>K JAMES NEIL, M.A. Ex Libris r C. K. OGDEN V * > KISSING: ITS CURIOUS BIBLE MENTIONS. JAMP;S NEIL, M.A., Formerly Incumbent of Christ Church, Jerusalem, Author of "Palestine Explored" (yd Thousand], i\^ffovffiv o.iroKpivofjLfi>a \6yous ayaBovs" (cheile de philesousin apokrino- mena logons agathous}. The participle rtio, maisheev, from shoov, " to return," which commences the second member of the verse, may mean either " he that causes to return [an answer]," or " the thing which causes to return," &c. ; but the Septuagint just quoted renders it like the latter that is, as referring to a document and not a person. See Appendix C. , on the Logical Concord, for the full proof of the rendering I have adopted. KISSING. 21 still cursed, as it appears to have been in Bible times, with corrupt and unjust judges, who take "# gift out of the bosom " that is, " a bribe from a man's breast pocket " a secret bribe " to pervert the ways of judgment." * Owing to this, it is well known in most parts of Palestine that it is utterly useless to bring an action, or appear as a plaintiff in any cause, unless you are prepared to bribe the judge. Hence the force and appropriateness of the frequent references to a similar state of things in the Word of God. Where the judges are corrupt, the poor, the people at large, can no longer hope for any kind of justice. In this sad sense, truly " The rich man's wealth is his strong city, The destruction of the poor is their poverty ! " f Our Blessed Lord often appears to allude to such a state of society when denouncing the robbery and wrong committed by the wealthy scribes and Pharisees by means of legal frauds. J It is in this light that we must read all our Saviour's warnings to the rich, and * Proverbs xvii. 23. t Proverbs x. 15. Matthew xxiii. 14 ; Mark xii. 40 ; Luke xx. 47. The best authorities, however, omit Matt, xxiii. 14 from the text (see Revised Version). 22 KISSING. His words of comfort to the poor.* His par- able of the unjust judge was a terribly familiar illustration to all His hearers. In the General Epistle of James there is a graphic reference to these judicial frauds, as forming a constant feature of Eastern life. " Do not the wealthy oppress you, and themselves drag you into the courts of justice ? " " Come now, you wealthy. weep and yell f for your miseries that are com- ing upon [you]. Your wealth has putrefied,! and your garments have become moth-eaten ; your gold and silver have become rusted, and the rust of them will beazvitness against you, and will eat your fleshy parts like fire. You have laid up treasure in [the] last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who cut down your fields, which has been kept back by reason of you, cries out ; and the cries of the reapers have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth . . . you * Addressed to the rich : Matthew vi. 24 ; xix. 23, 24 ; Mark x. 23; Luke viii. 14 ; xii. 16-21 ; xvi. i-n ; xvi. 19-23. Addressed to the poor : Matthew xi. 5 ; Luke vi. 20 ; xiv. 13 ; xxi. 3, &c. t For the interesting meaning of this word "yell, "see Appendix D, on the Tahleel, Olooleh, or Woolwal. J The ' ' riches " here by being said to be ' ' putrefied " are shown to be such as corn, wine, oil, and other agricultural produce (the usual wealth of Palestine), which they had amassed like the Rich Fool (Luke xii. 18), but which had been acquired in their case by fraud. KISSING. 23 have condemned, you have killed the just [man] ; he does not resist you."* Now let the whole passage in the Book of Proverbs be read in this light : " Respect of persons in judgment is not good. He that says to the violently- wicked, 'Righteous art thou,' The nations shall curse him ; As to tribes they shall abhor him. But to those that convict [him] it shall be pleasant ; And upon them shall come a good blessing. [The] two lips [each of them] shall kiss That which returns [an answer of] straightforward words."t That is to say, "those who justify the wicked shall be cursed by the people, but those who fearlessly ' convict ' ( n ?r> yakhahh, ' to convict,' or 'punish ') such violent evil-doers shall have 'a good blessing' invoked upon them. The decrees of such a just judge shall be seized and fervently kissed by all to whom they come, in token of men's submission to his righteous decisions." And, as an Eastern king exercises also the office of Lord Chief Justice, the words apply equally to the re- ception of all royal edicts and firmans of an upright and beneficent character. In their fullest sense, they set before us the righteousness of the Lord Christ, " the Great * James ii. 6 ; v. 1-6. t Proverbs xxiv. 23-26. 24 KISSING. King," the supreme "Judge," to whom the Father has " committed all judgment'' * He, indeed, both with regard to this life and that which is to come, has "judged righteous judg- ment," as recorded in Holy Scripture, and all who know and love the truth delight, as it were to kiss that Blessed Book, in acceptance of its Divine decrees, and in humble acknowledg- ment of their justice and mercy. It is very interesting to observe that the practice of kissing the Gospels, when taking an oath in a court of justice, would seem to have its origin in this ancient act of saluting a document in token of reverence for the au- thority of him who sent it. Bending down, when sworn, to kiss the Scriptures, is, there- fore, no mere superstitious usage ; but, on the contrary, a confession, formerly well under- stood, of the existence and power of God, and of submission to the commands of His written Word. * Matthew v. 35 ; John v. 22, 27 ; Revelation xix. 16. CHAPTER III. KISSING THE FACE. WE now come to a very grave difficulty con- nected with the Bible references to kissing. I allude to the Apostolic injunction to be- lievers to salute one another in this way ; a command which, I imagine, has been almost universally misunderstood. We first find it in the Epistle to the Romans, " Salute one another with a holy kiss."* Three times afterwards, the Apostle Paul, writing under inspiration, solemnly repeats the same com- mand^ slightly varying it once in writing a second time to the Church at Corinth, when, by inverting the order of the noun and adjective, he gives the well-known Greek emphasis, " a holy kiss/'J Possibly the stress on the word " holy " here is a gentle rebuke to the strife and party spirit by which the Corinthian Church was rent. Once again it * Romans xvi. 16. t i Corinthians xvi. 20; 2 Corinthians xiii. 12; I Thes- salonians v. 26. 2 Corinthians xiii. 12. I Corinthians i. 12-14 ; u 'i- 3> 4- 26 KISSING. occurs, and this time in the first letter of the Apostle of the Circumcision ; Peter agreeing with Paul in enforcing the same truth. Although the title of the kiss is different, the injunction to bestow it is just the same, " Salute one another with a loving kiss." * Now two quite opposite errors have beset this subject, the one, which has been prevalent in the Church at large for very many centuries, making the Apostles to mean nothing, and the other making them to mean too much. The latter is now reviving amongst some bodies of earnest believers. These, while commendably anxious to yield a loyal obe- dience to the letter of Scripture, have, not unnaturally, mistaken the sense of that letter, and are introducing, in connection with wor- ship, a custom of kissing amongst their male and female members. It is certainly impossible to doubt that the command to kiss, thus solemnly repeated five times, is, in its true meaning, binding upon the followers of Christ. I will now try to show the nature of this true meaning, which, had it been known, would have led to the observance of the injunction, and thus have * I Peter v. 14. KISSING. 