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to have affected their translation in almost every passage, on which it could be supposed, in the most distant manner, to bear.

On Dr. C's censure of good and learned men, for allowing their judgment to be warped, being true partizans, and inclining to correct the diction of the Spirit, by that of the party; it is fair to ask, whether consistency, or inconsistency, be the just ground of accusation? No doubt, good and learned men may be bigots. On the other hand, men, who practise one thing, and say they believe another, may perhaps be free from bigotry; but are they free from blame? In a work to which he had prefixed the high-toned, and excellent motto, Movῃ θυτέον τῇ ἀληθείᾳ, "we must sacrifice to truth alone," Dr. C. declared the diction of the Spirit to signify that Baptism was immersion, yet, to the end of his life, he administered Baptism in a different way. Was not this "correcting the diction of the Spirit (according to his acknowledged view of it) by that of the party?" A man, who could act in this manner, will not satisfy a serious inquirer, that his mind was, on the point in question, drawn to the Holy Scriptures, with sufficient intenseness to give the hope, that, through the blessing of God, he should be enabled to discuss it with his usual accuracy.

DR. CAMPBELL, ON MARK vii. 3, 4.

I proceed next to the consideration of Dr. C.'s translation of Mark vii. 3, 4. and of his two notes in

defence of it. The translation is, "For the Pharisees, and indeed all the Jews, observing the tradition of the elders, eat not until they have washed their hands, by pouring a little water upon them; and if they be come from the market, by dipping them; and many other usages there are which they have adopted, as baptisms of cups and pots, and brazen vessels and beds."

For his translation of Matth. iii. 11, Dr. C. had some countenance from ancient versions; and from some popish translators, and one protestant, among the moderns. But for the translation, which he here proposes, of Mark vii. 3, 4, he can plead no precedent, ancient or modern, scriptural or classical.

There is an obscurity about the first clause of the 3d verse, which it is not necessary at present to discuss at large. Those who think Toy the genuine reading, usually understand by it, a washing of the hands, by rubbing water on the palm of the one hand with the doubled fist of the other. I have tried this awkward operation, and I must say, I succeed far better with the open palms of both hands. For aught I can see, the reading followed by our translators is, upon the whole, the best. And I would read the passage thus, "For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. And even when they have come from a market, unless they baptize, they eat not: and many other things there are which they have received to hold, as baptisms of cups, and pots,

and brazen vessels, and beds,” καὶ ἀπὸ ἀγορᾶς, ἐὰν μὴ βαπτίσωνται-βαπτισμοὺς ποτηρίων, κ. τ. λ. *

As far as I have observed, there is only one mode of washing either the hands or the feet, in scripture, and that is, by pouring water upon them, and rubbing them as the water flows. 2 Kings iii. 11. "Here is Elisha, the son of Shaphat, who POURED water on the hands of Elijah." In like manner, as to the feet, Gen. xviii. 4. « Let a LITTLE WATER, I pray you, be fetched and wash your feet." That this water was to be poured upon the feet, we may learn from Luke vii. 44. "Thou gavest me no water UPON my feet.” ὕδωρ ΕΠΙ τοὺς πόδας μοῦ οὐκ ἔδωκας but she hath washed or wetted, literally, RAINED UPON, my feet with tears, τοῖς δάκρυσιν ΕΒΡΕΞΕ' μου τοὺς πόδας. It seems to have been in the same way that Jesus washed his disciples' feet, John xiii; there is no hint, that he dipped their feet in the basin. It was a ewer rather than a basin. It was filled once only, for washing the feet of all the twelve. And Peter supposed his Master sufficiently provided with the water of that ewer to have washed not his feet only, but also his hands and his head. It was in this way only that one filling of the virg, the washing vessel, could be sufficient for washing the feet of twelve

* Some copies, instead of βαπτίσωνται, read ῥαντίσωνται, “ they sprinkle," which, though not a term exactly equivalent to ßarri

Taι, may be considered as a proof that the transcriber with whom this various reading originated, did not understand that there was any immersion in the passage.

persons. It is a method of washing which has no doubt arisen from the scarcity and value of water in most parts of those warm countries. The pouring

appears to have been by no means copious; barely sufficient to wet the surface to be washed; requiring no vessel to receive what must have run off from a copious perfusion; but, after being rubbed on, to be only wiped off with a towel.

The numerous instances of washing, which occur in the writings of Homer, are, without a single exception, of a similar description. The manner, in which he describes Vulcan, as washing his face, and hands, and neck, and breast, with a spunge, is, though not exactly the same, yet clearly analogous.

Σπόγγῳ δ ̓ ἀμφὶ πρόσωπα, καὶ ἄμφω χεῖς, ἀπομόργου,
Αὐχένα τε στιβαρὸν, καὶ στήθεα λαχνήεντα·

ΙΛ. Σ' 414, 415.

Then, all around with a wet sponge he wip'd
His visage, and his arms and brawny neck
Purified, and his shaggy breast from smutch;
Cowper, Iliad xviii. 507-509.

The other instances are much closer. When the terms of the combat between Paris and Menelaus are about to be solemnly adjusted by Agamemnon and Priam, the poet says,

· ἀτὰρ κήρυκες αγαυοί,

Ορκια πιστὰ θεῶν σύνηγον, κρητῆρι δὲ οἶνον

Μίσγον· ἀτὰς βασιλεῦσιν ὕδωρ ΕΠΙ' χεῖρας ̓́ΕΧΕΥΑΝ

'IA. T'. 268-270.

Then the heralds rang'd

The rites in order: broach'd the wine, and POUR D

Fresh water on the hands of all the kings.

Iliad iii. 298-300.

In like manner, when Nestor advises sending Ulysses, Phoenix, and Ajax, to the tent of Achilles with proposals of reconciliation, he says ;

Φέρτε δὲ χερσὶν ὕδωρ, εὐφημῆσαί τε κέλεσθε,
Οφρα Διῒ Κρονίδη ἀρησόμεθ, αἴκ' ἐλεήσῃ.

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Now bring water for our hands;

Give charge that ev'ry tongue abstain from speech
Portentous, and propitiate Jove by pray'r.

-The herald's POUR D

Pure water on their hands.

Iliad ix. 206-210.

A more particular description of washing the hands, as a religious rite, occurs in the account of Priam's preparing to go to the tent of Achilles,

Η ῥα, καὶ ἀμφίπολον ταμίην ὤτρυν ὁ γεραιὸς
Χερσὶν ὕδωρ ΕΠΙΧΕΤΑΙ ἀκήρατον· ἡ δὲ παρέστη,
Χέρνιβον ἀμφίπολος, πρόχοόν θ' ἅμα, χερσὶν ἔχουσα.
Νιψάμενος δὲ, κύπελλον ἐδέξατο ἧς ἀλόχοιο
Εὔχετ' ἔπειτα στὰς μέσῳ ἔρκεῖ, λεῖβε δὲ οἶνον,
Οὐρανὸν εἰσανιδών· καὶ φωνήσας ἔπος ἤνδα·

'IA. '. 302-307.

So saying, he bade the maiden, chief of all
In office, POUR fresh water on his hands,
For at his side the damsel ready stood
With ew'r and laver for his use prepar'd.

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