Chapter 1
Chapter 1.
1. The occasion of this Discourse. 2. The Danger of supposing corruptions in the Originals of the Scripture. 3. The great usefulness of the Biblia Polyglotta. 4. The Grounds of the ensuing animadversions. 5. The Assertions proposed to be vindicated laid down. 6. Their weight and importance. 7. Sundry principles in the Prolegomena prejudicial to the Truth contended for, laid down. 8. Those Principles formerly asserted by others. Reasons of the opposition made to them.
Section 1. When this whole little precedent Treatise was finished, and ready to be given out unto the Stationer, there came to my hands the Prolegomena and Appendix to the Biblia Polyglotta lately published. Upon the first sight of that volume, I was somewhat startled with that Bulky collection of various Readings, which the Appendix tenders to the view of every one that does but cast an eye upon it. Within a while after I found that others also men of Learning and Judgment, had apprehensions of that work, not unlike those which my own thoughts had suggested unto me. Afterwards, considering what I had written, about the Providence of God in the preservation of the Original Copies of the Scripture in the foregoing discourse, fearing lest from that great Appearance of Variations in the Original Copies, and those of all the Translations published with so great care and diligence, there might some unconquerable objections against the Truth of what I had asserted, be educed; I judged it necessary to stop the progress of those thoughts, until I could get time to look through the Appendix, and the various Lections in that great Volume exhibited unto us, with the grounds and Reasons of them in the Prolegomena. Having now discharged that task, and (as things were stated) duty, I shall crave leave to deliver my thoughts to some things contained in them, which possibly men of perverse minds may wrest to the prejudice of my former Assertions, to the prejudice of the certainty of divine Truth, as continued unto us through the Providence of God in the Originals of the Scripture.
Section 2. What use has been made, and is as yet made in the world, of this supposition, that corruptions have befallen the Originals of the Scripture, which those various lections at first view seem to intimate; I need not declare. It is in brief, the foundation of Mohammedanism, Alcoran Azoar 5. The chiefest and principal prop of Popery, the only pretense of Fanatical Anti Scripturists, and the root of much hidden Atheism in the World. At present there is sent unto me by a very learned Person, upon our discourse on this subject, a Treatise in English, with the Latin Title of fides Divina, wherein its nameless Author, on this very foundation labors to evert and utterly render useless the whole Scripture. How far such as he may be strengthened in their infidelity by the consideration of these things, time will manifest.
Had there not been then a necessity incumbent on me, either utterly to desist from pursuing any thoughts of publishing the foregoing Treatise, or else of giving an account of some things contained in the Prolegomena and Appendix, I should for many Reasons have abstained from this Employment. But the truth is, not only what I had written in the first Chapter about the Providence of God in the preservation of the Scripture, but also the main of the Arguments afterwards insisted on by me, concerning the self Evidencing power and Light of the Scripture, receiving in my Apprehension a great weakening by the things I shall now speak unto, if owned and received as they are proposed unto us, I could not excuse myself from running the hazard, of giving my thoughts upon them.
Section 3. The Wise man tells us, that he considered all travail and every right work, and that for this a man is envied of his neighbour, which says he, is vanity and vexation of spirit, Ecclesiastes 4:4. It cannot be denied, but that this often falls out through the Corruption of the hearts of men, that when Works, right Works, are with most sore travail brought forth in the world, their Authors are repaid with envy for their Labor, which mixes all the issues of the best endeavors of men, with vanity, and vexation of spirit. Jerome of old and Erasmus of late, are the usual instances in this kind. That I have any of that guilt in a peculiar manner, upon me in reference to this work of publishing the Biblia Polyglotta, which I much esteem, or the Authors and contrivers of it, whom I know not, I can, with due consideration, and do utterly deny. The searcher of all hearts, knows I lie not. And what should possibly infect me with that leaven? I neither profess any deep skill in the Learning used in that work, nor am ever like to be engaged in any thing that should be set up in competition with it; nor did ever know that there was such a Person in the world, as the chief Author of this Edition of the Bibles, but by it. I shall then never fail on all just occasions, to commend the Usefulness of this work, and the Learning Diligence and pains of the worthy Persons that have brought it forth; nor would be wanting to their full praise in this place, but that an entrance into this discourse with their due commendations might be liable to misrepresentations. But whereas we have not only the Bible published, but also private opinions of men, (and collections of various Readings (really or pretendedly so we shall see afterwards,) tending some of them as I apprehend, to the disadvantage of the great and important Truth that I have been pleading for, tendered unto us, I hope it will not be Grievous to any nor matter of Offence, if using the same Liberty, that they, or any of them whose hands have been most eminent in this work have done, I do with (I hope) Christian candor and moderation of spirit, briefly discover my thoughts upon some things proposed by them.
