stretching out his arms to be nailed to the crossbeam of the cross (John xxi. 18); observes that condemned persons were generally mocked by the crowd (Matt. xx. 19); and sometimes were stoned to death (Matt. xxi. 35); and that persons about to be crucified carried their own cross to the place of execution (Matt. xvi. 24). He alludes to councils and to courts of justice; some are sued at law and summoned before the courts; speaks of the adversaries or parties in any given case, the witnesses, the officers, the judge, the law itself in general, and the particular law of divorce, together with the legal instrument which the wife was to receive from her husband in case she was divorced from him (Matt. v. 22, 25, 31, 40; x. 17).1 The classes of persons of whom he speaks, or with whom he had intercourse, are also very numerous: Caesar, Herod, and John the Baptist; Pharisees, Sadduces, Herodians, and Scribes; military officers, soldiers, and sailors; travellers, collectors of the public revenue, and those who collected the yearly tax for the Temple; civil rulers and rulers of the synagogues; men of the Sanhedrin, lawyers, magistrates, judges, and other officers of the law; rich men and beggars; fishermen and carpenters; merchants and tradespeople; all sorts of laborers, slaves, and serving men and women; dancing boys and girls of the street and market-places; eunuchs, prodigal sons, and harlots; Syrophoenicians, Greeks, and Romans; ambassadors and landlords; stewards, agents, and overseers; widows, orphans, and little children; physicians and the long list of the wretched-those possessed with devils, those sick with a fever, those with withered hands, the lunatic, the palsied, the blind, the deaf, the dumb, the lame, and the leper. His attention rested to some extent, as would be natural, on matters pertaining to building. He observes that some cities are built upon hill-tops, and are seen from afar (Matt. 1 Christ referred also to the spear-wound in his side, and the nail-wounds in his hands (John xx. 27); in his crucifixion he experienced some of the acts by which persons about to be executed were mocked; blindfolding, spitting in the face, striking with the fist, and words of insult and abuse. v. 14); much digging is first necessary, in order to reach a rock foundation (Matt. xvi. 18; Luke vi. 48); some stone which is being raised to its place falls by accident, and one or more workmen are crushed thereby (Matt. xxi. 44). His eye rests upon some proposed corner-stone which the workmen had pronounced unsuitable (Matt. xii. 42). He speaks of the common tower of the vineyards, and of the more elegant and expensive structure of some nobleman (Mark xxi. 1; Luke xiv. 28); of storehouses and barns, and stalls for cattle (Luke xii. 18; xiii. 15); floods and winds cannot move the house which is built on a rock, whilst the first heavy gale destroys the one that is built on the sand (Matt. vii. 24-27). Christ walked sometimes in Solomon's porch, and observed the Temple, the "goodly stones" of which it was built, and also the gold and other rich furnishings with which it was adorned (Matt. xxiii. 16; xxiv. 2; John x. 23). In this connection, it may be added that he alludes to the gates of Jerusalem, the wide and narrow ways, the ditches by the roadside where the blind are liable to fall, the streets, lanes, highways, and hedges, and even to the stones of the streets over which men and beasts stumbled (Matt. vii. 13; xv. 14; Luke xiv. 21-23; xix. 40). Then, further, Christ's acquaintance with nature was by no means limited; nor in respect to it was his mind indifferent, as many suppose, but, on the contrary, was keenly alive to its aspects of sublimity, beauty, and desolation. He often walked or sat by the seaside, and listened to the waves as they dashed upon the rocks or beat gently upon the pebbles and sand of the beach (Matt. iv. 18; xiii. 1); from the shore he had watched the storms upon its surface, or, in a ship over whose deck the waves swept, had himself been tossed upon the wild and boisterous deep (Matt. viii. 23-27; "roaring waves," Luke xxi. 25). He was familiar with the solitude of the wilderness and desert-places, where only nature's voices were heard (Matt. xi. 7; xiv. 13; xxiv. 26; Mark i. 35); and likewise with the sublimity of mountains - Hermon, Tabor, Gilboa and mountain scenery and picturesque landscapes, among which the vast panoramalandscape which his own Nazareth hill overlooked was one of the finest in the world (Matt. v. 1; xxiv. 16; xxviii. 16; and elsewhere). He refers to the phenomena of the seasons winter with its cold and summer with its heat (Mark xiii. 18; John xviii. 