example of their persecutors and murderers; insomuch that they appeared to erect those sepulchres, not to do honour to God's Prophets, but to serve as eternal monuments of the success of their progenitors in destroying them.

54. Laying snares for him, in order to draw vdREVORTES ενεδρεύοντες αυτον και ζητώντες θηρευσαι. Ε. Τ. Laying wait for him, and seek. ing to catch-But the copulative xa, which makes all the difference in meaning between these two Eng. versions, is wanting in so great a number of MSS. amongst which are those of principal note, in so many editions, versions, &c. that it is justly rejected by Mill, Wet. and other critics.

15. For in whatever affluence a man be, his life dependeth not on his possessions, ότι εκ εν τω περισσεύειν τινι CAN CUTY ESIV εκ των υπαρχόντων αυτό. E. T. For a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. Vul. Quia non in abundantia cujusquam vita ejus est ex his quæ possidet. Maldonat's observation on this passage is well founded, "Diffici "liora sunt verba quam sensus." All interpreters are agreed about the meaning, however much they differ about the construction. The E. T. without keeping close to the words, has expressed the sense rather more obscurely than either the Gr. or the La. The two clauses in the Gr. are in that version, combin ed into one; and 5 Ex seems to be rendered consisteth in. The translators of P. R. appear to be the first who have expressed the meaning perspicuously in modern language, Car en quelque abondance qu'un homme soit, sa vie ne depend point des biens qu'il possede. In this they have been followed by subsequent interpreters.

25. Besides, which of you can, by his anxiety, prolong his life one hour ? τις δε εξ ύμων μεριμνών δύναται προσθείναι επι την Mixia Auty wyxur iva. E. T. And which of you, with taking thought, can add to his stature one cubit? 'Haixia signifies both stature, and age or lifetime. For examples of the latter accep

tation, see Job, ix. 21. 23. Heb. xi. 11. In every case, therefore, the words ought to be rendered by the one or other of these terms which best suits the context. Inxus is properly a measure of length, and may, on that account, be thought inapplicable to time. But let it be observed, that few tropes are more familiar than those wherein such measures are applied to the age or life of man. Behold, says the Psalmist, thou hast made my days an hand-breadth, Ps. xxxix. 5. Ιδι, παλαίσας εθε τας ημερας με. The common version says as an hand-breadth; but the word as is supplied by the interpreters, and has nothing corresponding to it either in the Heb. or in the Gr. Ham. has quoted from Mimnermus, an ancient poet, the phrase ε Xpovov, literally for a cubit of time, that is, for a very short time. Analo gous to this is the common comparison of life to a race, or to a journey. This may suffice to show, that there is no violence done to the words of the Evangelist, in making them relate to a man's age, or term of life, and not to his stature. But whether they actually relate to the one or to the other, is best determined from the context. It is evident, that the warnings which our Lord gives here, and in the parallel passage in Mt. against anxiety, particularly regard the two essential articles of food and raiment, which engross the attention of the much greater part of mankind. Food is necessary for the preservation of life, and raiment for the protection of our bodies from the injuries of the weather. Anxiety about food is, therefore, closely connected with anxie ty about life; but, except in children, or very young persons, who must have been an inconsiderable part of Christ's audience, has no connection with anxiety about stature. Accordingly, it is the preservation of life, and the protection of the body, which our Lord himself points to, as the ultimate aim of all those perplexing cares. Is not life, says he, a greater gift than food, and the body than raiment ? And if so, will not God, who gave greater gift, life, give also food, which, though a smaller gift, is necessary for supporting the other? In like manner, will not he who gave the body, give the raiment necessary for its defence? All this is entirely consequential, and our Lord, in these waruings, touches what occupies the daily reflections and labour of more than nine-tenths of mankind. But, in what is said about stature, if we understand the word so, he appears to start aside from what employs the time and attention of the people in every

the

age and country, to what could be an object only to children, and a very few foolish young persons. Besides, the increase of the body, by such an addition to the stature, so far from diminishing men's anxiety, would augment it, by increasing their need both of food and of raiment. In the verse immediately following, we have an additional evidence that the word is employed here metaphorically, and that the discourse still concerns the same subject, food and raiment, or the preservation of life, and the accommodation of the body. If ye cannot, says he, thus effect, even the smallest thing, eλaxisov, why are ye anxious about the rest? In respect of stature, would a cubit be called the smallest thing, which is more than one fourth of the whole? This would have been more suitable, if the word had been an inch. In every view, therefore, that we take of the matter, it is extremely improbable that there is here any mention of stature. The idea is foreign to the scope of the discourse; the thing said is ill-suited to the words connected with it, and ill-adapted to the hearers, as it proceeds on the hypothesis, that a sort of solici tude was general among them, which cannot reasonably be supposed to have affected one hundredth part of them. It is a very ingenious, and more than plausible, conjecture of Wet. that Axe, or the ordinary term of life, is here considered under the figure of the stadium, or course gone over by the runners, of which, as it consisted of several hundred cubits, a single cubit was but as one step, and consequently a very small proportion of the whole, and what might not improperly be termed λ= It adds to the credibility of this, that the life of man is once and again distinguished in Scripture by the appellation gomos, the course or ground run over by the racers. This is the more remarkable, and shows how much their ears were accustomed to the trope; as it occurs sometimes in places where no formal comparison to the gymnastic exercises, is made, or even hinted. Thus, Acts xiii. 25. As John fulfilled his course, WG ETANρY TOV δρομον. xx. 24. Neither count I my life dear unto myself, says Paul, so that I might finish my course with joy, wg TeXHWTαι TOV δρομον με. And 2 Tim. iv. 7. I have finished my course, to dgoThe phrase poxos ons YEVEσews, James iii. 6. has nearly the same signification. The uncommon pains which Herod the great had taken to establish gymnastic exercises in the country, to the great scandal of many, had familiarized the peo

