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reprefentations of his meaning upon different occafions, in his Philofophy of Hiftory, which I hope is fufficiently done.

Upon the whole, from thefe numerous detections of Mr. Voltaire's falfhood, with refpect to Jofephus, to which more might have been added, maft not his admirers be rendered more diftruftful of his details from antient writers in general, and more cautious of giving their affent to them as genuine, without examination? or if they fuppofe him more honest and faithful in his recitals from heathen authors, muft they not acknowledge him to have been so carried away by prejudice and partiality, to violate the rules of truth in his accounts of the Jewish hiftorian, as will leave an indelible and perpetual reproach upon his character for difingenuity, and upon themfelves for rashness and credulity, if they shall hereafter rely upon them, as juft reprefentations of his fenfe?

'that his violations of the great rule of truth, are peculiar to this Chap-
ter. May these remarks through the channel of your Magazine, put
the public on their guard against being misled by him, till some per-
fon of greater leifure and ability, more fully expofe him!' Nor did
I form the scheme of the present detection, till a confiderable time af-
ter, upon reading repeated wifhes, that fome perfon would animadvert
upon the abuse with which he had treated religion; and upon feeing
that his works were printed with eagerness.-
-If any
reader obferve
any difference between the quotations of Voltaire's words in the Mufe-
um for Dec. 1765, and here, the plain account of it is, that the re-
marks were then drawn up, on reading the translation of that chapter
by the Monthly Reviewers for July of that year, I hope in an honest
indignation, at feeing fo many mifreprefentations in fo few fentences;
whereas they are now accommodated to the English translation of the
whole treatife.

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OF

MR. VOLTAIRE'S

MISREPRESENTATIONS

OF THE

SACRED BOOKS.

HAD

AD this author been fatisfied with scoffing at fuch paffages of Scripture as feem offenfive in themselves, or appear inconfiftent with others, while at the fame time he religiously governed himself by the dictates of truth in their exhibition, and recited them as they ftood, without aggravating difficulties; nay, had he even given us a false account of fome unimportant facts, and of fome trivial circumftances in more material and weighty tranfactions only, which might have been imputed to forgetfulnefs and inadvertence, there would have been lefs cause of complaint against him; but when

That there are paffages of this kind in Scripture, especially in the Old Teftament, cannot be denied: but it does not therefore follow, it is not of divine authority. There are, notwithstanding, solid proofs of this, even as there are fufficient demonftrations, that the course and constitution of nature proceeds from God, though fome parts of it appear to us liable to objections. And indeed, why should it be expected or required, that a book, which challenges a divine original, fhould be clear of things which create exception, more than

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he throws out many invidious reflections, without all fupport from the Bible, often advances propofitions as contained in it, which are repugnant to the moft exprefs letter thereof, yea repeats the fame notorious falfhoods, on different occafions, as unqueftionable truths, mifinterprets texts which he cites to prove his calumnies in a most unjuftifiable manner, perverting and wrefting words to a fenfe which they were never intended to convey, and scarce ever imathe mundane fyftem? fince, by this very circumftance, while there is no want of arguments that it has fuch a fource, it hath a greater fitness to be a touch-stone of mens characters, or a trial of the candour and integrity of all to whom it is propofed. Now, in confideration of the fuperior ftrength and validity of thefe proofs, that the Bible is the word of God, every person is bound to admit it as such, instead of being left at liberty to reject it, and perhaps alfo treat it with scorn and derifion, in spite of their force and energy, because there is therein an intermixture of fome matters that difpleafe him. And every im partial Theift, or unprejudiced believer in natural religion, will ac conformably: for he will reflect with himself, that there are also difficulties in the order and frame of the universe, which yet he holds, upon prepollent evidence for it, to be the workmanship of God, and the fubject of his providence and government. And he will farther confider, that it is not to be wondered at, if fome points create offence or entanglement in the Sacred Oracles, particularly in those which were committed to the cuftody of the Jewish church, when their great antiquity, and the form and language in which they are written, are recollected. The history of many requirements and actions in them, is very concife and fummary, unaccompanied with an explication of the grounds on which they were founded.-The customs, both public and private, in ages fo remote, and countries fo diftant, as these which are there treated of, were widely different from the ufages of our time and place, which yet there is an unreafonable difpofition to make the ftandard in estimating the propriety and decorum of every speech or practice related in the Bible.- There may easily happen a mistake about the true meaning of fome vocables or phrafes that occur, the

gined to bear; In short, employs the baseft arts, that he may make the Scripture furnish more abundant matter for ridicule, and more plentiful occasion of unbelief, what cenfure can be too fevere for him with all honeft and unprejudiced perfons? So criminal and inexcufable however, I trust, his conduct will appear to be. In expofing him for this unfair treatment of the Sacred Books, and vindicating them from his

more that the Hebrew hath long ceafed to be a living tongue, and that the volume which alone is extant in it, is of no large fize; wherefore there is lefs room for the discovery of their genuine fignification, by comparing their ufe in different paffages: as indeed not a few terms or idioms of expreffion are met with only once.- Nor is it impoffible, according to the opinion of many perfons of found judgment and real piety, that errors may have been permitted to creep into the text here and there, through the carelessness or unfkilfulness of transcribers, in a long fucceffion of centuries, about affairs flight in their nature, and uneffential to the great end for which the Scripture was penned; I mean, the length of a person's life or reign, the number of an army, the multitude of the killed or prisoners in a battle, the quantity of Spoil feized, the fum of treasure accumulated or expended, and the like. For these, and other causes of a fimilar nature, he will not, I fay, think it ftrange that fome points difguft or perplex; but still will think himfelf obliged, from a regard to the many excellent rules of virtue and happiness, which the Bible contains, and to the other reafons which evince its divine authority, to make light of the objections arifing thence, which is no more than making the fame allowances for shortness of detail, for diversity of manners in a long interval of ages, for obfcurity and intricacy of stile, and for vitiations or corruptions in copying, which are thought equitable every day to the writings of Heathens, through which there runs a vein of good sense, that they may be freed from the charge of abfurdity, and the imputation of felf-contradiction. And thus will he be enabled to stand fast in his veneration for the Scripture, against the attacks of infidels, their most boafted cavils on these pretences proving impotent efforts to overthrow, or even shake, Lis belief of it.

D

abuse, I will firft confider thefe inftances of mifrepresentation of their fenfe, for which he may plead the authority of the Vulgate verfion; and thereafter these far more numerous inftances of the fame, for which he cannot pretend the authority of this, or any other tranflation; at least, if he may alledge this in two or three cafes, cannot justify the meaning he adopts as agreeable to the original.

CHAPTER I.

Of his Mifrepresentations of Scripture, for which he' may plead the authority of the Vulgate verfion.

O the Vulgate verfion of the Bible, this writer

Th

hath paid a peculiar deference. From it, in his recital of the affairs of the Jewifh nation, are derived many names of perfons, which, at first sight, amaze and confound an English reader, familiar as the account of them in the Old Teftament may be to him: for in that version, as in our author, we meet with Phaceiah for Pekahiah, Romeli for Remaliah, Ofes for Hofea, Aod for Ehud, &c.-Further, upon a falfe fense given in the fame, or a wrong inference from its mode of expreffing the import of the original, his fcoffs and cavils at the Sacred Hiftory, and his cen fures and reproaches of the people of Ifrael, who are the great fubjects of it, are fometimes wholly founded. Of this I mention thefe examples. Let the reader judge whether the charge is not just.

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