Christian Ministers' Testimony

to the

Truth of the "Masora."

Rev. Mr. Ogden, Rector of Trinity Church, Newark, says: "Great numbers of the first professors of Christianity were Hebrews, and many Christians, in the early days of the Church, studied the Hebrew language; but so far were they from charging the Jews with corrupting the text of the Old Testament, that they bear testimony to its purity in the periods in which they lived:* and the Masorites were so sedulous to preserve the copy of the Jewish Scriptures free from corruption, that they numbered even the lines, words and letters in each book."

* See Du Pin's Canon, vol. i, chap. iv., §3-7. Jones's Crit. Lect. chap. iv., §70-74. Chap. 13-18. MS. Turret. vol. i. Quest. x., §5-13. Walton's Prol. to Polyg. Bib. Stackh. Hist. Bib. Appar., p. 35. Bossuet's Univ. Hist., vol. ii., p. 148.

"The Masorites were certain Jewish Doctors, who were wholly employed to examine and criticise upon the true orthography of the canonical books of scripture; to determine, to preserve, and to transmit to posterity the genuine reading and pronunciation of the Hebrew, by affixing to it proper accents and vowel points."

Dr. Lightfoot observes, that "they summed up all the letters in the Bible, to show that not a stroke of that sacred book has perished; and, therefore, had we no other proof of the truth of the text of the Old Testament, the labors of these men would be sufficient to convince us of its validity." Words, vol. i. p. 999.