TESTIMONY, Testimonium. This Word is taken
- For the Testimony, or Witnessing exhibited in a Court of Justice, by affirming or denying something, about which we are judicially interrogated. The Scripture prohibits false Testimony in several Places, Exod. xx. 16. xxiii. 1.
Gen. xxxi. 47, 48, 52.2. Testimony is used for a Monument or Memorial. For example, this heap be witness, or Testimony: It was called Jegar- Jahadutha, or the Heap of Testimony. The Tribes of Israel that abode beyond Jordan raised a kind of very high Altar on Josh. xxii. 27.the Banks of that River, to serve as a Testimony or Monument of their Union with their Brethren who dwelt on this side Jordan.
- Testimony is often put for the Law of the Lord, because when the Lord gave it to the Israelites, he gave Testimony of his Presence by the Prodigies he perform’d in their Sight, and required an Oath of them, that they should continue faithful to him: Testimonium in some Sense is equivalent to Juramentum. Thus it is called The Ark of Testimony, because it contained the Tables of the Law; and the Tabernacle of Testimony, because that was the Tent wherein the Tables of the Law were kept: In Psal. cxix. Testimonies are often put for the Law of the Lord, for the Wonders he had perform’d, and for the Instructions he had given to his People.
St. Jerome often translates the Hebrew Word Moed by Testimony. Thus Tabernaculum Testimonii, the Tent of Testimony. But Moed1 signifies more properly Assembly, Convention, because it was at the Entrance of this Tent or Tabernacle that the People assembled, and where Moses declared to them the Orders of the Lord.
Testimony is sometimes taken also in the Sense of Praise. For example, it is said that Cornelius the Centurion had a good Testimony from the whole Nation of the Jews. Vir Justus & timens Deum, & Testimonium habens ab universâ gente Judæorum: Acts x. 22. Acts vi. 3.And elsewhere, Men of good Testimony. Viros boni Testimonii septem: Persons to whom every body gives a good Character. Sometimes the Ark of the Covenant is called absolutely Testimonium; because it included2 John i. 8.included the Tables of the Law, or of Testimony. For example, it is said that Aaron put an Omer of Manna into the Testimony.3 The Vulgate reads in Tabernaculo, but the Hebrew has it in Testimonio. 2 Kings xi. 12.In the Second Book of Kings the Book of the Law, or the Volume which was used to be put upon the King’s Head on his Coronation-day, was called Testimonium: Produxit filium regis, & posuit super eum diadema & Testimonium. Isaiah calls Testimonium a Writing he had drawn up by the If. vii. 16. Lord’s Command, in which was contained a Prophecy he had pronounced, and written in the Presence of two Witnesses. God bids him seal it up to the time appointed: Liga Testimonium, signa legem, &c.
In the New Testament Testimonium is put for that Attestation which is given to the Probity of any one. John Baptist came to bear Testimony to the Light, to declare that Jesus Christ was come, and to confirm that he was the true Messiah. Jesus Christ John v. 31.says, that if he gave Testimony of himself, on that account his Testimony would not be true; which is as much as to say, that we are not obliged to be determined by one that is Judge in his own Cause, and who proclaims his own Qualifications: It is to be presumed that he would extol himself, and raise himself to Honour and Esteem. The Heavenly Father, and the Works of Jesus Christ, as well as John the Baptist, bear sufficient Testimony for him; and their Testimony ought to be esteem’d as of irrefragable Authority.
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