27 saved us from much of the present worldli- ness of the Churches. First, let me prove that this command vrnist have been addressed to men with respect to men only, and to women with respect to women only. At the time when all the Epistles were written, worship would, doubtless, be con- ducted in accordance with the strict customs of the East, the men being separated from the women. The men would meet in one part of the building, or room, and the women in another. The men would salute each other, and the women might do the same ; but, throughout the East, it is altogether contrary to what has ever been considered " chaste " or " of good fame " for a man and a woman to greet one another in public, even though members of the same family. Indeed, it is not allowed by the strictness of Oriental eti- quette to address a word to a woman whom one does not know. Hence, in part, the embarrassment of our Lord's disciples when they found Him in conversation with the stranger at Jacob's well; for we read, "they marvelled that he was talking with a woman /"* * John iv. 27. Observe, not "the woman," as in the Authorised Version, but "a woman." See Revised Version. 28 KISSING. What applies to meetings in the synagogues, and in the rooms afterwards set apart for the worship of the Church, applies equally to all social gatherings. On such occasions, when guests assemble, the men are met and enter- tained by the host in one apartment, and the women by his wife, mother, or daughters in another, and these two companies are carefully kept apart, and never exchange greetings. This is universal. The idea of men and women of different families, in the lands where the Epistles were written, and at the time of the beginning of the Gospel, meeting freely together in the way that we should do now, either in their homes, or at their religious assemblies, is one of those grave misconcep- tions which could occur only to a Western mind. It is most probable that, when, as disciples of Christ, women were first fully placed in spiritual privileges on a level with men, and were allowed to attend the meetings of the Church, it was still necessary, in that transition period, for them to be veiled as well as to keep to their own part of the room. Such appears to be the natural meaning of the passage where the Apostle Paul says, " Every woman praying or prophesying with KISSING. 29 her Jiead unveiled dishonours her head," and decides "let her be veiled."* Indeed, it would seem that it was partly because any such act would require her unveiling, that the Apostle forbids a woman to speak in the public assemblies, saying, " Let the women (or wives] keep silence in tJie Churches' 'f In the very next verse he cries, " It is a shame for a woman to speak in the Church," and this word " shame " ( ala-^pbv, aischrori) is the very word he uses when he says, " If it is a shame for a woman to be shorn or sJiaven, let her be veiled." } The difficult words that occur in the tenth verse, " the woman ought to have [a sign of] authority on her head, because of the angels," have been held to point in the same direction. They seem to be a figurative way of saying " she ought to have a veil on her head as the sign of her husband's authority over her," because of " the messengers," or "angels," the ministers, who would, at that time, have been sadly disconcerted had they been called upon * I Corinthians xi. 5, 6. See Revised Version. The word ''unveiled" in this verse has an emphasis of its own above the rest. t I Corinthians xiv. 34. J i Corinthians xi. 6. 30 KISSING. to preach to an assembly of unveiled women, which Dr. Thomson, in a very interesting passage, shows would be equally the case in Syria to-day.* It is important to observe that these words are addressed not to a Church in Asia, nor to Hebrews only, but to the Church at Corinth, a Gentile Church in a Greek city. From this we learn that, in the age of the Apostles, the Eastern customs with regard to the sexes at public worship prevailed also in the Western world. It is out of the question, therefore, to sup- pose that the command to kiss has reference to other than the respective greetings of men with men, and of women with women. Every idea connected with the stringent proprieties of a land like Palestine, owing to the seclusion of females and the separation of the sexes, requires this limitation, which there was no need whatever to specify in a Revelation addressed to Easterns, or to those accustomed to Eastern usages, and published about the midst of the first century. Had anything been intended so strange, nay, so monstrous to their notions, as the fact of all men in- discriminately kissing all women, and that, * The Land and the Book, p. 31. KISSING. 31 too, in a Church like the Corinthian, where such terrible impurity had crept in,* it must have been specially and distinctly stated, and that with restrictions to guard against its abuse. Moreover, had it been otherwise, such indiscriminate salutation between men and women, commanded to take place at their secret meetings, would have formed a very damaging charge sure to have been brought against the Church by the early Pagan and Jewish objectors. Anything so eminently contrary to " the things " that were " chaste (ar/va, kagna) " and " of good fame " t in the world of that day, resting, too, as it would have done, upon documentary evidence, must have been very specially and constantly singled out, and held up to scathing repro- bation or scandalous reproach. It is well known that reckless and shameful charges were brought by unbelieving Jews and heathen against the Churches of Christ because of their secluded assemblies, especially those for the administration of the Lord's Supper. But I can nowhere find that the command to kiss was made the ground of any such charge ; and this is, in itself, a proof that it was not * I Corinthians v. t Philippians iv. 8. 32 KISSING. taken to apply to a salutation between men and women.* I have dealt, so far, with the words them- selves, but I will now submit indisputable evidence that the interpretation given above is identical with the interpretation put upon the passage by the primitive Church. It is well known that this kiss was practised amongst the followers of Christ for a long time. It was called "the kiss of greeting," and also " the kiss of peace ; " indeed we find it sometimes called simply " the peace," and this name implies that it was a kiss of ordinary friendly greeting. " Peace be to you " was from earliest times, and is to this hour, the usual spoken salutation throughout the East the friendly " how do you do ? " of English ; the proper reply to it being "upon you be peace." f One special time when they were in the habit of thus greeting, Justin Martyr tells us, in his Apology, was during Divine * I say this after having diligently searched the following answers to heathen objectors of the first three centuries : Justin Martyr's first and Second Apologies, Tatian's Dis- course to the Greeks, Athenagoras' Pka for the Christians, Minutius Felix' Octavius, Tertullian's Ad Nationes, and his Apology, and Origen's Against Celsus. t Genesis xxix. 6 ; xliii. 23 ; Exodus xviii. 7 ; Judges xix. 20 ; i Samuel xxv. 6, &c. &c. KISSING. 