four Sections; and inftead of a Section of the Law, read one out of the Prophets every Sabbath-Day. And when the Reading of the Law was restored by the Maccabees, then they read a Section of the Law as a firft Leffon, and a Section out of the Prophets for a fecond Leffon : And fo it was practised in the Times of the Apoftles. For (A. xiii. 15.) when St. Paul entered into the Synagogue at Antioch, in Pifidia, it is faid that he food up to preach, after the Reading the Law and the Prophets.

Thefe Sections were divided into Verfes, which the Jews call Pefukim. They are marked out in the Hebrew Bibles by two great Points at the End of them, which the Jews call Soph Pafuk, i. e. the End of the Verfe. This was invented for the Sake of the Chaldee Interpreters, that when the Reader had read one Verfe in the Hebrew, the Interpreter might render it in Chaldee. Which proves, that this Divifion of the Old Teftament into Verfes must be as ancient as the Way of interpreting them into Chaldee in the Synagogues. This Way of reading the Law and the Prophets, firft in the Hebrew, and then interpreting them in the Chaldee, or when the Greek or fome other was the vulgar Language, into that Language, was continued, as I have before obferved, to the Time of the Emperor Juftinian, that is, to about Anno Dom. 550; and foon after that Time the Jews would allow their Scriptures to be read in their Synagogues in Hebrew only, or together with the Chaldee, though that was alfo become a dead Language.

The Divifion of the Bible into Chapters (except the Pfalms, which were always divided as at prefent, for the fmall Difference between the Hebrew and Greek Divifion need not here be mentioned) is of a much later Date. For though the Hebrew Bibles were divided into Sections and Verfes, the Greek, Latin, and other Tranflations, had no fuch Divifions. The Sections alfo of the Hebrew Bibles were very large, and the Verfes had no Numbers placed to them. About the Year 1240, Hugo de Sancto Caro, a Dominican Monk, and the first of that Order who was made a Cardinal, and commonly called Cardinal Hugo, projected the making an Index or Concordance to the Latin Vulgate. In order to which he found it neceffary to divide every Book of the Bible into fuch Partitions as we call Chapters: otherwife, when his Concordance referred to a Text, the whole Book referred to must have been fearched to find it. And for the yet more readily finding the Text required, he placed thefe Letters, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, in the Margin, at an equal Diftance from each other, according as the Chapters were longer or fhorter: In the longer Chapters all thefe Letters were used, in the fhorter fewer. The Subdivifion into Verfes came afterwards from the Jews: For about the Year 1430, Rabbi Nathan, an eminent Jew, having often Difputes with the Chriftians, thereby came to the Knowledge of the great Ufe they made of the Latin Concordance of Cardinal Hugo, and the Benefit they had thereby in finding any Place they had occafion to confult: Wherefore he immediately went about making fuch a Concordance to the Hebrew Bible for the Ufe of the Jews. Here he followed the fame Divifion into Chapters which Hugo had made; which had the like Effect, as to the Hebrew," that Hugo's had as to the Latin; that is, it caufed the fame Divifion

to

to be made in all the Hebrew Bibles, which were afterwards written or printed. for common Ufe. For this Concordance being found of excellent Ufe among those for whom it was made, they were forced to comply with this Divifion for the Sake of having the Benefit of it. But he did not fubdivide the Chapters by the Letters A, B, C, &c. as-Hugo had done; but by affixing Numeral Letters in the Margin to every fifth Verfe. Vatablus, a Frenchman and an eminent Hebrician, about an 100 Years after Rabbi Nathan, taking his Pattern from him, publifhed a Latin Bible with Chapters and Verfes, numbered with Figures: Which Example was foon followed in all other Editions, in all Languages, fince publifhed in thefe Western Parts of Chriftendam. Robert Stephens, a very learned Man in the Greek Tongue, and an eminent Printer at Paris, and Contemporary to Vatablus, taking the Hint from him, made a like Divifion of the Chapters of the New Testament into Verses, for the Sake of a Concordance, he was then compofing for the Greek Teftament, afterwards printed by Henry Stephens, his Son; who gives this Account of it in his Preface to that Concordance. This Dean Prideaux tells us is the original Divifion of the Old and New Teftament into Chapters and Verfes, which we now follow. But, to return from this Digreffion.

As Synagogues multiplied among the Jews beyond the Number of thofe Interpreters, it became neceflary that Verfions fhould be made to fupply that Defect. This Work having been attempted by divers Perfons, it came to pafs, that there were anciently many Targums, and of different Sorts, as there were anciently many different Verfions of the fame Holy Scriptures into the Grek Language, of which we have fufficient Proof in the Octapla of Origen. No doubt, anciently there were many more Targums than we now know of. Those that are yet remaining were compoted by different Perfons, and on different Parts of Scripture, and are thefe eight following. 1. That of Onkelos on the five Books of Mofes. 2. That of Jonathan Ben Uziel on the Prophets; that is, on Jua, Judges, the two Books of Samuel, the two Books of Kings, Ifaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the twelve minor Prophets. That on the Law, afcribed to Jonathan Ben Uziel. 4. The Jerufalem Targum on the Law. 5. The Targum on the leffer Books, called the Megilloth, i. e. Ruth, Efther, Ecclefiaftes, Song of Solomon, and the Laimentations of Jeremiah. 6. The fecond Targum of Efther. 7. The Targum of Jofeph the one Eyed on Job, Pfalms, and Proverbs. 8. The Targum on the two Books of Chronicles. On Ezra, Nehemia, and Deniel, there is no Targum at all.

