Of the divine original, authority, self-evidencing light, and power of the Scriptures. With an…Of the divine originall, authority, self-evidencing light, and povver of the Scriptures. With an…

Sect. 9. Notwithstanding what hath been spoken, we grant that there are, and have been various Lections in the old Testament and the new; For the old Testament the Keri and Cethib; the various Readings of Ben Asher and Ben Naphtali; of the Eastern and Western Jews evince it. Of the [Greek or Hebrew] I shall speak peculiarly afterwards: They present themselves to the view of every one that but looks into the Hebrew Bible. At the End of the great Rabbinical Bibles (as they are called) printed by Bombergias at Venice, as also in the Edition of Buxtorfius ⟨p. 179⟩at Basil, there is a Collection of the various Readings of Ben Asher, and Ben Naphtali; of the Eastern and Western Jews; We have them also in this Appendix. For the two first mentioned, they are called among the Jews, one of them, R: Aaron the Son of R. Moses of the Tribe of Asher; the other R: Moses the Son of David, of the Tribe of Naphtali. They flourished, as is probable among the Jews, about the year of Christ 1030, or thereabouts; & were Teachers of great renown, the former in the West or Palestine, the latter in the East, or Babylon. In their exact consideration of every letter, point, and accent of the Bible wherein they spent their lives, it seems they found out some varieties; Let any one run them through as they are presented in this Appendix, he will find them to be so small, consisting for the most part in unnecessary accents of no importance to the sense of any word, that they deserve not to be taken notice of. For the various Readings of the Oriental, or Babylonian, and Occidental or Palestine Jews, all that I ⟨p. 180⟩know of them, (and I wish that those that know more of them would inform me better) is that they first appeared in the Edition of the Bible by Bombergius under the care of Felix Pratensis, gathered by R: Jacob Ben Cajim who corrected that impression. But they give us no account of their Original. Nor (to profess my ignorance) do I know any that do, it may be some do; but in my present hast, I cannot enquire after them. But the thing it's self proclaims their no importance, and Capellus the most skilful and diligent improver of all Advantages for impairing the Authority of the Hebrew Text, so to give countenance to his Critica Sacra, confesses that they are all trivial, and not in matters of any moment.

Sect. 9. Notwithstanding what hath been spoken, we grant that there are, and have been various Lections in the old Testament and the new; For the old Testament the Keri and Cethib; the various Readings of Ben Asher and Ben Nepthali; of the Easterne and Westerne Jewes evince it. Of the I shall speake peculiarly afterwards: They present themselves to the view of every one that but lookes into the Hebrew Bible. At the End of the great Rabbinicall Bibles (as they are called) printed by Bombergias at Venice, as also in the Edition of Buxtorfius