hebr. 1.3 Matth. 19.28 25.31 is the God of Glory and the Lord of Glory also the brightness of the glory of the Father he hath in Heaven the Throne of his Glory By vertue of the Covenant made in Sinai between God and the People God in a most eminent way between the Cherubims dwelt among them as he continued to do after the Ark was lodged in the Temple he taught them either immediately by himself or by his Prophets provided for an delivered them from their Enemies and it hath been the constant Tradition of the understanding Jews †Bechai in Thor. p. 88 c. 4. that the Name of the God who dwelt in the Temple was the Schechina and as he ever was with Moses upon all occasions to help and strengthen him So after his Death he said to Joshua Josh 1.5 As I was with Moses so I will be with thee I will not fail thee nor forsake thee as both a Prophet to guide and direct and as a King by his power to defend him If we may look back to the ground of this series of Divine Dispensations we must know that from Eternity God Father Son and Holy Ghost decreed to bring many Sons unto glory Heb. 2.10 as the Apostle calls it which the Son undertook to execute and so under the Old Testament he at several times and to several Persons declared and revealed this Will and Pleasure of God made and renewed the Promises but as the chief part of that great and glorious Design which all other means were to depend upon was the satisfaction to be given Divine Justice by the Death of the Mediator so other things before were only preparations and dispositions in order to 't to which purpose the Mosaical Law was instituted therefore as the execution was only at and after the Death of the Testator till which the Testament is of no force ch 9.9 10. so before that time under the Law was shed the Blood of Calves Goats Lambs c. instead of the Testator's till the fulness of the appointed time when that precious Blood was shed upon the Cross This I shall add how God's Covenant was for Glory and Eternity but the Law was a Medium or means as the Deliverance out of Aegypt to bring them into a Land where God in a most eminent and excellent way might dwell among teach and make himself well known to them in and by the Son who is the Wisdom and the Power of God about this the Psalmist well observes Ps 147.20 He hath not dealt so with any Nation As indeed he through the Spirit of God was so exact an observer of things relating to the Messiah whom according to God's promise he knew should come out of his Family that our blessed Saviour after his Resurrection referred his Disciples not only to the Law of Moses◠and to the Prophets but also to the Psalms Luke 24.44 to know the things concerning him for therein are spoken of his God-head Eternal Generation Covenant with the Father his Humanity Sufferings Death Resurrection Ascension into Heaven distribution of gifts among Men his Kingly Prophetical and Priestly Offices and his Victory over his Enemies All this I brought in to shew how according to the Doctrine of the Antient Jews the Schechina or Meniah was the Son of God had a Being and acted from the beginning not of the Gospel but of the World and thus in the Godhead they made a distinction of Persons And if Socinians will own the Lord Jesus to be the Christ then either with the antient Jews they must own him to have been and acted from the beginning of the Creation and so to have had a Being long before his Birth of the Virgin or else they must joyn with the Modern Jews deny him to be the Messiah and thus proclaim themselves to be no Christians nay Idolaters and such as neither know nor worship the true God for he that owns not and worshippeth not Father Son and Holy Ghost doth not own nor worship the true God but they plainly deny the Holy Ghost and in effect deny the Son which is very hard and unworthy Because the Son of God for our sake was pleased to take upon him our Humane Nature some Men unthankfully and impiously go about to strip him of his Divine On our behalf he humbled himself and for that some Men undervalue him as if their Eye was Evil because he is good We reckon several Ages of the Church whereof every one affords Demonstrations of the Son of God her Head's Presence and Actings for her The first is of her Birth and Childhood from the Creation to the Flood the second her first Infancy from the Flood to Moses when she began to gather a Youthful Strength by means of God's special Favour to and Presence among them in that signal and eminent way of the Son of God's dwelling in the Sanctuary which David calls Goings and Actings when he saith Ps 68.24 v. 7 8. They have seen thy goings O God even the goings of my
't is spoken of the same two Persons whom the Name Lord belongs to The Father's Person is but one but the Father's and Son's Persons are two Persons yet but one Jehovah or Lord with this difference That as the Father hath committed all Judgment to the Son so the Son doth Administer and Execute all Judgment in the World commanding and making use of this Authority sometimes under the Name of the Angel before whom stood Joshua cloathed with filthy Garments Now that this Angel was really and truly God it appears by his commanding of his own Authority Joshua's filthy Garments to be taken away from him and by his saying to him Behold I have caused thine Iniquity to pass from thee which none but the true God can say or do for none can forgive sins but God alone which is a Phrase equivalent to this I have caused thine Iniquity to pass from thee this more and more appears out of what is contained in verses 6 and 7. And the Angel of the Lord protested unto Joshua thus saith the Lord of Hosts If thou wilt walk in my ways and if thou wilt keep my charge then thou shalt also judge my House and shalt also keep my Courts Who but the true God can speak after this manner