Wesley Corpus

But may I hazard a few words on the points Mr. H. affirms they were invented by the Masorites, only thirteen or fourteen hundred years ago, in order to destroy the sense of Scripture. I doubt this: who can prove it Who can prove they were not as old as Ezra, if not co-eval with the language Let any one give a fair reading only to what Dr. Cornelius Bayley [For Dr. Bayley, see letter of Oct. 12, 1778.] has offered in the Preface to his Hebrew Grammar, and he will be as sick of reading without points as I am - at least, till he can answer the Doctor's arguments he will not be so positive upon the question. As to his theology, I first stumble at his profuse encomiums on the Hebrew language. But it may be said, Is it not the language which God Himself used And is not Greek too the language which God Himself used And did He not use it in delivering to man a far more perfect dispensation than that which He delivered in Hebrew Who can deny it And does not even this consideration give us reason at least to suspect that the Greek language is as far superior to the Hebrew as the New Testament is to the Old And, indeed, if we set prejudice aside and consider both with attention and candor, can we help seeing that the Greek excels the Hebrew as much in beauty and strength as it does in copiousness I suppose no one from the beginning of the world wrote better Hebrew than Moses. But does not the language of St. Paul excel the language of Moses as much as the knowledge of St. Paul excelled his I speak this, even on supposition that you read the Hebrew, as I believe Ezra if not Moses did, with points; for if we read it in the modern way, without points, I appeal to every competent judge whether it be not the most equivocal. To Mrs. Gait LONDON. January 5, 1785.