the writing of the wall so that they could not read it though it were in their owne language because it was not in their owne letter In after-times the very languages themselues began to vary as the Chaldee in Daniel and Onkelos and Ieruselamy and Ionathan and the Syrian in the Testament doe witnesse The Paraphrafts do much differ between themselues for purity of speech and all far short of the Bible Chaldee They are very full of Greeke words and so the Syrian a relique of Alexanders conquests some thinke they finde some Greeke in Daniel Montanus himselfe renders Osphaia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all along Foure kind of characters is the Chaldee to bee had in or if you will the Chaldee in two and the Syrian in two Our Bible and Paraphrasts and Rabbins Chaldee is in the Hebrew letter and the other kind of letter is the Samaritan The Syrian hath either a set letter such as we haue the New Testament imprinted in or their running hand such as the Maronites vse in their writing for speed there is no great difference betwixt them as you may see by their Alphabet CAP. XXXV Of the Arabian Language THis is the most copious of the Hebrew Dialects and a tongue that may brag with the most of tongues from fluencie and continuance of familiaritie This tongue is frequent in Scripture especially in Iob a man of that country How other parts of the Bible vse it I thinke may be iudged by the neerenesse of Iudaea and Arabia and of the two languages In this one thing it differs from its fellow-Dialects and its mother tongue that it varieth terminations in declining of nownes as the Greeke and Latine do and that it receiueth duall numbers in forming verbs as doth the Greeke Of the largenesse of the Alphabet and difference from other Alphabets and quiddits of the tongue or indeed any thing of the tongue I cannot say which I haue not receiued of the most industrious and thrice learned both in this and other the noble tongues Master William Bedwell whom I cannot name without a great deale of thankfulnesse and honour To whom I will rather be a scholler then take on me to teach others This tongue was Mahomads Alcoran written in and is still read in the same Idiome vnder paine of death not to mistake a letter which is as easily done in this tongue as in any CAP. XXXVI Of the Latine Tongue THis is the first Idiome of our Grammar Schooles A tongue next the sacred tongues most necessarie for Schollers of the best profession Whether Latine were a Babel language I will not controuert pro et contra Sure I dare say that what Latine we read now was not at Babel if we may beleeue Polybius who saith that the Latine tongue that was vsed in Iunius Brutus time was not vnderstood in the time of the first Punicke warre but onely by great schollers So much in few yeares it had degenerated The old Poets compared with smooth Ouid and Tully shew much alteration This spacious tongue once almost as big as any and as large as a great part of the world is now bounded in schooles and studies The Deluge of the North the treasurie of men ouerwhelmed the Romane empire scattered the men and spoiled the Latine Goths Vandalls Lombards and the rest of the brood of those frozen Climates haue beaten the Latine tongue out of its owne fashion into the French Spanish and Italian But some sparkes of their hammering are flowne into other languages of the West So that most countries hereabout may owne Rome for a second Babel for their speech confused CAP. XXXVII The Language of Brittaine neere a thousand yeares ago Ex Beda lib. 1. de Hist. Angl. Cap. 1. BRittania in praesenti iuxta numerum librorum c. Brittaine in my time saith Bede doth search and confesse one and the same knowledge of the high truth and true sublimity in fiue tongues according to the fiue bookes wherein the Law of God was written namely in the English Brittaine Scottish Pict and Latine tongues And in the ninteenth chapter of the same booke he saith that when Austen the Monke came from Gregory the great to preach the Gospell in England he brought with him Interpreters out of France to speak to the English That language it seemes was then vsuall in England but whether the French that France speakes now is a question William the Conqueror tooke great care and paines to haue brought in his tongue with his conquest but could not preuaile CAP. XXXVIII Ionathan the Chaldee Paraphrast his conceit of Leuies choosing to the Priesthood translated out of his Paraph. on Gen. 32.24 ANd Iacob was left alone beyond the foord and an Angell in the likenesse of a man stroue with him and said Diddest thou not promise to giue tithe of all that thou hadst and behold thou hast twelue sonnes and one daughter and thou hast not tithed them Out of hand he sets apart the foure first borne to their foure mothers for saith the margin they were holy because of their primogeniture and then were eight left He begins againe to count from Simeon and ended in Leui for the tenth or tithe Michael answereth and saith Lord of the world this is thy lot c. thus the Chaldee On whose words if they were worth commenting on I could say more CAP. XXXIX Of the Iewes abbreuiature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THis short writing is common in all their Authors When they cite any of the Doctors of their schooles they commonly vse these words Ameru rabbothenu Zicceronam libhracah in foure letters thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thus say our Doctors of blessed memorie But when they speake of holy men in the old Testament they vsually take this Phrase Gnalau hashalom on him is peace in briefe thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus when they mention Moses Salomon Dauid or others this is the memoriall they giue them The Arabians haue the like vse in their Abbreuiation of Gnalaihi alsalemo on whom is peace The words in Hebrew want a verbe and so may be construâ—ed two wayes On him is peace or on him be peace The learned Master Broughton hath rendered it the former way and his iudgement herein shall bee my law To take it the latter way seemes to relish of Popish superstition of praying for the dead which though the Iewes did not directly do yet in manner they appeare to do no lesse in one part of their Common Prayer booke called Mazkir neshamoth the remembrancer of Soules which being not very long I thought not amisse to translate out of their tongue into our owne that the Reader may see their Iewish Poperie or Popish Iudaisme and may blesse the Creatour who hath not shut vs vp in the same darkenesse CAP. XL. Mazkir neshamoth or the Remembrancer of soules in the Iewes liturgy printed at Venice THe Lord remember the soule or spirit of Abba Mr. N. the sonne of N. who is gone