33 Service, just before partaking of the Holy Communion. His words are, " Prayers being ended, we salute one another with a kiss. There is then brought to that one of the brethren who was presiding bread and a cup of wine."' 56 ' This way of putting it, albeit precisely the same as the language of its institution, leaves it uncertain by and to whom such salutation was given. But in the Apostolical Constitutions, a work dating in part probably from the third century, where a fuller description of Worship is found, the matter is finally cleared up. The author says, " On the other side let the laics (the ' people,' or rather ' men ') sit with all silence and good order ; and the women, let them sit also separately, keeping silence." After a lengthy account of the service follow- ing upon this, he adds, " Then let the men salute one another, and the women one another, with the kiss in the Lord."f Here, * The First Apology of Justin Martyr, chapter Ixv. t Apostolical Constitutions, Book ii., chap. 57. This work probably assumed its present form in the fifth or sixth century, but Canon Westcott speaks of that part of it which describes worship in the second Book as " in all likelihood as old as the third century. " There is a somewhat similar statement in Book viii., chap. II, of the Apostolical Constitutions, which is con- sidered to be a much later addition to the first seven books. 34 KISSING. not only are the women to sit separately, as was universally the case in the early Church, but they are only " to kiss one another" while the men are limited to kissing men. This is made particularly plain in the Greek original, as, unlike English, the word "one another" is used in a masculine form where the men are spoken of, and in a feminine form in the case of the women. The passage is, " Let the men salute one anotfier-of-the-masculine-gender, and the women one anotfier-of-the-feminine-gender, with a kiss," &c. * This plain statement decides the point in question beyond the possibility of doubt, and the fact that, at a later period, " the kiss of peace," or "the loving kiss," gave rise to scandal, and was therefore discountenanced, and fell into final disuse, only shows that it had come to be as much misunderstood amongst the Church of that day as it is generally amongst us. The reader will observe that the above * eira KaJ iffira^fffOceffca' aXAjjXovs of ivSpes cal at yvvaiKfs rb tv nvpitp i\rifi&, eita kai aspazesthosan allelous hoi andres, kai allelas kai gunaikes, to en kurio phitema. The reader is here referred to Appendix E, on the Kiss of Peace, for the correction of a grave error on this subject in Smith's Dictionary of Christian Antiquities. KISSING. 35 explanation entirely removes the principal difficulty that has hitherto been felt in the texts which tell us to " salute one another with a holy kiss " namely, that such embrace was to be given indifferently to either sex. That it should have been lost sight of is not surprising, on two grounds. First, because the spread of the Gospel, by raising woman and bringing into the world a new purity, abolished in Western Lands the state of things existing before. Secondly, because the words " salute one another with a holy kiss " are figurative. They present the figure of Ellipsis or Omission. The words in this case omitted, but understood, being " men and women respectively." This figure of Ellipsis is common to all languages, but peculiar to the concise tongues of the East, and pre-eminent in Biblical Hebrew and Greek. It is a fact, albeit one that is unhappily but little understood, that the Holy Scriptures abound with figurative language generally in a very high degree, probably beyond any other work; for it may be truly said that almost every error that has crept into the Church has been founded on taking a figurative expression in a literal C 2 36 KISSING. sense ! The whole subject of figurative language, notwithstanding its immense im- portance to the Biblical student, has hitherto altogether failed to receive sufficient attention. One of the ablest works, and, as far as I am aware, the only exhaustive popular one in English dealing with the study of figures of speech, scarcely sold in this country in the ordinary way to the extent of twenty copies ! * Now that we see what the words do not and cannot mean, the way is prepared for perceiving their true import. There are two distinct kinds of kissing in connection with the customs of Eastern salutation. One is that which I have already described, of in- feriors in their character of dependents or sup- pliants namely, the kissing of a superior's hand, varied sometimes by kissing his feet, the hem of his garment, or the dust on which he has trodden. The other is that which takes place in an exchange of greeting be- tween two equals. When these latter are relatives or old and dear friends, they embrace one another, espe- * The Might and Mirth of Literature. A Treatise on Figurative Language. By John Walker Vilant Macbeth. _Messrs. Sampson Low & Co. 1876. KISSING. 37 daily after a long absence, in the following manner. Each, in turn, places his head, face downwards, upon the other's left shoulder, and afterwards kisses him upon the right cheek, and then reverses the action, by placing his head similarly upon the other's right shoulder and kissing him upon the left cheek. This exceedingly impressive and pic- turesque mode of embrace was the way in which Esau greeted Jacob, for we are told " he fell on his neck and kissed him ; " in which Joseph and Benjamin acknowledged their blood relationship, and in which Joseph welcomed and reassured the whole of his troubled brethren. Such, also, was the warm and tender greeting given by the father in the parable to the Prodigal Son, as unex- pected as Esau's similar reception of his trembling brother ; and the affectionate part- ing salutation between Paul and the elders of the Ephesian Church. * Between the first * Genesis xxxiii. 4 ; xlv. 14, 15 ; Luke xv. 2O; Acts xx. 37. It should be noted that in these last two instances the word is Kara(pi\fw, kataphileo, " to kiss much or eagerly, " that is, repeatedly, and with much warm expression of feeling. A precisely similar force is also given in the Hebrew of Genesis xlv. 15, which is, " Moreover he (Joseph when making himself known) eagerly kissed all his brethren " the veib "kiss" being in the//*/ structure, which gives 38 KISSING. and last mentions of this custom stretches a period of more than 1800 years ! What wonder then that, after the lapse of another 1800 years, we find it still the same in the changeless life of Bible Lands ! When a kindly, but somewhat more formal and respectful, salutation passes between those of the same rank, they will take hold of each other's beards and kiss them. Women also greet their husbands, and children their fathers, in like manner. It is a great insult to take hold of a man's beard on any occa- sion but that of kissing it. Treacherous Joab took advantage of this special form of embrace to assassinate the brother commander of whom he was jealous. Saluting him with the words '"Art thou well, my brother?' . . . Joab took hold of Amasa's beard [with the] right hand, to kiss him," that is, " to kiss his beard," and, when the other was thus thrown off his guard, stabbed him by a left-handed thrust with a short sword.* There is, however, another common occa- sion of kissing amongst men. The saluta- the sense of doing a thing diligently, or forcibly. A beauti- ful touch is thus imparted to the picture of his magnanimous treatment of those poor, trembling, guilty brethren. * 2 Samuel xx. 9, 10. KISSING. 39 tion which passes in polite society between a host and those of his guests who are in a similar station of life, consists in placing the right hand upon the other's left shoulder and kissing his right cheek, and then laying the left hand on his right shoulder and kissing his left cheek. It was in this way that Absa- lom saluted the people who came to kiss his hand, for, " it was so that when a man came nigh to do him obeisance he put forth his hand, and took hold of him, and kissed him," that is, he flattered the common people, whom he sought to draw into his conspiracy, by treating them as friends and equals.