convincing if it is by the Light of Nature 't would be as extravagant to deny it as that the most evident principles of all Siences are false if 't is said that 't is by a natural disposition that men believe there is a God why should we resist the Instinct of Nature since the notions thereof never deceive us If you agree that there is a powerful reason which persuades all men 't is renouncing a Common sence to refuse to yield thereunto But if they agree that man received this knowledge from an ancient tradition as appears more likely we must seek from whence this tradition is come to us and who was the Common Master of all mankind The Names of those who were the first founders of a sect are sufficiently known as are they also who have engaged the World in certain opinions but of him that invented this there 's neither name nor place to be found nor time in which he lived nor the manner whereby it was introduced and spread amongst Men 't is this that makes one believe that the Authors of this tradition were our first Parents who as they could not be Ignorant of their Original were obliged without doubt to teach this truth to their children It is easily conceived that from thence all the World have learnt it This thought conducts us to another which is of the greatest Importance to the subject we are speaking of viz that all mankind is descended from one man only or at least a very little number of People that assembled together from whence appears first that the Generations of men had a beginning and secondly that we cannot resist the doctrine of the existence of a Deity as an apolitical fiction for suppose that mankind hath a beginning upon the earth from whence could he draw his Original but from a Divinity as we have conceived what other being could form bodies so admirably as ours and to have joyn'd to 'em an Intelligence like that of our soul let us consider also who hath taught the first man there was a God and how it entred into his mind that he drew his existence from him if he that formed him had not discovered it to him in a sensible manner and taught him 't was to him he owed his being only in a word since they have taught to their posterity we have no reason to refuse 'em our belief and we can't Imagin their testimonies less worthy of faith nor find men who can be instructed in their Original than themselves nor can we reasonably reject a Tradition which is transmitted from 'em to us This reason we find entire in Plato We must believe those who told us they were of the race of the Gods since they say they know perfectly from whom they were descended 't is impossible to distrust the Children of the Gods altho they should bring no evident demonstration of what they declared and since they advance things only that belong to themselves 't is Iust to believe ' em Thus one sees these two truths the universal Tradition of a Divinity and the Supposition that all men are come from the same Original maintain both As to the last there are divers Histories and opinions that confirm it altho' it cannot be better upheld than by the universal belief I just spoke of Nevertheless 't is not unuseful to give you some examples 'T is without doubt by an antient Tradition which relates no more than to the first men as the greatest part of the Heathens have believed that all mankind drew their Original from the same Parents who received their being from that divinity in resemblance of which they were form'd Finxit ad effigiem Moderantûm cuncta Deorum That the Soul is immortal that there are rewards and punishments after this Life according as men live well or ill That there are places where good men are happy and others where the wicked receive their punishment after death It cannot be said that Philosophers have discovered these truths and perswaded all the World of 'em for they are too subtle and fine upon this subject to perswade all men It must necessarily be from Tradition that all men have learn'd this Truth One ought to believe with Plato Relations touching these sort of things which are so great in number permanere animos saith Cicero arbitramur consensu Nationum omnium Cum de animarum aternitate disserimus saith Seneca after him Non leve momentum apud nos habet consensus hominum aut Timentium inferos aut Colentium 'T is also from the same source that this Opinion is spread amongst the Heathens as thus that in the beginning men enjoy'd a Felicity which they lost by their own fault and that this fault is the Original of all evils to which their Posterity have been exposed 'T is well known what the Poets have said of the Golden Age and of Pandora's Box. From this also comes the Opinion of the prae-existence of the Soul whereof these words are to be found in the fragments of Cicero When one considers the errours and miseries to which men are exposed in this life It doth not seem unreasonable that these Antient Prophets and Interpreters of the will of the Gods who have instructed us in the mysteries of Religion say that we are born to be punished for Crimes which we have committed in a prae-existent state I know if Antient Traditions be not corrupted by length of time that Plato believ'd that the first man was man and woman and divided into two and this disagrees not with holy Writ which informs us that the first woman was formed from the body of the first man There are also some Histories which agree with the Sacred Writ as what the Poets say of the long life of the first men of the general Corruption of all Mankind and of the Deluge sent to punish them several things have been also said of the Divinity of Hero's which seems to come from the same source To which may be added divers Customs formerly spread almost thro' the World as that of counting by Tens dividing the Time by Weeks beginning to reckon from the Night as being made before the Day Besides that men almost always and throughout the whole Earth agree upon the principal Heads of Morality It 's true that reason might teach such as consulted it but the greatest part of the World was not well enough disposed to hearken quietly to the voice of Reason only and to silence those passions which hinder'd us from understanding it if this Voice had not been maintain'd by another more clear and powerful to wit that of Tradition It may also be said there were Barbarous Nations among which the belief of a Divinity had been stifled by Ignorance and Stupidity and among more learned Nations as the Greeks some have been doubtful and rejected it as a Lie but it must also be granted that it has been commonly receiv'd in the East amongst the most
and not to assist at any Prayer Therefore this second kind of Catechumens were called Hearers 3. But those to whom leave was given to assist at publick Prayers until the Consecration of the Eucharist and to Kneel to receive the Benediction of the Bishop bear the name of Prostrates 4. When they were found sufficiently instructed to receive Baptism they were permitted to demand it and to give their names to be admitted thereto and they were then called Competents or if their demand was accepted of Chosen and Enlightned These are all the Degrees that can be distinguished amongst the Catechumens But commonly the Fathers without stopping at these Distinctions call'd them the Hearers and the Prostrated when as they give the name of Competents and Enlightned to those that were in a Condito receive Baptism Which relate well enough to the Mystes and Epoptes of the Mysteries of Ceres As Tradition was not so clear against the Arians as against the Hereticks of the first Ages the Fathers who lived after the Council of Nice studied Scripture more than before because the strength of the the Dispute run upon the Sense of divers Passages for the Exposition of which they had recourse to the Greek of the New Testament as to the Original The holy Books were then the only Rule of Faith and the Writings of Doctors that were dead before the Contestations of Arianism were considered only as Human Testimonies where the Doctrin of their time might be learned The least thing ought not to be taught saith Cyril of Ierusalem according to the Relation of Mr. du Pin touching Divine Mysteries that cannot be established by Testimonies of Scripture Even believe not what I say to you if I do not prove it by Holy Scripture The Letters of St. Basil which may be of very great help to those that would know throughly the Ecclesiastical History of that time are placed without any order as well as the Epistles of Cicero and the most part of the ancient Works of this Nature The Author promises us a Translation thereof in French and Latin with Notes in the mean time he gives here divers Extracts of these Letters disposed according to the order of times There are several of them that bear evident Characters of being Supposititious as the 203 with this Title to Iulian the Apostate Would St. Basil saith Mr. du Pin have directed him a Letter with this Epithet This Letter besides is not like the Style of this Father it is only a Profession of Faith to which is added the Invocation of Saints and the Worship of Images whoever heard that this was put in the Professions of the first Ages The Author of this Letter saith that he Honours and Adores the Images of Saints because it 's an Apostolical Tradition Did St. Basil speak thus and is it not visible that this Letter is the Work of some Greek who lived since the seventh Council For the same reason he rejects a Work which is attributed to St. Athanasius and Entituled The Narration of the Passion of the Image of Iesus Christ in the City of Berytus In the CCCXCI Letter answering to divers Questions that Amphilocus Bishop of Iconium had put to him he Expounds this Passage That no Body knows the Day of Iudgment but the Father after this manner that the Father knows it by himself because he is the Source and Principle of this Knowledge whereas the Son receives it from the Father as it is said in the