3.

The eldeft, and therefore most valuable of these Targums, are thofe of Onkelas on the Law, and Jonathan on the Prophets. Thefe two are justly believed to have been written a little before, or at least foon after, our Saviour's Birth. If there were any of an elder Date (as Dean Pris deaux fuppofes there were, by reafon of the Neceflity the vulgar Feces had for them) they are all now intirely loft. The Targum of Onkels, is a ftrict Verfion, rendering the Hebrew Word for Word: Jonathon takes the Liberty of a Paraphraft, by Enlargements and Additions to the Text. Though the Prophecies in the Old Testament, concerning

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the Meffiah, are explained in thefe two Targums, as they are by us Chriftians; yet they are in fo great Eftcem among the Jews, that they hold them to be of the fame Authority with the original facred Text. It has been already fhewn, that when the Chaldee became the vulgar Tongue of the Jews, the Weekly Leffons, out of the Law and the Prophets, in their Synagogues, having been first read in Hebrew, were, by an Interpreter, ftanding by the Reader, rendered into Chidee. This continued for fome Time: But after, when Targums were made, the Interpretation was read out of them, without any more employing Interpreters for this Purpose: And the Readers did first read a Verse out of the Hebrew Text, and then the fame again out of the Chaldee Targum; and fo went on from Verse to Verfe, till they had read out the whole Leffon. And this Ufe of them was retained in me of their Synagogues, even down to late Times, and in Places where the Chaldee was as little understood as the Hebrew. For Elias Levita, who lived about 200 Years fince, tells us, that they were thus used in his Time in Germany, and elsewhere. And agreeable to this Purpose, though only for private Ufe, they had fome of their Bibles written out in Hebrew and Chaldee together; that is, each Verse first in Hebrew, and then in Chaldee; and thus from Verfe to Verfe in the fame Manner through the whole Volume. In thefe Bibles, the Targum of Onkelos was the Chaldee Verfion for the Law; and that of Jonathan, for the Prophets and for the Hagiographa, the other Targums that were written on them. One of thefe Bibles, thus written, Buxtorf tells us, he had feen at Strafburg And Bishop Walton acquaints us, that he had the Perufal of two others of the fame Sort, one in the publick Library of the Church of Westminster, and the other in the private Study of Mr. Thomas Gataker. The other Targums are all of a much later Date than those of Onkelos and Jonathan, and of far lefs Authority: However, Bishop Walton has put the most of them into his Polyglot.

Whether the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan were read alternately with the Hebrew Text, one Verfe in the Hebrew, and then the fame in the Chaldee, we cannot fay: But this feems certain, if not these particular Targums, yet fome other then were written for the Instruction of the People; and were among them in private as well as in publick for this Ufe; and that they had fuch, not only on the Law and the Prophets, but alfo on all the other Hebrew Scriptures. For it was not the Ufage among the fetus to lock up the Holy Scriptures, or any Part of them, from the People in a Language unknown to them: For when difperfed among the Greeks, they had them in Greek; and when the Chaldee was the vulgar Language, they had them in Chaldee. And when Chrift was called out to read the fecond Leffon in the Synagogue of Nazareth, of which he was a Member, he seems to have read it out of a Targum: For the Words then read by him out of Ifaiah lxi. 1. as recited by St. Luke iv. 18. do not exactly agree either with the Hebrew, or the LXX, in that Place; and therefore it feems most likely it should be read out of fome Targum ufed in that Synagogue. And when he cried out upon the Crofs in the Words of the Pfalmift, Pfal. xxii. 1. Eli, Eli lama Saba&thani, he quoted them, Mat. xxvii. 46. not out of

the

the Hebrew, but the Chaldee Paraphrafe; for in the Hebrew it is, Eli, Eli tema Azabtani, the Word Sabathani is no where to be found but in the Chaldee Tongue.

The Language most commonly used among the Chriftians of the Eaft, next to the Greek, is the Syriac. It is properly a Dialect of the ancient Chaldee, which the Learned divide into three different Dialects: 1. Into that of Babylon, which is the Chaldean Language in its Purity. 2. Into that of Jerufalem, which is what was used by the Jews after their Return from their Captivity at Babylon. 3. Into that of Antiochia, which was used by the Chriftians of Comagena, and fome other Provinces bordering upon Syria, when this was the native Language of the Country. This laft is that which is now more particularly called the Syriac Language. And into this Language was both the Old and New 'Teftament tranflated; if not before the Death of St. John the Apostle, yet certainly very foon after. The Tranflator was a Chriftian, well killed in the Hebrew, Greek, and Syriac Languages. And the Learned, who have examined this Verfion, and compared it with the Original, both of the Old and New Teftament, tell us, That of all the ancient Verfions, which are now confulted by Chriftians for the better underftanding the Holy Scriptures, as well of the New Teftament as of the Old, none can better ferve this End, than this old Syriac Verfion, when carefully confulted, and well underftocd. And to this Purpofe, the very Nature of the Language affifts much; for it having been the mother Tongue of those who wrote the New Teftament, and a Dialect of that in which the Old was first given to us, many Things of both are more happily expreffed in this Verfion than can well be done in any other Language.

