Authority of them equal with that of the Bible For as the Canonical Scriptures were dictated by Divine Inspiration so these Laws they hold were from God Himself and are of the same Authority with those Scriptures They make no difference between the Inspired Writings of the Old Testament and the Books of Mishnaioth or the Talmuds which are in truth an Amassment only of the Traditions of the Jews and of the Diverse Decisions of the Schools of Hillel and Shammai of the Different Determinations of R. Akiba and R. Eliezer of R. Simeon and R. Ioshua c. bandying against one another or rather if we speak plainer they are a Rhapsody of Idle Dreams Groundless Fables Cursed Errors Superstitious Rites and Practices yea if we should instance in the Babylonick Talmud of Horrid Blasphemies against Christ of Obloquies against the Mosaick Law it self and of Contradictions even to the Law of Nature These are part of the Books so highly prized by the Jewish Masters these go along with their Oral Law which was first given by God himself and consequently is of the same Original with the Canon of Scripture But they go yet higher for they do not only equalize these Traditions with Scripture but they prefer them before it They do not only say in a Proverbial Manner that they cannot stand upon the Foundation of the Written Law without the Help of the Vnwritten one i. e. the Oral Law which they talk of and that the Words of the Law as they are found in the Text are poor and wanting but as they are expounded by the Doctors have great Riches and abundance in them And again that very Great and Weighty Matters depend upon these Little Traditions which they contend for but they are so bold and presumptuous as to proceed further and give a far Greater Deference to these Traditions and Doctrines of their Wise Men as they call them than to the Holy Scriptures themselves For they tell us that their Doctors have done more good viz. as to strengthning and confirming of Religion by their own Sayings than by the Words of this Holy Book it self And accordingly their Advice is My Son attend more to what the Scribes say than to what is said by the Law though I know this may admit of another Sense viz. that we ought to look more to the Sense of the Law than the bare Letter of it But that in the Talmud is plain and can have no other Meaning To read the Holy Scripture and to be studious in searching out the Sense of it is good and not good i. e. it is not of any considerable Advantage but to turn over the Mishnah Night and Day is a Vertue which will have a great Reward hereafter and to learn the Gemara is an incomparable Vertue Yea the Jews blasphemously say that God himself studies in the Talmud every Day Here you see they prefer their Delivered Law before the Written one they make the Infallible Scriptures truckle to the Fabulous Traditions of the Mishnah To this purpose it is a Noted Saying of the Hebrew Rabbies that the Text of the Bible is like Water the Mishnah like Wine and the Six Books of the Talmud are like the Sweetest Honey'd Wine Thus to magnify the Traditions of their Fathers they vilify the Scriptures They are not content with the Rites and Injunctions written in the Law which in way of Contempt they call the Precepts of the Law but they admire those most which are taken from their Wise Men which they call the Precepts of the Rabbins and which are summarily contain'd in the Talmud these they hold to be of greater Value than the other The Persons that are skill'd in these are sliled by them Tannaim Profound Masters and Doctors but they that study the Scriptures only are but Karaim Poor Readers and Men of the Letter All this shews how these Men depretiate the Written Word of God and exalt above it their Oral Law which is a mere Fiction and Forgery as to the pretence of its being given to Moses by God and therefore is not owned by the Karaint among them who stick close to the Text nor by some of their Perushim their sobrest sort of Expositors who think those Traditions are derogatory to the Holy Scriptures Secondly Papists as well as Ieâ—s disparage the Holy Scriptures and deny its Perfection Nor by the way is this the only thing wherein they agree with the Jews a great Part of their Religion being no other than Jewish Rites and Ceremonies These Modern Talmudists will not own the Sufficiency of the Sacred Writings they have their Cabala the Doctrine Received from their Ancestors they are for their Oral Law delivered from one to another they supply the defect of Scripture so they are wont to speak with their Traditions They are of the same Mind with the Jews that there must be a Fence made about the Law that it must be hedged in with Traditions The Scripture is not a Perfect Rule of Faith and Manners say they but the things which are necessary to Salvation are partly contained in the Scripture and partly in unwritten Traditions A very absurd and wild Doctrine because they have no way to prove any thing to be necessary to Salvation but by proving it to be found in the Scripture Whatever was or is necessary for the Universal Church is revealed in these Writings and no New Doctrine necessary to Salvation is delivered since to the Church or any particular Person But notwithstanding the Absurdity of this Tenent they hold it fast and make it a Great Article of their Belief For they are taught by an Oecumenical Council as they repute it that Unwritten Traditions are of equal Authority with the Scriptures that they are to be received with the same pious Affection and Reverence those are the words wherewith the Infallible Writings of the Prophets and Apostles are to be entertained and consequently they are to be made a Rule of Faith equal with the Scriptures But they rest not here they not only equal Humane and Ecclesiastical Traditions with the Written Word of God but following the Steps of the Old Talmudists they proceed yet further preferring Traditions before Scripture Thus a Renowned Divine in their Church tells us plainly that Traditions are exceeding necessary for the welfare of the Church yea that they are more requisite than the Scripture it self and this he endeavours to make good With him concur several others of their Writers whom we find extolling Traditions but at the same time speaking very meanly and slightly of the Holy Writ Hence they blasphemously call it a Nose of Wax and a Leaden Rule and many such vilifying Terms are used by Pighius and Melchior Canus and other Great Doctors of that Church We deny not the Usefulness nay even the Necessity nay the Perpetuity of Tradition viz. That Tradition whereby the Doctrines which were entrusted in the
Religion of the Protestants who found it solely on Scripture This being uncertain that must needs be so too Wherefore the best and only way is to have recourse to Tradition and to the Church these are the only Rule of what we are to believe and practise Thus you see what the Romish Writers who cry down the Hebrew Text aim at But most of the learnedst Men of that Church have not prosecuted their Aims and Designs this way It is well known they have generally held the Hebrew Text to be uncorrupted And the same is defended by the generality of learned Protestants who havâ— handled this Subject Isaac Vossius is the only Man of Note that holds the contrary i. e. that the Hebrew Bible as it is now is corrupted by the Jews But against him and all others either Antient or Modern who are of this Opinion I offer these following things to be considered If the Jews corrupted the Hebrew Text they did it either before or after Christ's time That they did it not before is evident because first our Saviour never takes notice of any such thing which certainly he would not have omitted at such times as he reproved the Scribes and Pharisees for their known Faults and Offences especially relating to the Law as when he taxed them for making the Law of God of none effect by their Traditions Certainly he would have rebuked them for so gross a Fault when he corrected them for some that were lesser Nay the Jews are not only not reproved for corrupting the Canon of Scripture but on the contrary their Care and Faithfulness in preserving it whole and entire are particularly taken notice of Luke 4. 16 17. Acts 13. 27. 15. 21. and commended Rom. 3. 2. Besides Christ â—endâ— his Aâ—ditors to the Old Testament to read it and â—earch it Iohn 5. 39. Whereas if they had corrupted it he would without doubt have cautionâ—â— them against it Again he and his Apoâ—tles conâ—tantly proved their Doctrine and confuted the Jews out of those very Writings which is an Argument that in our Saviour's time those Books were not corrupted else he and the Apostles would not have so frequently quoted them and â—â—ed the Testimony of almost every particular Book as Authentical and of Divine Inspiration And that the Hebrew Text was not corrupted by the Jews after our Saviour's time is as manifest because the Testimonies cited out of the Old Testament by those that succeeded Christ and hiâ— Apostles are found to be the same in those Writings now without the least Alteration Likewise it cannot be shewed at what time after Chriâ—â— the Corruption or Alteration of the Text began though the Younger Vossius is pleased to say it was presently after the Destruction of Ierusalem which yet he hath no where proved Farther if you observe those Places in the Hebrew Text which some alledg as corrupted by the Jews you 'll find that there was no Occasion or Ground for so corrupting them If they changed the Text it was questionless for their own Ends and to maintain some Error of theirs the Alteration would especially have been in those Places which speak of Christ the true Messias but you will not discover any such thing If any object Psal. 22. 