Grief on their urn may fix her eyes, Love may invoke them from the skies, Fond memory marks them as they were, But soon to see them as they are- * 34 MISCELLANIES. PART FIRST. EXPOSITIONS OF SCRIPTURE. Matt. 26: 41. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. MANY suppose that Jesus said this of Himself; meaning that, although He was willing in spirit, to pour out His soul unto death, yet His human nature shrunk from the dreadful transaction. And I see no reason why Jesus might not have spoken thus of Himself in truth. For He had a nature, which, like ours, was susceptible of suffering, and dreaded pain; and I know of nothing from which human nature would sooner shrink, than from the agony of the Garden and the death of the Cross. But these words cannot be referred to Jesus, in this sense, without doing violence to the connection. Hence this interpretation cannot be admitted. Others think that Jesus spoke this of His disciples; meaning, that they were willing to watch, but could not resist the demand of nature for sleep. But it would be difficult to recon Matthew 26: 41. cile this with the repetition of Jesus' rebuke to His disciples, when He came again and found them sleeping; and still more difficult to reconcile it with the declaration of Matthew: “They knew not what to answer Him." For, adopting this interpretation, Jesus had just furnished them with an apology which fully justiñed their conduct. But the true interpretation, as I think, is that which refers these words to the disciples, not as an apology for sleeping, but as a reason for watchfulness, and prayer, in that hour of temptation, which was then just at hand. As though Jesus had said: "An awful crisis is approaching, a scene of treachery and violence, in which, though you may feel willing now to go with me to prison and to death, your courage and selfpossession may fail, and you may be excited by anger to improper resistance, or impelled by fear to deny me and abandon my cause. Watch, therefore, and pray, that you may have strength to endure the trial.” Happy would it have been for the disciples had they followed the Savior's advice! Then they might have been delivered from the temptation, or fortified against it. But not apprehending their danger, and vainly supposing that their courage and strength were adequate to any emergency, they disregarded the admonition, and spent their precious moments in sleep. The consequences of this self-confidence stand out in bold relief, in the case of Peter, perpetually warning every one, "that thinketh he standeth, to take heed lest he fall." Part First. Expositions of Scripture. 2 Cor. 3: 18. We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image. It seems that there are some, who would render this passage: "We all reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image." But such a translation does violence to the grammar, and the logic, of the original. For "being changed into the same image" could not be a consequence of "reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord." On the contrary, "reflecting the glory of the Lord" implies that the change has already taken place; so that, to make this translation possible, the apostle's statement must be inverted, thus: "We all being changed into the image of the Lord, reflect as a mirror His glory." But that sense of any particular clause, which requires an inversion of the writer's proposition cannot be admitted. But the advocates of this translation defend it principally on the ground, that it is favored by the Greek. Their mistake may be seen at a glance. The verb zarórroμaι signifies to behold; whence we have xάrogov, something with which to behold, a mirror: like σxýπw, to lean; from which we have gov, something with which to lean, a staff. Then from κάτοπτρον, οι κάτοπτρις, we have the verb, κατοπτρίζω, to cause (any thing) to be beheld, to show it, as a mirror does; probably, with the adjunct idea of distinctness of view. Now xαTоTTóμevo, in this passage, is in the middle voice, which is used, as every student knows, to reflect the action of the verb directly or indirectly upon the agent; therefore, rýv dóžav 2 Corinthians 3: 18. Explanatory Remarks. Κυρίου κατοπτριζόμενοι, signifies, mirroring to ourselves the glory of the Lord; that is, causing ourselves to behold, or beholding, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord. Thus the idiom of the Greek makes the action terminate on ourselves, while the rendering in question makes it terminate on others; hence this translation cannot be admitted. In the modern Greek version, the sense and the phraseology of this passage, correspond with those of the common English version; and the same is true of the ancient Syriac. Some render the participle, "beholding" simply; but no version in the world, so far as I know, renders it in the sense of reflecting. The sense is correctly given by the common English version. EXPLANATORY REMARKS. If we look at the circumstances which called forth this epistle of Paul, and particularly those which led to the discussion in this chapter, we shall see the propriety and force of the apostle's reasoning. After his departure from Corinth, false teachers had crept into the Church, and caused division on various points, but chiefly in respect to the obligations of the Mosaic Law; some holding, that it was still in force, and others insisting, that it was abrogated. Paul taught them plainly, that the institutions of Judaism were not obligatory; but that, if the Jewish party felt bound to observe them, while the Gentile converts felt at liberty to neglect them, they might practice according to their convictions of duty, and make their difference a matter of mutual forbearance; providing, however, |