same Sense That there is only God who is Good p. 517. In the CCCCX Letter he saith that we ought to be contented with the Faith we have made Profession of in our Baptism to keep to the Terms of the Holy Scripture and shun all new Expressions because our Faith depends not upon these Terms but the Orthodox Doctrin Of all the Fathers of the Fourth Age there was none more moderate nor perhaps a Man of more Worth than Gregory of Nazianze In the Apology he made for his Retreat into Pontus when he was going to be made Bishop he pathetically describes the Disorders of his time Where the Priests were like the People After that he deplores the Unhappiness of the Catholicks who were divided upon unprofitable Questions or such as were of small Consequence He says that in the same time when Faith is in dispute we are oblig'd to separate our selves from those that teach Impiety and to suffer any thing rather than approve on 't but that it 's a Folly to break Union and excite troubles for Questions that are not of Faith In his Oration against the Emperor Iulian this same Father makes a Digression upon the Mildness that the Christians have kept when they were Potent and opposes it to the Cruelties the Pagans have exercised There was a time say he to the Heathens that we have had the Authority as well as you but what have we done to those of your Religion that comes near what you have made the Christians suffer Have we taken away your Liberty Have we perswaded Governors to condemn you to Torments Have we attempted the Life of any Have we even put any from the Magistracy and Employments In a word have we done against you any thing that has given you Cause to make us suffer I do not conceive saith Mr. du Pin hereupon how St. Gregory of Nazianze can reconcile all these Maxims with what he hath just now said that Constantius had done very ill to leave the Empire to Iulian because he was an Enemy to the Christian Religion and that he would persecute it maintaining that in that Constantius had made a very ill use of his Mildness and Bounty As to the purpose of Constantius whilst Hilary of Poictiers calls him Antichrist and speaks a thousand other injuries against him Gregory of Nazianzen excuseth this Emperor upon the Subject of Arianism He casts the whole Fault upon the Great Men of the Court and even pretends that after his death Angelical Voices were heard that celebrated his Praises In the Funeral Speech of his Brother Cesarius he saith That he was informed by the Discourses of Learned Men that Souls that are Holy and acceptable to God being delivered from the Bonds of the Body feel an ineffable Joy and Pleasure in considering the Beatitude they are one day to receive that they go strait to God and that they already know as 't were in a Representation and Image the Beatitude they will receive after the Resurrection of the Body In his fifty third Poem he numbers holy Books exactly as the Protestants do only he doth not put the Apocalypse in the Canon of the New Testament otherwise this Bishop had a very ill Opinion of the Councils for in his LV Letter he declares that he fears all the Ecclesiastical Assemblies because he never saw the End of any Council which had been happy and which had not rather encreased their Misfortunes than diminished them
Divines who pretend that Episcopacy is of Divine Institution maintain at the same time That Saint Iames Bishop of Ierusalem was not an Apostle But St. Paul gives him the Title of an Apostle They say That this first Bishop of Jerusalem had a right of entring into the most Holy Place and to carry a Golden Reed as the High Priest of the Jews But it is certain at least that St. Epiphanes mistook when he relyes upon the Authority of Eusebius to prove it For Eusebius never said any such thing speaking of St. Iames and there is a great likelyhood that this is one of these false Traditions which cannot be applyed to any of the Apostles Besides the Apostles there were Prophets in the Christian Church whose Charge consisted chiefly to edifie the Church by the Exposition of the most difficult passages of Scripture They penetrated sometimes into the time to come and foretold its events Justin Martyr assures us that this Gift of Prophecy continued also to his time But it was soon extinguished For when Montan begun to publish his Revelations the Churches of Phrygia were moved thereat and these motions of wonder and admiration are formed commonly on unheard of events or which are extreamly rare The Author affirms this Maxim That Prophecies are not well understood until after their accomplishment Opinions have been always much divided about the duration of the Ministery of Iesus Christ who is the Head of the Church St. Irenaeus refuting the Valentinians is fallen into a great Excess For he believed that Iesus Christ lived almost 50 years The most common opinion is that he Preached the space of 3 or three years and a half Mr. Burman takes another Party and maintains that Iesus Christ Celebrated but two Feasts of the Passover whence he concludes That he could live but a year and a half after his Baptism The last Passover wherein Iesus Christ Instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist makes another subject of Contestation The Greeks who think they have a great Interest to maintain That Iesus Christ Communicated with Leavened Bread pretend That he Celebrated his last Passover after the Wednesday at night This opinion which is established by them but since the Dispute they had with the Roman Church upon the Azymes deserves not much examination Scaliger hath not been ashamed to retract and to refute himself upon this matter For after having inclined to the Greeks he maintains at last That there is reason to believe that Jesus Christ eat the Lamb of the Passover a day before the greatest part of the other Jews who begun to Celebrate the Feast but on Friday at Night Our Author believes on the contrary That all the Jews were forced to Celebrate the Feast the same day because it was necessary to kill all the Lambs in the Porch of the Temple The almost infinite number of these beasts which were to be killed and which if Iosephus may be believed amounted to Five Millions five thousand six hundred troubleth him not He believeth that the great number of Priests who assisted at this Service was sufficient for this great Execution Not mentioning that each private Man had a right to kill his Lamb provided it was in the Porch of the Temple which was so big that in the time of Solomon there entred into it 22000 Oxen 12000 Sheep besides the other Sacrifices which the People offered Yet there remains a great difficulty For the Lambs were not begun to be presented but at the Ninth Hour to wit at three in the Afternoon and Iosephus assureth us that this Ceremony ended about Nine of the Clock So though the Temple should be spatious enough to contain the number of Lambs the time would not be long enough to kill them The last Disputes concern the Eucharist But as this matter hath been treated on very often we will make an end here A Famous SPEECH of Monsieur Cocquelin Chancellor of the Church of Paris in 1686. IT is the Custom amongst the Divines of Paris before the Cap is given to those who have accomplished their License to present them by a Doctor to the Chancellour of the Cathedral Church The Doctor who presents these Licentiates makes a small Discourse in their Praise to which the Chancellor answers by another Discourse As this which Mr. Cocquelin hath made this year on the like occasion hath had something singular in it as well for its Eloquence which how natural soever it is to the Author had not notwithstanding appeared with so much lustre but for the fine and delicate turn wherewith he manag'd his Subject when he treated on the Affairs of the times and by the fine Poem which he added to it We have thought we could not do better than to begin with this Piece which hath fallen by chance into our hands and to gather together the scatter'd Pieces which we have promised to impart to the Publick when they should deserve to have this Justice done them Here is then what he saith VIris eruditis è Theologica Palaestra Biennio quolibet secendentibus Viri Ecclesiae Parisiensis Proceres sapientissimi Patres Auditores humanissimi non defuit huc usque neque decrit unquam laborum laudisque sibi conciliandae seges si modo quod in scholis didicerint ad summum perducere pro rerum pro locorum pro temporum opportunitate impendere ad bravium de quo hodie Apostolus at que immarcescibilem corenam totis viribus contendere voluerint Et sane quamvis pro uberrima Sacrae facultatis Theologicae Paris feracitate ex ipsius sinu viri in omni sacrarum litterarum genere quantum patitur aetas exercitatissimi longè plures uno quoque biennio prorumpant quam ex toto quantus quantus est reliquo Christiano orbe quod nihilominus apud Apostolos Christus olim Dominus pronuntiavit effatum illud ipsum labentibus exinde perpetuo saeculis merito proferri potuit poteritque inposterum Messis quidem multa operarii vero pauci At nunquam ejusdem Christi aliud oraculum vos Apostolos ad fidem religionemque praedicandam adhortantis aequiori jure quam in praesentiarum possit usurpari quo verae sapientiae candidatis ejusdem fidei religionisque aut disseminand◠aut propagandae pro nostro munere concedamus Licentiam Videte aiebat Deus ille generis humani servator videte Regiones quoniam jam albae sunt ad messem Enimvero quicumque hactenus sacrae Facultatis Theol. Paris stadium emensi praeivere vobis ad coronam Galliam quae monstris ad Calvinum usque caruerat aut totam Catholicae fidei deditam aut nascentem haeresim quae proinde tunc contemptui potius quam timori habebatur aut jam adultam atque roboratam atque adeo cui evertendae inutilis ut plurimum opera navabatur divino sacrae sapientiae lumine illustrandam aggressi sunt vobis vero Licentiandi meritissimi id unum ex divinae providentiae
