SUMMARY OF CD-ROM CONTENTS:
I. Commentaries on the Laws of the Hebrews by E.C. Wines. 640 pages
II. A Commentary on the Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament by David Whitby And The Commentary on the Revelation of St. John by Moses Lowman. 1,243 pages
III. The Family Expositor by Philip Doddridge. 1,008 pages
DETAILS ON EACH VOLUME:
I. Commentaries on the Laws of the Ancient Hebrews By E. C. Wines (1853)
Enoch Cobb Wines was an American Congregationalist (1806–1879) minister, teacher, and an advocate for prison reform. After teaching for some years he studied theology and began to preach in 1849. He served in a number of widely different positions in his lifetime. The foremost of them were pastor at Cornwall, Vermont and East Hampton, Long Island; professor of languages in Washington College, Pennsylvania (1853); and president of St. Louis University in 1859. In 1862 he became secretary of the New York Prison Association and of the National Prison Association in 1870. In 1871–1872 he organized in London the first international congress on prison discipline.
A first edition of Commentaries on the Laws of the Ancient Hebrews, from which this facsimile is taken, would cost more than $100.00.
The following review of Commentaries on the Laws of the Ancient Hebrews is taken from The Presbyterian and Quarterly Review (March 1854). You will notice not only praise for this very rare 640-page volume but how contemporary the reviewer’s comments are. It’s as if is speaking to our day: “We have fallen upon times, where infidelity puts on its most deceptive guises.”
We have here a book that will disappoint no one who looks for the fruits of ripe and thorough scholarship. Dr. Wines has given ten or twelve years of the best part of his life to the careful investigation of this subject. The treatment, we are told, “is an attempt to analyze and develop systematically, the civil polity of the Hebrew Lawgiver.” The substance of the book was originally delivered in the form of lectures in various theological seminaries and other places. We remember with what singular interest we listened to them, some years since.
The reader will see, therefore, that this work, though learned, is not designed exclusively for theologians and students; it is a book to be read as well as studied; and there is not a layman in the Church, or a citizen in the republic, to whom it might not be interesting and profitable.
The work indeed is especially pertinent to the legislator, the civilian, and political economist, for as it has been well remarked, “Statesmen and legislators, equally with theologians, moralists and lawyers, will find the study of the Mosaic legislation a rich source of knowledge and wisdom. This code contains, undeniably, the germ of almost everything precious in modern civilization. It is a common fountain, from which the mast enlightened nations of subsequent ages have drawn their best principles of political, civil and criminal law. It abounds in shining specimens of philosophical, statesmanship and legislative policy. In short, it is a system of legislation which embodies and applies with an admirable skill and efficiency, most of the great principles of just, wise, and equal government.”
Our wants in this direction should be, at least in a measure, supplied by American scholars. Granting the large liberty to draw from the exhaustless storehouse of French and German learning, our text book should, to a greater extent, be supplied by those who, having been educated under the influence of American institutions, understand the genius and necessities of our people. We look with hope to the time when the export of a critical literature, the product of accomplished scholarship, shall commence. As an earnest of that happy future, we welcome such a work as the “Commentaries of the Laws of the Ancient Hebrews.”
This volume appears opportunely. We have fallen upon times, where infidelity puts on its most deceptive guises. The gross and unblushing impiety of a former age, that could write its abuse of revelation without even a copy of the sacred volume, has given place to a more refined and cultivated skepticism, making many pretensions to scholarship and critical learning. And it is noticeable that all the more extensive and popular forms of infidelity seem to tend naturally to the undermining of inspiration. Scarce any thug would tend to produce a deeper respect for the Scriptures than a thorough understanding of the principles of the Hebrew commonwealth.
In the “Introductory Essay on Civil Society and Government,” timely, when so much is said of the principles of legislation, and so many attempts are being made to modify constitutions, the author proceeds to “analyze and develop” the Mosaic Code, regarding it as containing the seminal principles of all true legislation and government, and suggesting the elements of all necessary human laws and civil organizations.
Some of the chapters in which we have been particularly interested, are those on the “Credibility of the Pentateuch,” the “Divine Legation of Moses,” the “Constitutions of Gentile Antiquity, with special reference to the question how far civil liberty was secured by them.”
II. A Commentary on the Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament by Daniel Whitby and Moses Lowman (1849)
Credited as the first full postmillennial commentary on the New Testament, this 1849 edition of Bishop Daniel Whitby’s classic paraphrase translation and commentary on the Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament also includes Moses Lowman’s postmillennial commentary on Revelation. In addition, this hard-to-find volume includes Whitby’s systematic treatise on the millennium “Showing that it is not a reign of persons raised from the dead,” as premillennialists believe, “but of the Church flourishing gloriously for a thousand years.” Were this not enough, this scholarly compilation includes several prefaces to the New Testament books, appendixes covering several topics in New Testament studies and Eschatology, and even Whitby’s Latin critique of philosopher John Mill. This large volume contains more than a 1000 pages of commentary. Those who are interested in a detailed commentary on the Olivet Discourse will find it here. Also, Whitby discusses the views of other commentators of his era. This is a very well thought out work. Modern-day expositors could take some lessons. Of course, one does not have to agree with everything any commentator writes, but all things written should give each of us pause to consider views we might not be accustomed to.
III. The Family Expositor by Philip Doddridge
Rev. Dr. Philip Dodderidge’s classic paraphrase translation and notes on the New Testament display the profound gifts and influence of their eighteenth-century author. Before he could read, it is said, Philip’s mother taught him Bible history using the pictures on Dutch chimney tiles. Later in his life the Reverend would spread this legacy by making the Bible accessible in a way aimed at family reading and education. Drawing from his prolific study of Scripture, sermons, spiritual and practical books, and over 400 hymns, Dodderidge (1702–1751) teaches and encourages Christians to ethical living and lively hope, for as he writes, Christ “shall reign till his conquest be universal and complete.” Doddridge was a prolific writer. His The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul was translated into seven languages. Charles Spurgeon referred to this volume as “that holy book.” Reading this book led William Wilberforce, the anti-slave trade campaigner, to become a Christian.
The Family Expositor is more than 1000 pages of commentary on the New Testament. If it were put into individual volumes of regular size, it would easily fill six large volumes of material. In fact, it was originally published as a six-volume set. This unabridged single-volume is difficult to find and expensive to procure. The facsimile version of this volume is searchable, and the text can be copied and pasted in a word processing program for commentary and sermon development.
Notice the title: The Family Expositor. This massive work was designed to be used by families in the instruction of children. This is not “Veggie Tales.” The following is from the “Memoir of Dr. Doddridge” written by N. W. Fiske:
You are a parent. When then are you teaching your child? For what are you training him? What manner of child shall he be? Under God you may lay the foundation for his becoming more than a Doddridge, a Luther, or a Brainerd; under the righteous government of the same Being, you may also do much of fit him to be an inheritor of eternal life. Are you merely entrusted with the care and nurture of little children?. . . To a father I would say, If you are dialing reading the Expositor in your family, and have it in your heart to bless God for raising up and qualifying its author thus to aid your prayers and your meditations, why not educate that son, for whom, you cherish Christian hopes?
In addition to the detailed commentary, there is a Chronological Table of Contents, a General Index, and an Index of Greek Words and Phrases referred to in the notes.