Ordination and that it belongs to the Bishop only to confer it and she allows the Distinction of Orders And tho' there is none under a Deacon because the Scripture makes mention of none yet she acknowledges that they are very antient Sixthly As for the Real Presence tho' Dr. Wake treats of it at length we will omit speaking of it until we come to the XII Article where there are many Books seen that concern this Subject Seventhly We receive says the English Expositor with equal Veneration all that comes from the Apostles let it be by Scripture or Tradition provided we be assured that they are the true Authors of the Doctrine or Practice attributed to them so that when we are shewn that a Tradition was received in all Ages and by all Churches then we are ready to receive it as having the Character of an Apostolical Institution So our Church does not reject Tradition but only the Tenets and Superperstitions which Rome pretends to justify after this way Eighthly And as for the Authority of the Vniversal Church of all Ages the English acknowledges 1. That they have received Scripture from their Hands and it is chiefly for this Authority that they look upon Solomon's Song to be Canonical and reject other Books Apocryphal which perhaps they would have received with as much ease These Books have our respect even before we know by reading whether they be worthy of the Spirit of God but this Reading confirms us in the respect which the Authority of the Church gives unto them as to the Holy Writings II. If there had been an Vniversal Tradition not contested that had come from the Apostles to us concerning the meaning of the Holy Books as concerning their number the Church of England would receive it also but she does not believe that a particular Church such as that of Rome should usurp this Priviledge nor that it ought to force others to follow the Interpretations which she gives of the Passages of Scripture III. When any Disputes arise concerning Faith the best way to appease them is to assemble a Council but it does not follow that such an Assembly can say as the Assembly of the Apostles at Ierusalem It seem'd good to the Holy Ghost and to us nor that it is Infallible or that it's Canons are not subject to Correction IV. Dr. Wake goes on and says When we say I believe in the Holy Catholick Church we do not only understand that Iesus Christ has planted a Christian Church which is to last to the end of the World but also that the Son of God will conserve either among the Christians or in the Vniversal Church Truth enough to denominate it such a Church that is he will never suffer that Truths requisite for Salvation should be unknown in any place So that tho' the Vniversal Church can err it does not follow that it can sink altogether nor become wholly erroneous because then it would cease to be but such a particular Church as that of Rome can err and fall into utter Apostacy And tho' the Fundamental Points be clearly contained in Scripture and that it is very hard that one Man alone should gain-say the Opinion of all the Church nevertheless if this Man was certainly convinced that his Opinion was grounded upon the undoubted Authority of the Word of God we would be so far being afraid to bear with him that we all agree that the most glorious Action that St. Athanasius ever did was that he alone maintained Christ's Divinity against the Pope the Councils and all the Church V. And so tho we acknowledge that God has subjected Christians to the Government of the Church for Peaces sake and to preserve Vnity and Order and that she has power to prescribe to her Children what Doctrines are and are not to be publickly taught in her Communion yet we believe that the Holy Scripture is the only Support of our Faith and the last and infallible Rule by which the Church and we are to govern our selves Ninthly That there are some that think that the Church of England makes the Fathers of the three First Ages Idols and equals them in Authority to the Holy Scripture But Mr. Wake will undeceive them for says he Tho' we have appealed to the Churches of the first Ages for new Proofs of the truth of our Doctrine it is not that we think that the Doctors of those times had more right to judge of our Faith than those had that followed them but it is because that after a serious examination we have found that as for what concerns the common Belief that is among us they have believed and practised the same things without adding other Opinions or Superstitions that destroy them wherein they have acted conformably to their and our Rule the Word of God notwithstanding it cannot be denyed but that they effectually fell into some wrong Opinions as that of the Millenaries and Infant Communion which are rejected by both Parties Tenthly Whether one may be saved in the Roman Church the English think that as she yet conserves the Fundamental Doctrines those that live in her Bosom with a disposition to learn and leave off their pernicious Errors and profess all the truth that they will discover may be saved thro' the grace of God and Faith in Jesus Christ and by a general Repentance that puts their Errors in the number of the Sins they do not know of But that ill use may not be made of this charitable Grant the Expositor limits it as followeth I. That it is harder to be saved in the Communion of this Church since the Reformation than it was before because its Errors were not so well known nor so solidly refuted which rendred the ignorance excusable II. That they that live among Protestants and in a Country wherein they may learn and make publick and open profession of the Truth are more condemnable than the other III. That Priests are yet more than Laicks In a word the Protestants hope that the good Men of the Roman Church will be saved but they have no assurance that they are to be saved Whereas they are assured That they will be saved that live Christian-like in their own Communion They do not know whether God will condemn Roman Catholicks for the Errors they professed taking them for truth but they are assured that the Crime of those that being convinced of Popish Superstitions leave the Protestants thro' motives of Interest and Ambition and maintain Tyrannical and Superstitious Tenets against their Consciences deserve no pardon Eleventhly As for Idolatry the Homilies of the Church of England accuse that of Rome as well as the English Doctors who lived under Edward the VI. and Queen Elizabeth The Catholicks object that the Learned of this Kingdom changed Opinion in the Reign of King Iames the First and begun to maintain that the Church of Rome was not Idolatrous but these Gentlemen are so unlucky in Proofs that of six Authors
