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miretur Lector, quod Mutilationes facri Textus, quas JUSTINUS M. TRYPHONI Judæo exprobravit, baud Exempli Loco attulerim; fiquidem Pericopas objectas non a Judæis ablatas, fed potius a primavis Chriftianis Explicationis Gratia ad Marginem adfcriptas, indeque in ipfum Textum poftea illatas cenfeo, cujus mea Opinionis Rationes dabo, ubi, Deo volente, Dialogum Juftini edidero.

The firft Place, Behold a Virgin fhall be with Child, was only rejected by the Jews as a falfe Tranflation of the Hebrew; which, according to them, fhould have been render'd, Behold a young Woman shall be with Child, and as AQUILA and THEODOTION render'd it; and it can by no Means be faid that the Jews fo much as attempted to take away the Place, either out of the Hebrew or Septuagint. The Jews had a Right in the Time of JUSTIN, and have now, to argue with the Christians concerning the Import or Ufe of the Hebrew Word Almah (render'd Virgin by the Septuagint) without being in the leaft liable to the Charge of corrupting the Bible. And it seems to be a very proper Topick for them to infift on to Chriftians, who lay Strefs on the Place; tho', in Reality, the Words, a Virgin fhall be with Child, feem of themselves to fignify no miraculous Conception of a Virgin, and efpecially not in their Place in ISAIAH, as appears by the (w) Context, which fhows the Term tranflated Virgin to have Reference to a young Woman in the Days of AHAZ.

(w) Whitton's Essay, &c. p. 229, &c.

As to the Place of ES DRAS, it is not cited any where by the Apoftles in the New Testament; and by Confequence it is not an Inftance of the Jews corrupting Paffages of the Old Teftament cited in the New. Befides, it is in no Hebrew (x) Copies of ESDRAS, nor is it cited by any Antients, except by JUSTIN and LACTANTIUS. Satis patet, fays (y) THIRLBY, ab aliquo Chriftiano, Verba conficta effe, non a Judæis deleta. Dr. GRABE, who difcharges the Jews from taking away this Place, would, indeed, alfo clear the Chriftians from forging it, by suppofing it (x) a primævis Chriftianis Explicationis Gratia ad Marginem adfcriptum; indeque in ipfum Textum poftea illatum. But to That Mr. THIRLBY (a) anfwers, Quorfum vero quæfo tam accurata Imitatio Styli facræ Scripturæ, & Septuaginta Interpretum, fi nihil fuberat Doli? Aut quomodo hæc Explicationis Gratia ad Marginem adfcribi potuerunt, cum nibil in toto ESDRA fit, quod aut ab his explicari, aut ullis Machinis huc trahi poffit, imo cum neque in ESDRA canonico, neque in apocryphis, ulla extet ejus ad Populum de Pafcha Oratio, unde hæc fudai refecare potuerint? And the learned CROIUS (b) fcruples not to fay, arbitramur hanc effe piam Fraudem JusTINI, & LACTANTII, qui fequitur JUSTINUM ducem, qui Locum hunc, ut pleraque

(x) Clerici Hift. Ecclef. p. 526. Martyr. p. 292.

(a) Thirlby. Ib.

p. 205.

(y) Thirlbii Juftin (z) Grabe De Vitiis fept Inter. p. 34. (b) Croii Obfer. in Nov. Teft.

omnia

omnia Sybillarum Oracula, & plerafque omnes MERCURII Sententias, ad Doctrina chriftiana Probationem finxerint, & in Lucem ediderint.

The two Places of JEREMIAH, and the Words from the Tree are no where cited in the New Teftament; and confequently they are not Instances of the Jews corrupting Paffages of the Old Teftament cited by the Apostles in the New. Befides, the first Place of JEREMIAH was (c) quoted both by ORIGEN and LACTANTIUS, long after JUSTIN'S Time, and is ftill extant after a Sort (which is enough for a Quotation made by the Fathers) both in the Hebrew and Septuagint. Nay, the Words were, by JUSTIN's own (d) Confeffion, found written, in his Time in fome Copies, that were in the Jewish Synagogues. Mr. LE CLERC (e) fays in Vindication of the Jews with Relation to thofe Words, Quis credat deleta in Verfione Græca, Studio certe & data Opera, dum Hebraice leguntur? Suntne Verba adeo clara & propria Chrifto, nulli ut alii convenire ullo Modo poffint? Atqui de JEREMIAH fat perfpicue dicuntur.

