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    ancient fathers and early Greek commentators ; ( as Theophylaet , Theodoret , Euthymius , ( Ecumenius and Aretas >) together with the Scholiasts and Glossographers , have formed the basis of the exegetical and doctrinal matter , "Pref . p . xi . We do not know that Mr . B . has extracted much more from the fathers than his readers may be pleased to see , or has in his general practice attributed to them any undue authority , but we cannot help thinking that he here exaggerates their importance . They preserve some interesting traditions and

    valuable explanations , and their familiarity with the Greek as a living language , sometimes renders them useful guides . But the just principles of interpretation had not in their times been at all considered ; they were as apt as the moderns to misunderstand Jewish phraseology , and to apply in a general sense , or to their own controversies , what really referred to the peculiar circumstances of the first disciples : and there are very few of them who did not indulge , in a greater or less degree , that disposition to allegorize and spiritualize , which was so early introduced into the church , by those who

    had been educated in the schools of a mystical philosophy , and which is the bane of all rational and solid interpretation . In short , whilst the cautious use of their writings is much to be commended , their authority is not to be very highly estimated , and their explanations must be frequently rejected as altogether undeserving of serious consideration . After the manner in which the use made of them is announced , the reader may possibly be surprised to find , for how small a portion of the annotations he is indebted to the fathers , and of that portion some might have been as well spared .

    When our author proceeds to enumerate the modern critics and commentators from whom he has sought assistance , we have only to express our entire satisfaction , and our conviction that a work which condenses and amalgamates the labours of such men cannot fail of rendering an essential service to the cause of correct and rational Scripture interpretation . We have not space for many particulars : of Wetstein he has made very extensive use ; next to him , he has drawn most copiously from Rosenmuller and Kuinoel , but very largely also from many others in the long catalogue of illustrious

    names which he sets before us . To illustrations of the language of the New Testament , from the classical writers , he has given a large share of his attention , and to this department belongs much of the original matter he has furnished . He has applied himself to the best sources for Rabbinical illustration , but we cannot help wishing that he had used them more freely , as their value is often very great . We will offer a few additions to his annotations on a small portion of the Gospel of Matthew , taken at random , in order to shew how much he has left , which is at least as apposite and

    interesting as many of his classical extracts . Matt . iii . 16 , Ao-eI irepi ^ eodv . In favour of the explanation which refers the similitude to the manner of descent , seem to be the words of Rabbi Ephraim , in Ir . Gilborim , on Gen . i . 2 : DDmO , incubuit sicut columba quae volitat super nido , illam altingens et non attingens . Schoettgen .

    Ch . iv . 19 , A £ t 7 tc oiricra fxov . Mr . B . has given a classical example of " follow me , " for , " be my disciple . " Take as a Rabbinical one ' Erubin , fol . 30 , 1 : Dixit Rabba nepos Channa ; quum ego sequerer Rabbi Jobannem , i . e . quum discipulus ejus essem . Schoettgen . Ch . v . 18 , plot KEpaia—one of those little points or touches of the pen , by which letters nearly resembling one another are distinguished , as 3 and D ,

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    56 Revim . —Bloomfteld ' s Recensio Synoptica Annotations Sacra .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1827, page 56, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1792/page/56/