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    general use , clothing the foreign matter in a vernacular dress , and expressing the sense in simple and perspicuous phraseology . "—Pref . p . ix . Of the great utility and importance of such a work , if well executed , there cannot , we think , be two opinions ; though we are far from agreeing with the author in accounting it " one of the most important advantages * ' likely to arise from it , " that it would render it no longer necessary for English students to have recourse to certain foreign works , however learned , of very questionable orthodoxy , and thereby obtaining the aids , valuable as they are , of exegetical and philological knowledge at too dear a rate , by the sacrifice , or at least depravation , of sound principle in doctrinal theology . " There is no commentator , not Mr . B . more than others , to whom a student can trust implicitly ; he must obtain all the assistance he can , and then exercise his own judgment modestly aud cautiously , but firmly and independently . He need never fear to see the statement or defence of erroneous opinions ,

    since their examination is the only proof he can have of their being erroneous . If sacred truth be the object o £ his pursuit , he must allow no set of doctrines , under the imposing name of Orthodoxy , to be placed out of the reach of inquiry , and made a standard for trying the merit of those who offer him the aids of acknowledged learning and sagacity . Timidity is an accompaniment of weakness , and we have little opinion of the soundness of the principles which must be sacrificed , or at least depraved ^ by being brought into comparison with those of others .

    Much more judiciously our author expresses a hope , that his work " may materially tend to remove the prejudices of Unbelievers , by shewing them that the New Testament is capable of a most rational and consistent interpretation . " This is an effect which we may confidently anticipate from all contributions towards fixing the true sense of the Sacred Writings , and thus displaying the real character of the Revelation which is contained in them . Mr . B . has expressed another hope , in which , we think , we may undertake

    to assure him that he will not be disappointed . He will " induce many of his fellow-christians , professing" ( what he calls ) ** Socinian tenets , to reconsider the grounds on which the opinions they so confidently promulgate are really founded . " They will examine his arguments , we hope we may promise , attentively and candidly ; they will , many of them we trust , profit by his labours , but whether with the result as to doctrinal points , which he

    expects , we hold to be more than doubtful . We shall now proceed to shew how far our author , in executing his meritorious plan , has correctl y estimated the value of the sources to which he has applied himself , and with what learning , diligence and impartiality he has performed the task of selection .

    The kind of interpretation he has aimed at forming , and which he conceives " must be the only certain means of attaining the true sense of Scripture , " he describes in the words of Dr . Tittman , as being •* that which is founded on a correct and accurate knowledge of the Hebrew , Greek and Latin languages , and on grammatical and rhetorical rules , and other aids

    commonly employed in the explanation of the classical authors . " We need add nothing to what we have already said of the importance of this method . That it is the only just or satisfactory one , few among the learned will question : it is to be lamented that , among the public expounders of Scripture , there are so few who yet pay much regard to it . We are informed , " That one peculiar feature of the work is , that the interpretations of the

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    Review . S *—bloomfieUVs Recensto ynoptica Annotations Sacra . 55

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1827, page 55, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1792/page/55/