says, 2 Macc. vii. 36, ot [t \v yccp vvv ^asrspot &ds?^<pof fipccyfiv ‘bneveynuvreg •nrovov dfjvdov fajjg YIIO diadijxriv ©sou crg-Trwxatr/ : for which the Latin translator, For my brothers , having now sustained moderate pain , have been brought [effecti sunt] under the covenant of everlasting life. Not only the Church fighting under Christ, as the world does under Satan, but even the Church in its consummated state, and the kingdom of darkness, are described in this book. Moreover, the actions of the forces of the good and wicked alike on the earth, and their removals from it to a happier or more wretched state, succeeding one another at different times, distinguished by various degrees, celebrated by various applaudings, and the incre- ments of the expectation itself and of the rejoicing in heaven, and of the terror itself and punishment in hell, are at the same time shown. See ch. iv. v. vi. vii. xiv. xix. and following, and the notes.
11. A vroTg huaru1) You may with reason doubt , says Wolf, whether John wrote avroTg kx&oruj. But he wrote Ifuv g/caorw, ch. ii. 23 ; and so Luke, ch. ii. 3, and Acts ii. 8, wuvreg, sxuarog’ ripsTg, sxaarog : Paul, Eph. v. 33, 7g sxaffrog. The very expression, avroTg gxatfrw, occurs, Ecclus. xvii. 14. They who have not admitted the joining together of the plural and singular number, have made various changes : some of them have omitted exdffru, Mill incorrectly giving his assent, Proleg. § 1003.2 — XP°V0V) Others, xp°vov pixpov ; and Wolf de- fends that reading. He says, John uses the same phrase below , ch. xx. 3. From that place, in fact, some have introduced the adjec- tive into this : for the copyists everywhere delighted to insert adjectives, lest the style should appear too abrupt. Whence also Augustine , in his second book against Gaudentius, c. 19, uses it more than once ; and Jerome , in his treatise on the Perfect Man, thus has it. But this XP^0^ which is the subject of ch. vi. 11, ends by a long interval before the beginning of the little season {pixpoo xp°vov)i which is the subject of ch. xx. 3. Wolf subjoins : It certainly might have done much towards the arousing of those souls , if they understood that the delay of the Divine judgments would only be for a short time. It was this indeed which induced the African writers to add fuxpbv,3 as a solace to the martyrs (comp. Coll. Antithet. of Antonius, p. 909, on precipitate hope) ; although in cases where the delay is in
1 AC read uvrolg zkolotu : so Cypr. 310. Rec. Text, with //, exu.<rToig. B, uvToig ; “ eis singulse stolse,” Cypr. 254 and Vulg. — E.
2 oTohyi heuKYi, a white robe ) So also ch. vii. 9. — V. g.
3 B is the oldest authority for the omission of pt.tx.p6v : so Tisch. But AC Vulg. h , Cypr. support it ; so Lachm. — E.