.Nw.MTEyMw

5. Messiah wch [which] was to begin, where yt [that] of ye law en= sued. And again Matt: 24.14 wee read The Gospel of ye Kingdom shall be preached [underline] in all ye world. [/underline] but her ye original word is [Greek] & properly signifies ye habitable earth & it must be understood either of ye whole Roman Empire wch they themselves regularly called ye world, or of ye whole habitable world in general, into all parts of wch ye Apostles had gone preaching, be -fore ye destruction of Jerusalem & ye casting of ye Jews. All I observe heres is yt or [our] [crossed out and obliterated] Translatrs. have not been exact enough in ren- dering divers words of so distant a signification by ye same word in English. But what shall wee say then to ye Authorities above men[t]ion[e]d yt speak of so signal an Ecclipse of yt Sun happening at this time & almost ye whole stream of Interpretrs who depending upon ye truth of those stories have accordingly under- stood ye words. First I must say, yt wee must not be born down with ye number of testimonies nor believe every thing yt comes handed down to us with general approbation, for as one errour in ye beginning of a tradition, begets many in ye process of it, so so one false authority presumed upon & taken for granted, draws away multitudes yt take things upon trust & have not either ye leisure of ye good will to enquire into the truth of ye original how