Ordination and that it belongs to the Bishop only to confer it and she allows the Distinction of Orders And tho' there is none under a Deacon because the Scripture makes mention of none yet she acknowledges that they are very antient Sixthly As for the Real Presence tho' Dr. Wake treats of it at length we will omit speaking of it until we come to the XII Article where there are many Books seen that concern this Subject Seventhly We receive says the English Expositor with equal Veneration all that comes from the Apostles let it be by Scripture or Tradition provided we be assured that they are the true Authors of the Doctrine or Practice attributed to them so that when we are shewn that a Tradition was received in all Ages and by all Churches then we are ready to receive it as having the Character of an Apostolical Institution So our Church does not reject Tradition but only the Tenets and Superperstitions which Rome pretends to justify after this way Eighthly And as for the Authority of the Vniversal Church of all Ages the English acknowledges 1. That they have received Scripture from their Hands and it is chiefly for this Authority that they look upon Solomon's Song to be Canonical and reject other Books Apocryphal which perhaps they would have received with as much ease These Books have our respect even before we know by reading whether they be worthy of the Spirit of God but this Reading confirms us in the respect which the Authority of the Church gives unto them as to the Holy Writings II. If there had been an Vniversal Tradition not contested that had come from the Apostles to us concerning the meaning of the Holy Books as concerning their number the Church of England would receive it also but she does not believe that a particular Church such as that of Rome should usurp this Priviledge nor that it ought to force others to follow the Interpretations which she gives of the Passages of Scripture III. When any Disputes arise concerning Faith the best way to appease them is to assemble a Council but it does not follow that such an Assembly can say as the Assembly of the Apostles at Ierusalem It seem'd good to the Holy Ghost and to us nor that it is Infallible or that it's Canons are not subject to Correction IV. Dr. Wake goes on and says When we say I believe in the Holy Catholick Church we do not only understand that Iesus Christ has planted a Christian Church which is to last to the end of the World but also that the Son of God will conserve either among the Christians or in the Vniversal Church Truth enough to denominate it such a Church that is he will never suffer that Truths requisite for Salvation should be unknown in any place So that tho' the Vniversal Church can err it does not follow that it can sink altogether nor become wholly erroneous because then it would cease to be but such a particular Church as that of Rome can err and fall into utter Apostacy And tho' the Fundamental Points be clearly contained in Scripture and that it is very hard that one Man alone should gain-say the Opinion of all the Church nevertheless if this Man was certainly convinced that his Opinion was grounded upon the undoubted Authority of the Word of God we would be so far being afraid to bear with him that we all agree that the most glorious Action that St. Athanasius ever did was that he alone maintained Christ's Divinity against the Pope the Councils and all the Church V. And so tho we acknowledge that God has subjected Christians to the Government of the Church for Peaces sake and to preserve Vnity and Order and that she has power to prescribe to her Children what Doctrines are and are not to be publickly taught in her Communion yet we believe that the Holy Scripture is the only Support of our Faith and the last and infallible Rule by which the Church and we are to govern our selves Ninthly That there are some that think that the Church of England makes the Fathers of the three First Ages Idols and equals them in Authority to the Holy Scripture But Mr. Wake will undeceive them for says he Tho' we have appealed to the Churches of the first Ages for new Proofs of the truth of our Doctrine it is not that we think that the Doctors of those times had more right to judge of our Faith than those had that followed them but it is because that after a serious examination we have found that as for what concerns the common Belief that is among us they have believed and practised the same things without adding other Opinions or Superstitions that destroy them wherein they have acted conformably to their and our Rule the Word of God notwithstanding it cannot be denyed but that they effectually fell into some wrong Opinions as that of the Millenaries and Infant Communion which are rejected by both Parties Tenthly Whether one may be saved in the Roman Church the English think that as she yet conserves the Fundamental Doctrines those that live in her Bosom with a disposition to learn and leave off their pernicious Errors and profess all the truth that they will discover may be saved thro' the grace of God and Faith in Jesus Christ and by a general Repentance that puts their Errors in the number of the Sins they do not know of But that ill use may not be made of this charitable Grant the Expositor limits it as followeth I. That it is harder to be saved in the Communion of this Church since the Reformation than it was before because its Errors were not so well known nor so solidly refuted which rendred the ignorance excusable II. That they that live among Protestants and in a Country wherein they may learn and make publick and open profession of the Truth are more condemnable than the other III. That Priests are yet more than Laicks In a word the Protestants hope that the good Men of the Roman Church will be saved but they have no assurance that they are to be saved Whereas they are assured That they will be saved that live Christian-like in their own Communion They do not know whether God will condemn Roman Catholicks for the Errors they professed taking them for truth but they are assured that the Crime of those that being convinced of Popish Superstitions leave the Protestants thro' motives of Interest and Ambition and maintain Tyrannical and Superstitious Tenets against their Consciences deserve no pardon Eleventhly As for Idolatry the Homilies of the Church of England accuse that of Rome as well as the English Doctors who lived under Edward the VI. and Queen Elizabeth The Catholicks object that the Learned of this Kingdom changed Opinion in the Reign of King Iames the First and begun to maintain that the Church of Rome was not Idolatrous but these Gentlemen are so unlucky in Proofs that of six Authors
little the better for the very places of Scripture we most frequently alledge because they most commonly respect the Masoretick Bible which we have not room to explain to those who know nothing of these things If therefore such Subjects are fit for Divines to understand then must the Knowledge of the Rabbinical Writings be so likewise 'T is peculiarly incumbent on the Ministry by their Office to defend the Doctrines they teach by the Scriptures But if they are unable to defend the Scriptures the only Evidence and Proof of their Doctrines the Christian Religion with the Doctrines thereof must fall to the ground And yet this Position That the present Hebrew Bible and Greek Testament in the Words Letters Points Vowels and Accents we now enjoy is the same uncorrupted Word of God which was delivered of old by the holy Pen-men of it to the Church This we say cannot well be defended against all Opposers without the Rabbinical Knowledge we speak of And so much for the need of this Knowledge We shall only give some Directions about this Study First He must well understand the Hebrew Bible in the first place who would know the Rabbins before he look after them And for this if he hath no Latin he must get William Robertson's First and Second Gate to the Holy Tongue His Key to the Bible Iessey's English Greek Lexicon c. But we suppose most have the Latine Tongue and such have Grammars and Lexicons enough as Buxtorf's Epitome his Thesaurus His Lexicon And many other Authors especially Bythner's Lyra Prophetica in Psalmos Leusden's Compendium Biblicum Arius Montanus his Interlineary Bible c. Let him read the Hebrew Bible much And then for the Rabbins take this brief Account and Direction The ancient Chaldee Paraphrasts are most of them translated and thereby easie to learn The ancient Cabalistical Writings as the Zohar Bahir c. are both most difficult and least useful Their Oral Law or Traditions were collected after the Destruction of the Temple A.D. 150. by Rabbi Iudah the Holy as they call him This they preferr before the Scripture and suppose it was Orally delivered by Moses to Israel and unlawful to be written but when Ierusalem was destroyed they were constrained to write it lest it should be lost but yet 't was so written as that none but themselves might understand it This Book is called Mishnaioth comprizing all their Religion with the Bible 'T is divided into Two Parts each Part into Three Seders or Books each Seder into many Masecats or Tracts each Masecat into Chapters and Verses A brief Account of the Contents of the Mishna and all the Parts of it is given by Martinus Raimundus in his Prooemium to his Pugio Fidei a very Learned and Useful Book which also gives an Account of the Tosaphot the Gemara and the Commenâ—â—ries thereon which compleat the Talmuds both that of Ierusalem A.D. 230. and that of Babylon Five hundred Years after Christ which Gemara is but a Comment and Dispute on the Mishna which is the Text of the Talmud There are several Masecats or Tracts of the Mishna translated as the Nine first Masecats viz. Beracoth c. So also Masecat Middoth by Le Empereur Sanhedrin and Maccoth by Cock Megillath by Otho Codex Ioma and others But as the very Learned Ludivicus de Campeigne du Veil observes He that would know the Mishna