As to the second Place faid to be taken from JEREMIAH, nothing seems more evident than that it is a Christian Forgery. (f) Ille quidem nufquam, neque in Hebraicis, neque in Græcis Codicibus, comparet; nec mirum, cum fit con

(d) p. 142.

(c) Whifton's Essay, &c. p. 145. (e) Clerici Hift. Ecclef. p. 526. See alfo Thirlby in Juftin (f) Clerici Hift, Ecclef. p. 526. fictus

Martyr. p. 293.

K 4

fictus a male feriato Chriftiano, qui Defcenfum Chrifti ad Inferos in JEREMIAH reperiri voluit. The Place is cited feveral Times by (g) IRENEUS, who fometimes afcribes it to ISAIAH, fometimes to JEREMIAH, and oftner to a Prophet; fo that he seems not to have taken it from a ftanding Text, nor to have known to whom it belonged.

The Words from the Tree, of which there is no Footstep either in the Vulgate Verfion, or in ORIGEN or JEROM, or in any Hebrew or Greek Copy, are deem'd by several learned Men to be (b) either a fraudulent or cafual Addition made by fome Chriftian; by which JUSTIN (to speak the best) was impofed upon.

But however That be, they are now reftored by JUSTIN, and may be argued from with the fame Force, as if they were extant in all Copies, both of the Hebrew and Septuagint ; and I can fee no Reafon, why they are not restored, but that either the Criticks think them fpurious, or that they ferve no Christian Purpose, or that they think them both purious, and impertinent to any Chriftian Purpose.

2. As to the fecond Paffage (i) of JUSTIN, wherein a Quotation is made from ZACHARY, a great Part, if not the whole, of which is, according to Mr. (k) W. now dropped both in

(g) Irenæus. 1. 3. c. 23. 1. 4. c. 39, 56, 66. 1. 5. c. 31. (b) Grotius in Pfalm 96. Clerici Hift. Ecclef. p. 526. Thirlby in Juftin Martyr. p. 292. Simon Bib. Crit. Tom. 3. p. 486-488. Le Moyne Not. ad Var. Sacra. p. 489. (i) Juftin Apol. 1. §. 67. (k) Whifton's Eay. p. 144, the

the Hebrew and Septuagint; I answer, that this Paffage is not cited any where in the New Teftament; that it might be taken out of fome apocryphal Book attributed to ZACHARY; that JUSTIN does not say it is left out of ZACHARY; and that the Citation, if taken from ZACHARY, feems to be accounted for by a learned Perfon (1) in a Note thereon, viz. that the Citation confifts of various Paffages out of the Prophet ZACHARY, as they occurr'd to the Memory of JUSTIN, and the Senfe, and not the express Words, fet down by him; which Way of Citation feems the common (m) Method of the Fathers, and makes it very abfurd to pretend from thence that the Bible is corrupted, and that it ought to be corrected by their Citations.

6. Sixthly, Mr. W. (n) charges the Jews with introducing into their Copies a grofs and groundless Alteration into the 22d Pfalm, which, he fays, is one of the most eminent Prophefies, concerning the Sufferings and Paffion of the MESSIAS, that is in all the Old Testament. Inftead of, (o) they pierced my Hands and Feet, the Jews read, as a Lyon my Lyon my Hands and my Feet. But in this Matter (p) there seems to be only a various Reading of the Hebrew, and no Manner of Defign to make any Altera

my

(1) Reeves's Juftin's Apology. p. 92. See Thirlby in Locum, & alibi in Notis. (m) See Reeves. Ib. p. 38. (2) Whifton's Essay. p. 78. (2) Pfalm 22. 16. (P) See Clavis Scrip. Hottingeri. p. 191-198. Simon Hift. Crit. du V, Teft. p. 229. Id. Bib. Crit. Tom. 3. p. 481-488. Whifton. Ib. p. 79.

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