the first Letter in each Word pretty near; be at Liberty to play with which of the Meanings he pleases, in conftruing the Terms of Salvation? I hope not.

Such MSS. as these may ferve for Arcana, in private or College-Libraries, and they may talk of them, or fhew them as great Rarities; and whatever other Ufes may be made of, or Discoveries by, this Language, during the Times of Darkness and Ignorance, fince it was written, either from their own Author, or Translations out of Books in other Languages into it, it can be of no Ufe to fettle any Point in Divinity, Religion, or Philofophy; and they must not be used to destroy the Authority of the Bible, or impofe upon the Vulgar, in Articles of Faith.

I have formerly hinted, where a Word is but once or twice ufed in the Bible, and it happens to be about fomething little understood now, except the Interpreters have been faithful, there may be fome Difficulty to understand it; and you may be willing to take any Information from a neighbouring Language: But what then? Surely this Mixture of all Languages can never be taken for a Language. As it has pleafed God, that thefe few, nay, very few

Words,

Words, are about Things of no great Importance: So, when one has fhewed how they used one of these Words in a neighbouring Country, writ before this Jumble happened, and meet with even fome corroborating Accidents to perfuade one that it had the Sense there it ought to have in a Tranflation of the Scripture, those Accidents are the only Evidence, becaufe, 'tis a Million to One, but the Word may be found ufed in other Senfes, perhaps by the fame Author, at leaft by other Authors, either there, or in other neighbouring Countries. And notwithstanding what has been afferted about the Learning and Wisdom of this People, it comes to no more than this: That if there were but a Scrap of Science, nay, a good Fable, or a pleasant Story preferved among Jews, Chriftians or Heathens, in any of the Dominions this Empire has fwallowed up, that is in the Eaftern Part of the World, where all the Revelations were made, and where all Knowledge had its Refidence: As they have long been forced to write in this Character or Letter, all this must be afcribed, by thofe who call themselves Chriftian Divines, to the Arabians, Chriftianice Mahometans, Turks: Nay, as this Empire is the greatest, if not the only Op

pofer

pofer of, and Adverfary to Chriftianity, the Devil's chief Attribute, to Antichrift, to Satan. If this Jumble had not happened, but each Country had retained: their own Language and Letter, would not the Scraps of Wit or Knowledge which remained in each Country, or which had been acquired fince, or the Name of a Beast, or a Tree, or a Plant, or a Root, if any fuch be preferved and truly apply'd, have come out in each of their respective Languages, and the Arabs have only had their small Share? And would it not have come purer in each Language than it does now, when all their Languages are jumb led together? Why must all be attributed to them, because it comes under this forced Character, which even cannot be proved to be theirs? I will not undertake to diftinguish between the Judgment or Honefty of Perfons of this or that Country, or of Authors; nor fhall I ever spend 'much Time to examine the Abilities or Veracities of those who have transcribed, or otherwife come between these Authors and us; nor of the Lexicographers, or, &c. efpecially in fuch a Hodge-podge as the Alcoranish Language is. As Words in other fimple Languages, either as ufed in the Tranflation of the Hebrew, or in other Writings

Writings in the Language of the Tranflation, have no Ideas fixed, that makes it difficult enough to bring down the Ideas of the Hebrew Words into lower or prefent Languages; we have no Occafion to make ourfelves or others more Difficulties.

We have no Occafion at all now to call in any neighbouring Language, nor even this Confounder of fo many Languages, for helping us to understand the Hebrew Tongue, much less to make the Conftruction of each Word infallible, and certain; nothing but its self can do that. We have got over the Dangers and Difcouragements in reading the Scripture, and shew'd that the Danger, &c, arifes from letting Fools and defigning Men meddle with them. We have as much already infallibly conftrued, as fhews us our Title to our Inheritance, gives us a fufficient Idea of the Trinity, and of the Conditions in, Powers and Ufes of, this Machine; fo a fufficient Account of the Objects which the ancient Heathens worshipped, as will herewith more fully appear.

All that any Interpreter has to do, or can do, is to find fuch an Idea for each Word as will anfwer in every Place, and fhew the Relation between Things com

prehended

prehended under the fame Word, so that the Word, in each Part of Speech, may have its proper Relation to the Idea; and that how widely foever the Things, Actions, or &c. for which the Word is used, may differ in other Refpects, that every one of the Things, or &c. has that Idea in it; and how they convey the Idea, when they are carried higher, to spiritual Things, Actions of the Mind, or &c. When that is done, as a Word of the greatest Importance can have but one Signification, and as the infinitely wife Inditer has used fuch a Word frequently, the more Beings, Things, or Actions it has been apply'd to, and the more the Relation in that Idea among them is fhewed, the Idea becomes clearer and ftronger; the Perception of the Thing or Action convey'd under the borrowed Idea, heightens; the Truth and Importance of the Revelation opens; and the Pleasure in difcovering, confidering and compaLing them, encreases in Proportion; whilft you have at one View, the Wisdom of the Revealer, in inferting that Idea in that Place, to convey the Intention of Redemption, or &c. His Wifdom in contriving a Language, Letters, &c. which fhould convey that Idea, fo long as the

World