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'profecto,' and rendered in the E. T. 'surely.' It occurs in no other place of the N. T.

35. "Who shall be honored to share in the resurrection. It may be remarked in passing, that our Lord, agreeably to the Jewish style of that period, calls that only the resurrection, which is a resurrection to glory.

CHAPTER XXI.

8. "Saying, I am the person; and the time approacheth, kéγοντες, ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι· καὶ ὁ καιρὸς ἤγγικε. The second clause, και xaιgos yуixe," and the time approacheth," is capable of being understood as the words either of the false messiahs that would arise, or of our Lord himself. In the former case, the copulative xai connects this clause with that immediately preceding, to wit yo siu; in the latter, the connexion is made with the verb voovtat. Former expositors have I think, in general, adopted the latter mode of interpreting, making these the words of our Lord. Of this number is Gro. who considers the second clause as equivalent to what is said, Mt. 24: 34. Mr. 13: 30. "This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled." Most translators have also favored this manner. Er. says, "Multi venient dicentes se esse Christum; et tempus instat." Had he understood both clauses as the words of the impostors, he would have said instare. Cas. to the same purpose, "Qui se eum esse dicant; et quidem tempus instat." Such foreign translations as do not preserve the ambiguity of the original, seem all to approve the same explanation. Some late Eng. commentators have favored the other, and have been followed by some interpreters, Dod. Wes. in particular. Yet in their translations themselves this does not appear, unless from the pointing, or the notes. As very plausible things may be said on each side of the question, and as there does not appear any thing in the context that can be accounted decisive, I consider this as one of those ambiguities which translators ought, if possible, to preserve. Most of them, indeed, have either accidentally or intentionally done So. Of this number is the Vul. "Dicentes quia ego sum, et tempus appropinquavit:" And the Zu. "Dicentes, Ego sum Christus, et tempus instat:" As also the E. T. "Saying, I am Christ, and the time draweth near." Bishop Pearce seems to think that the words in the following verse, οὐκ εὐθέως τὸ τέλος, are said in direct contradiction to the clause o xaigos, nyyixe, and consequently show this to be the assertion of the seducers. If our Lord had employed ὁ καιρός in this verse instead of τὸ τέλος, 1 should have thought the argument very strong; but, as it stands, it has no weight at all. I know no interpreter who gives the same import

to xapos in the eighth verse, and to zelos in the ninth; and if they refer to different events, the one cannot be in opposition to the other.

15. "To refute," άvraneiv. E. T. "To gainsay." The import of the declaration is well expressed by Grotius, "Cui nihil contradici possit, quod veri habeat speciem." That their adversaries did actually gainsay or contradict them, we have from the same authority Acts 13: 45. 28: 19, 22. It deserves, however, to be remarked, that the term in all these places is different from that used here. It is άveidéyɛw, which, in the idiom of the sacred writers, is evidently not synonymous.

19. "Save yourselves by your perseverance," & voμovy ὑμῶν κτήσασθε τὰς ψυχὰς ὑμῶν. E.T. “ In your patience possess ye your souls." For the import of the word vnoμový, see ch. 8: 15. N. Krάouat signifies not only 'I possess,' but I acquire,' and even I preserve what I have acquired; for it is only thus I continue to possess it. Such phrases as ai yuzaì vuav were shown (ch. 14: 26. N.) to serve in the Hellenistic idiom for the reciprocal pronoun. The sentence is, therefore, but another manner of expressing the same sense, which Mt. has delivered (ch. 10: 22,) in these words, "The man who persevereth to the end shall be saved," ὁ ὑπομείνας εἰς τέλος οὗτος, σωθήσεται. That the words may have relation to a temporal, as well as to eternal salvation, is not to be doubted; but as the whole discourse is a prophecy, a translator ought not, from the lights afforded by the fulfilment, to attempt rendering it more explicit than it must have appeared to the hearers at the time. I shall only add, in passing, that there is a small deviation from the common in the reading of the Vul. and the Sy. versions, where we find the future of the indicative instead of the imperative; in conformity to which, three or four MSS. have xinoεσθε instead of κτήσασθε. But this makes no alteration on the sense. It may be even reasonably questioned, whether there has been any difference in the Gr. copies used by those translators. The future in the Heb. is often no other than a more solemn expression of the imperative; and therefore, if I had not had occasion to make other remarks on the verse, I should have thought this too slight a difference to be taken notice of here.