16. They pierced my Hands and my Feet and say that the Jews have there purposely changed Caaru into Caari I ask why did the Masorites restore it to its right Reading If it had been corrupted by the Circumcised Doctors on purpose it would not have been taken notice of here by Men of the same Perswasion but they would have let it remain without any Marginal Correction But seeing they did not it is a sign there was no Intention to corrupt the Text. This indeed they do they add a Keri to the Ketib i. e. instead of Carri sicut Leo in the Text they write in the Margin Caaru foderunt as much as to say that Caaru is the true and genuine Reading This the Masoretick Note here testifies Besides it is evident that the Seventy did read it so and accordingly translated it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and thus 't is rendred in the Syriack Arabick Ethiopick and Latin But the Place was by chance corrupted because of the likeness of the two Vowels Iod and Vau and not out of design for then the Masorite Jews would not have supplied it in the Margin with that other word Caaru they pierced which agrees with the History of Christ's Sufferings Yea this Word is in some antient Copies in the Text it self which is not denied by the learned Father of the Oratory who had it from Rabbi ben Hajim the great Restorer of the Masora who acknowledgeth that in some of the Hebrew Manuscripts of the Bible which he had seen Caaru they pierced or digged was in the Text. Or why may we not take in both the Words into the Text and so reconcile the Textual and Marginal Reading This we find done by the Chaldee Version which renders the Place thus They did bite or pierce like a Lion as if the Original ran thus Caaru caari foderunt sicut Leo. This in my opinion may be a safe way of composing the Difference about this Text. However not only from this but what hath been said before I think it is manifest that the Jews did not adulterate this Text. And among all those other Texts that are said to be chang'd and adulterated you will scarcely find one that hath reference to that great Concern oâ— the Jews whence we may conclude that the Old Testament remains altogether unaltered I might farther add that the Multitude of Copies was great every-where both before and after Christ's time so that it was impossible to corrupt them all I know some have inferr'd the Corruption of the Original Hebrew from the great difference which is to be found between that and the Version of the Seventy but I shall afterwards when I come to speak of the Perfection of Scripture give a large and full Account of the Reason of this Difference whence I shall make it plain that this Difference proceeds not at all from the Depravation of the Original Hebrew The short then is that the Hebrew Bible is pure and uncorrupt and after all the Disputes about the various Readings it is undeniable that there is no difference in the Hebrew Copies as to any thing considerable and of moment it toucheth not any necessary Point of Religion which we are bound to know and practise In the several Copies the same Historical Passages are related the same Miracles recorded the same Prophecies and Predictions the same Doctrines Laws and Precepts set down and that without any varying So that we are certain of the Integrity of the Hebrew Bible Notwithstanding what hath been suggested to the contrary we are assured that we have the true Authentick Copies of the first Original Writings and in a word that the Hebrew Text is the same that it was and is still in
numbred among the Books of Canonical Scripture And thus we have argued from the Tradition and the Testimony of the Church And if this be done as it ought to be done it is valid for the Truth of the Copies the Canonicalness of the Books and the like are not decidable by Scripture it self but in the Way that all other Controversies of that nature are As you would prove any other Book to be Authentick so you must prove the Bible to be viz. by sufficient and able Testimony There is the same reason to believe the Sacred History that there is to believe any other Historical Writings that are extant Nay the Testimonies on behalf of the Holy Scriptureâ— are more pregnant than any that are brought for other Writings Besides all that can be said for the Sacred Volume of the Bible which is wont to be said for other Writings I have shewed you that there are some things peculiar to this above aâ—â— others The main thing we have insisted upon is this that the Books of the Old and New Testament have been faithfully conveyed to us and that they are vouched by the constant and universal Tradition both of the Jewish and Christian Church and that these Books and no others are of the Canon of Scripture for to be of the Canon of Scripture is no other than to be owned by the Universal Church for Divinely Inspired Writings The Church witnesseth and confirmeth the Authority of the Canonical Scriptures for she received them as Divine and she delivers them to us as such Yet I do not say that the Church's Testifying these Books to be the Holy Scriptures gives an Absolute and Entire Authority to them A Clerk in the Parliament or any other Court writes down and testiâ—ies that such an Act or Decree or Order was pass'd by the King Magistrate or People and he witnesses that he hath faithfully kept these by him and that they are the very same that at such a time were made by the foresaid Authority but the Authority of this Act Decree or Order rests not in the Clerk but wholly in the King Magistrate or People So the Church recordeth and keepeth the Sacred Writings of the Bible and bears witness that they have been faithfully preserved and that they are the Genuine Writings of those Persons whose Names are presixed to them bâ—t the Divine Authority of the Scriptures depends not on the Church but on the Books and Authors themselves namely their being Inspired And indeed this Authority of the Scriptures cannot depend on the Church because the Church itself depends on the Scriptures These must be proved before the Church can pretend to be any such thing as a Church We cannot know the Church but by the Scriptures therefore the Scriptures must be known before the Church It follows then that the Papists are very unreasonable and absurd in making the Ultimate Resolution of Faith to be into the Testimony and Authority of the Church This we disown as a great Falsity but yet it is rational to hold that the Church's Testimony is one good Argument and Proof of the Truth of the Sacred Scripture according to that known Saying of St. Augustine I should not believe the Gospel if the Authority of the Church did not move me Not that he founds the Gospel i. e. the Doctrine of Christianity and the Truth of it on the Testimony of the Church as the Papists are wont to infer from these Words and frequently quote them to this purpose No the Father's meaning is this that by the Testimony and Consent of the Church he believed the Book of the Gospel to be verily that Book which was written by the Evangelists This is the Sense of the Place as is plain from the Scope of it for he speaks there of the Copies or Writings not the Doctrine contained in them The good Father relies on this that so great a number of knowing and honest Persons as the Church was made up of did assert the Evangelical Writings to be the Writings of such as were really inspired by the Holy Ghost and that they were true and genuine and not corrupted And the whole Body of Sacred Scripture is attested by the same universal Suffrage of the Church i. e. the unanimous Consent of the Apostles and of the First Christians and of those that immediately succeeded them several of which laid down their Lives to vindicate the Truth of these Writings This is the External Testimony given to the Holy Scriptures It is the general Perswasion and Attestation of the Antient Church that these are the Scriptures of Truth that they were penn'd by holy Prophets and Apostles immediately directed by the Spirit who therefore could not err It was usual heretofore among the Pagan Lawgivers to attribute their Laws to some Deity tho they were of their own Invention intending thereby to conciliate Reverence to them and to commend them to the People But here is no such Cheat put upon us God himself is really the Author of the Holy Scriptures these Sacred Laws come immediately from Him they are of Divine Inspiration There is no doubt to be made of the Divinity of the Scriptures and consequently there is assurance of the Infallibility of them CHAP. III. The Authority of the Bible manifested from the Testimonies of Enemies and Strangers especially of Pagans These confirm what the Old Testament saith concerning the Creation the Production of Adam and Eve their Fall with the several Circumstances of it Enoch's Translation the Longevity of the Patriarchs the Giants in those Times the Universal Flood the building of the Tower of Babel I Have propounded some of the chief Arguments which may induce us to believe the Truth and Certainty of the holy Writings of the Old and New Testament I will now choose out another for the sake chiefly of the Learned and Curious which I purpose to inlarge upon yea to make the Subject of my whole ensuing Discourse I consider then that we have in this Matter not only the Testimony of Friends but of Enemies and Strangers and it is a Maxim in the Civil Law and vouched by all Men of Reason that the Testimony of an Enemy is most considerable The Iewish and Christian Church as I have shewed already give their Testimony to the Scriptures but besides these Witnesses there are Others there is the Attestation of Foreigners and Adversaries These fully testify the Truth of what is delivered in the Holy Bible we have the Approbation of Heathen Writers to conâ—irm many of the things related in the Old Testament and both Professed Heathens and Iews for we must now look upon these latter as profess'd Enemies when we are to speak of the Christian Concern attest sundry things of the New Testament and vouch the Truth and Authority of them Here then I will distinctly proceed and first begin with the Old Testament and let you see in several Particulars that even the Pagan World gives Testimony to this Sacred Volume
now agree to that Parchments which were made of Sheepskins dress'd were long before the Emulation between Ptolomee and Eumenes who both at the same time were ambitious to procure an Universal Library but when this Quarrel arose Ptolomee forbad Paper to be sent out of Egypt whereupon Eumences caused Parchments to be made in greater Abundance than before that so there might be no need of the Paper Again 't is evident from this Testimony of Iosephus that the Books of the Old Testament were written in Parchment And seeing we have proved that Parchment was long before it is credible that the Bible was copied out at first into it That Proverbial Saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shews the great Antiquity of this sort of Writing-materials for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Membrana and it is also a Book made of the same which they of old used to write in I might take notice of the antient Practice of the Jews viz. their wearing of Phylacteries which were pieces of Scrolls of Parchment whereon they wrote some part of the Law and bound it to their Heads and Hands whence we may probably gather that the Books of the Old Testament were first of all Parchment-Writings for the Jews were strict Observers as well as Admirers of Antiquity and therefore their writing some Sentences of the Law in Parchments shews that the Bible it self from whence they were taken had been usually and of old transcribed into those very Materials Much more might be said but I will only add that the Jews Rolling up their Sacred Writings whence their Books were call'd Megilloth Volumina is a plain Argument that they were not composed of Egyptian Paper which was thin and weak and consequently was not capable of this Rolling But a Long and Broad Skin or Parchment would endure this without tearing and therefore it is not to be doubted that this was made use of The Sense of which besides the common Report and Notion among the Jews caused the Famous Rabbi Ionathan to say in his Targum on Deut. 31. 