Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	write_v	writer_n	writing_n	265	4	9.0950	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A38026	Polpoikilos sophia, a compleat history or survey of all the dispensations and methods of religion, from the beginning of the world to the consummation of all things, as represented in the Old and New Testament shewing the several reasons and designs of those different administrations, and the wisdom and goodness of God in the government of His church, through all the ages of it : in which also, the opinion of Dr. Spencer concerning the Jewish rites and sacrifices is examin'd, and the certainty of the Christian religion demonstrated against the cavils of the Deists, &c. / by John Edwards ...	Edwards, John, 1637-1716.	1699 (1699)	Wing E210; ESTC R17845	511,766	792

of materials of Linen Gold c. as the Garments were but were only bare words written or engraved and deposited in the hollow of the Breast-Plate which was a folded or doubled Cloth and was capable of holding those written Words wherefore they are bid to put them in it not upon it for upon it were the twelve Precious Stones I have shew'd the probability of this Opinion from several material Considerations as well as from the manner of Expression us'd in Exod. 28. 30. Thou shalt put or according to the Hebrew thou shalt give in the Breast-plate the Vrim and Thummim I have shew'd that giving is apply'd in several places of Scripture to writing and I will further confirm it by one Instance more viz. in Ezek. 9. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 give i. e. write a mark on the Foreheads c. for it is spoken to him who had the Writer's Inkhorn ver 2 3. Thus giving and writing are the same And so in our own way of speaking there is something like it for to render or give and to ascribe are sometimes synonimous These written Words which were of mighty Importance and Significancy were put into the Rationale or rather the Duplicature contain'd in it and were made use of by the High Priest when Answers were to be given Those Words may signifie to us the nature of this kind of Oracle viz. that by consulting it they should be illuminated that is the import of Vrim they should have a clear discovery of what they ask'd and enquired after and they should have not only a Distinct but a Full and Perfect Answer that is implied in Thummim to their Demands If it be Objected as I find it is that the Hebrew ● being set before Vrim and Thummim and the particle the being placed before them in our English Translation argue the Vrim and Thummim to be things and not bare words I answer it is true that the Hebrew ha which is sometimes a Praepositive Article before Nouns and is rendred the is like the Greek Articles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before some words very significant and emphatical having the force of a Demonstrative but at other times you will find that it is of no significancy at all but is a mere Expletive So that we cannot infer with any certainty that ha or the being prefix'd to Vrim and Thummim have any Emphasis or argue them to be Things and not Words Again you may observe that tho it be haurim in Exod. 28. 30. and is translated the Vrim yet in Num. 27. 21. tho there be the Article ha in the Original yet in our English Translation it is plain Vrim And moreover take notice that it is barely Vrim Deut. 33. 8. 1 Sam. 28. 6. both in the Hebrew and in our Translation Whence still you may infer that there is no stress to be laid on either the Hebrew ha or the English the when they are prefix'd to Vrim and Thummim there is nothing Emphatick in it Nay that the is no note of a thing is clear from Hag. 2. 6. not to mention any other place where the Hebrew ha and the English the are set before word and you 'l find almost a hundred times in your English Bible the word but I suppose you will not thence gather that a word is a thing taking this latter in the strictest sense This is the best and plainest account I can give of the Vrim and Thummim on which I should further have enlarged if I had not prevented my self by a Particular Essay on this subject I never met with any one that had any thing considerable to object against this Notion but on the contrary I find that one or two Writers of good Note have shew'd themselves much inclin'd to embrace it I am not concern'd to satisfie those who ask how God answer'd by these Words or Letters It is hard to resolve this Question but such a Conjecture as this may be probable that the High Priest was particularly taught by God to understand this Secret from some difference which he observ'd in the Letters made by God's own disposal If the Iewish Writers thought such a thing as this was Reasonable and Accountable when they asserted the Responses to be made by the Precious Stones I do not see why we may not with greater reason make use of the same Solution here But this we are certain of that the Divine Responses were given by and from these Vrim and Thummim and we are sure that they were part of the celebrated Shekinah the Divine Presence the Visible and Glorious Appearance of God for by these in an extraordinary manner which none is able to relate he reveal'd his Will to the High Priests and they imparted it to those who came to inquire of this Oracle And so I have let you see what were the Various Revelations both Ordinary and Extraordinary under the several Dispensations we have been speaking of The Mosaick Occonomy especially had the advantage of all these the Iewish People were most signally honoured with all these sorts of Revelations Vnto them were committed the Oracles of God Rom. 3. 