χίσου.

μου τετέλεκα.

ple to such idioms. Several critics of name favour this interpretation, amongst whom are Ham. Wet. and Pearce. The An. Hey. Wes. and Wa. adopt it. Some other interpreters give it as a probable version in their notes.

31. Seek ye the kingdom of God, ζητειτε την βασιλείαν το Θεό. Vul. Quærite primum regnum Dei et justitiam ejus. There is no countenance from either MSS. or versions worth mentioning in favour of primum, or of et justitiam ejus.

32. My little flock, to pingov worμvior. E. T. Little flock. We have here the diminutive combined with the adjective Mixgov, little. It is, therefore, an expression of tenderness, at the same time that it suggests the actual smallness of their number. It has also the article, which we never use in the vocative. In our language we cannot better supply the diminutive and the article, than by the possessive pronoun.

35. The Vul. after ardentes, adds in manibus vestris. This variation is peculiar to that version. The Sax. follows the Gr.

E. T. With the un

46. With the faithless, Mera Twv 1715WV. believers. Those are called here as who, in Mt. are called Toxpirar. Both words have great extent of signification. And for the reason given, in the note on that passage, against rendering Toxpira hypocrites, axis ought not here to be rendered unbelievers, but, according to the most common acceptation of the word, the faithless, that is, persons totally unworthy of trust.

49. What would I, but that it were kindled? ri Diaw, is non avnoon; E. T. What will I, if it be already kindled? Vul. Quid volo nisi ut accendatur? Er. Zu. Be. Quid volo, si jam accensus est? Cas. Qui, si jam incensus est, quid volo? It is evident to me, that the sense is better expressed in the Vul, than by any of the modern La. interpreters. The objection which Be. and after him Palairet, make, that the is there translated as if it were ↔ un, is of no moment, since the « in this verse is, by the acknowledgment of the latter, not the hypothetical conjunction, but a particle expressive of a wish. What Gro. says of this rendering is entirely just, "in eo sensum recte expressit, verba non "annumeravit." The very next verse would sufficiently evince the meaning, if there could be a reasonable doubt about it. I have an immersion to undergo, and how am I pained till it be accomplished? Since the advancement of true religion, which

"is_the greatest blessing to mankind, must be attended with 'such unhappy divisions, I even long till they take place.' L. Cl. renders it in the same way with the Vul. Qué souhaite-je, sinon qu'il fut deja enflammé? Here the meaning is expressed with simplicity and modesty, as in the original. But I cannot help disrelishing much the manner in which Dod. and after him Wy. have expressed it, though in the general import it does not differ from the last mentioned. What do I wish? Oh, that it were already kindled! This form of venting a wish, is, in a case like the present, when he knew that the event would soon happen, strongly expressive of impatience. I know not any thing whereby interpreters have more injured the native beauty of the style of Scripture, than by the attempts they have sometimes made to express the sense very emphatically.

58. Το satisfy him, απηλλαχθαι απ' αυτό. E. T. That thou mayest be delivered from him. But a man is delivered from another who makes his escape from him, either by artifice or by force, or who is rescued by another. Now the words delivered from suggest some such method of deliverance, rather than that which is here signified by the term λ, a deliverance with consent. To this the parallel place, Mt. v. 25. also evidently points.

CHAPTER XIII.

9. Perhaps it will bear fruit; if not, thou mayest afterwards cut it down, κ' αν μεν ποίηση καρπον ει δε μήγε, εις το μέλλον εκε κοψεις αυτην. E. T. And if it bear fruit, well; and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down. It is plain, that there is an ellipsis in the Gr.; some word is wanting after xagov to complete the sense. In sentences of the like form, in Gr. writers, when the words wanting are easily supplied by the aid of the context, this figure is not unfrequent: nay, it has sometimes a peculiar energy. As the effect, however, is not the same in modern languages, it is generally thought better to complete the sentence, either by adding the word, or words, wanting, or by making a small alteration on the form of expression. I have preferred the latter of these methods, our translators have followed the former. The difference is not material.