* Simon the Pharisee, with whom our Lord went " to eat " either to breakfast at midday or to dine at sunset in addition to the other ordinary customs of reception at the houses of the wealthy namely, having his guests' feet washed by one servant, and their persons sprinkled with perfume by another, greeted them each, in this usual way, with a kiss on the cheek. But it would seem that he did not care to appear too intimate with the lowly " Man of Sorrows," the despised carpenter- prophet, and Our Blessed Lord gently up- * 2 Samuel xv. 5. 4O KISSING. braids him for his unkind and discourteous conduct in the words " thou gavest me no kiss." * This was the neglectful reception ac- corded by the proud, cold-hearted, uncon- verted Pharisee, a gross breach of the laws of Eastern hospitality, towards one whom he had specially invited to a feast ; and in striking contrast was that of the humble, loving, saved outcast, who was in no way responsible for the honours of the house, but of whom the Master tells us, " she, since the time I car,:e in, has not ceased to eagerly kiss my feet " t the lowliest of all modes of grateful homage ! No excuse can be alleged for Simon on the ground of his regarding Jesus as a prophet, or as a great rabbi, and therefore feeling too much respect to treat Him as an equal, for, in that case, he ought to have reverently saluted Him as a superior, by kissing His hand, to say nothing of being doubly careful to see that His feet were washed and His head anointed. There is another more formal mode of salu- * Luke vii. 45. As our Lord further points out, Simon's neglect was so marked as even to leave His feet unwashed, and His head unsprinkled with oil. t Luke vii. 45. The word here isKoro^tAoCo-a, kataphil- ausa, "kissing much or eagerly." KISSING. 41 tation between those of a similar station of life when meeting in the ordinary way. In this case they join their right hands, simply placing them one to the other, and then each kisses his own hand and puts it to his lips and forehead, sometimes to his forehead only, or over his heart, and at others over his heart, merely, without kissing it.* It was by laying either the hand or the head on the shoulder, and kissing the cheek, that Laban greeted his nephew Jacob ; Aaron, his brother Moses ; David, his friend Jonathan, his son Absalom, and his aged benefactor Barzillai.t There is a beautiful allegorical allusion to * Akin to this is the practice amongst the fellah keen of seizing each other's hands, often for a minute together, not shaking them as with us, but clasping them, so as each to place his fingers in turn over the other's thumb, repeating alternately "selamat," " Peace," or, " How do you do ? " and " teiyibeen," "Are you well?" Sometimes this is done by clapping each other's hands very smartly twenty or thirty times instead of clasping them, while they repeat these words a very hearty mode of salutation, confined to the fellahhten class. f Genesis xxix. 13 ; Exodus iv. 27 ; I Samuel xx. 41 ; 2 Samuel xiv. 33. In Genesis xxix. 13, the word "kissed "' is in the piel structure, meaning " eagerly kissed. " On two other occasions referring to Laban, Genesis xxxi. 28, and Genesis xxxi. 55, the word is also in the piel structure, for Jacob's uncle appears to have been as demonstrative as he was deceitful. 42 KISSING. this kind of salutation, that well brings out its use as a figure of speech. The Psalmist, setting forth God's promised salvation, tells how the work of grace, through Christ's atone- ment, reconciles the Divine Righteousness to Peace, from which in a world of sin it had hitherto been estranged. " Mercy and Truth are met together, Righteousness and Peace have kissed," * or, as we should say, "have shaken hands," that is, have met as friends and equals on good terms with one another ! Now one of these three latter greetings namely, falling on the neck and kissing, kissing the beard, or laying the hand on the shoulder and kissing the cheek most probably the last must be the salutation intended in the apostolic injunction, "salute one another with a holy kiss." Viewed in this light, the command becomes not only natural and reasonable in itself, but pregnant with im- portant meaning. It was intended to teach the Church of God that, as believers, all its members were to meet on a friendly and equal footing, and in a way that was to remind them of their common brotherhood in Christ. All * Psalm Ixxxv. 10. KISSING. 43 distinctions of caste and rank among the people of the Lord, when gathered together in the character of His people, should, there- fore, be completely laid aside. Kissing the cheek, in the East, answers exactly to our hearty shaking of hands between those of the same social station when meet- ing in familiar intercourse, and, if the Holy Spirit had been writing in our age and clime, instead of eighteen hundred years ago in the East, we may say, with all reverence, that He would have commanded believers to " salute one another with a holy shaking of hands ; " to meet, that is, as brethren of one rank before God, members of the same body, chil- dren of the same Father. " Let the brother who [is] low, glory in his exaltation ; but the rich in his humiliation."* Let it not be said that "you have dishonoured the poor man," or that " you have respect to persons." f This is the glorious truth contained in the words " salute one another with a holy kiss," which, like most of the deepest and strongest sayings of Scripture, convey instruction under a figura- tive rather than a literal form. The main force here is in the word " one- * James i. 9. f James ii. 6, 9. 44 KISSING. another." This may be well seen in the place in the Epistle to the Romans where the in- junction first occurs. A number of saluta- tions, or ordinary messages of greeting, are sent specially to certain men and women by name, and, at the close of these, the apostle adds, " salute one another," that is, " all of you, men and women respectively, salute each other " with the sign of friendliness and social equality " a kiss ; " not as a mere act of formal politeness, but rather with sincere respect and affection " a holy kiss."* After I had written the above, happening to look at Chrysostom's Commentary on tJie Romans, I found this view so plainly and simply stated, that I cannot do better than give the words of " the golden-tongued preacher." Commenting on Romans xvi. 16, " Salute one another with a holy kiss," he says : "To cast out of them, by this salutation, all arguing that confused them [that is, all strife and asperity], and all grounds for little pride ; that neither the great might despise the little, nor the little grudge at the great, but that haughtiness and envy might be both driven away, when this kiss soothed down * Romans xvi. 16 ; and see 2 Corinthians xiii. 12. KISSING. 45 and levelled every one. And therefore he not only bids them salute in this way, but sends in like manner to them the greeting even of all the Churches. For ' there salute youl he says, not this or that person individually, but ' the Churches of Christ.' " It was a glorious sight, often to be witnessed in the primitive Church how seldom to be seen now ! when some titled noble took his seat below that of his own slave, in the secret meeting-room, and humbly submitted to that slave's instructions in the Way of Life. Listen to the words of Lactantius, who has been called, from his elegant and power- ful style, the Cicero of the early Church. They were perhaps written as late as the year 300 A.D : " Some one will say, ' Are there not among you some poor, and others rich ; some servants, and others masters ? Is there not some difference between indi- viduals ? ' There is none ; nor is there any other cause why we mutually bestow upon each other the name of ' brethren,' except that we believe ourselves to be equal. For since we measure all human things not by the body, but by the spirit, although the condition of bodies is different, yet we have 46 KISSING. no servants, but we both regard and speak of them as brothers in spirit, in religion as fellow-servants. Riches also do not render men illustrious, except that they are able to make them more conspicuous by good works. For men are rich, not because they possess riches, but because they employ them on works of justice ; and they who seem to be poor, on this account are rich, because they are not in want and desire nothing. . . . God has consulted our interest in placing this in particular among the Divine precepts, ' He that exalts himself shall be abased, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.'