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made it drunk with the Blood of Saints ; which hath put it, under the opprobrious Appellation of He retics, upon the attrocious Attempt of excluding the Righteous from the Kingdom of Heaven, and of fending to the Devil and Hell Torments,

from Flames above to Flames below," the most excellent and worthy Characters; Men of whom the World was not worthy; Men qualified by their fuperior Virtue and inflexible Integrity, to fhine for ever as Stars of the first Magnitude in the Regions of Glory.

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And it is most highly probable, that some Mifapprehenfion. with Regard to the true Design and Meaning of the above-mentioned Texts; their living in an Age, in which a very bigoted and intolerant Spirit generally prevailed among Chriftian Profeffors of all Sects and Denominations, Proteftants as well as Papists, towards all of a different Perfuafion in Religion; an Age, in which Errors in Judgment were almost univerfally deemed far more criminal and dangerous than any Errors in Conduct, and deferving of a much feverer Condemnation: I fay, it is most highly probable that these, in Conjunction with fome other fimilar Causes; and, particularly, the Want of better Acquaintance with the true Genius, and particular Idioms of the HeC 2 brew

brew Original, and their not adverting to the Reason why the Authors of the Sextuagint Verfion fo frequently fubftituted the imperative Mood for the future Tenfe, and which was, that Verbs, in prophetic Language, whether used in the one or the other, had the very fame Signification; expressed no kind of Wish, and were alike declaratory, induced the Tranflators of the English Bible to infert fo many and various Imprecations and Maledictions in the Pfalms, and other Parts of the Old Teftament.

And thefe, having been once admitted into the facred Volume, naturally acquired from their Situation an increafing Degree of Refpectability; and for a Series of Years were generally regarded as authentic. But when their direct Contrariety to our Saviour's Command to love our Enemies, to pray for them and bless them, came to be more clearly perceived, and more generally attended to, their Credit and Influence proportionably diminished, and their whole Authority must have been at an End, had not the Want of a more perfect Knowledge of the Hebrew Original left fome Room to fuppofe, that they might be reconcileable to the Spirit of the Law, though manifeftly contradictory to that of the Gospel: That they

might be proper for thofe Times, when it was thought lawful to entertain Hatred against private and public Enemies, though under the Gospel it was not lawful to wish any other to them than we would wish to ourselves §.

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See Le Clerc on Pfàlm cxxxvi. 8. The fame erroneous Idea was adopted by the great Dr. Samuel Clark, as appears from his Paraphrafe on Mat. v. 43. where he expreffes himself as follows. The Law commands Men to love their Neighbours, but permits them to hate their Enemies. A moft difhonorable Notion of a Law given by God, which the Pfalmift pronounced to be perfect, and which the Apostle Paul declared to be boly, just and good. Permiffion to hate Enemies could form no Part of fuch a Law. The Notion is palpably abfurd, and wholly without Foundation. Love to Enemies is as much injoined by the moral part of the mofaic Law as it is in the Gospel. Thus our Saviour (understood it, and alfo explained it, particularly in Mat. v. 44. where he fays, love your Enemies, bless those who curfe you, do good to those who hate you, and PRAY FOR those who despitefully ufe you and perfecute you. no new Duty, but giving the full and true Meaning of that : great Commandment of the Law, "Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thyself." As a clear and fatisfactory Proof of this Point will have a Tendency to throw fome additional Light on the main Subject of this Differtation, and to remove some great Mifapprehenfions, which too many have entertained, not only of the Law, but also of our Saviour's Expofition of it, fuch Proof is attempted in the Appendix, and I truft with fome good Succefs by the inferting of our Saviour's Commentary entire, which begins with the 17th and ends with the last Verse of Mat. v. with a Paraphrafe chiefly in the Words of the late very candid and ingenious Dr. Doddridge.

Here our Saviour is establishing

Thus while their Authenticity was admitted, no other or better Method could be found by fo learned and judicious a Man as Le Clerc, in Order to vindicate them, than fuch as directly tended to destroy the whole Credit of the Old Teftament Scriptures as a divine Revelation; or fuch as must be attended with the most glaring Abfurdity; viz. that Religion, though proceeding from the fame God of infinite Wisdom and Goodness, may, in different Times and Places, be effentially different, and even of a diametrically oppofite Nature; that at one Time it may injoin the conftant Exercife of boundlefs Benevolence, and at another, authorize the Indulgence of the utmost Rancor and Malignancy of Spirit: or that to hate Enemies was the Duty of Jews, though to love them is the indifpenfible Duty of Chriftians.

How peculiarly great is our Felicity! We live in more enlightened Times; in our Endeavours to reconcile any feeming Contradictions to be met with in one, or another Part of our Bible, we are under no Neceffity of adopting any abfurd and groundless Hypothefis; and, in our Attempts to vindicate the Honor of our Religion, and the Credit of Revelation, we have no unfurmountable Difficulties to encounter. Through the united Labors of wife and learned

Men

Men in this, and the preceding Age, we are able to fee with Clearness and Certainty, that both the Old and New Teftament, agreeably to the Nature of all Scripture given by the Infpiration of God, difplay the very fame Spirit; a Spirit of unlimitted Kindness and Charity, and that of all the numerous Expreffions to be found in our English Verfion, which breathe a contrary Spirit, there is not one authorized by the Hebrew and Greek Originals, unless Acts i. 20, together with the firft Clause in Pfalm cix. 6, fhould be deemed an Exception.

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That those were defigned to exprefs no Kind or Degree of Malevolence, or to convey any Meaning, but fuch as is entirely confiftent with the most perfect Charity will now be clearly shewn, and I trust most fatisfactorily proved, I fhall begin with the firft Clause in Verse the Sixth of the hundred and ninth Palm, the only one perhaps in the whole Hebrew Bible that is attended with any material Difficulty in Regard to its Interpretation.

The Verb there, according to its present Vowel Points, has the Form of a direct, and truly malignant Imprecation, being in the Imperative Mood of the Conjugation called Hiphil, and agreeably thereto is thus rendered in our Verfion;

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