And that no ground should be left to doubt of this Truth that same Angel calls himself the Lord of Hosts for the Angel of the Lord protested saying Thus saith the Lord of Hosts as if he had said I who am the Lord of Hosts protest unto thee If thou wilt c. then I promise thee so and so c. this is the proper style of him who absolutely is Lord and Master of all Hence we may learn another thing which is that Joshua being the High-priest was a Type of Jesus Christ our High-priest in things pertaining to Salvation who as Peter saith His own self bare our sins which are the filthy garments spoken of by the Prophet in his Body 1 Pet. 2 24. and which by his Death having made a full Atonement for he was cloathed with change of Raiment or with his own Righteousness Heb. 1.3 And when he had by himself purged our sins sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high But farther to prove his Divinity here I shall bring in two Arguments which no where else I made use of before The first is this All men that is meerly men and no more than men are Sinners but Christ is no Sinner therefore Christ is no meer man but more than a man According to Rules this Argument is in Mode and Figure and both of these Propositions can fully and unanswerably be proved out of God's Word As to the Major 't is made good in two ways first by positive Assertions secondly by Examples The first hath two Branches whereof one is That every man is originally a sinner by nature for human Nature is sinful and corrupt the other is That every man is an actual sinner for as said before as at first the Person infected the Nature so since the Nature hath infected the Persons for by one man sin entered into the world Rom. 5.12.24 and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned though not every one after the similitude of Adam's transgression and when David saith Psal 5.3 Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me he meaneth it of all men as well as of himself for without any difference or exception Ephes 2.3 we are all children of wrath even as others As for the other part That every man is an actual sinner 1 Kings 8.46 Jam. 3.2 't is plain for there is no man that sinneth not and Paul saith All have sinned and come short of the glory of God and another Apostle saith In many things we offend all wherefore in Scripture sometimes men are call'd by the Epithet of sinners and sinful But in Scripture the Holy Ghost is not satisfied to affirm every man to be a sinner but he therein gives Instances of and mentions the sins of the best and greatest Servants of God Adam's sin I shall not name which whole Mankind has cause to remember with a witness but I shall take notice of Noah's Drunkenness Gen. 9.21 chap. 19. chap. 12. and 20. chap. 26. chap. 43.15 Gen. 45.13 Exod. 4. Ps 106.33 James 5. Act. 15.39 of Lot's Drunkenness and Incest of the Mistrust and Dissembling of Abraham twice the like of Isaac of Joseph's learning to swear by the Life of Pharaoh with something of vanity in him when he said to his Brethren You shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt of Moses's Refractoriness to obey God when he commanded him to go to the Children of Israel in Egypt and to Pharaoh and his Unadvisedness so Job's Impatience David's Adultery and Murther Solomon's Idolatry and that zealous Servant of God Elias was subject to like Passions as we are so Peter's Denyal Paul and Barnabas Falling out about no great Matter In few words every Servant of God had their Flaws and therefore in a way of defiance Solomon asketh Prov. 20.9 Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin Now I unquestionably proved every man to be a sinner Now must I prove the Minor Proposition of my Argument That the Lord Jesus is no sinner which to do is an easie task He never was nor is a sinner for though he assumed our human sinful Nature yet by the immediate working of the Holy Ghost which sanctified that part of the Substance of the Virgin out of which was form'd our Saviour's Body it was preserved from natural corruption wherefore the Apostle calls him Heb. 7.26 holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners And as he ever was free from Original so he never committed any Actual sin which made him defie the Jews thus Joh. 8.46 Heb. 4.15 Which of you convinceth me of sin None could for though he was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin 1 Pet. 1.19 therefore the Apostle calls him a Lamb without blemish and without spot and in the next Chapter he adds who did no sin chap. 2.22 1 Joh. 3.5 neither was guile found in his mouth and in him was no sin saith another Apostle which Truth I look upon as undeniably proved And so from the Premises I may well conclude That seeing the Lord Jesus is a Man yet not a sinner he must needs be no meer Man but more than a Man and so God and Man if he had been a meer Man ut sic reduplicative he also had been a sinner but seeing he is not a sinner then he is not a meer Man In this case any consideration drawn from Angels is not pertinent for the question is only of Divine and Humane Nature not of the Angelical for He took not on him the nature of Angels Heb. 2.16 but he