Testament for they touch each other What do the Papists then when they put and chop in the Apocripha for Canonicall Scripture betweene Malachi and Matthew Law and Gospell What doe they but make a wall betweene the Seraphins that they cannot heare each others crie What do they but make a stoppe betweene the Cherubins that they cannot touch each others wing What do they but make a ditch betwixt these grounds that they cannot reach each to others coasts What do they but remooue the land-marke of the Scriptures and so are guilty of Cursed be he that remooues his neighbours marke Deut. 27.17 And what do they but â—â—â—orce the mariage of the Testaments and so are guilty of the breach of that which God hath ioyned together let no man put asunder These two Testaments are the two paps of the Church from which we suck the sincere milke of the Word One pap is not more like to another then are these two for substance but for language they varie in colour The old as all can tell is written in Hebrew but some forraigne languages are also admitted into Scripture besides the Hebrew as forraigne nations were to be admitted also to the Church besides the Hebrewes A great peece of Ezra in Chalde because takeÌ„ from Chalde Chronicles Those parts of Daniels visions that concerne al the world are written in the Chaldee the tongue then best known in the world because the Chaldeans were then Lords of the world The eleuenth verse of the tenth of Ieremie is in the same tongue that the Iewes might learne so much of their language as to refuse their idolatrie in their owne language Other words of this Idiome are frequent in the Scripture as I take two names giuen to Christ as Bar the sonne in Psal. 2.10 and Hhoter the rod of Iesses stemme Isa. 11. to be natiuely Chaldee words and for that they do shew the greater mysterie viz. that this Sonne and this Rod should belong to Chaldeans and Gentiles as well as to Iewes or Hebrewes Infinite it is to trace all of this nature and language The Arabian is also admitted into Scripture especially in the booke of Iob a man of that country whether Philistin Phrases and other adiacent nations Dialects be not to be found there also I referre to the Reader to search and I thinke he may easily find of the eloquence of some peeces aboue others and the difficultie of some bookes aboue others those that can euen read the English Bible can tell I would there were more that could reade it in its owne language and as it were talk with God there in his own tongue that as by Gods mercy Iaphet dwells now in the tents of Sem or the Gentiles haue gained the preheminence of the Iewes for religion so they would water this graffing of theirs into this stocke with the iuyce of that tongue thereby to prouoke them the more to Ielousie CAP. XXXIII Of the New Testament Language or the Greeke THe Greeke tongue is the key which God vsed to vnlocke the tents of Sem to the sonnes of Iaphet This glorious tongue as Tully cals it is made most glorious by the writing of the New Testament in this language God hath honoured all the letters by naming himselfe after the first and the last as Homer shewes the receit of all the Grecian ships by shewing how many the greatest and how few the least contained Iauan is held both by Iewes and Christians to haue planted the Country The tongue is likely to be maternall from Babel The Iewes vpon Genesis the forty ninth thinke that Iacob curseth his sons Simeon and Leuies fact in one word of Greek Macerothehem that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their swords but all the Chaldees and other Translations render it better their habitations Gen. 49.5 The ancientest Heathen Greek aliue is Homer though the tongue was long before and Homers subiect of Ilias treated of in Greeke verse by Euanders Wife of Arcadia as some haue related Homer watered the tongue and in succeeding ages it flourished till it grew ripe in the New Testament The Dialects of it familiarly knowne to be fiue The Attick the Ionick c. The Macedonian was something strange as appeares in Clemens Alexandrinus Strom. 5. Especially their deuout Macedonian or about their oraisons How God scattered and diuulged this tongue of the Greekes ouer the world against the comming of Christ and writing of the New Testament is remarkeable Alexander the great with his Macedonians made the Easterne parts Grecian The Old Testament at Ptolomaeus his request translated into Greek was as an Vsher to bring in the New Testament when Iaphet should come to dwell in the tents of Sem. The Iewes vsed to keepe a mournefull fast for that translation but as Iewes mourne so haue Gentiles cause to reioyce In like sort for the preparation for the Gospell of late which as farre as Antichrist his power could reach lay depressed but not ouerwhelmed the Greeke tongue at the sacking of Constantinople by the Turkes was sent into these Westerne climates that we might heare Christ speake in his owne language without an Aegyptian to interpret to vs as Ioseph had to his brethren What need we now to rely vpon a Latine foundation when we haue the Greeke purity Neuer did the Turke any good to Chriâ—tianity but this and this against his will but God worketh all things for his owne glory And we may say of the poore inhabitants of Grecia as of the Iewes by their impouerishing we are inriched As Athens in old time was called the Grecia of Grecia so the New Testament for language may be stiled the Greeke of Greeke In it as vpon the crosse of our Sauiour in the title are three tongues Hebrew Greek and Latine Greeke the foundation the other two but little additions In the Greeke Master Broughton hath giuen learned rules and examples of the kinds of it viz. Septuagint Talmudick Atticke and Apostolicke The Hebrew or Syrian for so that word Hebrew in the title of the crosse must bee vnderstood is easily found out euen in translations Latine there is some in the Gospells but not much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Census for tribute 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a ward or watch Matthew 28.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spiculator Marke 6.27 which word is vsed by Targum Ieruselamy in Gen. 37. of Potiphar that hee was Rabh Sapulachtaria Princeps spiculatorum And some other words of the Latine tongue which language in our Sauiours time the conquest of the Romans had scattered in Ierusalem and in the parts adioyning and so may one finde some Latine in the Syrian Testament and abundance of Greeke CAP. XXXIIII Of the Chaldee and Syrian Tongues THe Chaldee and Syrian tongue was once all one as appeareth in Genesis 31.47 Ezra 4.7 Dan. 2.4 In Character indeed they differed they of Babilon vsing one kind of letter they of Syria another This was that that nonplust the Babilonian wizards about
to his owne freewill that the repairing of Adam through Christ might be the more glorious Hereupon one sings O foelix lapsus Vnhappy was the fall of Adam since by his fall we all fell but yet happy was that vnhappy fall since it must bee recured by Christ. Ioseph suffered his brother Simeon to go into prison for a while that at last he might bring him out with greater comfort So God suffered Adam to go into Satans Newgate for a while that at last he might bring him out with greater comfort The day thou eatest hereof thou shalt dye there is the prison And the man tooke and ate there Adam goes into prison the seed of the woman shall breake the head of the Serpent there Ioseph deliuers Simeon out of prison God brings man out of hell through Christ. Whereupon a Doctor in admiration questions vtrum mirabilius homines iustos creare an iniustos iustificare whether is more admirable that God created man righteous or that hee iustified man when he had made himselfe vnrighteous Whether was more miraculous for God to make man of nothing or to repaire him from worse then nothing Wonderfull he was in both in his first and his second creation for Iustificatio est secunda hominis creatio mans Iustification is his new creation CAP. XLVIII Ophitae Euia SOme Heretickes in Epiphanius thinke themselues beholden to the Deuill for his paines that he tooke to ouerthrow Adam for they vsed to worship a serpent because say they hee brought knowledge into the world Clemens Alexandrinus doth partly thinke this conceit was got among the Heathens who at their feasts of Bacchus vsed to carrie a serpent as it were in procession and to crie Euia Euia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And Euia saith Clemens if it be asperated Heuia it signifies in the Hebrew tongue a female