6 Jews would have practised upon, if it had been in their power, or in their inclination to do it"." 'When corruptions in worship and manners, and many fuperftitious usages, grew among them, they were,' fays Dr. Worthington, obliged to devife an oral law, to be handed down by oral tradition, to countenance 'thofe corruptions and innovations; which law they ' afterwards collected into a body, and committed to writing likewise. But the Mishna had been needless ' and fuperfluous, durft they have incorporated their tra'ditions with the fcriptures. As they have not done this, in a cafe in which they were most tempted to do ' it, there is less room to suspect their having wilfully ⚫ corrupted them in other repects.' So fcrupulously vigilant were the Jews in preserving the fcriptures, 'that their Maforites numbered not only the fections, 'but even the words and letters, that no fraud or inadvertency might corrupt the leaft iota of what they ' esteemed fo facred. If a word happened to be altered ' in any copy, it was to be laid aside as ufelefs, or given 'to a poor man to teach his children by, on condition it was not brought into the fynagogue. The prince was 'to copy the original exemplar of the law, laid up in the fanctuary, with his own hand: and every Jew was to make it his conftant difcourfe and meditation, to 'teach it to his children, and wear part of it on his hands and forehead'.' 6 A 'We fhall,' fays Mr. Gray, 'be ftill farther convinced, that the facred volume has preferved its genuine purity in every important point, if we confider how little the Septuagint verfion of the fcriptures differs from the Hebrew copies, notwithstanding the 6 Inftitutes of Nat. and Rev. Rel. 1782, vol. I. p. 297. • many many ages that have elapfed fince the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, the king of Egypt, who was the fecond • monarch of the Macedonian race, about 270 years 'before Christ, and under whose reign this translation ⚫ was made into Greek. It has been maintained, indeed, by fome learned men, that only the Pentateuch was 'tranflated at firft, and that the other books were reh'dered into Greek fucceffively at different times; how' ever this may have been, they were all tranflated long I before the birth of Chrift. This verfion has no im'portant variations from the Hebrew, except in some chronological accounts, occafioned probably by the carelessness of the copyifts. It was used in all those countries, where Alexander had established the Gre'cian language, and feems to have been admitted into the Jewish fynagogues in Judæa, and even at Jerufalem, where that language prevailed; and the Septuagint was certainly moft ufed there in the time of our Saviour. Thus does the general coincidence between the Hebrew copies, the Samaritan Pentateuch, and the Septuagint verfion of the Old Testament, demonstrate ⚫ the unaltered integrity of the scriptures in important points, as we now poffefs them, and this integrity is • ftill farther confirmed by the conformity which fub៩ filts between thofe various tranflations of the Bible 6 6 . into different languages, which have been performed fince the time of our Saviour.-It appears, therefore, 'that, from the time of their first inspiration to the prefent day, the facred writings have been difperfed into fo many different hands, that no poffible opportunity 6 could be furnished for confederate corruption, and In the bible of Kennicott are the most confiderable variations of nearly 700 different Hebrew manufcripts; and many more have been collated by the more recent labours of De Roffi. every defigned alteration must immediately have been ' detected".' All the books of fcripture have alfo,' obferves Dr. Priestley, many internal marks of their being the ' genuine production of the ages, in which they are faid 'to have been written, as they contain fo many allufions to particular perfons, places, opinions, and customs, 'which are known, from other allowed hiftories, to ⚫ have existed in those times1o. In agreement with this remark of Dr. Priestley, Dr. Hartley afferts, that 'hif'tory and chronology were in fo uncertain a flate in 'ancient times, that the prophecies concerning foreign 'countries could not have been adapted to the facts, even after they had happened, with fo much exactnefs as 'modern enquirers have fhewn the fcripture-prophecies to be, by a learned nation, and much lefs by the Jews, who were remarkably ignorant of what paffed in foreign countries 11.' The pretenfions of the Hebrew prophets to be con'fidered as God's appointed