VITELLIUS.

VESPASIANUS.

DOMITIANUS.

In fine Codicis Dunelmensis subjiciuntur Sidonii versus de Cæsaribus, de longitudine regni eorum, et de eorum finibus [mortibus]. Verso folio hi sequuntur.

Ille ego, Pannoniis quondam notissimus oris,
Inter mille viros primus fortisque Batavos,
Adriano potui qui judice vastă profundi
Equora Danubii cunctis tranare sub armis,
Emissumque arcu dum pendet in aere telum
Ac redit, ex alia fixi fregique sagitta.

Quem non Romanus potuit, non Barbarus unquam
Non jaculo miles, non arcu vincere Parthus.
Hic situs, hoc memori saxo' mea fata reliqui.
Exemplo mihi sum, primus qui talia gessi.
Viderit anne aliquis post me mea facta sequatur.

1 Pro v. l. suprascriptum mea facta sacravi.

M. D. B.

ON THE

INTEGRITY OF THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES.

No. II.

HAVING before proved that Christ and the Apostles quoted the ancient Scriptures agreeably to the Hebrew and not the Septuagint, I shall now show the nature, utility, and absolute necessity of attending to the vowels and accents, in order to gain a true understanding of the Scriptures, and without which, error, contradiction, and uncertainty, must necessarily be the result of our endeavour to obtain a true translation of the original Hebrew.

I hope it is understood that by the vowels, I do not mean any of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, as is the case in all the western languages; but such as are called points, of which there are five long, five short, and three very short, making thirteen vowels. These are the true oriental vowels, which are placed with their respective letters, and without which the consonants could not be pronounced; so that they give them voice, and vary the meaning and application of words.

They, who are advocates for reading Hebrew without these vowels, follow the practice of the Greek Christians, who, after the dispersion of the Jews, being ignorant of the Hebrew language, adopted the custom observed in the western languages, by selecting five letters from the Hebrew alphabet, viz. YN which they called vowels, and altogether rejected the true ancient vowels, not recollecting that the matres lectiones do not occur in succession in any one word in the original, so as to enable them to pronounce the syllables: the consonants being dead letters, and cannot be articulated without a vowel. These letters, then, they substitute for vowels at pleasure, wherever they do not occur in the body of the language. Now it must appear evident that as the change of vowel alters the sense of a word as well as its application in all languages, so by this mode of varying the or -thography at pleasure, the true sense and application can never be had, and this will in a great measure account for the serious blunders which were made by the first translators, and which are still retained in the European translations.

Those who have contended against the vowel points, have always brought forward what they think an unanswerable argument against them, that the copies kept in the synagogues have been and are at this day without the vowel points. But those who bring this forward as an argument against them, are altogether unacquainted with the reason why the vowel points are not used in the copy kept in the syna

gogues. I have shown in a former number, that the sacred language, both as to consonants and vowels, descended complete as it was given by God to the first race of men, down to the time of the Babylonish captivity, and that their perfect temple copies were taken with them to Babylon, where the Jews founded colleges, and were permitted to worship God in their usual way. I have also shown that at their return from Babylon, the perfect temple copy, the W, book of Jasher, was brought with them, out of which Ezra taught them the true meaning of the pure Hebrew; for as their vernacular tongue was a little tinctured with the Babylonish pronunciation, lest the temple copies should be corrupted by this foreign pronunciation, it became necessary that the scribes and readers should be perfectly instructed in the ancient reading; and thus restore the purity of the pronunciation. But the reason why the copies in the synagogues were not pointed after the return from the captivity was, that none but learned men well instructed in the language might be admitted as readers of the law; which Maimonides' has fully explained from ancient authority. It is therefore to prevent improper persons from being introduced into the office of reader, that the copies in the synagogues have from that period to the present day been unpointed: for the reader is obliged to be perfectly qualified, by reading the service in a pointed copy, that he may be prepared to read without an erroneous pronunciation before the congregation.

A learned Jewish writer says, one of the first and most considerable of those who introduced the novel doctrine of the late institution of the vowel points, was Rabbi Eyleyahu Bachur, known by the name of Elias Levita, a German Jew, who lived in the sixteenth century. He asserted that they were invented by the men of Tiberias, contrary to the opinion of his whole nation." But no credit can be given to a man who, a thousand years after these men lived, takes the liberty of declaring without any authority, that the vowel points were never known till the time of the Tiberian Masorites in the fifth century. All this, as has been justly observed, is not true, for the universities and schools in Judea were wholly dissipated and suppressed, and no learned men were left there of sufficient ability for so great a work. For the very florishing university of the Jews being at Babylon, at the very time of this pretended invention, it is too extravagant to suppose that this was undertaken without their knowledge, advice, or assistance, and that it should be universally received at once.

It must appear evident that before the captivity all their copies were written with the vowels. Ezra, ch. viii. 8. so they read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading. But it was not possible to give the sense, and cause them to understand the reading, without the vowel points. Let any one try the experiment, and he will soon be con

In Hilchoth Tephila, ch. viii.

2 See Lingua Sacra.