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$ e € tef methodof * interpreting the Bibfe , Tbeir penetration suppli - ed $ teir want of learning , and wheh they had discovered the meaning of the particular words and the sense of the whole by
accurately observing the connection , they clothed the result in a copious paraphrase . Michaelis Jearnt this method in England , and made it popular in Germany , by his translations <* f Benson and
Peifce , and his own paraph rase of fbe lesser epistles of Paul . He was himself the first to perceive its defects and to substitute for it the 1 ffrethod of literal translation with notes . From him the ? Ger *
mans learnt once more to expound the scriptures for themselves , and to folldw up the grammatical interpretation of the text , by an examination of its mearjingy
aided by anthe light that cGuIcl be derived from a knowledge of the history anrtiquities ^ customs , <> piiiioias , antt ixiode ^ of thinking peculiar td the | xerfods at which the tKffererit books were written .
With Regard to the © M Testament he accomplished this revolution alotte : Ern ^ stS cooperated with him in his labours on the New
Testament /* •¦> In teaching the doctrines of Christianity , Michaelis conformed ' himself to the confession of the Lttthea ^ an church , < ' iri spirit at least , if hot in letter . The reader
aiay perhaps wonder , that he who learnt his theology from JBerl-* on ami > Peifrce , should hot have embraced their opinions as well as c ^ ojpted thei f manner . The
character of Michaelis , however , forbids th £ suspicion of dissimulatioii ; not i $ it at all wonderful that his views were lfesS extended thaai those of oihers , who were
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educated amidst all thai kndw « l £ < ijg& which it qost hiqi such 1 S .-boUr to acquire and to ditfiise . We believe him to have beeri sin * cerely orthodox . In the early patt of his career , he was viewed with suspicion and treated with harshness by the patrons of the established faith , who were doubtful where hisimprovemehts would terminate . Btit towards the
close of his life he was regarded as the bulwark of orthodoxy against these whom his own lectures and writings had disciplined and armed for its attack . Nor
was he less earnest to bheck the growth of Infidelity , thdti tlM of heresy ; hi £ name is joined with those of Sitnler atid Dotferlein in the list of answers to the be * lebratetl Wolfetibuttei Fragments . While he lamented the errors arid
extravagancies into winch his countrymen fell ^ he was far from wish * ing to abridge that freedom of dis-CHSsion in which they originated . H ^ spoke warmly against them in
his writings ^ but never indulged himself in personal reflections against their authors , and protested against all restrictions on the liberty of controverting the doc - trines df the church . .
The vivacity which Michaelis joined to his extensive knowledge made him a very popular and interesting leeitirer ; He did not
read , but spoke from copious notesj and with a degree of eher . £ y and enthusiasm which commu - nicated interest to the driest
subjects . In thisrespect he seems more to have resembled tht late W 6 fess 6 r Millar , 61 Glasgow , * than any other persoii whose
mah-* ^ See his life by Mr . Cr * igt prefixed t # the poithumoua edition oihh Origis t > f RaKOki * i
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Sketch of the Life of MhhaeUs . ft
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1811, page 69, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2413/page/5/
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