This makes way for A Fifth Argument Thou needst not grieve as Alexander did for fear that no Work nor Honour be left for thee That which is deficient cannot be numbred Wasmuth's Rules leave more Irregulars than Regulars especially in Pathetick Books Secondly There are no sufficient Rules extant for the Rhetorical Use of them which is half their end Thirdly He only minds the Consecution and therefore says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is no more than a Comma sometimes and that he is or may be in any Verse whereas 1300 Verses want him he is in no Verse of three Words though they are 182 in number and there are 306 Verses of four Words that has him not and there are above 800 besides that have him not He is only to be found in Verses of two distinct Propositions Grammatically if otherways it belongs to the Rhetorical Rules Ex. Gr. Dan. 9.24 there is a long Verse containing six or seven Infinitive Verbs yet there is only one Proposition made by the Indicative Verb Determined There are seventy Weeks determined on thy People and upon thy Holy City to finish Transgression c. Here is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 between bringing in of Everlasting Righteousness and Sealing up the Vision Two little Members whose distinction the smallest of the Reges might serve Well! What doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 teach us then How comes the Second most Soveraign of all Kings to this small Service Resp Where he finds not Two Propositions his Presence will make them so We must repeat the former Verb thus Seventy Weeks are determined upon thy People and upon thy holy City to Seal up the Vision and Prophecy and to Anoint the Most Holy Resp 2. His work is not done he is here Figurative and Emphatick and it s left to the Studious Divine to enquire for a suitable Application which I adventure to propose thus The Emphasis is a Type or sweet Allusion thus There are Seventy Weeks of Days viz. one Year and eighteen Weeks to the end of the Seventy Years Captivity From this first of Darius near its latter end to the first of Cyrus there is Darius his Second Year and Nine Weeks more or less in each of the other Years first of Cyrus and first of Darius then shall that Prophecy of Jeremiah about which thou enquires so Earnestly in Prayer be fulfilled and the most holy things Altar and Vessels shall again be Consecrated But Secondly I further Inform thee as the Seventy Years of Captivity and these Seventy Weeks of their latter end have been Days of Affliction to you especially as a Church before your Covenant by which you are a Church be disanulled ver 27. You shall have Seventy Weeks of Years that is 490 Years of Prosperity within which Compass all the great things I have spoken of Regeneration Remission Satisfaction Everlasting Righteousness shall have an actual Existence in the World And since I have said so much there is another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Verse 25. that Interpreters make scarce a Comma of when they join seven Weeks and sixty two Weeks which is in no Case to be done Therefore to make Two Propositions the Verb is to be repeated thus Know therefore and understand from the going forth of the Commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto Messia the Prince shall be Sixty two Weeks i. e. 434 Years But now for my Emphasis or Figure I Answer thus These seventy Weeks or 490 Years are not all the Time you shall enjoy before the Abrogation of your Covenant and my solemn Chusing and Calling the Gentiles but the time of Prosperity in opposition to the time of Affliction you have suffered while my People Secondly Nor shall this Time be continued without Breaches Clouds and Divisions in it for there will be two from its beginning One at the end of seven Weeks or forty nine Years and another before the last Week or the beginning of Christ's Ministry Now having followed the Genuine Sense of the Text let us try if it will help to remove the great Difficulty how this Prophecy is Fulfill'd In order to this I shall from that Incomparable Canon of Ptolomy found by Dr. Overald Publish'd by Seth Calvisius demonstrated to be Authentick by Youngmannus half a Sheet of Paper worth a Talent of Gold set down the Intervals of Time that were de facto First then Cyrus his first Year of Empire over Babylon and Persia was in Anno Nabon 212. Secondly The Second of Darius wherein Haggai and Zechariah began to Prophecy was An. Nab. 326. Thirdly The Birth of Christ was An. Nab. 747. His Famous Disputation in the Temple 759. The Penult of Augustus His entering on his Ministery In the 15 of Tiberius 775. the Staff of Beauty broken the Jews forsaken as a Church the Spirit of God left them 787 or 788. the Last of Gaius or First of Claudius Secondly Apply it from 212 to 788. are 576 Years that is 490 of Prosperity and 85 of Adversity especially in a Spiritual Sense The 490 from Cyrus Edict to the Disanulling the Covenant between God and that People are divided in Three Parcels The First is seven Weeks or forty nine Years between Cyrus his Edict and Darius his The whole of the Time is 114 Years But Zech. 7.5 8.19 we read of 70 Years of Carnal and Selfish Fasting which ended in a Spiritual Joy and Gladness on the second or sixth at least of Darius when the Temple was finished which Zechariah Prophecy'd to be done by