Such is a very imperfect outline of the first division of this subject. Before proceeding to say any thing on interpretation, I would mention two or three subjects, on which our minds should be previously made up, viz. the canonical authority, the genuineness, and the inspiration, of the sacred scriptures.

With respect to the first, it is evidently proper that we know what books are to be recognized as scripture, before we proceed to consider the principles on which the sacred writings are to be explained. The consideration of the second subject, is little more than the extension of the application of the principles of sacred criticism, ascending from the investigation of the genuineness of particular passages to the genuineness of entire books.

The reason for placing the inspiration of the sacred scriptures in this part of our course, is two-fold: 1st, that we may study them under the deep impression that they are the word of God; and 2dly, because it may be found that the divine origin of the scriptures should exert a considerable influence on the principles by which they are to be interpreted. It is one of the first principles of interpretation, that in explaining any work, respect is to be had to the character of its author. But if the doctrine of the plenary inspiration be true, God is the real author of the sacred scriptures. It is readily admitted, that this fact does not interfere with their having been written according to the common principles of language, which the object they were intended to answer rendered absolutely necessary. translating the sacred writings, therefore, the principle in question may not exert any great influence; but when we come to explain them, it will be found of esssential importance. The rules of interpretation, which arise out of the divine origin of the Bible, are as clearly ascertained, and as well founded, as those which arise from any other source, resting on the authority of the sacred writers themselves. It is from them we learn, that the old dispensation was preparatory to the new; that the law was "a shadow of good things to come," and is to be explained accordingly.

In

Before entering, therefore, on the second department of this subject, we should be convinced of the canonical authority, authenticity, and inspiration, of the sacred scriptures, that we may be able to take their divine authority as proved.

I am now to endeavour, briefly, to state the course to be pursued in the Interpretation of the Bible.

And in the first place, we may mention what is either essential, or highly important, in the interpreter himself; as, first, a knowledge of the languages in which the Bible was originally written. Any one who reads a work in a translation, reads it through a glass darkly. The words and phrases of no two languages exactly correspond; and the indescribable shades of meaning, which words derive from peculiar combinations, it is impossible a version should retain. Without dwelling on this subject, it is sufficient to appeal to the experience of every one acquainted with any two languages whatever. How would the ancient classics be estimated, if judged by a literal translation? He should also be acquainted with the character and history of the several sacred writers, with the state of opinion in the age in which they lived. This is of peculiar importance in regard to the New Testament, and includes a knowledge of the sects and opinions of the Jews, of the early Christian doctrines, and of the early heresies. He should also be acquainted with the manners and customs, the laws, character, and circumstances of the persons to whom the sacred writings were addressed, their civil history, with that of neighbouring nations, together with whatever light, geography, chronology, natural history, and philosophy, can cast on the sacred volume.

The interpreter of scripture should be discriminating and cautious; he should be humble and teachable, sensible of his need of divine teaching, and anxious to obtain it. Of all qualifications, the most important are, piety, and a firm conviction of the divine origin of the scriptures: without these we can never enter into the feelings and views of the sacred writers, nor have any proper impressions as to the design of the Bible, and therefore cannot be prepared to expound it. The first duty of an interpreter is to become acquainted with the meaning of words, the several classes into which they are naturally divided, and to become familiar with the general principles of language.

We must next attend to the common acceptation of words and phrases, and the sources of information on this subject; we should inquire into the circumstances by which the import of words and phrases is regulated in all languages; such as the opinions, laws, and customs of the people, the peculiar circumstances of this nature, which have influenced the language and modes of expression characteristic of the Bible. Especially we should attend to the peculiar phraseology of the New Testament, the sources whence it has been

derived, as the Hebrew origin of the sacred writers, their familiarity with the Septuagint, the influence of their religious sects, and their intercourse with neighbouring nations. We should study the means by which the language of the New Testament is to be illustrated; such as, the writings of co-temporary authors, the phraseology of the Old Testament, both in the Greek and Hebrew, and the general character of the eastern idiom.

Having considered these subjects, and fixed in our minds the general principles of interpretation, whether applicable to all writings, or peculiar to the sacred volume, we must attend to the interpretation of figurative language, the connexion between the literal and figurative meaning of words, the circumstances in which the latter is to be resorted to, &c. This will lead to the consideration of the principal figures of speech, such as metaphor and allegory, and espe→ cially the parables of our Saviour, which have been as often perverted as any part of the sacred volume. It is therefore necessary that we should have distinctly before us the rules by which these figures are to be explained.