must learn Maimonides This Moses Maimonides Physician to the King of Egypt about Five hundred Years ago wrote his Iad Chaseka or Mishna Torah wherein he hath comprized the Substance of the Mishna and Talmud in a pure pleasant plain and easie style if compared with the Mishna and Talmud and yet he that has read him may with ease and pleasure understand all the Mishna And then for the Talmud There is Clavis Talmudica Cock's Excerpta c. This Maimonides of whom the Jews say from Moses the Law-giver to Moses Maimonides there was never another Moses like this Moses Several of his Tracts are translated also as Iesudee Hatorah the First Masecat of all and Deoth Aboda Zara the 1 st entituled De Fundamentis Legis 2. Canones Ethicae 3. Idololatria 4. De Iure Pauperis 5. De Poenitentia c. But most are translated by the excellent Ludivicus de Campeigne du Veil as De Sacrificiis one of the fourteen Books which he hath divided this Work into and De Cultu Divino another of the fourteen Books comprizing several Tracts Also his Tracts about Vnleavened Bread about the Passover about a Fast c. As to other Rabbins several are translated as Cosri c. and that on various Subjects as Logick by R. Simeon Physick by Aben Tibbon with Maimonides's Epistle against Iudiciary Astrology So of Arithmetick and Intercalating the Month by Munster and that of Maimonides by Duveil with many other Books as Ietsirah Bachinath Olam c. And of History as Seder Olam Zutha and Seder Olam Rabba Tsemach David c. And as to Rabbinical Commentaries the best and chief are R. Sal. Iarchi or Isaac R. Aben Ezra R. David Kimchi all these upon the Proverbs are translated by Antony Giggeius upon several minor Prophets by Mercer viz. on Hosea Ioel Amos c. on Ioel and Iona by Leusden as also a Masecat on the Misbna called Pirke Abbot Kimchi on the Psalms is likewise translated These Rabbins lived about Five hundred Years ago and do excellently explain the Text where Grammar and Jewish History are necessary But several of the above-mentioned Books being scarce we shall be ready to Translate and Print in two Colums the one Hebrew the other English either any Masecat of the Mishna or any Hilcoth or Tract of Maimonides or the Commentaries of the Rabbins on any part of the Bible if our Bookseller receive Encouragement which with Buxtorf's Great Lexicon Talmudicum and his Book de Abbreviaturis would no doubt enable one that hath read the Hebrew Bible to understand the Rabbins Which is all the Direction we have room to give here and therefore conclude with our hearty Wishes That our Young Students may be mighty in the Scriptures Acts 18.24 2 Tim. 3.15 16. and thereby they will by the Grace of God become Able Divines according to the Old Proverb Bonus Textuarius Bonus Theologus The PROEM Containing the Cause Occasion and Method of the ensuing Debate IN this Introduction we shall take notice of Three things wherein are contained the Cause and Occasion of the following Discourse with the Method of proceeding therein 1. The Weight and Moment of the Subject in Controversie 2. The many Circumstances that render its Consideration at this time necessary and seasonable 3. The Method and Order of manageing the same First As to the Weight and Moment of the Matter in Controversie it is small in quantity about no more than a Point or Tittle but great in quality about no less a Cause than the Keeping or Rejecting of the Bible For 1 st The Old
that they were not placed since A. D. 500. and there are none that pretend they were between the time of Ezra and A. D. 500. Therefore the Points were placed by the time of Ezra which is all we contend for Secondly The Old Foundation must be removed before a New Structure can be erected Many have been so prepossessed with so high a conceit of the Novelty of the Points that 't would be bootless to prove their Antiquity until the improbability of their late Invention be discovered for they admire that any Learned or Judicious Person should believe their Antiquity altho' all the Protestant States and Churches in the World except what hath been lately suffered in England do religiously maintain it Scaltger saith That nothing can be more foolishly spoken that to say the Points were coaevous with the Letters Ep. 243. Grotius on Mat. 5.18 affirmeth That 't is nothing but pertinacious Obstinacy in any to deny that the Scriptures were used to be written without Points after Ezra's time And Schikard in his Iure Reg. Heb. lib. 2. pag. 41. asserteth That he greatly wonders that any can seriously believe the Antiquity of the Points Vid. Considerator Considered pag. 234 235. So that till the Absurdity of their beloved Opinion be manifested 't is in vain to prove the other whilst they disdain to consider it 3. Our Antagonists spend their greatest strength in opposing our Opinion to render it but Improbable and 't is but quit with them to shew the Improbability of theirs and more fair seeing 't is easier for them to prove a Fact done but a Thousand Years ago than for us to prove what was done at Two Thousand Years distance from the present time 4. This Discourse being principally designed to Answer Capellus Dr. Walton c. who take this method first defending their own Opinion and then Replying unto the Arguments for ours it is convenient to follow them herein and keep their Order so far And for these Reasons we observe the Method here propounded and begin with the First General Head which is The discovery of the Improbability of the Opinion That the Shapes of the Points Vowels and Accents of the Hebrew Bible were first invented and placed to the Text A. D. 500. or since that time either by the Masorites of Tiberias or Others and for the Reasons aforesaid we shall largely insist hereon according to the best of our poor Ability and that small Reading which frequent Avocations from Study on necessary Occasions would permit A Discourse concerning the Original and Antiquity of the Hebrew Points Vowels and Accents The FIRST PART Containing the Discovery of the Improbability of their Novel and Humane Invention and Original CHAP. I. The Question stated The Four different Opinions about the First Period of Time whereunto the Invention of the Points is assigned are enumerated The Three several Opinions of those who suppose the Points were a Novel Invention related The Two last examined THE Question under Consideration is Concerning the Time when the Shapes of the Points Vowels and Accents were first invented and placed to the Hebrew Bible There are Two periods of Time particularly fixed unto the one or the other of which all Parties do in some respect ascribe their Original The one is the Time of Ezra the other is A. D. 500. The one makes them of Divine the other of Humane Original and Authority So that the Question is Whether the Shapes or Figures of the Points Vowels and Accents which are joyned to the Text of the Hebrew Bible were invented and placed to the Text as early as the time of Ezra er else not until the Talmuds were finished A. D. 500 1. Those that place them to the First Period viz. that say they were as ancient as the time of Ezra are all the Jews one only Elias excepted though they differ as to the positive precise time of their first Invention as R. Samuel Arkuvolti reckons them up For 1 st Some say they are coaevous with the Letters 2. Others That they were given to Moses on Sinai with the Oral Law and kept by Tradition till Ezra's time 3. Others say That they were placed to the Law and the rest of the Scriptures as they were first written 4. But all the rest except Elias only say that Ezra and the great Sanhedrim of his time first invented and placed them to the Text. So that in this they all agree That by the time of Ezra at latest they were invented and placed to the Scripture and thereby they own their Divine Original and Authority as do the generality of Christians likewise 2. Those that place their Original to the Second Period affirm that they were not invented before A. D. 500. though they also differ as to the precise time of their first Invention About which they hold Three different Opinions 1 st That they were began and ended simul semel A. D. 500. as Elias saith was his Opinion in Tob taam lettar page tsade cap. 2. I think saith he that those who found out the Points found out also the Accents and placed both of them to the Letters at one time Which in his Masoret Hammasoret Pref. 2. he declares was about the Year 500. The Evidences which he brings for his Opinion and the Testimony he produceth out of Aben Ezra Cosri Kimchi and Tsak Sephataim shall be at large examined in the following Chapters and the Improbability and Absurdity of his Opinion fully discovered afterwards in its proper place A brief Relation of the Two other Opinions and Examination of them by the way is the Work of this Chapter And they are these 2. The Second different Opinion about their Novel Invention is that of Ludovicus Capellus who supposeth they were began A. D. 500. and ended A. D. 1030. by Ben Asher and Ben Naphthali Arcanum Punctationis Revelatum cap. 17. But for this Opinion he brings no Testimony nor Reason as Buxtorf observes de Punct Orig. pag. 267. Hanc vero cum in libris authoribus nullis â—eperiret suopte marte ingenio eam hoc pacto nobis procudit And all that Capellus pretends to alledge is only what Elias Levita mentions out of Maimonides on another account about Ben Asher's Copy the Jews leaning upon it because he spent many Years in Correcting of it The words of Maimonides are these And the Book that we lean upon in these things is a Book that is known in Egypt comprizing the Twenty four Books of Scripture which was in Ierusalem many Years ago to Correct Books by it and all lean upon it because Ben Asher Corrected it who was exact therein many years and Corrected it many times as he Transcribed it and and on him I lean in the Book of the Law which I have written after his manner This Elias repeats and addeth And so we lean upon his Reading in all these Countreys and the Men of the East lean on the Reading of Ben Naphthali and the differences
