Errors whatsoever: But this Verfion defervedly claims this Title, as being morally confonant to the Original, and that both for its Antiquity and Exactness it ought to be preferred before other Transla❝tions. For it was not the Intention of the Council, either to prefer “before, or to compare this Verfion to, the Original, but only with "the other Latin Tranflations. This may be feen at the very Begin"ning of this Decree, where it is declared, that the whole Intention "is to make the World underftand, which among all the Latin Edi❝tions of the Bible ought to pafs for authentic. Ex omnibus Editionibus "Latinis quæ circumferuntur. There were at the Time of the Sitting "of this Council many Latin Verfions of the Bible published, fome "by Catholicks, fome by (fuch as he calls) Hereticks; fo that while "they made ufe, in their Citations, of feveral different Verfions, this "Confufion proved the Occafion of great Contelts. To avoid this "Inconveniency, the Council gave the Preference, among all other "Latin Tranflations, to this moft ancient, which had been approved "of in the Church for many Ages before, and which could not be "charged with any Error, either in Faith or Morality, and which 66 was morally conformable to the original Text. This Version is "commanded to be used as the only one in all Sermons, Conferences, or other publick Acts; without the leaft Diminution however of the "Authority and authentick Qualification of the Original, or of the "Chapter, Ut veterum Diftinct. 9. which ordains, Ut veterum librorum Fides de Hebræis voluminibus examinanda eft, ita novorum veritas Græci " fermonis normam defiderat."

He confirms this interpretation, which he has given of the Canon made at Trent, from the Council itfelf's having made an Acknowledgement of fome Defects in the Text of the Vulgate, and ordered the fame to be corrected. He likewife obferves that thofe who were prefent at this Council, and made a Part of it, and all that have made Apologies for it, have explained this Decree, juft as he has done. The Council referred the Correction of the Vulgate, (which by the Multiplicity of Copies, and the Carelefnefs of Tranfcribers, had contracted a Multitude of Faults) to the Care of the Pope. But it was near forty Years before any Care was taken in this Matter For this Order for correcting the Vulgate was made in the Year 1546; but the Correction was not entered upon until the Pontificate of Sixtus V, which began in the Year 1585. Thote who were employed by that Pope in this Work, were directed to revife the Text after the ancient MSS; and where there was an Ambiguity or Variety in the MSS. there they should have Recourse to the Hebrew and Greek, to determine which Reading ought to be preferred. This Work being finifhed, the Pope took great Care to have it fairly and correctly printed in the Vatican, and affures us, that he had with his own Hands corrected the Errors of the Prefs. And, by his Bull, prefixed to this Edition, (which was published 1590 at Rome) "He declared, with the Advice of the Cardinals "deputed for that Purpose, according to the Plenitude of his Power, that this Edition of the Old and New Teftament, being without "Queftion the fame Verfion declared by the Council of Trent to be authentick, and printed with all the Exactness imaginable, should be

"read

read only in all the Churches; forbidding any Impreffion to be made "for the future of this Verfion, that fhould not be conformable to this, "or to add any various Lections in the Margin: Ordaining at the fame

Time, that all the Books of the Offices of the Church fhould be "corrected according to this Edition, under the Pain of the great Ex"communication incurred ipfo fact, to be reserved to the Pope; and "other Penalties mentioned in the fame Bull at Santa Maria Majori, "Mar. 1, 1589." But Pope Sixtus V. dying foon after he had publifhed this Edition, and prefixed his Bull to it, three other Popes alfo dying within two Years after him, this Edition was foon fup. preffed. And

Pope Clement VIII, who fucceeded to the Papacy in the Beginning of the Year 1592, did that Year publifh another Edition very different from this in many Places, which he fortified by his Authority as the only authentick one; forbidding by his Bull, dated Nov. 9, 1592, to print any other for the future. Dr. Thomas James, the firft Keeper of the Bodleyan Library at Oxford, a Man of great Learning and Industry, compared thefe two Editions, and collected the Differences between them with great Exactnefs; which amounted to above 2000. It is true fome of them are but trifling, but many of them (as Du Pin is forced to acknowledge) are of no fmall Confequence. Clement VIII. has more clofely followed the Hebrew Text, and his Edition is much more correct than that of Sixtus V; though he expreffes himself in far more moderate Terms, in his Preface refixed to his Edition.

The Proteftants have very juftly observed, that these two Bulls of Pope Sixtus V, and Clement VIII, which are fo contrary the one to the other, are a demonstrative Proof that the Pope, even in Cathedrâ, is not infallible: For, if Pope Clement's Bull was right, that of Pope Sixtus was wrong; and vice verfâ. What Anfwer the Partifans of the Court of Rome, who maintain the Infallibility of the Pope, give to this, I know not. They may cavil at the Argument, but I think they cannot answer it. Matter of Fact is a stubborn Thing, and will not yield to Sophiftry. But whatever becomes of the Pope's Infallibility, we ought to have a due Regard for the Latin Vulgate, whofe Antiquity may juftly render it venerable, and on that Account make it useful to determine the true Reading, when the original Hebrew or Greek may be ambiguous. There appears alfo a Kind of facred Simplicity or Plainnefs in the Style, which none of the later Tranflations have been able to reach.