Gregory of Nyssa in his Discourses against those that defer Baptism distinguisheth three sorts of Persons with Relation to the other Life The first Order is that of the Saints and Righteous which will be happy the second those that shall be neither happy nor unhappy and the third those that shall be punished for their Sins He puts in the second Rank those that cause themselves to be Baptized at the point of Death There is a Letter of this Father concerning Voyages made to Ierusalem where he diverts the Faithful from undergoing slightly these sort of Pilgrimages by reason of the Abuses that proceed from thence Some Catholicks have been willing to make it pass as Supposititious but Mr. du Pin believes it to be true Here Priscillian and his Disciples are placed in the Rank of Ecclesiastical Authors after St. Ierom who speaks thus of them Priscillian Bishop of Avila was put to death in the City of Treves by the Command of the Tyrant Maximus having been oppressed by the Faction of Itharius He hath written several Works whereof some are come to us Some accuse him this day of the Heresie of the Gnosticks of Basilide and Marcion But others defend him and maintain that he was not Guilty of the Errors that are imputed to him It 's true pursues Mr. du Pin that the same St. Ierom in his Letter to Ctesiphon speaks of Priscillian as of a notable Heretick which hath made Mr. du Quesnel believe that this place of the Ecclesiastical Writers was corrupted This Conjecture which is grounded upon the Authority of a Manuscript would be of Consequence if we knew not that St. Ierom hath often spoke differently of the same Man besides it 's apparently the manner that St. Ierom speaks in his Catalogue which placed Priscillian and Matronian his Disciple in some Martyrologies amongst the Holy Martyrs The second Letter of Pope Syricius furnisheth us with a fine Example Saith Mr. du Pin of the Ancient manner of the Holy Patriarchs Iudging He writes in it to the Church of Milan that having Assembled all his Clergy he had condemned Jovinian and all his Sectators by the advice of the Priests Deacons and the whole Clergy Baronius Bellarmin and some others pretend that part of the second Letter of St. Epiphanius is Supposititious because he there relates a History which is not favourable to the Worship of their Church Being entred saith this Bishop into a Church of a Village in Palestine call'd Anablatha and having found a Vail that hung at the Door which was Painted where there was an Image of Iesus Christ or some Saint for I do not remember whose it was but since against the Authority of Holy Scripture there was in the Church of Iesus Christ the Image of a Man I rent it and gave order to those that had the Care of this Church to bury a dead Body with this Vail Mr. du Pin after having proved that all this Letter is St. Epiphanius's adds That though it be true that there were placed in some Churches Pictures that represented the Histories of the Scriptures and the Actions of the Saints and Martyrs it cannot be said that this use was general and that it must be granted that St. Epiphanius hath disapproved it although without reason according to him for I believe continueth he that it would be contrary to the Candor and Sincerity that Religion demands of us to give another Sense to these words After the Extracts of the Writings of the Fathers are found those of the Councils held in the Fourth Age. The Canons of that which is called the Council of Elvira are an old Code or an ancient Collection of the Councils of Spain and it cannot be doubted but these Canons are of great Antiquity and very Authentick The XXXIV Canon and the XXXVI have given much Exercise to the Roman Catholick Divines The one forbiding to light Wax-Candles in the Church-yard because the Spirits of Saints must not be troubled and the other Paintings in Churches lest the Object of our Adorations should be painted on the Walls They have endeavoured to give several Expositions on these Passages but it seems to me saith Mr. du Pin that it is better to understand them simply and to allow that the Fathers of this Council have not approved the use of Images no more than of Wax-Candles lighted in open day But continueth he these things are of Discipline and may or may not be in use and do no Prejudice to the Faith of the Church The XXXV Canon prohibits Women to pass in the Night in Church-yards because often under pretence of Praying they in secret committed great Crimes The LX deprives such of the quality of Martyrs as are killed in pulling down Idols publickly because the Gospel commands it not nor is it read that it was practised by the Christians in the time of the Apostles The same Spirit of Parties which wrested the Canons of the Council of Elvira hath caused Men to doubt of the History of Paphnusius related by Socrates lib. 1. c. 9. This Egyptian Bishop opposed the new Law that was going to be made in the Council of Nice to oblige Bishops Priests and Deacons to keep unmarried and abstain from Women that they had espoused before their Ordination Although he himself had never been married he maintained that this Yoke was not to be imposed upon the Clergy and that it was to bring the Chastity of Women in danger I believe saith Mr. du Pin upon this speaking of the Roman Catholick Doctors that this doubt proceeds rather from the fear they are in that this act should do some hurt to the present Disciplin than of any solid proof But these Persons should consider that this Regulation is purely a Disciplin which the Disciplin of the Church may change according to the times and that to maintain it it is not necessary to prove it hath always been uniform in all places The Author shews that it was Osius Bishop of Cordova who presided in the Council of Nice and not the Legats of the Pope He only acknowledges for Authentick Monuments of this Council the Form of Faith the Letter to the Egyptians the Decree touching Easter and the two first Canons He consequently rejects as Supposititious pieces the Latin Letter of this Council to St. Sylvester the Answer of this Bishop and the Canons of a pretended Synod held at Rome for the Confirmation of that of Nice The Christians of that time who were not perfectly instructed by the holy Scripture in what they ought to believe touching the Mystery of the blessed Trinity were in great uncertainty for neither the Tradition nor Authority of the Church were then infallible marks of the Truth of a Tenet since the Ecclesiastical Assemblies that the most reasonable Catholicks make the Depositaries of these Traditions and Authority some time declare for the Arians some time for the Orthodox and another for a third
