thro' it. Therefore the fame Indulgence, that hath been granted to Selden, Grotius, Bochart, Marsham, F. Simons, Spencer, and Others in their Obfervations upon the Hebrews, and in all their Oriental Enquiries, may also reasonably be expected for Monfieur Le Clerk, who often refines upon them all, and keeps within the Decorum, which a Wife Man would never exceed.

What hath been faid for the Philological Part may extend to the Phyfical, in which if M. Le Clerk bath offended any nice and delicate Scrupulofity, He hath many Orthodox Predeceffors in the fame kind, both beyond the Seas, and in this Country, not to name any more than Bishop Wilkins, Seth Ward, Ifaac Voffius, the Learned Bishop of Worcester, the celebrated Master of the Charter-Houle, who Apologizes very ingeniously for fo doing; but there is a fort of Men, who cannot endure any diffent from Mofes his Philosophy, (unless it be in themselves) and pretend to fteer exactly according to the Mofaick Chart in all their Systems; yet fo unfortunate are they, that they frequently run upon the fame Sands and Rocks, where they have Split others Clodius accufat Machum, Catilina Cethegum; and fuch is the luck of these upright Authors, who very awkardly ftrain the Phantomes of their own Brains into the Old Teftament, that they put all into confufion, and had better let it reft in Sacred Silence; the Church would do well to enjoyn fuch Writers,not to weave their own Threds

with

with thofe of Mofes, leaft the old Nap fhould be loft, and a party-colour'd Coat appear in its room. What a monstrous Mofaick dress have we in Whifton's Theory with a train of Comets ar his Tail; in Woodward's Eflay with all the Mountains down about his Heels; in Nicholl's Conference with multitudes of Arks, or new Miracles of preferving in, or else creating de novo after the Flood, and with his Lyons in Greenland.

Gens ratione furens, & mentem pasta
Chimæris.

'Tis wonderful that these Men fhould venture to beat up the unenvy'd Solitudes of a Carthufian, (who never hunts after the common prey of Dominion and Wealth, as being inconfiftent with our Blessed Saviour's Kingdom) and at the fame time expose themselves to the profecutions of every vulgar Eye; but with this difference, that be hath left Mofes pure, free, and undefiled as he found him, whereas they have polluted him with their own mixtures, and make him act what part they pleafe, in any habit, or under any mask, as belt ferves their Scenes and Opera's. How shall the Children of Ifrael know their true Moses, fo patch'd and disfigur'd with the borrowed Plumes of fuch Birds of Paradife. The Apostle gave good advice against the vain Philofophy of thefe Men, who corrupt the Scriptures by introducing their own Chimerical Hypothefes into them, that

thereby

thereby they may ftamp them Standard, and cry down all others as Counterfeit, of base allay, or of falfe weight. 'Tis to be wifh'd that this infamous piece of Quackery was banish'd out of Parnaffus, and that Apollo admonish'd his Subjects to treat one another in modeft and bumble Manners, avoiding the haughty Titles of Supremacy and Infalibility; for Opinion and Probability cannot be a certain Rule, or any Foundation to domineer over one another. Monfieur Le Clerk may be allow'd to be as good an Interpreter as any Prelate in Chriftendom; and Dr. Burnet as great a Friend to Mofes as any Chaplain or Vertuofo in England.

Glory to God in the highest,

Peace on Earth,

Good Will

among

Men.

Differtation

Differtation I.

Concerning the Hebrew Tongue.

1. The Defign of these Differtations. II. That the Hebrew Tongue is no more the Primitive, than any of the other Oriental Languages.III.That the Difference of Languages arofe from the Difperfion of Mankind. IV. That Abraham Spoke the Chaldean Tongue. V. That Hebrew was originally the Language of the Canaanites. VI. That it was a barren ambiguous Language, and carried but to a Small Perfection by the Ifraelites. VII. In what Condition it was after the Babylonian Captivity. VIII. What Care the Ifraelites at that time took of the Sacred Volumes.

A

LTHO' 'tis not my Intention in these Preliminary Difcourfes to ramble through all thofe common Places

which relate to the Old Teftament in General, yet I thought it improper to put a Treatife of this Nature into the Reader's hand, without any foregoing Addrefs or Ceremony. As I was frequently obliged to fet down feveral things

B

things in my Annotations for known or granted, because I could not prove them there at large, without running into perpetual Digreffions, which I always ftudiously avoided; fo I judged it à propos to handle and prove them more copiously in these Differtations, least the prejudiced Reader fhould imagine that I have all along built upon a precarious Foundation. Now the things which I barely deliver'd in my Comments without farther Proof, may be chiefly reduced to these three Heads: 1. The Hebrew Tongue. 2. The Method I follow'd in my Interpretation. 3. Whether Mofes was the Author of the Pentateuch, and what end he propofed to himself in writing. I fhall begin with that concerning the Hebrew Tongue, and manage the other Points as they follow in order. But before I proceed any farther, the Reader is to be informed, that I never defigned to dif cufs all the Questions that are ufually propofed concerning that Language, but only fuch as are of abfolute Neceffity towards the better understanding of my Commentary, which I fhall handle just as they come into my Head, without confining my felf too Religiously to Method and Regularity: Therefore he is not to expect any compleat elaborate Discourse at my hands, which I neither promise here, nor ever had it fo much as in my Thoughts to perform.

II. The Jews out of a Fond Affection to their own Country, and several Chriftians who are

apt