In process of time that people were earned into captivity out of their own land, and were thereby forced to learn and use a language somewhat different from their own; another absolutely it was not, yet so far did it differ from it that those who knew and spoke the one commonly could not understand the other, 2 Kings xviii. 26. This was &*&* f&, Dan. i. 4, " The language of the Chaldeans," which Daniel and others learned. But, by the people's long continu- ance in that country, it became common to them all. After this some parts of the books of the Scripture, as of Daniel and Ezra, were written in that language, as also one verse in the prophecy of Jere- miah, when they were ready to be carried thither, in which he in- structs the people how to reproach the idols of the nations in their own language, Jer. x. 11. The design of God was, that his word should be always read and used in that language which was com- monly understood by them unto whom he granted the privilege thereof; nor could any of the ends of his wisdom and goodness in that merciful grant be otherwise attained.
The prodigious conceit of keeping the Scripture, which is the foun- dation-rule and guide of the whole church, the spiritual food and means of life unto all the members of it, by the church, or those who
CHAP. VIII.] MEANS FOR UNDERSTANDING THE MIND OF GOD. 211
pretend themselves intrusted with the power and rights of it, in a language unknown unto the community of the people, had not then befallen the minds of men, no more than it hath yet any countenance given unto it by the authority of God or reason of mankind. And, indeed, the advancement and defence of this imagination is one of those things which sets me at liberty from being influenced by the authority of any sort of men in matters of religion ; for what will not their confidence undertake to vent, and their sophistical ability give countenance unto or wrangle about, which their interest requires and calls for at their hands, who can openly plead and contend for the truth of such an absurd and irrational assertion, as is contrary to all that we know of God and his will, and to all that we understand of ourselves or our duty with respect thereunto ?
When the New Testament was to be written, the church was to be diffused throughout the world amongst people of all tongues and languages under heaven ; yet there was a necessity that it should be written in some one certain language, wherein the sacred truth of it might, as in original records, be safely laid up and deposited. It was left by the Holy Ghost as irapadrix.fi, %akri irapaxara9^xri, " a good and sacred depositum" unto the ministry of the church, to be kept inviolate, 1 Tim. vi. 20; 2 Tim. i. 14. And it was disposed into writing in one certain language; whereon the preservation of it in purity was committed to the ministry of all ages, not absolutely, but under his care and inspection. From this one language God had or- dained that it should be derived, by the care of the ministry, unto the knowledge and use of all nations and people; and this was repre- sented by the miraculous gift of tongues communicated by the Holy Ghost unto the first-designed publishers of the gospel. In this case it pleased the wisdom of the Holy Ghost to make use of the Greek language, wherein he writ the whole New Testament originally; for the report, that the Gospel of Matthew and the Epistle to the He- brews were first written in Hebrew, is altogether groundless, and I have elsewhere disproved it.
Now, this language at that season, through all sorts of advantages, was diffused throughout the world, especially in those parts of it where God had designed to fix the first and principal station of the church. For the eastern parts of the world, it was long before car- ried into them, and its use imposed on them by the Macedonian arms and laws, with the establishment of the Grecian empire for sundry ages among them. And some while before, in the western parts of the world, the same language was greatly inquired into and generally received, on account of the wisdom and learning which was treasured up therein, in the writings of poets, philosophers, and histo- rians, which had newly received a peculiar advancement.
212 CAUSES, WAYS, AND MEANS, ETC. [BOOK VI., PART II.
For two things fell out in the providence of God about that season, which greatly conduced unto the furtherance of the gospel. The Jews were wholly possessed of whatever was true in religion, and which lay in a direct subserviency unto the gospel itself. This they gloried in and boasted of, as a privilege which they enjoyed above all the world. The Grecians, on the other hand, were possessed of skill and wisdom in all arts and sciences, with the products of philosoj)hical inquiries, and elegancy of speech in expressing the conceptions of their minds ; and this they gloried in and boasted of above all other people in the world. Now, both these nations being dispossessed of their empire, sovereignty, and liberty at home, by the Romans, multitudes of them made it their business to disperse themselves in the world, and to seek, as it were, a new empire ; the one to its religion, and the other to its language, arts, and sciences. Of both sorts, with their design, the Roman writers in those days do take notice, and greatly com- plain. And these privileges being boasted of and rested in, proved equally prejudicial to both nations, as to the reception of the gospel, as our apostle disputes at large, 1 Cor. i., ii. But through the wis- dom of God, disposing and ordering all things unto his own glory, the design and actings of them both became an effectual means to facilitate the propagation of the gospel ; for the Jews having planted synagogues in most nations and principal cities in the Roman em- pire, they had both leavened multitudes of people with some know- ledge of the true God, which prepared the way of the gospel, as also they had gathered fixed assemblies, which the preachers of the gos- pel constantly took the advantage of to enter upon their work and to begin the declaration of their message. The* Grecians, on the other hand, had so universally diffused the knowledge of their lan- guage as that the use of that one tongue alone was sufficient to in- struct all sorts of people throughout the world in the knowledge of the truth; for the gift of tongues was only to be a "sign unto un- believers," 1 Cor. xiv. 22, and not a means of preaching the gospel constantly in a language which he understood not who spake.