to speak better according to their conjectures 8. That there is no Text in the Bible which priviledges a Man who is not inspired to form an Assembly which should call it self the true and only Church of Iesus Christ and should appropriate to it self it's Priviledges by excluding all others 9. That nevertheless Christians divided themselves into innumerable Sects whereof the most part excommunicates and condemns the other 10. From all this it 's concluded That one cannot look upon any of these Churches nor the Ministers thereof nor the Tenets nor the Ceremonies of them with the same respect which one was obliged to have for the Church and Apostolical Pastors 11. Consequently that these Assemblies have no Right to impose their Doctrine or Worship as a necessary Yoak upon Consciences nor to condemn and excommunicate such as do not the same with them 12. That Baptism and the Supper of the Lord are Sacraments ordained by Iesus Christ whose use is very profitable that the Assemblies of Piety are so likewise provided their Government be not Tyrannical that they are looked upon as the work of some godly Persons who have endeavoured to imitate the model of the Church which they found in Scripture and they confess these Institutors were not infallible and that they left faults in their Works which they are willing to correct when they are better instructed This was the occasion of a Dispute that then made much noise One of Mr. Galenus's Brothers answered these Articles which Mr. Galenus had printed in the Year 1659. with a Reply to his Adversary In 1660. Mr. Pontanus Minister of the Remonstrants at Amsterdam undertook to examine this Opinion in a Treatise which he made of the visible Church of Iesus Christ of it's Office and Worship Without doubt this dispute was spoken of in 1664. seeing one of Mr. Alting's Friends ask'd him his Opinion upon it to which this Professor answered I do not see that the Opinion of Galenus such as you mention it in your Letter is so condemnable it would be in vain now to search the form of the Apostolical Church and the Gifts which the Apostles conferred by imposition of hands I remember I told you that we have a Faith which makes us uncapable of receiving Gifts As we believe that the Signs which according to the Promise of Iesus Christ Mark 16.17 18. should accompany the Faithful viz. the gift of Miracles the gift of Tongues and of Prophecy have ceased in the Church then it is not strange that they descend not to us In the Opinion of some Men this Faith and it's Efficacy lasted not as long as the first Age It wou'd distract us to find out the Signs of it in such distant times after this I do not admire that most Doctors have taken so different ways and that like Painters they have drawn more or less near after the model of the Apostles according as their Pencil was fine or gross Thence sprung so many different Churches to which were given the names of their Doctors as commonly the names of Painters are given to their most excellent pieces It 's true that there are some far better than others but there are none but please some people so much that they despise and condemn sometimes all other Churches how little soever they differ from theirs It 's an evil that could only be deplored hitherto and God only knoweth when it will be remedied When he is pleased to give us this Faith which we have lost he will give us it's Fruits and 't is then we shall be the Image of the Primitive Church In the mean time we must preserve and endeavour to preserve and increase the Faith we have which is that of Tenets and which may conduct us to Salvation notwithstanding the faults of the exteriour form and Government of the Church In answering to the same who asked him his Opinion upon the Visions of Drabicius he saith I know nothing certain upon that business now I cannot approve them and I dare not condemn them I suspend my Iudgment in the design to meditate upon this Subject and perhaps at another time I will write to you at large of it l. 17. In the Twenty first Letter are a great many helps for the History of David and upon the Persecutions which Saul makes against him In answering a Divine of Herborn who exhorted him to make a Translation of Scripture but without swerving from the received Versions and the common Tradition I cannot saith he make that two Councils agree for one ruineth the other to what purpose is it to spoil Paper to say the same things a hundred times over I take notice of another fault which has taken roo◠amongst the Reformed that is that we are very Orthodox upon the Theory or Speculation of Scripture but as to Practice we are altogether Papists Puri puti Pontificii You will acknowledge it if you reflect upon the Actions of both the one and the other You advise me to be silent upon the question of the Sabbath tho' you acknowledge it is of great importance and you will not have me to oppose my self to the received Hypothesis I know full well that it is an Axiom of the prudence of this Age not to touch an evil which is strongly rooted but the Reformers of the past Age had far more Christian Thoughts They had the courage to attack the Errors which were in the peaceable possession of Mens understandings tho' they foresaw the troubles which they would cause throughout all Europe It is in vain to expect to gain time till Men were silent or did agree all to maintain a false Hypothesis this silence and this consent would not render it true I do not take the Testimonies of Men saith Jesus Christ nor would he have St. John Baptist himself to be believed if his words were not conformable to the Writings of Moses 50.27 Upon the famous passage of the Romans 3.25 the Author hath an opinion altogether different not only from the common Interpretation but also from that of Bezae and of Cocceius the first Translates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dissimulatio and the second Prateritio But Mr. Alting will have it Transmissio or Translatio a Transposition He founds it upon this That there is a Pleonasmus in the Version of these two learned Interpreters because the terms of Dissimulation Praeterition and Non-imputation give no other Idea but the Patience of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which mention is made in the following vers 2. He adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which answers here to the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hegnebbir which is spoken of Sins 2 Sam. 12.13 and Iob 7.21 and that so Paresis mark'd in this place that Action of God considered as a Debtor who transports the Debt or the Crimes of Sinners upon Iesus Christ who is made their Pledge or Surety So the sense of this Passage is according to our Author that God has transported upon Iesus
