6o Oral Lan), M'ifhnæ; MaJora, and Talmud, of Ezra, and continued until! the time ofCompofing the Talmud, with {tame additional Obfervations fince annexed unto it. The writers, Compofers and Gatherers of. this work they call minor; t`y7whole' principal Obfervations were gathered and publifhedby Rabbi Jacob Cbaiim, and an- nexed to the VenetianBibles ; whereasbefore the Maffora was written in other Books innumerable. In this their Critical Dodlrine, they give us the number of the Verfes of the Scripture, as alfo how often every Word is ufed in the whole, and with what variety , as to Letters and Vowels ; what is the whole number"of all the Letters in theBible, and how often each Letter is feverally ufed, with innumerable other ufeful Obfervations; the fnmmwhereof is gathered by Buxtorui in his excellent Tres- tife on that fubjeE±. And herein is the knowledge of their Mailers bounded ; they go not beyond the Letter, but are more blind thanMoles in the Spiritual fenfe of it. And thus they continue an example of the 'righteous Judgement of Cod , in giving them up to theCounfells of th 'r own hearts, and an evident inflame how unable 'the Letter of the Scripture is to f fh men with the {Wing knowledge of the Will of God, whoenjoy not theSpirit promifed inthefame Covenant to the Church of the Elegy, Ifa 59.21. Sc. 5, Unto that ignorance of the mind of God in the Scripture which is fpread over them, they haveadded another prejudice againft theTruth, in a lttange Figment of an Orali Law, which they make equal!' unto, yea in many things prefer before, that which is written. The Scripture becoming a üfeleft Letter anti') them, the trueunder- Banding of the mind of Godbeing utterly departed and hid from them, it was impof- fible that they fhould reff therein, or content themfelves withwhat is revealed by it. For as the word whilefl it is enjoyed and ufed according to the mind of God, and is accompanied with that Spirit which is promifed to lead them that believe, into all Truth, is fall of fweetnefs and life to the fouls of men, a perfc& Rule of walking beforeGod, and that which fatiates them with wifilom and knowledge ; Co when it is enjoyedmeerlyonan outwardaccount asfesch a writing, without anydifpenfation of fuitahle Light and Grace, it will yieldmen no fatisfaftion, which makes them con- Bandy turn afide to other means and wayes of knowingand ferving God. This being fo eminent in the Jews, and the Medium they have fixed on fo fupply that want, which they fuppofe to be in the Scripture, but is indeed in thcmfelves , proving to be the great Engineof their hardening and obftinacyin their Infidelity ; I (hall frft declare what it isthat they intendby the Orali Lam, and then briefly thew the abfurdity and falfe- nefs of their pretenfions about it ; though it mutt not be denyed that it is one of the molt Ancient Fables that is creditedamongft anyof the Sons ofmen at this day in the world. Q, 6, ThisOrall Law they affirm to be an unwritten Tradition and Expofition of the writtenLaw ofMofes, given intohim in Mount Sinai, and committed by him to Jojhiaa . and theSanhedrim, to be by them delivered over by Oral -Tradition unto thofe who Ihould faceted them in the Government of that Church. Ir doth not appear that in the dayes ofChrift or his Apoftles, whileft the Temple was Banding that there was any Bated opinion amongft them aboutthis Orali Law ; though it is evident that not long after it began to be received by the body of thePeople. Nay it is evident that there was no fuch-Law then acknowledged ; For theSac/darer who utterly re jefì áll the main Principlesof it, were then nor only tolerated, but alto in chief Rule, one of them beingHigh Prief. That theyhadmultiplyed many fuperflitious Obfervances among[t them under the name of Traditions, is moft clear in the Gofpel s and it doth not appear that then they knew whom to afiìgn their original unto, and therefore indefinitely called them the Traditions of the Elders, or thrift that lived of old before them. After the De- Brudion of their Temple, when they had loft the life and fpirit of that Worfhip, which the Scripture revealed,betaking themfelves whollyunto theìrTraditional figments, they began to bethink themlilves how they might givecountenance to their Apofracy from the Perf fi ion and Deftrine of the written Law. Forthis end theybegan to fancy that thefeTraditions were no"lets from God, than the written Law it felt: For when Mofes was forty dayes and forty nights in the Mountain , they fay that in the day time he wrote the Law from the mouth of God, and in the night, God iniru&ed him in theOrali Law, or unwritten Expofitionof it, which they have received by Tradition fromhim. For when he came down from the Moan r,after he had read unto them the Written Law, as or+apov, he repeated to Aaron and Eleazerand the Sanhedrin, all that fecret irirudlion whicty he had received in the night from God, which it was not lawful!
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