The Democratic press. (Eaton, Preble County, Ohio) 1860-1865, 1861-11-07
we'll. as Of the Chaldee, syriac, and

Scriptures. An historical acquaint-
ance with the origin Of the Greek
style of the New Testament will
greatly facilitate its correct inter-
probation. After their return from
their captivity, the Jews spoke a
dialect composed Of the old ver-
nacular tongue, mixed with Chal-
dee and Syriac. After the con-
quest of Palestine and other prov
inces by Alexander the Great ; and
when, in process of time. Syria
and Egypt were takenpossession Of
by his generals, and were governed
as separate kingdoms; the Greek
Language, especially that spoken
in Macedon, spread not only
through Egypt and Syria, but also
into Palestine, end many other
eastern countries. The Jews were
thus led to acquire a knowledge Of
the Greek Language. The Greek
Jews continued, however, to have
the Law and the Prophets read in
their schools, in Hebrew, and in
terpreted in Greek, and thus they
gradually formed Gr@co-Jewish
Theological Language. Thus we
see how an overruling Providence
guided His people, and led them,
through the medium of the Law
and the Prophets, to become one
peculiar people, and royal priest
hood, with the Gentle nations Of
the earth, that all might form one
fold, under one Shepherd. 1t is to
the history Of the origin of the One
! Great Theological Language, il
which both Jews and Greeks joir
in the same hymn of praise to God
that the Biblical Student must lool
for the first rules by means O
which he will be enabled to inter
pref the New Testament. The
"Purists"* overlooked this fact
Etymology, the usage of words
verbal and real Parallelism, the
Context, Types, Allegories, Para,
bles, and fgurative language, de-
mand the unwearied and ,laboriou:
investigation Of the interpreter o.
the Sacred Book. If he know no
how to explain these, keep each tc
its own meaning, and yet demon
strate that they all teach so many
inseparable truths which link the
spirit to the Deity; he will be moth
ling more than the blind leading
the blind into all manner of relig
lious absurdities. .... aa
The study Of Ecclesiastical his
tory cannot be neglected by any
man who is anxious to-prove him
self an able AMI skillful minister
and interpreter OF the word Of God
History brings the past into thu
light of the present, and thus ena
bles the Biblical Student to judg'
more accurately, and to prove him
lself ga workman that needeth no
to be ashamed = rightly dividing
and wisely uniting, the word o
} truth. In the Interpretation o
language, the literal meaning o
words ought, never to be departed
: from, without evident reason ant
; necessity. No interpreter VIII
Y wishes to prove, himself an educa
ted man, VIII depart from the lit
eral Specification without assigning
aoreason for his conduct. Figura
tive language abounds in the Bi
) bic. "God is a Suho,' (the wor
"sun" is fgurative). eye eanno
: come unto me- ,n(thorword "caan0t
q is figurative). aye will not com
unto me" (the words 'itoiH nOt' ar
literaD and mean that men are de
; termined that they will not com
70 Christ. An Allegory docs nc
differ essentially from any othe
: narrative; and its literal sense
: to be determined by the samerule
as that Of any other species Of nal
Irative. In the, Interpretation
Alegories, the first thing to h
done is to ascertain the purpose1o q
design with which they were spc
ken. rn.-,.I...
Those who maintain that the New Test
nent was written in pure Greek.