Testament being Originally written by the Holy Pen-men of it in the Hebrew Tongue in and by the same God hath made and preserved the whole Revelation of his Will from the Beginning unto the coming of Jesus Christ and it hath been received as the only Foundation Rule and Standard of all Translations by Jews and Christians 2. The Hebrew Bible is so received and doth so reveal the Mind of God according as it is at present pointed for without Points it is either mute and speaks nothing or else speaketh whatever Men please to have it say or is most dubious having divers and contrary sences Hence the Jews say of it That the Points are to the Letters as the Soul is to the Body the one without the other hath neither Life nor Motion and as Garments to a Person without which none can come forth in publick And so are Vowels to Consonants with them they may sound and signifie without them they cannot And as they say He that reads without Points is like one that rideth a Horse without a Bridle and knoweth not whither he goeth And as Marcus Marinus Brixianus saith in his Preface to Arca Noae There would be more Confusion in this one Book without Points than was at Babel The Oracles of Apollo were not more dubious nor any Lesbian Rule more crooked It would be a meer Nose of Wax whereby Men may make quidlibet ex quolibet what they please of any thing in it For the Vowel letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ehevi are omitted in innumerable places where their Presence is indispensably necessary if there were no Points the like is no where found in any Language or Book besides And in many places where they are used they are to signifie quite contrary to what they import as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And yet the Matter is most sublime consisting of Divine Revelation the Style more elyptical concise and abstruse in Iob Psalms Proverbs Isaiah c. and in many places without any Connexion of Antecedents and Consequents as in Proverbs c. that there is left no means to understand the Mind of God in it without Points On this Account the Papists tell us we must fly to the Infallibility of their Pope and the Atheistical profane sort say that we may live as we list there being no certain Rule of Faith at this day amongst us Now the Opinion under debate leaves the Bible in this confused Condition by assigning the Invention of the Points to such an Original as render them fitter to be blotted out of the Bible than kept in it any longer as being the work of the blind hardned Jews of Tiberias A.D. 500. For it is impossible that the whole Pronunciation of the Bible could be preserved so long as a Thousand Years from Ezra until A. D. 500. under that calamitous state of the Jews whilst the Tongue ceased to be vulgarly pronounced or known amongst them The Rabbies themselves the only supposed Preservers of it lamenting they had so lost it in this time that they found great difficulty to explain the Apax Legomenon or words that are but once used in Scripture of which there are many as Kimchi's Preface to Miklol and to Sepher Shereshim declares the most being kept by the Mishna which was unlawful in their Opinion to have been written being their Oral Law of unwritten Traditions but only to prevent its being quite lost by the Calamities of those Times How then was it possible to keep from Age to Age the true sound of all the Points Vowels and Accents of the Old-Testament without the Shapes when multitudes of them cannot be distinguished by their Sound at all and no memory of Man is able so much as once to receive the very Pauses or Notes of Distinction nor yet the very Anomalies of the Punctation nor can the greatest Rabbi by all his Skill and Custom to read by Points be able to Point an Unpointed Bible truly from end to end without a Copy before him Therefore to suppose that for a Thousand Years before they had the Shapes of the Points they could infallibly and perfectly preserve all the Pronuciation of it by Oral Tradition or Use and Custom is to build Castles in the Air And therefore Dr. Broughton saith of this Opinion pag. 169. that Elias Levita lyeth for the Whetstone when he saith That the Iews of Tiberias and their Ancestors were so cunning that from Age to Age they remembred how Moses pronounced all the fourteen Vowels as though God would have a dull People to torment their Souls with the memory of Sounds 2. But Secondly If that were possible that the Pronunciation might be so long preserved true even until A. D. 500. what Trust or Belief is there to be had in these Masorites not only for their Ability at this time but especially for their Fidelity which at best could be but Humane Nay what Evidence is there that these Masorites of Tiberias A. D. 500. were the Inventors of the Points if they could be trusted For no History says so of them the Jews universally deny it of them Elias only excepted The Work of the Masorites which is the Masora proves the contrary The absurdity of this Opinion is compendiously expressed by Dr. Iohn Owen in his Considerations on the Prolegomena to the Pollyglott Bible pag. 243. Of all the Fables that are in the Talmud saith he I know none more incredible than this Story That Men who cannot by any Story or other Record be made to appear that they ever were in rerum natura Men obscure unobserved not taken notice of by any Learned Man Jew or Christian should in a time of deep Ignorance in the place where they lived amongst a People wholly addicted to monstrous Fables themselves blinded under the Curse of God find out so great so excellent a work of such unspeakable usefulness not once advising with the Men of their own Profession and Religion who then flourished in great abundance at Babylon and the places adjacent and impose it on all the World that receive the Scriptures and have every tittle of their work received without any opposition or question from any Person or Persons of any Principle whatever yea so as to have their Invention made the constant Rule of all following Expositions Comments and Interpretations Credat Apella And as Dr. Lightfoot saith in his Centuria Chorograph cap. 61. pag. 146. If you can believe the Points of the Bible to proceed from such a School believe also all their Talmuds The Pointing of the Bible favours of the work of the Holy Spirit not of wicked blind and mad Men. To conclude The Unpointed Bible hath not that plainness perspicuity and agreement with it self which is indispensably necessary to render it meet to be a Rule of Faith and Worship and the present Punctation would deservedly be rejected if it had no better Oâ—iginal than to be the Invention of some
