A COURSE OF LECTURES, CONTAINING A DESCRIPTION AND SYSTEMATIC ARRANGEMENT OF THE SEVERAL BRANCHES OF DIVINITY: ACCOMPANIED WITH AN ACCOUNT BOTH OF THE PRINCIPAL AUTHORS, IN Theological Learning. BY HERBERT MARSH, D.D. F.R.S. MARGARET PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY. PART III. On the Interpretation of the Bible. ?TUO CAMBRIDGE: Printed by J. Smith, Printer to the University; AND SOLD BY J. DEIGHTON AND SONS, NICHOLSON, AND BARRETT ADVERTISEMENT. IN presenting to the Public the Six following Lectures, which have been lately delivered before the University of Cambridge, in continuation of Part I. and Part II. already published, it is necessary to explain what is here meant by the term Part, lest it should be supposed synonymous with the term Branch of Theology, as used in these Lectures. The term Part is here applied in the sense only of Fasciculus, or portion of Lectures given and published at the same period. But the Branches of Theology, as described in the second Lecture, being of very unequal extent, will occupy, some more, others less, than one Part or Fasciculus. Thus the Criticism of the Bible, which is a very extensive Branch, was continued to the end of Part II. And the Interpretation of the Bible, which is a still more extensive Branch, not only occupies Part III., but will be continued at least to the end of Part IV. Cambridge, 10 June, 1813. CONTENTS. Of the relation, which the Interpretation of the Bible bears to the Criticism of the Bible.-Difficulty of Of Words, considered as signs to the reader of what was thought by the writer.- Degrees of difficulty attending the discovery of the notion affixed to any word by the writer.- Sources of intelligence, in respect to the words of the Hebrew Bible, and the Greek Testament.-Of our authorised version; and Rules for the interpretation of Words.-Consequences of neglecting them in the interpretation of the Bible. -The Interpreter, who explains the Bible by the aid of reason and learning, compared with the Interpreter, who aspires to the possession of higher means.-Im- portant practical difference between the terms " does not err," and "cannot err."-Further remarks on words literally, when they are used figuratively.- Relation of Allegory to Metaphor.- Metaphorical interpretation an interpretation of words.- Alle- gorical interpretation, an interpretation, not of words, but of the things signified by the words. -Origin of allegorical interpretation among the Page Adoption and injudicious use of it by the Greek Fathers. Abuse of it by unbelievers.—The sense of Scripture rendered by it arbitrary and ambiguous.—Allegorical or spiritual interpretation substituted for grammatical interpretation in the twelfth century by the Mystics of the Church of Rome, who have been followed in modern times.—Typical interpretation warranted by the sacred writers.-Definition of a Type; and the consequences of neglecting it.-Types and antitypes LECTURE XIII. THE Criticism of the Bible having been finished in the last Lecture, we now enter on the Interpretation of the Bible, which is the next branch of Theology according to the system explained in the second Lecture. The nature of this system, with the connexion of its several parts, has been already so minutely detailed, that another description of it cannot now be wanted. For, though a knowledge of the preceding Lectures is necessary to a right understanding of what will follow, yet even they, who were not present at the delivery of them, may obtain the required information, as the preceding Lectures are all in print. But, as Criticism and Interpretation are not unfrequently confounded, it may not be unnecessary, before we enter on the latter, to explain once more its relation to the former. They are so closely connected, that no man can be a good Interpreter of the Bible, who is not previously B |