not, and after receiving the report of the disciples, that he gave thanks to the Father, and declared of himself: All things are delivered unto me of my Father, and no one know eth the Son, or who the son is, but the Father; neither knoweth any one the Father, or who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. In interpret ing these words of the will of the Father, and of the prophetic commission of the Son, which might seem to be countenanced by the blessedness pronounced in St. Luke's narrative, on those who heard and saw the things which were plain to the disciples of Jesus, but which others had in vain desired to know, there is a wide departure from the plain meaning of the words, nor was it true, even at the time the words were spoken, that the commission of the Son was unknown to any but the Father. Applied to the mysterious and inscrutable nature of the Father and the Son, they announce a verity in all ages, of which the Church has no knowledge but by the revelation of the Son. There is a passage in the Gospel of St. John, which may be alleged as throwing considerable light on this obscure and difficult text: Jesus said, If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also, and from henceforth ye know him and have seen him. Philip, referring to the visible manifestations of the divine glory under the law, said, Lord, shew us the' Father and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him: Have I been so long with you, and hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father, and how sayest thou then, show us the Father? Believe me, that I am in the Father and the Father in me; the words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself, and the Father, that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. On another occasion he said: He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me, and he that seeth me, "In the body of Christ, as opposed to the We are to consider him therefore as One, who for his nature and for his works is rightly designated the Wonderful, the image of the invisible God, the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person. Jesus, may be placed the raising of Among the miraculous works of the dead, under circumstances very extraordinary, and illustrative of divine power. The widow's son at Nain, though he was carried to his burial, was raised in an instant by the powerful word of him who said, young man, I say unto thee, arise. And there came a great fear upon all, and they glorified God, saying, that a great prophet is risen up among us, and that God hath visited his people. Lazarus was still more remarkable. The restoration of He had been dead four days, at which time the body usually began informed of his sickness, he took to putrify, and though Jesus was no other notice of it, than to observe, this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby. Such was his avowed knowledge of human contingencies. When he came to the place where he was, Martha declared, that if he had been there, her brother would not have died, and her persuasion corresponded with that of the peo ple, that he who opened the eyes of the blind could have caused, that even this man should not have died. So strong was their belief of his power over life and death. Jesus, to comfort Martha, and in answer to her declaration, that even now, whatsoever he would ask of God, God would give it to him, said, Thy brother shall rise again, Martha said, I know, that he shall rise again at the last day. Jesus not only confirms this doctrine which he had taught and illustrated, but declares of himself, I am the resurrection and the life, he that believeth in me, even if he die, shall live, and every one that liveth and believeth in me, shall not die for ever, Believest thou this? She saith unto him, yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, who should come into the world. When he came to the tomb, Jesus lifted up his voice and said, Father I thank thee, that thou hast heard me, and I know that thou hearest me always, but because of the people, which stand by, I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he had thus spoken, he said Lazarus come forth, and he that was dead came forth. These actions of his ministry may explain his saying of himself: As the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will, The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live, for as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. In reference to the same power, the Apostle exhorts the Philippians to look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile bodies, that they may be like unto bis glorious body, according to the ighty working whereby he is able to subdue even all things to him self: and he not only calls Christ the second Adam, a title appropriate to him who was not born of earthly parentage, but he contrasts his nature with the first Adam, saying, The first Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. And thus it was written, not in the volumes of authentic Scripture, but of antient tradition, from which Mr. Blom. field has extracted the excellent comment: "The Word of Jehovah said, Here, Adam, whom I created, is the only-begotten Son in the world, as I am the only-begotten Son in the high heaven." This comment explains St. Paul's comparison of Adam and Christ, and St. John's allusion to the Word, as the only begotten of the Father: and it proves that the title the Word, was of Jewish origin, and was used to designate a person distinct from the Father. The argument may be concluded with the sublime description which the glorified Jesus gives of himself in the Apocalypse: I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I live for evermore; Amen, and have