fully understand their writings. We may, indeed, without this knowledge, understand much of what they have written; still, much will also be wholly obscure, and much will be incorrectly apprehended; and much, that is truly valuable and impressive, will escape our notice. Hence the necessity and the value of Notes, furnishing information respecting the geography and history of the countries mentioned in the Scriptures, and pointing out allusions to manners and customs differing from our own. These remarks apply to any ancient book, or to any book written in a foreign country, as well as to the Bible.

"The fact, that our English Scriptures are a translation renders Notes, in some form and to some extent, always requisite. It would be contrary to the universally acknowledged imperfection of human beings, to expect that any translation could be a perfect representation of the original. Different degrees of acquaintance with languages and with general science, different degrees of experience and of skill in translating, of freedom from improper bias, and of other qualities, will, of course, lead to different results, in various passages of a translation, on the part of those who perform it. This is no less true of ordinary works than of the holy Scriptures.

"Our English translation possesses many acknowledged excellences, and is worthy still to continue a light to our feet and a lamp to our path. Yet, in various parts, it needs elucidation. This arises both from some of the principles which regulated the translators, and from the changes which, since their day, have come upon the meaning of some English words, and from the circumstance, that some other words have become obsolete. The great attention, too, which has been paid to manuscripts and editions of the Greek Testament, since our translation was made, confers a great advantage on a student of the present age.

"In the Scriptures, there is a great variety of composition. To say nothing of poetry and prose, there is narration of facts, there is statement of moral precepts, there are trains of argument, there are discourses and conversations. Now, while in historical narrations, there is seldom any difficulty in perceiving the connection of one part with another, the case is very different in a course of reasoning or conversation. Careful study is often necessary, to discover the precise point to which the argument or conversation is directed, and to perceive the transition from one connected thought to another, as well as references to facts and opinions, that were at the time well known, but which may not now be familiar to the mass of readers. The aid of a judicious commentary is here important. And if, in reading the Scriptures, more aid of this sort is required than in reading some other books, one reason consists in the fact, that, on account of our habitual reading of the Scriptures from childhood, and on account of the nature of the subjects presented in the Scriptures, we are too prone to read without reflection, and to pass over difficulties without noticing them."

To make the Bible as useful as possible to the private reader, notes and commentaries are very important. These

have been furnished, in great abundance, by different writers. The greatest lights of the church, from the times of Origen, Chrysostom and Augustine, down to our own, have written commentaries on the sacred text. A collection of all the books, which have purported to explain and elucidate the Bible, would form a large library. Among these books, there are, as might be expected, many which darken counsel by words without knowledge, and many more, in which valuable hints are mingled with dangerous errors and futile speculations. Others are suited to the wants of scholars only. Of those which have been designed for general use, the greater part have been so voluminous as to make them too expensive and unwieldy. The commentaries of Henry, Gill, Scott, Clarke, and many others, fill a number of volumes. They consist partly of explanations, but mainly of pious reflections. They are a series of homilies on each chapter and verse, useful, no doubt, so far as they are correct in doctrine and evangelical in spirit; but not much adapted, it is feared, to promote the study of the word of God itself. A reader of one of these "preaching commentaries" is apt to leave the little rill of holy text for the broad stream of interpretation; and is more likely to adopt the opinion of the human author, than to form a judgment for himself from the words of the inspired writer.

These voluminous commentaries are, we suspect, of very limited utility. They are too expensive to be purchased by the poor, the class who have access to the fewest means of instruction; they are too large to be consulted with ease, and they often overburden with explanation passages which are clear. They supersede the necessity of thought, on the part of the reader. They exempt him from the labor of employing his own faculties, in examining the sacred text. They repeal, in reference to the Scriptures, the condition on which God has bestowed all his gifts. Nothing valuable can be obtained without patient toil; and though the labors of others may greatly aid us, we cannot grow wise, in human or divine knowledge, without a vigorous and persevering exertion of our own minds.

If, then, commentaries tend to nourish the indolence of the reader, they are injurious, even if they do not misinterpret the word of God. If they teach the truth, it is diluted and enfeebled. The comment generally resembles the vapid “inter

pretatio," which, in many editions of the classic authors, runs by the side of the original text, like a dull canal along the banks of a beautiful river. It may be feared, that many readers are content to read the comment and neglect the text, just as many school-boys are satisfied with construing the interpretatio, without gaining the slightest idea of the grace and harmony of the author whom they profess to study.

What, we may inquire, is the kind of help which is really desirable, in reading the Scriptures? That, we reply, which shall place the modern reader in the same position as those for whom they were first written. To them, the metaphors, the allusions, the peculiar idioms, employed, were familiar, and they found no difficulty in understanding the meaning of the writers, except that which sprung from the nature of the subject. A faithful translation, and brief notes, explaining the metaphors, allusions and peculiar idioms, will place the reader now in the same position. He can understand the sacred writer, just as those who were his contemporaries understood him. He can receive, as well as they, the full benefit which the Scriptures were meant to impart. He needs, like them, the illuminations of the Spirit, and the manifold aids which flow from the ministry of the gospel; but all which the simple text could do for them, it can do for him, if studied with an attentive and devout mind.