Section 4. The renownedly learned Prefacer unto the Arabic Translation in this Edition of it, tells us, that the Work of translating the Pentateuch into that Language, was performed by a Jew, who took care to give countenance to his own private opinions, and so render them Authentic by bringing them into the Text of his Translation.
It is not of any such Attempt, that I have any cause to complain, or shall so do in reference to these Prolegomena and Appendix; only I could have wished, (with submission to better Judgments be it spoken,) that in the publishing of the Bible, the Sacred Text, with the Translations, and such naked historical accounts of their Originals and preservation, as were necessary to have laid them fair and open to the Judgment of the Reader, had not been clogged with disputes and pleas for particular private opinions, imposed thereby with too much advantage on the minds of men, by their constant neighbourhood unto canonical Truth.
Section 5. 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 part of it, which seems to be especially concerned, and then lay down what to me appears in its prejudice in the Volumes now under debate; 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 what I am pleading for, as to the particular Head to be vindicated is; that as the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, were immediately, and entirely given out by God himself, his mind being in them represented unto us, without the least interveniency 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 Word as first given out by him, is preserved unto us entire in the Original Languages; where shining in its own beauty and luster, (as also in all Translations so far, as they faithfully represent the Originals) it manifests and evidences unto the consciences of men, without other foreign help or assistance, its divine original and Authority.
Section 6. Now the several Assertions or Propositions contained in this position, 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 persuasion 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, has been by his special care and providence preserved entire and uncorrupt unto us; or that it does 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 default of men, in a long tract of time it has contracted; but for us, as we know not well where to lay a sure foundation of believing, that this Book rather than any other does 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. Isaiah 59:21. Matthew 5:18. 1 Peter 1:25. 1 Corinthians 11. Matthew 28:20. has 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 candidly for the sake and in the pursuit of Truth, deal with a mind freed from prejudices and disquieting Affections, save only the trouble that 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.
Section 7. 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 Versions, 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 Judaic Rabbins, about 5 or 600 years after the giving out of the Gospel. Hence
1. An Antiquity is ascribed to some Translations, 2 or 3 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.
2. The whole credit of our Reading and Interpretation of the Scripture, as far as regulated by the present punctuation, depends solely on the faithfulness and skill of those Jews, whose invention this work is asserted to be.
2 The [illegible] of which sort are above 800 in the Hebrew Bibles, are various Lections, partly gathered by some Judaic Rabbins out of ancient copies, partly their critical amendments.
And therefore
After these various lections, as they are esteemed, are presented unto us, in their own proper order wherein they stand in the great Bibles (not surely to increase the Bulk of divers Readings, or to present a face of new variety to a less attentive Observer but) to evidence, that they are such various lections as above described, they are given us over a second time, in the method whereinto they are cast by Capellus the great patriarch of these mysteries.
3. That there are such Alterations befallen the Original, as in many places may be rectified by the Translations that have been made of old.
And therefore
Various Lections may be observed and gathered out of those Translations, by considering how they read in their copies, and wherein they differed from those which we now enjoy.
4. It is also declared, that where any gross faults or corruptions are befallen the originals, men may by their faculty of critical conjecturing amend them, and restore the native Lections that were lost; though in general without the Authority of Copies, this be not to be allowed.
And therefore
A collection of various Readings out of Grotius, consisting for the most part in such conjectures, is in the Appendix presented unto us.
5. The voluminous Bulk of various Lections, as nakedly exhibited, seems sufficient to beget scruples and doubts in the minds of men, about the Truth of what has been hitherto by many pretended concerning the Preservation of the Scripture through the care and providence of God.