serpent Where the good man calls the Chaldee tongue the Hebrew For in the Hebrew I do not find such a word for a serpent But all the Chaldee translations of the Bible in the third of Genesis and diuerse other places doe vse the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hiuia for a serpent which I take to bee the word hee meanes CAP. XLIX Of the Greeke Translation of the fifth of Genesis HOw the Septuagint does adde hundreds of yeares to mens ages before and after the floud few schollers but they know This bred the difference of computation of the times while some followed the Hebrew some the Greeke Hence came two notorious doubts About Methuselah liuing after the flood who died a moneth or two before And of Sem his death before Abrahams birth who liued as long after Abraham came to Canaan as Abraham was old when he came thither viz. seuenty fiue yeares And so might well be Melchizedek The Greeks had a great deale of stirre where to put Methushelah all the floud-time for feare of drowning At last some laid him on the top of Noahs Arke and there hee was all that watry yeare The Iewes lay Og the giant there also as the Chaldee Paraphrast vpon the foureteenth of Genesis ridiculously obserueth Whose words for your fuller sport I will not spare to set down The thirteenth verse hee renders thus in Chaldee And Og came who was left of those that died in the floud for hee rode vpon the Arke and was as a couering vpon it and was nourished with Noahs vittailes but he was not preserued for his owne sake or merit but that the inhabitants of the world might see the power of the Lord and say Did not the Gyants in old time rebell against the Lord of the world and he destroyed them from the earth yet assoone as these Kings make warre behold Og is with them Og saith with himselfe I will go and shew Abraham Lots case that hee is taken prisoner that so he may come to rescue him and may himselfe fall into their hands He goes and comes to him about the Passeouer day and finds him making vnleauened cakes then hee told Abram the Hebrew c. Thus far the Chaldee of whose conceits here and in one thousand of places more and so of his nation the Iewes I know not whether to say Risum or fletum teneatis amici But to returne to my purpose The Greeke Bible makes Methushelah liue fourteene yeares after the floud their reason of this their addition of yeares many render which I omit But S. Austen saith some fall short of this mans age In three Greeke bookes saith he and one Latine and one Syrian booke all agreeing one with another Methusalem is found to die sixe yeares before the floud So Austen in Ciu. dei lib. 15. cap. 13. Such differences may incite men to apply themselues to the Hebrew text where is no falsifying nor error CAP. L. Vpon the words The seede of the woman shall breake the Serpents head THe new Testament affords a rich Commentarie vpon these words in the Gospell of Saint Luke who in his third Chapter shewes how through seuentie fiue generations Christ is this seed of the woman and in the fourth Chapter how through three temptations this seed began to bruise the head of the Serpent where the Reader may obserue how the diuell tempts Christ in the very same manner that he had temped Eue though not with the same successe Al the sins of the world are brought by Saint Iohn to these three heads Lust of the flesh lust of the eyes and the pride of life 1. Iohn 2.15 By these three Eue falls in the garden She sees the tree is good for meate and the lust of the flesh inticeth her she sees it faire to looke on and the lust of the eye prouokes her and she perceiues it will make her wise and the pride of life perswads her to take it By these three the deuill tempts Christ when he is hungrie he would haue him turne stones into bread and so tries him by the lusts of the flesh He shewes and promiseth him all the pompe of the world and so tries him by the lust of the eyes and he will haue him to flie in the aire and so tempts him to pride of life But as by these three the Serpent had broken the head of the woman so against these three the seed of the woman breakes the head of the Serpent Dauid Prophecied of this conquest Psal. 91.13 The Dragon thou shalt tread vnder thy feet The verie next verse before this the deuill vseth to tempt Christ withall but to this he dare not come for it is to his sorrow CAP. LI. Iewish hypocriticall prayers reproued by our Sauiour Mat. 6.5 Because they loue to stand praying in the Synagogues and corners of the streets THis Sermon vpon the mount is much in reproofe of the Iewes Talmudicall traditions by which they made the word of God of none effect This verse reproueth one of their tenets for their high-way Oraisons for which they haue this tradition in their Talmud Rabbi
the thought of onâ— â—â—ely God the Persians thought hee â—â—uld not be comprehended in a Temâ—â—e and Numas thought he could not 〈◊〉 represented by an image and for â—â—is saith Clem. Alex. hee was helâ—ed by Moses yet came all these farre â—ort of the knowledge of God Naâ—â—re when shee had brought them â—â—us farre was come to a non vltra â—â—d could go no further Happy then 〈◊〉 wee if wee could but right-prize â—ur happinesse to whom the day spring â—â—om an high hath risen and the Sonne of â—â—ghteousnesse with healing in his wings â—â—on whom the noone-tide of the Gosâ—ell shineth and the knowledge of God 〈◊〉 its strength Euen so O Lord let it be â—ill told in Gath and published in the â—â—reets of Ascalon to the rankor and sorâ—ow of the vncircumcised that God is â—nowne in Brittaine and his Name is â—reat in England CAP. II. Of the Names of GOD vsed by Iewes and Gentiles NO Nation so barbarous saith Tullâ— that hath not some tincture of knoâ—ledge that there is a Deity And yet many nay most People of the world faâ—â— short of the right apprehension oâ— God through three reasons First when they cannot carry their minde further then their senses and so thinkâ— God hath a body as they haue that iâ— coloured c. Secondly when theâ— measure God by themselues so makâ— him passionate like man For men noâ— able to conceiue what God is what his nature what his power c. fall into such opinions that they frame Gods of themselues and as is their owne humane nature so they attribute to God the like for his will actions intentions saith Arnobius Thirdly when they mount aboue nature and sense and yet not right feigning that God begat himselfe c. Hence came the multitude and diuersitie of Deities among the Heathen minting thousands of gods to finde the right and yet they could not Hence their many names and many fames made by them that it seemes thought it as lawfull to make gods as it was for God to make them At first they worshipped these their deities without any representation onâ—y by their names Caelites Inferi Heroes â—umani Sangui and thousands others â—he naming of which is more like conâ—uring then otherwise Nature it selfe â—aught men there was something they â—ust acknowledge for supreame superâ—â—tendent of all things This light of â—ature lead them to worshippe â—â—mething but it could not bring â—â—em to worship aright Hence some â—dored bruit beasts some trees some â—â—rres some men some Deuils Some 〈◊〉 images some without some in Temples some without Thus was Gedeons fleece the heathen peece of the world all dry set in the darkenesse of the shadow of Death But in Iury was God knowne and his Name great in Israel By his name Iehouah he exprest himselfe when he brought them from Aegypt and his glory hee pitched among them They knew him by his names and titles of Elohim Adonai El Shaddai Elion and his great name Iehouah as the Iewes do call it There the