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minds were encumbered with Jewish prejudices and anticipations, disputed on the subject of their claims to priority in the kingdom of heaven. The question being proposed to Jesus, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" The reply, upon the supposition that his kingdom was or would be temporal, whether it was to be understood as then or to be hereafter established, must naturally have contained an assurance that the greatest would be the individual nearest the royal person, and entrusted with the highest offices of the state. But what in reality was the answer; and does that answer accord with the idea of a temporal or a spiritual rule? "And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily, I say unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name, receiveth me." Compare Mark ix. 34, Luke ix. 46, Luke xxii. 24-26. When Jesus avowed himself as a king, in answer to the question of Pilate, he neither represented his kingdom as altogether future, nor as in its principles and forms of its administration, worldly. "My kingdom is not of this world." Great stress has been laid by some upon the term now, used in the concluding part of the same declaration. John xviii. 36. They plead that

the clause "but now is my kingdom not from hence" signifies, that it was not then begun. In the first announcement of this remarkable fact, the particle now is omitted. The misunderstanding may probably arise in some measure from the imperfect translation of the passage in our version; the force of the original is this: "My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom had been of this world, my adherents* would have prevented my falling into the hands of the Jews; but, as they did not, it is evident my kingdom is not of this world." Be it especially remarked that the words "then would my servants fight," are interposed between these members of the sentence, which seem tantamount to an explicit assurance of the spirituality, and of the commencement of his reign, otherwise they would be inapplicable. To render the time referred to the more obvious, he adds, "that I should not be delivered to the Jews;" which must unquestionably refer to himself personally, and the existing circumstances of his incipient kingdom. In further explanation of the subject, our Lord employed the following language:-" Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you."Matt. xx. 25, 26.†

* Vide Campbell in loco.

To place our interpretation of John xvii. 26 in a most convincing

There seems to be only one point of difficulty in the prophecy of Daniel as contained in the seventh chapter, if we agree that the

light, as this passage has been so often perverted from its true meaning, we may be allowed to subjoin a critical examination of the phraseology. The words in the original translated "but now my king. dom is not from hence,” are νῦν δὲ ἡ βασιλεία ὴ ἐμὴ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐντεῦθεν. The meaning of vov dè in the Greek is very clear, though in English the words but now are too concise and elliptical to be readily understood. Of the particle voy there are three distinct uses observable in both secular and sacred writers; for it cannot be said in this, as in some cases, that the phrase is differently employed in the scriptures and the writings of uninspired men. These three senses, which are. again subdivided into more minute differences of meaning, are, 1. The chronic, when it is called an adverb of time: 2. The hortatory : 3. The argumentative. Of the first usage one example will be suf. ficient: John v. 25, čρxerai, ŵpa kaì võv i☛tiv, “the hour is come and now is ;" where it manifestly could denote nothing but time. In the second sense, vv serves to give an impulse to a command or exhortation, and is used in such phrases as φέρε νυν, ἂγε νυν, 66 come now :" in Aristoph. Plut. 414, orɛvde vvv, In cases similar to these, it is very commonly redundant, and is called by gram. marians enclitic; that is, it is rather employed to make the word preceding it emphatic, than of any force in itself. Then, the argumentative võv is used with several shades of meaning and in various ways. Our confined limits will allow us to speak only of one, which may be called the adversative, or per contra sense. In this sense it is found joined with de, the common adversative conjunction " but ;" and sig. nifies "under existing circumstances," võv dè, "but as things actual. ly are," in opposition to what had been stated in the hypothesis. It announces the actual existence of something directly opposite to what had been before, for the sake of argument, supposed to exist. Thus HERODOTUs iii, 25, says, ει μέν νυν μαθὼν ταῦτα ὁ Καμβύσης ἐγνωσιμάχεε, καὶ ἀπῆγε ὀπίσω τὸν στρατὸν ἐπὶ τῇ ἀρχῆθεν γενομένῃ ἁμαρτάδι, If ἦν ἂν σοφὸς ἀνής, νῦν δέ οὐδένα λόγον ποιεύμενος ἥτε αἰεὶ ἐς τὸ πρόσω.

"make haste now."

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future kingdom of Christ is, not the commencement of his kingdom, but its millenial enlargement as preparatory to the period of

now (the vvv employed here is the vvv of transition, or inference, which we class under the argumentative) Cambyses, knowing all this, had changed his mind and led his army back upon his first failure, he would have been a wise man; but, as he was not a wise man, he inconsiderately continued to advance." The words which we have translated, "but as he was not a wise man" are võv dè "but as things were." In HERODOTUS iii. 21, the Ethiopian king says to the Persian ambassadors. "The king of the Persians is not a just man," and proceeds, εἰ γὰρ ἦν δίκαιος, οὔτ ̓ ἂν ἐπεθύμησε χώρης ἄλλης ἢ τῆς ἑωυτοῦ, αὔτ ̓ ἂν ἐς δουλοσύνην ἀνθρώπους ἦγε ὑπ ̓ ὧν μηδὲν ἠίδκηται, νῦν δὲ αὐτῶ τόξον τόδε διδόντες τάδε ἔπεα λέγετε. "For if he had been a just man, he would never have aimed at the possession of any country besides his own; nor would he have endeavored to reduce to slavery a people from whom he had received no injury: but as he has done all this, as he has aimed at the possession of another country besides his own, c. (vov dè, but under existing circumstances), give him this bow and tell him what I say."

In EURIPIDES Phaniss. 1. 509.

Εἰ πᾶσι ταυτὸ καλὸν ἔφυ, σοφόν θ' ἅμα

Οὐκ ἦν ἄν ἀμφίλεκτος ἀνθρώποις ἔρις.

Νῦν δ ̓ οὔθ ̓ ὅμοιον ουδὲν, οὔτ ̓ ἴσον βροτοῖς.

"If nature had endowed all with the same virtue, and wisdom too, there would have been no disputatious contention among men; but as nature has not equally endowed all with virtue and wisdom (võv dè, 'but as it is') there is nothing similar or equal in mortals." Comp. ARISTOPH. in Vesp. 710. First something is supposed for argument's sake to have existed, which, if it had existed, would have been inevitably followed by a certain result. Then, by showing that there was no such result, it is concluded that what was supposed to have existed, could not have existed. Thus in the passage under consideration, when Pilate said, "Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me. What hast thou done ?" Jesus an

his descent to the final judgment. The Son of man is exhibited to our view as coming "with the clouds of heaven," v. 13. It has been demanded whether these terms are not similar to those which are employed to describe his final advent in the Acts of the Apostles; if so, are we not justified in concluding that he may speedily come in glory and in person to introduce the period of his final reign on earth?"And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go up into heaven."-Acts i. 9-11.

swered, "My kingdom is not of this world;" i. e. is not temporal. He then proves it, by an argument far more intelligible to a Roman governor than any he could have drawn from the Hebrew scriptures, saying, “If my kingdom had been of this world, my adherents would, by fighting, have prevented my being delivered into the hands of the Jews; but as they did not fight (vvv dè) my kingdom is not of this world." How?-Because if it had been of this world, they would have fought; which was not the case. To have declared himself temporal king of the Jews, would have been judged an act of treason against the Roman emperor. The object of our Lord then is to show Pilate that he is no temporal* king, and therefore is no traitor to * Compare with this the account in John xix. v. 15.

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