Biblical Criticism.

By Rev. CHARLES WILLS, M.A.

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.-EMENDATIVE RENDERINGS.

Chapter xxiii. 1.-And Paul, steadfastly looking at the council, said, Men [avdpes], brethren, I [emphatic] in all good conscience have conducted myself before God until this day. 2. But the high priest Ananias ordered them that stood by him to strike his mouth. 3. Then Paul said to him, God shall strike thee, O whitewashed wall: What, dost thou [ov] sit judging me according to the law, and transgressing law commandest me to be struck? 4. And they that stood by said, Railest thou at the high priest of God? 5. And Paul said, I knew not, brethren, that it was the high priest: for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the chief of thy people. 6. But Paul, knowing that the one part were of the Sadducees, and the other of the Pharisees, cried in the council, Men [avdpes], brethren, I [emphatic] am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees: concerning hope and resurrection of the dead I [emphatic] am judged. 7. And when he had said this, there arose a discord of the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the multitude was divided. 8. For while Sadducees say there is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit, Pharisees confess the both. 9. And there arose a great cry and Scribes of the part of the Pharisees, rising up, strove greatly, saying, No evil find we in this man; what if a spirit or an angel spoke to him? 10. And great discord arising, the præfect, fearing lest Paul would be torn asunder by them, commanded the soldiery to go down and snatch him from the midst of them, and bring [him] into the fort. 11. And in the following night, the Lord standing by him, said, Be of good cheer; for as thou fully barest witness of the things concerning me at Jerusalem, so thou must bear witness at Rome also. 12. And when the day was come, the Jews having made a covenant, cursed themselves, saying they would neither eat nor drink

until that they had killed Paul. 13. And there were more than forty who had made this conjuration. 14. Who coming to the chief priests and the elders, said, With a curse we cursed ourselves, to taste nothing until we kill Paul. 15. Now therefore do ye [emphatic] with the council, show to the prefect that he bring him down to you, as if ye were going to examine more exactly the things concerning him and we [emphatic] before he has come near, are ready to slay him. 16. And the son of Paul's sister having heard of the lying in wait, approaching and coming into the fort, he announced [it] to Paul. 17. And Paul having called to [him] one of the centurions, said, Bring this youth to the præfect, for he has something to announce to him. 18. He then taking him with [him] brought [him] to the præfect, and says, The prisoner Paul having called me to [him] asked [me] to bring this young man to thee, having something to speak to thee. 19. And the præfect taking hold of his hand, and withdrawing by themselves inquired, What is it that thou hast to announce to me? 20. And he said, The Jews agreed together to ask thee, that to-morrow thou wouldest bring Paul down to the council, as if thou wert going to inquire something more exactly concern ing him. 21. Thou [emphatic] then be not persuaded by them; for there lie in wait for him of them men [avopes] more than forty, who cursed themselves neither to eat nor drink until they slay him; and now they are ready, waiting for the promise from thee. 22. The project then dismissed the young man, haring charged him to speak out to no one, that thou shorcedst these things to me. 23. And having called to [him] certain two of the centurions he said, Make ready two hundred soldiers, that they may go as far as Caesarea, and horsemen secenty, and lancers two hundred, from the third hour of the night. 24. And furnish beasts, that having set Paul on, they may bring him safe to Felix the governor :* 25. Having written an epistle containing this form: 26. Claudius Lysias

* Some manuscripts interpolate the following between verses 24 and 25:-For he feared lest the Jews should snatch and kill him, and ho himself be slandered, as about to receive a bribe.

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to the most excellent governor Felix, greeting: 27. This man [avdpa] having been seized by the Jews, and about to be slain by them, coming on with the soldiery I took away, having learnt that he was a Roman. 28. And wishing to know fully the reason for which they accused him, I brought him down to their council: 29. Whom I found accused concerning questions of their law, but having no accusation worthy of death or of bonds: 30. But a plot having been disclosed to me as in course against the man [avdpa], at once I sent [him] to thee, having commanded also to the accusers that they should speak before thee. 31. Then the soldiers, according to what had been ordered them, having taken up Paul, brought him by night to Antipatris. 32. And on the morrow, having Jeft the horsemen to go with him, they returned into the fort: 33. Who having come into Cæsarea, and given up the epistle to the governor, presented also Paul to him. 34. And having read, and asked of [him] of what præfecture he was, and found that [it was] from Cilicia, 35. I will hear thee fully, said he, when also thy accusers are come; commanding [him] to be kept in the palace of Herod.

Misapplied Texts.