2. The High Priest's Pectoral is call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because Responses in some difficult cases were Spoken and Reveal'd thereby and so the Revelations of God's Will by that way are call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Apostle here but that is not all for this is to be look'd upon as a large word to signifie all the Various Discoveries vouchsafed by God the Divers manners of communicating his Pleasure to Mankind He spoke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It might be expected now that I should pass to the Evangelical Dispensation but I having said under the Abrahamick Occonomy that there was then a palpable Distinction made between God's Servants and Worshippers and those that worship'd false Gods and afterwards in the Mosaick Dispensation there being a more Visible Distinction made it is necessary here to add something to qualifie what was there said and to acquaint you with the whole Account of God's Transactions in that affair it is proper here to say something of God's dealing with other Nations which makes a Distinct O●conomy CHAP. X. The Gentile Oeconomy Others besides those of the Family of Abraham were of the Church Some of these were in Palestine An enumeration of the several Opinions concerning Melchisedech He was a Canaanitish King and Priest Job's Countrey His Character His Friends Several other Pious and Religious Gentiles in other Countreys Hebrew Prophets sent to the people of other Nations Malachi speaks of True Worshippers among the Gentiles The Proselytes of the Gate The Proselytes of Righteousness Tho the Nations were generally forsaken of God because of their Idolatry yet some among them professed and worshipped the True God Those places of Scripture in the Old and New Testament which set forth the Peculiar Privileges of the Jewish People are not inconsistent with this No Nations were debarr'd and excluded

peculiar People and taken into Grace and Favour There was a Distinction made between God's Servants and others under the Abrahamick Period but now it is more Visible and Remarkable now the Iewish State properly commenceth now these People are molded into a new Commonwealth and God is their peculiar Governour The Church of God was first united into One Politick Body or Society and grew to be National in Moses's time Now the Church in the Wilderness as 't is call'd by St. Stephen Acts 7. 38. became a Distinct Body of men known by the name of Israelites This Oeconomy is famous for the Delivering of a Threefold Law Moral Ceremonial Iudicial Tho Moral Ecclesiastical Civil may be a better Division of those Laws for some that are reckon'd among the Ceremonial and Typical Laws as Tithes and First-fruits are not such and some of those call'd Iudicial deserve not that name But the Usual Partition shall serve and by the Moral Law we understand those Precepts and Commands by the observance of which men are madereally Good and Virtuous The Ceremonial Law is the Iews Canon Law and directs them in their external Behaviour in Religious Worship and tells them what Rites and Usages they must observe By the Iudicial Law we understand the Civil Law of the Iewish Nation as Ius Civile is taken for the Particular Law of every single State This contains those Constitutions and Orders which respect Publick Justice and acquaints men what is Right and Equitable in their Dealings and Commerce with one another The first of these are such Precepts and Prohibitions as are good in themselves The Second are indifferent in their own Nature but are so far good as they are commanded by a Positive Law of God The third sort are of a mixt Nature being partly in their own nature good and partly indifferent This Triple Law is thought by the Iewish Writers to be comprised in those three words Commandments Statutes Iudgments Deut. 6. 1. Mitzoth Praecepta are said to be the Ten Commandments the Moral Law Chukkim Statuta are thought to be those Rites and Ceremonies that respect God's Worship as Circumcision c. Mishaphattim Iudicia are suppos'd to be all those Politick Constitutions that concern humane Society But it is not certain that by these three words are meant those three distinct kinds of Laws for these are mention'd in Gen. 26. 5. before there was this formal Distinction of Laws And in Deut. 11. 1. you will find these words transposed which intimates that those are too nice who understand them in the former manner for 't is not likely that the Commandments i. e. the Moral Law would be set in the last place Wherefore I think it more probable that this diversity of words is used only to signifie the whole body of Precepts of what nature soever that was given to the Iews But this is unquestionable that the Dec●logue is the chief and most eminent part of these Laws and the rest are b●t Appendages and Supplements to it The Cerom●●ial Injunctions are annex'd to the Precepts of the first Table and those that are Iudicial to them of the Second The former are Particular Instances of the Duty which was required of the Iewish people toward● God the latt●r of their Duty towards their Neighbours The Hebrew Doctors divide all the Commandments of the Law into 248 〈◊〉 and 365 Negative and both 〈◊〉 into Twelve Houses as they call them and under each House more or less Commandments The ●●mplete Sum is 613 which they say is according to the number of the ●etter● in the 〈◊〉 in which all the Law is virtually and reductively comprised These Ten Words as they are called in the Hebrew and those other Iudicial and Ceremonial Laws which you may find set down from the 20 th Chap. of Exodus to the end of the Pentateuch began to be deliver'd on Mount Sinai three months after the Israelites came out of Egypt Exod. 19. 