Having, I think, faid enough of the Greek and Latin Tranflations, I must now give you fone Account of the Samaritan Pentateuch. I need not tell you, that thele Samaritans were the Pofterity of those Nations which the King of Affyria brought from Cuth, and other Parts of his Empire, to repeople the Country which belonged to the ten Tribes (which under Jeroboam, the Son of Nebut, revolted from the House of David) after he had carried thofe ten Tribes into Captivity, of which the Scriptures give us an Account 2 Kings xvii. Where we find, that because they feared not the LORD, he fent Lions among them, which flew fome of them: Wherefore the King of Affyria fent back a Prieft, who taught them how they fhould fear the LORD, and fo

they

they worshipped him, together with their other Gods. As therevolted Tribes had no more of the Scriptures than the five Books of Mofes, fo the Prieft could bring no other with him but thofe Books written ia the old Phoenician Letters, which, upon the Return of the Jews, Ezra changed for the Chaldee, which we now call the Hebrew Letters. Thus the Samaritans continued to mix the Worfhip of the true God and of their falfe Gods together, until the Days of Nehemia; and he requiring those who had married ftrange Wives to put them away; and as we learn from Nehem. xiii. 28. finding one of the High Prieft's Sons had married a Daughter of Sanballat, the Governor of Samaria, and would not part with her, banished him the Land. This Man, (as Jofephus tells us in his Antiquities, L. ii. c. 7.) whofe name was Manaffeh, Aled to Samaria, where his Wife's Father Sanbaliat was Governor, who built a Temple for him, like that at Jerufalem, upon Mount Gerizim, and made him the High-Prieft of it. Manaffeh brought with him fome other Apoftate Priests, with many other Jews, who difliked the Regulations made by Nehemia at Jerufalem. And now the Samaritans having gotten an High-Prieft, and other Priefts of the Defcendants from Aaron, they were pretty foon brought off from the Worship of their falle Gods, and became as great Enemies to Idolatry as the best of the Jews. However, Manaffeh gave them no other Scriptures than the Pentateuch, left, if they had the other Scriptures, they should find then that Jerufalem was the only Place where they fhould offer their Sacrifices. And though he brought with him the Book of the Law, yet he caufed it to be written in the old Character, which had been long ufed by the Samaritans, and not in the new Chaldee Character of Ezra. John Hyrcanus, a Prince of the Race of the Maccabees, having conquered Samaria, intirely demolished this Temple, about 200 Years after it had been built by Sanballat. Nevertheless, the Samaritans ftill kept up their Altar, and offered there their Sacrifices upon it. And forgetting that they derived their Original from the Cutheans, they accounted themfelves true Ifraelites, who had preferved the Obfervation of the Law in its Purity, and had High-Priests defcended in a direct Line from Phineas, the Son of Eleazar, the Son of Aaron. And indeed their Pricfts are thus defcended, and fo many apoftate Jews have mixed with them, as may give many of them a Claim to a Defcent from Jacob. And John iv. the Woman of Samaria, called Jacob Father; and from her Words to our Saviour, it is evident they expected the Meffiah as well as the Jews: However, the Jews would have no Dealing with them, as we learn from the fame Chapter. Jofephus tells us that when the Jews were in Profperity, the Samaritans would pretend to be the fame People with them: But when the Jews were in Adverfity, then the Samaritans would fay they were not Jews, and fhew their Defcent from another Nation.

There is ftill a Remainder of thefe Samaritans, who continue to have their High-Prieft and other Priefts of the Race of Aaron, (as they fay, and perhaps fay true) who offer their Sacrifices on Mount Gerizim to this very Time. This Sect is now reduced to a very fmall Number, the chief of which refide at Sichem, afterwards called Flavia Neapolis, and now Naploufa, the Town to which Mount Gerizim belongs. They

have

have Synagogues in other Parts of Palestin, and alfo in Egypt. The Pentateuch ufed by them is no Tranflation, but only a different Copy of the fame Hebrew Original, written alfo in different Characters. It was well known to many of the Fathers, who have quoted it: But as feveral of thofe Fathers are believed not to have understood Hebrew, it is thence believed there was a Greek Tranflation of it. Thefe Quotations are all elder than the Year 600. From that Time, for a 1000 Years, we find no Mention of this Samaritan Pentateuch, until about the Beginning of the laft Century, when Scaliger having got Notice that it was ftill preferved by thofe of that Sect, and complaining that no body had taken care to get a Copy from thence, Archbishop Uber, by the Means of Mr. Thomas Davis, then at Aleppo, and (as I fuppofe) Chaplain to the Factory there, procured two or three Copies of it out of the Eaft. Not long after, Sancius Harley, a Prieft of the Oratory at Paris, and afterwards Bishop of St. Malo's in Britany, brought another Copy into Europe, which he repofited in the Library belonging to that Order in Paris: From which Copy, Morinus, another Prieft of that Order, published it in the Paris Polyglot.