Section 8. It is known to all men acquainted with things of this nature, that in all these, there is no new opinion coined or maintained by the learned prefacer to these Bibles. The severals mentioned, have been asserted and maintained by sundry learned men. Had the opinion about them been kept in the ordinary Sphere of men's private conceptions in their own private writings, running the hazard of men's Judgments on their own strength and Reputation, I should not from my former discourse have esteemed myself concerned in them. Every one of us must give an account of himself unto God. It will be well for us, if we are found holding the foundation. If we build hay and stubble upon it, though our work perish, we shall be saved. Let every man in these things be fully persuaded in his own mind. It shall be to me no offence. It is their being laid as the foundation of the usefulness of these biblia polyglotta, with an endeavour to render them catholic, not in their own strength, but in their Appendage to the Authority, that on Good grounds is expected to this work, that calls for a due consideration of them. All men who will find them stated in these prolegomena, may not perhaps have had leisure, may not perhaps have the Ability to know what issue the most of these things have been already driven unto, in the writings of private men.
Section 9. As I willingly grant then, that some of these things may without any great prejudice to the Truth, be candidly debated amongst learned men; so taking them altogether, placed in the advantages they now enjoy, I cannot but look upon them, as an engine suited to the destruction of the important truth before pleaded for; and as a fit weapon put into the hands of men of Atheistical minds and Principles, such as this Age abounds withal, to oppose the whole evidence of Truth revealed in the Scripture. I fear with some, either the pretended infallible Judge, or the depth of Atheism will be found to lie at the door of these considerations. Hoc Ithacus vellet. But the debate of the Advantage of either Romanists or Atheists from hence, belongs to another place and season. Nor is the guilt of any consequences of this nature charged on the workmen, which yet may be feared from the work itself.
Chapter 1.
1. The occasion of this discourse. 2. The danger of assuming corruptions exist in the originals of Scripture. 3. The great usefulness of the Biblia Polyglotta. 4. The grounds of the following observations. 5. The assertions proposed to be defended are laid out. 6. Their weight and importance. 7. Several principles in the Prolegomena that are harmful to the truth being contended for are laid out. 8. Those principles were previously asserted by others. Reasons for the opposition made against them.
Section 1. When the entire preceding treatise was finished and ready to be given to the publisher, the Prolegomena and Appendix to the recently published Biblia Polyglotta came into my hands. When I first saw that volume, I was somewhat startled by the bulky collection of variant readings that the Appendix presents to anyone who even glances at it. Before long, I found that other men of learning and judgment had similar concerns about that work, not unlike the thoughts my own mind had suggested to me. Afterward, considering what I had written about God's providence in preserving the original copies of Scripture in the preceding discourse, I feared that from the large number of variations in the original copies and in all the translations published with such care and diligence, some overwhelming objections might be raised against the truth of what I had asserted. So I decided it was necessary to pause until I could take the time to work through the Appendix and the variant readings presented in that great volume, along with the grounds and reasons for them in the Prolegomena. Having now completed that task and (given the circumstances) duty, I will take the liberty to share my thoughts on certain things contained in them. People with twisted minds may possibly twist these things to undermine my earlier assertions and to challenge the certainty of divine truth as it has been preserved for us through God's providence in the originals of Scripture.
Section 2. I do not need to explain what use has been made, and is still being made in the world, of this assumption that corruptions have crept into the originals of Scripture — which those variant readings at first glance seem to suggest. In short, it is the foundation of Islam (Alcoran Azoar 5). It is the chief and main support of Popery, the only claim of fanatical opponents of Scripture, and the root of much hidden atheism in the world. At present, a very learned person has sent me a treatise in English with the Latin title Fides Divina, in which its unnamed author labors on this very foundation to overturn and completely render useless the whole of Scripture. How far people like him may be strengthened in their unbelief by considering these things, time will tell.
If there had not been a pressing need for me either to completely abandon any thought of publishing the preceding treatise or else to respond to certain things contained in the Prolegomena and Appendix, I would have stayed away from this task for many reasons. But the truth is, not only what I had written in the first chapter about God's providence in preserving Scripture, but also the main arguments I relied on concerning the self-evidencing power and light of Scripture, would in my judgment be greatly weakened by the things I am about to address, if they are accepted and received as presented. Therefore I could not excuse myself from taking the risk of sharing my thoughts on them.
