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the Old Testament, and differences and inconfiftencies between the Old and New Teftament he accounts for in the following manner. He fays, that the (ƒ) Jews did in the fecond century greatly corrupt and alter both the Hebrew and Septuagint copies of the Old Teftament, and efpecially with refpect to the places cited in the New Testament, out of oppofition to christianity, and with exprefs (g) defign to make the reasonings of the apoftles from the Old Teftament inconclufive and ridiculous; that the Jews did in the third century give ORIGEN one of thefe corrupted copies of the Septuagint, which ORIGEN, mistaking for genuine, put into his Hexapla, and thereby occafion'd the chriftians to receive that corrupted copy, instead of the authentick copy they had before among them; that, in the latter end of the fourth century, the Jews put into the hands of christians, who till that time had been almost universally (b) ignorant of the Hebrew tongue, a copy of the Old Teftament in Hebrew corrupted like the Septuagint, which copy they greedily receiv'd as a great treasure from the Jews; and that therefore the disagreement between the Old and New Testament

(f) 220. (b) lb. p. 224.

(g) p. 19, 112, 254, 264, c.

ment in refpect both to the exactness and fense of the faid quotations, has no place between the genuine text (now not existing in any copy) of the Old Teftament, but only between the prefent corrupted text of the Old Teftament and the New Teftament. And therefore, in order to juftify the arguments and reasonings of the apoftles, he propofes to restore the text of the Old Teftament as it stood before the days of ORIGEN, and as it stood in the days of Jesus and his apostles. From which text, fo reftor'd, he doubts not, but that it will appear, that the apostles cited exactly, and argued justly and logically, from the Old Testament.

The method by which he propofes to reftore us the true text of the Old Testament, or a new and better bible, than that we have, is (not by the means of any one entire copy that has been loft, and is now found by him, but) by the help of (i) the Samaritan Pentateuch; the Greek palms, as attested by the Roman pfalter; the antiquities of JOSEPHUS; the prefent Hebrew text; the Jeveral Greek editions and manufcripts of the Septuagint verfion, and the ancient tranflations made from it; the old Syriac verfion, made from the Hebrew before the copies of the Hebrew were so corH 3

rupt

(i) lb. p. 329.

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rupt as they now are; the Chaldes Paraphrafes; the remains of the later Greek verfions, particularly thofe of AquILA, THE ODOTION, and SYMMACHUS; the works of PHILO ; the remains of the old italick or vulgate verfion; the apoftolick conftitutions; the fathers and bereticks, who liv'd before, or not long after the days of ORIGEN; the bebrew copies that have never come into the bands of the MASORETES; and the greek copies of the Septuagint version, read in thurches in the first ages of chriftianity, or any parts of them; and, above all, by the help of criticifm, whereby he alters fome paffages, and changes the places of others, which he fuppofes (k) diflocated.

Upon this fcheme, which confifts of great variety of parts, I fhall make the following obfervations; fome of which will, in my opinion, fhow it to labour under as great difficulties as Mr. WHISTON and others fuppofe the allegorical fcheme attended with, and fhould lead them either back to the allegorical fcheme or to fome other fcheme which may better account for all the feeming differences, and want of connection between the notions in the Old and New Teftament,

II.

(k) Ib. p. 229. and divers other places,

II.

That it is incredible, that the Old Teftament should be fo corrupted as Mr. WHISTON afferts.

IT

T feems incredible, that ORIGEN (who was certainly a good man and good chriftian, as well as the most learned apologist of all the ancients for christianity) and other chriftians of his time; fhould be capable of having their (1) vulgar greek Pible, or Old Teftament (of which the gentiles had copies as well as the chriftians) taken from them, or of letting it drop into ob livion and be loft, which inconteftably prov'd the truth of chriftianity by exactly recording the paffages cited from thence in the New Teftament by the apostles, and by manifeft ing to all intelligent readers, that the apoftles cited, interpreted, and argu'd from, thofe paffages juftly and truly; and fhould receive an Old Teftament, (and that with the greatest applaufe for its integrity, and as a ftandard text) from enemies, which fubverted the truth of christianity, by making the apostles, to all appearance, cite falfely, and argue falfely from the books of the Old Tefta

H 4

(1) Pezron Defence de l'Antiquité des tems, p. 304.

Teftament. This was being impos'd on in religion, and facrificing christianity, which was dearer to them than their lives, in too grofs a manner to be conceiv'd. The chriftians of old were capable of having several grofs things put upon them by difhoneft people among themselves; (m) (lying for God and religion being deem'd by many, either. no crime at all, or, however, a very pardonable one; if not perhaps meritorious): as for example, the (n) ftory of the Cells at Alexandria, and other lyes which they receiv'd and improv'd from the Jews; who were fuch celebrated lyars, that a (0) Iyar and a few fignify'd the fame thing: the (p) history of the Phenix to illuftrate and prove the refurrection: the (9) account of St. JOHN's being boil'd in a cauldron of oyl, and coming out unhurt; and his conftant (r) Lifting up and stirring the earth over his grave, as a man in fleep does his bed-cloaths, to prove JOHN alive, as it was fuppos'd to be foretold by Jesus in the gofpel he should

be

(m) Ib. p. 224.

(n) Justin Martyr, aliiq;

(0) Juvenal Satir. 6. v. 546.

Rutil. Itinerat. 1. 1.

v. 393. See alfa Simon Suppl. aux Cerem. des Juifs,

p. 12.

(p) Clement. Epift. ad Corint.

(9) Tertullian. De Præfcript. c. 46. (r) S. Auftin in John 21. 22, 23.

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