INSTANT. — Instant {in-stare, stand upon, press upon) is used in AV in the sense of the present immediate time, as Is 29' ' it shall be at an instant suddenly ' ; and as an adj. in the sense of ' press- ing,' ' urgent ' : so Lk 23^ ' And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified ' ({iriKeivTo ; Vulg. histabant, which gave Rhem. ' were instant,' whence A V ; Amer. RV ' were urgent'); Ro 12'- 'continuing instant in prayer' (again from Rhem., Vulg. instantes, Gr. irpou- KapTcpoOvTei, KV ' continuing stedfastly ') ; and 2 Ti 4^ ' be instant in season, out or season ' {iTri<rTT]6t, Vulg. insta. Bishops ' be instant,' Rhem. 'urge'). Cf. Kno.x, JIUit. 36, 'At their instant suit, more than of his own motion, was Thomas Gwilliame, a black Frier, called to bee Preacher ' ; and Ac 6^ Rhem. ' But we wil be instant in praier and the ministerie of the word.'
Instantly in AV means ' urgently,' Lk 7' ' they besought him instantly ' [cnrovdalus ; Vulg, sol- licite ; ' instantly ' is Tindale's word here ; RV ' earnestly ') ; and Ac 26' ' Unto which promise onr twelve tribes, instantly servin" God day and night, heme to come ' {iv iKTevdq., AV again from Tind., RV 'earnestly'). Cf. Tind. Prol. to Pent. ' It is not ynough therfore to read and talke of it only, but we must also desyre god daye and night instantly to open oure eyes, and to make us nnderstond and feale wherfore the scripture was geven ' ; and his tr° of Mk 5'° ' And he prayd him instantly, that he wolde not sende them awaye out of the countre,' where AV follows Rhem. ' he besought him much.' So Cranmer has 'very instani>y' in Works, i. 77, 'which prior and his brethren . . . have desired me very instantly to be a mediator for them to your Most Noble Majesty' ; and MelvUl, Diary, 171, 'In the mean tyme, the Erles of Angus and Mar, lyand at New- castell, wryttes for me ans, and tlie second tyme verie instantlie, to com and pretche the \Vord onto tham for ther comfort.' The Rhem. NT uses ' instance ' in the same sense in Eph 6'^ ' watching in al instance and supplication.' Shakespeare has both adj. and adv. frequently, but always with reference to time.
J. Hastings.
INSTRUMENT.— In the current sense of the means of accomplishing anything ' instrument ' frequently occurs in OT, chiefly as tr. of kSll. In NT it is found but twice, both in Ro 6'' and in the same sense, ' Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin : but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as in- struments of righteousness unto God.' The Gr. is SirXa, the ordinary word for ' weapons ' (as A Vm ind RVm), and it is very doubtful if in NT it
ever means 'instruments.' Besides, the military metaphor was more natural to St. Paul, and it reappears in v.'-^ * the wages (' your pay as soldiers ' — Sanday) of sin is death.' Then the meaning is as Lightfoot expresses it (Notes on Ejiistlcs of St. Paul), 'Sin is regarded as a sovereign who de- mands the military service of subjects, levies their quota of arms, and gives them their soldiers' pay of death.' Moiile hits hapjiily on ' implements,' which is capable of either interpretation, but he also regards the metaphor as a military one.
In To 7" and 1 Mac 13*^ 'instrument' has the legal sense of a ' deed.' The Gr. is general, avy-ypa<p-/i, a document.
For Instruments of Music see Music.
J. Hastings.
INTELLIGENCE.— Dn ll* 'He shall even re- turn, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant.' The meaning is more than mutual understanding, it is ' communication,' ' intercourse.' So Knox, IJist. 186, ' The liueene did grievously complaine, that we had intelligence with Englanil ' ; and Drayton, Pierce Gaveston — * From whence 1 found a secret means, to have Intelligence with my kind lord the kin^.'
The Heb., however [ha p;;), means simply 'give heed to ' ; RV ' have regard unto.' 'The Eng. word occurs also in 2 Mac 3' in the ordinary sense of ' information,' which is the word preferred by RV. J. Hastings.
INTEMPERANCE.— See Drunkenness.
INTEND, INTENT. — To intend is used by Spenser in the lit. sense of the Lat. inteiulere, to stretch out : FQ I. xi. 38 —
' The same advancing high above his head. With aharpe intended sting so rude him smot. That to the earth him drove, as stricken dead.'
But in AV it is used only in the sense of directing the will to an object. 'This is sometimes no more than the formation of a design, as in modern use. So Ac 5" 20" (fiiWui). But sometimes it is the determination of the will, a fixed resolve, as Ac 5-^ 12< (^oi;\oAiai), Lk 14=8 (ffeXu). Cf. Gal 1' Tind. ' ther be some which trouble you, and intende to pervert the gospell of Christ ' [BiXopTc^ fiera- arpitpai). The word is even used in the sense of pursuing a resolution (as distinguished from merely forming it). Thus in Jos 22^ it is said that after an explanation from the eastern tribes ' the children of Israel blessed God, and did not in- tend to go up against them in battle,' where the meanin": of AV is no doubt as explained by Davies (Bible English, 194), that they had intended in our sense of the word but no longer prosecuted the design. Cf. Latimer, Sermons, i. 342, ' The devil sleepeth not ; he ever intendeth to withdraw us from prayer ' ; Knox, Works, iii. 297, ' Howe these my wordes at that tyme pleased men, the crymes and action intendecf agaynste me dyd declare ' ; and Chapman, Homer's Iliads, viii. 80 —