improper to give fuch Readers, who may be unacquainted therewith, a fhort account. Of the two firft books of Maccabees, the firft hath been moft efteemed, as being the more accurate hiftory, though written by an uncertain Author, and after the spirit of prophecy ceafed in the church of the Jews; and therefore was not received into their Canon, nor owned as fuch by Chrift and his Apof tles: Nor did the Primitive Chriftians receive thefe Apocryphal Books as ftrictly canonical; however, they allowed them to be read in churches, as containing divers matters which tend to Edification, and (what is most to our purpofe) relied on the truth of the history therein recorded *. As for Jofephus †, he was a learned and religious Jew, defcended from the Prieftly family, and born in the year of Chrift thirty-feven, that is, about four years after our Saviour's afcenfion into Heaven. When the Jewish wars against the Romans broke out, he took up arms, and was a governor and captain in Galilee, and bravely defended his *Gerhardi loc. com. de facr. fcripturâ chap. vi. fect. 236, &c. Beveregii Codex, Can. Lecief. Prim. 1. ii. c. 9. feat. 3. Du Pin's Canon, &c. 1. i. c. 1. fect. 15. And Dean Prideaux's Connect. par. ii. b. 3. fub anno 166. + See the firft difcourfe at the beginning of L'Eftrange's edit. concerning Jofephus.-N. B. For the ufc of the English his country, till at length he was taken prifoner; but being afterwards released, when the wars were over, he wrote the hiftory of them at large. Soon after, he composed the Antiquities of the Jews, in ten books, from the time of their being first a people and nation. From whence, that account of the Jewish affairs is chiefly taken which is not mentioned in the Holy Bible, and more efpecially concerning their dreadful deftrucction; wherein Jofephus was a forrowful eye-witnefs, and upon which he declared himself to be of opinion, that God hath forfaken his nation, and was gone over to the Romans *: Two cautions here feem neceffary to be given the Reader concerning the Holy Scriptures, viz. First, Where they fpeak only in general, we fhould not be over curious to dive into particulars which God hath not revealed; fuch as the manner how the creatures were at firft formed; the application of fome general prophecies, the defign whereof does not appear English reader, the quotations out of Jofephus are for the moft part according to that verfion; but, compared with, and fometimes brought nearer to the original of Dr. Hudfon's Oxford edition, wherein the number of the chapters in our notes, agree with thofe in L'Eftrange's edition. The quotations out of the ecclefiaftical hiftorians, as Eufebius, Socrates, &c. are according to the English translation, Cambridge, 1683, with Valefius' notes, compared with the Greek edition of Geneva, 1612. * Wars, B. iii. chap. 14. appear in the Prophets themfelves, nor hath been explained by the Holy Spirit in the New Teftament, and which therefore cannot be known till their accomplishment; the diftinct Nature of God, and the Holy Trinity; the manner of uniting the Human to the Divine Nature of Chrift; God's eternal Decrecs; the particular Manner of the Refurrection, and of re-uniting the Soul and Body; the Seafon and Method of the Converfion of the Jews, and fuch like. In refpect to which, let us be wife to fobriety, and not exercife ourselves in things too high and wonderful for us: But be content with what God hath thought fit to reveal, and make a proper ufe of fuch his Divine Revelation. Where the Scripture hath not a tongue to fpeak, it is not our bufincfs to inquire; for that would minifter queftions which can never be refolved, and hinder us from godly edifying, and from purfuing the main defign of God's holy word, which tends to the increase of faith and charity, cut of a pure heart and a good confcience: From which, as the Apostle complained in his time, "Some having fwerved, have turned afide unto vain jangling." On the other hand, it is certainly fafe for us to be ignorant of what God hath not revealed. We can never hope to attain the knowledge of Divine Matters, fo as to be inflamed ed with the love and expectancy of them, without a pure heart, and fervent prayer. The penman of the Scriptures is Jehovah, the subject is holy, and therefore, we are not to indulge impure thoughts, nor harbour any wilful fin, whilft we read, or would underftand and profit by them 1; "for without ho"linefs no man fhall fee, or know, the "Lord; but, if any man do his will, he "fhall know of the doctrine whether it be "of God." Nor can we expect the divine affiftance, without prayer to him, "who is the author of every good and perfect gift;" and in this cafe more particularly, it is he "who commanded the light to shine out of "darkness, that muft fhine in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glo แ ry of God." Seeing therefore we lack this heavenly wifdom, we are to ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not. And we cannot better pray to him for this purpose, than by that Divine Form which his fon hath taught us, (Our Father, &c.) concluding with this excellent Collect of our Liturgy. Blessed Lord, who haft caufed' all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning, grant that we may in fuch wife hear them; read, mark, learn, and inwardly digeft them; that by patience and comfort of thy holy word, |