By the Rev. THOS. SCOTT, M.A., Rector of Wappenham, Towcester.

W

(No. II.)

1 Cor. vii. 32, xv. 50; Jas. iii. 17.

E are about to remark upon two or three instances, which have lately come under our notice, of erroneous use of passages of Scripture-instances certainly not very important, and assuredly very easy to correct. One of them amused us a good deal from its obviousness of error. It occurred in conversation, and the object of the speaker was to guard young ministers of small income against over scrupulosity as to marriage without due provision for the expenses likely to ensue. Be not too particular, it was urged. Trust

in Providence; take the steps which seem needful to your comfort. Did not St. Paul himself say, "I would have you without carefulness."

We need scarcely say, that this is exactly opposite to the teaching of the apostle. The passage referred to is 1 Cor. vii. 32. Θέλω δὲ ὑμᾶς ἀμερίμνους εἶναι. His meaning is not, "I would have you without carefulness," at least in the modern sense of that word, which now seems to mean prudence, heed, looking forward to the future-but "I would have you without care"-without anxiety, without worldly distraction. And in order to produce freedom from care, he, in fact, enjoins the presence of carefulness, and particularly presses upon them, especially during the present trouble, to avoid that frequent source of wretched anxiety, a hasty marriage-in fact, perhaps marriage altogether.

Another instance of careless quotation occurred in a sermon we lately heard, and from a good man, and not a bad preacher. He was preaching, with much force on our need of spiritual renewal on the thorough change of character required before we could be pleasing to a holy God, and, still more, before we could be fitted for his heavenly kingdom. And then came his error. He brought in to prove his point, and with a good deal of energy, both of word and manner, like a lawyer introducing a witness of much importance to his cause, the following text: (1 Cor. xv. 50)-"Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption." Nothing could be more true or more important than the proposition which he maintained; yet it was likely to lose credit rather than to gain it through the irrelevance of his proof. We here do not need verbal criticism. The thing is determined by the context. The meaning evidently is, that the present organism of the body, suited though it be to the purposes of our earthly life, is entirely inconsistent with, entirely unfit for the requirements of the future heavenly life. It might possibly be argued that in the preceding verse it had been said, "As we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly;" and that this was spoken of the moral nature of the first Adam, and of the second. A careful examination, however, of the apostle's argument would show that he was not speaking of moral resemblance, but of bodily organism. We would not, of course, deny the connection between the present regeneration of the soul, and the ultimate regenera

tion of the body. We would simply adopt the beautiful paraphrase of Jerome, quoted by Wordsworth :-"Tamdiu regnum Dei non possidebunt quamdiu caro tantum sanguisque permanserint. Quam autem corruptionem induerit incorrup tionem, quæ prius gravi pondere premebatur in terram, acceptis Spiritûs pennis et immutationis non abolitionis nova gloriâ volabit ad cœlum."*

The third case of error, or of approach to error which we shall notice, is, perhaps, not so usually met with now as it was twenty years ago. It was then not uncommon to take James iii. 17, and to interpret it as if it meant that the "wisdom from above" could not be "peaceable" while all around it was "pure"-that the first business of true wisdom was to ascertain that the doctrine of those with whom we might be conversant was right, and then, and not till then, that it would lead us to peaceable communion with them. Now, how far this opinion is in itself true, or how far it will need modification before it be accepted, we will not pretend to say; but will only assert, what few now-a-days will be disposed to deny, that it is not here stated by St. James. What he says of the wisdom from above, is this :-ρŵTOV μÈv åyvý ἐστιν, ἔπειτα εἰρηνική. St. James had been speaking of the pretended wisdom of some whom he had been censuring, and had pronounced it "earthly, sensual, devilish." He had added, "where envy and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work." With this he contrasts the true wisdom from above; the false wisdom is sensual (vxıǹ); this is pure (ay); the false wisdom is jealous, envious, contentious; this is peaceable (cipηvin), subtle, and easy to be entreated; the word pure (ay) does not mean correct in doctrine, free from error (though this, certainly, might be said of heavenly wisdom), but free from sensuality, opposed to every defilement, μηδενὰς τῶν σαρκικῶν ἀντεχομένη (clinging to nought of the carnal). We would not deny the moral truth of this application often formerly made of this text (though we think it was often so urged as to foster an over controversial spirit); we would merely say that the text itself holds out no warrant for it.

They will occupy the kingdom of God as long as they continue merely flesh and blood; but when corruption has put on incorruption, the soul, which formerly was weighed down to earth, on receiving the wings of the Spirit, and the new glory of a complete change yet not of extinction, will soar aloft to heaven.