claiming the glad tidings of the reign of God." This conveys to us at this moment, the same ideas which, in those circumstances, must have been conveyed by the words of the sacred historian into the mind of every Jewish reader at the time.

13. On the contrary, the expression in the vulgar translation, "preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God," must have been to such a reader unintelligible; as even to us, when we abstract from the familiarity occasioned by custom, which is apt to impose upon us, it appears both obscure and improper. Castalio in one place (Matt. iv. 23.) departs, if possible, still further from the sense, rendering it regium publican sevangelium," publishing the royal gospel." Not to mention the futility of the term royal, applied in a way which renders it a mere expletive, the very subject published Baoiλɛia, the reign, is justled out to make room for a splendid and unmeaning epithet. Our Lord, we find from the Evangelists, spoke to his countrymen in the dialect of their own Scriptures, and used those names to which the reading of the Law and the Prophets, either in the original or in the versions, then used, had familiarized them. Our translators, and indeed most European translators, represent him as using words which, even in their own translations of the Old Testament, never occur, and to which in fact there is nothing there that corresponds in meaning. The people had all heard of the reign of the Messiah, to be established in the latter times; and considered the arrival of that period as the happiest tidings with which they could be made acquainted. But of the gospel they had never heard before. "What is this you call the gospel?" they would naturally ask; "and what does the gospel of a kingdom mean? These are words to which our ears are strangers. No mention is made of such things in the Law, in the Prophets, or in the Psalms."

14. Now, if the terms must have been altogether unintelligible to Jews, they are even to us Christians both obscure and improper. First, obscure, because indefinite. It does not appear easy, in such circumstances as those under consideration, to assign a precise meaning to the word gospel. We commonly understand by it the whole religious institution of Jesus, including both doctrines and precepts. Nothing can be plainer than that this is not the meaning of the term here. The very words which were preached or promulgated, are expressly mentioned and comprised in a single sentence: Μετανοείτε ήγγικε γαρ ἡ βασιλεια των oupavov. Besides, the apostles, who in our Lord's lifetime received this commission, were not yet qualified for teaching the system of doctrine implied under the name gospel, because in fact they did not know it themselves. They had no notion of a Messiah, but as a temporal prince and a mighty conqueror: or of his kingdom, but as a secular monarchy, more extensive than, but of the same nature with those which had preceded, to wit, the Assyrian, the Persian, the Macedonian empires, or that which was in being

at the time, the Roman. Not one of their hearers could have been more prejudiced than the apostles themselves were, at that time, against a suffering Saviour, who was to expire in agonies and infamy on the cross.

Now, let people but coolly reflect, and then put the question to themselves; If we set aside these important truths, the death, and consequently the resurrection of Jesus Christ, his victory over the enemies of our salvation, and his purchase of spiritual and eternal blessings by his blood, of all which the apostles were then ignorant, and against most of which, when first informed of them, they were as much prejudiced as any Pharisee, what will remain of that which we denominate the Gospel in contradistinction to Judaism? The doctrine of the gospel is, manifestly, what the apostles were not qualified to teach, till they were enlightened by the descent of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, after our Lord's ascension. Nay, they were, after his resurrection, when they knew more than formerly, expressly commanded, before they should attempt to teach that doctrine, to wait the promised illumination from above; Acts i. 4, 8. But they had been long before sufficiently qualified to announce the approach of this dispensation, and to warn men to forsake their sins, and to prepare for the appearance of their Lord and King. Further, if the term gospel here be rather indefinite, how does this addition, of the kingdom, serve either to illustrate or to limit the import of that term? And an addition which answers neither of these purposes, cannot fail still further to darken it.

15. But, secondly, that expression in our language is, in those instances, also improper; because there is no meaning which use has affixed to the English word gospel, that expresses the sense of the original. And as it has been shown that our term does not there suit the word Evayyeλtov, I mean afterward to show that the word preaching does not exactly convey the sense of κηρύσσων. At the same time it is acknowledged, on the other hand, that the word evayyedcov is in many places in the Epistles of Paul, rightly rendered gospel. But this is manifestly, as has been shown, a secondary sense of later date.

