phocles fays that there was no Justice in (9) the race of men that liv'd in his time. And Theognis that none had any veneration for the immortal Gods, and that the race of pious men was quite perifh'd; tho' in the mean time he exhorts the vertuous to perlevere in their Vertue. Seneca affirms that Virgil had caufe to fay, that Fidelity could not be fecure any where; and Ovid to affert that the fury Erynnis reign'd over the whole Earth, and that all men had confpired together to commit nothing but Villany; And Menander that all, with out excepting man or woman, young or old had affociated themselves to do mifchief. You may find the fame descriptions in Ovid and Medeas's difcourfes of them that liv'd before the deluge; and yet in them alfo you will find the Elogies of feveral good Men, and Hero's, re markable for probity and virtue. Such expreffions therefore fhould not be preft too far, nor made ufe of to prove an abfolutely univerfal corruption, unless we think a Text or two of this fort, fhould cancell a great many others which render to good men their just and deferv'd praise. XI. We must likewife qualifie a little what the Apostle fays, that he who plants plants and he who waters is nothing, that he is nothing without Charity, that he who thinks he is fomething, whereas he is nothing de-_ ceives himself and what our Saviour says to his Difciples, Without me you can do nothing: And all Interpreters grant their meaning to be, that he that plants and he that waters is nothing in Comparison of God, who makes the plants to grow; that without Charity He should be of no Va2 lue in the fight of God, &c. XII. Our Tranflation and feveral others make the Apostle fay That an Idol is nothing. And the Papifts don't fail to infer from this that they are no Idola ters, because their Images are, and re prefent fomething that's real, whereas the Idols of the Pagans reprefented but bare imaginations that had no existence. But neither the Versions nor inference are Juft. For their Idols were real and vifible,and the most of them reprefented real and visible beings, fuch as the Sun, Moon and other Creatures which the Pagans had Defied. That That expreffion then only fignifyes that an Idol has no Virtue or Power; and fo it fhould be render'd. XIII. All the Tranflations have render'd, Word for Word, the unanimous agree. agreement which Mofes obferves to have been between thofe who liv'd in Nimrod's days, to build the Tower of Babel, as if they had all spoke the fame Language. Tho' this Phrafe, to be of one Speech,fignifies to be of one Mind orOpinion, as the GenevaVersion and ours render it; Joshuah.9.2. They gathered themselves together, to fight with Jofhuah, with one accord. The fame amendment must be made, 1 Kings 22. 21. Behold now the Prophets unanimously Prophecy fuccefs to the King, and Ifaiah 19. 18. In that day five Cities of the Land of Egypt, shall be of one accord, with the Inhabitants of Canaan, and not, fball Speak the Language of Canaan, as moft Verfions render it. Annotations on Chap. III. (2) Maimon, Moreh Nevoch. p. 2. c. 29. Jos. (i) Mede in Apocal. Grotius ad Mat. 24, 27. 29. Hack/pan. Not. ad I. 30.26 and 65. 17, Lightfoot, &c. Deut. 32. 22. 23. Jerem. 4. 23.24. 13. 10. and 24.4.19. If:13. 20. 23. and 65. 17. Matth. 24. 27. 29, (+) 2 Pet. 3. 10. Revél. 6. 12. 13. 14. Junius Parall. p. 584. Calixtús. Trad. de Supr. Jud. p. 147 Hackspan not. ad If. D Wat Wagenzeil not ad Nizzak. p. 3. after Maimon. and Lipman. See in the Originial. (4) Juges 20.13. 2 Sam. 16. 23. 19. 37. Jeram. 31. 38. (5) (6) (7) (૪) 2 Kings Nebem.12.46. 1 Samuel. 20. 2. 2 Sam. 22. 8. In all these places the Letter Jod, is loft, not to mention a great many other Letters that are wanting, or that are fo ftrangely alter'd, that he must be thoroughly Wedded to the Whimfies of the Rabbi's that looks for any other Mystery in them, than the Negligence of Transcribers. There is not one Vowel in the Seventh Chapter of the Numbers from the 19 Verfe, to the 83 Pf. 22. 29. 46. 9. 48. 10. Ifa.. 41. 9. Auguft de Civ. D. l. 16. c. 21. and &c. The Pfalmift himself confeffes, -Pf. 116. 12. that 'twas in his haft (i.e. when he was touch'd with a Paffionate refentment of abounding Wickedness) that he faid All Men are Lyars. And 'tis evident from all the Apostles discourse Rom. 5. 4. &c. that it was not his intention to Pronounce thofe expreffions in an ab abfolute Sense, but only to teach us that God is fo effentially Truth, that all Men in Comparison of him, are Lyars. See Ainfworth on Numb. 11. 5. Gataker adverff. c. 18: Hammond in Rom. 3. Muis, Cajetan, Calvin, Bucer, Luther, Erafmus, &c. Shopocles apud Stob. Serm. 2. Senec. Queft. Nat. I. 4. & de ira 1. 2. c. 8. Med. Ver. 531. Ovid defcribes the Corruption of those that liv'd before the Flood thus ; De duro eft ultima ferro Protinus erupit venæ pejoris in Avum Omne nefas, fugere pudor verumq; fidelq; In quorum fubiere locum, fraudefq; doliq; Infidiæq;vis Samor Sceleratus habendi.&c (9) CHA P. IV. Of the Fate of thofe that have hitherto attempted to better the common Tranflations. T He providence of God has, from the very firft Ages of Chriftianity, rais'd up to his Church learned Men, D 2 who |