the Spirit of the Lord. Forty six of this John 2.20 was spent in Building the Temple as the Spirit moved them for the Essusion of the Spirit began with Cyrus's Edict Ezr. 1 2 3. and through its Power they continued the Work against all Opposition Ezra 4. ver 5 6 7 24. until it was with-drawn For Haggai 1. when God on Darius's Edict restored his Spirit to them there was no Life nor Heart in them for that work Their cry was The Time was not come though they found it seasonable to Build Palaces for themselves So here is evidently 49 Years of Spiritual and Temple Prosperity and 70 of Carnal Security There is indeed a little Fraction of three or four Years between 114 Years and 118 but it makes neither 10 to the one Number nor a Week to the other The 49 Years in the first place and the 70 in the Last The Second Portion is the greatest and easiest viz. 434 Years or 62 Weeks wherein all should be restored and repaired that was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar ver 25. it is well Translated What was cut off or broken as in the Margin there is warning that this time should not want its Troubles and indeed great they were in Antiochus's Time especially But the Spirit of the Lord did not forsake them as their Holiness Zeal Suffering Victories did testifie as may be read in the Macchabees Now add 434 Years to 326 the Second of Darius when the
informed me the Rhetorical Use is entirely unknown to those Parts But it is fit to see first what Acceptance these Rudiments find But Reader having now made Apology for my Stile or defect of one and set before thee in clear Light comparing it with the Book that it is to deny Demonstration nay Matter of Fact to deny that these Points were Contriv'd intentionally in the Harmonious Constitution they stand in every Word bearing its Point whose Figure Indicates the relation it has to the next Word only if a Minister or little Lord to it and more if a greater Lord c. to assist the Reader to know the Sense of every Verse by Indicating the relation of all the Words and Propositions And to deny that these Tables and Rules do Indicate these Relations that the Reader may be secure of the Author's Intention may as well deny the Grammatical Harmony of Classical Authors or the Rules of Grammar to Indicate them The next thing is to Enquire who is the Author of this Art or these Points that contain it This indeed has been contended among great Names but never since or where the Sense of the Bible was own'd to be the end of the Art It was no wonder a wise Man should deny that to be the Fruit of Divine Wisdom that thirty several Figures should be invented to inform us if the Accent was on the last Syllable or that before it when the Position of one was sufficient but so high an end as the Author's Intention through so harmonious a Chain of Means might have charm'd them into a Belief of it For who can know the Mind of the Lord but his Spirit And who can set Rules to know what he understands not Secondly The Dispute has been about the Vowels these great Names when press'd with Arguments have own'd that the Accentual were before Thirdly Suppose that was their Opinion That the Tyberian Masorites were Authors of all the Points there is reason since thou imbrace it on their Authority thou should take all their Authority together and then thou will believe them the best Artists of the World nay Divinely Inspired says Levita thou may expect a great Exposition but yesterdays Authority is too mean and if thou go beyond them thou wilt I doubt find as little of their Greatness as of the wise Men of Gotam's Fourthly To come to earnest Two things I think may demonstrate the Tyberians not to be Authors These Tyberian Schools continued until Ann. 1000. and yet we have no Footsteps of its Skill and Practice among them an entire Silence still as the Night for that five hundred Years and ever since except what they bring by Quotation from more Ancient Authors but the Authors before the Tyberians do I shall conclude this with a Providential Story known to my Friends I once Preaching on Gen. 2.4 Translated it thus These are the Generations of the Heaven and the Earth when God had created them These are the Generations of the Heaven and the Earth in the Day when God had perfected re-made or established them From which I inferr'd a two-fold Re-capitulation to be contain'd in the Verse one perform'd within the time of first Creation the Six Days the other perform'd in one Day the one was a pure Creative Work the other a more Common Adorning Perfecting or doing further Moses had more signaliz'd that one Day and Work in it in the Context and from Chap. 3.8 to the end whereby it appeared evident That the work of Redemption by our Lord Jesus Christ was the Foundation of the Seventh-Day-Sabbath An Ancient Vnderstanding Christian hearing me ask'd if I had read Dr. Walker a Divine in Queen Mary's Days who has Printed That Adam fell on Friday the same Day our Lord Jesus Christ suffer'd That He endur'd the Curse of the Law that Night that Gen. 2.8 in the Morning of Saturday God appear'd in Humane Form and gave that New Gospel Constitution So that all the New Testament is but a Comment on the Seventh Day 's Work from Gen. 2.8 to the end of that Chapter Having obtain'd this Old and Rare Book and after that Jacob Alting on the same Subject I found an Entire Agreement as