A SCRIPTURAL COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF PETER: WITH AN APPENDIX, CONCERNING THE PROFITABLE READING OF SCRIPTURE. BY THE REV. J. E. RIDDLE, M.A., CURATE OF ALL-SOULS, MARY-LE-BONE. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. MDCCCXXXIV. 606. PREFACE. THE general nature and design of this little work may be learnt from its title and a glance at its contents; but the book will not be perfectly understood without some attention to the principles on which it has been constructed, and the materials employed in its composition: and these, if I mistake not, are precisely the matters to be explained in the pages of a preface. It is often asserted that Scripture is the best commentary on itself. On this point nearly all parties seem to agree; and if the remark be intended to apply to no more than the practical elucidation or the devotional use of the Sacred Volume, there is, in fact, no ground whatever for dispute. It is true that in the explanation of difficult passages, the illustration of manners and customs, and a great many matters of criticism, extraneous learning must be applied to the Scriptures. A great mass of literature has been, in this way, successfully employed, and much may hereafter be in the same manner very profitably bestowed. But, when we peruse the Sacred Volume as a rule |