18; Matt. xxiv. 32; Luke xii. 55); he alludes to the moon and stars, beaming as they beam only in an Eastern night (Matt. xxiv. 29); he was familiar with the glories of an Oriental dawn (Mark i. 35); he alludes to the blazing sun of a Syrian summer (Matt. xx. 12), to the south wind blowing softly and gently, and to the wilder blasts which sounded among the mountains (Luke xii. 55; John iii. 8). He refers to the appearance or "face" of the sky, notices the signs of fair or foul weather, the clouds which gather at sunset, and the red, murky atmosphere of some threatening morning (Matt. xvi. 2, 3; Luke xii. 56); alludes also to the sun rising in glory upon the hills of Galilee, and setting in the midst of serene and golden splendors; to the showers which fall gently and refresh the earth, and to the rain which descends in torrents, and fills the ravines with rushing, noisy streams and floods, which sweep away houses, trees, men, and beasts (Matt. v. 45; vii. 25, 27; Luke xii. 54); also to the thunder-storm whose lightningflashes light up for an instant the whole vast sky (Matt. xxiv. 27); and in many ways to the mild, pure, pleasant light" itself, pouring forth with the freshness and fulness of morning, or bathing at evening with softer beauty the fair landscapes and the mountain summits which were visible from his Nazareth home (Matt. v. 14, and many other places). The review now closed justifies us in saying that Christ was a man of very extensive and correct observation. During thirty years, unobserved by the world, he was storing his mind with facts, studying their relations, and fitting them, in a sense, to become teachers of truth. There are, in the use he makes of his facts, no false parallels, no unfair deductions, no forced or unnatural senses. But, on the other hand, there is brevity, dignity, directness, and an appropriateness which is marvellously beautiful. How far from Christ to introduce anything for effect! Christ's wonderful power in gathering and using materials is a topic worthy of the most careful study. We are accustomed to admire. and praise the poet who looks upon nature and life with a fresh and hearty spirit, who speaks of them with a healthy tone, who sees with clear, correct vision, their facts, events, and relations, and who forces every fact and object, high or low, near or remote, old or new, to yield its hidden lesson. Christ, then, deserves our highest praise. He had sympathy with nature and with men. He was not indifferent to the world in which he lived. He was no recluse; but loved, on the contrary, to mingle with men, to listen to their songs or their complaints, and to watch or encourage them in their toil. And this interest which he felt in men and in the affairs of the world about him we have throughout regarded as a purely human interest; this power of observation and this skill in the use of the facts which he observed purely as characteristics of his human nature. As a man he used diligently the means at his command for improvement, and thereby increased in wisdom" (Luke ii. 52). ARTICLE VII. Ἐγὼ βαπτίζω ἐν ὕδατι. — JOHN I. 26. BY REV. JOSEPH TRACY, D.D., BOSTON. OUR English version of the scriptures, it is said by some, errs in translating these words: "I baptize with water." The prepositon év, it is said, should be translated "in"; and when the dative daт is used without a preposition, ev should be understood, and the phrase should be rendered, "in water." Instead of this, we are told, they have translated it," with water," as if our were understood. The correction of these errors, it is claimed, would show, even to the mere English reader, that "baptize" means "to plunge." 1 The question thus raised concerning the meaning of Barrio, as shown by its grammatical construction, is certainly a fair one, and we propose to examine it carefully. In the first place, then, it is a mistake to suppose that where dar is used without a preposition the translators understood σúv. The dative with oúv never designates the instrument, but always a companion, or accompaniment, or co-operator. Bаπтiço úμâs σúv údari must mean, "I baptize you and water, both together," or, "I and water, acting together, baptize you." It could not mean, "I baptize you, using water as an instrument"; for σúv never means "with, as an instrument." The few apparent exceptions are cases where the instrument is personified and spoken of as a companion or an assistant. The fact is, that in such phrases no preposition at all is understood in the Greek, though we must supply one in English. By one of the best-known idioms of the Greek language, the relation of instrumentality is expressed by putting the name of the instrument in the dative without a 1 Bibliotheca Sacra, Jan. 1869, p. 43. |