[40v] Now, the Verses, in all our Translations of the Bible, are exactly the same with those in the Hebrew. Only, the Titles of the Psalms, are counted Verses in some, & not in others. And all our English Bibles, (as well as the French, & the Dutch,) begin the Sixty fourth Chapter of Isaiah, in that which according to the Hebrew, is the Middle of the last Verse of the Sixty third Chapter. And our English, in I. Sam. 20.42. join those Words, [And hee arose, etc] unto the forty second Verse; whereas in all the Hebrew Bibles, they are a distinct Verse of themselves; & so they should be in our English.15
The Number of the Verses, was not express'd in any ancient Bibles, any otherwise, than that every Fifth Verse had the Hebrew Letter standing for it. The first Bible printed with Verses, was that of Pagnines, printed at Lions, A.D. 1528. The New Testament was also then divided into Verses; but much longer ones, than those that are now used among us. E.g. The first of Mark, which according to our Division, ha's Forty five Verses, ha's there but Fifteen. The second of Mark there, had but Nine; whereas with us, it ha's Twenty eight.16
As for the New Testament, it was in the elder Times, divided with larger ΤΙΤΛΟΙ, and lesser, κεφαλαια [tho' sometimes these Divisions were promiscuously called by that latter Name.] But the least of the Divisions then used, was that of στίχοι, i.e. Rowes; Ranks, or Files; which do seem to be no other than the Lines of the Writing; which contained commonly about Six Words, more or less.17
The modern Division of the New Testament, was made, as H. Stephens, in his Preface to his Greek Concordance tells us, by his Father, Robert Stephens; and that hee did it in a Journey, from Paris to Lions. Hee adds, That most People said, Hee was unadvised to bestow his Time & Pains about that which was altogether useless, whereby hee should gett no Credit, but expose himself to Derision. At, Ecce, contrà eorum Damnatricem instituti Patris mei opinionem, inventum illud, simul in lucem simul in omnium, gratiam venit: simulque in tantam authoritatem, ut quasi exauctorarentur aliæ Testamenti Novi, sive Græcæ, sive Latinæ, sive Gallicæ, sive Germanicæ, sive in alia Vernaculâ Linguâ Editiones, quæ inventum illud secutæ non essent. The Invention was entertained, it seems, with universal Approbation; and all Editions of the New Testament, that had it not, were laid aside, & out of request. It first appeared in an Edition, printed at Paris, A.D. 1551. in a large, 12º, containing the Greek Text in the Middle, the Vulgar Version on one side, and Erasmus's Translation on the other.18
T'was an useful Invention; but as the Honourable Mr. Boyl saies, It will be no Slander to that industrious Promoter of heavenly Learning, to say, Hee hath sometimes severed Matters that should have been left united, and united others, that more conveniently hee might have severed; & that his lucky Attempt ought not to lay any Restraint upon other learned Men, from making Use of the same Liberty hee took, in altering the former Partitions of the New Testament, in altering his Alterations, to the best advantage of the sense or method. [Style of Script: p. 60, 61.]19
These Remarks have Mr. Clark for their Author.
But in the Appendix to this Opus Ecclesiæ, we shall have a more perfect and exact Account of these Matters given unto us.20
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