we shall translate a full Testimony out of his Book entituled Mozenee haleshon hakkodesh towards the beginning of it as it is delivered by Buxtorf De Punct Origine pag. 13. The words are these or to this effect viz. The words of the Lord are pure Words or Sayings preserved by the hands of holy Men one Generation after another For they were sanctified from the Womb they heard the holy words at the Mouth of him who is most excellent in Holiness and they were Interpeters between him viz. the Lord and between Iacob The holy People and these were before the building of that holy House viz. the Temple and when it stood upon its Basis or Foundation and after it until the Vision and Prophecy was sealed up But after a few years about the time of the building of the holy House the second time at that time the Spirit of the Lord the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding rested upon the Men of that House that were called Anashee keneset haggedolah The Men of the great Synagogue or Sanhedrim to explain all that was sealed up in the Command And the words that are translated by the Mouth of the Just Men from the Mouth of the former and latter Prophets that is delivered by Oral Tradition from hand to hand Also they were rendring a Reason or restoring the Accent Meshebe taam Prov. 26.16 and taught their Posterity Chephets Colinian the sence of every word or thing al jad taamee hamikra by the hand or means of the Accents of the Scripture And the Kings and the Ministers they taught their Posterity and the closed Sections and the open Sections And what continues carries on the sence in opposition to the Pause and the Verses or Pauses that stop the sence and they were Eyes to the Blind therefore we go in their steps and follow after them and lean upon them in all the Expositions of Scripture And after the Captivity of our Fathers from the Holy City the Lord stirred up the Spirit of his Saints and the Chief of them was our holy Rabbi viz. Iudah to compose what was noted in loose Writings of the Commands of our God and that is the Mishna whereunto nothing may be added nor may any thing be taken away from it Also after them came other holy Princes and pious Hero's and they are the Men of the Talmud viz. the Gemarists and they went on in their paths viz. of the Masters of the Mishna and they took up the Stones out of the High-ways of the Testimony and they removed every Stumbling-stone out of the paths of the Lord. And after this stood up in Israel according to the good Hand of our God upon us two great Rows or Orders Neh. 12.31 the one keeping the Walls of the Sanctuary of Strength Dan. 11.31 founded by the Hand of our God that no Stranger may be able to destroy it Now this Sanctuary is the Holy Books of Scripture and the Men of this Row or Order are the Men of the Masora or the Masorites who separated all the mixed Multitude from the holy People alluding to Nehem. 13.3 and meaning what is Humane from what is Divine in Correcting the Copy And they numbred the Men of the Sanctuary from Two or Eleven to the end that no Stranger might draw near to the Gates of Righteousness Blessed be the Lord our God who hath put such a thing as this in the heart of the rest of the Kingdom of his Priests to beautifie his House which is a House of Wisdom as Solomon saith Wisdom hath built her House And the second Row that goeth over against it And I go after it Neh. 12.38 are those that are expert in War alluding unto Cant. 3.8 in the Law or about the Law and they are the Grammarians Thus far Aben Ezra In this place saith Buxtorf Aben Ezra doth elegantly and discreetly Expound in what manner and by whom the holy Word of God was preserved from the Beginning quite down to the Time of the Grammarians and what was done in every Age about the Preservation thereof and by whom it was done For First he saith The true and genuine Sence of the Word of God was preserved without Points by holy Men such as Moses and the Prophets unto the time of the Second Temple and the time wherein Vision and Prophecy were sealed up Secondly After the building of the Second House about the ending of Prophecy or the Prophetick Gift and Ministry God raised up other holy Men to wit the Men of the Great Synagogue that is to say Ezra with his Councel who preserved the Word of God which was brought to them by Oral Tradition This Holy Scripture they did by other means than Tradition with great care and study deliver down to Posterity But how they did this and what in particular it was that the Men of the Great Synagogue did about the Preservation of the Scripture this he doth teach particularly and by Parts For First he saith That this was done Al jad taamee hamikra By the means of the Accents of the Scripture Secondly By the Kings and Ministers that is the Vowels The Kings he calls afterwards seven viz. Holem Shurek Chirek Pathak Segol Kamets Tsere And the Ministers Sheva Mute Mobile and Compound And he doth not mean the Accents which the Grammarians divided into Kings and Ministers Vid. Balmes cap. 3. of the Points more of this Thirdly By the Doctrine concerning the Sections that are close open or continued Hasetumim Vpetuchim Vdebikim Fourthly By Hapesukim the Verses or the Distinction of the Scripture into Verses by these helps he saith they are like Eyes to the Blind and in their Steps we go in Reading and Expounding the Scripture at this time He saith we every where lean on their Exposition of the Scripture and therefore not of the Tiberian Masorites Thirdly In the Third place after the Men of the Great Synagogue he proceeds to the Masters of the Mishna and to them he chiefly ascribes the true Explication of the Precepts of God Fourthly He makes the Talmudists or Gemarists succeed the Masters of the Mishna and to these he ascribeth the Illustration and Explication of the Doctrine of the Mishna and their Disputations Fifthly He saith By the good Hand of God to Israel he raised up Two other Orders of Men labouring profitably for the Preservation of the Scripture The First Order he ascribeth to the Masorites but unto these he ascribeth no Invention either of the Points or of the Accents or of the Distinctions But he principally commends these for Two things First That they did separate every thing that was strange that is Foreign or Humane from the Books of Scripture if any thing had by hap crept into it Secondly That they numbred the Words and Letters of the Books of Scripture that so there might be no way left whereby the Text could be corrupted in time to come And agreeing to this is what he writes of the Masorites in his Book
entituled Iesudee Mora Truly there is a Reward to the Works of the Masorites who are like those who keep the Walls of a City For by reason of them the Law of the Lord and the holy Books of Scripture do stand in their Form without any Addition or Diminution This is the sum and substance of Aben Ezra's words From whence it appears saith Buxtorf as clear as the Noon-day First That he did not make the Tiberian Masorites but the Men of the Great Synagogue the Head of whom was Ezra to be the Authors of the Invention of all the Points Accents and Distinctions For he reckons up the Tiberian Masorites long after the Authors of the Points Accents and Distinctions Nor is there left any room for that Exception That he speaks only of the Power and Force of the Points and Accents For his Words are too manifest and the order of his Speech will not allow this for he shews what was done in every Age for the Preservation of the Scripture But if he had spoken here of the Oral Explication of the Scripture only what then did the Men of the Great Synagogue do other than those before them Did not they do this and for this were commended by him And if he thought the Masorites invented them first why did he not expresly ascribe it to them when he made mention of them In vain therefore doth Capellus in his Vindiciae make the Objection That the Sound and not the Shapes were meant by him of Ezra when he knew Buxtorf had already Answered it Moreover Capellus says Aben Ezra is as much for him elsewhere and so no witness against him Resp. This we deny But if he were he is for us here and therefore can be no Witness against us We can spare him having all besides him for us better than they can who have not another for them Secondly He saith Why did not Ezra as well Write the Oral Law as Point the Text Reply Because the Scripture is the only Rule of Faith and so esteemed by them but the Oral Law was but Humane Tradition of no account then however it were afterwards admired and it then became needful to Point the Text that it might be plain seeing they had in part forgotten their Tongue in Captivity and was never since restored to be Vulgar Capellus asks Why might not Ezra deliver the Sounds of the Points to Israel as well as the Oral Law by Tradition Resp. We deny the Oral Law was delivered by Ezra to Israel but if it were as the Jews imagine yet was there not that need to write one as the other They could keep their Oral Traditions notwithstanding any Alteration of their Language but so could they not preserve the true Punctation of the Language when it ceased to be vulgarly spoken or understood But when through their many Dispersions they were in danger of losing their Traditions then they wrote them as R. Samuel Arcuvolti declares in Arugath Habosem who says also It was necessary that the Points were placed in Ezra's time though it had been unlawful before because the Sound could not be preserved longer than that time without them Capellus Vindiciae lib. 1. cap. 1 § 11. objects Was not Ezra enough with a Prophetick Spirit what need of the Sanhedrin Resp. 1. The Sanhedrin was instituted 2. Others were Prophets as Haggai c. and why must they be excluded 3. This is the General Opinion of Jews and Christians