24. that Moses writ the Law upon Parchment Which shews that it was the Opinion of the Learned Jews that the Bible was originally written in Parchment not on Paper And the Talmud often mentions this Parchment-Writing as a known thing It is rational then to believe and assert that these Holy Records were written in Parchment and though we are informed from sufficient Authors that other Materials of old were used as the Egyptian Papyrus Leaves as also the Inward Bark or Coat of Trees c. when they wrote but few Words yet Parchment was the old and usual Matter on which they wrote when they had occasion to compose a whole Book which confutes F. Simon 's Notion that the Old Testament was written in Paper which upon serious Reflection so searching a Person as he is cannot but discern to be a Mistake and he knows that Charta Writing-Paper was not generally used till Alexander the Great 's time as Pliny himself acknowledges who quotes Varro for this that the first use of Paper made of the Cortex of the Egyptian Papyrus was found out in Egypt in that Monarch's Reign and that before that time they wrote upon Leaves of Trees on Wax c. Then in the next Place it were easy to disprove this Ingenious Author's Conceit about the fastning or rather as he would have it the not fastning of these Parchments together whence he fancies it was that the Transposition and Misplacing of some Parts of the Bible happened He tells us that heretofore they wrote upon Sheets or Leaves rolled together one over another round a piece of Wood and these being not well joined together there was sometimes a misplacing of what was written in them because their Order was altered This may be partly true and I cannot deny that it so happened sometimes that is when there was no Care taken to sow or other ways to fasten the Leaves or Sheets to the Stick of Wood about which they were rolled or to one another But it was not so in the present Case for you may be sure that they took all the Care imaginable to secure the Order of the Sheets and they were not destitute of a particular way of doing it so that their Books were sufficiently fastned But if he means that they were not bound as our Books are now a days then his new Discovery is only this that the Trade of Book-binding was not set up in Moses or Ezra's Days Or if he means that the written Sheets and Scrolls were loose and not well tack'd together he wilfully speaks against his own knowledg of this Matter for he knows very well that the Jews wrote in Rolls or continued Sheets or Skins which were not liable to be separated as our Writings are now He is Antiquary enough to confute himself from what he hath read concerning their manner of making their Books or Volumes their fixing the Sheets of Parchment at one end by sowing or fastning the first Sheet between two Sticks or Pieces of Wood their joining the several Sheets together as appears from the forecited Testimony of the Jewish Historian who saith the Parchments in which the Bible was written were so closely and firmly joined together that 't was not possible to discern the Seams or Places where they were joined their Rolling them up close and their keeping them in safe Repositories for they had places on purpose for all Valuable Books so that it was not likely yea scarcely possible that any of these Scrolls or Sheets which were not little ones as he suggests but of a considerable size should be put out of their places much less lost for he goes so far as to assert that many of these Scrolls were embezzel'd and lost and thence the Scriptures of the Old Testament are so maimed and imperfect But we know the Man and his Design which is to depretiate and vilify the Scriptures thereby to advance the Credit of Tradition and by that means to exalt the Church of Rome though this is not so forward to exalt him This was it which made him give us this Specimen of his Wit and Invention of which it must be confessed he hath no small Stock this made him attempt by these Paper-Proofs to lessen the Authority of the Bible Otherwise it is certain this Parisian Critick is a Person of great Worth and Learning and it is his singular Commendation that he is no Furious Bigot but is Moderate and Discreet in many things and is one that dotes not on the Opinions and Assertions of the Catholick Doctors But if you would know the true Reason or Occasion of that Transposition which you sometimes meet with in the Holy Writings not only of the Old but New Testament it is chiefly this as I conceive The Holy Writers study not Exactness they are more intent upon the Thing and Matter which they write than upon the due Order and Marshalling of it they
Reasons why the Apocryphal Writings are not received into the Canon of the Bible with an Answer to the Objections made by the Romanists SEcondly I proceed to the External Testimonies of the Truth of the Scriptures which being added to those Arguments which proved them to be True in Themselves will exceedingly corroborate our Belief of the Divine Authority of those Books And here I might mention the Testimony given to them by God in the wonderful Preservation of them through all Ages since they were first written In all the Changes of Affairs and the Overthrow of so many Cities and Kingdoms that Incomparable Treasure hath not been lost The Books of the Old Testament were kept untouched and inviolable at the sacking and burning of Ierusalem and all the time of the Captivity in Babylon and of the Dispersion of the Jews And ever since that time the Scriptures have been Unaltered in Words and Sense notwithstanding the frequent Endeavours of Satan's busy Agents to corrupt them yea utterly to destroy them And next to God's Providence in preserving these Books thrô all Times and Ages we might add the marvellous Success which hath attended the Holy Faith and Doctrine contained in these Writings They have prevail'd against the Power of Men and Devils and to this very day they are maintained and upheld maugre the Attempts of both of them to root them out of the World But I wave this intending not to insist upon Divine but Humane Testimony in this place By External Testimony then I mean here no other than this that Scripture is attested by Vniversal Tradition and this Tradition is both of Jews and Christians And what would a Man desire more in a humane way for attesting the Truth of these Writings From the joint Attestation of these Witnesses I shall make it appear that these Books which we now have are the true Copies of the first Originals that the same Books and Authors are faithfully delivered down to us which were first of all delivered to the Jews and to the Primitive Christians and that there is nothing in these Writings as we now have them that is falsified or corrupted First to begin with the Books of the Old Testament the Names of which are as follow Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Ioshuâ— Iudges Ruth the 1st and 2d Books of Samuel thâ— 1st and 2d Books of Kings tho 1st and 2d Books 〈◊〉 Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah Esther Iob the Psalmâ— Proverbs Ecclesiastes the Song of Solomon the foâ—â— Greater Prophets and the twelve Lesser These and none but these were admitted into the Canâ— of the Holy Scriptures by the antient Church oâ— the Iews whose Testimony is very Authenticâ— here yea indeed we cannot have a better They acquaint us that these were the Only Writingâ— that were universally agreed by them to be extraordinarily Inspired and they further tell us that these Books which were writ by different Persons and at diverse Times were first compiled and collected into One Body or Volume by Ezra and the Assembly of Doctors for that purpose and consequently that the Canon of Sacred Scripture of the Old Testament as it is at this time was not constituted till Ezra's days by the Great Synagogue as they call it Upon his Return from the Captivity he undertook this good Work he gathered together all those dispersed Books before named and after he had reviewed them he publickly owned and solemnly vouched the Authority of every one of them that the Church for the future might not doubt of their being Authentick and True But some add here by way of Objection that this holy Man caused these Books to be written over in a New Character because the Jews had lost their knowledg of the former one as well as of the Tongue and consequently the Bible is not the same that it was at first Eusebius and Ierom are alledged for this especially the latter who seems to say that the Samaritan Character was the Old Hebrew Character in which the Bible was first writ and that it was first changed by Ezrd after the Return from Babylon he writing â—he Sacred Volume over in Assyrian or Chaldee Letters and neglecting the Old Hebrew ones which were the same that the Samaritan are And the reason of this was they say because the Jews were best acquainted with this Character at that time And some Modern Writers are gain'd over to this Opinion who talk much of the Change of the Character and endeavour to perswade us that the first and old Letters of the Hebrew Text were Samaritan but that those which we now have are Assyrian and of quite another sort But upon an impartial Enquiry I find little or no Foundation for this Opinion It rather seems to me to be an Invention and Dream of those who design to disparage the Hebrew Bible They would perswade us that the Authority of the Original is impaired because we have it not now as it was at the beginning for the Old Bible was in Samaritan Letters these being the first and antientest Hebrew Characters This is like the Story of the Hebrew Points being invented five hundred Years after Christ of which afterwards which tends to the same End namely to discredit the Hebrew Text which we now have and wholly to take away its Authority for if the Letters were changed it is probable some Words and consequently the Sense of some Places are altered But that this is groundless and that the Hebrew Bible is written in the same Characters now that it was at first you will find very largely and convincingly proved by the famous Buxtorf from the Authâ—rity of the Talmud especially the Gemara 〈◊〉 the Cabala from the Suffrage of the most Notâ— Rabbins of old and of the Learned Modern Jeâ—â— as Aben Ezra R. Solomon R. Ben Maimon â— who without doubt are very competent Judges 〈◊〉 this Case To these may be added several of 〈◊〉 Christian Perswasion as Picus Mirandula F. Iuniâ— Skikkard Postellus with those three Eminent Persons of our own Countrey Nic. Fuller Broughtâ—â— Lightfoot If you consult these they will satisfyâ— you that the Hebrew Letters which we have now in the Bible were the Primitive ones the very same that were of old But to give you my Thoughts impartially in this Point I do believâ— from what I find asserted by Writers on both sides that there were two sorts of Characters used by the Jews as there were two sorts of Cubits and Shekels the Sacred and Common and I gather that the Samaritan Letter was of the latter sort that which was commonly used and even sometimes in transcribing the Bible but the Sacred Character in use among the Jews was this which we now have and in which the Bible is at this day This is the true Original Hebrew Letter and was used from the beginning by them This I think may reconcile the Disputes among Writers for so far as I can perceive the Quarrels arise from this that there is
