among the Ancients, (as Grotius obferves) to begin one Book with the Conclufion of another. This we fee in the Hiftory of Dionyfius Halicarnaffeus, who knew as well as any Man the Art of Writing, and was as much acquainted with the Works of the Authors before him. To fay without any Authority from MSS. that this could fo often happen in his Hiftory, by any mistake of the Tranfcribers, is altogether groundless. The End of his Tenth Book, and the Beginning of the Eleventh have the fame Senfe, tho' with fuch variation in Words, as could not be by chance. It is obfervable, that the Historical Books of Scripture have a plain Reference one to another: Thus Joshua begins his Book, Now after the death of Mofes, or as it is in the Septuagint, And after, &c. So the Book of Judges, Now after the death of Joshua. And Ruth in like manner, Now it came to pafs in the days when the Judges ruled. All the Hiftorical Books refer to each other, except the First Book of Chronicles, and that of Nehemiah, which yet by the Jews was reckoned together with Ezra, but as one Book. The Reason why the First Book of Chronicles can have no Reference to any precedent Book is plain, because it begins with the Genealogy from Adam. And Nehemiah begins his Book by prefixing his Name, The words of Nehemiah the fon of Hachaliab, and then fets down the Year and Month; fo that there could be no need of any other connexion. In this he imitated the Prophets; The Vifion of Ifaiah the fon of Amoz; The words of Jeremiah the fon of Hilkiah. But Ezekiel and Jonah have likewife ufed the fame P.eference, with which the Hiftorical Books begin. Tho' this could not be fo needful in Prophecies, to which the Name of Prophets stand prefix'd, a in Hiftorical Books written without the Author's Name: None of which was defigned as a separate Work by it felf, but for a Continuation or Supplement of what had been writ

Hieron. in lib. Reg. Præf. Origen. apud Euseb. Hist. 1. 6. c. 25.

ten before, that all together might make up one entire History, in the fame manner as Mofes, and all Authors both ancient and modern, ufually connect the feveral Books, of which their Works are composed.

The Pfalms are quoted under the Title of the Prophets, Mat. xiii. 35. and xxvii. 35. and from the first penning, they were used in the Publick Service of God, I Chron. xvi. 7. 2 Chron. V. 13. vii. 6. xx. 21. xxix. 30. Jer. xxxiii. 11. Ezra iii. 10, 11. This was known, even to their Enemies, in their Captivivity, Pfal. cxxxvii. 3. and fome of them were written by the Prophets under it. And Leffons out of the Law and the Prophets, with Hymns out of the Pfalms, and Prayers, made up the Jewish Form of Worship. Mofes and the Prophets, are put for the whole Old Teftament, Luke xvi. 29. Acts xiii. 15. The Law by an ufual Figure of Speech, is used for the Pfalms, John X. 34. XV. 25. for the Prophets, I Cor. xiv. 21. and for the Old Teftament, Rom. iii. 19. In which fenfe the LXXII. are by fome Authors faid to have translated the Law, when they tranflated the Jewish Canon of Scripture.

And if both the Law and the Prophets, comprehending all the Books of Scripture written before the Captivity, were still extant, and well known, and made ufe of by pious Men, during all that time, and the People had Copies of them, or had means and opportunities of being acquainted with them, as the Prophet Zechariah fuppofes, Zech. vii. 7. there is no reafon to imagine, that they had not fufficient knowledge of the Hebrew Tongue at their Reftoration, many being till alive, who were firft carried away Captive: and the Writings of the Prophets, during the Captivity, and upon their Keturn, fhew that the People did understand it; for they all wrote in the Hebrew Language, except upon fome particular occafions, where their Prophecies more immediately concerned the Babylonian Affairs. Both Men and Women could under