Scriptures of the Law and Prophets did teach them yet they thus neerely acquainted with the true God forsooke him so that wrath came vpon Israel The Rabbinicall Iewes beside Scripture words haue diuerse Phrases to expresse God by in their writings As frequently they cal him Hakkadhosh baruchhu the holy blessed he in short with foure letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sometime they vse El iithbarech the Lord who is or be blessed Sometimes Shamaiim Heauen by a Metonomy because there hee dwelleth The like Phrase is in the Gospell Father I haue sinned against heauen Luk. 15.18 The like Phrase is frequent in England The heauens keepe you Shekinah they vse for a title of God but more especially for the Holy Ghost So saith Elias leuita in Tishbi Our Rabbins of happy memorie call the Holy Ghost Shekinah gnal shew shehu shaken gnal hannebhiim because he dwells vpon the Prophets Accordingly saith our Nicene Creed I beleeue in the Holy Ghost who spake by the Prophets Shem a name or the name they vse for a name of God and Makom a place they place â—or the same because hee comprehendeth all things and nothing compreâ—endeth him Gebhurah Strength is in â—he same vse They are nice in the vtâ—erance of the name Iehouah but vse â—iuerse Periphrases for it as Shem shel â—bang the name of foure letters Shem â—aminhhadh the proper name and oâ—â—ers One in Eusebius hath eloquently expressed it thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Seuen sounding letters ring the praise of me Th' immortall God th' Almighty Deity The Father of all that cannot weary be I am th' eternall violl of all things Whereby the melody so sweetly rings Of Heauens musicke which so sweetly sings What these seuen letters are that do thus expresse God is easie to guesse that they be the letters of the name Iehouah which indeed consisteth but of foure letters but the vowels must make vp the number Of the exposition of this name Iehouah thus saith Rabbi Salomon vpon these words I appeared to them by the name of God omnipotent but by my name Iehouah I was not knowne to them Exod. 6.3 Hee saith vnto him saith the Rabbin I am Iehouah faithfull in rendering a good reward to those that walke before me and I haue not sent thee for nothing but for the establishing of my words which I spake to their fathers And in this sense we finde thâ— word Iehouah expounded in sundry places I am Iehouah faithfull in auenging when he speakes of punishing as and if thou profane the name of thy God I am Iehouah And so when hee speaketh of the performing of the Commandements as And you shall keepe my commandements and do them I am Iehouah faithfull to giue to you a good reward thus farre the Rabbin The Alchymisticall Cabalists or Cabalisticall Alchymists haue extracted the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or number whether you will out of the word Iehouah after a strange manner This is their way to do it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which great mystery is in English thus Ten times ten is an hundred fiue times fiue is twenty fiue behold 125. Six times six is thirtie six behold 161. and fiue times fiue is twenty fiue behold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 186. Thus runneth their senselesse multiplication multiplying numberlesse lesse follies in their foolish numbers making conjectures like Sybills leaues that when they come to blast of triall prooue but winde Irenaeus hath such a mysticall stirre about the name Iesu which I must needs confesse I can make nothing at all of yet will I set downe his words that the reader may skan what I cannot Nomen Iesu saith he secundum propriam Hebraeorum linguam c. The name Iesu according to the proper speech of the Hebrewes consisteth of two letters and an halfe as
light heart but where the guiltinesse grones heauy too the gold is worth nothing At last the murderers conscience accuseth and condemnes him like both witnesse and Iudge for his bloudy fact His heart and eyes are both cast downe the one as farre as hell whither the fact had sunke and the other to the earth whither the bloud He is now wearie of his owne life as ere-while he was of anothers He ties his purse of gold which had hired him to kill the other about his necke and offers it to euery one he meets as his reward if he would kill him At last hee is paid in his owne coine and hires his owne murderer with that price wherewith he himselfe was hired And so perish all such whose feet are swift to shed bloud and he that strikes with an vnlawfull sword be strucken with a lawfull againe This mans case makes mee to thinke of Cain the old grandsire of all murderers Of his heauy doome and misery and burden and banishment Dauid once groaned vnder the burden of blood-guiltinesse but God at his repenting eased him Psal. 51. Iudas takes a worse course then euen Cain did to bee released of the sting of bloudshed Mat. 27. God grant I neuer know what it is to bee guilty of shedding of bloud but onely by reading CAP. XVIII Of the name of the Red Sea IN Hebrew it is called Suph the sea of weeds Because saith Kimchi there grew abundance of weeds vpon the sides of it In Greeke Latine and English and other Westerne tongues it is commonly called the Red Sea Diuerse reasons are giuen by diuerse persons why it is so called the best seemes to me to be from the rednesse of the ground about it And so Herodotus speakes of a place thereabout called Erythrobolus or the red soile It is thought our country tooke the name of Albion from the like occasion but not like colour As from the white rocks or clifts vpon the sea side The Iewes hold that Whale that swallowed Ionah brought him into the Red Sea and there shewed him the way that Israel passed through it for his eyes were as two windowes to Ionah that he looked out and saw all the sea as he went A whetstone yet they will needs haue some reason for this loudly and this is it because Ionah in Cap. 2.5 saith Suph hhabhush leroshi which is the weeds were wrapped about my head which they construe the Red Sea was wrapped about my head And to helpe the Whale thither Rabbi Iaphet saith that the Red Sea meets with the sea of Iapho or the Mediterranean vnlesse the Rabbin meanes that they meet vnder ground guesse what a Geographer he was and if hee find a way vnder ground guesse what a deepe scholler A long iourney it was for the Whale to go vp to Hercules pillars into the Ocean and from thence to the Red Sea in three dayes and nights but the fabling Iewes must find some sleight to maintaine their owne inuentions CAP. XIX Of the word Raca Mat. 5.22 WHosoeuer shall say vnto his brother Raca shall be worthy to bee punished by the Councell The word is a Iewish nick-name and so vsed in the Talmud for a despitefull title to a despised man as Our Rabbins shew a thing done with a religious man that was praying in the high way by comes a great man and giues him the time of the day but he saluted him not againe He stayed for him till he had finished his prayer after he had done his prayer he said to him Reka is it not written in your law that you shall take heed to your selues Had I strucke off thy head with my sword who should haue required thy bloud c. And so goes the angry man on Irenaeus hath a Phrase nigh to the signification of this word qui expuit cerebrum a man that hath no braines and so Raka signifies a man emptie whether of vnderstanding or goodnesse so the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is frequently taken CAP. XX. Wit stollen by Iewes out of the Gospell Gospell OVR Sauiour saith to His Disciples the haruest truly is great but the labourers are few Matth. 