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As it is of great concernment to affign the time of fettling the Canon of Scripture, fo it is of no lefs confequence to obferve, when the Hiftory of the Gospel, upon which the Articles of the Christian Faith depend, was committed to Writing, and publifh'd to the World. Theophylact fays, that the Gospel of St. Matthew was written eight years after Christ's Afcenfion, St. Mark's ten, St. Luke's fifteen, St. John's thirty two years after it. I fhall confider here only the time of writing St. Matthew's Gospel, both because it seems to be more certain than that of the reft, and because it is of more confequence, that it fhould be fo. For when once his Gospel was publish'd, there was not fo much neceffity for the reft, but they might be deferr'd to fuch Opportunities and Occafions, as by the Divine Providence fhould be offer'd.

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But whereas St. Matthew, not only by Theophylact but by Euthymius, and generally by the Accounts in "ancient MSS. annex'd to his Gospel, is faid to have penn'd it but eight years after the Afcenfion of Chrift; this is by fome of late, upon the Authority of a Paffage in Ireneus, fet back to a much longer Period of time. Whether with fufficient Reason, I shall examine. Irenæus fays, that St. Matthew publifh'd his Gofpel, when St. Peter and St. Paul preach'd and founded a Church at Rome. Now we read in Eufebius, that St. Peter came to Rome in the fecond year of Claudius, which was eight years after the Afcenfion of Chrift; and in Lactantius, that he and St. Paul came thither at the latter end of Nero's Reign. But according to what account foever we understand Ireneus, it cannot in strictnefs be faid, that St. Peter and St. Paul, at the fame time, first preach'd, and laid

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Procem. in Matt.

MS. Bodl. * Chron.

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in N. T. ex * L. iii. c. I.

Com. in Evang. apud Mill.
"Ham, in Matt. Mill. Proleg. p. 7.
z De Mort. Perfecut. c. 2. & Inftitut. 1. iv. c. 21.

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For St. Paul

the Foundation of a Church at Rome. had not been at Rome, when he wrote his Epistle to the Chriftians there, and yet their Faith was spoken of throughout the world, (Rom. i. 8, 10, 13, 15.) So that, if St. Peter never came to Rome till the latter end of Nero's Reign; neither he, nor St. Paul can be faid, by preaching in perfon, to have founded a Church at Rome: but if St. Peter, according to Eufebius, planted a Church there, in the beginning of Claudius's Reign, and St. Paul afterwards by his Epistle inftructed and confirm'd the Romans in the Principles of Religion; both St. Peter and St. Paul may be faid to have preach'd the Gospel there : St. Peter in perfon, and St. Paul by his Epiftle; and both to have founded the Church by their Miniftry. Whatever way we understand Irenaus, his Words must be taken in a Latitude; for strictly fpeaking, either St. Peter did not first come to Rome with St. Paul, but many years before; or elfe neither of them planted the Church at his coming thither, but both found it already planted.

It has been alledg'd from Irenaus, that tho' the Christian Religion had been preach'd, yet a Church was not founded at Rome, till St. Peter and St. Paul had conftituted Linus Bishop there. To which purpofe, it is obferv'd, that St. Paul, in the beginning of his Epistle to the Romans, ftyles them, beloved of God, called to be Saints, but makes no mention of Church, or of Bishops, as he does in his Epiftles to the Corinthians, the Galatians, the Theffalonians, and the Philippians; whereupon it is concluded, that a Bishop having not been yet placed there, a Church was not yet founded.

But Ireneus writes contrary to what is urged from his Words. For he fays, that the bleffed A

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· Θεμελιώσαντες ἦν καὶ οἰκοδομήσαντες οἱ μακάριοι Απόςολοι τ ἐκκλησίαν Λίνῳ ἢ ἢ ἐπισκοπῆς λειτεςγίαν ἐνεχεία. Iren.l.iii. c.3.

poftles

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poftles having founded and erected a Church, appointed Linus to be Bishop, that is, when they had founded and erected a Church, or a Church being founded and erected, as Valefius tranflates the Words cited by Eufebius, not following the old Latin Verfion of Irenæus, which is evidently wrong, but giving. the direct Senfe of the Original. And it should be confider'd, that St. Paul writes to the Saints at Ephefus, and to the faithful in Christ, without mention either of Church or Bishop, though Timothy was then Bishop of Ephefus.