we shall translate a full Testimony out of his Book entituled Mozenee haleshon hakkodesh towards the beginning of it as it is delivered by Buxtorf De Punct Origine pag. 13. The words are these or to this effect viz. The words of the Lord are pure Words or Sayings preserved by the hands of holy Men one Generation after another For they were sanctified from the Womb they heard the holy words at the Mouth of him who is most excellent in Holiness and they were Interpeters between him viz. the Lord and between Iacob The holy People and these were before the building of that holy House viz. the Temple and when it stood upon its Basis or Foundation and after it until the Vision and Prophecy was sealed up But after a few years about the time of the building of the holy House the second time at that time the Spirit of the Lord the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding rested upon the Men of that House that were called Anashee keneset haggedolah The Men of the great Synagogue or Sanhedrim to explain all that was sealed up in the Command And the words that are translated by the Mouth of the Just Men from the Mouth of the former and latter Prophets that is delivered by Oral Tradition from hand to hand Also they were rendring a Reason or restoring the Accent Meshebe taam Prov. 26.16 and taught their Posterity Chephets Colinian the sence of every word or thing al jad taamee hamikra by the hand or means of the Accents of the Scripture And the Kings and the Ministers they taught their Posterity and the closed Sections and the open Sections And what continues carries on the sence in opposition to the Pause and the Verses or Pauses that stop the sence and they were Eyes to the Blind therefore we go in their steps and follow after them and lean upon them in all the Expositions of Scripture And after the Captivity of our Fathers from the Holy City the Lord stirred up the Spirit of his Saints and the Chief of them was our holy Rabbi viz. Iudah to compose what was noted in loose Writings of the Commands of our God and that is the Mishna whereunto nothing may be added nor may any thing be taken away from it Also after them came other holy Princes and pious Hero's and they are the Men of the Talmud viz. the Gemarists and they went on in their paths viz. of the Masters of the Mishna and they took up the Stones out of the High-ways of the Testimony and they removed every Stumbling-stone out of the paths of the Lord. And after this stood up in Israel according to the good Hand of our God upon us two great Rows or Orders Neh. 12.31 the one keeping the Walls of the Sanctuary of Strength Dan. 11.31 founded by the Hand of our God that no Stranger may be able to destroy it Now this Sanctuary is the Holy Books of Scripture and the Men of this Row or Order are the Men of the Masora or the Masorites who separated all the mixed Multitude from the holy People alluding to Nehem. 13.3 and meaning what is Humane from what is Divine in Correcting the Copy And they numbred the Men of the Sanctuary from Two or Eleven to the end that no Stranger might draw near to the Gates of Righteousness Blessed be the Lord our God who hath put such a thing as this in the heart of the rest of the Kingdom of his Priests to beautifie his House which is a House of Wisdom as Solomon saith Wisdom hath built her House And the second Row that goeth over against it And I go after it Neh. 12.38 are those that are expert in War alluding unto Cant. 3.8 in the Law or about the Law and they are the Grammarians Thus far Aben Ezra In this place saith Buxtorf Aben Ezra doth elegantly and discreetly Expound in what manner and by whom the holy Word of God was preserved from the Beginning quite down to the Time of the Grammarians and what was done in every Age about the Preservation thereof and by whom it was done For First he saith The true and genuine Sence of the Word of God was preserved without Points by holy Men such as Moses and the Prophets unto the time of the Second Temple and the time wherein Vision and Prophecy were sealed up Secondly After the building of the Second House about the ending of Prophecy or the Prophetick Gift and Ministry God raised up other holy Men to wit the Men of the Great Synagogue that is to say Ezra with his Councel who preserved the Word of God which was brought to them by Oral Tradition This Holy Scripture they did by other means than Tradition with great care and study deliver down to Posterity But how they did this and what in particular it was that the Men of the Great Synagogue did about the Preservation of the Scripture this he doth teach particularly and by Parts For First he saith That this was done Al jad taamee hamikra By the means of the Accents of the Scripture Secondly By the Kings and Ministers that is the Vowels The Kings he calls afterwards seven viz. Holem Shurek Chirek Pathak Segol Kamets Tsere And the Ministers Sheva Mute Mobile and Compound And he doth not mean the Accents which the Grammarians divided into Kings and Ministers Vid. Balmes cap. 3. of the Points more of this Thirdly By the Doctrine concerning the Sections that are close open or continued Hasetumim Vpetuchim Vdebikim Fourthly By Hapesukim the Verses or the Distinction of the Scripture into Verses by these helps he saith they are like Eyes to the Blind and in their Steps we go in Reading and Expounding the Scripture at this time He saith we every where lean on their Exposition of the Scripture and therefore not of the Tiberian Masorites Thirdly In the Third place after the Men of the Great Synagogue he proceeds to the Masters of the Mishna and to them he chiefly ascribes the true Explication of the Precepts of God Fourthly He makes the Talmudists or Gemarists succeed the Masters of the Mishna and to these he ascribeth the Illustration and Explication of the Doctrine of the Mishna and their Disputations Fifthly He saith By the good Hand of God to Israel he raised up Two other Orders of Men labouring profitably for the Preservation of the Scripture The First Order he ascribeth to the Masorites but unto these he ascribeth no Invention either of the Points or of the Accents or of the Distinctions But he principally commends these for Two things First That they did separate every thing that was strange that is Foreign or Humane from the Books of Scripture if any thing had by hap crept into it Secondly That they numbred the Words and Letters of the Books of Scripture that so there might be no way left whereby the Text could be corrupted in time to come And agreeing to this is what he writes of the Masorites in his Book