Books with us We need not stay to attend here to what a late Learned Writer before named hath with much Confidence but slender Reason suggested viz. that the Bible of the Old Testament is an Abbreviated Collection from Antient Records which were much more large He confesseth that the Canon of Scripture is taken out of Authentick Registeries but the Authors who collected it added and diminished as they pleased especially he asserts this concerning the Historical Books that they are Abridgments of larger Records and Summaries of other larger Acts kept in the Jewish Archives and these publick Scribes who writ them out took the liberty to alter Words as they saw occasion So that in short according to this Critick here are only some broken Pieces and Scraps taken out of the first Authentick Writings A bold and daring Assertion and founded on no other Bottom than F. Simon 's Brain Who would expect this from one that is a Man of great Sense and Reason one that is a great Master of Critical Learning and hath presented the World with very choice Remarks on the History of the Bible for truly I am not of his Opinion who saith he sees not any thing in this Author's Writings buâ— what is common It is to be lamented that a Person otherwise so Judicious and Observing hath given himself up here to his own Fancy and Conceit He invents a new Office of publick Registers that were Divinely inspired he makes Notaries and Prophets the same He gives no Proof and Demonstration of that Adding and Diminishing which the Scribes he talks of made he hatâ— not one tolerable Argument to evince any of thâ— Books of Scripture to be Fragments of greater ones Indeed I should mightily have wondred that so Ingenious so Sagacious so Learned a Man haâ— broach'd such groundless Notions if I did noâ— consider that this subtile Romanist designs hereâ—â— as most of that Church generally do to depreciaâ—â—â— the Bible and to represent it as a Book of Fragments and Shreds that so when our Esteem 〈◊〉 the Authority of Scripture is weakned yea taken away we may wholly rest upon Tradition anâ— found our Religion as well as the Scriptures 〈◊〉 that alone This is that which he drives at in 〈◊〉 Critical History both of the Old and New Testamenâ— But all sober and considerate Persons will bewarâ— of him when they discover this Design Theâ— will easily see through his plausible Stories foâ—â— Surmises bold Conjectures and seeming Argâ—mentations and they will have the greater Reverence for the Bible because he and others havâ— attacked it with so much Contempt and Rudenesâ— and purposely bring its Authority into question that they may set up something else above 〈◊〉 Notwithstanding then the Cavils and Objection of designing Men we have reason to believe anâ— avouch the Authority of the Old Testament and to be thorowly perswaded that the Books are entirely transmitted to us without any Corruption and are the same that ever they were without and Diminution or Addition We have them as they were written by the first Authors we have them entire and perfect and not as some fondly suggest contracted abbreviated curtail'd Unto the Iews the antient People of God were committed his Oracles as the Apostle speaks and they shewed themselves conscientious and diligent Conservators of them The Jewish Nation saith St. Augustin have been as 't were the Chest-keepers for the Christians they have faithfully preserv'd that Sacred Depositum for them they have safely kept that Ark wherein the Law and the Prophets were Lock'd up God would have the Jews to be Librarii Christianorum saith Drusius Keepers of those Sacred Volumes for us Christians and it is certain they kept them with great Care the like whereof is not to be found to have been taken in preserving any other sort of Writings under Heaven And seeing they have so carefully handed the Old Testament down to us we are concern'd to receive it with a proportionable Thankfulness and to reckon this their Delivering of those Writings down to us as no mean Argument of their Truth and Certainty Secondly The Authority of the New Testament is confirmed by External Testimony or Tradition no less than that of the Old Testament We have the Authentick Suffrage of the Primitive Church the Unanimous Consent of the Christians of the first Ages that this Book is of Divine Inspiration and that it is Pure and Uncorrupted Some of the Fathers and first Writers give us a Catalogue of the Books of the New Testament and they are the very same with those which we have at this day Athanasius particularly enumerating those Books sets down all those which we now embrace as Canonical and no others And many of the Fathers of the first Ages after Christ as Irenaeus Iustin Martyr Clemens Alexandrinus Origen Tertullian c. quote the Places in the New Testament as they are now If it be objected that in the Fathers sometimes the Text of Scripture is not exactly what we find it and read it at this day This must be remembred that they sometimes quoted the Meaning not the very Words At other times their Memories fail'd them as to the Words and thence they chang'd them into others and instead of those in the Text used some that were like them So when they were in haste and not at leisure to consult the Text they made use of such Words and Expressions as they thought came nearest to it Heinsius shews this in a vast many places Sometimes they contract the Word of the Text and give only the brief Sense of it at other times they enlarge it and present us with a Comment upon it yea sometimes as they see occasion and as their Matter leads them to it they invert the Words and misplace the Parts of the Text. But no Man ought hence to infer that the Scriptures of the New Testament then and now are not the same And as for the Number of the Sacred Writers and their Books it hatâ— been always the same i. e. the same Catalogue and Canon have been generally acknowledged and received by the Christian Church It is true some Particular Books have been questioned but by a few only and for a time but the Church was at last fully satisfied about them the Generality oâ— Christians agreed to own all those Books which are now owned by us All the Eastern Churches held the Epistle to the Hebrews to be Canonical though the Latins it is granted were not so unanimous This Epistle and that of St. Iames the second Epistle of St. Peter the second and third of St. Iohn and the Epistle of St. Iude and the Apocalypse were questioned in the first Century saith Eusebius but he acquaints us withal that they were afterwards by general Consent received into the Canon of Holy Scripture for the Doubts were resolved upon mature Deliberation So that the questioning of those Books is now a Conâ—â—rmation of the Truth and Authority of
hajim the Breath of the Spirit of Life the antient Sages among the Gentiles who were no strangers to this and other Texts as I shall shew afterwards derived two Notions the first whereof was this that the Soul is Breath and accordingly in Greek and Latin it hath its Names from breathing This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Spiratulum vitae as the Vulgar Latin renders it by which Man's Body was inspired was the occasion I guess of these Denominations of the Soul from Breath Wind or Air and that of the Poet Divinaâ— particula aurae which is spoken of the Soul seems to refer to this Another Notion which they derived from this metaphorical Expression of Breathing or Asslation was that the Soul the Rational Soul of Man is a part of God for as Breath is something that comes from within a Man so Souls that are set forth by Breath are the Emanations of God they come from him and are Parts of him The Soul say the Platonists â— not only the Work of God but a Portion of him Which it is likely was Plato's meaning when he said the Soul is a sharer of the Nature of God But this was more especially the Stoicks apprehension of Humane Souls they are saith the Royal Philosopher a Part a Piece an Effluvium of the Godhead With whom Arianus agrees telling that our Souls are so linked to God that they are Particles of him and as 't were pluck'd from him But he is very extravagant when he adds in pursuance of this that as to our Souls we are not inferiour to or less than God himself Epictetus himself and Seneca prononnce the Soul to be a Piece a Part of the Divine Essence Cicery speaks like one of this Sect as he frequently doth when he saith our Souls are taken out and pluck'd off from the Nature of God and are certain Segments of the Divine Mind And because it was hold by some Philosophers that some of the Inferiour Animals as Bees had Souls resembling those of Men therefore they asserted that they likewise were parts of the Divinity All this comes if I mistake not from that forenamed Passage in Moses's History concerning the Production of Man God breathed into him the Breath â—f Life which was interpreted as if humane Souls were partial Effluxes or Aporrhae's of the Divine Essence it self The making of Eve out of Adam was also obscurely intimated in what Plato saith in his Symposium namely that the first Man was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Mixture of both Sexes Which Fable of his was from the Jewish Tradition that the first Man was made an Hermaphrodite that he had two Bodies join'd together one of a Male another of a Female and that God afterwards split him into two distinct Bodies whence arose Man and Woman If the Jewish Rabbies who were better acquainted with Scripture talk'd after this doting rate Plato may well be excused who perhaps had it only on Tradition and had not the Means to correct his Mistakes which they had But this is plain that this Fable is a Corruption of the Sacred Story which speaking of our First Parents saith God called their Name Adam as if their having but One Name signified they were but One Person and again in the same Verse Male and Female created he them as if the