21. "Let those in the city make their escape," oi v piog avτῆς ἐκχωρείτωσαν. Ε. Τ. “Let them who are in the midst of it depart out." Avins may here very naturally be thought at first to refer to lovdata, mentioned in the former part of the verse. But the sense and connexion evidently show that it relates to 'lepovoαnu, mentioned in the foregoing verse. The next number of the sentence is a confrmation of this—καὶ οἱ ἐν ταῖς χώραις, μή εισερ χέσθωσαν εἰς αὐτήν. Here the helds could not be contrasted to JuVOL. II. 51

dea, the country of which they were a part, but are very properly contrasted to Jerusalem, the metropolis: the contrast of town and country is familiar in every language. I do not urge that this suits better the events which soon followed; for if there were not ground for this interpretation from the context and the parallel passages in the other Gospels, it would be hazardous to determine what the inspired author has said, from what a translator may fancy he ought to have said, that the prediction might tally with the accomplishment. In this way of expounding, too, much scope is given to imagination, perhaps to rooted prejudices and mere partiality.

23. "Wo unto the women with child." Ch. 6: 24-26. N. 25. "Upon the earth," ini rns yns. Some late expositors think it ought to be rendered upon the land,' considering the prophecy as relating solely to Judea. The words as they stand may no doubt be translated either way. I have preferred that of the common version, for the following reasons: 1st, Though what preceded seems peculiarly to concern the Jews, what follows appears to have a more extensive object, and to relate to the nations, and the habitable earth in general. There we hear of ovvoyý ¿ðvæv, and of the things ἐπερχομένων τῇ οἰκουμένῃ; not to mention what immediately follows, to wit, that the Son of man shall be seen coming on a cloud with great glory and power. Nor is it at all probable that by the term vov, nations, used thrice in the preceding verse manifestly for Gentiles, are meant in this verse only Jews and Samaritans. 2dly, The prediction which the verse under examination introduces, is accurately distinguished by the historian as not commencing till after the completion of the former. It was not till after the calamities which were to befall the Jews should be ended; after their capital and temple, their last resource, should be invested and taken, and the wretched inhabitants destroyed or carried captive into all nations; after Jerusalem should be trodden by the Gentiles; nay, and after the triumph of the Gentiles should be brought to a period-that the prophecy contained in this and the two subsequent verses should begin to take effect. The judicious reader, to be convinced of this, needs only give the passage an attentive perusal.

28. "Begin to be fulfilled," doxoμévæv ziveodai. 17. N.

Mr. 5:

30. "When ye observe them shooting forth," öтav поßáλшoiv nôn, Blémovτes. Val. "Cum producunt jam ex se fructum." This addition of fructum is not favored by any other version except the Sax. or even by any MS. except the Cam. which has zov xão

πὸν αὐτῶν.

CHAPTER XXII.

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25. "They who oppress them are styled benefactors," oi ¿žovσιάζοντες αὐτῶν εὐεργέται καλοῦνται. E. T. "They who exercise authority upon them are called benefactors." The verb şouolate, in its common acceptation, does not mean simply to rule,' or govern, as ποιμαίνειν, ἀρχεῖν, ἡγεμονεύειν, οι κυβερνάειν, but 4 to rule with rigor' and oppression, as a despot rules his slaves. It is in this sense used by the apostle Paul, 1 Cor. 6: 12, ovx ¿yw ¿žovσιασθήσομαι ὑπὸ τινος. Ε. Τ. “I will not be brought under the power of any " that is, 'How different soever in themselves the particular gratifications may be,'-for it is of this kind of spiritual subjection he is speaking,' I will not allow myself to be enslaved by any appetite.' It seems to be our Lord's view in these instructions, not only to check in his apostles all ambition of power, every thing which savored of a desire of superiority and dominion over their brethren, but also to restrain that species of vanity which is near akin to it, the affectation of distinction from titles of respect and dignity. Against this vice particularly, the clause under consideration seems to be levelled. The reflection naturally suggested by it is, How little are any the most pompous epithets which men can bestow, worthy the regard of a good man, who observes how vilely through servility and flattery, they are sometimes prostituted on the most undeserving! That there is an allusion to the titles much affected by monarchs and conquerors in those ages, amongst which benefactor, EUERGETES, was one, there can be little doubt. To the same purpose are those instructions wherein he prohibits their calling any man upon the earth their father or teacher in things divine, or assuming to themselves the title of rabbi or leader.