That Ezra and the Prophets did act in Conjunction with the Great Sanhedrin in the Reformation of the Church as they were commanded But of this more elsewhere may be spoken Capellus Vindiciae lib. 1. cap. 1. § 9. says What Aben Ezra says of Ezra is no more than is due to any skilful Grammarian Resp. Not so For First as Cosri says 'T is a Work Divine and requires Divine Aid to give the true Sence of Scripture infallibly and truly 2. That might be done by Ezra by Humane Ability whilst the Language and the Text was rightly read and pronounced that could not be done after the Tongue ceased to be vulgarly understood without Divine Aid And therefore though it were no more than Humane Skill yet none since Ezra could be supposed to have that and therefore it might well enough belong to him on that account So that here is an express Testimony of Aben Ezra for the Antiquity of the Points notwithstanding all the Exceptions made by Capellus against it CHAP. IV. The several places of Aben Ezra wrested by Elias and his Followers considered Their genuine Sence declared WE are now to discover the Fraud and Violence used by Elias and his Followers to wrest the places of Aben Ezra in the places they alledge out of him in favour of their Opinion and to shew that what he saith in those places doth well enough agree with what he hath elsewhere said for the Antiquity of the Points The First place we shall take notice of is in his Book entituled Tsakooth alledged by Elias and after him by Capellus Wherein Aben Ezra saith There are many Interpreters who charge the Author of the Distinction of the Text into Verses with Errour therein but they do not speak what is right and Rabbi Moses the Priest is one of them c. But I admire at this greatly how the Author of the Stops or Verses should err ve aph ki im hu Ezra hasopher seeing he was Ezra the Scribe The Novelists read it And if he were Ezra the Scribe This in general he saith That there hath arisen no Man so wise as the Author of the Pauses since his time for we see that throughout the whole Scripture he hath made the stops no where but where they should be placed Thus far Aben Ezra Here Elias owneth that Hamaphsik the Author of the Stops is meant the Punctator but he wonders why he is called so in the Singular Number being elsewhere in this Book mentioned in the Plural But this Buxorf denies is any where mentioned in the Plural in this Book though the Matter is small whether the one or the other for the Singular might mean Ezra as the Head of the Sanhedrin and the Plural might mean Ezra in Conjunction with the Sanhedrin Elias inferrs from this place That Aben Ezra did not believe the Points were given by Moses on Sinai Resp. We grant it For we say it was his Opinion that Ezra placed them And that Opinion doth well agree with this place Capellus objecteth 'T is too mean a Commendation of the Author of the Points to suppose he meant Ezra when he says There has been none so wise since him and that it was done perfectly right Resp. 'T is Praise enough for Ezra or Moses either to say That none has arisen like him And That the Punctation is exactly according to the Mind of God and in all the Parts of it true and right And as to Others who charge the Punctator with Errour he reproveth them
Masorites by Elias himself First As to the Name of the Masora that is not only mentioned by both the Talmuds but spoken of as being as ancient as Ezra's time in the Ierusalem Talmud in Megilla cap. 4. And in the Babylon Talmud in Masecat Nedarim cap. 4. fol. 37. In explaining Neh. 8.8 And caused them to understand the reading that is the Masora say both the Talmuds That is saith Elias By Oral Tradition the Masora was then used Not so saith R. Azarias they speak of what was written and not of Tradition Again The common Saying of the Talmuds shew the Name of the Masora was then known viz. There is a Mother to the Scripture and there is a Mother to the Masora And as to the Work of the Masorites Elias supposeth cap. 2. that they made the Verses And yet the Mishna it self not long after the Destruction of Ierusalem mentions the Verses as in Masecat Megilla cap. 3. it saith He that reads in the Law must not read less than three Verses and in the Paraphrase not more than one And as the Talmud on Megilla cap. 3. fol. 32. saith What Verse Moses did not make a Verse we must not make a Verse Secondly Again As to the Parts of the Masora their readings Ittur Sopherim Keri u lo Ketib thus saith the Talmud in Masecat Nedarim fol. 37. Rabbi Isaac saith the reading of the Scribes and Ittur Sopherim and the Keri u lo Ketib and the Ketib u lo Keri is a Constitution of Moses from Sinai Thirdly But the main Work that Elias ascribes to the Masorites was the numbring the Verses Words and Letters of Scripture and telling which is the middle Verse Word and Letter of the Law and the like Now of these the Talmud maketh mention most plainly in Masecat Kedushin cap. 1. fol. 30. it is thus written Therefore Roshonim the Ancients were called Sopherim Numberers because they numbred all the Letters which were in the Law and these said that Vau in the word Gihon is the middlemost Letter of the Law Lev. 11.42 That Darash Lev. 10.16 is the middlemost word of the Law And Hitgalach Lev. 13.35 is the middlemost Verse in the Law c. The Ancients they say knew well the Letters full and defective and that the Verses of the Law were 5888. The Talmud indeed oft refuteth the Masora as Elias confesseth in Table 1. Speech 5. but then the Masora must needs be in being The Talmud takes notice of the Great and Small Letters which is also a Part of the Masora as on Sopherim cap. 9. it saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Great Deut. 29.28 What Argument saith Buxtorf can be plainer than this the Name and Work and Parts of the Masora were long before A. D. 500. Therefore they were not first made A. D. 500. as Elias thinketh Indeed he allows them to be by Tradition before a thing most absurd and impossible but not written until after the Talmuds A. D. 500. Now we say if the Masorites Pointed the Text they were these Masorites who wrote the Notes about the number of the Letters Words and Verses of the Bible of the Ittur Sopherim the Keri u lo Ketib the Reading of the Scribes the Letters Greater or Lesser than ordinary the Letters and Words Full and Defective and the like all which the Talmuds plainly say were made by the Ancients their Ancestors long before their time or else the Punctation was made by other Masorites than these the Talmud speaks of if the Punctation was made by these Men then it was made long before A. D. 500. even as ancient as Ezra for so ancient is this Masora esteemed by the Jews to be Elias his Fancy That this Masora was Orally preserved from Ezra 's time till A. D. 500. is refuted by R. Azarias and R. S. Arcuvolti But if the Masorites who Pointed the Text were not these ancient Masorites the Talmuds speak of then they were either those that made the Notes on the Anomalous Punctation and upon the rest of the things that are the Subject of the Masoretick Observations which compose the present Masora or else they were some others But they were not these Masorites neither for we have at large proved that those who made the Notes on the Punctation were long after the Punctation was made And that those who made the other Notes on the other Parts of the Masora did only observe what they found the Text to be but placed nothing to the Text their only design being to prevent any from so doing in time to come If therefore the Masorites Pointed the Text they were other Masorites than either of these before mentioned But other than the one or the other sort of Masorits already mentioned we neither read nor hear of and till some other can be found out we conclude the Masorites A. D. 500. or since that time did not Point the Text. And so much for the discovery of the Improbability of those Persons Pointing the Text to whom the Invention of the Punctation is ascribed CPAP. XV. The Absurdity of the Opinion That the Text was first Pointed A D. 500 further discovered from the Evidences of the Points Vowels Accents and Verses being long before that time and the Instance of a Pointed Copy of R. Hillel A. D. 340. and from the Account we have of these things in the Zoar Bahir Mishna and Talmuds WE shall conclude this FIRST PART with the Evidences of the mention that is made of all the Parts of the Punctation in the ancient Writings of the Jews that were before A. D. 500. and the Instance of a Pointed Copy of R. Hillel of great Antiquity We shall begin with the Book entitled Habahir made by R. Nechoniah fifty years before Christ. Vid. Buxtorf Thesaurus A. D. 1609. pag. 66 67. Iuchasin pag. 20. Tsemach David part 1. pag. 35. R. Azarias Meor Enaim cap. 59. The words of Bahir are these The Points in the Letters of the Law of Moses are like unto the Breath of Life in the Body of a Man And in the Book called Zohar made by R. Simeon ben Iochai a hundred years after Christ. Vid. Buxtorf ibid. and Bibliothaeca Rabbinica on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iuchasin pag. 42. R. Azarias Meor Enaim in imre bina cap. 59. The words of Zohar are these Not one Letter is able to signifie one thing or another without the Points All the Letters without the Points are like the Body without the Soul when the Points come then the Body stands in its Station And so in the Tikkunim or Explications of the Zohar saith R. Azarias ibid. And in the Preface of Tikkunïm 't is said The Accents are as the Breath and the Points as the Spirit and the Letters as the Soul the one come after the other And this as R. Azarias ibid. observes is not meant of the Sounds only but of the Shapes of the Points Vowels and Accents as he there gives Instances See more of the ancient