1. Moses was forty days or six weeks in the Mount or rather if you con●ult the ●●●tory you will find that he was twice or thrice on the Mount so long a time or a very considerable time and then it was that he receiv'd these Divine Laws First I will speak concerning the Moral Law comprised in the Ten Commandments I call the wh●l● Decalogue the Moral Law although the Observation of the Seventh Day app●inted in the Fourth Commandment be not strictly Moral but because the Devoting some Certain Time to God's Service is Moral and is contain'd in that Comm●ndment therefore I reckon it part of the Moral Law You meet with several particular Laws relating to Moral Duties scatter'd up and down in the four last Books of Moses but these Ten Words as they are call'd are a Summary Account of all those Laws and Rules which are more sp●cially and particularly set down This Law of Morality and Natural Reason was in all the former Dispensations but that which makes it Peculiar in is this that this Law which before was Written in mens Hearts is now Ingraven on Stone If I should say that there were no Lett●rs at all before these which God used on Mount Sinai If I should a●sert that they had no Books or Writings before the 〈◊〉 but that the Characters of the Law were the first that ever were in the World and consequently that now God taught men to write I do not see how why man can disprove me But this we are sure of that from Adam to Moses which is above 2000 years there was no Written Word of God to direct the World The Church was without Scriptures God's Will which was communicated to them by Revelation was continued and kept up by Tradition If it be demanded why God suffer'd the World to live so long without a written Law and what was the Reason of the writing of the Law at last I answer 1. The long Lives of the Patriarchs as hath been intimated before were one main Reason why there was no Written Law for so long a time There was a College and Society of many Seniors living many hundred years together with one another Adam lived with Seth 800 years with Enes 695 with Cainan 605 with Mahalaleel 535 with Iared 470 with Methuselah 243 with Lamech 56. Or we may instance in Pious Shem who was both before and after the Flood he lived with Methuselah 97 years with Lam●ch 92 with Noah 447 with Arphaxad Sala and Heber about 430 with Peleg and Regu about 239 with Serug 230 with Nabor 149 with Terah 205 with Abraham 150 with Isaac 50. These therefore could con●er Notes with great ease they could inform themselves truly concerning the Faith and Religion and Practice of the First Man they could instruct one another concerning thei● Duty and the indispensible necessity of it Or take it more briefly thu● Adam lived to converse with Methuselah Methuselah lived to see and know Shem Shem lived till Iacob was born so that these

observe that he Invited and Allured them as well as Terrified them The Promise of a Land flowing with Milk and Honey suited these Children well Pueris olimdant crustula blandi Doctores elementa veli●t ut disc●r● prima Earthly and Carnal things and the Conveniencies of this present Life were chiefly propounded to the Iews to encourage them to draw them on gently and to win upon them Children are taken with a gawdy Outside accordingly these were brought up with Ceremonies Fine and Gay things to please their Childish Fancies The goodly Garments and pompous Vestments of the High-Priest were a very agreeable Sight to them the jingling Bells of A●ron were a very pleasing Musick Indeed the whole Mosaick Work was very Curious and Fine most of the Legal Furniture was Rich and Sumptuous and therefore a Sutable Entertainment for them To teach and instruct Children whose Reason is weak and imperfect we use Emblems Pictures and Representations Thus Types and Symbols were a sort of Instructions sutable to the Iews In those dark Times these Shadows served very well But these Ceremonious Rites and Practices were in order to something else God call'd the Iews by things Carnal and Sensual to those that are Spiritual by Temporal Objects to those that are Eternal and by things Earthly unto those that are Heavenly The Mosaick Laws were like Frames and Props which support an Arch till it is finish'd and can stand alone then the Supporters are removed and become useless to the Building When the Evangelical Oeconomy approached then the Iewish Ceremonies and Observances ceas'd and were laid aside for the Ritual Law of Moses was given on purpose to be a Governour and Manager of Childish and Imperfect Souls and to prepare and train them up to something that is Manly and Perfect viz. the Administration of the Gospel which was to succeed Nor is this unworthy of God for he wisely alters his methods in his administring the Affairs of the World according to the Times and Ages he deals with Wherefore he is wont to approve of such and such Practices for a season and then afterwards to change them Which argues not any mistake or error or want of foreknowledg in God as the Deists who laugh at the Iewish as well as the Evangelical Dispensation would suggest but the alteration is prudently made according to the circumstances of Times and Persons 5. It was the opinion of the Iewish Doctors and Rabbies that