to the Doctrine but not as to the Original my Points had forced me into it but the Old Cabbalistical Jews had enticed them into it The Inferencce I draw is That the Evangelical Doctrines contain'd in these Old Jewish Kabbala's were Doctrines retain'd since the Points were lost but known from and by them and I think it is the most Rational Account of that Phaenomena I am sure it is more becoming than to call all the Laborious Pains of our Christian Fathers in these Rabbies Forgeries Lies and Cheats before we try too by our Pains if so or no. Secondly This is not only true but there is much Vse made of these Points before the Masorites of five or six Hundred and no use made by them but their Work shows them really Ignorant of their Vse as may be seen in the Book But Thirdly the Tyberians were poor blinded Jews and their Creed the same with our Jews and their own Fathers directly Opposite to the Christian Faith but the Authors of the Points as may be seen by the Doctrinal and Prophetick Places of the Old Testament Expounded by the Points were truly and thorowly Christian so that to say they invented this is to deny them to be Jews which no Man ever yet did And I take this for Demonstration That they would never deliver the Sense of their Bibles to be contradictory or destructive to themselves Therefore at least the Sense of the Scripture given by these Points is of Prophetick Authority a Comment by Ezra Haggai Zechariah and Malachi with others of that day Some may think this was over-order'd by Divine Providence as their preserving the rest of the Parts of the Old Testament entire without Corruption though against them R. That is what I yield a Providence in their Preservation that supposes their Pre-existence but to suppose any Jews since Christ invented these Points and affixed them as giving the Sense of the Bible is not only a Miracle but a Contradiction for it is their Reason and not their Reason that their Judgment was both pro and con at the same time For Instance it was and is Paul Attests it their most Radicated Judgment that they expected to be Sav'd by the Works their Law Commanded but if they affix'd these Points to that place in Hab. with a design to give its Sense in their Judgment They tell you that their Judgment is That he who is Just or Righteous by Faith shall live he shall never taste of the Curse of Death but ever drink the Waters of Life None of them ever pretended an Opinion opposite to what they believed was the Bible's Sense yet whenever they give their Opinion in other Writings it is opposite So if Authors of this Art in place of an over-ruling Providence we
these Sections were for Yearly Order that all the Law might be once Read every Year on the Sabbath but here they read every Day Three Hours in a Day for at least the space of Twenty Four Days 2. The intent was that the People might understand Now the Order of Sections did contribute nothing to that end but the Order of Accents did very much But a second Opinion refers it to the Translation in Chaldee or Syrian the People having forgotten the Old Hebrew in the Captivity which they confirm from Neh. 13.23 24. Their Children spoke the Language of Ashdod and could not speak the Jewish Resp 1. Elias Levita grants it was not lost in 200 Years Captivity in Egypt Why should we think they lost it in 70 Years Twenty whereof was gradual So that the Bulk were in Babylon about 50 only 2. Daniel with some others that were Noble had Masters to Teach them others had not 3. Jeremiah and Ezekiel the Prophets in that Captivity wrote taught and conversed in the Jewish Language Jer. 10.11.29.50 51. Ezek. 14.33 20. And what Daniel wrote in Chaldee concerned the Empire the rest is Hebrew even his Prayer 4. They lived by themselves Ezek. 11. using their own Customs keeping their own Genealogies not mixing with the People of the Land Ezra cap. 2.8 9. The Marriages complained of Neh. 13. were not Mixtures with Chaldeans but Moabites and Ammonites 100 Years after there were a few of both kinds but both rejected Ezra 9.10 Neh. 13.3 5. The Books wrote after the Captivity viz. Two Books of Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah Esther Haggai Zechariah Malachi and some Psalms Psal 137.126 83.89 44. were wrote in Hebrew 6. Ezra cap. 5 7. mentions the Arabian Tongue as a thing Foreign to them both Letters and Words As to the Samaritan Character it is not my business for it is sufficient for my purpose that the Bible was put in the Quadrate Letter by the posteriour Prophets But I desire him that believes the Change to read Wasmuth's Vinditiae where he demonstrates Capellus's Chief Arguments to flow from his not understanding the Quotations he brings which are directly opposite to him I do not think that the Prophets taught the People the Art of the Points or made use of Grammatical Arguments as Jac. Alting in his Dissertations says the Talmuds and Rabbin whom he quotes do understand the meaning of it to tend But that one read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lev. 24.12 Num. 15.34 that the Mind of the Lord might be distinctly understood not through prudential conclusion but distinct Revelation in opposition to Traditions beginning to come in Value which in Christ's time overflowed the Nation And put the sense this was the Interpreter's Work there were several in the Pulpit says Maimonides