15. It is also undeniably manifest, from this view of his words, that the apostle did not scrupulously confine himself unto the precise words either of the original or any translation whatever,—if any other translation, or targum, were then extant besides that of the LXX. Observing and expressing the sense of the testimonies which he thought meet to produce and make use of, he used great liberty,
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114 CITATIONS FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT — [EXERC. V.
as did other holy writers of the New Testament, according to the | guidance of the Holy Ghost, by whose inspiration he wrote, in ex- pressing them by words of his own. And who shall blame him for so doing? Who should bind him to the rules of quotations, which sometimes necessity, sometimes curiosity, sometimes the cavils of other men, impose upon us in our writings? Herein the apostle used that liberty which the Holy Ghost gave unto him, without the least prejudice unto truth or the faith of the church.
16. Whereas any one of these testimonies, or any part of any one of them, may appear at first view to be applied by him unsuitably unto their original importance and intention, we shall manifest not only the contrary to be true against those who have made such exceptions, but also that he makes use of those which were most proper, and cogent, with respect unto them with whom he had todo. For the apostle in this Epistle, as shall be fully evidenced, disputes upon the acknowledged principles and concessions of the Hebrews. It was then incumbent on him, to make use of such testimonies as were granted, in their church, to belong unto the ends and purposes for which by him they were produced. And that these are such, shall be evinced from their own ancient writings and traditions,
17. The principal difficulty about these citations, lies in those where- in the words of the apostle are the same with those now extant in the Greek Bible, both evidently departing from the original. Three places of this kind are principally vexed by expositors and critics; the first is that of Ps. xl. 7, where the words of the psalmist, in the Hebrew, » m3 Ds, “My ears hast thou bored” or “digged,” are rendered by the apostle, according to the translation of the LXX., Saya 0s xarnpriow wot, “ But a body hast thou prepared me.” That the apostle doth rightly interpret the meaning of the Holy Ghost in the psalm, and in his paraphrase apply the words unto that very end for which they were intended, shall be cleared afterwards. The pre- sent difficulty concerns the coincidence of his words with those of the LXX., where apparently they answer not the original. The next is that of the prophet Jeremiah, chap. xxxi. 32, 03 meya ‘2381, “And I was an husband unto them,” or “I was a lord unto them,” or “ruled over them,” as the Vulgar Latin renders the words; the apostle, with the LXX., Kal éya juzanou adrév, “And I regarded them not,” or “despised them.” The third is that from Hab, ii. 4, nay ait ia ive) TWIND “Behold, it is lifted up, his soul is not right in him ;” which words the apostle, with the LXX., render, Ka) édv ixooreiAnras, ovum evdone? 4 Lux wou ev adrg-— But if any draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.”
18. Concerning these and some other places, many confidently affirm that the apostle waived the original, and reported the words from the translation of the LXX. Cappellus with some others pro-
SECT. 16-20. | IN THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 115
ceed further, andassign the rise of this difference unto some othercopies of the Hebrew text, used by the LXX., varying from those which now remain. ‘Thus, in particular, in that place of Jeremiah before men- tioned, he conjectures that for ‘nova they, read nya, “T despised them;” as another doth that they read ‘mona to the same purpose: for of such conjectures there is noend. But as ‘N?¥3 may well signify as the apostle expounds it, and in other places doth so, as we shall see afterwards, so this boldness in correcting the text, and fancying, without proof, testimony, or probability, of other ancient copies of the scripture of the Old Testament, differing in many things from them which alone remain, and which indeed were ever in the world, may quickly prove pernicious to the church of God. We must therefore look after another expedient for the removal of this difficulty.
19. I say, then, it is highly probable that the apostle, according to his wonted manner, which appears in almost all the citations used by him in this Epistle, reporting the sense and importance of the places in words of his own, the Christian transcribers of the Greek Bible inserted his expressions into the text; either as judging them a more proper version of the original, whereof they were ignorant, than that of the LXX., or out of a preposterous zeal to take away the appearance of a diversity between the text and the apostle’s citation of it. And thus, in those testimonies where there is a real variation from the Hebrew original, the apostle took not his words from the translation of the LX X., but his words were afterwards inserted into that translation. And this, as we have partly made to appear already in sundry instances, so it shall now briefly be further confirmed; for,—