understand Ezra, when he read the Law; And the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law, Neh. viii. 3. And it was not the Language, unlefs in fome Particulars, which in all Languages will want Explication to the Vulgar, who are Natives, but the Senfe and Meaning, that was interpreted, ver.7,8. And in the fame manner, the Letter of Artaxerxes was both written in the Syrian tongue, and interpreted in the Syrian tongue, Ezra iv. 7. Nehemiah particularly complains, that the Children of those who had married strange Wives, could not speak in the Jews language which fuppofes that the Children of other Farents, as well as the Parents themselves, were taught to fpeak the Hebrew Tongue, Neb. xiii. 24. And the Decree of Ahasuerus, in favour of the Jews, was written unto every province, according unto the writing thereof; and unto every people, after their language; and unto the Jews, according to their writing, and according to their language, Efth. viii. 9. which feems to imply, that the Jews ftill retain'd not only their Language, but their Manner of Writing it, or the Form and Fashion of their Letters, under the Captivity. The Hebrew Tongue is now understood among the Jews, tho' fpoken readily by few, beside their Rabbins but we may obferve, how eafie it is for that People, diftinguish'd and separated by their Rites, from those among whom they live, to retain their Native Language in Captivity, by what they do now. Forma

ny Jews, who out of Germany went into Poland, Hungary, and Ruffia, ftill retain the German Tongue in their Families; and those, that, when they were driven out of Spain, fled to the Levant, carried the Spanish Tongue along with them; which remains the Language of their Pofterity: And in Italy the German Jews fpeak Dutch, and the Spanish Jews keep the Spanish Tongue.

Leo Moden. P* 2. c. I. §. I.

1

So little Credit is to be given to the Story in the Apochryphal Book of Ezra, that the Law being burnt, Ezra was infpired to dictate it all anew, which was taken from his Mouth by Five Writers, who in Forty days wrote Two hundred and four Books, the former of which were to be made Publick, but the Seventy laft were to be deliver'd only to the Wife, i. e. to the Rabbins, 2 Efdr. xiv. 40. which is plainly a Jewish Fable invented to authorize their Traditions. And yet this groundless Story, fo contrary to Scripture and to the Writings of fome of the most learned of the Rabbins, in a Book, that is rejected both by Proteftants and Papifts, has prevail'd too much with both.

k

After their Return, the Jews were a free People, till the time of Alexander the Great, who only requir'd Tribute of them, but left them to their own Law and Government; fo that no occafion was given to any confiderable Change in their Language, as Voffius computes, till the first year of the CXVII. Olympiad, when Jerufalem was taken by Ptolemaus Lagi; and Twenty seven years after, was the Verfion of the Septuagint, by whom, not long after the Decease of those that return'd from the Captivity, the Scriptures were tranflated into the Greek Tongue; and were difpers'd into fo many hands, among the Jews and Profelytes, that the Copies could not be destroy'd, either in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, or at any other time, by the Malice of Perfecutors, or any other Accident. And tho' the Jews were fo fond of their Traditions as to make the word of God of none effect by them; yet they never added any Books to the Canon of Scripture, in favour of thofe Traditions which they were fo zealous for; but when they had no longer any Prophets among them, they durft not place any other

David Kimhi & Jacob Benhaym, apud Sixt. Senenf. 1.8. Hær. 2. * If, Voff, ad iteratas P. Simonii Object. Respons. p. 373.

Books

Books in the fame Rank and Authority with those which the Prophets had left behind them. All the Canonical Books were written by Infpired Authors, and have been in conftant ufe among the People of the Jews, in their private Houses, and publick Affemblies, even from the firft writing them; for they were preferv'd during the Captivity, and both underftood and used by the People: but their other Books, written under the Second Temple, though never fo useful and pious, were never receiv'd with the like Efteem and Veneration; they pretended to no more than Humane Compofition, and were never rank'd with those of Divine Authority. The Jews with a general Confent acknowledge, that during the Second Temple, there was neither the Ark, (nor confequently the Shechina) nor the Urim and Thummim, nor the Fire from Heaven, nor the Holy Oil, nor the Holy Spirit in the Gifts of Prophecies and Miracles. This is a Confeffion of the Jews against them, which is much urged upon them by Christians, to prove that our Saviour is the Meffias, and that his Prefence alone could make the Glory of the latter house, greater than of the former, Hag. ii. 9. And their Confeffion herein adds great Weight to their Testimony in behalf of all thefe kinds of Prophecy, which they affirm to have been under the firft Temple; and of this Prophecy of Haggai, as well as of the reft in the Old Tefta

ment.

Vid, Bochart. Hierozoic. Par. 1. 1. 2. c. 35.

CHAP.

0.4