Where a passage, then, is clear, it is worse than useless to attempt to explain it. Why not let God himself speak? If a passage is made obscure to a modern reader, by idiomatic phrases, by references to former events, or places, or customs, let these be explained in brief notes. It may be well, occasionally, to point out the connection of an argument, and a hint or two may now and then be suggested, to guide the reader's own mind to a proper train of reflections. This, it appears to us, is about all that can be usefully done in a commentary on the Scriptures. If a man wishes for sermons and pious meditations, let him seek them elsewhere; but we would not have his attention, while professing to read the word of God, diverted to the opinions and glosses of men. Let us not hang up, beside the glorious luminary, the dim tapers of human wisdom.*

We may add, that we doubt the expediency of introducing plates into Bibles, for common use and for the pulpit. They divert attention from the

Professor Ripley has given us a specimen of the right kind of commentary. It is on the same general plan as Mr. Barnes's Notes, a book which has been very widely circulated, and which displays much ability. Professor Ripley's Notes are more strictly explanatory than those of Mr. Barnes; they occupy a smaller space; the style, though less pointed and vivacious, exhibits more sobriety; the principles of interpretation are more cautiously applied; and the explanations, particularly on the subject of baptism, are more correct.

The volume before us contains Notes on the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. After the Preface, in which the object of the book is modestly described, there are a few pages of "Introductory Explanations," respecting the meaning of the word gospel, the civil condition of the Jews in the time of Christ, and the meaning of the terms, Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, Lawyers, Doctors of the Law, and Publicans. Each Gospel has a brief Preface, containing some information respecting the writer, and the time and circumstances in which he wrote. The text of the common version is then printed at the top of the page, in double columns, and at the bottom are brief notes on such passages as need explanation to a mere English reader. There is no parade of learning. There is not a Greek or Hebrew letter in the book. We have here the results of long and careful study, with no exhibition of the process by which those results were reached. The author has given the opinion which he has himself formed, without perplexing the reader with the opinions of others. The reader may not agree with the author on every point; but he will find no dogmatical assertions, no tinge of polemic feelings. At the close of chapters, or sections, are a few very brief hints, which are sufficient to suggest a profitable train of reflections to the reader's own mind.

We marked several passages, which we meant to quote; but we are, reluctantly, forced to omit them.

To teachers of Sabbath schools, to the members of Bible classes, and to heads of families, this book will be a welcome

holy text; they expose the book to be defaced if not ruined by children; and they are often incorrect and absurd. As Baptists, we have much reason to complain. In almost all the plates in Bibles relating to the rite of baptism, it is misrepresented. The painters and engravers have become so accustomed to error on this point, that, in some cases, where there is a disposition to do right, habit leads men wrong. Our objections do not apply to good maps.

and valuable assistant. It is well adapted to foster a taste for studying the word of God, and to guide its readers to just views and right feelings.

The volume is well printed, and is adorned by a small but beautiful colored map of Palestine. We hope, that the author will be able to publish, without much delay, the Notes on the two remaining Gospels, and to proceed, ultimately, through the Epistles. We hope to see, at no very distant day, Notes on the Old Testament, also, on the same general plan.

EDITOR.

ARTICLE IX.

LITERARY NOTICES.

1. Letters on the Sabbatic Institution. By WILLIAM PARKINSON, A.M., Pastor of the First Baptist Church, City of New York. 8vo. pp. 128. 1836.

THESE Letters were addressed to the Rev. William B. Maxson, pastor of the Sabbatarian Baptist Church, Piscataway, New-Jersey. They are written with much ability and learning, and in a kind, courteous tone. The main position, taken by Mr. Parkinson, is, as we believe, the true one, that God, from the beginning, sanctified, or set apart, for religious purposes, the seventh day; that this day was observed, by pious men, till the Mosaic law was given; that the observance of the Sabbath was then enforced by an additional motive, the emancipation of the Jews from Egyptian bondage; that the Sabbath was thus kept till after the Saviour's ascension, and that the apostles, acting by divine inspiration, observed the first day of the week as the Christian Sabbath, in commemoration of the Saviour's resurrection. Mr. Parkinson accordingly argues, that the original appointment of a day of sacred rest remains in force, and that inspired men having set us the example of observing the first day of the week as the Sabbath, under the Christian dispensation, it is now a moral duty to observe that day. He makes some judicious remarks on the proper method of spending the day; and he maintains the sound Baptist doctrine, that while the civil government ought