Section 3. The wise man tells us that he considered all labor and every skillful work, and that for this a man is envied by his neighbor, which he says is vanity and vexation of spirit (Ecclesiastes 4:4). It cannot be denied that this often happens because of the corruption of human hearts: when works — right works — are brought forth into the world through the hardest labor, their authors are repaid with envy for their effort. This mixes all the results of people's best endeavors with vanity and vexation of spirit. Jerome in ancient times and Erasmus more recently are the usual examples of this. I can, with careful consideration, completely deny that I bear any particular guilt of this kind toward the work of publishing the Biblia Polyglotta, which I highly value, or toward its authors and editors, whom I do not know personally. The searcher of all hearts knows I am not lying. What could possibly infect me with that attitude? I neither claim any deep expertise in the learning used in that work, nor am I ever likely to be involved in anything that would compete with it. I did not even know that the chief author of this edition of the Bibles existed until I saw the work itself. I will therefore never fail, on any fair occasion, to praise the usefulness of this work and the learning, diligence, and effort of the worthy people who produced it. I would offer their full commendation here, except that beginning this discussion with their praises might be misunderstood. But since we have been given not only the Bible itself but also the private opinions of men (along with collections of variant readings, whether genuine or merely claimed to be so, as we will see later), some of which I believe work against the great and important truth I have been defending — I hope it will not offend anyone if I use the same freedom that they or any of them whose hands have been most prominent in this work have used. With (I trust) Christian honesty and moderation of spirit, I will briefly share my thoughts on some things they have proposed.
Section 4. The famously learned prefacer to the Arabic translation in this edition tells us that the work of translating the Pentateuch into that language was done by a Jew who took care to give support to his own private opinions and make them look authoritative by working them into the text of his translation.
I have no cause to make any such complaint about the Prolegomena and Appendix, nor will I do so. I only wish (with all due respect to wiser judgments) that in publishing the Bible, the sacred text with its translations and whatever plain historical accounts of their origins and preservation were necessary to lay them fairly and openly before the reader's judgment, had not been burdened with disputes and arguments for particular private opinions. Such opinions are imposed too easily on readers' minds by their constant closeness to canonical truth.
Section 5. But my present discussion will not extend beyond the concern for the truth that I have argued for in the preceding discourse. I will first present a brief summary of it, focusing on the part that seems most directly affected, and then lay out what appears to me to work against it in the volumes now under consideration. I have no doubt that a fuller account of the whole will soon be offered by someone to the learned and impartial readers of them. The essence of what I am arguing for, regarding the specific point to be defended, is this: just as the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament were given directly and entirely by God Himself, His mind being represented in them to us without the slightest involvement of any means or methods that could alter even the smallest letter or detail, so by His good and merciful providence, out of His love for His Word and His Church, His entire Word as originally given has been preserved for us in the original languages. There, shining in its own beauty and brilliance (and also in all translations, insofar as they faithfully represent the originals), it demonstrates and proves to the consciences of people, without any other outside help or assistance, its divine origin and authority.
Section 6. The various assertions or propositions contained in this position are, to me, such important truths that I will not be faulted by my own conscience — nor, I hope, by anyone else — for contending for them. I consider them fundamental parts of the faith once delivered to the saints. Although some of them may seem less weighty than others, they are so linked together that removing or destroying any one of them takes away our interest in the others entirely. It will certainly be granted that the conviction that the Word came directly from God, in the way I have argued, is the foundation of all faith, hope, and obedience. But what good does it do us that God once delivered His Word in this way, if we are not also assured that the Word so delivered has been preserved whole and uncorrupted through His special care and providence, and that it still demonstrates itself to be His Word even as it has been preserved? We might say: blessed were the ages past who received God's Word in its unquestionable power and purity, when it shone brightly in its own glorious native light and was free from the defects and corruptions that human failure has introduced over a long period of time. But for us, we can hardly find a sure foundation for believing that this book rather than any other contains what remains of His Word, and it is nearly impossible for us to reach certainty about any individual word or expression — whether it is from God or not. Far be it from any good person to think that God, whose covenant with His Church is that His Word and Spirit shall never depart from it (Isaiah 59:21; Matthew 5:18; 1 Peter 1:25; 1 Corinthians 11; Matthew 28:20), has left us in uncertainty about the very things that are the foundation of all the faith and obedience He requires of us.
