System of Sacred Theology · §1.5.5 · Ludwig Crocius

As to integrity of the lettering: the claim that vowel points were added late after Christ

Click or tap any sentence to jump there. The side buttons skip a paragraph.

Third, Sacred Scripture is perfect as to the integrity of the lettering. Some among the Jews, and those among Christians who follow them in this, think the Hebrew text only some centuries after Christ's birth attained the perfection in which it now shines, by the addition of vowel and distinguishing points — so Bellarmine On the Word of God book 2 chapter 2, Petrus Martinius, the Arcanum of punctuation revealed by Thomas Erpenius, Gordon Huntly, and most others today taught by Jewish instructors, who trust the histories of Elias Levita and certain other Jews.

But this assertion seems wholly to contradict the perfection of the holy tongue, which cannot be worse than all other languages, as if it were thought written by divine men with consonants alone without vowels — vowels that in every language animate and perfect every consonant.

Latin

Tertio perfecta est sacra Scriptura quantum ad literaturae integritatem. Quidam e Judaeis, & qui hac in re eos sequuntur inter Christianos, opinantur Hebraeum textum aliquot seculis demum post natum Christum eam qua nunc splendet perfectionem consecutum accessione punctorum vocalium & distinguentium (ut Bellarm. l.2. de V.D. cap.2; Petrus Martinius; Arcanum punctuationis revelatum a Thoma Erpenio; Gord. Huntlaeus; & alii plerique hodie a Judaeis praeceptoribus edocti, de qui historiae Eliae Levitae & aliorum quorundam Judaeorum fidem habent). At haec assertio videtur perfectioni sanctae linguae prorsus repugnare, quae caeteris linguis omnibus deterior esse nequit, ut solis consonis a divinis viris scripta putetur absque vocalibus, quae quamlibet consonam in qualibet lingua animant & perficiunt.

Report a mistake in this passage