Commentary on Harmony of the Law Vol 1

THE FOUR LAST BOOKS OF MOSES

IN THE FORM OF A HARMONY

TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL LATIN, AND COMPARED WITH THE FRENCH EDITION, WITH ANNOTATIONS, ETC.

BY THE REV. CHARLES WILLIAM BINGHAM, M.A.,

RECTOR OF MELCOMBE-HORSEY, DORSET, AND FORMERLY FELLOW OF NEW COLLEGE, OXFORD

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE Coming into the field as a Translator of Calvin so late as I do, and after the various able Preliminary Notices of my predecessors in the task, it would ill become me to offer any lengthened remarks, either generally on the personal character and theological system of our illustrious author, or more particularly on his merits as a Commentator upon Scripture. It may not, however, be deemed superfluous that I should refer my readers to the brief but interesting Memoir of Calvin, written by his associate and friend Theodore Beza, and translated by Henry Beveridge, Esq., in Volume I. of Calvin's Tracts in this Series. It would, I presume, be scarcely possible to produce within a similar compass any Biography of the great Reformer which could at all be brought into competition with this. That the colouring of partiality may be discerned in it, the circumstances of the case would lead us to expect; but as to the main facts of his life, whilst there can be little ground for supposing Beza to be ignorant of them, so is he above the suspicion of having intentionally falsified them. "Every reasonable person," says Bayle "will agree with me, that, with respect to the historical sequence of Calvin's travels, no author is more credible than Theodore Beza when the occurrences are of such a nature as neither to injure nor enhance the glory of Calvin."

It would at any rate appear to be peculiarly unseasonable, at the present moment, to attempt any new Life of Calvin, when an announcement has recently been made of a large amount of materials having been discovered, which, when published, will probably throw much additional light on the subject. I allude to a statement of the French correspondent of the "Evangelical Christendom" for December 1851, vol. 5, p. 494, to the following effect: -- "A young man, equally distinguished by his piety and learning, M. Jules Bonnet, had been commissioned, in the reign of Louis Philippe, to collect the unpublished Letters of Calvin in the Public Libraries of France, Geneva, etc. He has found 497, of which 190 are written in the French language, and 307 in Latin. This correspondence promises the greatest interest. It commences in 1524, when Calvin was yet on the benches of the University, and continues up to 1564, the period when the illustrious Reformer died. The greater part of these letters are addressed to Farel, Melancthon, Theodore Beza, and other distinguished theologians. The French letters are written to the King of Navarre, the Duchess of Ferrara, the Prince of Conde, etc. One is addressed to the Duke of Somerset, who exercised then high authority in England, and contains twenty-three pages."

It may not be impossible that a more accurate examination of these documents will prove that some of them are already before the public; yet few, I think, into whose hands this work may fall will abstain from uniting in the hope expressed by our informant, that this correspondence should be published; or, if they are at all acquainted with the writings of Calvin, will fail to agree in the opinion that "it will present to literature some excellent models of style; to the historian, some precious documents; to the theologian, some interesting ideas; and to simple Christians, some edifying sentiments."

I would even venture here to record my own fervent aspiration, that it may please God to dispose men's hearts to afford such renewed encouragement to those who have undertaken the great national work of which this volume forms a portion, that it may not be abandoned until the whole Remains of Calvin, including the above-mentioned letters, shall have appeared in an English dress, and until every emanation from his almost miraculously fertile mind shall have enriched the religious literature of our age and country. I believe, however, I am correct in saying, that it will be impossible to put the top-stone on this monument of his Christian sagacity and industry, unless every exertion be made to obtain supporters by those who are desirous of its completion.

The Work, which it is now my privilege for the first time to introduce to the English Reader, is confessedly by no means the least worthy of its Author. One of the ablest and most laborious of our own Theological critics, Mr. Hartwell Horne, has especially singled it out for eulogy from amongst the whole series of Calvin's commentaries. "His Harmony of the four last books of the Pentateuch (he says) has been much and deservedly admired for its ingenuity. The History contained in them forms a distinct part. The rest is comprised under the following divisions: --

1. Those passages which assert the excellency of the Law by way of Preface;

2. The Ten Commandments, under each of which are comprehended all those parts of the Law which relate to the same subject; and this forms the great body of the Harmony;

3. The Sum of the Law, containing those passages which enjoin Love to God, and Love to our Neighbor;

4. The Use of the Law; and lastly, its Sanctions of Promises and Threats."

I have quoted Mr. Horne's compendious account of the Book, in order that its character may at once be understood; and surely the very idea of thus combining and arranging this portion of Scripture, so as to present its contents in one simple and consistent whole, must strike us as indication of no ordinary grasp and originality of mind. With this Harmony before him, it is somewhat strange that Lightfoot should have thus expressed himself in the Epistle Dedicatory to his "Chronicle of the Times, and the Order of the Texts of the Old Testament;" "I do not remember that I ever heard or saw this kind of task undertaken in any language, namely, to harmonize the Old Testament,' and to lay the current of it in a proper series; and, therefore, I acknowledge I have made a very bold venture in attempting to break this ice, and to tread in these untrodden paths, for which foolhardiness I have no other plea than my own ignorance and the reader's gentleness." It was, one would suppose, hardly within the range of possibility that his ignorance could have extended to unacquaintance with this considerable work from the pen of Calvin; and yet, though his own plan was far more comprehensive, and at the same time less artificial in its management than that of Calvin, at least the boast of such absolute originality as he claims, seems to be barred by the existence of the Book I have translated. It is perhaps even still more remarkable that it should be passed over altogether by Dr. Townsend, in the account of previous Harmonies prefixed to his own valuable "Connexion of the Old Testament!"