* And the wholesomeness of this precept teaches that he who shall [simply] place himself on a level with [other] men, and carry himself with humility, is esteemed excellent and illustrious in the sight of God. For the sentiment is not false which is brought for- ward in Euripides to this effect : ' The things which are here considered evil are esteemed good in heaven.' "f Men's yearnings foracommon brotherhood, * Luke xiv. n. t Lactantius, "'Introduction to True Religion, or the Divine Institutions." Book v., chap. xvi. KISSING. 47 where the strong artificial barriers which human pride and selfishness have so success- fully erected should be all broken down, ought to be met to the full in the Church of Christ ought to be, but, alas ! are not. In those sections of it where this spirit of levelling up, born of lowliness and love, is strongest, there unquestionably is the largest outpouring of the Spirit of God. We must first " eagerly kiss the Son," or, in other words, come to Jesus as suppliants for mercy, and humbly and gratefully accept His salvation, and submit to His authority, and then, with the love of God shed abroad in our hearts, we shall desire " to kiss one another " that is, to " love the brotherhood" manifesting our regard for them by greeting them as one with our- selves, being " in brotherly love tenderly affec- tioned one to another ; in honour preferring one another? * This word " tenderly-affectioned," (f>i\6arropyoi, philostorgoi, is one of almost untranslatable force, being compounded of terms signifying the affection of parents for their children, or of animals for their young, and it teaches us that the love of believers for one another is to be warm and * Romans xii. 10. 48 KISSING. strong, like natural affection amongst near relations. The general failure, throughout Christen- dom, to obey the meaning of this important apostolic command, has brought about, amongst the professing followers of Christ, a state of pride and worldliness destructive alike of holy love and spiritual life. With what trumpet tones has this been deplored and denounced, again and again, by the late generous and heroic General Gordon, whose whole life was a protest against it ! Nor can it be doubted that such conduct, in the case of the larger part of the nominal Church, is leading to a reaction throughout civilised society, that threatens to overwhelm it in violent com- munistic and secular movements. It is the great glory of the Bible, distin- guishing it throughout from all other works of antiquity, that it realises " the dignity of man as man," and turns aside from the splendour of thrones and the palaces of the privileged few to deal with the fortunes of the humble poor. Dr. Geikie has .well said, " In Egypt the masses were held in contempt by the great as ' the stinking multitude.' ... In Asia, from the remotest times, even the high KISSING. 49 officers of the sovereign have been content to call themselves his slaves. ... In ancient Greece, the citizens formed a privileged few- the mass of their fellow-countrymen counted for nothing ; and it was the same in Rome, till citizenship was extended to all Italy, in B.C. 90, after the Social War, to the unspeak- able mortification of the great patrician party. ... In Scripture, however, there breathes a higher spirit of liberty and respect to man. Instead of giving pompous recitals of the deeds of conquerors and kings, it follows the history of simple patriarchs and their house- holds. Amidst the slavish splendours of Egypt, it dwells on the fortunes of a humble shepherd tribe. That there be loyalty to- wards the One Living God is enough to raise even the exiled Jacob to a prominence in it that is not assigned to rank or power. It enters the shepherd's tent ; it follows him in his simple occupations ; it turns aside from the palaces of Zoan to bend its regards on the lowly inmates of the Hebrew slave-quarter around. It sees no charm in the merely outward and accidental ; the spiritual and essential alone are valued. If these be found on a throne, its occupant has corresponding D 50 . KISSING. notice, but if they have retired to the tent or the slave-hut, they are followed thither, and the throne is passed by to reach them." * But it was reserved for the gospel of the grace of God to reveal, in all its fulness, the true dignity and equality of redeemed man. Around Christ, His whole Church is gathered as one universal brotherhood, to whom a common ruin in sin, a common pardon through His blood, a common adoption amongst the sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father, and a common renewal by the same Holy Spirit, level all earthly distinctions of birth, rank, wealth, or intellect, and bring all alike into the fellowship of the saints, making them, in a word, "perfect 'in one." f Nothing could be plainer than the burning words of the Master : " But you may not be called Rabbi ; for one is your Teacher ; and all you are brethren. And call no one your father upon earth ; for one is your Father, [even He] Who [is] in Heaven. Neither may you be called leaders [or chiefs] ; for one \^ your Leader [or Chief] [even] Christ. But he that * Hours with the Bible. Vol. I., pp. 6, 7. f John xvii. 23. KISSING. 5 1 is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled ; and whosoever shall humble himself shall be exalted." * The full force of this important passage is much obscured in our version. The "Teacher" alluded to is not named in the best texts. But as believers are to call only God the Father their " Father," and only Christ, God the Son, their "Leader, or Chief," so the inference is that, when our Lord says " one is your Teacher " (StSacr/caXo?, di- daskalos], without naming him, He means God the Spirit, of Whom afterwards, when He speaks of Him in private to His disciples, He says, " He. shall teach (SiSdgei, didaxef) you all things." Hence we learn from this text that the Triune God is the only Father, Chief, and Teacher of the disciples of Christ ; " the only one," says Bishop Alford in his com- mentary on this verse, " in all these relations on whom they can rest and depend." And he immediately adds, " They (all believers) are brethren : all substantially equal none by office or precedence nearer to God than another ; none standing between his brother and God" * Matthew xxiii. 8 12. Some texts read in verse 10, " for your Leader [or Chief} is one [even] Christ." D 2 52 . KISSING. Again our Blessed Lord declares even more emphatically the same truth. " Ye know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you ; but whoso- ever of you would become great shall be your servant (Bidfcovos, diakonos] ; and whosoever would be chief [or first] among you shall be your slave (SoOXo?, doulos) : Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." * Very clear, too, is the teaching of "the apostle of the Gentiles," " Be of the same mind towards one another ; set not your mind on higJi things, but take your part with the lowly;" and again, "Submitting to one another in fear of Christ;" and again, "In humbleness of mind esteeming each other better than yourselves." t If, as believers, we culti- vate this spirit of lowliness and love, we fulfil one of our Lord's latest wishes, and give the liveliest evidence of the truth of His Divine Mission ; for did not He pray, the night before He died, that we " may all be one, even as * Matthew xx. 2528. f Romans xii. 16 ; Ephesians v. 21 ; Philippians ii. 3. KISSING. 