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in, in order to ascertain its merits, as a translation, will, at the same time, compare it with the German for the purpose of learning the additions and alterations, and the grounds, on which they have been made.

The NOTES, which have been occasionally inserted, and the ExTRACTS, which, in order to render some Articles more complete, than they would otherwise have been, it has been thought proper to make, are distinguished from the text of JAHN, as the reader will observe, by being enclosed with brackets. Many errors, which had crept into the references, have been corrected; but it is necessary for the Translator of this Work to repeat an observation of the Translator of Commentaries on the Laws of Moses, viz. “That the reader must not be surprised, when he recurs to the English version, to remark occasionally the difference of an unit in the numeration of chapters and verses; which proceeds from the division adopted in the German and Hebrew Bibles being in some places different from ours." When, however, the variation was considerable, it has generally been attended to, and altered so as to agree with the division of verses in the English version.

The value of Dr. JAHN's Work, as it exists both in the Latin and German, is too well known and too generally admitted, to require from the Translator, at the present time, any thing in defence of its merits; and he thinks he can say with truth, it is not owing to want of care and labour, if, as it is now exhibited to the public, it should be found to fall short of its original worth and spirit.

One of the greatest difficulties in interpreting the Scriptures, will be found, it is apprehended, in the want of facility in throwing one's self back into the age, in which the writers lived, and into the situation of those, for whom they wrote. To remove this difficulty in some degree, as the reader will observe by consulting the second section, is one of the prominent objects of the present Work. It is thought, that the object will be found to be, in a good measure, secured, and that the person, who has carefully studied it, will no longer find himself at a loss in forming a conception of the once splendid scenery of Judea, nor in understanding and estimating the nature and the worth of the domestick, religious, and civil practices and institutions of its inhabitants.

ANDOVER, THEOL. SEM.

FEBRUARY 5, 1823.

THOMAS C. UPHAM.

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