the keys of hell and of death. AUTHORIZED VERSION OF THE BIBLE defended. Mr. Editor, THE first Article in your Number for July is "Remarks on the inadequate Translation of the first Aorist and the perfect Tense of the passive Voice in the authorized Version of the New Testament." The writer, in proceeding to allege instances of this "inadequate translation," adduces a sentence from the Liturgy, and says numerous other instances may be found there, justifying the assertion, that the participle" being" is used for the compound perfect "having been," and the present "am" for the perfect have been;" and that the phraseology of our Translators is, in these respects, "now obsolete." All this, I must confess, to me appears extremely doubtful, or rather perfectly erro neous. In English, as in Latin, there is no present participle in the passive voice; and though in Lily's Grammar, prior to our present translation of the Bible," they are loved" is the current translation of “amantur;" yet, strictly speaking, all our passive participles, whether ending in ed or en, are, as they are called, preterites; and if I wished to exhibit correctly in English the Latin verberor, or the Greek Turloμap, it can, I believe, only be done by a present participle in the active voice, joined to a noun: "I am receiving stripes." How then is time past expressed in these languages? By combining together two ideas apparently incompatible; by coupling a past event, operation, or passion, with a present verb; and this mode, which necessity introduced, custom has familiarized and sanctioned. "Factum est," 29 66 scriptum est," "it is done, made, written," &c. "Scilicet et rerum facta est pulcherrima Roma." "It was once committed to writing;" "Roma condenda erat:" the imperial city was once in the state or progress of being built; and what was written, built, &c. remains. But in all these cases the notion of time past does not arise from a present verb, or present participle, "being" for having been," or "am" for "have been," but from the preterite participle, factum, or scriptum, what has been done, what has been written. If we now advert to one of the texts quoted by the Remarker, among them that are sanctified by faith in me," (Acts xxvi. 18.) this might be understood as the English of ayiacortar, sanctificantur, or of yata eo, sanctificati sunt; and since the beginning, the progress, and the completion of sanctification, is by faith in Christ, the doctrine is, either way, sound and good; but the original Greek, er tais nyiaσmeros, admits of one sense only, "among those who have been sanctified," have been admitted or received into a state of sanctification. I agree, then, entirely with the Remarker, that the texts, which he alleges, are, all of them, in the original, in time past; but I differ from him in accounting for the form of expression, by which they are rendered in our English version; and I conceive that our language, in this case, has undergone no change whatsoever; and if, through the defect of our language, in such instances as ye are saved,” it is doubtful whether past or present time is intended, (servamini, or, as Beza properly renders it "estis servati,") and can only be determined from the connection and necessary sense of the passage; the very same ambiguity, so far as I can discover, existed formerly. To some of the translations, here given as more correct, I cannot accede. For instance, "Ye are they that have been saved by grace,” is the translation of ύμεις εσε Οι хадить σεσωσμένοι, (as, ὑμεις δε ετε Οι διαμεμε olas, Luke xxii. 28. "Ye are they which have continued,") not' of the real reading, (Eph. ii. 5. 8.) xag επε σεσωσμένοι" which is accurately translated, “By grace ye are saved ;” taking saved to be, as it properly is, a preterite participle; and if this is, and always has been, ambiguous, the ambiguity, unavoidable, perhaps, in any literal translation, is easily obviated in a paraphrase: "By grace ye have been admitted into a state of salvation, and are in that state." The proper use and sense of the term Being has been perplexed by disputes. It is indisputably a present participle, and the appropriate term in English for expressing the case absolute. "Pontius Pilate being governour (yeμorevon✪) of Judea the word of God came unto John in the wilderness," (Luke iii. 1, 2.) When used, as it often is, in prayer, it is not, nor, from the nature of it, (supposing a thing, not imploring it) can be precative, but introduces or lays down some clause or condition, on which a subsequent petition (for it is always followed by a petition) is grounded; and, instead of" referring invariably," as the Archdeacon of Ely is "inclined to believe," to a "future benefit," it would seem, from what has been said, that the very reverse is rather the truth; that when combined, as it commonly is, with a past participle in the passive voice, it never refers to a future benefit. However, that the worthy Arch. deacon, if he chance to see this, may not be alarmed more than necessary, we observe, that the benefit, introduced by the term, may, at the time of offering the prayer, be either past, or present, or future; but if future, it is contemplated as granted, and therefore past, before and in order to, the following petition, which is grounded on it. A few instances will make the matter clear; and I place at the bead of them one with a noun, which will illustrate and confirm the corresponding sense, where a participle is used. Grant, O Lord, that we being thy servants," (that is inasmuch as we are thy servants) " may serve thee faithfully." In the song of Zacharias," that we being delivered," is in the same form, and in past time, evarlas, "might serve him without fear,” (Luke i. 74.) The following