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    great authority attached to a work , leading every one to seek in it a confirmation of his own opinions ; or its having been received as an authority in dark and ignorant times , when it could not be rightly understood and false explanations were put upon it , which are afterwards long supported by prejudice ; dr * its being commonly consulted as an authority , and that in an inaccurate translation ) by numbers who have never been taught to

    understand , much less are qualified to apply the true principles of interpretation : but all these causes are temporary . To patient study and impartial criticism the difficulty must yield , and all classes of society are becoming daily better prepared , by the diffusion of knowledge and mental cultivation , to receive and rightly to estimate any increased light which may be afforded them .

    There is nothing , then , extravagant or visionary in the hope , that the true sense of the Bible , or at least of all important parts of it , may in time be so established as to be generally received , and that the blessed religion it teaches may thus be restored to its primitive purity : but this g lorious result is to be anticipated chiefly from the general application by all parties of strict and reasonable principles of interpretation , such as are allowed to be proper for all other ancient books , to the sacred volume . Every instance of the concurrence in such principles of individuals professing opposite opinions , is a

    sure pledge of their approach to a common sentiment , however this approach may be retarded by prejudices incident to human frailty . The discussion between them is now only concerning the application to particular cases of certain acknowledged rules , in which application one of them at least must be wrong , and their remarks can hardly fail to lead towards a conclusive decision ; whilst so long as their principles of interpretation are altogether different , their confident quotation of texts against each other is worse than a waste of time—it is a means of awakening only bad passions .

    From these remarks it will sufficiently appear how high is our estimate of the value of philological and exegetical annnotations on Scripture , and how well we are disposed to appreciate the exertions in this department of all sober and judicious commentators , to whatever doetrinal system they may be personally attached . Excepting only the sacred text , with the concordances and lexicons necessary for our own examination of its words , the works of scholiasts and commentators form the most essential part of a theological library , and should be the daily and nightly study of all those who undertake to expound to others the doctrines and precepts of the gospel .

    In the book of which we propose now to give some account to our readers , Mr . Bloomfield endeavours to save the labour of the theological student , and to render many large and expensive works less immediately necessary by " a critical digest and synoptical arrangement of the most important annotations on the New Testament , exegetical , philological and doctrinal , collected and condensed from the best commentators , ancient and modern ; " besides which he has added his own collections during a long course of study .

    " It was proposed , " he tells us , " that , within a moderate compass and in a convenient form , he should endeavour to bring together the ' disjecta membra exegeseos , the most important materials for the right interpretation of Scripture , hitherto dispersed amidst numerous bulky and expensive volumes , carefully digesting , condensing , simplifying and moulding those heterogeneous

    materials , including' his own original notes , into one connected and consistent body of erudite ana accurate annotation , and at the same time , intermixing with the whole a series of critical remarks , which might serve to guide the Jud gment of the student or junior minister amidst the contrarieties of jarring interpretations - and , finally , in order to more effectually adapt the work to

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    Si Review s ~ Bloomfield& Recensio Synoptica Annotations 8 acr < £ ~

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1827, page 54, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1792/page/54/