first Man who is spoken of in the Verse immediately foregoing consisted of a double Sex But it is evident that the Words relate to both and the reason why the Name Adam is given to both is because they were both of them from the Earth one immediately the other remotely but afterwards we read that they had distinct Names Adam being appropriated to the Man and Eve to the Woman And this ridiculous Fable which Plato had pick'd up might be occasioned likewise from a misunderstanding of that Text God took one of the Man's Ribs and out of it made he a Woman Because the Woman was formed out of the Man's Side they inferr'd that Adam was at first both Man and Woman and that the Woman at her first Make stuck to his Side Which is a gross mistaking of the Text but confirms the Truth and Antiquity of that Book of Moses which assures us of Eve's Formation out of Adam which was the thing that gave rise to this erroneous Tradition May we not think that Adam's Dominion over the Beasts which was accompanied with his Calling them and giving them Names was the Foundation of what the Poets talk of Orpheus's drawing the Beasts after him and making them Tame and causing them to stand still and as it were answer to their Names Or else it was a Representation of the Beasts and all sorts of Animals coming into the Ark at Noah's Call which is a Confirmation of another known Passage in the Mosaick Writings But I am not positive here and in some such-like Passages which occur in the Poets tho in others I shall heap up several plain and evident Circumstances sufficient to convince the Reader that they have reference to something spoken of in Scripture As to Adam's giving of Names to all things mentioned Gen. 2. 19. it appears that Plato was not a stranger to it for in his Cratylus where it is disputed whether Words signify by Institution or from Nature he first denies the Language of his Grecians to have been the Original one as in another place he calls his Countreymen the Greeks Youths and Striplings of yesterday and consequently their Language was not the antientest and then he hints that Hebrew was the Original Tongue which is meant by what is said Gen. 11. 1. that the whole Earth was of one Language and of one Speech And though he conceals the Name of the Iews or Hebrews yet when he expresly affirms in this Dialogue that the right Doctrine of Names and their Interpretation are to be fetch'd from the Barbarians as the more antient we are not to doubt that he means the Iews or Hebrews for all agree that they were call'd Barbaâ—â—â—â— by the Greeks as these were so by them And hence I gather that Plato and other Heathens knew and perhaps had read that Adam gave Names proper and significant Names to all Creatures which Moses particularly makes mention of and must be the very thing that is here meant by Plato when he acknowledgeth that the true Etymologies of Things and the Interpretation of Names are to be derived from the Barbarians The First and Innocent State of Man and that with some of the Circumstances of it which could be known only from the Book of Moses is spoken of by the antient Writers among the Heathens Thus you will â—ind that Hesiod gives us an admirable Description of it In Plato's Atlanticus or Critias are plainly to be seen the Footsteps of the Old and Primeve State of Man when the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he saith prevail'd when the Diving 〈◊〉
many ambiguous and equivocal and thence the Phrases Sentences and Speeches must needs be so too This is one Reason why the Sacred Truths of Scripture were corrupted when they came into the Hands of the Heathens The Eastern words and forms of speaking were misunderstood by the Grecians the Hebrew Dialect and Idiom were mistaken by the People of another Language and Country The Oriental Expressions were misinterpreted by the Europeans who were Strangers to the literal and proper Sense of them Hence arose Fables Fancies and groundless Conceits which they mixed with the Spiritual Verities and almost defaced and extinguished them 2. The Sacred History of Scripture and the Traditions of the First Ages of the World were easily corrupted because they were Transmitted to Ignorant and Barbarous People God was pleas'd not to vouchsafe that Light and Knowledge to the Gentiles which he bestowed on his own People but he thought fit to leave them in that darkness and blindness which their gross Sins had brought them to and which were now become the just Punishment of them Many of them were so besotted that when they heard of those Holy and Mysterious Truths they were not able to bear them they could not apprehend the true meaning and import of them But because some of them who were the most Contâ—mplative would be exercising themselves about them they resolved to make something of them or out of them And accordingly when they committed them to Writing they applied them to some Person or Thing which was known and famous among them and thus an Historical passage in Holy Scripture became a Story of their own or a Divine Truth was turn'd into a Fable By this means the things which they borrowed from the Word of God came to be Dâ—praved and Disguised 3. The long tract of Time and diversity of years have partly introduced this corruption and alteration For length of time blotted out some of the former Accounts and defaced the Memoirs of things The Antient Names of several Persons and Places are worn out and others quite different from them are used in their stead The true Original Occasion and Meaning of many things were forgotten and in place of them New but False Relations crept in Then came to pass at last when the right Notions of things were worn out that Men of Poetry and Invention thrust upon silly People their own Fancies and Conceits and perswaded them to accept of the most unlikely Stories for Truth 4. The Historical passages of Scripture and the strange Events which hapned among the Iews being spread abroad and passing through many Hands or rather Mouths could not but for that Reason be corrupted By the great diversity of Relators they were changed some adding to them and others diminishing them so that at the last they were quite different from what they were at first 5. As Superstition and Idolatry increased the greater Corruptions there were of True History Men making that to Administer to their Idolatrous Worship So that in those Countries especially where there were the fiercest Bigots for the Pagan Devotion there was alwaies a more plentiful coyning of these Fables under which were hid very useful Truths taken out of the Old Testament 6. This must be added that it was the Custom of the Antient Pagans to wrap up their Notions in obscure and dark Terms and to represent them in an Aenigmatical way Origen thinks Plato in one of his pieces hath something of that Paradise which Moses in the beginning of his Writings speaks of and he gives this Reason why he thinks so viz. because it is Plato's usual way to describe things obscurely and to disguise the greatest and most excellent Verities under the vail of Mysteries and Fables And this was the guise of others besides Plato especially of the Pagan Poets they affected obscurity and difficulty of Stile whence sprang several of the Fabulous Histories of the Gods and other odd passages in their Writings And so when they took some things of moment from Scripture or from those who were acquainted with those Sacred Records they cloath'd them with their dark and Mystical Expressions in so much that it was hard to know whence they had them 7. The Grecian Humour was to Invent and Romance their Poets especially who were their first Writers were famous for this They abused mangled jumbled and confounded the Stories in Holy Writ they turn'd those Sacred Things into Magical Pranks sometimes and from the Names of Holy Persons spoken of in the Old Testament they took occasion to invent new Deities and shape new Gods Their frequent practice was to piece out Scripture with their own Fancies and to add something of their own heads This is owing to the Greek Vanity it is to be ascribed to the Levity and Capriciousness of these Fabulous Men whose very Genius led them to affect Banter and Fictions The Poets dealt with Sacred History as the Legendaries do with the Lives of Saints they have some general ground for what they say but they make plentiful additions to it there is perhaps something of Truth at bottom but then you have their own Inventions besides Thus the Grecian Writers counterfeited all along the shape of Real Truths in most of their Fables there was a medly of Falshood and Truth together 8. This is also certain that the Pagan Philosophers did out of fear sometimes disguise the Notions of Truth which they received from Scripture Plato saith Iustin the Martyr had learnt in Egypt the True Doctrine concerning God One only God with several other Sacred Truths but lest some Melitus or Anytus should Accuse him he would not divulge them to the People For fear of incurring Socrates's Misfortune he either conceal'd or disguis'd all He dreaded the Poysonous Cup and so would not discover those Sacred Things but rather chose to lap them up in Poetick Conceits and Fables in Mysteries and Riddles which his Writings are full of And this it is likely was the Case of other Philosophers and Writers among the Gentiles they were Timorous and dared not Transgress the Publick Laws and incur the punishment due to Innovators in Religion and therefore they spoke ambiguously and obscurely and corrupted those Truths which they had received from the Holy Fountains 9. Some out of meer Ignorance of the Iewish Religion and Affairs misrepresent and corrupt those things This is seen plainly in Strabo and Diodorus the Siciâ—ian who as was hinted afore make the Iews to be Egyptians and Strabo particularly saith of Moses that he was an Egyptian Priest So Herodotus because the Hebrews had lived among the Egyptians saith those things of the former which belong to the latter and so perhaps vice versâ I remember he particularly saith that Circumcision was first of all used among the Ethyopians and Egyptians and from them went to the Phaenicians and Syrians and thence some thought Abraham receiv'd this Rite and commended it to his Posterity It is as easie to
