Excerpt from Commentary, Vol. 1: On the Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians The sixteenth century was distinguished by a large and valuable accession of Expositors of the Sacred Volume. Mosheim reckons up not fewer than fifty-five writers, who, in the course of that century, devoted their labours, to a greater or less extent, to the interpretation or illustration of the inspired writings - a circumstance which at once indicated the progress of the principles of the Reformation, and contributed most materially to their diffusion. N or were expository treatises, in illustration of the Sacred Scrip tures, simply increased in number; they were marked by a decided improvement in point of intrinsic value. It is to the honour of a large proportion of the Interpreters of that age, that, rejecting the practice so well exposed by bishop horsley, of drawing I know not what mystical meanings, by a certain cabalistic alchymy, from the simplest expres sions of holy writ, they made it their endeavour, in every case, to ascertain the true meaning of the Spirit of God, by a careful examination of the text and context. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.