Thus much therefore is plain, that Ireneus must be understood of the firft preaching the Gospel and forming a Church at Rome; but it is evident, that a Church must have been form'd there, long before St. Paul wrote his Epiftle, at which time he had never been at Rome; and the Faith of the Roman Chriftians was then fo renowned, that it cannot be fuppos'd to have been firft preach'd there later, than the fecond year of Claudius, which agrees with the common Account of the time of writing St. Matthew's Gofpel, A. D. XLII. or eight years from the Afcenfion of our Saviour, St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans being written A. D. LVII.

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Fundatâ jam & ædificatâ Ecclefiâ, Eufeb. Hift. 1. v. c. 6.
Fundantes igitur & inftruentes beati Apoftoli Ecclefiam.

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СНАР. V.

Of the various Readings in the Old and New Teftament.

IT

T is to be obferv'd, that an extraordinary Providence has, in a great measure, fecur'd the Holy Scriptures from thofe Cafualties which are incident to humane Writings. For the great Antiquity of many Books of the Scriptures, beyond that of any other Books in the World, the multitude of Copies, which have been taken in all Ages and Nations, the difficulty to avoid mistakes in tranfcribing Books, in a Language which has fo many of its Letters, and of its Words themselves fo like one another, the defect of the Hebrew Vowels, and the late invention (as it is generally now acknowledged) of the Points, the change of the Samaritan, or ancient Hebrew for the prefent Hebrew Character, the Captivity of the whole Nation of the Jews for seventy Years, and the mixtures and changes which were, during that time, brought into their Language; in fhort, all the accidents which have ever happened to occafion Errors or Mistakes in any Book, have concurred to cause them in the Old Teftament; and yet the different Readings are much fewer, and make much lefs alteration in the Senfe, than those of any other Book of the fame bignefs, and of any Note and Antiquity, if all the Copies should be carefully examined, and every little variation as punctually fet down, as thofe of the Scriptures have been. The ufe only of Abbreviations, fo common in all Languages, had caufed fuch confufion in the Roman Laws, that Juftinian found it neceffary to forbid, under fevere Penalties, that any

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Juftinian. Praf. ad Digeft. & ad Cod.

fhould

fhould transcribe them for the future, without writing the Names of Men, and the Titles and Numbers of the Books at full length. But tho' from hence it may appear, that a peculiar Providence has been concerned in the prefervation of the Books of the Scriptures, yet from humane Confiderations and Arguments, we may likewise be affured, that nothing prejudicial to the Authority of the Scriptures has happened by any of these means.

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1. The defect in the Hebrew Vowels, and the late Invention of the Points, is no prejudice to the Authority of the Bible, as we now have it. Tho' the Points, which critically determine the exact reading of the Hebrew Tongue, be of a later Invention, yet that Tongue was never without its Vowels. For Aleph, Van, and Jod, and (which fome add) He and Gnajm, before the Invention of the Points, were used as Vowels, as it is evidently proved from Jofephus, Origen, and St. Jerom, by the best Criticks in that Language. It muft indeed be confefs'd, that thefe Vowels could not be so effectual to ascertain the true Reading, as the Points have fince been; but whatever defect there might be in the Vowels, it was fupplied by constant Use and Practice, and by fome general Rules, which they obferved in the Reading. The Bible being a Book, which, by Divine Commandment, was fo often and carefully read both in publick and private, the Hebrew Text might be exactly read, and the true fenfe certainly retain'd and known; and it is no wonder, that by conftant ufe, and continual practice and custom from their Infancy, the Jews could read it with eafe and readinefs without Points, which is no more than is ordinarily done now by Men, who are skilful in that Language; and divers have attain'd to it by their own Obfervation and Induftry. If there were the more difficulty in the He

Vid. Walton. Prolegom. iii. §. 49.

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brew

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