Second, from the nature and condition of the vowel points.
Second, from the nature and condition of the vowel points.
§ 337. We prove our opinion: (II) From the nature and condition of the vowel points. It is not at all likely that that which is like the soul and breath of reading and writing was omitted in the first writing of the Bible. The vowel points are like the soul and breath of reading and writing. Therefore it is not at all likely that the vowel points were omitted in the first writing of the Bible. The major premise is one of obvious truth. After all, that which is like the soul and breath of reading and writing is also an essential part of Scripture. If that had been omitted in the first writing of the Bible, we would have only part of Scripture—in fact, a less honorable and inferior part—from the authors of Scripture, namely, from God and from the holy men and prophets of God. This is something no one will say easily.
The minor premise is proved: (1) From the testimonies of the rabbinic scholars. In the Book of Zoar we read: “No letters have the power of extending into this or that direction except with the points of the letters. For they are all as body without soul. When the vowel points come, lo, the body is established in its own stature.” Petrus Cevallerius cites the statement of Rabbi Nechonia from the book Sepher habbair: “The points of the letters of the Mosaic Law are similar to the life-giving soul in the body of man.” Aben Ezra said, “Without the above and below,” that is, without the accents and vowel points, “Scripture cannot be understood.” This statement of Rabbi Aben Ezra is quoted by Luther on Genesis 47, who adds: “Without the within.” Elias Levita, on Song of Songs, c. 3: “Letters are compared to bodies. Those ten (vowels) are like souls to them. Therefore as a body without a soul is a corpse destitute of movement, thus the Hebrew Scripture without the vowel points is dead and hardly suited for motion or reading.” In his preface to Song of Songs, he says, “The letters are a ladder and the vowels are the nails that give the ladder steps.”
(2) From the testimonies of Christians learned in Hebrew. Johannes Isaacus, a converted Jew, writes: “A man who reads Scripture without the vowel points and accents is like a man riding a horse without a bridle.” Fabricius, Partit. Hebraic., c. 2: “If the task of signing or, which is the same, of sounding could not be noted without the marks of the consonants, much less could there be a discernment of natural sounds without the marks of the vowels.”
** Genebrardus, beginning of his Isagoge ad legenda scripta Rabbinorum, claims that reading without the vowel points is maimed, impaired. **
Johann Balthasar Baumbach, De linguarum oriental. antiq. necessitate et utilitate: “Without the vowels, one cannot pronounce the consonants. Every language without vowels is maimed, imperfect, impaired.”
(3) From the names of the vowel points. The points or vowels are called in Hebrew 
, “motions,” because by pronunciation they move the letters. Therefore like souls they give sense and movement to the consonants.
(4) From the matter itself. Every speech that expresses the thoughts of the mind and the writing that corresponds to it stands on its words, its words on their syllables, the syllables on their letters and vowels. No syllable can exist without a vowel—therefore nor can a word nor can a discourse. As a result, the vowels, too, have been given this name because by themselves they give utterance or sound. The consonants [consonantes] are so called because they are not sounded without vowels. Clearly, vowels move and, as it were, animate the consonants. If vowels are taken out of words, the genuine meaning of the words is unknown. If one does not know the genuine meaning of words, the consequence is that he does not know the meaning of the sentences. If the distinctive accents are removed, the meaning of statements becomes confused. If they wanted to make the exception that “the vowel points are indeed necessary for reading but not for writing,” we respond that the goal of writing is the reading and understanding of the other. But anyone who writes without the vowel points cannot achieve this goal, unless every pointing of every word is known to another. In fact, even if the pointing is known to him, he will still be forced to hesitate and be doubtful in many matters, namely, when one and the same word allows various pointings. Therefore we add the third argument.