The revision of the text by Ezra leads to a long and learned digression on the sub ject of HEBREW PUNCTUATION ; which was most probably an invention of Ezra, and, at all events, cannot be ascribed to any author later than the age of Ezra. The following grounds for this opinion are urged : — 1. The universal use of the points; 2. The nature of the invention itself, which has the aspect of a divine disclosure rather than a human invention; 3. The testimonies of the Jews; 4. The great utility, if not the absolute necessity, of the invention; 5. The uncertainty and hesitancy which characterize the op- posing views. The following arguments against the antiquity of the points are refuted in succession: — 1. The authority of eminent men; 2. The identity of the old Hebrew with the present Samaritan characters ; 3. The absence of points in the copies used in the synagogue ; 4. The testimony of Elias Levita and Aben Ezra ; 5. The silence of the Talmud respecting them ; 6. The extraordinary number of vowels and accents ; 7. The ignorance of Jerome on the subject ; and, 8. The fact that they are not found in the cognate dialects of the Arabic and Syriac. — Dig. I. The last three points of the reformation under Ezra, which have been already specified, are considered briefly. — Chap. XIII. Some causes of the final apostasy of the Jewish church are unfolded ; — connection with the Gentiles, the entrance of philosophy, the circumstance that the sacred tongue fell into desuetude, the ignorance of the people, the ambition and pride of their teachers, and the general corruption of manners. Digressions follow on the subject of the SEPTUAGINT VERSION and the CHALDEE PARAPHRASES. — Chap. XIV. The leading steps of the final apostasy of the Jewish church are described. The first principle of Mosaic theology, which consisted in the paramount authority as cribed to the Word of God, was set aside or overlaid by a portentous growth of tra ditions and the figment of an oral law. As many affirm that several institutions in the New Testament church were borrowed by Christ from corresponding practices which had been introduced by the Jewish doctors, a digression is here inserted in disproof of this notion. It is conceded that some sayings among the Talmudists correspond with what we find in Scripture ; that the rabbis trace a similarity between certain Chris tian rites and rites previously in use among the Jews ; that the teachers of the Mishnah and Gemara do not refer to these sayings and rites as if of recent origin and notoriety ; and that our Lord employed various proverbs current among the common people. With these admissions, however, it is denied that the oral law is any thing but a figment, that there is any warrant for the rites and ceremonies of the Talmudists, that our Lord ratified any purely Mosaic institution by his authority. After other considerations of the same tendency, it is shown, in regard to the Lord's prayer, baptism, the eucharist, and excommunication, that they are not borrowed from the rites and customs of the Jews, but rest on the authority of Christ, as the great lawgiver in his church. — Chap. XV. The second fundamental principle of the Mosaic theology was the doctrine of justification by grace. The Jewish church in its apostasy rejected it, deeming themselves sure of sal vation simply on the ground of lineal descent from Abraham, Matt. iii. 9, denying their spiritual weakness and inability, and seeking to establish a righteousness of their own. The third great principle in the Mosaic theology, — faith in the promised Messiah, — was set aside by the doctrine that the Mosaic ceremonies, only valuable so far as typi cal of Christ, were to continue for ever. The predicted descent of the Messiah from the tribe of Judah involved the abolition of those ceremonies, to the very nature of which the sacerdotal supremacy of the house of Aaron was essential. — Chap. XVI.
12 ANALYSIS OF THE FOLLOWING WORK.
BOOK VI.
EVANGELICAL THEOLOGY.