Gift

Tappan Presb. Ass

3-28-1932

PREFACE.

THE

HE gratitude which men feel for favours which they have received, whether from their fellow-creatures, or the Father of mercies, must be according to the value of the kindnesses done to them, or the view which they have of them. The favours may possibly be great; but not being justly appreciated, there must be a defect in gratitude. Hence it becomes high ly necessary for men to observe the blessings which they receive; to view them in every light, and in all their relations, in order that they may possess and retain a grateful spirit through life, and evidence to God and men that they are not to be ranked among the unthankful.

Next to the gift of Jesus Christ, and the sacred influence of the Holy Spirit, the Word of Truth may be justly considered as God's greatest blessing to mankind. It is intended to make them wise unto salvation; to be a lamp unto their feet, and a light unto their paths: to display the glory of the DIVINE PERFECTIONS, and how they harmonize in the redemption of lost sinners; to show them the infinitely rich provision which is made for their eternal happiness, and what is required of them in or der to please God on earth, and be completely happy with him for ever. Is a traveller, in a strange country, when surrounded with midnight darkness, and in the most imminent danger of a violent death from beasts of prey, or of perishing of cold and hunger, thankful to a person who will direct him through a delightful path, to a full table, and a sure refuge?-How thankful then should men be for the blessed Word of God, which shows them how to escape the bitter pains of eternal death, and points out the way that leads to everlasting life! Would an unhappy convict, who is dreading the day of execution, rejoice to hear of a lawful way of his escaping from prison and condemnation ?-How should guilty sinners rejoice to hear, that God can be just, and yet the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus! The law of nature, so called, cannot discover to us any true system of morality, altogether perfect in its rules, its means, and its motives. "It can discover no certainty," says a valuable author, "that God will pardon our sins; no proper atonement; no happy soul, praising God for his par doning mercy; it cannot support us under heavy and bitter afflictions, by showing us God's fatherly care of us, his promises to us, or making all things to work together for our good; nor can it comfort us against death, by certain views of his love to us, and providing everlasting life and happiness for us." But the Holy Scriptures not only contain a perfect system of morality: they also show the sinner how he may obtain forgiveness of his sins, and the sanctification of his nature; and hold forth the object of

Christian hope with clearness and certainty, assuring the genuine followers of Christ, that, if faithful until death, they shall receive the crown of life. Hence thousands of persons who are favoured with, and cordially embrace, the gospel of Christ, are happy partakers of that peace which passeth all understanding, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God: while millions of those who have not the word of God, are utterly at a loss to discover any certain method of obtaining the forgiveness of their sins, and a future state of happiness beyond the grave. Some of those unhappy creatures ignorantly offer the fruit of their bodies for the sin of their souls; while myriads more have a foolish, groundless hope, that the water of a certain river will wash away all their guilt.

A proper consideration of these things, by such as are favoured with gospel light, would excite in their hearts unfeigned gratitude to God, for his providential goodness in teaching the art of printing, and in disposing the hearts of truly pious and learned men, to translate the Scriptures into their mother tongue. A still greater help is afforded: many valuable Commentaries on the Bible have been published in the English language, and some of them at a very moderate price. But still something more has been found necessary to give persons a proper view of the sacred writings. Commentators seldom enlarge on the history of nations, or the geography of places, although a knowledge of both of these is necessary to the understanding numerous passages of Scripture.

In the year 1759, a Dictionary of the Bible, to which the editor of this work is indebted for many articles, was published in three volumes octavo, in the preface to which work are the following judicious observations :

"It has been observed, that there is no form of writing so advantageously disposed to propagate the knowledge of miscellaneous subjects as that of a dictionary. If the truth of this observation be admitted, no composition whatever can, with juster pretensions, demand the perusal of every rank and condition of people, than a Dictionary of the Bible; the design whereof is to diffuse that knowledge, and to explain those subjects, with which it is the indispensable duty of every individual to be acquainted.

The method, diction, and contents, of the Bible, are very different from those of any human composition, and therefore perhaps not so easily disposed into a form of this kind. However that may be, certain it is, that few works of this sort have ever appeared in the world: for we say nothing of the Hebrew Dictionaries, or such as are purely calculated to explain that language, as it is to be met with in the original text of the Old Testament; nor of the Greek Lexicons, that are designed to answer the same purpose with respect to the New Testament. Neither is it our business to enter upon a detail of the Concordances to the Bible; a concordance being a kind of index, wherein all the words used in the Scriptures are ranged in alphabetical order, and the various places where they occur referred to; and calculated for finding out passages, and comparing the several significations of the same word.

"The matter of the inspired writings, consisting of an almost infinite variety, either the whole may be disposed into the form of a Dictionary, or some part or subject only reserved for such a design. Eusebius, bishop of Cæsarea, wrote a Geographical Dictionary of the Scriptures. This is a yery useful and reputable work, and has been translated by St. Jerome, who has considerably improved it.

"Philo the Jew, we are told by Origen, wrote a book of Hebrew names, with their etymologies and significations in opposite columns.. There is a work of this kind still extant in Greek by Origen; and St. Jerome carried the same design beyond what either of them had done.

"A Dictionary entitled Mammotreptus, or Mammotrectus, was composed by a Franciscan for the benefit of the poor clergy, who, when they read the Bible, did not understand the force and significancy of the expressions, nor had a due regard in their pronunciation to the quantity of the vowels.