in Ihlcoth Tephilla From the days of Ezra it was a Custom that there be an Interppreter by the Reader to give the Sense to the People Now I assert so far with the Jews That it was by help of these Points they did interpret for what follows Junius very well expounds thus And made them understand by the Scripture it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mikra is the usual Title for the Scripture therefore they contained a Key within themselves Their Tongue began not to be corrupted until about the end of the Grecian Monarchy Argument 5. Is from heaps of Humane Testimonies from all the Ancient Writings of the Jews Zohar and Bohaz the Talmud and Masora not that I pretend to be a Rabbi but what I have collected in Quotations for other purposes by other Authors For Instance Majus Gewss in his Dissertation on Deut. 6.4 Hear O Israel the Lord our God is one Lord But nearer the Original in Words thus Hear O Israel the Lord our God the Lord one or Hear O Israel Jehovah our Adori or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jehova One R. Simeon Bar Jochas Author of the most Ancient Book Sohar viz. in Adrian's Time about 100 Years after Christ says Majus he observed the Stop made by the Accents between Jehovah and One when he renders it thus The Lord our God the Lord they are One for Pesik with Merca or Munah makes a Dominum Nay he adds Sohar I mean sol 72. These Three are one that John Ep. 1. cap. 5. v. 7. seems to Quote this Text These Three are One. And he adds weigh this great Mystery of Faith penetrate into this Secret if thou study not this it were better thou had never been Hear O Israel that they Jehova our adorable One Jehova they are in one Vnity and confirm it from Deut. 4. 35. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lord he is the God Or He is these Adori's and v. 37. They are expressed He brought them out in his Sight by his mighty power Power is an usual Epithet for the Spirit of God and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is translated Sight is the usual Title of the Messiah in Deut. 8. its said My Presence shall go with you In Isaiah its called The Angel of his Presence And among all the Titles given to Modes Properties or Degrees in the Divine Essence among the Rabbies viz. Havajeth Dargin Middeth Parzuphin this Phanim this great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the most Sacred Aben Ezra says on this Text the Principal or Antecedent to which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is referred is our God And on that Text Zech. 14.9 On that day the Lord shall be one and his Name One says he One is to be referred to King not Lord for a Proper Name cannot admit of a Numeral without Aequivocation We say not one Thomas or John This Text is quoted Marc. 12.29 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 understood I hope the Reader will distinguish between the intent of the Author to prove a Trinity out of this Text and the intent I bring it for viz. to prove the Author of Zohar expounded the Scripture by these Points Again On Dan. 12.3 They that be wise shall shine the wise says he are the Letters of the Law and the Luster are the Points like the Soul in the Body for the Accents of the Law are like a Crown over the Head of the Letters Hence Arcuvolti says Surely what is wrote in the Book of Zohar about the Points was hid from Elias Lev. for he says in Mas Hammas If any could convince me that my Opinion was contrary to the Sentence of the Rabbi's or the Truth of the Cabbala that is in the Book Zohar my Opinion should go for nothing Let us to him add Bohar Cotemporary with Jonathan the Paraphrast 40 Years before Christ on Gen. 18.3 The Points are to the Letters what the Soul is to the Body But what Answers the Antagon to such Authority Alas says Bishop Walton If the Authority of those Books were as great as is pretended our Cause were utterly lost Therefore says Capellus on the Antiquity of the Points The Jews are not to be credited in
Spirit was restored to Israel as Haggai and Zecharias Testifie Now add to 326 which is the Second of Darius Nothus 434. and the result is 760 or 759. the Penult of Augustus and Twelfth of Christ when the Messias made his First Active and Admired Appearance in the Temple Luke 2.41 which was Prophesied by Malach. 3.1 2 3. and Jer. 3.16 17. And hereunto Messias the Prince This Period agrees not only with Ptolomy's Canon but Eusebius's also who says Darius's Second fell in Ann. 1594. from Abraham's Birth and Augustus's his Last except one in 2027. And Thirdly with the Eclipses observed the first by Thycid the second by Dion Cassius and both Compared by Bunting Fol. 217. But now there is a Segment at the end of this Period plainly Indicated ver 26. After threescore and two weeks Which proves that the Messias was to have an Illustrious Advent at the end of 434 Years But his Death which was to be within the 490 ver 24. and within the last Week for an Expiation was to be made ver 27. Sacrifice and Oblation made to cease was to be some considerable time after This I thus apply from Christ's Twelfth viz. 17 Years to his 30th Year wherein both John Baptist and HE began their Ministery was a time of as great deadness lifelesness and withdrawing of the Spirit as ever they were under until now as the Gospel Glory informs us The State full of Sadducees and