16. I observed, that when the word Evayyeλtov is construed with a noun serving to limit or explain its nature, it ought to be rendered good news. But every regimen is not to be understood as serving this purpose. Thus when it is followed with Ιησου Χριστου with του Κυρίου, οι του Θεου, which denote the author, it is justly regarded as a name for the dispensation, and properly rendered gospel. In the phrase το ευαγγέλιον του Χριστου, not preceded by Incov, the regimen may denote either the author or the subject. In the first view it is, "the gospel of Christ," that is, instituted by him; in the second, "the good news of the Messiah," that is, concerning him. There are, perhaps, a few other cases in which the choice may be a matter of indifference. But. in most

cases, the regimen ascertains the sense. Thus, to evayyeλɩov TNS unvns, Eph. vi. 15, can be no other than "the good news of peace." The addition plainly indicates the subject. For the same reason, το ευαγγελιον της χαριτος του Θεου, Acts xx. 24, is “ the good news of the favour of God ;" το ευαγγελιον της σωτηρίας vuov, Eph. i. 13, "the good news of your salvation." The words in the common version, "the gospel of your salvation," are mere words, and convey no meaning to English ears. The second case, wherein the word always may, and commonly should be rendered good news, and not gospel, is, when it is construed with Knovσow, I proclaim or publish. The justness of this observation will be manifest, from what I shall afterward observe on the import of that word in the Gospels and Acts.

17. The third case is, when it clearly refers to a different subject from what is commonly with us denominated the gospel. Under this, perhaps, may be ranked some of the examples which also come under the first case mentioned. For instance, To ɛvayγέλιον της σωτηριας ύμων, “the good news of your salvation.” For here the tidings to which the apostle refers was not the embassy itself of peace by Jesus Christ; but it was the cordial reception which the Ephesians had given to that embassy, and which was to him who loved them good news, because a pledge of their salvation. Under the same case also, in my opinion, we ought to class that famous passage in the Apocalypse, (xiv. 6, 7,) "I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel," (so are the words exovтa Evayyedɩov alwviov rendered in the common version,) "to preach to them that dwell on the earth; and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come, and worship him," &c. My reasons are, first, We are expressly informed what the angel had to proclaim, Kηovσov, which is all contained in the 7th verse, and relates to a particular event long posterior to the first propagation of the gospel, namely, the vengeance God would take on the persecutors of his church, expressed in these words, "The hour of his judgment is come.' The rest of the verse is to be understood merely as a warning naturally suggested by the occasion. Nor let it be urged, that the approach of the hour of judgment looks rather like bad news than good. It frequently holds, that the tidings which to one are the most doleful, are to another the most joyous. The visions and prophecies of that book are all directed to the churches of Christ, and intended for their use. To crush their enemies was to relieve the churches: the defeat of the one was the victory of the other. Secondly, What the angel had to promulgate, is not called To Evayyɛλiov, as the word is almost uniformly used when referring to the Christian dispensation, but simply evayyedov; not the gospel, the institution of Christ-not that which is emphatically styled the good news but barely good

news. It is styled awviov, everlasting, with the same propriety, and in the same latitude, as things of long duration, or of permanent consequences, are often in Scripture so denominated.