53 Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, . . THAT THE WORLD MAY BELIEVE THAT THOU HAST SENT ME ! " * It is sadly significant of the loss of this truth that, throughout most sections of Chris- tendom, men ignore the fact that the one inspired scriptural title of the members of Christ's Church, everywhere in use amongst themselves in the apostolic age, as a term of address, descriptive of their relation to one another, is " Brethren." Five titles occur in the New Testament. Strange to say, the one most frequently employed now is that which only occurs three times, and then, in each instance, unmistakably as a nick-name, or term of contempt, given by unbelieving Jews and heathen Gentiles namely, " Christian ! " Thus we read, " the disciples were first called ' Christians ' at Antioch," f plainly in derision, for never once do we find it used by one believer to another, or in speaking of another, or by the Holy Spirit of the Church. Agrippa says, in evident mockery, possibly assumed to hide an emotion of which he was ashamed, * John xvii. 21. The words "icw/t/," " thou" and ";<.' " are emphatic by their place in the last clause of this verse. t Acts xi. 26. 54 KISSING. " with little {trouble} art thou persuading [thy- self] to make me a ' Christian .'"'* The only other passage where the name occurs is equally plain, and becomes very striking and forceful when viewed in this light. The Apostle Peter says, " Let not any of you suffer as a murderer or a thief . . yet if as a ' Christian ' [any of you suffer] let him not be ashamed," that is, notwithstanding that he is arraigned under this disgraceful name'.f The title that comes next in frequency, the name " Believer/' is found about twenty- five times, and is employed as a fitting and honourable description of the Lord's people. The term " Saint," or rather " Saints," for it is used in the plural in every instance but one, comes next, occurring some sixty times, and is applied in much the same way as the term " Believer." J The word " Disciple " is simi- larly used some ninety-six times in the New Testament ; yet only as a designation, never as a mode of address. These three titles, " Be- lievers," " Saints," " Disciples," are given to the Church in its relation to its Lord and Saviour. But the one favourite and peculiar ap- * Acts xxvi. 28. See Revised Version. + I Peter iv. 15, 16. % See Appendix F, on the Title of " Saint." KISSING. 55 pellation, which occurs most constantly, is " Brethren." In this style not only are mem- bers of the Church spoken of by one another, but also personally addressed in both oral and written communications. The name " Brethren " is found in the Acts and the Epistles about a hundred times, and the singular " brother " thirty-three times more, while the feminine form " sister," which occurs six times,* appears to be the same tech- nical name given to believing women. And this word " Brethren " is everywhere employed in the New Testament by the members of the primitive Church, when addressing their fellow- members, as essentially their own proper title, expressive of the nature of their calling in their relation to one another, f * Romans xvi. I ; I Corinthians vii. 15 ; ix. 5 ; I Timothy v. 2 ; James ii. 15 ; 2 John, 13. 1" The words "Friends," "Heirs," "Children," and some few more terms, either alone or in combination with other expressions, occur, with some frequency, as applied to believers, but always by way of figurative descriptions of their character and privileges, rather than as recognised terms of nomenclature. Perhaps " Beloved " should have been in- cluded in the list of names I have given above. It occurs some 13 times, and in 12 out of the 13, like " Brother," it is employed as a term of address. Seven times more we meet with "Beloved" in connection with "brother, " for the former word expresses in a strong degree much the same sense as the latter. 56 KISSING. It is very interesting to notice that this was recognised by our Reformers, for the one title by which they have directed the minister to address the congregation at the morning and evening service of the Church of England, in the exhortation which forms the very first uninspired portion of that service, is "Brethren" "Dearly beloved brethren." In all the other services of the Prayer Book the words of address are precisely similar, either " brethren," "dearly beloved," or" dearly beloved brethren," while the deceased member of the Church is called, in the Burial Service, " our brother " or "our sister." Another most important aspect of the subject must not be passed over. The account given everywhere in the New Testament of the Church as one great brotherhood of saved men of all sorts and conditions gathered around Christ in perfect spiritual equality, children of one Father, fellow-servants of one Master, and taught, without any distinction, not only to regard one another as friends and equals, but even to esteem each other better than themselves, and to submit themselves one to another, in the very nature of things, utterly precludes the existence within that Church of a priestly caste ! KISSING. 57 Such a fundamental view of the Ecclesia (the " Church," or " Assembly," as the word means) positively and for ever settles this point, and razes to the ground the very strong- hold of Anti-christ's superstition. It leaves no place or possibility for the lofty claims of a special sacerdotal class. "One is your Teacher, and ALL YOU are BRETHREN." ALL of you, without exception, as redeemed men, are " equal in dignity, in destiny, in privilege ; a spiritual republic, a theocratic family." But if, in the Church of Christ, one order of men had been set apart to offer up a sacrifice for the living and the dead, to hear the con- fessions and pronounce the absolution of the rest, to act as their sole judges and rulers, to stand as the indispensable mediators between God and man, to be clothed, in a word, with far more powers and privileges than were bestowed on the Jewish, or claimed by the Pagan, priesthood, surely, instead of Believers being commanded to " salute one another with a holy kiss," as being all alike on one perfect spiritual equality, they would have been commanded to kiss the hand of the priest, in token of the lowliest submission ! Here, in the last place, we are led to right 58 KISSING. views of the ministry. SERVICE, not RULE, is its distinguishing feature. It has been well said, " The officers of a Christian Church are simply a body of men who are willing to become their brethren's ministers [that is, servants] to take upon themselves additional labours and responsibilities for their brethren's benefit, which they are not bound, otherwise than through love, to perform. And the cha- racteristics of a Christian minister, ideally con- sidered, are humility and kindness and self- denial. The whole worth and significance of his service is that it be done for the society's sake and not for his own. Having no interests to seek, but some to renounce ; finding his wages mainly in his work ; denying himself for the sake of others, and desiring not to be ministered unto, but to minister ; superior to his brethren only because more like his Lord, and honourable only in virtue of his humble- ness such is a Christian minister." These are, in the main, noble words as true as they are noble. It follows of necessity would it were more generally realised ! that a minister is not constituted the sole authorised teacher of the Church, and that much less is he appointed to KISSING. 