some of these Ceremonial Usages were design'd to instruct the Iews in their necessary Du●ies and Practices and to teach them wholesom Lessons of Morality This Mystical and Moral meaning of the different kinds of Sacrifices difference of Meats and all the other Mosaick Observances is set down by Theodoret in his Questions on Levi●icu● which I will not h●re recite And Aquinas and others in the Account or Rationale which they give of the Ceremonial Institutions speak something of this I know indeed that many of old and some more lately have most fondly and fantastically interpreted those Ritual Laws what they deliver is their own conceit and hath no foundation to support it They under the pretence of giving the meaning of those Iewish Rites say and write any thing This is that sort of men who fill all things● in Divinity with Allegory and Mystery and thereby abuse and prophane the Holy Scripture But yet there may be a Moral sense profitably made of the Mosaick Law which treats of the Ceremonies wholesom Instructions may be drawn thence for directing our Lives and Manners and this might be partly and by the● by design'd in the instituting these things 6. These Ritual Observances and Ceremonial practices were Types and Figures to represent greater things that were to come God chose out a certain People from the rest of the World to make them a Spectacle to all others and by his wonderful dealing with them● as in a Type to signifie to us the admirable method of his gracious Will to Mankind in future Ages All their Promises and Rewards were presignificative of the Mercy intended to be exhibited to the World afterwards And the same may be said of their Ceremonial and Ritual Worship I have shew'd already that the Mosaick Sacrifices and the Tabernacle and all the things appertaining to it and the Feast of the Passover signified higher Things but it is as true that the Other considerable Ri●es enjoyn'd by Moses's Law did so too for there is the like Reason for one as for another That they were to represent Sublime Sacred and Heavenly things we are assured from the Infallible Scriptures where they are call'd the Example and Shadow of heavenly things and Patterns of things in the Heavens And more ●ully the Apostle declares that Meat and Drink i. e. the difference of these and Holy-Days and New Moons and Sabbath Days are a Shadow of things to come but the Body is of Christ Col. 2. 16 17. The main design of those things was to prefigure the Messias and the Benefits of the Gospel these are the Substance and the others were the Shadow Thus St. Ierom speaking of the Book of Leviticus saith that all the Sacrifices in it yea almost all the syllables and the Garments of Aaron and the whole Levi●ick Order breat ●e heavenly Sacraments Thus Iustin Martyr informed the Iew whom he discours'd with that all the Ordinances and Rites of the Mosaick Law were Figures Symb●ls and Declara●ions of the things which were to happen afterwards unto Christ. The Allegorical Interpreters who apply the Mosaick Rites to the Church of Christ and to the Messias himself tho they are sometimes more Ingenious than Solid and may be thought to strain and force some things yet as to the main they let us see that those Mosaick and Ritual Constitutions had some reference to the Gospel and that most of them ●ypifie and represent the great things of the Christian Dispensation Indeed the Mosaick Observances taken according to the mere Letter are very odd and strange and some of them seem to be very light and frivolous and unworthy of their Author I am bold to say with Origen that if these Ceremonial Laws of Moses have no other meaning than the literal one they come far short of the Roman Athenian or Lacedemonian Laws But if you consider that they were serviceable to try the Iews Obedience to restrain them and keep them in awe to divert them from Idolatry and that they were ●uitable to their present Condition and also that they were to inform their manners and Lastly that they were Images and Types of Spiritual things that they represented and pointed out the Messias with all his Blessed Undertakings and the unspeakable Benefits which accrue to us thence you will not say those Laws were light and ludicrous and unworthy of God but that they were of great and singular use and serv'd to most excellent purposes This is the best account I can give

them And these Envoys of Heaven were sent not only to God's own People but sometimes to others as the Ninivites Thus Revelation was made by Voice God spake himself or by others audibly and this was no uncommon way of divulging and discovering his Will Again God spake i. e. communicated himself heretofore not only by the sense of Hearing but by that of Seeing He was pleased to make known his Divine Pleasure by some visible Appearances which most vigorously struck on that Sense and gave more evident Testimony of the Will of Heaven Thus God discovered himself 1. by Angels Appearing for tho it was not the Appearing of these Messengers but their Speaking to persons which gave them the discovery of God's pleasure yet the former was no mean Confirmation of what was delivered because those Glorious Spi●●ts could not appear to Mankind unless they were commission'd by God When he thought fit to send them then and not else they descended from Heaven and shew'd themselves to Men. 2. Writing was another manner of Visible Revelation Thus the Law was deliver'd to Moses and afterwards this way of Revelation grew frequent the Sacred History of Moses and other Histories and Prophecie being committed to Writing Thus the Antient Church before Christ's coming had the Written Word of the Holy Scriptures to inform them 3. God spake to the Sight by those Representations which in Holy Writ are so usually stiled Visions for these properly belong to the outward Sense of Seeing they are either Real Spectacles exposed to the eye as the Burning Bush which Moses saw Exod. 3. 