9.38 Whosoeuer heareth these sayings and doth them I will liken him to a man that built his house vpon a rock And the raine descended and flouds came c. And euery one that heareth these sayings and doth them not shal be likened to a foolish man that built his house vpon the sand Mat. 7.24 25. c. Of euery idle word that men speake they shall giue account therof at the day of Iudgement Mat. 12.36 With what measure you mete it shall be measured to you againe Mat. 7.2 Iewes RAbbi Simeon saith today is the haruest and the worke is much and the labourers idle and the reward great and the Master of the house vrgent Pirk Abhoth Per. 2. He that learneth the law and doth many good works is like a man that built his house the foundatiō of stone and the rest of bricke and the waters beate and the stone stood c. But hee that learneth the law and doth not many good workes is like a man that built his house the foundation of brick and the rest of stone c. and the brick wasted c. Abhoth Rabbi Nathan The very same words almost in Orehhoth hhajmi Rabbi Mair saith with the measure that a man measureth they measure to him againe Sanhedrin The whole Lords Prayer might almost be picked out of their workes for they deny not the words though they contradict the force of it The first words of it they vse frequently as Our father which art in heauen in their common prayer booke fol. 5. and Humble your hearts before your father which is in heauen in Rosh hashaua But they haue as much deuotion toward the Father while they denie the Sonne as the Heathens had which could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our father Iupiter and worshipped an vnknowne god Act. 17. They pray almost in euery other prayer Thy kingdome come and that Bimherah bejamenu quickly euen in our dayes but it is for an earthly kingdome they thus looke and pray They pray lead me not into temptation fol. 4. liturg while they tempt him that lead them in the wildernesse as did their father Psal. 95. By this Gospell which they thus filch they must be judged CAP. XXI Saint Cyprians nicety about the last Petition in the Lords Prayer SAint Cyprian it seemeth is so fearefull of making God the Author of euill that he will not thinke that God leadeth any man into temptation The Petition he readeth thus Ne nos patiaris induci in tentationem suffer vs not to be lead into temptation but deliuer vs from euill leauing the ordinanary current and truth of the Prayer because hee will not bee accessary to imagine that God should lead man into temptation whereas all men as well as he do thinke that God doth not leade man into euill
Aegypt is strucke with death of the first borne and the Aegyptians are now punished with death of their Children for murthering Israels children This night was ill to them but the night in the Red Sea was worse At the death of a lambe Aegypt is destroyed Israel deliuered So by the death of a lamb Hell is destroyed Mankinde deliuered When Israel comes out of Egypt they bring vp with them Iosephs bones and so as hee brought them downe thither so they bring him vp thence So when Christ comes vp out of his graue hee brings dead bones with him by raising some out of their graues I cannot thinke it idle that the Passeouer was at night and that S. Paul saith the Israelites were baptized in the sea which was also by night and in the cloud but to shew that these sacraments of Israel looked for a dawning when the true light which they foresignified should appeare The Iewes do find thirteene precepts negatiue and affirmatiue about the keeping of the Passeouer 1. The slaying of it Exod. 12.6 2. The eating of it 8. 3. Not to eate it raw or boiled 9. 4. Not to leaue ought of it 10. 5. The putting away of leauen 15. 6. The eating of vnleauened bread 18. 7. That leauen be not found with them 19. 8. Not to eate ought mixt with leauen 20. 9. An Apostata Iew not to eate it 43. 10. A stranger not to eat it 45. 11. Not to bring forth the flesh of it 46. 12. Not to breake a bone of it 46. 13. No vncircumcised to eate of it 48. How variously they comment vpon these as they doe vpon all things and how ouercurious they be in obseruing these as they doe all things their writings do witnesse Their folding of their bitter hearbes their three vnleauened cakes their water and salt their searching for leauen their casting forth of leauen and their cursing of leauen their graces ouer their tables their prayers ouer their hands as they wash them their words ouer their vnleauened bread their remembring how they liued in Aegypt and came out their words ouer their bitter hearbes their Passeouer Psalmes the 113. and 114. all these and their other Ceremonies are set downe accurately in their Common prayer booke which I would not haue denied to the reader in English both for his recreation satisfaction and some instruction but that I know not whether I should actum agere doe that which some one hath done before And besides I write these things not as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not set studies but stolne houres employing my idle houres to the writing of these studies that I may witnesse to some that my whole time is not idle But it may be I may seeme more idle in thus writing then if I had beene idle indeed to them that thinke thus I can onely answer It is youth Age may doe better CAP. XXVIII Of the Confusion of Tongues THat the world from Babel was scattered into diuerse tongues we need not other proofe then as Diogenes proued that there is motion by walking so we may see the confusion of languages by our confused speaking Once all the Earth was of one tongue one speech and one consent for they all spake in the holy tongue wherein the world was created in the beginning to vse the very words of the Chaldee Paraphrast and Targ. Ierusal vpon Gen. 11.1 But pro peccato disâ—entionis humanae as saith Saint Austen for the sin of men disagreeing not onely different dispositions but also different languages came into the world They came to Babel with a disagreeing agreement they come away punished with a speechles speech They disagree among themselues cum quisque principatum ad se rapit while euery one striues for dominion as the same Austen They agree against God in their Nagnauad lan Siguda c. We will make our selues a Rendevouz for Idolatrie as the same Ieruselamy But they come away speaking each to other but not vnderstood of each other and so speake to no more purpose then if they spake not at all This punishment of theirs at Babel is like Adams corruption hereditary to vs for we neuer come vnder the rod at Grammar schoole but we smart for our Ancestors rebellion at Babel Into how many countries and tongues those Shinaar rebells were scattered is no lesse confused worke to find out then was theirs at the tower So diuerse is the speech of men about the diuersitie of speech that it makes the confusion more confused Euphorus and many other Historians say that the nations and tongues are 75. listening to the voice of Moses which saith all the soules that came into Egypt out of Iacob were 75. But in truth the naturall Dialects of speech appeare to be 72. as our Scriptures haue deliuered Thus saith Clemens Alexandrinus of whose conceit herein I must for my part say as Saint Ambrose saith of Aaron about the golden calfe Tantum Sacerdotem c. So great a scholler as Clemens I dare not censure though I dare not beleeue him The Iewes with one consent maintaine that there are iust 70. nations so many tongues So confident they are of this that they dare say that the 70. soules that went with Iacob into Egypt were as much as all the 70. nations of the world Ierusalems schooles rang with this Doctrine and the