sentence : " Let the fire kindle as soon as it will, I am contented. I know much good will come of it."
Barnes paraphrases the sentence thus : "What would I, hut that it were kindled. Since it is necessary for the advancement of religion that such divisions should take place, — ^since the Gospel 'cannot he estahlished without conflicts, strifes, and hatreds, I am even desirous that they should come."
Lightfoot says, — " What will I," seems to he used after the manner of the schools, where "what do I say" is the same with "I do say this;" and "what do I decree," the same with, "I do decree this." So, "what will I" is the same with "this I will." The meaning is, "This I will, that it be already kindled."
50. — [A bapHsm.l This baptism is plainly not that of water, nor that of the Holy Ghost, but the baptism of suffering. It is the same baptism of which our Lord said to James and John, " Ye shall be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with."
The expression is one of those which shows the wisdom of our translators of the Bible in adhering to the word " baptism," and ' not rendering it either "immersion," or "sprinkling."
The effect of either of these words in the present verse, in- stead of " baptism," needs only to be tried. Few would like to substitute for our present translation, " I have an immersion to be immersed with ;" or, "I have a sprinkling to bo sprinkled with."
[How am I straitened]. The Greek word so translated is the same that is rendered in Acts xviii. 5, "pressed;" and in 2 Cor. V. 14, "constrains." It is supposed by some that the feeling our Lord meant to express, was that of pain and distress in the pros- pect of His coming sufferings and crucifixion. This is the opinion of Stier. It seems, however, highly improbable. — It is supposed by others that the expression is like John xii. 27 and Luke xxii. 42, and is meant to imply the conflict between oui Lord's human will which naturally shrunk fi*om suffering, and His divine will which was set on accomplishing the work He came to do. This opinion is supported by many. Yet it does not seem quite to harmonize with the context, and is not alto- gether satisfactory. — The most probable view appears to be that which I have ventured to maintain in the exposition. The ex- pression, " I am straitened," was intended to show us the burning desire by which our Lord was constrained to accomplish the work of our redemption. It is like the saying, "With desire I have desired to eat the passover with you." Theophylact and Euthymius both support this view.
51. — [Nay; but rather division, de.] The words of Burkitt on this passage are worth reading, "Our Saviour declares what will be the accidental event and effect, but not the natural ten-