The Samaritans, befide the Pentateuch in the original Hebrew, have also a Tranflation of it into the Language which was vulgarly spoken among them: Which is alfo published together with the Original in the Paris Polyglot; and it is fo exactly literal, that Morinus thought one Latin Tranflation might ferve for both. And Bishop Walton has followed the fame Method in his Polyglot; only when there are any Variations, they are marked at the Bottom of the Page. This Samaritan Pentateuch has fome Additions, Variations, and Tranfpofitions, whereby it differs from the prefent Jewish Copies. But that there fhould be fome Differences is not fo much to be wondered at, as that there are not more, after that, those who adhered to the one, and those who adhered to the other, had not only broke off all Manner of Communication, but had conftantly been at the bittereft Variance poffible with each other for above 2000 Years: For fo long had paffed from the Apoftacy of Manaffeh to the Time when thefe Copies were firft brought into Europe. In fo many Ages, many Differences might happen by the Errors of Tranfcribers; and the most that are between these two Copies are of this Sort.

After Sanballat had built the Temple on Mount Gerizim, the Samaritans and apoftate Jews would not allow Jerufalem to be the Place which God had chofen; but contended that Mount Gerizim was that Place: And argued as the Woman of Samaria did to our Saviour, John iv. 20. That their Fathers worshipped in that Mountain. For they plead, that there Abraham (Gen. xii. 6, 7. and xiii. 4.) and there Jacob (Gen. xxxiii. 20.) built Altars to God, and by offering Sacrifice upon them, confecrated that Place above all others to his Worfhip. That therefore it was appointed by God himself (Deut. xxvii. 12.) to be the Hill of Bleffing on the Coming of the Children of Ifrael out of Egypt; and that accordingly Joshua caufed the Bleffings of God to be declared thereon. Also, that having paffed the River Jordan, he built an Altar on it of twelve Stones, taken out of the River Jordan in his Paffage over it, according as God had commanded, and offered Sacrifices on

it. (Deut. xxvii, 1-7.) And this they held to be the very Altar on which they still facrifice. But to make out this laft Part of their Argu ment, they have corrupted the Text: For whereas the Command of God is, that they should build the Altar on Mount Ebal, they have inftead thereof put Mount Gerizim. The Jews loudly charge thein with this Corruption; and they retort it, and accufe the fews of having altered the Text; and bring this Argument for it, That Mount Gerizim having been the Mountain appointed by God to declare his Bleffings, and Mount Ebal to denounce his Curfes, the Mount of Bleffings was very proper, and the Mount of Curfes very improper, for an Altar of God to be built upon. But notwithstanding this Allegation, all other Copies and old Tranflations make against them, and prove the Corruption on their fide. And it very much aggravates their guilt herein, that they have not only corrupted the Scriptures in this Place, but have alfo interpolated them with this Corruption in another; that is, in the 20th Chapter of Exodus, where, after the tenth Commandment, they have fubjoined, by way of additional Precept thereto, Words taken out of the 11th and 27th Chapters of Deuteronomy, to command the erecting an Altar on Mount Gerizim, inftead of Mount Ebal, and offering Sacrifices to God in that Place. They having thus made a wilful Alteration in one Place, and a corrupt Addition in another, this (fays Dean Prideaux gives the lefs Authority to their Copy, when it differs from that of the Jews. But I conceive, though the Samaritans might alter a Text, and make an Interpolation to ferve a Caufe, it does not from thence follow, that they fhould wilfully and needlefly make Alterations, where they had no Cause to ferve.

The Chaldee Paraphrafes are Tranflations of the Scriptures of the Old Teftament, made directly from the Hebrew Text into the Language of the Chaldeans. Thele Paraphrafes are called Targums, which, in the Chaldee Language, fignifies an Interpretation or Verfion out of one Language into another. Thefe Targums were made for the Ufe and Inftruction of the vulgar Jews, after their Return from the Babylonifh Captivity For although the better Sort ftill retained the Hebrew Language, and taught it their Children, and the Holy Scriptures that were delivered after that Time (excepting only fome Parts of Ezra and Daniel, and one Verfe in Jeremiah) were all written therein, yet the common People fo long converfing with the Babylonians, learnt their Language, and forgot their own. Therefore, when Ezra read the Law unto the People, (Neh. viii. 4—8.) he had Men standing by him well fkilled in both Languages, who interpreted to the People in Chaldee, what he read to them in Hebrew. And this Courfe of Reading and interpreting was afterwards continued. And that the whole Law might be read in a Year, they divided it into fifty-four Sections; becaufe every third Year at leaft they intercalated a Month, and then had fifty-four Sabbaths; and in other Years, when they had fewer Sabbaths, they as often joined two Sections together, fo that the whole Law might be read within the Year. Until the Time of the Perfecution by Antiochus Epiphanes, they read only the Law; but being there prohibited to read the Law, they then divided the Prophets into fifty

four