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it appear in the elder M ichaelis * tract ** De varii& Novi Testanaeo ^ &i lectioniib ^ s y * how scanty are its materials and resources as ife is Exhibited in the first edition of the c * Introduction to the New
Testament ^ ^ Bul it is unfair to revert to what this work was . It is what it professes to be , an Introduction to the study of the New Testament , indispensable to every
theological Scholar ; a complete repertory of critical erudition * Whatever has been done by Michaelis qr his contemporaries in this department , is here stated ^ and the minutest hypotheses are
examined , with a constant reference to their original sources , so that they become his own where he adopts \ hem as much as if they had been originally
suggested by himself . We read , in it the history pf bis <> wn opinions , of his dqubts * his conjectures , his difficulties and bis errors * This
jpay somelunes be tedious to a general rea « Jer > hut nothing can he more instructive to those who -wish to know , not only what truth isj but h < w it is to be attained . Even- where the opinions in which he rests are those which
sounjd criticism cannot approve , such as his belief , in A Hebrew original of the episrte to the Hebrews , his observations abound in useful suggest ions , There is no doubt that tbe work might now be made more ; concise than it is-« and at the same time more full of
. information ; btjt it wquW becoine , by tUfe Miange less fruitful in ma . . terials to excite the reader ' s mind to original speculations . * * ' Ratiqnai interpretation of the Scriptures was less ^ known in GerwanjV whect lS | Jiciia | lis h $ g $ ii his
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career ^ than it had been 2 Q 0 years before . At the Re form a . tion all the means of . attaining the sense of scripture ^ a ^ re vigorously employed ^ ? t consequence of the enthusiasm with which the
study of the ancient classics had T > eqn pursued for a ^ century be , forc # Bqt the interpreter was soon changed foiv the polemic ^ and then began that nigfctt of barbarism which env ^ I ^ ped § very
part of thefplogy , and lasted till within fifty years of the present time ( 17 , 92 ) . Gflptitts alone , educated in J ^ ilia ^ . ty :. wi | i | . ^ he Greek and Roman classics , endeavoured to recal theolo .
& In the mean time the sttyfjy of the ancient languages revi Vedy ^ nd oriental literature ; , fixed itssl £ at Halle , but it had no effect on the interpolation of the Bible , A ^ iat should have beeii the means ivas
regarded as the ei ^ d 5 languages wer ^ learnt for tfee % own . sake , and scholars confined themselves to etymology and . grai ^ mar . To enter into the peculiarities of an
ancient language , to perceive the scope of an author and the connection of his ideas , to develope these ideas with , a prpp ^ r reference to tjie intelj ^ fctiii ^ l character and
manners of the period when he wrote— all this ; jiever entered into their thoughts . And \ those who taught the * < Jpctrin $$ o £ , religion ton tented themselves Mrith expounding tiiejr Protests VuU gate ^ the trai ^ J atip fls ojf jQuther . 0 ^
. u At length ^^ g ' gs of deeism jp England cojnpelkd : $ b& divines of \\ xqx country tQ se
