tion. Whatever we may say, therefore, in favor of education, we do not wish to be understood as throwing a single discouragement in the way of the most imperfect English scholar, nor a disparaging word against piety, as a qualification for the understanding of the Scriptures. With these remarks before the reader, we proceed, to point out the advantages connected with a knowledge of certain branches for a proper understanding of the Bible.

1. It is certainly of great importance to have a good knowledge of the language in which the Bible is read. It is absurd to suppose that he who is unacquainted with grammar, and who is a stranger to half the words of the English Scriptures, can understand them like the thorough English scholar.

2. It is of great advantage to know the original languages of the Scriptures-the Hebrew and the Greek. When our Scriptures were translated 250 years ago, many terms were then used which have since become obsolete, and others are used in a different sense from what they then were. For instance, the word deal, signifies a part,leasing, lies,—let, hindered,—carriages, baggage,-prevent, go before,wa x, become,-trow, think. How shall we understand the true sense of such words, but by a reference to the original, in which all words continue stationary in their signification?

We have also many obsolete phrases, as well as words in our Bible. For instance—the good man of the house, signifies merely a householder,—we do you to wit, that is, we inform you. Such expressions which are very numerous,

can only be understood by a reference to the original, or to some work explaining the original.

There are also peculiar idiomatic phrases, called Hebraisms. For instance, the words seven and ten are used in a peculiar sense. "Thou hast changed my wages ten times' -"better than ten sons"-"the barren hath borne seven"-" punish you seven times." The common scholar might take these terms in a literal sense, but any one acquainted with Hebrew knows that they refer to no definite number.

A thorough acquaintance with the original languages of the Scriptures, will enable us to distinguish between the original and the New Testament use of words. If we examine the etymology of any word, we shall oftimes find that it originally signified something very different from its present sense. The word constable is from two

latin words, which signified count of the stable, or horsler; the word esquire is from a Latin word which signifies a shield, or of a Greek word which signifies the hide of a bull, of which shields are made. The word lady is from an Anglo-Saxon word, which signified a loaf of bread. No one will contend that these words as now used have any reference to their original signification. So in referring to the New Testament; no one acquainted with the original, would contend that Gehenna, the place of the damned, was to be understood of the literal Gehenna, South of Jerusalem; neither would he suppose that the heaven where God resides and where the righteous are blessed, was to be restricted to the visible and starry heavens. Thus a thorough acquaintance with the original Scriptures, will, generally, enable the reader to determine the use of a word,

not merely as it was used when first invented, but as used in the text.

To learn all this, is indeed a task, but it is no greater than that which the doctor, the lawyer, the man of science or literature, has to perform.

In addition to these reasons we may say, we best imbibe the spirit of the inspired writers, when we read their original productions. No translation can fully and faithfully represent them.

3. It is very important for a proper understanding of the Bible, to have a good knowledge of history. Very much profane history corroberates the Bible. It is by the means of history, connected with the existing monuments of its truthfulness, that we have traced the Bible to its original source. The principles of the Bible, are gradually developed in their triumph over error, and Ecclesiastical history gives an account of that developement. When, therefore, any species of heresy, occurs, we need not be surprised, as though some strange thing had happened. We may not unfrequently read in history the triumph of the Scriptures over that very form of error. In those who despise all human learning, we see a revival of the principles of Montanus, who flourished A. D. 171. In those who discard the Old Testament, and in workers of miracles, we see a revival of the Manicheans of the third century. In those who deny the resurrection, we find a resuscitation of the doctrine of the Herecites of the third century. In annihilationists, we have the doctrine of certain Arabian teachers of the third century. In those who deny the necessity of divine grace in conversion, we have the doctrine of Pela

gianism of the fifth century. In our modern Adventists, we read the history of the fifth monarchy men in 1653. In modern Socialism, we can read the ancient doctrines of Pythagoras, Plato, the Sect of the Essenees, Sir Thomas Moore in 1515, and Campunella in France in 1623.

These popular errors, which strike the masses as so very strange and wonderful, the Christian historian views as the struggling of a serpent, whose head has long since been

crushed.

4. A knowledge of Sacred Geography is vastly important to the Student of the Bible.

The climate, soil, productions and natural scenery of the holy land, remain the same, in every age; but the civil divisions are so numerous that several maps will be requisite, to give the student of the Bible a view of the country as it was, at different periods-in the time of the patriarchs, as divided between THE TRIBES, under SOLOMON, under REHOBOAM, under the ROMANS, and as it exists in MODERN TIMES. It will also be necessary for him to be familiar with the Geography of the countries adjacent to Palestine, such as the Peninsula of Sinai with Egypt, illustrating the history of the Israelites from the Exodus to their entrance into Canaan-Asyria, Chaldea, Media, Armenia and Syria, showing the extent of several captivities-the countries adjacent to the Mediterranean, illustrating the Acts, Epistles and the Revelation-and Christendom at the Rise of Mahomedanism, and during the Crusades.

Maps, representing the scenes alluded to above, with faithful explanations, and complete geographical index or

concordance to the Old and New Testaments, giving the modern names of places after the Bible name, where there has been a change, will be found in "BAGSTER'S CHRONOLOGICAL SCRIPTURE ATLAS."

5. A knowledge of antiquities, affords great help in understanding the Bible.

Any thing illustrative of the habits and customs of the Jews, or of neighboring nations, is of vast importance. Coins, vessels, implements of husbandry, paintings, imagery, inscriptions, and architecture, give a testimony in illustration of the Scriptures, and in favor of their truthfulness. The Hieroglyphics of Egypt have at length spoken, and the entombed palaces of Ninevah and Babylon have lifted up their voice to sustain the sacred record. The Student of the Bible cannot study these antiquities too closely. Their direct bearing on the truth of the Bible, we shall show in a succeeding lecture.

6. A good knowledge of natural science, is of much service in understanding the Bible. No one can study Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Botany, Astronomy or Geology, without soon finding something, to illustrate and to confirm the truth of the Bible. Astronomy has done much to establish the chronology of the world, and Geology has done much, and is destined to do much more, to illustrate the attributes of the Divine Creator, and to reveal his plan in the creation. But it was our purpose to reserve for future lectures, the particular bearing these sciences have on our subject.

7. A knowledge of general literature, assists greatly in understanding the Scriptures. The Old Testament writers