Demonstration hath out-done them and â—ost that have writ on it Among our own Countrymen these deservedly are to be numbred viz. Sir Walter Raleigh who among several other passages hath these Remarkable â—ords The Heathens did greatly enrich their Inventions by venting the stoln Treasures of Divine Letters alter'd by Prophane Additions and disguis'd by Poeticaâ— Conversions as if they had been conceived out of their own Speculations Next to this Worthy Knight the Famous Mr. Selâ—â—â— may be mention'd who avers that the â—ost impious Customs among the Gentiles had â—â—eir Original from Scripture-History which 〈◊〉 confirms by several Examples You will 〈◊〉 the Reverend Bishop Montague though â—â—is Author's Adversary in another point â—greeing with him in this The Heathens saith he of Old made use of many things which were taken from the Divine Polity in the Old Testament but were afterwards cloak'd and disguis'd by the Malice and Fraud of the Devil The Judicious Dr. 〈◊〉 hath two distinct Chapters of the Gentile Stories and Fictions being â—orrowed â—rom the Bible I will mention a passage or two out of some other places of his Works If Moses saith he was forty days in the Mount to receive Laws from Gods own mouth Minos will be Iupiter's Auditor in his Den or Cave for the same purpose In emulation of Shiloh or Kirjath-jearim whilst the Ark of God remained there the Heathens had Dodona And for Ierusalem they had Delphi garnish'd with rich Donatives as if it had been the intended parallel of the Holy City And he hath these remarkable words in the same place Any Judicious Man from the continual and serious observation of this great Register of Truth he means the Scriptures may find out the Original of all the principal Heads or Common places of Poetical Fictions or Ancient Traditions which cannot be imagin'd should ever have come into Man's fancy unless from the imitation of the Historical Truth A Worthy Prelate whom I have already Named hath giveâ— us his suffrage most freely in this cause and hath undertaken to defend it in the close of his Origines Sacrae I could produce half 〈◊〉 hundred more Authors of good Note anâ— Learning but I forbear because I have donâ— sufficiently From these I have quoted you may see that what I have maintained in this Discourse is no idle fancy no notion taken up by shallow Heads but that the deepest Judgments the most Judicious and Impartial Pens have adopted it for a Truth We have it upon the Authority of all these Excellent Persons and many more in former in later and even in our present times as well as upon the plain Evidences Reasons and Arguments before alledged that the Ancient Philosophers and Poets borrowed from the Bible that many of the Gentile Fables are founded on the most Sacred Verities that the Scripture is the Source and Fountain from whence many of their Opinions Customs and Practices sprang that most of the Gentile Theology arose from the mistaken and depraved sense of the Holy Writings of the Old Testament From the whole let me offer these three or four Consectaries 1 We cannot with any shew of Reason admit of that Opinion which holds that the Iews borrowed all or most of their Religious Rites and Ceremonies from the Gentiles This though it bids desiance to that Reason and Testimony which I have produced hath had some Abbettors and Patrons Thus Origen acquaints us that Celsus stifly maintain'd that the Mosaick History was borrowed from the Fables of Heathens And with him other Heathens at that time concurred and to defend their Idolatrous Traditions and Usages asserted that Scripture History was a corruption of some of their Fables The Story of the Flood they said was taken from Deucalion and Paradise from Alcinous's Gardens and the Burning of Sodom and Gomorrah from Phaeton's setting the World on fire c. But Origen shews the absurdity of these allegations from the Antiquity of those Relations in Sacred Scripture and thence proves that the Greeks had these from the Iews and not on the contrary He makes it evident that the Iewish Nation had the Original Traditions and that others were corrupted and changed from these by the Heathens This Pagan Conceit which was taken up on purpose as an evasion against Christianity is revived by some Writers of late but by none more designedly and industriously carried on and improved than by a late Learned Man of our own who hath delivered such admirable and choice things on occasion of pursuing this subject and hath snewed himself so Great a Master of all kinds of Literature that we can scarcely be displeas'd with his Notion that 〈◊〉 at the head of all I will not pretend tâ—enter the Lists with this Great Champion being conscious to my own inabilities but this I will do I will set some Great Men upon him though I have partly done it already and leave him to grapple with them Iosephus the Learned Iew was a Competent Judge in this matter viz. Whether the Iews â—orrow'd their Sacred and Religious Rites from the Gentiles or whether on the contrary these borrow'd from them Let us bear what he saith There hath been a long time saith he among most Nations a great Zeal and Emulation towards our way of Religion and Worship There is not a City among the Greeks or Barbarians yea not any Nation which hath not received from us the Custom of Resting on the Seventh day and of Fasting and of Lighting up of Candles And several things which relate to Meats forbidden us by our Law are also observed by Foreign Nations Here this Knowing Person acquaints us that the Gentiles were followers of the Iews not these of them and particularly mentions some â—ites which they receiv'd from them With this agrees what two considerable Rabbies have said viz. Our Law is the Law of Truth and all Nations glory in it and every one of them hath taken a Branch from our Law and in it they glory For the Laws that are among the Gentiles are as it were Branches cut off from our Law Whence it undeniably follows that the Iewish Laws and Ceremonies were not taken from â—hose of the Pagans Christians agree in this with the Iews Thus Iustin Martyr in his Dialogue with a Iew expresly declares that as Circumcision had its Original from Abraham so the Sabbath and Sacrifices and Offerings and Feasts had theirs from Moses and not from the Gentiles And Tertullian speaking of the Devil 's seducing and perverting of Hereticks tells us that he doth the like also among the Pagans for he apes the most Sacred and Divine things even in the Idolatrous aud Mysterious Worship of the Gentiles and makes use of them therein to prophane and impious purposes This hath been the general sense of the Christian Church whether Papists or Protestants Upon those words in Deut. 12. 30. Estius concludes and all Understanding Men may do so too that from thence
Ch. 11. v. 6. Though I be rude in Speech p. 437 Ver. 17. I speak not after the Lord. p. 472 St. JAMES Ch. 4. v. 5 6. Do you think that the Scripture saith in vain The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to Envy But he giveth more Grace p. 463 St. PETER 2 Epist. Ch. 3. v. 5. This they are willingly ignorant of that by the Word of God the Heavens were of old and the Earth standing out of the Water and in the Water p. 62 St. JOHN 2 Epist. Ver. 12. I will not write with Paper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 167 Besides sundry Texts mention'd in that Part of the Discourse where the Emendation of the present English Version of the New Testament is attempted ERRATA PAge 30. line 1O r. able fully to P. 79. l. 29. r. who were P. 104. l. 33. r. as P. 11O l. 5. r. Foundâ—rs P. 117. l. 28. r. Greeks P. 121. l. 33. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P. 139. l. 25. r. aâ— P. 140. â— 33. r. from its P. 146. l. 27. r. require either of P. 159. l. 15. r. recorded that the Letters of their Alphabet were P. 188. l. 14 after Times dele l. 15. after these dele P. 196. in the Margin r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P. 206. l. 20. r. this P. 216. l. 1. r. which we read of in P. 230. l. 15. r. Places P. 244. l. 27. r. which we and include the following words which is rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. rotulae by the LXX in a Parenthesis P. 322. l. 33 34. r. the former and f. were r. was P. 336. l. 30. r. might P. 340. l. 3. r. the deadly P. 361. l. ult r. Lives P. 432. l. 1. after thus insert P. 433. l. 3. before but leave out P. 491. l. 13. r. that P. 493. l. 4. r. in the. P. 504. l. antepenult r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P. 554. l. 32. delâ— all P. 558. l. 9. r. they did P. 562. l. 5. r. for one P. 563. l. 30. r. mist. P. 565. l. 15. r. are The Faults in the Hebrew are leâ—t to be corrected by the Learned The CONTENTS of the Several CHAPTERS CHAP. I. THE different Esteem and Sentiment of Persons concerning the Authors they make choice of to read No Writings can equal the Bible It hath been highly valued in all Ages by Men of the greatest Learning Wit and Judgment A Scheme of the following Discourse briefly propounded The Holy Scriptures are the perfect Rule of Faith They are the best Conduct of our Lives and Actions They are the only Ground of solid Consolation Joy and Happiness This Perfection of Scripture is opposed by many of the Rabbins An Account of their Cabala and Oral Law The Papists by preferring their Traditions before the Scriptures and by indeavouring to keep these latter in an unknown Tongue deny the Perfection of them So do Familists Quakers and all Enthusiasts pag. 1 CHAP. II. The Bible is furnish'd with all sorts of Humane as well as Divine Learning Hebrew wherein the Old Testament was written is the Primitive Language of the World The True Origine of the World is plainly recorded in no other Writings but these The first Chapter of Genesis is a real History and records Matter of fact It is largely proved that the Mosaick History gives us a particular Account of the first Rise of the several Nations and People of the Earth and of the Places of their Habitation Also the true Knowledg of the Original of Civil Government and the Increases of it and the different Changes it underwent is derived from these Writings The Courts of Judicature and the severâ—l kinds of Punishment among the Jews distinctly treated of The Government among the Heathen Nations The four Celebrated Monarchies or Empires of the World p. 45 CHAP. III. In these Sacred Writings we have the first and earliest Account of all useful Employments and Callings viz. Gardening Husbandry feeding of Sheep preparing of Food The antient manner of Threshing Grinding of Corn and making Bread is enquired into What was the Primitive Drink The Posture which they used at eating and drinking Sitting preceded Discubation The particular manner of placing themselves on their Beds Eating in common not always used Discalceation and Washing the Feet were the Attendants of Eating and Feasting So was Anointing They had a Master or Governour of their Feasts Who were the first Inventers of Mechanick Arts. The first Examples of Architecture Houses were built flat at top and why p. 111 CHAP. IV. The first Original of Letters and Writing is recorded here The several kinds of Materials they wrote upon of old The Instruments with which they formed their Letters or Characters The Antientest as well as the most Excellent History is in the Bible So is the Antientest and most Admired Poetry The first