was anciently a widely received reading. Ambrose, on Luke vii. 35, says : — " Therefore wisdom is justified of all her chil dren.1 It is well said l of all, because justice is observed towards all [i.e. in God's dealings with all], so that the faithful may be accepted, the unfaithful rejected. Very many of the Greeks adopt the reading, ' Wisdom is justified of all her works,' because it is the work of justice to observe the due measure towards the merit of every single individual." He, however, appears to mean the codices of St Matthew, not those of St Luke, for he is in the habit of recurring to them from time to time, although he is commenting 011 St Luke.2 — airJjs3) Valla4 thinks that this refers to yivta; ; but see Luke vii. 35, where there are more remarks on the present passage. Cf. ver. 31. [No doubt Christ is the Wisdom meant. The children of Wisdom are those who suffer themselves to be gathered by her into her company. It is for this reason that Wisdom is blamed on the ground of too simple and ready indulgence
in Comra. ad h. 1. sic vero etiam &th. Copt. Pers. Syr. Videtur Grsecus lib- rarius antiquissimus pro TUV 1-ix.vuy in maxima literarum similitudine, legisse ray epyuv. Quas strictura docere nos pos.sit, ex Grajco Matthfei Evangelio deductum esse Evangelium Nazarcnorum [an apocryphal gospel so called], quippe quod hoc loco sine dubio respexit Hieronymus. Eundem varietatem, ex Hieronymo, ut apparet, notavit Hafenrefferus in edit, sua N. T." — (I. B.)
1 The first sentence is not quoted by Bengel, but, on referring to the original, I considered the meaning so much plainer with it than without it, that 1 took the liberty of inserting it. The passage in Ambrose stands thus: —
" Justificata est ergo Sapientia ab omnibus fillis suis. Bene ab omnibus, quia circa omnes justitia servatur ; ut susceptio fiat fidelium rejectio per- fidorum. Undeplerique Gra?ci sichabent: Justificata est Sapientia ab omnibus operibus suis ; quod opus justitise sit, circa unius cujuscunque meritum ser- vare mensuram." — (I. B.)
2 Luke, vii. 35, adds KOUITU*. B corrected later, reads, as the MSS. alluded to by Ambrose, TUV ttyuv : so MSS. in Jerome, both Syriac and Memph. Versions. But Dae Vulg., Orig., Hil. and Rec. Text, read T-exvuv. —ED.
8 Gen. fem. sing, of O.VTOS. E. V. renders it her, sc. Wisdom's. Valla would render it of it, sc. of this generation. — (I. B.)
* LAURENTIUS VALLA, one of the most distinguished Latin scholars of the fifteenth century. Born in Rome about 1406 ; became Professor of Eloquence, first at Pavia, and afterwards at Milan ; went to Rome in 1443, and became canon of St John the Lateran. Died 1457. He published, besides many other works, annotations on the N. T. — (I. B.)