{hhh) P. 354. — ' Isidore saith, "An oath is to be ei-teemed as he,"' &c. Cf. note bbb.
{Hi) P. 357. — ' " Our word, our preaching," as it is in the margin.' See note ddd. The word is o Xoyog. probably of purpose indefinite, so as to embrace both his per- sonal communications and his ' preaching.'
(JJJ) P- 357. — ' " As God is true," it is in our translation, but in the original it is, " God is true." ' The original is Tiarhg hi 6 Ssog, on 6 Xoyog '/jfLuv, &c., which Dean Stanley thus puts, ' So true as it is that God is faithful, so true is it that my communications are not variable.' Cf. xi. 10; Eom. xiv. 11.
(kkk) P. 359.—' The oracles of Apollo true one way, and false another.'
Consult Schmitz's article on ' Oracles,' in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Eomau Antiquities, (2d edit. 1859, 8vo).
The following paragraph, from Home's Introduction, gives a clear view of the matter : —
"When no means of evasion remained, the answers given by the heathen
oracles were frequently delusive, and capable of quite contrary interpretations; and the most celebrated of them concealed their meaning in such ambiguous terms that they required another oracle to explain them. Of this ambiguity several authentic in-
NOTES. 5o5
stances are recorded. Thus, when Croasus consulted the oracle at Delphi relative to his intended war against the Persians, he was told that he would destroy a great empire. — Kso/ffo; ' AXuv hi(x(irf,c iMiyaXriv aoyjiv xaraXuffs/. This he naturally interpreted of his overcoming the Persians, though tlie oracle was so framed as to admit of an opposite meaning. Crojsus made war against the Persians, and was ruined ; and the oracle continued to maintain its credit. The answer given as to Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, many ages after, was of yet more doubtful interpretation, being conceived in terms so ambiguous, that it might be either interpreted thus : — I say (hat thou, son of JEacus, canst conquer the Romans. Thou shalt go. thou shalt return, never shalt thou perish in war ; or thus, / say that the Romans can conquer thee, son of jEacus. Thou shalt go, thou shalt never return, thou shalt perith in war. Aio te yEacida Romanes vincere posse : Ibis redibis nunquam in bello peribis. Pyrrhus understood the oracle in the former sense ; he waged an unsuccessful war with the Romans, and was overcome ; yet still the juggling oracle saved its credit. Another remarkable instance of the ambiguity of the pretended prophets occurs in 1 Kings xxii. 5, 6. Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, and Ahab, king of Israel, having united their forces against the Syrians, in order to recover Ramoth-Gilead, the latter monarch gathered the false prophets together, about four hundred men, and said unto them, " Shall 1 go up against Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or shall 1 forbear ?" And they said, " Go up, for the Lord shall deliver [it] into the hands of the king." It is to be observed that the word it is not in the original, and that the reply of the pseudo-prophets is so artfully constructed, that it might be interpreted either for or against the expedition; as thus. — the Lord will deliver it (Ramoth-Gilead) into the king's (Ahab"s) liand ; or, the Lord will deliver (Israel) into tlie king's hand ; that is, into the king's hand, that is, into the hands of the King of Syria. Relying upon this ambiguous oracle, the monarchs of Judah and Israel engaged the Syrians, and were utterly discomfited. — Home's Introduction, vol. i. ch. iv. sec. 3, jjp. 274-5 (10th ed. 1856).
This subject is well treated by Henry Smith, in his " God's Arrow against Atheists."
(Ill) P. 361. — ' Man is changeable, because he is a creature, as Damascene's speech is.' The speech is the following: — 'Trav ya.o yBvrjrhv, rQi'r~6v iSTiv. luv ya^ rj ^i/J\ '■'JJ jiviSi^i d-iro rgoT^s ri^^aro, avdy/irj ravra r^i-irra hvai. Damasc. De Fide Orthodoxa, cap. xxvii.
ijnmm) P. 364. — ' St Austin He wrote a book of retractations of his
former opinions.' This father's magnanimous ' retractations ' are found in all the collective editions of his works.
{nnn) P. 365. — ' If only yea be true, then that which is contrary to it must needs be false.' All Sibbes's hits at popery have long formed the commonplaces of the controversy, and are introduced into all the standard works jyro and con.
{ooo) P. 366 — ' The pope he makes Garnet, a traitor, and Thomas of Backet, saints.' Henry Garnet was a 'priest,' notorious as having been 'privy' to the ' Gunpowder Plot.' He was born 1555, and was executed May 3. 1606. His plea for not revealing the infamous ' Plot ' was that it had been made known to him in ' confession,' an extenuation that intensified the national abhorrence of the whole system of popery. Sibbes speaks of the pope making him a ' saint.' "While going to the block, he was told by his friends that lie would be regarded as a ' martyr ;' but exclaimed, 'Me martyrem ! 0 qualem martyrem ! ' Concerning Becket, it is only necessary to refer to ' Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury ; a Biography. By J. C. Robertson. 1 Vol. 8yo. 1859. (Murray.)