THE GOSPEL

ACCORDING TO

SAINT MATTHE W.

A NEW TRANSLATION WITH BRIEF NOTES,

AND

A HARMONY OF THE FOUR GOSPELS.

עמנואל

LONDON:

SAMUEL BAGSTER AND SONS,

15, PATERNOSTER ROW.

100.0.108.

PREFACE.

THE TEXT from which this translation has been made, is that which appeared to the writer to be the most correct. It agrees with the Received Text, from which the common version is made, more than most recent editions of the New Testament do; and deviates from the former only when some of the latter, and many critical authorities, support the same change. The older manuscripts are generally to be preferred; but their frequent omisions lessen the value of their testimony to the shorter readings. No English translation can have any authority, unless it represents the Original text. The aim of the writer has been to ascertain and to follow this.,

The TRANSLATION is designed to give the exact meaning of the Greek in the English of the present day, keeping as closely as possible to the original, both in sense and style. The writer has not sought, by retaining the expressions of the admirable version with which all are familiar, to secure the advantages which belong to its early and sacred associations. There are other advantages to be obtained by considering the same subjects when presented in language not so familiar, and which has only ordinary associations. These advantages are possessed by those who read the Sacred Scriptures in the original, or in other languages; and they may be found by English readers in a new translation.

The NOTES are only such as may be generally useful, being intended to remove the difficulties which will occur to any thoughtful reader ; and to point out connexions which are important, but not always

obvious. They are simply explanatory; being merely intended to assist to the right understanding of the text. Some Lessons are given subsequently, as aids to reflection, to be read after the Sections from which they are derived.

The SECTIONS have been determined, in nearly all cases, by the relation of the subjects, as seen in this history alone; but in a few instances, some regard has been paid to the corresponding portions of the other Evangelists. The composition is regular throughout, but evidently it is not a continuous narrative, like a common history or biography: and the discourses which have a perfect unity, consist sometimes of parts so distinct, that more than ordinary pauses may be supposed to have indicated the transitions. Many difficulties are removed by a right arrangement; and many interesting and important relations are then immediately seen. Numbers are prefixed to the Sections, and the Divisions and Parts are separated, to make more manifest the way in which different subjects are combined. The history consists of many portions, but it is not fragmentary. Selection and arrangement may be discerned everywhere, from the beginning to the end.

A HARMONY of the four Gospels is added, from which it will be manifest that the narratives are independent, but consistent, and mutually corroborative. The history of each of the Evangelists is complete by itself; but a comparison and combination of what is related by all, are of great importance. Together they present that knowledge of Jesus Christ, which is the most precious of all possessions, both for this life and that which is to come.

JOHN H. GODWIN.

HAMPSTEAD. September, 1863.