REGIUS PROFESSOR OF GREEK IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE,

AND CANON OF ELY.

GODLE

FOURTH EDITION.

WITH THE APPENDIX INCORPORATED.

CAMBRIDGE:

DEIGHTON, BELL, AND CO.

LONDON: BELL AND DALDY.

ΤΟ

THE BISHOPS,

PRIESTS AND DEACONS,

AND

CANDIDATES FOR HOLY ORDERS,

IN THE

CHURCH OF ENGLAND,

THE FOLLOWING PAGES,

WITH ALL HUMILITY,

ARE MORE ESPECIALLY DEDICATED

BY

THE AUTHOR.

PREFACE

TO THE FIRST EDITION.

It is possible that this little work may be met with an objection in limine, quite independent of the manner in which it is executed,―viz. that to call the public attention to the consideration of any supposed improvements in the authorised version of our Bibles is needlessly to unsettle men's minds, and shake their confidence in a book which is familiarised with their daily occupations and habits of thinking, and towards which therefore it is desirable that they should entertain no other feelings than those of a reposing conviction of its practical perfection.

I do not under-rate this objection. But my answer to it is, that in proportion to the importance of having the sacred text settled is the importance also of having it settled on a true and safe foundation. And there may probably be readers among the ordinary ranks of those who go every day to draw water out of these wells of salvation, who may sometimes encounter a degree of perplexity in weighing and comparing together some of the more difficult passages as they stand in our translation. And there may possibly also be some among the preachers of the word, who, as they meditate upon it in preparing to divide it to others, may find it difficult to reconcile the associations of thought, which have grown up with them from their infancy, with the more matured views which open upon their minds in carrying their inquiries higher, up to the fountain of the sacred original. And with regard to both these classes it is important to bear in mind this distinction, that whatever obscurity is found in God's word arising from the mysterious nature of its sublime revelations, is a fit exercise for patience and humility and childlike prayer for the teaching of that Holy Spirit by whose inspiration it was given; but if it possess any adventitious difficulty,