children learned to high-prize themselues from their fathers A stately claime was this to Israel but the keeping of it dangerous Men of the 70. nations would not be so vnderualued by one people Therefore when Israel wanted strength to keepe this challenge they do it by sleight And so it is the thrice-learned Master Broughtons opinion that the Septuagint when they were to translate the Bible and were to speake of the seuenty soules of Iacobs house they durst not put downe the iust number of seuenty least tales should haue beene told out of their schooles concerning their scornefull doctrine and when the rumour and the number should both come to the King of Egypt the meet number might maintaine the truth of the rumour and by both they might incurre danger therefore they added fiue more to spoile the roundnesse of the summe and Saint Steuen followes their translation Then Ioseph sent and called his father Iacob to him and all his kinred euen 75. soules Act. 7.14 As the Iewes seeke to retaine this their assumed dignity ouer the seuenty nations by this sleight so doe they maintaine their tenent of iust seuenty nations by a double reason First they count polls in the plaine of Shinaar as Moses did in the wildernesse and they find in the tenth of Genesis iust seuenty men and therefore by necessarie consequence iust seuenty nations The Chaldee vpon these words of God Gen. 11.5 Come let vs go downe looses the sweet mysterie of the Trinitie but finds I know not how many strange fancies for thus he descants The Lord said vnto the
deserue and thus in fine wee are constrained to seeke to Christ Iesus for there is no other name whereby wee must be saued The Parable that our Sauiour propounds in the tenth of Luke I thinke tends something to this purpose A man saith he went from Ierusalem to Iericho and fell among theeues and they robbed him of his raiment and wounded him and departed leauing him halfe dead A certaine Priest came that way and when he saw him he turned aside A Leuite came that way and when hee saw him he passed by on the other side But a good Samaritan came as the text imports and pittied him and salued him and lodged him and paid for him Such a one is man fallen among Satan Sinne and Death and by them stopt stript and striped Satan dismounts him off his Innocency that should sustaine him Sinne strips him of all Righteousnesse that should array him Death strikes him with guiltinesse and wounds him Here is a man in a wofull case and none to aide him By comes a Priest that is first come the sacrifices of the legall Priesthood and they may passe by him by they do not nor they cannot helpe him By comes a Leuite that is the Ceremonies of the Leuiticall Law and they may passe by him but they doe not they cannot helpe him Or by comes a Priest that is the Angells may see him thus but they let him lie for they cannot helpe him By comes a Leuite that is men and the world may see him thus but they let him alone for euer for they cannot succour him But by comes a good Samaritan that is our Sauiour himselfe who is called a Samaritan and is said to haue a Deuill and hee pities him salues him lodges him and paies for him Hee pities him in very bowells therefore hee saies as I liue I would not the death of a sinner Hee salues him with his owne blood therefore t is said By his stripes wee are healed Hee lodges him in his owne Church therefore the Church saith He brought me in the winecellar and loue was his banner ouer me And he paies for him what he deserued therefore he saith I haue trod the winepresse alone It is said in the Booke of Kings that when the Shunamites dead child was to bee raised Elisha first sent his staffe to bee laid vpon him but that did no good but when Elisha came himselfe and lay vpon him with his mouth to the Childes mouth his eyes to his eyes and his hands to his hands then the child recouered So when man was dead in trespasses and sinne as it is Eph. 2. God layes his staffe or Rod of the Law vpon him but what good did this toward his recouery Euen make him to long the more for Elisha or Christ who when he came and laid his mouth to mans mouth and kissed humanity in his incarnation and laid his eyes to his eyes and his hands to his hands and suffered for mans actions at his passion then is man recured God in the booke of Isay when hee is to send a Prophet to Israel saies thus Mieshlah whom shall I send or who will go for vs Isa. 6 8. Vpon which words the Iew Kimchi paraphrases thus Shalahti eth Micah wehem maccim otho Shalahti eth Amos wehem korin otho Pesilusa I haue sent Micah and him they smote I haue sent Amos and him they called a stammerer Whom shall I send or who will goe for vs Then saies Esay Behold I am here send me Imagine that vpon the fall of man you saw God about to send the great Prophet not to Israel alone but to all the world nor onely to teach but also to redeeme Suppose you heard him thus questioning whom shall I send to restore fallen man and who will goe for vs Should I send Angells they are creatures and consequently finite and so cannot answer mine infinite Iustice. Should I send man himselfe Alas though hee once had power not to haue fallen yet now hath he no power to raise himselfe againe Should I send beasts to sacrifice themselues for him Alas can the burning of dead beasts satisfie for the sinnes of all men aliue Whom shall I send or who will go for vs Our Sauiour is ready to answer with Isay Behold I am here send mee Here am I that am able to do it send me for I am willing I am able for I am God I am willing for I will become a man I am God and so can fulfill the Law which man hath broke I will become man that so I may suffer death which man hath deserued Behold I am here send mee Then as one of our country Martyrs at his death so may all wee sing all our liues None but Christ none but Christ None but Christ to cure the wounded trauailor None but Christ to raise the dead Shunamite None but Christ to restore decaid mankind None but Christ that would None but Christ that could No Angell no man no creature no sacrifice no ceremonie that would and could do this for vs which wee could not doe for our selues and say for vs I haue troad the winepresse alone When the Ceremoniall and Iudiciall Law haue thus brought vs to Christ wee may shake hands with them and farewell but for the Morall as it helpes to bring vs thither so must it helpe to keepe vs there For Christ came not to disanull this Law but to fulfill it He does not acquit vs from this but furthers vs to the keeping of it What else is the Gospell but this in milder tearmes of Faith and Repentance which is since wee cannot keepe this Law yet to striue to keepe it as we can and to repent vs for that wee haue not kept it and to relye vpon his merits that hath kept it for vs. Thus as loue to God and to our neighbours was the summe of the old so true faith and vnfained repentance is the totall of the new This was the tenour of Christs first words after his baptisme Marke 1.15 and of his last words before his ascension Marke 16.16 CAP. LXI Of the Ten Commandements THe ten Commandements may be called the word of the word of God for though all Scripture be his word yet these in more speciall bee his Scripture to which he made himselfe his owne scribe or pen-man vpon these Commandements hang all the Law and the Prophets and these Commandements vpon two duties to loue God and to loue our neighbour A shorter and yet a fuller comment needes not to be giuen of them then what our Sauiour hath giuen Luke 10.27 Thou shalt loue the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soule and with all thy strength and with all thy mind and thy neighbour as thy selfe The foure commandements of the first table he expounds in foure words The Lord thy God there is the Preface I am the Lord c. Thou shalt loue the Lord c. with all