Caballistical Writers expressly mentioning the very Names also of the Points Vowels and Accents in Buxtorf's Tiberias and De Punctorum Origine pag. 53 54 55 56 57 58 59. together with the Answer to the impertinent Cavils of Capellus as to the Antiquity and Integrity of the Books Zohar Bahir and the Pointed Copy of Hillel who objecteth It may be that they have forged Titles of Antiquity to advance the Price in the Sale of them Resp. And it may not be so But if it may be so that doth not prove it was so Nor doth Capellus produce any thing that renders the Antiquity of these Books so much as suspected for the Antiquity of these Books is universally owned by the Jews Those of them who write about these things plainly declare their Antiquity to be what we say it is 3. The Mishna about A. D. 150. takes notice of the Verses in Masecat Megilla cap. 3. and saith He that reads in the Law must not read less than three Verses nor more than one Verse in the Chaldee Paraphrase 4. The Ierusalem Talmud about A. D. 230. in Megilla cap. 4. on Neh. 8.8 And they read in the Book in the Law of God That is say they the Scripture distinctly that is with the Targum or Chaldee Paraphrase and gave the sence These say they are the Accents which they placed Samu taam they put the Accents to it and Some say these are the Pauses Others say these are the Beginnings of the Verses 5. The Babylon Talmud in Masecat Nedarim cap. 4. fol. 37. and in Masecat Megilla cap. 1. fol. 3. on Neh. 8.8 they say likewise And they read in the Book of the Law of God that is the Scripture distinctly that is with the Targum and gave the sence These are the Verses and cause them to understand the reading This is the Stops of the Accents And others say these were the Masora for they were forgotten and they then restored them And in Masecat Nedarim fol. 37. ibid. Rabbi Isaac saith The reading of the Scribes and Ittur Sopherim and Keri u lo Ketib and Ketib u lo Keri is a Constitution of Moses on Sinai First saith R. Isaac The reading of the Scribes as Erets Shamajim Mitsraim that is The Scribes taught the People how they had received from Moses to read these words and the like one way in one place and another way in another as sometimes Arets sometimes Erets c. For as R. Nissin saith Erets is changed by reason of Athnak into Arets and so of Shammajim Mitsraim c. And as R. Sal. Iarchi saith The Scribes taught them how they ought to read the Words without the Vowel-Letters being added in all places as Erets without writing Aleph between Resh and â—sade And so Shamajim without writing Aleph between Shin and Mem And all this say the Talmud is a Constitution of Moses from Sinai And as it is impossible that the Sounds of all the Punctation could be preserved without the Shapes of them were written to the Text So R. Azarias in Meor Enaim cap. 59. sheweth that what the Talmuds speak on Neh. 8.8 is all of it about what was written and no part of it was spoken about what was kept by Oral Tradition As First The Book of the Law which they read that was Mikra the Scripture distinctly with Targum or the Chaldee Paraphrase which saith he was then written and so saith he were the Points and Accents and Masora which they there speak of was then written as well as the Scripture And the Chaldee Paraphrase was Written and not kept by Oral Tradition only as Elias fancieth a thing most absurd and impossible Capellus objects That R. Sal. Iarchi R. Azarias c. are Modern Rabbins But what saith Rabboth and the Ancient Writers Resp. They cannot expound the Talmud which was made long after they were dead but the Ancient Writers speak plain enough of the Points as Bahir Zohar c. And why may not the Talmuds speak of the Shapes of the Points There is not one place of Scripture saith Buxtorf in all the Talmud any otherwise read than our present Punctation reads it Which could not have been had not the Bible been then Pointed for the Sounds could not be kept without the Shapes as we have already shewed in the PROEMIVM and as themselves say the LXX and Chaldee differ from our Copy because they had no Points and we may as well say the Talmud universally agreeth with our Punctation because they had Points which they could not have done without And as to the LXX c. they differ from the Letters and Words as well as about the Points and therefore Capellus reckons their Copy differed from ours in Letters as well as Points But these things we may examine hereafter the Punctation is all we are now concerned about And hereby all those Objections of the silence of the ancient Caballistical Writings and of the Talmuds about the Points are obviated Vid. Pugio Fidei pag. 92. the former Edition And pag. 111. of the last Edition See also Buxtorf de Punct Orig. part 1. cap. 5 cap. 6. We shall only add the Instance of a Pointed Copy of R. Hillel which was before A. D. 500. as ancient as A. D. 340. 'T is said in Iuchasin fol. 132. col 1. ' In the year 956 or 984 there was a great Persecution in Lions and then they brought out from thence the twenty four Books called the Bible which R. Hillel wrote and by them they corrected all their Books and I have seen a Part of them that were sold in Africa and in my time they had been written nine hundred years And Kimchi saith in his Grammar That the Pentateuch of it was at Toletola in Spain in his time Object 'T is not said here 't was Pointed Resp. But 't is said Kimchi speaks of it in his Grammar And Kimchi speaking of it says it is Pointed as in Michlol fol. 93. col 1. he saith That R. Iacob the Son of Eleazer writeth That in the Book of Hillel which is in Toledolid the word Tideru 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Deut. 12.11 is found without a Dagesh lene in Daleth that is Daleth raphated So on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vedareshu in Psal. 109.10 he saith That the word Vedareshu is read with broad Kamets like 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Veshameru and so we have received the reading of it And in the Book of Hillel which is kept at Toledolid the Masorites make this Note upon it viz. This is no where else found with Kaâ—uph Kamets and so Nagid writeth That he found it likewise in the Masora so written with Katuph Kamets So in his Book of Roots Sepher Sherashim on the Radix 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tesomet There Mem is with Segol contrary to Rule and is as if it were with Pathack And in the Book of Hillel which is in Toledolid it is with
they writ their Epistles but that they only taught privately being not as yet separated from the Church He enquires into the time that all these Epistles had been written and shews according to his account that this agrees very well with the Epoche which he hath observed of the first Schism that happened in the Church Celsus a great Enemy to Christianity confesseth in Origen that the first Disciples of our Lord were all of the same Opinion and that they were not separated from one another until their number increased He reproaches them with these Divisions and had not omitted it if there had been any in the time of the first Disciples to have made a Demonstration of them in like manner The same Truth also appears by a place of Clemens of Alexandria This Author pretends to prove that the Heretical Churches were of a later date than the True To this purpose he divides the time which passed since the Birth of Iesus Christ into three Periods the first comprehends the time of our Saviour's Life from Augustus to the fifteenth Year of Tiberius according to the Calculation of Clement the second from the Death of Iesus Christ to the Martyrdom of St. Paul under Nero's Empire and the third from Nero to Adrian Clement shews that all Heresie began after these three Periods thus agreeing with Mr. Dodwell that they appeared not until Adrian so that some were in being until the Emperor Antoninus's time which is true of the Heretick Marcion and very likely of Valentinus Mr. Dodwell having proved in his first Dissertation that the Hereticks did not begin to disturb the Church until under the Emperor Trajan pursues this Subject in the Dissertation whereof we give the Extract and proves in particular that Marcion Basilides Valentinus and some other Hereticks made Polycarp say so often O God to what times am I reserv'd That all these Hereticks I say did not discover themselves until under the Empire of Adrian the reason hereof may be seen in the Author we will be satisfied to remark that he reprehends Tertullian by the bye of some very gross Faults as that he made but one Emperor of Tiberius and Claudius under the name of Tiberius Claudius but this of Tertullian will not seem so strange as in Eusebius one Emperor divided into three Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and that the Historian says they were Brothers After having spoke of the time of St. Irenaeus's Birth Mr. Dodwell search'd after that of his Death he rejects the pretended History of his Martyrdom by the Persecution of the Emperor Severus because it does not appear in any Author of the four first Ages that this Father was Martyred there being none that gives him this name To comprehend the strength of the Argument which is a Demonstration on this Subject you must know that the Honour of Martyrdom was so Glorious that this Praise was never forgot so that St. Irenaeus not having it from any Ancient Author though they gave him many Glorious Titles we ought to conclude that it was not due to him It 's true some of the following Ages honoured him with the Title of Martyr the first that gave it him was the Author of the Questions to the Orthodox which Mr. Dodwell supposes to be one Iustina Sicilian that is supposed to be writ about the end of the fifth Age at least he is sure he did not live until after the Emperors embraced Christianity and consequently his Testimony alone ought not to be taken for things that passed a long time before The second who calls S. Irenaeus Martyr is St. Ierom but because this Doctor has not given him this name in the places wherein he ought to have given it him if he had thought