Owen - BS2775 O8 1668

Compared riith that of the h\ornan:,'/is ptures to be the WordofGod ? and then the next word is theCabala, the rtet>y]w Orall Law, Tradition,thefe are theFoundationof it; And intheir progrefs they fail not to affert two Principlesboth borrowed from the Jews. Firft, That theScripture is imper,- feit, and doth not give us a full and compleat account of all things that are to be believed or pracifed,that Godmay be glorified, and our own fouls faved. Seondly',That what is delivered therein can nowaybe rightly and trulyundertood, but by the help ofthole Traditions which they have in their cuflody. But although thefe are good ufefull Inventions, and they are men that want not Ability to lindout what is con- dicing unto their own advantage, yet they cannot be allowed the Credit of being their firft Authorsrfeeing they areexpreflyborrowed ofthe Jews. 4, 19, Fourthly,Whenthefe two Laws,the Law ofGod,andtheir own, docome in competid- òn, the Jews manyof them do expreflyprefer that of theirown invention before the other, and that both asto certainty,and ufe. Hence they make it thefoundationoftheir Church, and the only fait means to preferve the Truth. So arewe informedby Ifaac Cor- bulenfis inr 71 1110y. Do not think, faithhe, that the written Law is the Foundation; for the Foundation it the Orall Law ; For by that Lawwas theCovenant made, at it is written, according to thefé words do Imake aCovenant with thee. Exod, 34.27. ( where he takes his Argument from that Expreflìon, r tnsrt n'111rf1079, wrefimgfool ly, as theydo all, his Orall Law from thófe words, 10 r?ÿ which fignifie nothing but according to, nor are any other words intended, but thofe delivered toMoles and written by him. ) And theft, he adds, are the Treafisres of the Holy BleedGod; ,For be knew that Ifrael fhonld be carried Captive amongother People, and time the Nations would tranfcribe their Books , and thereforewould not. commit their fecret Law to Writing. . It feems theft things wereleft them in fecret Tradition, becaufe God was not wil- ling that any betides themfelves, fhould know his Mind and Will but they have at Taft chewed themfelves more full of benignity towards mankind, than they would allow God to be, in as much as they have committed this Secret Law to Wri- ting. And to this ,purpofe is their Confeflion in 1rni rtlrtJ; The Golden Altar; ry nts 11 ammo 7lIl rtmw rtwnprt vn11n -rp'y 7y 11í10 1wis /x rntriv taro 9y'1W ï111+1; It is impofbk for us to flaw], or abide, upon the Foundation ofour holy Law, which is the writtenLaw ; unleflit be by the Orall Lamwhich, is the Ex- pofttion thereof. Wherein they not only declare their Judgements concerning their Tra- ditions, but alfoexprefs the Reafonof their obflinate adherence unto them ; which is that without it, they cannot maintain themfelves in their prefint Judaifm. And fo in- deed is thecafé with them ; innumerable Tetimonies ofthe Scriptures riling up dire lly, againft their Infidelity, they were not able to keep their Nation, but by an horrible corrupting of them throughtheir Traditions. On this account it is a common thing with them inthe advife they giveunto their Difciples, tb prefer the Study, of the Tal- mud, before theStudy of the Scripture , and thefayings of their wife men before the fizyings of theProphets; and plainly exprefs an utter difregard of theWritten Word, any farther than as theyfuppofe the fenfe of it explained in their OrallLaw. Neither . are they here forfaken by their Affociates. The principal defignof all the Books which have been lately publithed by theRomania), and theyhave not been a few; hath been to prove the Certainty andSufficiencyof .their Traditionshi-matters of their Faith and Worfhip, above that ofthe Written Word. s Zo, F' ebly, There are fome few remainingamougtheEaflern Jews, who rejeél all this Star concerning the Orall Law, and profeffedly adhere unto the Written Word only. There the Maters of their prefene Religion and Perfwafion do by common confent ' brand as Hereticks : calling themSeripturiflr, orScripturarians,or Biblias, the very name of,reproachwherewith theRomanifts ftigmatize all thofe who reject their Traditions. Theft are their i='H1p, that is BibliasorSeripturariatzr : and every where they term them ='R'C blereticks, and endeavour to 'prove them guilty Ma ofHerefie in the higheft degree. Some of them wouldhave them to be the Offspring of the old Sad- dueeer, todeny the Refurreélion,and the World to come, as men care not much'ufually what they impute unto thole whom theyeteem Hereticks. But the falfity hereof is . notorious, and fo acknowledged by others, and confuted by the Writings of the Ko- reans themfelves. Yea the AuthorofCO affirms that they,are more fiudious in the Law than the Rabbins; and that their Reafons Were more weighty than theirs , and lead more towards the naked finfi of theScripture. But this is that which they charge upon them, namelythat reje'ing the Pure Rule of their Traditions, they run into fingular Expofttions of the Law, and fo divided it, and mademany Lawsofit, having no certai n means

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