to be left to children to suppose that nothing is original but that which we make up, as the childish phrase is, 'out of our own heads.' Originality in politics, as in every field of art, consists in the use and application of the ideas which we get or are given to us." The writer of the present Notes for the use of National School and Sunday School Teachers has consulted many and diverse authorities, and has assimilated, and exercised an independent judgment, but has not been a mere copyist. He has been led to prepare these Notes, because he has reason to think that teachers will use a volume of short and simple notes, bringing out the sense of God's Word, who have not access to, nor have time and inclination to consult, a voluminous and difficult commentary, itself requiring a commentary. The Greek text has been observed throughout, and in places referred to, in order to clear up the meaning, though words in dead languages are kept out of the Notes. And use has been made of a good many of the (over) 36,000 alterations in the Revised Version, in acknowledgment of "its value as a commentary of a particular kind." 1 As brevity and simplicity have been here studied, only one sense, fairly sustainable, has been given to 1 Should the Revised New Testament be authorised? by Sir Edmund Beckett, Bart., pp. 16, 18. words commented upon. This particular interpretation may be objected to by some, but though (in their opinion) given in error, it is not given in ignorance of other views; and the writer will possibly prefer "defendere delictum quam vertere." It has been thought serviceable to teachers to point out the peculiar narrations of each Evangelist, and "the agreement of their variation." 2 As the writer of these Notes has been Principal of a Training College for twenty years, and six hundred schoolmistresses have been trained under him, he is not without experience of the needs and difficulties of teachers. In view of the prevalent practice in National Schools of reading out a portion of the Word without comment, and, therefore, without an attempt to convey the meaning; and in view of the fact, that often the Word is heard irrationally, and, therefore, irreverently, without attaching any meaning to it at all, it is hoped that teachers may with this volume in the hand be induced to consult the Notes, and make the chosen passage intelligible to the scholars. "Understandest thou what thou readest ?", Philip asked the Ethiopian.3 If life is spared, the writer proposes to annotate other portions of the New Testament for the use of teachers, on whom, however, he would impress the 1 Hor. A. P., 442. 2 The Elements of the Gospel Harmony, by Professor Westcott, p. 26. 3 Acts viii. 30. vital truth that though some man may lend them aid, teachers and pupils, if they would rightly understand the Scriptures, must seek the guidance of the Spirit, and to have the understanding opened by Christ.1 As the Teacher's Bible deals with such topics as "Description of the Holy Land," "Plants of the Bible," etc. etc., but does not treat (except in two pages, in the Analysis of the Sermon on the Mount, and Notes on the Lord's Prayer) of the interpretation of the words, the latter is the only aspect under which the Gospel is treated in these Notes. Hence the frequent citing of places of Scripture pertinent to the text, and elucidating its sense, Scripture thus being interpreted out of itself. And instead of a string of references which are not referred to, the illustrative words are quoted. A short notice of the persons enumerated in the Genealogy is given, as investing this pedigree with some degree of interest, and as counteracting the temptation to regard the names as those of mythical characters. As a help to a devout frame of mind in reading one of the inspired biographies of the Word Incarnate, the Prayers by the Rev. Daniel Moore on the successive chapters of this Gospel, are (by his kind permission) appended to the chapters. It is hoped that they who teach, and they who are 1 Luke xxiv. 45. taught, may be led to pray the Holy Scriptures, as well as read them.1 A word on certain passages:— CHAP. I. 17. The Christ. article is prefixed in Greek, as it is here, this Name, the Christ, points to our Lord as the Messiah, the Anointed One foretold in prophecy, and expected by all them that were looking for the 25. Her firstborn. The belief in the perpetual virginity of the mother of the Lord is adopted, spite of the array of names against it, and of the arguments of a brilliant writer.3 CHAP. II. I. From the East. It is thought unedifying to give CHAP. IV. I. To be tempted of the devil. Amongst the views held on this subject, the idea that Satan appeared "sub schemate γραμματέως quia το γέγραπται ei ter opponitur,” seems as frigid and inadequate as Bishop Pearce's "one dish" for the one thing 23. Sickness and disease. The meaning given is on the authority CHAP. V. I. He went up into a mountain. Sermon on the Mount in this Gospel with CHAP. VI. 22. The light of the body. As to these words, capable of being taken in various senses, and with various applica- tions-e.g. to singleness of purpose,1 a specific sense seems preferable to a general one, as that the light stands for the reason of man.2 28. Lilies. As only a religious reading of the Word is here designed, the botanical question as to whether the lily be the Lilium candidum, or Lilium chalcedonicum, or the Amaryllis lutea, is passed over. CHAP. VIII. 2. There came a leper. The doubt as to when the Lord wrought this miracle is not noticed.3 CHAP. XXIII. 35. Barachias. If the solution of the difficulty as to Barachias seem fanciful, it is not easy to see a better.1 CHAP. XXVI. 7. Alabaster box. Exception has been taken to R.V. " cruse: "But what is a cruse? Their (Revisionists') marginal note says, 'or a flask,' but once more, what is a flask ?"5 Yet Hammond understands by the áλáßaσrрov a vase or cruse. CHAP. XXVII. 3. Judas . . . repented himself. "A predominant use of one and of the other (μετάνοια and μεταμέλεια) can very clearly be traced." "Have you considered the infinite difference between sin as a particular act, and sin as a state or habit, of which the sin is a mere sign or effect? And then what can it avail if the sin should be forgiven, . so long as sin-the cause, the root, the fountainremains? Then as to repentance. It is often used for the compunction with which one may reflect on a particular sin. Whether such a compunction procures the forgiveness of the sin seems to me 1. Quesnel in loc. 2Light signifies that small portion of reason which continues to exist in men since the fall of Adam: and darkness signifies gross and brutal affections."-Calvin, Harmony of the Evangelists, vol. i. p. 336. The question is well discussed in The First Twelve Chapters of the Gospel according to S. Matthew, in the received Greek Text, by the late Rev. J. Forshall. 4 Bishop Wordsworth, Greek Testament, in loc. 5 Quarterly Review, Jan. 1882, p. 48. 6 Archbishop Trench, New Testament Synonyms, p. 257. |