entituled Iesudee Mora Truly there is a Reward to the Works of the Masorites who are like those who keep the Walls of a City For by reason of them the Law of the Lord and the holy Books of Scripture do stand in their Form without any Addition or Diminution This is the sum and substance of Aben Ezra's words From whence it appears saith Buxtorf as clear as the Noon-day First That he did not make the Tiberian Masorites but the Men of the Great Synagogue the Head of whom was Ezra to be the Authors of the Invention of all the Points Accents and Distinctions For he reckons up the Tiberian Masorites long after the Authors of the Points Accents and Distinctions Nor is there left any room for that Exception That he speaks only of the Power and Force of the Points and Accents For his Words are too manifest and the order of his Speech will not allow this for he shews what was done in every Age for the Preservation of the Scripture But if he had spoken here of the Oral Explication of the Scripture only what then did the Men of the Great Synagogue do other than those before them Did not they do this and for this were commended by him And if he thought the Masorites invented them first why did he not expresly ascribe it to them when he made mention of them In vain therefore doth Capellus in his Vindiciae make the Objection That the Sound and not the Shapes were meant by him of Ezra when he knew Buxtorf had already Answered it Moreover Capellus says Aben Ezra is as much for him elsewhere and so no witness against him Resp. This we deny But if he were he is for us here and therefore can be no Witness against us We can spare him having all besides him for us better than they can who have not another for them Secondly He saith Why did not Ezra as well Write the Oral Law as Point the Text Reply Because the Scripture is the only Rule of Faith and so esteemed by them but the Oral Law was but Humane Tradition of no account then however it were afterwards admired and it then became needful to Point the Text that it might be plain seeing they had in part forgotten their Tongue in Captivity and was never since restored to be Vulgar Capellus asks Why might not Ezra deliver the Sounds of the Points to Israel as well as the Oral Law by Tradition Resp. We deny the Oral Law was delivered by Ezra to Israel but if it were as the Jews imagine yet was there not that need to write one as the other They could keep their Oral Traditions notwithstanding any Alteration of their Language but so could they not preserve the true Punctation of the Language when it ceased to be vulgarly spoken or understood But when through their many Dispersions they were in danger of losing their Traditions then they wrote them as R. Samuel Arcuvolti declares in Arugath Habosem who says also It was necessary that the Points were placed in Ezra's time though it had been unlawful before because the Sound could not be preserved longer than that time without them Capellus Vindiciae lib. 1. cap. 1 § 11. objects Was not Ezra enough with a Prophetick Spirit what need of the Sanhedrin Resp. 1. The Sanhedrin was instituted 2. Others were Prophets as Haggai c. and why must they be excluded 3. This is the General Opinion of Jews and Christians That Ezra and the Prophets did act in Conjunction with the Great Sanhedrin in the Reformation of the Church as they were commanded But of this more elsewhere may be spoken Capellus Vindiciae lib. 1. cap. 1. § 9. says What Aben Ezra says of Ezra is no more than is due to any skilful Grammarian Resp. Not so For First as Cosri says 'T is a Work Divine and requires Divine Aid to give the true Sence of Scripture infallibly and truly 2. That might be done by Ezra by Humane Ability whilst the Language and the Text was rightly read and pronounced that could not be done after the Tongue ceased to be vulgarly understood without Divine Aid And therefore though it were no more than Humane Skill yet none since Ezra could be supposed to have that and therefore it might well enough belong to him on that account So that here is an express Testimony of Aben Ezra for the Antiquity of the Points notwithstanding all the Exceptions made by Capellus against it CHAP. IV. The several places of Aben Ezra wrested by Elias and his Followers considered Their genuine Sence declared WE are now to discover the Fraud and Violence used by Elias and his Followers to wrest the places of Aben Ezra in the places they alledge out of him in favour of their Opinion and to shew that what he saith in those places doth well enough agree with what he hath elsewhere said for the Antiquity of the Points The First place we shall take notice of is in his Book entituled Tsakooth alledged by Elias and after him by Capellus Wherein Aben Ezra saith There are many Interpreters who charge the Author of the Distinction of the Text into Verses with Errour therein but they do not speak what is right and Rabbi Moses the Priest is one of them c. But I admire at this greatly how the Author of the Stops or Verses should err ve aph ki im hu Ezra hasopher seeing he was Ezra the Scribe The Novelists read it And if he were Ezra the Scribe This in general he saith That there hath arisen no Man so wise as the Author of the Pauses since his time for we see that throughout the whole Scripture he hath made the stops no where but where they should be placed Thus far Aben Ezra Here Elias owneth that Hamaphsik the Author of the Stops is meant the Punctator but he wonders why he is called so in the Singular Number being elsewhere in this Book mentioned in the Plural But this Buxorf denies is any where mentioned in the Plural in this Book though the Matter is small whether the one or the other for the Singular might mean Ezra as the Head of the Sanhedrin and the Plural might mean Ezra in Conjunction with the Sanhedrin Elias inferrs from this place That Aben Ezra did not believe the Points were given by Moses on Sinai Resp. We grant it For we say it was his Opinion that Ezra placed them And that Opinion doth well agree with this place Capellus objecteth 'T is too mean a Commendation of the Author of the Points to suppose he meant Ezra when he says There has been none so wise since him and that it was done perfectly right Resp. 'T is Praise enough for Ezra or Moses either to say That none has arisen like him And That the Punctation is exactly according to the Mind of God and in all the Parts of it true and right And as to Others who charge the Punctator with Errour he reproveth them