59 be " lording it over the great assigned portion [of God]," that is " the Church/'* above all in matters of " faith," but that, on the contrary, his true place is to be one of their "joyful fellow-workers." For the Apostle, speaking of the very highest order of ministry, even that of Apostles themselves, says, " not that we have lordship over your faith, but are your joyful fellow-workers" f The emphasis I have marked here by italics is given very plainly by the order of the words in the Greek original. J That the expression, rendered in our ver- sion in its naked literalness, " helpers [or rather, fellow-workers] of your joy," should be translated " your joyful fellow-workers? I * I Peter v. 3. See Appendix G, on the Great Assigned Portion. f 2 Corinthians i. 24. The word I have translated ' l fellow workers" crwepyoi, sunergoi, has, for its chief or first sense, that of "working together with," "joining or helping in work ;" sometimes it means " an accomplice." Its marked technical, second meaning is, "one of the same trade or labour as another," a "fellow-workman." It is in this last technical sense that the Apostle, in his figurative and vigorous style, appears to use it here, where, as spoken of the Brethren, drawn mostly, as we are expressly told they were, from the working classes ( I Corinthians i. 26 28), in a great trade centre like Corinth, it would be particularly effective. \ See Appendix H, on the Emphasis on "Your" and "Fellow-workers" in 2 Corinthians i. 24. 60 KISSING. think there can be little doubt. " From the hands of a man of his brother " is " from the hands of his brother man ;"* "home of thy righteousness" is "thy righteous home ;"t " mountain of my holiness " is " my holy mountain ; " J " God of my righteousness " is " my righteous God ; " " city of his strength" is "his 'strong' city ;"|| "images of thy silver" is "thy silver images;"^" " throne of His glory " is " His glorioiis throne ;"** "the might of His glory" is " His glorious might ;"ft "in the body of his flesh "is "in his flesJily body;" JJ "the mind of his flesh" is "his flesJily mind;" "holi- ness of the truth" is "the true holiness ;"|||| "angels of His power" is "His powerful angels ;"T[1f " the body of our humiliation " is " our Jiumiliated or humbled body ;" and " the body of His glory" is " His glorious body,"*** together with a great number of other in- stances that might be cited from the New Testament. " Fellow-workers of your joy " * Genesis ix. 5. ft Colossians i. 1 1 ; see t Job viii. 6. also Ephesians i. 12. J Psalm ii. 6. JJ Colossians i. 22. Psalm iv. i. Colossians ii. 18. || Proverbs x. 15. |||| Ephesians iv. 24. ^.i Isaiah xxx. 22. UH 2 Thessalonians i. 7. ** Matthew xix. 28. *** Philippians iii. 21. KISSING. 6 1 is, therefore, on the face of it, likely to be " your joyful fellow-workers" * This being the "joyful fellow-workers " of the Church of God implies labouring in the humblest offices on behalf of and side by side with other believers, and calling upon and encouraging them to exercise to the full their own gifts and graces for the furtherance of the Master's cause. May the Lord raise up and send forth into His vineyard many such ministers ! But, perhaps, some will exclaim, " Do you mean to deny the rule of the ministerial office ? Would you deprive Bishops, Pres- byters.f and Deacons of the authority con- ferred upon them by the teaching of the * See Appendix I, on the Emphasis on "Fellow" and "Joyful" in 2 Corinthians i. 24, for the full proof of this point. t The word "priest" is the irpeff&vrepos, presbuteros, or "elder," of the New Testament, an office modelled on the eldership of the synagogue, and having nothing to do with the functions of a sacrificing priest, the Greek for which is lepevs, hiereus, and the Latin sacerdos. This word " elder," pres- buteros, from the Low Latin form presbyter, and the old French form prestre (now pretre), became our "priest, "as may be seen from any good English dictionary. Where "priest," therefore, occurs in the Prayer Book, spoken of a minister of the Church of England, it stands simply as the English form of the New Testament word presbuteros, or "elder." 62 KISSING. Apostles ? " I hasten to answer, " No." On the contrary, I would arm them with a power and authority of Divine appointment and invincible strength. In these lawless times, when the bonds of discipline within and around the Church are all loosening, I would point faithful ministers to the adequate and only means of attaining to a spiritual rule, strong with all the strength of Christ. The authority of ministers of the Gospel is not the same as that of civil rulers. It is founded not on force, but on fidelity. It stands not in their office itself, but in their faithful discharge of it. It is not upheld by any temporal or spiritual power belonging to their order, but by the esteem and affection of their faithful flocks. Above all, its greatness is measured by the depth to which it stoops. This is one of the numerous paradoxes of Divine Grace, well-known to that " able minis- ter of the New Covenant " who said, " When I am weak, then am I powerful?* In this way it is true of ministry, as of all else in the kingdom of heaven, "whosoever shall desire to save his life will lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake will find it."f * 2 Corinthians xii. 10. t Matthew xvi. 25. KISSING. 63 Let me repeat the plain words in which the Master Himself has stated this important truth. "Ye know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you ; but whosoever of you would become great shall be your servant (Sid/covos, diakonos) ; and whosoever would be chief [or first] among you shall be your slave (Soi)Xo9, doulos]. Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many." * Here we have, in a single sentence, the secret of all rank, dignity, and rule, in the Church of Christ. Let us take, as a com- mentary on these words of our blessed Lord, those of the Apostle Paul in that chapter which he commences by claiming respect for his office " Let a man so account of us as officers [literally, ' under-rowers '] of Christ. . . . We [are] fools for Christ's sake, but you [are] wise in Christ ; we [are] weak, but you [are] mighty ; you [are] glorious, but we [are] unhonoured ; " and then, after a list of the deepest humiliations and privations which he, in common with the other Apostles, is suffer- * Matthew xx. 25, 28. 64 KISSING. ing in consequence of faithful ministerial labours, he concludes, " I beseech you, there- fore, become imitators of me." * In every passage where ministerial au- thority is spoken of in the Epistles, it is sanctioned on the ground of ministerial worthiness. Take the following instances. " Remember those who had the rule over you, who spoke to you the word of God, of whose life, attentively considering the issue [or end\ imitate their faith." t These words, spoken of the martyred ministers of the " Hebrews " [that is, the Palestine Jews], men such as Stephen and James, urge respect for their past rule on the plea of their faithful example. Again, of living ministers, it is said in the same chapter, " Obey those who have the rule over you, and submit [yourselves], for they watch on behalf of your souls, as those who must give account, that they may do this ^vith joy and not with groaning." J Who would not reverence and follow such minis- ters as these ? Yet our allegiance is claimed not because of their office itself, but because of their high unselfish labours in its discharge. The Apostle, addressing the Thessalonian * I Cor. iv. I, 10 16. t Hebrews xiii. 7. \ Hebrews xiii. 17. KISSING. 