2. and the Pillar of a Cloud which went before the Israelites in the day and the Pillar of Fire which conducted them in the night Exod. 13. 21. and the Cloud in the Temple 2 Chron. 5. 13 14. call'd the Glory of the Lord 2 Chron. 7. 1 2. And this Expression is used in other places of the Old Testament to signifie that Visible Glory and Majesty whereby he manifested himself to Mankind in those times Or else Visions in Holy Scripture are certain Images of things represented by God to the Eye as those Strange Appearances and Signs mention'd in the Books of Ieremiah Ezekiel and Daniel Whether these things may be said to be real Objects or whether they be mere Apparitions we need not as some solicitously inquire If they be Resemblances caused by God and there be such an Impression made on the Sense of Seeing that the Organ be affected as if there were such an Object before it it is sufficient to denominate it Vision But this is not to be doubted of that these external Representations and Figures pointed out Real things either present or to come From this sort of Manifestation call'd Vision the Prophets who were most conversant in this way of Revelation were stiled Se●rs 1 Sam. 9. 9 18. 2 Chron. 35. 15. Thus I have distinctly spoken of Voices and Visions but it must be observed also that these two are joyned together sometimes This you may see in some of the foregoing Instances and in others not named the Revelation by Voice was mixed with that by Vision so in the New Testament Saul saw a Light and heard a Voice But I am confined at present to the Old Testament for I speak now only of the variety of Revelations which were before the Gospel-Dicd\sspensation It is to be observed moreover that sometimes Vision and Voice were accompanied with an Extasy tho the persons were awake yet they were cast into a Trance Lastly under this head it is remarkable that all the outward and sensible ways of God's revealing himself especially those that are visible are call'd by the Jewish Masters the Shekinah i. e. the Divine Presence and Majesty whereby the doth as it were dwell and is constantly present with his Church for the word Shakan signifies to inha●●●● or dwell whereby he doth gloriously discover himself to his Servants With reference to this the Apostle saith to the Israelites pertaineth the Glory Rom. 9. 4. i. e. the Glorious Presence and Habitation of God with them not only by Angels but all those other ways before spoken of in which he appear'd and manifested himself in the times of the Law This St. Paul stiles the Glory because this Visible Appearing of God is so stiled as you have heard in the Old Testament and because the Seventy Interpreters whose way of speaking this Apostle is wont to imitate used the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to express the Glorious Presence of the Divine Majesty in any kind of Sensible and External manner 2. There are Inward as well as Outward Revelations These are made more immediately to the Soul as the other were to the Body First God spake or reveal'd himself to the Fancies of Men by Dreams He thought good to communicate his Will to persons by a powerful Influence on their Imaginations whilst they were asleep as well as by presenting things to their Senses when they were awake Thus God reveal'd himself to Abraham Abimelech Iacob Ioseph Pharaoh Solomon Nebuchadnezzar In their Dreams their Fancies were impress'd with such and such Representations they verily thought they beheld this or that Object as Iacob thought he saw a Ladder that reached from Heaven to Earth And because these Representations seem to be offer'd to the eye therefore they are sometimes call'd Visions in Scripture I saw a Dream saith Nebuchadnezzar Dan. 4. 5. And so we read of a Dream of the night Vision Isai. 29. 7. But if you speak of Visions in the proper sense then it is certain Visions and Dreams are two distinct Species of Revelation and so I have made them having before spoken of Visions strictly so call'd But this is a thing not consider'd sometimes by Writers on this Subject and so they confound Visions and Dreams Secondly God speaks to the Soul not only by working on the Imagination in Sleep but by immediate Inspiring the minds of the Prophets when they are awake This way of revealing his Will to Men is call'd Inspiration and sometimes Illumination but there is a gradual difference between these the former being of a higher degree than the later and the later being as it were a Preparative to the former This Inspiration which is made by an inward Afflatus and Excitation of the Spirit is signally call'd the Holy Spirit by the Jewish Writers A man say they is said to have the Holy Spirit when being awake and having the full use of his Senses he speaks by the Incitement of the Spirit Thus the Prophets of old spake as they were stirr'd up by this Inward Afflation and Instinct The Jewish Doctors think that this degree of Divine Revelation is especially in the Psalms of David and the Proverbs of Solomon and the Book of Iob c. the Writers of which are termed by way of Excellency Chetubim Scriptores by the Hebrews and their Writings are distinguish'd from other Books of