Caballistical Writers expressly mentioning the very Names also of the Points Vowels and Accents in Buxtorf's Tiberias and De Punctorum Origine pag. 53 54 55 56 57 58 59. together with the Answer to the impertinent Cavils of Capellus as to the Antiquity and Integrity of the Books Zohar Bahir and the Pointed Copy of Hillel who objecteth It may be that they have forged Titles of Antiquity to advance the Price in the Sale of them Resp. And it may not be so But if it may be so that doth not prove it was so Nor doth Capellus produce any thing that renders the Antiquity of these Books so much as suspected for the Antiquity of these Books is universally owned by the Jews Those of them who write about these things plainly declare their Antiquity to be what we say it is 3. The Mishna about A. D. 150. takes notice of the Verses in Masecat Megilla cap. 3. and saith He that reads in the Law must not read less than three Verses nor more than one Verse in the Chaldee Paraphrase 4. The Ierusalem Talmud about A. D. 230. in Megilla cap. 4. on Neh. 8.8 And they read in the Book in the Law of God That is say they the Scripture distinctly that is with the Targum or Chaldee Paraphrase and gave the sence These say they are the Accents which they placed Samu taam they put the Accents to it and Some say these are the Pauses Others say these are the Beginnings of the Verses 5. The Babylon Talmud in Masecat Nedarim cap. 4. fol. 37. and in Masecat Megilla cap. 1. fol. 3. on Neh. 8.8 they say likewise And they read in the Book of the Law of God that is the Scripture distinctly that is with the Targum and gave the sence These are the Verses and cause them to understand the reading This is the Stops of the Accents And others say these were the Masora for they were forgotten and they then restored them And in Masecat Nedarim fol. 37. ibid. Rabbi Isaac saith The reading of the Scribes and Ittur Sopherim and Keri u lo Ketib and Ketib u lo Keri is a Constitution of Moses on Sinai First saith R. Isaac The reading of the Scribes as Erets Shamajim Mitsraim that is The Scribes taught the People how they had received from Moses to read these words and the like one way in one place and another way in another as sometimes Arets sometimes Erets c. For as R. Nissin saith Erets is changed by reason of Athnak into Arets and so of Shammajim Mitsraim c. And as R. Sal. Iarchi saith The Scribes taught them how they ought to read the Words without the Vowel-Letters being added in all places as Erets without writing Aleph between Resh and â—sade And so Shamajim without writing Aleph between Shin and Mem And all this say the Talmud is a Constitution of Moses from Sinai And as it is impossible that the Sounds of all the Punctation could be preserved without the Shapes of them were written to the Text So R. Azarias in Meor Enaim cap. 59. sheweth that what the Talmuds speak on Neh. 8.8 is all of it about what was written and no part of it was spoken about what was kept by Oral Tradition As First The Book of the Law which they read that was Mikra the Scripture distinctly with Targum or the Chaldee Paraphrase which saith he was then written and so saith he were the Points and Accents and Masora which they there speak of was then written as well as the Scripture And the Chaldee Paraphrase was Written and not kept by Oral Tradition only as Elias fancieth a thing most absurd and impossible Capellus objects That R. Sal. Iarchi R. Azarias c. are Modern Rabbins But what saith Rabboth and the Ancient Writers Resp. They cannot expound the Talmud which was made long after they were dead but the Ancient Writers speak plain enough of the Points as Bahir Zohar c. And why may not the Talmuds speak of the Shapes of the Points There is not one place of Scripture saith Buxtorf in all the Talmud any otherwise read than our present Punctation reads it Which could not have been had not the Bible been then Pointed for the Sounds could not be kept without the Shapes as we have already shewed in the PROEMIVM and as themselves say the LXX and Chaldee differ from our Copy because they had no Points and we may as well say the Talmud universally agreeth with our Punctation because they had Points which they could not have done without And as to the LXX c. they differ from the Letters and Words as well as about the Points and therefore Capellus reckons their Copy differed from ours in Letters as well as Points But these things we may examine hereafter the Punctation is all we are now concerned about And hereby all those Objections of the silence of the ancient Caballistical Writings and of the Talmuds about the Points are obviated Vid. Pugio Fidei pag. 92. the former Edition And pag. 111. of the last Edition See also Buxtorf de Punct Orig. part 1. cap. 5 cap. 6. We shall only add the Instance of a Pointed Copy of R. Hillel which was before A. D. 500. as ancient as A. D. 340. 'T is said in Iuchasin fol. 132. col 1. ' In the year 956 or 984 there was a great Persecution in Lions and then they brought out from thence the twenty four Books called the Bible which R. Hillel wrote and by them they corrected all their Books and I have seen a Part of them that were sold in Africa and in my time they had been written nine hundred years And Kimchi saith in his Grammar That the Pentateuch of it was at Toletola in Spain in his time Object 'T is not said here 't was Pointed Resp. But 't is said Kimchi speaks of it in his Grammar And Kimchi speaking of it says it is Pointed as in Michlol fol. 93. col 1. he saith That R. Iacob the Son of Eleazer writeth That in the Book of Hillel which is in Toledolid the word Tideru 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Deut. 12.11 is found without a Dagesh lene in Daleth that is Daleth raphated So on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vedareshu in Psal. 109.10 he saith That the word Vedareshu is read with broad Kamets like 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Veshameru and so we have received the reading of it And in the Book of Hillel which is kept at Toledolid the Masorites make this Note upon it viz. This is no where else found with Kaâ—uph Kamets and so Nagid writeth That he found it likewise in the Masora so written with Katuph Kamets So in his Book of Roots Sepher Sherashim on the Radix 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tesomet There Mem is with Segol contrary to Rule and is as if it were with Pathack And in the Book of Hillel which is in Toledolid it is with