thy Heart for the First Commandement Soule for the Second Commandement Strength for the Third Commandement Mind for the Fourth Commandement If wee need any further exposition vpon this exposition of our Sauiours it is easie to find as thou shalâ— loue the Lord thy God with all thine Heart For it he hath Created Soule For it he hath Redeemed Strength For it he hath Preserued Mind For it he hath Inlightned And therefore thou shalt loue him with all thine Heart without Onely talking and no more Soule without Dissembling Strength without Reuolting Mind without Erring This is the first and the great Commandement and the other is like vnto this thou shalt loue thy neighbour as thy selfe This adds great light to the second table for halfe of the commandements of that table want an obiect whereupon to fasten the duty The first hath one Honour thy father c. the last but one hath one thou shalt not witnesse falsely against thy neighbor And so the last hath Thou shalt not couet ought of thy Neighbours But Thou shalt not kill steale and commit adulterie these haue no obiect viz. none named whom from whom and with whom wee must not kill steale nor adulterate because wee must make our selues also the obiect here and reflect the Commandements vpon our selues as thus Thou shalt not kill first not thy selfe and secondly not thy neighbour and so of the rest The Iewes haue beene too bold in adding too strict an obiect as you may see in their explaning these three precepts And some Hereticks haue beene too nice in giuing some of them too large a one The fifth Commandement in the Tenne is with a promise and the fifth Petition in the Lords Prayer is with a condition I omit the exquisitenesse of the pricking of this peece of Scripture of the Commandements extraordinarily Some speciall thing is in it The Iewes do gather sixe hundred and thirteene Precepts Negatiue and Affirmatiue to bee in the whole Law according to the sixe hundred and thirteene letters in the two Tables and so many veines and members in a mans body The order of these Precepts they haue set downe in the margin of the Pentateuch with the three-fold Targum printed at Hannow and in Sepher Hahhinnuch I had translated some hundreds of them into English which I thought to haue finished and presented to the view of the Reader but I finde that without the Iewes Comments vpon these their Diuisions they can hardly bee vnderstood which to bring withall is a paines of no small time and labour These my obseruations and collections in my Reading accept gentle Reader and the slips passe ouer with a gentle eye as slips of youth which more mature yeares may recure if God prosper and second To whom I commit my selfe and commend thee and to whom be all honour and glory for euermore Amen FINIS The Syrian to that verse adds a woâ—d which may well serue for a Comment mebhaichheuo leakrez I am a debtor or I ought to preach 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Clem. Alex. StroÌ„ 1. p. 131. Aug de Trin. lib. 1. cap. 1. Arnob con lib. 7. * The pearle tarshish in Ex. 28.20 is rendered in English a Beril in the Chalde translations it is kermuÌ„ iamma a pearle of the sea Pliny speakes of keramides a pearle neere that name Terus TarguÌ„ thinkes Tarshâ—sh was Ashers stone but Ionathan that it was Zebulons And more likely for a pearle of the sea is not vnfit for ZebuloÌ„ a dweller by the sea GeÌ„ 4â— 1◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Elias Leu. in Tisbi * Piâ—k. Abhoth Per. 1. * Heb. Mitsuah or without my Philacteries * From this conceit it appeares they were called Philacteries that is keepers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Heb. Musar Instruction * Frequent in Homer * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Chal. Talia bar imera * Chal. Miiadb out of hand a Phrase most vsuall in Iewes Authors and the very same in Eng. out of hand * Aben Ezra giues 2 reasons of poore force to proue that Niniueh feared God in old time 1 Because otherwise he would not haue sent his Prophet to them and so hee lessens the wonder of Gods mercy 2. Because wee reade not that they brake their images therefore they had not any How fâ—r the Faâ— is beside the â—ushion both for construction and reasoÌ„ one of small skill may iudge * As the Iewes think * One in Epiâ—hanius saith this is easie to find but he doth little towards it Epiph cont Haeres tom 2 l. b. 6. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Clem. Alex. Strom. 1. So in GeÌ„ 10. the Septuag put in 2. Cainans and so spoile the roundnes of that 70 * Iulian the Heretick boâ—h denies the Trinity to be meant in this place and saith God alone was vnable for this work Cyril tom 3. l 4. * Quaest. 60. on Gen. * See the Targums on Gen. 10. * Vid. Mr Broughâ—ons Melchiz * Clem. Alex. Epiphanius Comestor c. * The Syrian translating of the word Phaenicia in the new Testament seemes to confirme this for true * Or Philacteries c. * Or fortitude of mind or God Isa. 6.2 2. ChroÌ„ 3. Hhutra vsed by all the Targums â—o in diuerse places Thucyd. lib. 1. * He had but eleuen sons as yet but the Hebrew comment vpon the Chaldee text helps out at this dead lift and saith that Rabel was great with child of Beniamin and so he is counted before he be borne * St. Chrysostome hath such a touch * â—â—nt 6. â—â— b In the Syrian traÌ„slation it is the hid things of God Euen those that haue not Hebrew can tell there is a mystery of the trinity in Elohim bara but few mark how sweetly this is answered with the same Phrase in manner in the Haphtara which is read by the Iewes to this portion of Moses viz. Esa 42.5 Iehouah bore hashamaiim venoteheÌ„ Iehouah being singular and notehem plurall which might be rendred Deus creaÌ„s coelos Deus extendentes eos a Rab. SoloÌ„ holds they were made the second day Many Diuines hold for the 4th b The 70. Interpreters on Gen. 2.2 instead of God had finished on the seuenth day reade he finished on the sixth day c Chaldee Paraph. on Num. 22 and Jarch on Deut. 34. and Pirke Abhoth Allegory * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hesiod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. Odys 3. Cypriano di valer The Chaldee Paraphrase of Ionathan does also mistake in the age of Mathushelâ—h but I thinke it only false Printing Ierus and Babilon targums do both apply these words to the Messias * In Sepher Berachoth a Heb Zacur lattobb Remembred for good Heb. Mori which in the Chaldee and Syrian â—ignifieth a Lord or Master hence is Maran atha our Lord coÌ„meth the great excommunication 1. Cor. 16.22 Nilus the wonder of Affrick the riuer of Egypt flowes euery yeare once ouer his banks and if it flow not at all or not to his right height it causeth famine for Egypt hath no raine FroÌ„ this riuer vnder God coÌ„es their plentie or famine and it is remarkable that the fat and leane kine in Pharoah his dreame which betokened the plentie or scarsitie of the countrie came out of the Riuer Of the reason of the flowing of this Riuer Pigaffetta especially is large And I wonder that Iordan was not as much wondred at for it did so also Iosh. 3.15 Cheon 1. ch 12. â— 15. * Chald. Round Round * The Chald. numbers otherwise but it is misprinting therfore I take the Hebrew The Chaldee misseth the 11. 12. verses * The Chaldee commeth so short of the right number * The Iewes in their writings vse this phrase frequeÌ„tly for the Law as in Pirkâ— Abboth * So sayes the Geneua Bible in marg but Rab. Salomon long before saith thus It is the custome of those that make couenaÌ„ts to diuide beasts into two parts and passe between the parts as Ier. 24.18 And God passes betweene these in this smoking furnace and fire brand for making couenaÌ„ts in like kinds Homer speaks neere this * Vid. Iaâ—chi on Ruth cap. 1. a Numa Minos c. * Seneh signifies a bush Exodus 3. Leuit. 1. Vide Hillar Hieron in loc * It was Iesus or Iosuah and not Moses or the Law that brought Israel into the land of Canaan * Psal 23. * Amos in Heb. signifies one that is heauie tongued which Kimchi calls Peselusa from the greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Blaesus * For Marcion held it vnlawfull to kil a beast because the command non occides hath no set obiect Aug. de Ciu. Dei lib. 1. cap. 〈◊〉
