But my present considerations being not to be extended beyond The concernment of the truth which in the foregoing discourse I have pleaded for, I shall first propose a brief abstract thereof, as to that pai't of it which seems to be especially concerned, and then lay down what to me appears in its prejudice in the volumes now under de- bate, not doubting but a fuller account of the whole will by some or other be speedily tendered unto the learned and impartial readers of them. The sum of wliat I am pleading for, as to the particular head to be vindicated, is, That as the Sc7'iptures of the Old and Netu
350 INTEGRITY AND PURITY OF THE HEBREW AND GREEK TEXT.
Testament ivere immediately and entirely given out hy Ood himself, his mind being in them represented unto tis without the least inter- veniency of such mediums and ways as were capable of giving change or alteration to the least iota or syllable; so, by his good and merciful providential dispensation, in his love to his word and church, his whole ivord, as first given out by him, is preserved unto us entire in the 07^iginal languages ; luhere, shining in its oiun beauty and lustre (as also in all translations, so far as they faithfully re- present the originals), it manifests and evidences unto the con- sciences of men, without other foreign help or assistance, its divine original and authority.
Now, the several assertions or propositions contained in this posi- tion are to me such important truths, that I shall not be blamed in the least by my own spirit, nor I hope by any others, in contending for them, judging them fundamental parts of the faith once delivered to the saints; and though some of them may seem to be less weighty than others, yet they are so concatenated in themselves, that by the removal or destruction of any one of them, our interest in the others is utterly taken away. It will assuredly be granted that the persua- sion of the coming forth of the word immediately from God, in the way pleaded for, is the foundation of all faith, hope, and obedience. But what, I pray, will it advantage us that God did so once deliver his word, if we are not assured also that that word so delivered hath been, by his special care and providence, preserved entire and uncor- rupt unto us, or that it doth not evidence and manifest itself to be his word, being so preserved? Blessed, may we say, were the ages past, who received the word of God in its unquestionable power and purity, when it shone brightly in its own glorious native light, and was free from those defects and corruptions which, through the de- fault of men in a long tract of time, it hath contracted ; but for us, as we know not well where to lay a sure foundation of believing that this book rather than any other doth contain what is left unto us of that word of his, so it is impossible we should ever come to any certainty almost of any individual word or expression whether it be from God or no. Far be it from the thoughts of any good man, that God, whose covenant with his church is that his word and Spirit shall never depart from it, Isa. lix. 21, Matt. v. 18, 1 Pet. i. 25, 1 Cor. xi. 23, Matt, xxviii. 20, hath left it in uncertainties about the things that are the foundation of all that faith and obedience which he requires at our hands.
As, then, I have in the foregoing treatise evinced, as I hope, the self-evidencing light and power of the Scripture, so let us now can- didly, for the sake and in the pursuit of truth, — dealing with a mind freed from prejudices and disquieting affections, save only the
THE OCCASION OF THIS DISCOURSE. 851
trouble tliat arises from the necessity of dissenting from the authors of so useful a work, — address ourselves to the consideration of what seems in these Prolegomena and Appendix to impair the truth of the other assertions about the entire preservation of the word as given out from God in the copies which yet remain with us. And this I shall do, not doubting but that the persons themselves concerned will fairly accept and weigh what is conscientiously tendered.
As, then, I do with all thankfulness acknowledge that many things are spoken very honourably of the originals in these Prolegomena, and that they are in them absolutely preferred above any translation whatever,^ and asserted in general as the authentic rule of all ver- sions, contrary to the thoughts of the publisher of the great Parisian Bibles, and his infamous hyperaspistes, Morinus; so, as they stand in their aspect unto the Appendix of various lections, there are both opinions and principles, confirmed by suitable practices, that are of the nature and importance before mentioned.
1. After a long dispute to that purpose, it is determined that the Hebrew points or vowels, and accents, are a novel invention of some Judaical Rabbins, about five or six hundred years o/iJer the giving out of the gospeV Hence, —
(1.) An antiquity is ascribed to some translations, two or three at the least, above and before the invention of these points; whose agreement with the original cannot, therefore, by just consequence, be tried by the present text, as now pointed and accented.