they writ their Epistles but that they only taught privately being not as yet separated from the Church He enquires into the time that all these Epistles had been written and shews according to his account that this agrees very well with the Epoche which he hath observed of the first Schism that happened in the Church Celsus a great Enemy to Christianity confesseth in Origen that the first Disciples of our Lord were all of the same Opinion and that they were not separated from one another until their number increased He reproaches them with these Divisions and had not omitted it if there had been any in the time of the first Disciples to have made a Demonstration of them in like manner The same Truth also appears by a place of Clemens of Alexandria This Author pretends to prove that the Heretical Churches were of a later date than the True To this purpose he divides the time which passed since the Birth of Iesus Christ into three Periods the first comprehends the time of our Saviour's Life from Augustus to the fifteenth Year of Tiberius according to the Calculation of Clement the second from the Death of Iesus Christ to the Martyrdom of St. Paul under Nero's Empire and the third from Nero to Adrian Clement shews that all Heresie began after these three Periods thus agreeing with Mr. Dodwell that they appeared not until Adrian so that some were in being until the Emperor Antoninus's time which is true of the Heretick Marcion and very likely of Valentinus Mr. Dodwell having proved in his first Dissertation that the Hereticks did not begin to disturb the Church until under the Emperor Trajan pursues this Subject in the Dissertation whereof we give the Extract and proves in particular that Marcion Basilides Valentinus and some other Hereticks made Polycarp say so often O God to what times am I reserv'd That all these Hereticks I say did not discover themselves until under the Empire of Adrian the reason hereof may be seen in the Author we will be satisfied to remark that he reprehends Tertullian by the bye of some very gross Faults as that he made but one Emperor of Tiberius and Claudius under the name of Tiberius Claudius but this of Tertullian will not seem so strange as in Eusebius one Emperor divided into three Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and that the Historian says they were Brothers After having spoke of the time of St. Irenaeus's Birth Mr. Dodwell search'd after that of his Death he rejects the pretended History of his Martyrdom by the Persecution of the Emperor Severus because it does not appear in any Author of the four first Ages that this Father was Martyred there being none that gives him this name To comprehend the strength of the Argument which is a Demonstration on this Subject you must know that the Honour of Martyrdom was so Glorious that this Praise was never forgot so that St. Irenaeus not having it from any Ancient Author though they gave him many Glorious Titles we ought to conclude that it was not due to him It 's true some of the following Ages honoured him with the Title of Martyr the first that gave it him was the Author of the Questions to the Orthodox which Mr. Dodwell supposes to be one Iustina Sicilian that is supposed to be writ about the end of the fifth Age at least he is sure he did not live until after the Emperors embraced Christianity and consequently his Testimony alone ought not to be taken for things that passed a long time before The second who calls S. Irenaeus Martyr is St. Ierom but because this Doctor has not given him this name in the places wherein he ought to have given it him if he had thought it his due Mr. Dodwell judges it is some Remark that might have passed out of the Margin into the Text so that nothing can be concluded in favour of St. Irenaeus's pretended Martyrdom neither from the Author of the Questions to the Orthodox nor from the Testimony of St. Ierom and Gregory of Tours may be looked upon as the first that spoke of it affirmatively but it is with so little Exactness and upon so false Supposition that one ought not to take notice of what he says He will have him dye in the same Persecution that crowned Photion Bishop of Lions whom nevertheless St. Irenaeus succeeded Besides it is certain that he lived when Victor was Pope as appears by the famous Dispute that happened about Easter which was undoubtedly in that Pope's time And it seems under the Empire of Commodus Eusebius and the Chronicle of Alexandria make mention of this Father in the third Year of this Emperor Mr. Dodwell believes that it was upon the occasion of his Works against the Schism of Blastus and Florinus that he put out under Commodus rather than Severus by reason of the Troubles of the Reign of this last during which it seems this Dispute was quieted The last Actions of St. Irenaeus which we have any knowledge of end in the Year CLXXXIX of our Saviour and the Tenth of the Emperor Commodus so that it may be concluded this Father died about Ninety but not full a Hundred Years of Age. This Author attributes this long Life to Providence that Tradition might be more compleat The same also was said of the Patriarchs before Moses because the Revelations were not writ but the Writings of the New Testament being received and known the like Necessity does not appear Nevertheless Mr. Dodwell carries this thought further and says That it was more difficult that the Churches planted by the Apostles should consent to an Error than to convey Books under the borrowed names of Apostles there would be nothing wanting to fall into this Unhappiness but the Perfidiousness of an Ill or the too great Credulity of a Good Man It 's to befriend Tradition extreamly to bring it from the Inconveniencies to which it seems a thousand times more subject than Scripture For after all how would it be possible to distinguish from the true Apostolick Tradition what might be added under pretext of Explication for some other end After having spoke of the Person of St. Irenaeus Mr. Dodwell passes to his Writings in the following Dissertations The design of his Work against Heresies and the time wherein it was written wholly takes up the fourth Dissertation If this Father excuses the Rudeness of his Style it is not that he was an Enemy to Eloquence or that he despised it but because his long abode in Gaul made him lose the Habit of speaking the Greek Tongue and because he was not accustomed to write whence it is concluded that his Work against Heresies was the first of his Writings nor did he write it until he was far in Years because he talks of having seen Polycarp in his Youth as a particular Advantage which seems to intimate that there were but few then in the World that could say the same thing He says