the skillfull amongst them say Signifying the Lord which containeth heauen and earth For Iesu according to the old Hebrew signifieth heauen and the Earth is called Sura vsser Thus that father in his second booke against Heretickes Cap. 41. on which words I can criticke onely with deepe silence Onely for his two letters and ½ I take his meaning to bee according to the Iewes writing of the name Iesu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who denie him the last letter of his name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they deny him for a Sauiour So the Dutch Iew Elias Leuitae saith in expresse words The Christians say that their Messias was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the commandement of the Angell Gabriel because he should saue all the world from Gehinnom but because the Iewes doe not confesse that hee is a Sauiour therefore they will not call him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ieshuang but they leaue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the last letter out and call him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iesu. After this kind of writing as Irenaeus saith the word consisteth of two letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and halfe a letter that is which may be so called because it is so little The Chaldee writes the name of God with two Iods aboue and a vowell vnder thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From hence some haue picked an expression of the Trinity In the two letters the Father and the Sonne and in the vowell the Holy Ghost proceeding from both And from the aequidistance of the letters and vowell they gather the distinction of the Persons and by the neerenesse of all the vnity of Essence Such another conceit hath Bonfinius in his Hungarian Historie When the Heresie of Arrius saith he had got head almost ouer all the world and was dilated as well by persecution as by disputation a towne in Gaule was besieged because it held the Orthodox faith of the Sons coequalitie with the Father God to confirme this their faith shewed this miracle As the Priest was at high Masse at the Altar behold three drops of blood fell from heauen vpon the Altar lying a while in an equall distance one from another to shew the distinction of the three Persons at last in sight of all the People they met together to shew the vnity of Essence so the story But we haue a more sure word of Prophecie That there are three that beare record in Heauen the Father the Word and the holy Spirit and these three are one The Chaldee sometimes vseth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dehhila and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dahhalah feare or terror for God because of the feare that is due to him So Iacob comming from Syria and being to sweare to a Syrian sweares according to this Syrian or Chaldee Phrase By the feare of his father Isaac Gen. 31.53 or by the God that Isaac feared as Onkelos and Ionathan render it CAP. III. Of the Phrase The Sonnes of God Gen. 6. and Iob. 1. ALL take this Phrase in Iob to meane the Angells and truely in which sense while they haue taken it in the sixt of Genesis they spoile all For hence they think that Angels lay with women and begat children So can Iarchi almost find in his heart to think and so Tertullian Lactantius and others Some tell what euill Arts these Angells taught women and how they begat mighty children of them How farre this conceit is from true Philosophie let Aristotle censure Merlin in Geffry Monmouth is recorded to be such another hatch beleeue it who list His veine of Prophecying can make Alanus de Insulis thinke it is so but I must needs confesse it comes not into my Creed As some conceit that the fallen Angels or Deuills here begat children of women so the Iewes most wickedly fable that Adam begat children of Deuills Those hundred and thirtie yeares say they that Adam was separated from Eue Deuills came to him and he ingendred with them and begat Deuills and spirits and fiends And againe Foure women are the mothers of Shedhim or Deuills Lilith Naamah Ogereth and Mahlath I beleeue both these alike for I beleeue that neither is likely Both the Chaldees Onkelos and Ionathan render the sonnes of Elohim the sonnes of the Potentates or Iudges taking the word Elohim in the same sense that it is taken in the middlemost verse of the booke of Exodus Cap. 22.28 Thou shalt not curse Elohim or the Iudges This opinion is farre better then the former but Christians haue a better then this That the house and progenie of holy Seth are the sonnes of God or the Church and the brood of Cains females were the Daughters of men Cypriano di valera in his Spanish translation of Gen. 4. and the last verse translates it thus Entonces commenciaron llamarse Then begun men to be called by the name of God or by the name of the Lord And in the margin hee explanes himselfe thus that then the men of Seths house began to bee a publike Church and to be distinguished from Cains family and to be called the sons of God Gen. 6.2 CAP. IIII. Of the Phrase Sonnes of Man THis Phrase is frequent in Scripture and Rabbin Hebrew but most frequent in Chaldee and Syrian Bene Anasha Bar nosho In the latter of which the Syrian vsually writeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but leaueth out the first letter as that tongue doth frequently in other words vse the like ecclipsis writing not as they reade as it is said of the French Ezekiel in his Prophecie in Scripture Hebrew is frequently called sonne of man Why so often he and no other Prophet should be so stiled reasons are giuen by diuerse To mee though farre inferiour to all them the groundworke seemeth to bee because his Prophecie was written in Chaldean captiuitie hee vseth the Chaldean Phrase Sonne of man that is O man The same Phrase Daniel vseth in Chaldaea Dan. 10.16 CAP. V. Of Iaphets plantation by his sonne Iauan IAuan is generally held to be Greece And the Greeke tongue is by all Hebrewes called the speech of Iauan The Arabians do so stile the same language The Syrian in Romans the first chapter verse 16. calls the Grecians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vpon what reason I cannot imagine Iauan the sonne of Iaphet is held to haue planted or peopled this country in memorie of whose name the Iones are famous monuments Moses saith hee had foure sonnes Elisha Tarshish Cittim Dodonim which it is likely planted all the country of Greece as farre as into Italie Elisha and Dodonim dwelt at first neere together and so did Tarshish and Cittim but their posteritie scattered farre and neere The Ierusalem and Babilon Targums doe almost resolued vs of these foure mens plantation For Ionathan reades the fourth verse of the tenth of Genesis thus And the sonnes of Iauan Elisha Elis Tarsus Acacia and Dardania Ieruselamy thus And the sonnes of Iauan Elisha and the names of their