These are only preliminary subjects, which lead to the more extensive principles of interpretation, applicable to whole departments of the word of God, as the rules for historical, doctrinal, typical, and prophetical interpreta tion. The two latter are peculiarly important. We should fix in our minds the precise definition of a type; learn what persons, institutions, and circumstances of the Old Testa ment are to be considered as typical; determine whether we are to confine this character to the particular instances specified in the New Testament, or are at liberty to extend it, and how far. With regard to prophecy, it is unneces sary to say that it will require much laborious study, including two of the most difficult subjects connected with this whole department, viz.-the doctrine of double sense, and the modes of quotation adopted by the sacred writers of the New Testament. And, finally, we must consider the systems of interpretation to which the whole Bible has been made to submit, as the cabbalistic; the allegorical; the mystical, which either deserts entirely the grammatical sense, or exalts some inward feeling above the word; the dogmatical, which makes any system of doctrine an authoritative rule of interpretation; as the Roman church, the system which they believe to have been handed down in their traditions; and the philosophical, which makes our preconceived opinions the rule of faith; which includes

the consideration of the proper office of reason in the interpretation of scripture. The history and claims of these several systems, and their respective influence on the church, open to us as instructive a field of investigation, as any which ecclesiastical history affords.

We may conclude the general outline of this department, by stating the most important and interesting of the duties it enjoins, viz. the immediate study of the word of God. With this we are to be occupied from the commencement to the close of our course. The object of Biblical Literature, is to enable us to do this with the best advantage. Not contented with prescribing rules of interpretation, and furnishing the various means for the illustration of the Bible, it is a great part of her duty to oversee our actual application of them. It is, therefore, to the delightful employment of studying the scriptures that she invites us.

I have not forgotten, that the professed object of this Dissertation is to exhibit the importance of Biblical Literature. But I feel that I have already nearly completed the task assigned me, by shewing, as far as my knowledge of the subject would permit, what Biblical Literature is; because I conceive the feeblest statement of its nature is demonstrative of its importance. The importance of a course of study, whose object is to fix with certainty the sacred text, and exhibit the evidence that the Bible we now have, is the Bible which God delivered to his church; to assist us in discovering and exhibiting its meaning, by prescribing the principles by which it is to be explained, and bringing within our reach the various means of illustration; and, above all, which leads us so much to the immediate study of the word itself:-the importance of such a course, is surely a subject on which diversity of opinion is impossible. It is my intention, therefore, on a future occasion, to make some remarks, intended to impress on our minds the necessity of paying particular attention to this subject, the importance of which we must all admit.

[The above essay, with that which we hope soon to give in continuation of it, was delivered to a society, formed in the theological seminary in which its author is a tutor, for improvement in Biblical Literature, by dissertations on important subjects connected with it, and translations and expositions of sacred scripture, performed by the members in alphabetical order: a plan well worthy of imitation in our own country.-EDIT.]

189

REVIEW.

1. Characteristics, in the Manner of Rochefoucault's Maxims. F'cap. 8vo. pp. 156. London, 1823. Simpkin and

Marshall.

2. Outlines of Character: consisting of, the Great Character-the English Character-Characteristic Classes in Relation to Happiness-the Gentleman-External Indications of Character Craniology-the Poet-the Orator-Literary Characters-the Periodical Critic-the Man of Genius. By a Member of the Philomathic Institution. Svo. pp. 320. London, 1823. Longman.

"IT is not easy to write Essays like Montaigne, nor Maxims in the manner of the Duke de la Rochefoucault;" so runs the three hundred and seventy-eighth of the four hundred and twenty-four Characteristics in this volume; but it is strangely misplaced towards the close of the book, when it should have stood at the head, as a text, upon which we have a hundred and fifty pages of practical comment. Save, indeed, in a few particulars, better honoured in the breach than in the observance, nothing can conveniently be less "in the manner of Rochefoucault's Maxims," than these professed imitations of them. Of the style, and, as far as execution is concerned, the spirit of those celebrated productions, we have ever been as ardent admirers as the author before us can be, though despairing of seeing them equalled in their beauties, whilst their defects were avoided. To this rare excellence, he, however, ambitiously aspires, though confessedly aware of the difficulties of so bold a flight. "A thought," says he in his preface, " must tell at once, or not at all;" and he observes with as accurate a taste, that in the construction of maxims, whilst "the style must be sententious and epigrammatic, it is equally necessary to avoid paradox or common-place." By these canons of criticism he cannot object to be tried, for they are his own; yet strangely do we deceive ourselves, if, ere we have done with him, he is not most satisfactorily proved to have violated both. "Commencer par le commencement," then, we can say little, either for the elegant or the epigrammatic turn of such expressions, as "want of confidence in themselves, which is upset and kicks the beam, if the smallest particle of praise is thrown into another's scale;" nor does the following singular rope of metaphors, which