PREFACE TO THE SECOND ENGLISH EDITION

WHEN the first English edition was published in 1894, the original German work had reached the twelfth edition; it is now in the eighteenth. The present English edition has been revised according to the sixteenth German edition, and has been as far as possible brought into line therewith, though some freedom has been allowed in adding, altering and omitting portions, in order to adapt them to the circumstances of English readers. The passages of Scripture on which the narrative is based are indicated at the head of each chapter; all notes are placed at the foot of the page; the illustrations are new; and various improvements in matter and form have been effected in both text and notes.

The Revision of the present edition is due to the Right Rev. Monsignor V. J SCHOBEL, D. D., whose judgment upon Bishop KNECHT’S Commentary deserves to be here recorded. He writes: “I have read the Commentary with genuine pleasure and profit. How it brings home to one the real scope and purpose of the Bible! ‘For what things soever were written, were written for our learning: that, through patience and the comfort of the Scriptures, we might have hope’ (Rom. 15:4). The Practical Commentary will prove the very best antidote to the poison of Biblical Criticism now spreading among the masses. Its value, therefore, goes far beyond its immediate scope.”

MICHAEL F. GLANCEY.

ST. AUGUSTINE’S, SOLIHULL.

May 1. 1901.