Herodians and the Temple full of Pharisees the Land full of Prophanity Before this there was a Zecharias and a Simeon in the Temple and after this a great Reformation which brings me to the Third and Last Portion viz. one Week ver 27. He shall Confirm the Covenant with many for one Week or seven Years In the midst whereof he was to offer a Sacrifice that needed no other to succeed that answered all their Ends and in which they all ended Three and an half of this time was fulfilled by Christ in his own Ministery and John Baptist's by which many were Converted and brought within the Bond of the Covenant and even their Ordinances restored to Purity according to Mal. 3. The Messias and John Baptst's Office was to Purifie the Sons of Levi that they might Offer unto the Lord Offerings of Righteousness as in former times It s not a Season to forget the Purity of Ordinances because Christ's Coming and their End is nigh It s best to be found like Zachariah and Elizabeth walking in the Ordinances all of them without blame And three and an half after his Death by the Apostles until the Calling of the Apostle of the Gentiles to his Work After which we hear of few or none Converted among the Jews Their Ministers Work was to Preserve and Nourish what was Regenerated There is yet much more Light afforded to this Text from these Points for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thy Holy City signifies That the City and People were the Object to whom as the School speaks They who were to enjoy this Blessing but not de quo not the Matter Prophecied of Hence we may be sure That the Prediction of breaking the Staff of Bands as Zechariah Prophesies the Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans is only an Event Prophecied of as Consequential to a People that sinned away Gospel-Mercies and rejected the Covenant of Grace when offered to them It doth not come within the 70 Weeks More Particulars might be shew'd of their use here but its time to return to my Subject Let this also be reckoned among the Examples Fourthly Wasmuth mistakes in this that in Verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a greater King than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fifthly His Mr. Bohlius who deserves a Monument of Brass says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of greater Power than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sixthly Buxtorf says That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are Servants and distinguish not at all Seventhly Lud. de Dieu Sometimes they distinguish and sometimes not Lastly All comes short in this that there are no Tables nor Rules to be found in any of them for their Rhetorical use which is half the Work at least Reinbeck pretends 13 which he calls Consequences But they all Terminate in this one Whatsoever is not according to Grammar Rules is Emphatick but affords no helps to know the nature of the Figure or Affection by the Extrusion or Change So that the greatest and most difficult Part is entirely unknown to the World Ledebhurius says He can find no way to understand the meaning of Maccaph But the End of this Chapter will be more gained by the next CHAP. IV. Of the Particular Vses and Ends the Accents serve for THIS Number is Arbitrary I shall reduce them to Seven First On the Original it self The Second shall be on the Criticks upon it The Third on Translations The Fourth on Analytick especially the Preacher The Fifth on Quotations from the Old to the New Testament The Sixth on Inferences Disputes c. The Seventh to know the Scope of a Verse or what is Emphatick in the Text. Vse First Thou mayst know the Genius and Style of the Tongue by them For Instance Inform a good Hebrean of the English Translation where it is exact tell him the Hebrew Words in any order and also the Points but in their Order and he shall put every Word just as it stands in the Bible Thou mayst see the Reason and Foundation of this in the Second Argument So that it is a Masora to the Bible And it seems these poor Masorites that lived about 500 Years after Christ that were so mean that no Historian thought them nor their Work worthy Record in History until some of late thought fit to Magnifie them and diminish the Holy Records exposing them as a Nose of Wax and bottom of Scepticism These Men were under a Curse wanted the Spirit of God were Ignorant of the Scripture and this help that so much helps to Solve their proposed Difficulties Secondly To know what Copies are preferable in any Variation that is in Hebrew Editions which are few and these differing in very minute things Josh 15 47. Vnto the river of Egypt and the great Sea and the Border Our Translation follows the Margin which the Masorites call Keri the Ketib or Text is thus Vnto the river of Egypt and Sea its border even border which makes not good Sense nor will consist with the Accents which stand thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shews that the last Word and that before it agree not but border even its border or bordering agrees but great agrees not with border but with Sea therefore we should chuse what is Consonant to the Points that are not doubtful at least here and so doth the English 1 Sam. 4.13 And when he came lo Eli sat upon a seat by the way side watching Our Translation follows Keri the Margin not the Text which would be