into that Countrey, (Joh. xxiv. 2.) when God called him to leave Ur of the Chaldees, and go into Paleftine. Laban who lived in Mefopotamia long after was certainly no Idolater, nor the Arabians who lived in the Neighbourhood. of Job. It is very probable that Ifmael's Family would preferve at least, if not propagate the Worship of the true God in thofe Parts of Arabia where they fettled. He was not unknown to Balak and Balaam, who lived feveral Ages after, though they did not worship him as they ought. And, if what Doctor Hyde fays be true, (and he was admirably versed in all the Learning of the Eaft, even of its remoteft Regions) the ancient Perfians worshipped the God of Heaven and Earth, though with a great Mixture of Superftition, and never were Idolaters, as neither are the fmail Remainders of them, who are preferved to this Day. That Japhet's Offfpring who were spread, according to Noah's Prophecy, to the North and the Weft did fo too for several Ages I do not Queftion, though the Hiftory of the European Nations is very lame for a long while after the Difperfion. This therefore was a great and a wife Reason, why a good and a merciful God fhould oblige Men to feparate, who would otherwife much fooner have compleated the Measure of their Iniquity, had they kept together, which, had there been but one Language,

In Hiftoria Religionis veterum Perfarum.

H

they

they might have been tempted to do. By this Attempt of theirs they fhew'd their Vanity and their Pride: The Difperfion effectually humbled them. That, though a Judgment, and a great one too, feems therefore to have been inflicted in Mercy, for the Ends already mentioned, and alfo to keep up the Fear and Worfhip of God longer among them, when they were thus parted, than it would have been, had they been still fuffered to live together.

But here I expect to be told that the Time between the Flood and the Birth of Phaleg was much too short to raise fuch a Number of People, as would, when parted, have been fubdivided into Colonies, both numerous and populous enough for fuch a Purpose: For if there had not been fufficient Numbers out of that Company to form themselves into Colonies, that could understand one another, they could not have afforded nor received fuch a mutual Affiftance, as was abfolutely neceffary for Men who were to look out for new Habitations in a favage and an unpeopled World. And a hundred Years, which is all the Time that the Hebrew Account allows, even notwithstanding the Promise that was made to Noah, and his Seed after the Flood, that they fhould increase and multiply, (Gen. xix. 7.) can hardly be fuppofed to have been fufficient. Ifaac Voffius, a Writer above any Character that I can give him, fays pofitively, that unlefs we should fuppofe that Men fprouted like

Gourds,

Gourds, and could beget Children at twelve Years of Age or fooner, the common Computation which we follow in our Bibles would not be fufficient r.

You, Sir, will, I know, not be shocked at this Propofition. But fince others may, who know nothing but what they read in our English Bibles, and fince the Thing it self is of Moment, I fhall beg Leave to fet it in a clear Light.

Now the Cafe is this. We have three Copies of the Pentateuch extant, which are all older than Chrift. Two written in Hebrew, and one Tranflation from the Hebrew. Thofe that are written in Hebrew, are the Hebrew Copy commonly fo called, and the Samaritan, which differs from the other only in this, that it is written in the Samaritan Character, which

r

Jam vero quis credat Turris Babylonicae conftructionem, confufionem Linguarum, ac difperfionem Gentium factam effe vix uno poft Diluvium elapfo fæculo? Ex facris Literis manifefte hoc Tempus colligitur, inde enim nomen inditum Phalego. Atqui tum forfan necdum tertius Noacho natus erat Heres. Huic difficulta ti ut nonnulli occurrerent, miram commenti funt methodum, ad multiplicandum brevi fpatio genus humanum: Primos namque poft Diluvium Patriarchas tam foecundos fuiffe dicunt, ut Anno Aetatis duodecimo, vel etiam prius, liberis gignendis operam dederint. Sed fane. etiamfi concedatur eos cucurbitarum inftar pullulaffe, non tamen efficient, ut haec computandi ratio non fit prorfus ridicula. If. Voffii Differt de Aetate Mundi, p. 257. See alfo his Answer to Schotanus, p. 420, 421.

is the Character that the Jews used when they lived in their Countrey, before they were carried into Babylonia by Nebuchadnezzar. After the Jews returned under Ezra, they had no Communication with the Samaritans, who had their Copies of that Law from thofe Jews who taught them at firft, when they were planted in the Regions of Samaria by Salmanaffar. This is plain from the New Testament. (John iv. 9) Confequently then, fince their Copy differs from the Jewish no otherwife than what common Varieties of Readings will account for, we have an additional Strength added to thofe Readings, in which theirs and the Hebrew Copy agree. The Greek Copy, which was tranflated by LXX Jewish Interpreters in the Time of Ptolemee Philadelphus, is above two hundred Years older than Christ. And the Hebrew Copy which we now commonly ufe, is that which was preferved by the Jews after the Destruction of Jerufalem, and the Dif perfion of that Nation by Titus. This Copy was not only not taken from the LXX, but the Authority of that venerable Greek Translation (which till Titus's Time was received by the Jews, and quoted by them upon all Occafions, as we ftill fee in the Writings of Philo Judaeus and Jofephus) has been oppofed by the Rabbins ever fince, who adhere very superstiti-· oufly to the Letter of their Hebrew Copy. We may be fure then, that in every Text where all the three Copies agree, we have the true

Reading,

Reading, fince it is confirmed by three different Copies which are all fupported by different Bodies of Men, who adhere each to their own Copy in Contradiftinction to the other

two.

The Jews abfolutely reject the Copy of the Samaritans, whom they look upon as Cuthim, i. e. Defcendents of Cush, and Minim, i. e. Heretics. Nor will the Samaritans receive theirs. The ancient Chriftians every where till St. Hierom's Time, and the Greek Church to this Day quote the Verfion of the LXX as the authentic Text, as did alfo the Apostles and Writers of the New Testament. If then where all three Copies agree, we are fure of three Witneffes to the reading of any Text; where two agree, there is a Probability of two Witneffes (where all have an equal Claim to Credibility) against one.

Now both the Samaritan Copy, and the Tranflation of the LXX Interpreters join in lengthening the Lives of the Patriarchs after the Flood feveral Hundreds of Years more, than what the Jewish Copy (from which our Bibles are tranflated) allows them. So that, whereas according to the Hebrew there are but a Hundred and one Years between the Flood and the Birth of Phaleg; according to the LXX there are five Hundred and thirty one Years. The Samaritan Copy expunges the fecond Cainan, and cuts off five Years from Arphaxad's Age, before he begat Children. That takes off a Hundred thirty five Years. So that

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