Page images
PDF
EPUB

sure of benignity, and the measure of superabundance. See Schoettgen on S. Luke, vi. 38. p. 273. Meuschen on S. Matt. vii. 2. p. 72. and on S. Luke, vi. 38. p. 129. Wetstein on S. Luke, vi. 38. and Vorstius de Adagiis Nov. Test. c. viii. p. 518-522. ap. Rhenferd. de Styl. Nov. Test.: all of whom bring illustrative passages from rabbinical writers. Wolfius on S. Luke, vi. 38. may be consulted with advantage but particularly Glass, Phil. Sacr. pp. 1864. 1971. ed. 4to. 1725, which, in the present instance, as in many others, will be found far more satisfactory than Dathe's Abridgment, "hisce temporibus accommodata."

On the reading of S. Matt. vii. 2. μerennostaι for avriμergninoetaι, I have spoken in Sect. IX., near the

commencement.

From S. Mark, iv. 24. Griesbach, unwarrantably as I conceive, drops the words και προςεθησεται ὑμιν τοις ακουουσιν. The judgment of Grotius should here be weighed: "Lectionis hujus veritatem de"fendunt antiqui codices, et veteres metaphrastæ, "a quorum consensu, ut sæpius monui, non est "temere recedendum." The force of the Proverb, as applied by our Lord in this place, has been happily expressed by Euthymius: εν ώ μέτρω

μετρείτε προσοχην, εν τω αυτω μετρηθήσεται ὑμῖν ἡ γνωσις : "With what measure ye mete attention, with the "same shall knowledge be measured unto you." Reichard, in his Latin Version of the New Testament, supplies the same sense: "Quam enim (in " attendendo veluti) mensuram adhibueritis, eadem (in cognoscendo) vobis continget."

66

In St. Luke, vi. 38. the words are most accurately appropriate:, pressed down as with the feet, relates to solid substances; σecaλevμevov, shaken together, to granulated substances, corn, meal, &c.; imgexxporn, running over, to fluids. On the singular elegance and beauty of this passage, the learned Casaubon observes at some length, in his notes on Theophrastus, p. 175.

Hesiod uses language nearly similar; and has been applauded for it by Cicero; Brut. 4: with the words of the Ascræan, the present section shall be closed:

εν μεν μετρείσθαι παρα γειτονος, ευ δ' αποδούναι,
αυτών των μέτρω, και λαίον, αιχε δυνηαι.

Εργ. και ἡμ. 346.

The loan well-measured from thy neighbours store,
In payment measure well; if able, measure more.

335

SECTION XVI.

In the fourth section of these observations it was intimated, that, when I should have proceeded some way in the examination of New Testament parallelisms, I would resume the subject of the epanodos. That engagement I am now about to fulfil.

The Epanodos is literally a going back; speaking first to the second of two subjects proposed; or, if the subjects be more than two, resuming them precisely in the inverted order; speaking first to the last, and last to the first. The rationale of this artifice in composition, I ventured to explain in the following words: "Two pair of terms or "propositions, containing two important, but not "equally important notions, are to be so distri

buted, as to bring out the sense in the strongest " and most impressive manner: now, this result "will be best attained, by commencing, and con"cluding, with the notion to which prominence is "to be given; and by placing in the centre the "less important notion, or that, which, from the

66

scope of the argument, is to be kept subordi"nate." * And the justice of this explanation was, I trust, sufficiently established by examples of epanodos, derived both from the Scriptures of the Old Testament, and from the best classical writers.

In the course of the intermediate pages, additional specimens of epanodos have incidentally occurred: it remains to bring before the reader further specimens, exclusively from the New Testament, which, I am hopeful, by the united force of juxtaposition, and mutual relationship, may at once throw light upon each other, and satisfactorily illustrate the nature, the value, and the importance in Scriptural interpretation, of a technical arrangement, which has not hitherto been investigated as it deserves; and from the future investigation of which, no trivial benefits may be expected.

ουδεις δυναται δυσι κυρίοις δουλευειν :

η γαρ τον ένα μισησει, και τον έτερον αγαπησει·

η ένος * ανθέξεται, και του έτερου καταφρονήσει :

ου δυνασθε Θεω δουλευειν και μαμωνα.

No man can serve two masters:

For, either he will hate the one, and love the other; Or he will adhere to the one, and neglect the other: Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

S. Matt. vi. 24.

In this quatrain at large, there is a clear epanodos: in the first line, the impossibility is, in general terms, asserted, of serving two masters; that is, two masters of opposite tempers, issuing opposite commands: in the fourth line, this impossibility is re-asserted, and brought personally home to the secular part of our Lord's hearers, by the specification of the two incompatible masters, GoD and MAMMON. These two assertions, as the leading

* On the omission of the article before vos, see Bishop Middleton, in loc.

members of the passage, are placed first and last; while, in the centre, are subordinately given the moral proofs by which the main propositions are established. But the two central members are so disposed, as to exhibit an epanodos yet more beautiful and striking. In a divided service, the dispositions and conduct of the servant, towards the opposite powers who claim his obedience, are distributable into two classes; each class containing two degrees on the one side love, or at least, adherence; on the other side, hatred, or at least, neglect. Now, since it was our Lord's purpose, to establish the great moral truth, that every attempt to reconcile the service of opposing masters, must terminate in disappointment, the question is, by what arrangement of the four existing terms, may the utmost prominence be given to that truth? The answer is obvious: let hatred be placed first, and let love and adherence be centre: the consequence will be, pression made, and the last left, must be inevitably of a disagreeable nature; strongly enforcing the conclusion, that such a service cannot be any other than most irksome and most fruitless bondage. And such, precisely, is the distribution of the passage, as given by S. Matthew. Let, on the contrary, either the clauses of the lines in question, or the lines themselves, be transposed, and the reader will at once perceive how entirely the point and energy of the statement are destroyed:

and neglect last, relegated to the that the first im

Z

« PreviousContinue »