This Syriac Verfion of the whole facred Scripture is still used by the Maronites, a Number of Chriftians dwelling about Mount Libanus, called fo from Maron, the Head of a large Monastery in that Place; where alfo the Syriac is in fome Villages the vulgar Tongue. They have a Patriarch, whofe Seat is for the moft Part in Mount Libanus, and fometimes he refides at Tripoli. Their Liturgy is alfo in this Language. It is ufed alfo by the Neftorians, fo called from Neftorius the Heretick, condemned in the Council of Ephefus; but whofe Herefy (Bishop Walton fays) they feem now to have forfaken. Their Liturgy is alfo in this Language. Thefe Chriftians are spread (though mixed with Mahometans, to whom they are fubject) through the Regions of Babylon, Affyria, Mefopotamia, Parthia, Media, in all which Places they are numerous, they extend northward to Cathia, and fouthward to India; their Patriarch lives at Muzal, on the Tigris. The Jacobites alfo, fo called from James, a great Zealot for the Eutychian Herefy, condemned in the Council of Chalcedon, (though Bifhop Walton fays, they have now relinquished that Herefy) ufe this Syriac Tranflation of the Scriptures, and have their Liturgy alfo in the fame Language. They are difperied in Syria, Cyprus, Mefopotamia, and Babylon. Their Patriarch calls himfelf Patriarch of Antioch, but refides at Caramit, an old Metropolis of Mefopotamia. There is another Syriac Verfion of the Old Teftament, inade from the Greek of Origen's Hexapla; but that is not much eftcemed.

The Arabic Language, which, until about A. D. 606, was little known beyond the Confines of Arabia, was soon after, by the Victories of the Saracens, spread over a great Part both of the East and West, and is to this Day much in Ufe among the greatest Part of the Eastern Nations. This Language is very ancient, exceeding copious, and of great Ufe for the well understanding the Hebrew Text, they having many Roots in common betwixt them, from whence it comes to pass, that Recourse must often be had to the Arabic, for the better explaining fuch Hebrew Words as are of a doubtful Signification. There are likewise many useful Obfervations, and fome Ceremonies mentioned in the Bible, which may be beft explained by Arabic Books.

We know not of any more ancient Tranflation of the Bible into the Arabic Language than one, that was made by Saadias Gaon, a Jew of Babylon, about A. D. 900. But there have been feveral Tranflations made fince into that Language, both by Jews and Chriftians. The Eaftern Chriftians have (I think) all of them fcme Arabic Tranflation of the Scriptures, both of the Old and New Teftament, made for the Ufe of their People, fince that became the vulgar Language amongst them. Thefe are moftly made from the Septuagint, or from the Syriac, and are neither very ancient, or of any confiderable Authority. The beft Ufe to be made of them is, that they may ferve to illuftrate fome difficult Paffages. Among the Arabic Tranflations, made by Chriftians, there is one printed in the Polyglots of Paris and London. Both the Author, and the Time when it was writ, are uncertain.

There are alfo in the London Polyglot, published by Bishop Walton, and (I think) in that of Paris, alfo published by Mr. De Jay, an Ethi opic and a Perfic Verfion of the Scriptures. But as thefe Tranflations are not of all the Books of Holy Scripture, but of fome only, and likewife of no great Antiquity, I fhall fay nothing more of them.

And now you may reafonably afk what Occafion for thefe Polyglots? For after all this Variety of Tranflations, all Chriffians, at least in thefe Parts, whether they be Papifts or Proteftants, are agreed in that Rule which you quoted from the Canon-Law, (Diftinct. 9.) Ut veterum librorum Fides de Hebræis voluminibus exuminanda eft, ita novorum veritas Græci fermonis normam defiderat. And therefore when Origen, Hefychius and Lucian proposed to publish new Editions of the LXX, which had been corrupted by Tranfcribers, they corrected it by the Hebrew Original. And notwithstanding the Council of Trent declared the Latin Vulgate to be authentick; yet two Popes, one after the other, got it corrected by the Hebrew for the Old Teftament, and by the Greek for the New. And all Proteftants have tranflated the Scriptures into their feveral Languages from the Hebrew and Greek in like Manner, without Regard to thofe old Tranflations. Why then, if upon any Occafion we defire to be fully fatisfied of the Faithfulnefs of our prefent English Translation, fhould we trouble ourselves further than to confult the Hebrew for the Old Teftament, and the Greek for the New ?

I anfwer, that although the Original is always to be preferred to the beft and most exact Tranflation, and therefore, if we had the criginal Hebrew Text, as written by the infpired Fenmen, the Matter would not bear a Dispute; yet, as this authentick Original has been lost for

many