65 Church, says, " Now we beseech you, brethren, to know [that is, to duly regard] those la- bouring among you, and presiding over you in [the] Lord, and admonishing you, and to esteem them very highly with love for their work's sake." * What could be plainer than this ? Our " due regard " and " esteem " are not claimed for the sake of their office, but for the sake of their " work." Once more the Apostle enjoins, " Let the elders that preside well be counted worthy of ample maintenance, especially those who labour in preaching and in teaching." f The words, in our version, "counted worthy of double honour" mean plainly, " counted worthy of ample maintenance" "double" being a Hebrew expression for " large " or " ample,"! and " honour " for " honorarium," that is, " gift " or " maintenance.'^ But it is only those * i Thessalonians v. 12. t i Timothy v. 17. It is literally " in word (Iv \6y Saint) from the title of the Gospels, and from the heading of the pages." * Nor could they consistently have failed to protest against its insertion. In no ancient manuscript is the word " Saint " found in any of these titles, and every one of the Revisers must have been well aware that there is not the faintest reason for supposing that it ever formed part of the original text ! That they should have gone out of their way to insert or permit the insertion of this unauthorised term is the more lamentable because it is just what, in the preface to this version, they distinctly declared they would not do. After enumerating the Principles and Rules agreed to by the Committee of Convocation, on May the 25th, 1870, as those upon which the Revision was to be made, they add, " these rules it has been our endeavour faithfully and consistently to follow." Yet rule four, which they quote just above, says that " the text to be adopted be that for which the evidence is decidedly preponderating," while, as I have now shown, there was no evidence whatever for the insertion of this " S." It is sadly calculated to be a stumbling-block to the unlearned, and is an act unworthy of Protestant translators. All who wish to be Scriptural, and to follow the well-known practice of the Primitive Church, should * They seem to have overlooked the fact that the letter " S." has also been wrongly inserted in the title of the Revelation. 88 KISSING. be very careful in referring to the Apostles, the Evangelists, and other New Testament characters, (not to say the early so-called Fathers,) to avoid giving them the prefix of " Saint," whether in an- nouncing the lessons in Divine Worship, or in quoting the inspired writers in preaching, as well as on all occasions either public or private. It will assuredly be no loss to these holy men to be de- prived of a title never joined to their names in the Bible, or in any of the writings of the Primitive Church, but introduced in corrupt ages by the Church of Rome, and which that apostate system has delighted to bestow, even down to our day, on cruel persecutors and grossly immoral writers ! So far from the title " Saint " being peculiar to any one member of the Church, or any one class of its members, we might just as scripturally speak of either Bunyan or Wesley as " Saint " John, as give this style to the writer of the fourth Gospel ! APPENDIX G. "THE GREAT ASSIGNED PORTION." THE first part of i Peter v. 3, " neither as lording it over the great assigned portion [of God]," is rendered in the Revised Version, " neither as lord- ing it over the charge allotted to you." The Greek is simply v K\4i P uv, ton kftrdn, which is the genitive plural of <5 Ktfipos, ho kftros. This word kl'eros has for its first meaning, "a lot," and for its second, KISSING. 89 "that 'which is apportioned by lot," hence, "an assigned portion," and sometimes "an office." This word " lot," used for "an assigned portion," would have great force for Hebrews because the land of Palestine was apportioned amongst their original tribes and families by lot, and it would have scarcely less force for Easterns generally, whose arable lands around the villages are assigned afresh to them each year by the casting of lots, a fact which is not known to the commentators. That kl'eros cannot be "office" here is certain, for no men could " lord it over their offices." It must, therefore, be "the great assigned portion" that is, the Church, and whether the Church is to be re- garded as " the great assigned portion " of God, or of ministers, what student of Scripture can doubt ? The Authorised Version speaks of it here as " [God's] heritage," and it would have been well if the Revised Version had followed this Scriptural course, or else had left it indefinite, and simply said, " neither as lording it over the great assigned portion. " I have rendered it " the great assigned portion" for only thus are we justified in turning a plural into a singular, as even our Revisers felt that they had to do in this case; " the great assigned portion " of the first part of the verse, answering to the one " flock " of the last part, that same " flock " which is called in the preceding verse " the flock of God." This wGtdikleron is in fact a "plural of majesty," that is, a plural used to aggrandise a thing that is naturally singular, a Hebrew figure of speech much 90 KISSING. more common in the New Testament than is generally supposed. Thus we read that Christ "sat down at the right hands of God," that is, at " God's great right hand" (Mark xvi. 19); of "the times and seasons," that is, " the great, all-important time and season " of the second coming of Christ, when His people are to be caught up to meet Him in the air, spoken of just before (i Thessalonians v. i ; iv. 13 1 8. See also Acts i. 7, where our Lord uses the same expression, " times and seasons," of the one great " time," about which the Apostles had asked in the last verse) ; of " the heavenly places " being purified "with better sacrifices," that is, " with a better grand sacrifice" that of Christ, Who " by one offering perfected " His people (Hebrews ix. 23) ; of the despisers of Moses' law dying " without mercies," that is, " without the least mercy" (Hebrews x. 28), &c. &c. The fact therefore that this word kleron is " a plural of majesty " meaning " the great assigned portion" " the flock of God " viewed as one, and belonging to Him, His Own peculiar treasure, gives considerable force and significance to the right rendering of the verse : " Neither as lording it over the great assigned portion [of God], but being patterns to the flock," that is, sheep like the rest, a part together with them of God's portion, who are to be chiefly distinguished from others by setting a good example. Bishops and priests who try to exert over the Church the forceful rule so distinctly forbidden in these words are attempting to tyrannise over that which does not belong to KISSING. 91 them, that which is not their property or posses- sion, but the property of Another, " the Church of God [or " the Lord "] which He has purchased with His Own blood" (Acts xx. 24). APPENDIX H. THE EMPHASIS ON " YOUR " AND " FELLOW- WORKERS " IN 2 CORINTHIANS I. 24. THE order of the words in 2 Corinthians i. 24 is oi>x #TI Kvpievopev v/j.iv TTJS iritT-recas, oAAa ffwtpyoi eff/j.ev rijy x a P" s ', v/j-lav, ouchhoti kurieuomen humon tes pisteos, alia sunergoi esmen tes charas human . The position here of vn&v, humon, "your" before, instead of after, js, tes, or iriff-reus, pisteos, " faith," which, as I have said, makes it emphatic, has, owing to the neglect of the principles of emphasis, led some commen- tators, Macknight for instance, to translate the first part of the verse " not that we lord it over you [through] faith." But, besides their thus adding to the text, without any warrant, the preposition " through," they actually justify this rendering by saying that the Apostles had lordship over their converts' faith ! The emphasis on "fellow- workers " appears by this word in Greek,