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    languages . Lang ^' s " CEconomia Salutis" was the oracle and standard in theology ; and to deny its merit was almost as dangerous as to question its doctrines .

    We cannot wonder , therefore , if ths University of Halle did little to excite the energy of Michaelis ' mind , to enlarge or form it . It was here , however , that he made those orienial acquirements , which were the foundation of his future

    fame . He had learnt Hebrew fcefore he entered the University , and he studied under his father , Syriac , Arabic , iEthiopic and Rabbinical Hebrew . He read

    Homer ^ nd Herodian ( i ) With Schulz , and , to perfect himself in Latin , undertook to teach one of the classes in the Orphan-house gratuitously . The study which he pursued with the greatest delight was history , which continued to be his favourite to the end of his

    life , which he studied philosophically , and of his accurate acquaintance with which traces may be perceived in his Introduction to the New Testament .

    Theology J * e learnt from his former master in philosophy , Baumgarten , in whose school several of the most eminent theologians in Germany were

    afterwards formed . But Michaelis , disgusted with his systematic way of teaching , paid little attention to his lectures , and never took notes of them . He could

    » ot but perceive the futility of the proofs which were alleged for many of the doctrines attributed 16 Christianity , and observes , that had he not learnt in England a

    better method of interpreting the Bible , and defending orthodoxy , he should probably have become an unbeliever , or a hereti ^ a *

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    many of Baumgarten ' s scholars afterwards did . If it were true that he cared little for religion when at the Orphan-house , h& must have undergone a great change at the University , for we find him oppressed by religious scruples , which affected his health .

    The Lutherans ^ in their-explanatjon of the Lord ' s Supper , contend strongly against the Calvinists for the literal sense of scripture . Michaelis thought that if one passage of scripture must be taken literally , in spite of all the reasons for a figurative interpretation , the same method must be followed

    with all , and he was distressed by the rigid morality which some passages of the gospel , thus interpreted , appeared to teach . He remained at the University

    till 1740 , wearied of its occupations , but without any serious thoughts of his future employment . He earnestly wished to travel , and his father at length assented , and allowed him to visit England in the year 1741 . Before he went he published two Theses , which he defended for his degree , " De punctorum Hebraicorum antiquitate- " and " De

    Psalmo xxii . " the doctrines maintained in which he afterwards renounced . In his way to this country he passed through Holland , where he remained some time , hearing the lectures of the celebrated

    Schultensm , He staid 12 months in England , of which he spent a great part at Oxford , wh <; re he had free access to the Bodleian library , and examined many of the

    MSS . especially of the Old Tesla . ment , which are preserved there . Jt was then the opinion of learned men , both in Germany and Kng-

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    Skttch of the Life of Michaelis * 3

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1811, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2412/page/3/