“A variety of moral Dictionaries, or repertories of such scripture passages as relate to men's manners, have appeared at different times; such are Wilson's Christian Dictionary, Bernard's Thesaurus Biblicus, Knight's Axiomatical Concordance, Father Balinghem's Common Places, Lauret's Sylva Allegoriarum, and Eulard's Moral Concordances.

"Dr. Simon of Lyons wrote a Dictionary of the Bible, first printed in one volume folio, in which are comprised the histories of the most remarkable persons mentioned either in the canonical or apocryphal writings, or in those of Josephus; and also the geography as well as the natural history of Scripture; and this work was so well received in the world, that the author published a new edition of it, which he augmented with a second volume.

“Augustin Calmet, a benedictine monk, and abbot of Senones, compiled an historical, critical, geographical, and etymological Dictionary of the Bible, in two volumes folio, which he afterwards enlarged with the addition of two other volumes, first published under the title of a Supplement, but afterwards incorporated with the original work. If success in the sale of a book, and the many impressions and translations of it, may be admitted as an argument in its favour, not many books can claim more merit than this: for in a very few years after its first publication, there were several editions of it in French, and it has been translated into Latin, Dutch, English, and most of the other languages in Europe.

"Calmet, however, has a great number of historical articles, collected from Josephus and others; which, as they do not occur in the Bible, to which we confined ourselves, and consequently do not come within the compass of our scheme, we mostly rejected; as we have also done a great many terms peculiar to the Latin vulgate, which this author frequently introduced for the sake of explaining them, and clearing passages of this translation which are obscured by them. On the contrary, we have added and explained a multitude of articles, which are not to be met with in Calmet; and several of those are articles of no small importance.

"The contents of the Bible being in a great measure historical, it was necessary for our intended brevity, that the several narrations should be as succinct as was consistent with the precision and circumstantial exactness of Scripture; and not interrupted by insertions from commentators or expositors; unless where such were requisite from the occurrence of some difficulty. But the nature of a work of this kind being such, that we were obliged to give distinct accounts of the actions of such persons as have been equally concerned in the same series of events, a difficulty ensued in separating carefully whatever is peculiar to each of them, and in dwelling upon such circumstances only as belonged principally to the person we are speaking of; or in giving every one his own, and no more, in order to avoid repetitions: this would indeed be impossible, did we not frequently refer to the names of those persons principally concerned in the transactions, under which the history most naturally occurs, for some particular facts and circumstances that must otherwise have been related over again. The narratives are generally collected from the text of Scripture, from Josephus, from Simon, and Calmet's Dictionaries, and from Stackhouse and Howel's Histories of the Bible; and throughout the whole we have taken care,

where we could not so conveniently make use of the sacred text, to imitate, as near as possible, the scripture mode of expression.

"In fixing the Chronology of historical events, or reducing facts to their proper period of time, Usher's Annals have been generally followed; and only the epocha of the world's creation made use of, in ascertaining the dates of such transactions as have happened before the birth of Christ: but in the history of the New Testament, we have used the Christian epocha. And here it may not be improper to observe, once for all, that the difference between both these epochas is 4000 years, though, according to the vulgar or common computation of the Christian era, the difference is 4004 years. Thence the Christian epocha is reckoned four years later than it really is, and the birth of our Saviour is supposed to have happened in the year of the world 4004. We have not always been punctual in fixing the chronological periods of every transaction, because the dates of such transactions are generally ascertained in the annals of the king or high priest under which they happened, and under whose name a chronological series of all transactions of importance, referred to in his reign, are constantly exhibited. The lists we have given of the Hebrew kings, and high priests, may serve for chronological tables during the time of the Hebrew commonwealth.

"With regard to the geography of Scripture, we are generally guided by Eusebius and St. Jerome, Calmet, Reland, Maundrell, Whitby, and Wells; and in order to clear this subject, the knowledge of which is so indispensably necessary in the study of the sacred books, we have not purposely omitted any one place of which we find mention in Scripture; but have generally delivered all that is known with any certainty concerning each of them, down to the taking of Jerusalem by the Romans. And here we shall observe, that, as there have been few names of places omitted, so there are few names of persons passed unobserved: but if some have been purposely left out, it is because the Scripture has transmitted us nothing concerning them but their names.

"Upon the natural history of the Bible we may boast of being more systematical and accurate in our descriptions, than perhaps any who have gone before us; our materials upon this subject having been collected from the writings of Linnæus, Ray, Willoughby, Hill, &c. But with relation to this subject, it may be proper to acquaint the reader, that there is nothing more uncertain than the signification of the Hebrew terms, which denote the animals, plants, precious stones, &c. mentioned in the Scripture; there being few of them that have not been differently understood by different expositors.

"In describing the weights, measures, and monies, of the ancient Jews, and in reducing them to our standard, Dr. Arbuthnot's Treatise upon these subjects has been our only guide; and under the articles WEIGhts, MeaSURES, and MONEY, we have given that author's tables of each subject.

"In treating of the festivals, fasts, laws, ceremonies, and solemnities, of the ancient Hebrews, it was necessary not only to exhibit what was to be met with in Scripture; but to illustrate these subjects more fully, we were obliged to have recourse to the writings of Josephus, the rabbins, and the fathers; as well as to the customs of the modern Jews, as they are represented to us by Leo of Modena, Buxtorf, Herbelot, &c.

"In all literal, verbal, and critical articles of the sacred writings, the sentiments of the most eminent expositors, critics, and commentators, are proposed; without entering into the depths of controversies, otherwise than by giving a summary of the arguments, pointing out the most general