prævious

Whereupon, at their requeſt, having read over the other Goſpels, he confirmed in general the truth of them, yet obſerved, that many things of conſequence were either wholly omitted or too ſlightly touched in them; eſpecially the actions of Jeſus, which preceded the death of John the Baptiſt, and almoſt all thoſe miracles, which deſerved the moſt to be recorded, and were the propereſt for inſtruction; and above all, the declaration of his divinity and exiſtence, prævious to his birth at Bethlehem.

1752, Conyers Middleton, “Reflections on the Variations, or Inconſiſtencies, which are found among the four Evangeliſts, in their different Accounts of the ſame Facts”, in The Miscellaneous Works of the late Reverend and Learned Conyers Middleton, D.D., page 55