18. Again, let it be observed, that by the English word gospel, we do not always mean precisely the same thing. The predominant sense is doubtless the religious institution of Jesus Christ. But this is not invariably its meaning. Early in the church the word Evayyedcov was employed to denote, and in one passage of the New Testament actually denotes the history of the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of the Son of God. It is in this sense that the four histories or narratives, written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, containing memoirs of that extraordinary Personage, have, from the earliest antiquity, been titled ɛvayyɛdia, gospels. The word is thus used by Mark, (i. 1,) Apxη тоν εvayyελιου Ιησου Χριστου, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” I confess, however, that it would not be easy to decide, whether this ought to be accounted part of the sacred text, or a title afterward prefixed, (as were the names of the penmen by some of the first transcribers,) which may have been inadvertently admitted into the text. But whether this application be scriptural or not, it is very ancient, and has obtained universally in the church. The English word has precisely the same application. It may be proper here to remark, that though the Greek word evayyεdiov has been adopted by the Syriac interpreters, yet, in the historical part, they admit it only into the titles of the Four Gospels in the sense last mentioned, and into the first verse of Mark's Gospel, where the sense is the same. Their use of the Greek word in these places is exactly similar to the use which our translators have made of the words of the Septuagint, Genesis and Exodus, which serve for names to the two first books of the Pentateuch, but which they have never employed in the body of the work, where the words yeveσis and εodos occur in that version. Thus, in every other passage of the Gospel and Acts, evayyɛλɩov is rendered no sabartha, a plain Syriac word of the same signification and similar origin. In this the Syriac interpreters appear to have acted more judiciously than the Latin, as they have been sensible of the impropriety of darkening some of the plainest, but most important declarations, by the unnecessary introduction of an exotic term which had no meaning, or at least not the proper meaning in their language. In Paul's Epistles, I acknowledge, they have several times adopted the Greek word; but let it be observed, that in these the term evayyɛλiov is frequently employed in a different sense. This has in part appeared already, but will be still more evident from what immediately follows.

19. The fourth sense of evayyɛλtov in the New Testament is the ministry of the Gospel. In this acceptation I find the word used oftener than once by the apostle Paul. Thus, Rom. i. 9, "God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit, in the gospel of

his Son," EV TQ Evayyed, that is, in the ministry of the gospel, or in dispensing the gospel of his Son. This is one of the passages in which the Syriac interpreter has retained the original word. In another place, "What is my reward then? Verily, that when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ, To εVAYYEλLOV, without charge," 1 Cor. ix. 18; that is, that the ministry of the gospel of Christ may not by me be rendered chargeable. This the context plainly shows; for this is the only expense he is here speaking of. I think, for perspicuity's sake, the word ministry should have been used in the translation, as the English name. gospel hardly admits this meaning. Nor are these the only places wherein the word has this signification; see 2 Cor. viii. 18, and Phil. iv. 15.

20. I observe also, in the Epistles of this apostle, a fifth meaning, or at least a particular application of the first general meaning, good news. It sometimes denotes, not the whole Christian dispensation, but some particular doctrine or promise specially meriting that denomination. In this sense Paul uses the word, writing to the Galatians, (ii. 2.) The particular doctrine to which he gives the pertinent appellation, evayyeλiov, good news, is the free admission of the Gentiles into the church of Christ, without subjecting them to circumcision and the other ceremonies of the law. This, considering the Jewish prejudices at that time, accounts for the reserve which he used at Jerusalem, where, by his own representation, he imparted privately to the disciples of chief distinction, and consequently of the most enlarged knowledge and sentiments, that doctrine which he publicly proclaimed in Gentile countries. I think it is this which the apostle sometimes, by way of distinction, denominates his gospel. For though there was no discordancy in the doctrine taught by the different apostles, yet to him and Barnabas, the apostles of the uncircumcision, it was specially committed to announce everywhere among the heathen, God's gracious purpose of receiving them, uncircumcised as they were, into the church of Christ. Accordingly, as he proceeds in his argument, the gospel or good news, evayyedɩov, sent to the Gentiles, is expressly contrasted with that sent to the Jews; Gal. ii, 7.

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This seems also to be the sense of the word in another passage, (Rom. xvi. 25,) where what he calls To Evayyeλov μov, he describes as μυστηριον χρονοις αιωνίοις σεσιγημένον, kept secret for ages," but now made known to all nations for the obedience of the faith. For in this manner he oftener than once speaks of the call of the Gentiles. In all such passages, it is better to retain the general term good news in the version. This appellation is, in some respect, evidently applicable to them all, whereas the term gospel is never thus understood in our language.