Invention and Practice of Musick and on what Occasions it was wont to be made use of The Rise of Natural Philosophy and who were the first Founders of it The Knowledg of the Holy Scriptures necessary in order to the due Study of Natural Philosophy The first Instances of Anatomy Medicks Chirurgery Embalming and the Apothecaries Employment are in the Old Testament Here are the first Examples of Shipping and Navigation An Enquiry into the Place whither Solomon's Navy went every three Years A Conjecture concerning Ophir Astronomy and Judiciary Astrology mention'd in Scripture Of War and Skill in Arms. The Nature of those Military Weapons which are spoken of in Scripture particularly and distinctly enquir'd into The Antiquity of Martial Ensigns and Standards The vast Numbers which the Armies of old consisted of The Scripture is not silent concerning Sportive Diversions and Exercises some of which but especially Dancing are considered p. 157 CHAP. V. We are furnish'd in the Bible with the Knowledg of the first Vsages relating to Matrimony Of Nuptial Feasts and other Antient Feasts We have here the first Notices of Buying and Selling and the Antient use of Money We learn hence what was the first Apparel and what Additions there were afterwards The chief Ornaments of Men and Women viz. Crowns Mitres Frontal Jewels Ear-rings the occasion of wearing these at first and among what Persons and Nations together with the Abuse of them Chains Bracelets Finger-Rings and Signets Changes of Garments The Antient Vse of White Apparel Fullers Earth Looking-Glasses Rending of the Garments P. 225 CHAP. VI. Here we are informed concerning the Primitive Institution of Burying Graves and Sepulchres were generally in the Fields and without the Walls of Cities They usually embalmed the dead Bodies Why they sometimes burnt them Burning also signifies Embalming There was a Difference between the Funeral Burning of the Jews and of the Heathens The Manner and Time of Mourning for the Dead Both Vocal and Instrumental Musick used at Funerals The Antiquity of Funeral Monuments The old way of erecting great Heaps of Stones over the Dead Stone-heng is a Sepulchral Monument and in imitation
Men of the greatest Learning Wit and Judgment A Scheme of the following Discourse briefly propounded The Holy Scriptures are the perfect Rule of Faith They are the best Conduct of our Lives and Actions They are the only Ground of solid Consolation Joy and Happiness This Perfection of Scripture is opposed by many of the Rabbins An Account of their Cabala and Oral Law The Papists by preferring their Traditions before the Scriptures and by indeavouring to keep these latter in an unknown Tongue deny the Perfection of them So do Familists Quakers and all Enthusiasts IT may be observed that the Minds of Men have been differently disposed as to the choice of the Authors they would read and their Esteem and Value of them have been as various It hath been usual for Persons to express a particular Kindness for one Writer above another Thus Homer of old was excessively magnified by those famous Warriors Agesilaus and Alexander the Great The former read him continually at home and in the Camp and whenever he had any time to spare for Reading The latter could not sleep without his Iliads under his Pillow Scipio â—irnamed the African had a great Opinion of Xenophon's Institution of Cyrus and was always consulting it and valued it at a high rate So among Christians St. Cyprian was a great Admirer of Tertullian and when he had a mind to read him his usual Saying was Give me my Master Charles the Great was hugely taken with St. Augustine de Civitate Dei and had it constantly read to him yea even at Supper King Alphonsus in all his Expeditions and at all other times carried Iulius Caesar's Commentaries others say Livy's History with him Theodore Gaza gave his Vote for Plutarch's Works and was so pleased with them that he protested if he could have but one Man's Writings he would certainly choose His before all others Thomas Aquinas was no less in love with St. Chrysostom on St. Matthew and expressed his high Esteem of him by saying he preferr'd him before the goodly City of Paris Charles the V th gave a greater Deference to Comines than to any other Writer and perpetually conversed with him Scaliger would rather be the Author of the ninth Ode of Horace than be Emperor of Germany And to come down yet lower Grotius gives Cujacius the Prefâ—rence to all the other Commâ—ntators on the Imperial Laws Salmasius admired no Divine so much as Calvin and particularly preferred his Institutions And the Reverend Mr. B. Oley tells us if he were to be conâ—ined to one Author he would choose Dr. Iackson's Works Thus have Mens Sentiments and Esteems been various about Books â—ome preferring one Writer and some another according as their Genius or Studies led them â—ut when we mention the Bible i. e. the Book of Books we are certain there is no Comparison between This and any others whatsoever This Sacred Volume is emphatically and by way of Eminence call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if other Books in respect of This deserv'd not the Name For in what other Writings can we deâ—cry thoâ—e Excellencies which we find in This None of them can equal it in Antiquity for the first Penman of the Sacred Scripture who relates the Origine of the World and whose Writings contain the Acts and Monuments of the Patriarchs hath the start of all Philosophers Poets and Historians and is abâ—olutely the Antientest Writer extant in the World No Writings are equal to these of the Bible if we mention only the stock of Humane Learning contain'd in them Here Linguists and Philologists may find that which is to be found no where else Here Râ—etoricians and Orators may be entertained with a more loâ—ty Eloquence with a choicer Composure of Words and with greater Variety of Stile than any other Writers can afford them Here is a Book where more is understood than expressed where Words are few but the Sense is full and redundant No Books equal This in Authority because 〈◊〉 is the Word of God himself and dictated by an unerring Spirit It excâ—ls all other Writings in the Excellency of its Matter which is the Highest Noblest and Worthiest and of the Greatest Concern to Mankind Lastly to name no more at present that I may not anticipate what is intended in the following Discourse the Scriptures transcend all other Writings in their Power and Efficacy This Word of God is pure enlightning the Eyes irradiating Mens Minds with Supernatural Truth affecting their Hearts and Consciences subduing the Refracotriness of their Wills transforming their Lives and changing them into other Persons Thence it is that all Men of well-disposed Souls find a plain Differene between their reading This and other Books When they read those it is true they are something affected and pleased the Stile or the Matter give them some Satisfaction but if they read them often and confine themselves to them their former Pleasure and Satisfaction abate and the Authors seem not to be so entertaining and acceptable as they were before and at length they become burdensom and nauseous and hence it is that some Writers grow out of fashion and other New ones are called for But it is far otherwise with this Holy Book the Affection and Pleasure which you feel in the reading it are lasting and durable because this Blessed Word sinks down into the Center of the Soul and is always present with it Though you lay this Book aside and afterwards take it up and do so again and again yea never so often you will not â—ind it grow worse but much better i. e. it will yield you greater Delight and Satisfaction and the oftner you converse with it the more you will discern the Worth of it yea the more pleasing will the very Words and Syllables of these Divine Writings be to you For what the Great Critick observes of Homer's Poem that there is a certain kind of Peculiar Easiness and Sliding in his Verse which are not to be found in any other Poets is eminently true of the Holy Scriptures if compared with other Authors there is a peculiar Sweetness a matchless Softness and Pleasantness in the Stile of these Holy Books the Words as well as the Matter are Winning and Ravishing and all pure and sanctified Minds have a clear Perception of this yea the clearer because they so frequently converse with these Inspired Writers We may then on this Account as well as on others challenge the World to shew us where there is any Book like this where there is any Author comparable to it In all Humane Writers there is something wanting something imperfect but in this Sacred Volume there are all things and every thing here is compleat To the Holy Scriptures therefore all other Writings must vail to this Best of Books they must all submit and acknowledg their Meanness and Inferiority Hence it was that the Wisest and Best Men as we may observe did always extol the Scriptures I adore the Plenitude
it should be believed as an Article of the Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to Salvation And this is a sufficient and solid Proof of a thing 's not being Necessary to Salvation that it is not contain'd in Scripture This then we assert that these Writings are Plain and Perfect as to all Matters that are Necessary and accordingly are able to put an End to all Controversies which relate to Salvation And if Men will not end them with This Rule they will never do it with any This is the Chief Perfection of Scripture that in it the whole Will of God as to those things that have a necessary Tendency to our Happiness and consequently are the only Necessary Things to be known and done by us is plainly revealed The New Testament particularly is the last Revelation of God's Will and Counsel and nothing is to be added to it or taken from it which makes it a Perfect Standard of Belief and a Compleat Rule of our Lives in which there is nothing short and defective nothing superfluous and redundant Here are all the Principles of True Religion and all the Measures of Holy Living so that whilst we proceed according to this Perfect Canon we are infallibly certain of the Truth of what we believe and of the Rectitude and Lawfulness of what we act On this sole Account the Holy Writ excels all Writings in the World besides 3. We are to adjoin this that as it is a Light to our Vnderstandings and a Rule of our Lives so it is the grand Procurer of our Comfort Ioy and Tranquillity Alas they are Cold Topicks of Consolation which the Writings of the Best Moralists afford us When our outward Distresses and Miseries much more when our inward and spiritual Maladies increase upon us Epictetus and Seneca with all their Spangled Sayings are too mean Physicians to take us in Hand The Great Cicero when in the Close of his Life he was reduced to marvelous