As I have in the preceding treatise demonstrated (I hope) the self-evidencing light and power of Scripture, let us now deal honestly and in pursuit of truth, with minds free from bias and unsettling emotions — save only the trouble that comes from the necessity of disagreeing with the authors of so useful a work — and turn our attention to what seems in these Prolegomena and Appendix to undermine the truth of the other assertions about the complete preservation of the Word as given by God in the copies that remain with us. I will do this trusting that the people involved will fairly accept and weigh what is conscientiously offered.
Section 7. While I do gratefully acknowledge that many things are said very honorably about the originals in these Prolegomena, and that they are absolutely preferred above any translation whatsoever and affirmed in general as the authoritative standard for all versions — contrary to the views of the publisher of the great Parisian Bibles and his notorious defender Morinus — nevertheless, as they stand in relation to the Appendix of variant readings, there are both opinions and principles confirmed by corresponding practices that carry the nature and significance described above.
1. After a lengthy argument on the subject, it is concluded that the Hebrew points (vowels and accents) are a recent invention of certain Jewish rabbis, created about five or six hundred years after the giving of the Gospel. From this it follows:
1. An antiquity is attributed to some translations — two or three at least — that predates the invention of these points. Their agreement with the original therefore cannot fairly be tested by the present text as it is now pointed and accented.
2. The entire credibility of our reading and interpretation of Scripture, as far as it is governed by the current punctuation, depends solely on the faithfulness and skill of those Jews whose invention this system is claimed to be.
2. The marks of which there are over 800 in the Hebrew Bibles are variant readings, partly gathered by certain Jewish rabbis from ancient copies and partly their critical corrections.
And therefore:
After these variant readings (as they are considered) are presented to us in the order in which they appear in the great Bibles — not merely to increase the bulk of diverse readings or to present an appearance of new variety to a casual observer, but to demonstrate that they are indeed the kind of variant readings described above — they are given to us a second time, arranged in the system devised by Capellus, the great patriarch of these studies.
3. There have been such alterations to the original that in many places they may be corrected by the translations that were made long ago.
And therefore:
Variant readings may be identified and gathered from those translations by examining how they read in their copies and where they differed from those we now have.
4. It is also stated that where any serious faults or corruptions have affected the originals, scholars may use their skill in critical conjecture to correct them and restore the original readings that were lost — though in general, this is not to be allowed without the authority of manuscript copies.
And therefore:
A collection of variant readings from Grotius, consisting mostly of such conjectures, is presented to us in the Appendix.
5. The massive bulk of variant readings, as they are plainly displayed, seems sufficient to raise doubts and concerns in people's minds about the truth of what has previously been claimed by many regarding the preservation of Scripture through the care and providence of God.
Section 8. Everyone familiar with matters of this kind knows that none of these are new opinions invented or promoted by the learned prefacer to these Bibles. The individual points mentioned have been asserted and defended by various learned men. If these opinions had remained within the ordinary scope of people's private ideas in their own private writings, standing or falling by their own merits and their authors' reputation, I would not have felt compelled by my earlier discourse to respond to them. Every one of us must give an account of himself to God. It will be well for us if we are found holding the foundation. If we build hay and stubble on it, though our work perishes, we will be saved. Let every person in these matters be fully persuaded in his own mind. That will cause me no offense. What concerns me is that these opinions are laid as the foundation of the usefulness of the Biblia Polyglotta, with an effort to make them widely accepted — not on their own strength, but through their connection to the authority that is rightly expected from this work. That is what calls for careful examination. All who encounter these opinions stated in the Prolegomena may not have had the time, and may not have the ability, to know what conclusions most of these issues have already been driven to in the writings of individual scholars.
Section 9. While I freely grant that some of these matters may be honestly debated among learned people without great harm to the truth, taken altogether and placed in the advantageous position they now hold, I cannot help but see them as a weapon designed to destroy the important truth I have been arguing for — and as a fitting tool placed in the hands of people with atheistic minds and principles, of which this age has no shortage, to attack the whole evidence of truth revealed in Scripture. I fear that for some, either the supposed infallible judge or the depths of atheism will be found lurking behind these considerations. Hoc Ithacus vellet. But the debate over the advantage that either Romanists or atheists might gain from this belongs to another place and time. Nor is the guilt of any such consequences charged against the authors, though they may rightly be feared from the work itself.