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29, 30. "And I grant unto you to eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, (forasmuch as my Father hath granted me a kingdom), and to sit ;” καγω διατίθεμαι ὑμῖν, καθὼς διέθετό μοι ὁ πατήρ μου, βασιλείαν· ἵνα ἐσθίητε καὶ πίνητε ἐπὶ τῆς τραπέζης μου, ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ μου, καὶ καθίσησθε. Ε.Τ. “ And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father has appointed unto me; that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit-.' There is evidently an indistinctness in this version, which is not warranted by the original. At first, the grant to the disciples appears to be very different from what, by the explanation subjoined, it is afterwards found to be. The first is "a kingdom," the second," that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom. See Mt. 26: 29. 2 N. Βασιλείαν is rendered as if it were governed by διατίθεμαι, and not as it is, both in reality and to appearance, by dieтo. Make but a small alteration in the pointing, remove the comma after μov, and place it after facilɛíav, and nothing can be clearer or more explicit

than the sentence. I have, for the sake of perspicuity, made an alteration on the arrangement of the words, but not greater than that made by our translators, which has the contrary effect, and involves the sentence in obscurity.

31. "Hath obtained permission." Entnoato. Though, with most interpreters, I said first requested permission, the word will bear, and the sense requires, that it should be rendered obtained. -Their danger arose chiefly, not from what Satan requested, but from what God permitted.

2" You [all]," vuas. The plural pronoun shows plainly that this was spoken of all the apostles, especially as we find it contrasted to the singular nɛoi oov, directed to Peter in the same sentence. But this does not sufficiently appear in Eng. or any language wherein it is customary to address a single person in the plural. I have, therefore, to remove ambiguity, supplied the word [all.]

32. "When thou hast recovered thyself," ou inorgéwas. E. T. "When thou art converted." There is precisely the same reason against rendering torpéwas in this place converted, which there is against rendering orgaqnte, Mt. 18: 3, in the same way. See the Note on that verse.

36. "Let him who hath no sword, sell his mantle, and buy one,” ὁ μὴ ἔχων, πωλησάτω τὸ ἱμάτιον αὑτοῦ, καὶ ἀγορασάτω μάχατραν. A great number of MSS. and some of note, have the two verbs in the future, πωλήσει and ἀγοράσει, instead of the imperative. In this way it is also read in some of the oldest editions. I think, however, that there is no occasion here to desert the common reading. The sense in such prophetical speeches is the same, either way rendered. In the animated language of the prophets, their predictions are often announced under the form of commands. The prophet Isaiah, in the sublime prediction he has given us of the fate of the king of Babylon, thus foretells the destruction of his family, (14: 21,)" Prepare slaughter for his children, for the iniquity of their fathers, that they do not rise, nor possess the land." Yet the instruments by which Providence intended to effect the extirpation of the tyrant's family, were none of those to whom the prophecy was announced. The prophet Jeremiah, in like manner, foretells the approaching destruction of the children of Zion, by exhibiting God as thus addressing the people, (9: 17, 18,) "Call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women: and let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters." There, matter of sorrow is predicted, by commanding the common attendants on mourning and lamentation to be gotten in readiness; here, warning is given of the most imminent dangers, by orders to make the customary preparation against violence, and to account a weapon more necessary than a garment. In the prophe

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