Difficulties declared that his Learning and his Books afforded him not any Considerable Arguments of Comfort that the Disease of his Mind which he lay under was too great and too strong to be cured by those Ordinary Medicines which Philosophy administred to him There must be some greater Traumatick some more powerful Application to these Wounds to work a perfect Cure And this Divine Book is able to furnish us with it This alone can remove our Pains and Languors and restore us to an entire Health This faith the Psalmist is my Comfort in my Affliction Thy Word hath quickned me And again Vnless thy Law had been my Delight I should then have perished in my Affliction It was this which upheld and chear'd him in his greatest Straits and yielded him Light and Joy when all things about him look'd black and dismal If but a small part of the Bible had this blessed Effect how powerful and successful will All of it prove if we duly consult it seriously meditate upon it and give it admittance into our Hearts If the Apostle could say Whatsoever things were written asore time in this Book were written for our Learning that we through Patience and Comfort of the scriptures might have Hope how much greater Hope must needs be administred to us in all Conditions of Life but more especially in the Day of Trouble and Calamity when we have the Scriptures not only of the Old but New Testament to repair unto This latter especially will be a never-falling Spring of Contentment and Joy to us In these Books we have a true and perfect Landskip and View of the World Here is unmask'd and laid open the Vanity of it Here we are assured that many of the Gay things which it presents us with and which fond Minds so dote upon are but empty Bubbles deceitful Phantoms and Apparitions mere Conceits and Castles in the Air. Here we are inform'd that a Prosperous State is not really Good that an Overplus of Riches and Worldly Abundance does frequently prove a Clog to vertuous Minds and that Excess of Pleasures is too fulsom and luscious and takes away that purer Relish of spiritual and heavenly Delights yea that Men generally find a worse Effect of them for when they are gorged and clogg'd with them they revolt from God when they are waxen fat they kick against Heaven So their Worldly Plenty is turn'd into the worst of Punishments and this Plethory is their Disease On the other side we are taught in these Writings that Crosses and Afflictions are not evil in themselves yea that they are Good and Medicinal and advance our spiritual Health that they are so far from being a hindrance to our Happiness that they are a part of it for otherwise the Afflicted would not be so often pronounced Blessed That God's Afflicting a Man is Magnifying of him and setting his Heart upon him It shews that God is greatly concern'd for his Good and that the Almighty hath more care of him than he hath of himself Here we are instructed that we have ground to suspect our Condition if we be wholly exempted from the Distresses of this Life and that not to be Chastised is a Mark of Bastardy Here we learn the true use and end of all those Adverse Dispensations which we meet with viz. that they were designed to try us to make us know our selves and to inform us how evil and bitter a thing it is to offend the Divine Majesty to awaken us out of our Sloth and Security to hold us in Action to keep us in Breath and Exercise as Carthage was useful to rouze Rome's Valour to abate our Pride and Haughtiness and make us humble and submissive Creatures to check our immoderate Passions and Pursuits after earthly things to disintangle us from these Snares to free us from these Charms to keep us from being suck'd in and swallowed up in the powerful Circle and Eddy of this World as who knows not that it is True Philosophy that the World is made up of Vortices to cause us to look after Better Things when these are taken from us to reclaim us from our evil Courses and to reduce us unto Vertue and Goodness to excite us to a Renunciation of all Trust and Confidence in our selves and the transitory Enjoyments of this World and to depend upon God alone It is this Book whence we are acquainted that our Sufferings make us conformable to Christ our Master and therefore are Honourable Badges of Christianity That the Curse which usually attends outward Crosses is taken away by our Saviour's Death That the Calamities of the Faithful are Chastisements rather than Punishments That no Adverse Accidents can do us any hurt if we believe in Jesus and abandon our Sins That the Pressures of this Life are serviceable to make us pity those that are in Misery to know and relish the Love of Christ in suffering for us to inhanse the Comforts of a Good Conscience to commend
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dialog * Beza Caninius in locum * In 〈◊〉 26. †In Mâ—re 14. ‖ Critie Dec. 2. â— 6. * Naâ— Hist. l. 1â— â— 2. * Diog Laâ—rt in Platone * Hom. 28. in Epist. ad Hebr. †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 devita Tiâ— 3. 9. * In Hesychio †In Locum * Isa. 11. 2. †Isa. 11. 2. ‖ Eph. 1. 17. * Gal. 6. 1. †2 Tim. 1. 7. ‖ Rom. 11. 8. ‖‖ Hos. 5. 4. ‖‖ 1 John 4. 3. * Isa. 19. 14. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spiritus * Lib. dâ— Cultu Sâ—ellar †De Diâ— Syr. Proleg ‖ Antiqu. â—â—1 c. 4. * Not. Miscell in Port. Mos. * See at the End of the Book †It hath 4 Significations urere discere dividere convivic excipere * Lexicon ex Talmud in Sanhedrim * See Buxtorf de Abbreviat Hebraic * See at the end of the Book * Vatablus Munster Drusius †De Animal sacr l. 1. ‖ Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 20. l. 18. c. 21. Solin cap. 43 65. Strabo Geogr. lib. 15. Aelian Hist. Animal l. 6. c. 20. ‖‖ Scâ—liger Exercit. 205. * Et nova velocem cingula laedat Eqâ—â—â— Ovid de Remed * Dag gadol Jon. 1. 17. †Mr. Bochart De Cero Jonae * Contra Cardan de balaenis * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in visceribus * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. Od. ◠†Maâ— 12. 40. * Bochart de Anim. Sacr. * 2 Kings 9. 37. Psal. 83. 10. Jer. 8. 2. * Contr. Haeref l. 1. †Druthmarus in loc ‖ In Matth. cap. 3. * Clemens Alex. Chrysostom Nicephorus Hist. l. 1. c. 14. Isidor l. 1. Epist. 5. †Hieron Montius de Tutela salubritatis ‖ Annotat. in Matth. 3. 4. * Lib. 4. c. 3. †Advers Jovinian * Lexic Hebraic †Jon. 4. 6. * Miscell l. 4. c. 5. * Annotat. in Exod. 3. 23. * Antiqu. l. 3. c. 1. †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ‖ Paul Fagius in Exod. 28. 20. * Deut. 3. 11. †1 Sam. 17. 4. ‖ Origen Hom. 2. in Gen. Augustin de Civ Del l. 15. c. 27. * Butâ—o de Arcâ— Noc Kircher Arc. Noâ— * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 †Manipuli spicarum * Dr. Lightfoot Hor. Hebraic * De Asse †Lib. 9. c. 1â— * Denarius à denis aeris * Georgius Agricola Budaeus Alciat Porâ—ius Glareanus Fuschius Waserus Brerewood Dr. Cumberland * De bel Jud. l. 4. c. 18. * Grotius Dr. Lightfoot * Antiqu. l. 2. c. 5. * Gen. 10. 11 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 1. 20. ch 1◠〈◊〉 Luke 1. 27. and sevâ—ral other times in the same Evangelist * Matth. 27. 56. Mark 15. 40. †Matth. 27. 61. * 〈◊〉 Solomon Aben Ezra c. †Antiqu. l. 8. c. 6. * Communi nomine Candacae appellatae sunt Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 29. * R. Levi Mercerus Cocceius * Sir Norton Knatchbull 's Annotations on St. Matthew * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suidas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hesych †Jam. 3. 9. * Significat vel genu vel sermonem flectere ad aliquem alloqui cum geniculatione Forster Heb. Dict. * See in the End of the Book * In Epist. ad Philem. v. 2. †Haeres 78. ‖ Epist. 22. ad Eustoch * John 2. 10. †Gen. 43. 34. ‖ Lib. 5. ‖‖ Lib. 26. c. 11. * Dionys. Halicarn * Dr. Brown's Vulgar Errors * Tiberium non fortunae non solitudines protegebant quin pectoris tormenta suasque ipse poenas fateretur Annal. c. ◠†Sueton. in Nerone cap. 34. ‖ Thuanuâ— * Antiqu. l. 1. c. 3. * Sir Norton Kâ—atchbull on Mat. 27. 9. * Luke 12. 49. * Commentar in Pentatâ—uch * Aâ—tiqu l. 7. c. 10. †Urâ—â—â—h Urajoth * Not. in Act. †Mesopotamia tota Assyriorum fâ—it c. Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 6. ‖ Reliqua pars Mesopotamiae Assyriaeque â—â—bylonia appellata est * Lib. 25. * John 2. 1. * De Dâ—s Syr. Proleg c. 1. * Joseph Antiqu. 1. 1. * Lib. 16. †Virgil. Georg. 1 2. ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 12. 42. * Antiqu. 1. 2. c. 5. ‖‖ Ludolph Hist. Ethiop * Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 29. †Psal. 72. 10. ‖ Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. * In Phaleg * Antiqu. l. 8. c. 2. †In Phaleg ‖ China illustrata * 〈◊〉 Antiqu. l. 8. c. 2. * Rev. 1. 1. * 1 John 2. 18. †1 Pet. 4. 7. ‖ 1 Cor. 10. 11. * 2 Epist. ch 3. v. 13. * Mat. 26. 13. this Gospel Acts 5. 20. this Life and other Places So that Mat. 7. 22. 1 John 3. 12. and these 1 Cor. 12. 2. 2. Tim. 1. 12. are prefixed where there is no reference to any thing going before * Antiqu. I. 2. c. 6. * Usher Knatchbull * Antiq. Jud. l. 6. c. 15. * Mr. Abraham Cowley in his Davideis * Concent of Scripture †The Câ—ronicle of the Times of the Old Testament * Comment in S. Matth. * Jul. African Greg. Nazianz. Auguslin Jerom Eusebius Ambrose †Baronius Jansenius c. * Academ cap. 2. * Soepe pellibus tabernaculi allevatis ut conspiceres hostium ignes Hist. lib. 7. †Tentoria militum erant ex pellibus c. De gest Alex. M. l. 1. ‖ Decad. 1. lib. 5. * Lib. 1. cap 12. †De Bello Gall. l. 3. c. 4. ‖ Lib. 8. cap. 2. ‖‖ 4 Acad. * Therapeut †Hom. 5. â—n 2 Tim. ‖ Comment in Epist. â—d Eplies * Lib. 4. †Voss. Etymolog 2 Psal. 19. 8. 3 Lib. advers Hermogenem 4 Juvencus Nazianzen 〈◊〉 Sedulius Prudentius Aâ—aâ—or Rusticus Elpidius 5 Dâ—-Bartas Bâ—chanan Bishop Hall Sir George Sandys Dr. Donne Mr. 〈◊〉 Mr. Hâ—rbâ—râ— Dr. Beauâ—oâ—â— Mr. Câ—wley Mr. Milton Dr. More Mr. Norris Mr. Wâ—oâ—ford Dr. Patrick Vida Wesâ—â—y 6 In his Liâ—e 7 Iudg Hale in his Letter to one of his Soâ—s 8 Cicâ—ronem amââ—â—e proâ—ecisse est Qâ—intil 1 Dr. Iackson Vol. 1. Book â— 1 Article the 6th viz. of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation 1 Imbecillior est Medicina quam Morbus Epist 16. ad Attic. Lib. 10. 2 Psal. 119. 50. 3 v. 92. 1 Rom. 15. 4. 1 Job 5. 17. Psal. 94. 12. Prov. 3. 11. Matth. 5. 10. 11. Acts 14. 22. Râ—m 5. 3. 8. 17. Jam. 1. 2 12. 2 Job 7. 17. 1 2 Cor. 1. 12. 1 Iudg Hale in his Discourse of the Knowledg of God and of our Selves 1 2. Tim. 3. 17. 2 a kibbel accepit quia à Majoribus accepta est 1 In Deuteron cap. 34. 1 Impossible est stare super Fundamento Legis scriptae nisi beneâ—icio Legis ore traditae 2 Verba Legis in loco proprio egena funt in alieno verò locupletissima 3 Magni montes dependent à pilo 4 Sapientes suis ipsorum verbis robur secerunt majus quà m ipsis Legis verbis