fervants, were,' fays Mr. Gray, demonftrated by the unimpeachable integrity of 'their characters; by the intrinfic excellence and tendency of their inftruction; and by the difinterested ' zeal, and undaunted fortitude, with which they perfevered in their great defigns. These were ftill farther 'confirmed by the miraculous proof which they dif 9 Key to the Old Test. p. 20, 22. After observing that the Septuagint may have been tranflated from very ancient Hebrew manufcripts, bp. New come adds, this observation may be extended to the Chaldee paraphrase of Jonathan, made about the time of Chrift; to the Syriac version, which ' is generally attributed to the first century; to the imperfect Greek verfions of Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, who lived in the fecond century; and even to the Latin version, of which Jerom was the author in the fourth century. Attempt towards an Improved Verfion of Ezekiel. Dublin, 1788. Pref. p. 36. * played of divine fupport, and by the immediate completion of many less important predictions which they ' uttered. Such were the credentials of their exalted 'character, which the prophets furnished to their contemporaries; and we, who having lived to witnefs the appearance of the fecond difpenfation, can look back 'to the connexion which fubfifted between the two covenants, have received additional evidence of the infpiration of the prophets, in the atteftations of our • Saviour and his apostles; and in the retrofpect of a germinant and gradually maturing scheme of prophecy, ⚫ connected in all its parts. We have ftill farther incontrovertible proofs of their divine appointment, in the numerous prophecies, which, in these latter days, are fulfilled, and still under our own eyes continue to * receive their completion11.' The next quotation is from that ingenious and truly liberal prelate, Dr. Newcome, bp. of Waterford. God ⚫ raised up a fucceffion of prophets among his people for many wife and gracious purposes. They were not only defiged to retain the Jews in the worfhip of the one true God; but to fpread the knowledge of him among • the neighbouring nations, by the fame of their predic⚫tions and miracles. They were a barrier against those ' prevailing kinds of superstition which consisted in the supposed evocation of departed spirits, and in confult*ing imaginary local deities, for the purpose of gratifying the natural thirft which all mankind have for the knowledge of futurity. It must also be observed, that 'the atteftations given by the prophets to the Mosaic, law, their inftructions and exhortations, their reproofs ' and threatenings, were powerful means of preferving 'the Jews in obedience, and eminent displays of the di 12 Key to the Old Test, p. 313. 'vine goodness and compaffion. Another defign in fending the prophets was, that they might record 'God's dealings with his people and with other adjoin *ing nations and empires; and might thus transmit to ' after ages a most instructive hiftory of his adorable ways in governing the world. Jofephus afferts13, that, 'from the death of Mofes to the reign of Artaxerxes, *the prophets who fucceeded that legiflator wrote the 'tranfactions of their own times.-This affertion is con 'firmed by the facred writers; who mention the name of many prophets as having recorded the affairs of the 'Jewish nation. A farther and most important reason ⚫ for inftituting the prophetic order was, that, by a long ' series of predictions, the attention of the Jews might be ' turned to the coming of their Meffiah; and that the faith of fucceeding ages in that great event might be 'thus confirmed. The writings of these prophets bear plain fignatures of their divine authority. Examine 'the books of the Greek and Roman fages; and obferve what difcordant opinions they contain on almost every point of theology and philofophy. But in the Hebrew 'prophets there is a wonderful harmony of doctrine for ' above a thousand years4; unparalleled in the writ'ings of any country. Hiftory teaches us, that a great 'number of their prophecies has been accomplithed; and we know that fome of them are accomplishing at this day. It alfo peculiarly deferves our notice, that thefe holy men entertained the moft worthy concep 'tions of the Deity in the midst of an idolatrous nation; ' and inculcated the fupreme excellence of moral duties, 'when all around them, even the few worshippers of 'Jehovah himself, were folely intent on ritual obfery 13 Contr. Ap. I. 8. 14 From Mofes before Chrift about 1500, to Malachi before Chrift about 436.' |