it his due Mr. Dodwell judges it is some Remark that might have passed out of the Margin into the Text so that nothing can be concluded in favour of St. Irenaeus's pretended Martyrdom neither from the Author of the Questions to the Orthodox nor from the Testimony of St. Ierom and Gregory of Tours may be looked upon as the first that spoke of it affirmatively but it is with so little Exactness and upon so false Supposition that one ought not to take notice of what he says He will have him dye in the same Persecution that crowned Photion Bishop of Lions whom nevertheless St. Irenaeus succeeded Besides it is certain that he lived when Victor was Pope as appears by the famous Dispute that happened about Easter which was undoubtedly in that Pope's time And it seems under the Empire of Commodus Eusebius and the Chronicle of Alexandria make mention of this Father in the third Year of this Emperor Mr. Dodwell believes that it was upon the occasion of his Works against the Schism of Blastus and Florinus that he put out under Commodus rather than Severus by reason of the Troubles of the Reign of this last during which it seems this Dispute was quieted The last Actions of St. Irenaeus which we have any knowledge of end in the Year CLXXXIX of our Saviour and the Tenth of the Emperor Commodus so that it may be concluded this Father died about Ninety but not full a Hundred Years of Age. This Author attributes this long Life to Providence that Tradition might be more compleat The same also was said of the Patriarchs before Moses because the Revelations were not writ but the Writings of the New Testament being received and known the like Necessity does not appear Nevertheless Mr. Dodwell carries this thought further and says That it was more difficult that the Churches planted by the Apostles should consent to an Error than to convey Books under the borrowed names of Apostles there would be nothing wanting to fall into this Unhappiness but the Perfidiousness of an Ill or the too great Credulity of a Good Man It 's to befriend Tradition extreamly to bring it from the Inconveniencies to which it seems a thousand times more subject than Scripture For after all how would it be possible to distinguish from the true Apostolick Tradition what might be added under pretext of Explication for some other end After having spoke of the Person of St. Irenaeus Mr. Dodwell passes to his Writings in the following Dissertations The design of his Work against Heresies and the time wherein it was written wholly takes up the fourth Dissertation If this Father excuses the Rudeness of his Style it is not that he was an Enemy to Eloquence or that he despised it but because his long abode in Gaul made him lose the Habit of speaking the Greek Tongue and because he was not accustomed to write whence it is concluded that his Work against Heresies was the first of his Writings nor did he write it until he was far in Years because he talks of having seen Polycarp in his Youth as a particular Advantage which seems to intimate that there were but few then in the World that could say the same thing He says
Latin we might justly apply to him the words of Cato Utican on the Subject of Posthumius Albinus who being a Roman would nevertheless write in Greek and yet excused the badness of his Stile saying He did not well understand the Greek Tongue He had rather says this grave Senator beg Pardon for his Fault than not to commit it He has also Expressions so proper to the Greek Tongue that they could not have slipt from an Author that had writ in Latin had he been never so little versed in the Tongue for Example this Author translates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Qui sunt ciro◠Ptolomaeum instead of saying barely Ptolomaeus or Ptolomaei Discipuli he also makes an Adjective of the proper Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he translates Clarus Mr. Dodwell goes much further and maintains that this Latin Version is so far from being the Original or made by St. Irenaeus as some have believed that it appeared not until a long time after the Death of this Father since Tertullian quotes this Work always in other terms though he writ thirty Years after The first that produced formal Testimonies was St. Augustin in his Books against Iulian. What is most strange is that it seems this Father did not know that St. Irenaeus writ in Greek this Version then must be made in the time that passed between St. Augustin and Tertullian and whereas St. Ierom makes no mention of it in his Catalogue composed the Year of our Saviour CCCLXXX and the Fourteenth of Theodosius it must needs be made between the Year CCCLXXXV and the time which St. Augustin speaks of Our Author thinks it is the Work of some French or Spaniard that was very ignorant in the Latin who undertook this Version upon the account of the Priscillianists who renew'd the Errors of the Gnosticks which St. Irenaeus had disputed against This Version was the occasion of a very singular Action which was that after the Heresies were smothered this Version was so rough and full of strange Matter that it was quite despised so that Gregory the Great could not find one simple Copy of it after an exact Search which he caused to be made and that none of the ancient Schoolmen speak of it But on the contrary the Greek Authors had several Copies of the Greek Original and there are Fragments of it in all Places And nevertheless now this excellent Greek is lost and the World is full of the bad Latin Translation the Fate of Books very often is like that of Fountains there are little Rivers that carry their Name into the very Sea and very considerable ones that lose themselves without any Name St. Irenaeus writ his Books both without Distinction or Arguments and his Translator or some other Authors have added what we see at this day IV. Our Author in his last Dissertation of the other Works of St. Irenaeus begins his Letter writ to Blastus and by the first to Florinus the first treated of Schism and the second of Monarchy Baronius thought that Florin's Errors oblig'd St. Irenaeus to write the Books against Heresies but Mr. Dodwell is not of his mind It is manifest that it is against the Valentinians that this Father intended these Works and Florinus taught a quite contrary Doctrin to that of these Hereticks for whereas these Hereticks establish'd two Principles the one good the other bad them Florinus made conformable to the Doctrin of the Church but he made that the Author of Good and Evil. As for Blastus he is acquitted of the Crime of Heresie whereof many Ancient and Modern accused him and it s believed he was but a Schismatick having done the Office of a Priest after he was deposed by his Bishop These two Letters were writ at the same time after his Work against the Hereticks according to our Author in the Year CLXXXII and the Third of Comodus and the Eighty fifth of Irenaeus Florinus did not stop at these Errors he soon fell into the Dreams of the Valentinians which obliged St. Irenaeus to write him a second Letter which he entituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Eighth because it was writ against the Eighth des Eons de Valentinians Our Author believes that Irenaeus was above Eighty five years old when he writ it which was about the CLXXXII Year of Jesus Christ. Irenaeus writ also an Harangue against the Gentiles the Subject whereof was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Science It is known that Isocrates not having the necessary Talents for speaking publickly contented himself in writing several Orations with important Advise to them that ruled the People he was imitated by a great many others and the Christians themselves were assisted by this Custom to teach the Pagans the Truths of the Christian Religion and did not neglect to embellish their Orations with the vain Ornaments of the Sophists to move the Curiosity of the Readers whose Gust lay that way Such was then St. Irenaeus's Discourse of Science that it was addressed to the Greeks that is to say to all them that were not Christians for as the Christian Church succeeded that of the Iews and the Iews called all them Greeks that were not of their Religion so the Christians gave the same Name to all those that did not embrace their Opinions Mr. Dodwell believes that this Work was employ'd to refute the Opinion of some Philosophers who thought that by Study and Meditation one might raise himself beyond all that is sensible or material and to the perfect knowledge of God and of all Spiritual Beings and this by themselves that St. Irenaeus proved that Knowledge was reserved for the other Life and that we do not know in this but only by Faith St. Irenaeus writ another Work which he named the Demonstration of Preaching or of the Apostles Doctrin and dedicated it to one Mavejon to contradict several Writings that were father'd on the first Disciples of our Saviour and particularly the Sermons falsly attributed to St. Peter Mr. Dodwell says that the design of this Work was the same of that of the Prescriptions of Tertullian The Ancients speak yet of another Work of St. Irenaeus intituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is according to St. Ierom's and Mr. Dodwell's Interpretations a Book containing divers Treatises our Author imploys a long Discourse to shew that St. Irenaeus had erected a School in his latter days and that he taught his Scholars what he himself had learned of the Apostles Disciples that is to say Apostolical Traditions and that this Work we speak of was a Collection of the Lessons that he made in that School It is pleasant to see the trouble Mr. Dodwell gives himself to establish this his Opinion and it is like he took it with pleasure because it tends to the general end he proposed to himself of reconciling the Traditions of the two first Ages of the Church with the Scripture What is very advantageous is that all these Enquiries include many