series of examples are chiefly from the Collects; and I give them as they occur, whether they are such as clearly corroborate the explanation now given, or such as some may endeavour to bend to a different meaning. "Grant that we, being regenerate, may daily be renewed," (Collect for Nativity.) If regenerate, like other words of that form, as create, uncreate, &c. is strictly a verbal adjective, not a participle, it is used, however, as they are, for the preterite participle, regenerated; and therefore, by the very form of expression, as well as by the clause subjoined to it, "made thy children by adoption and grace," (that is, having been adopted in baptism,) refers to a past event. Accordingly, in the Greek translation of the Liturgy, by the celebrated Whitaker, of Cambridge, published in 1569, as well as in the Latin version, set forth by the Queen's authority a few years before, (the work, I believe, of the admired Latinist, Walter Haddon,) which he printed with it, both clauses are rendered by participles in the past time : σε ένα ήμεις της παλιγγενεσίας Προσαψα μενοι, και τα σα τεκνα δι ηοθεσίας και xg som ut nos regenerati filiique tui per regenerationem et gratiam facti." "Grant that we may look up to heaven, and, being filled with the Holy Ghost, may learn to bless our persecutors," (St. Stephen.) "That our hearts being mortified we may in all things obey," (Circumcision.) "Increase and multiply upon us thy mercy, that, thou being our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal," (4 Trin.) "Grant that we being called by thy holy word, may forthwith give up ourselves obediently to fulfil thy holy commandments," (St. Andrew.) "Grant that thy Church, being alway preserved from false apostles, may be ordered and guided by faithful and true pastors," (St. Matthias.) "Wash it, we pray thee, that whatsoever defilements it may have contracted, being purged and done away, it may be presented pure and without spot," (Commend. Prayer, Visit. of Sick.) That we, being delivered from this distress, may live to serve thee," (2d Collect "For which we, now in Storm.) being in safety, do give all praise," (2d Thanksgiving after Storm.) "Be thou still our mighty Protector-strengthen, &c. that our gracious sovereign, and his realms, being preserved and protected, we may all duly serve thee," (2d Collect after Litany, Gunpowder Treason.) In the form for receiving children that have been privately baptized, "Give thy Holy Spirit to this infant, that he being born again, and being made an heir of everlasting salvation, may continue thy servant," clearly referring to the baptism previously administered. "That he, being delivered from thy wrath, may be received into the ark of Christ's Church," (1 Coll. Public Baptism.) Deliverance from sin, or, which is the same thing, from divine wrath, is the first step, and reception into the Church is the second; second in order and in the nature of the case, though both conferred alike in baptism. I give a single instance from St. Paul: "That ye being rooted and grounded," (clearly denoting time past, according to the original, ζωμενοι και τεθεμελιωμενοι) " may be able to comprehend, and know the love of Christ," (Eph. iii. 17, 18.) Other examples, were not the list already too large, might easily be adduced, both from the Liturgy and from Scripture. We may observe upon them in general, that the present participle, being, coupled with a past participle, as "delivered, born, risen," &c. universally designates a time or event which is past; which therefore, as such, cannot be the subject of prayer, but is introduced as the ground of a petition or prayer subjoined to it. This, however, we may concede, that when the event or condition, thus supposed, is subsequent to the time of uttering the prayer, the supplicant may, in uttering the clause, accompany it with a tacit petition, or desire, that it may be accomplished. When a storm rages, the first petition naturally is, that it may be quelled : "O send the word of thy command to rebuke the raging winds and roaring seas:" and when the supplicant goes on to implore a further blessing, laying down deliverance as the condition or ground this distress, may live to serve thee," of it," that we, being delivered from he probably accompanies it with a silent but fervent wish, that the condition itself may be granted, " and oh! that we may be delivered!" but the clause, in itself, neither is nor can be a petition, being clearly indicative of time past. In the Book of Homilies, the first part of the Sermon for Whitsunday thus concludes: "In the mean season, let us (as we are most bound) give hearty thanks to God sending down his Comforter into the world, the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ, for humbly beseeching him, so to work in our hearts by the power of this Holy Spirit, that we being regenerate and newly born again in all goodness, righteousness, sobriety, and truth, may in the end be made partakers of everlasting life in his heavenly and Saviour. Amen." kingdom, through Jesus Christ our Lord Now whether the author of this Homily here intended the new birth in baptism, inceptive of all spiritual life, as the natural birth is inceptive of our natural life; or whether, contrary to the general usage of our Church and our early divines, as also in violation of the proper sense of the words, (for being born evidently means having been born) by the terms " regenerate and newly born again," he meant progressive renovation, going on from baptism to death, the clause, like all those before adduced, is not precative, but the foundation of the prayer which follows, "that having walked in all sobriety and truth, we may in the end be made partakers of everlasting life." A. R. M. |