Prophaneness and Spiritual Wickedness No Humane Law doth per se and of it self bind the Conscience only in as much as 't is grounded upon God's own who is the only Judge of it and can Men imagine that any Wise Law-giver will make Laws to maintain every Man's Right and Property and not in the least mind his own Therefore we must say that God hath given the Magistrate Power though not to Exercise any Office in Holy things as without a special Call to Preach the Word and Administer the Sacraments yet to defend maintain and be a Nursing Father to the Church which is God's House They would take advantage of this that when the Epistle was written to the Christian Church in Rome they were under the Dominion of Infidels who would not commend or enconrage them in matters of their Religion seeing they were not for but against it Let it be so yet tho' they would not own the Cause the Effects they sometimes would praise and commend as Humility Self-denial Patience Sobriety Temperance Gentleness and such Effects of a Christian Frame and Spirit The very Enemies of Christ sometimes admired to see those Graces which are the Fruits of Faith and of Christian Religion therefore saith the Apostle Be ye holy in all manner of conversation 1 Pet. 1.15 and this is not only for the discharge of their own Conscience but also in Relation to the Infidels and for the Credit of Christian Profession Chap. 2.12 15. for he adds Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles that whereas they speak against you as Evil doers they may by your good works which they shall behold glorifie God in the day of Visitation And because of a Prejudice which Christ's Enemies had against Religion and those who profess'd it which made them speak ill of both he saith For so is the will of God that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish Men. This the Apostle learned of his and our great Lord and Master who had said Let your light so shine before Men Matth. 5.16 that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in heaven So the Good Works of Christians might have praise from Christ's Enemies and Infidels such were the Roman Emperours Besides that St. Paul did intend those Rules not only for the present when he wrote to the Romans but also for after times for all those things were written for our Instruction and of others to the Worlds end it related also to Christian Emperours Kings and other Magistrates in after Ages who according to God's Promise were to be Nursing Fathers to the Church and Defenders of the Faith Now this I say that as in the Text is a generality of Persons exhorted to be subject to superiour Powers for 't is said Let every soul be subject and the Apostle speaking in the Singular Wilt thou Ver. 3. and if thou do Ver 4. meaneth every individual Person in the World So there is an Universality in the things committed unto the Magistrates Care which are reduced under these two Heads Religious and Secular Species are contain'd under the Genus and Particulars as said before under Generals When we pray for our Daily Bread therein Meat Drink Cloathes and other Necessaries for Life are included Now I am to take notice of his Answer to the other Text Job 31.28 This also were an iniquity to be punish'd by the Judge Speaking of Idolatry Here he thinks he hath a great advantage for the words to be punished by the are not in the Original and hereupon applauds himself thus It 's an easie thing to have proofs if Men when they cannot find them are resolved to make them To make Proofs when there are none and to deny Proofs when there are is proper for Socinians which we have too many Instances of but to tho thing 't is true those words are not in the Hebrew but any that is acquainted with that Tongue knows how short and Concise it is that 's the Idiome of it which he nor I cannot change but to make it Intelligible in other Languages something ought to be supplyed in the Original 't is thus This also an iniquity the Judge Which in English and every other modern Language is very lame there is no Verb Substantive is or were an Iniquity which any one may see ought to be understood Now I say that what is inserted is no Addition to the Original with an intent to impose upon the Reader for 't is Printed in a different Letter but only to make it Sense in English without which it hath none or at least a very imperfect one I also add that the Words inserted do express the true Sense and Meaning of the place an Iniquity and the Judge or Judged or Judicial are in the Original to what purpose upon the account of an Iniquity or Crime can a Judge be brought in but to punish it Doth not the Iniquity of Idolatry which is the thing in question deserve Punishment and who but the Judge may lawfully inflict it But he is so afraid of a Judge that though it be in the Hebrew yet he leaves it out for thus he renders the Text For pag. 70. this might he accounted to me an iniquity he is not content to leave out the word Judge but wedges in accounted which is not except he will deduce it from Judge and Judged for a Crime is accounted or imputed when the guilty is punished for it The better to understand this Verse we ought to compare it with another in the same Chapter containing the like expressions in the case of Adultery For this is an heinous crime yea 't is an iniquity to be punished by the Judges in the plural ver 11 there are some Iniquities which God alone doth punish but this of Adultery as the other of Idolatry must be punished by the Judges In this Verse no more than in the other the Word is is not in nor to be punished by yet 't is well known by God's Law Adultery and Idolatry were to be punished with Death so that it justifies bringing in the words to be punished by and as to the thing 't is not material whether Job lived before or after the Law To explain the thing out of several places of Scripture appears the necessity of supplying some words in our Translations to make up the Sense Three only I shall mention The first is out of Amos 't is said chap. 1.3 6 9 11 13. For three transgressions of Damascus and for four I will not turn away the punishment thereof The word Punishment is not in the Hebrew which in English makes certainly the Sense imperfect Turn away what the Punishment thereof of Damascus so that the word Punishment must be added to make up the Sense and that in seven several Verses of the same Chapter The other two are taken out of the Psalms whereof the first in the Original