Page:Lives of the apostles of Jesus Christ (1836).djvu/292

 who knew by personal experience, at once secured the attention of the no less ardent Simon, and he accordingly gave himself up to the guidance of the confident Andrew, who led him directly to Jesus, anxious that his beloved brother should also share in the high favor of the Messiah's friendship and instruction. This is the most remarkable recorded circumstance of Andrew's life; and on his ready adherence to Jesus, and the circumstance that he, first of all the disciples, declared him to be the Messiah, may be founded a just claim for a most honorable distinction of Andrew.

Bethabara.—Some of the later critics seem disposed to reject this now common reading, and to adopt in its place that of Bethany, which is supported by such a number of old manuscripts and versions, as to offer a strong defense against the word at present established. Both the Syriac versions, the Arabic, Aethiopic, the Vulgate, and the Saxon, give "Bethany;" and Origen, from whom the other reading seems to have arisen, confesses that the previously established word was Bethany, which he, with about as much sense of justice and propriety as could be expected from even the most judicious of the Fathers, rejected for the unauthorized Bethabara, on the simple ground that there is such a place on the Jordan, mentioned in Judg. vii. 24,—while Bethany is elsewhere in the gospels described as close to Jerusalem, on the mount of Olives; the venerable Father never apprehending the probability of two different places bearing the same name, nor referring to the etymology of Bethany, which is (beth anyah,) "the house (or place) of a boat," equivalent to a "ferry." (Origen on John, quoted by Wolf.) Chrysostom and Epiphanius are also quoted by Lampe, as defending this perversion on similar grounds. Heracleon, Nonnus and Beza are referred to in defense of Bethany; and among moderns, Mill, Simon and others, are quoted by Wolf on the same side. Campbell and Bloomfield also defend this view. Scultetus, Grotius and Casaubon, argue in favor of Bethabara. Lightfoot makes a long argument to prove that Bethany, the true reading, means not any village or particular spot of that name, but the province or tract, called Batanaea, lying beyond the Jordan, in the northern part of its course,—a conjecture hardly supported by the structure of the word, nor by the opinion of any other writer. This Bethany beyond the Jordan, seems to have been thus particularized as to position, in order to distinguish it from the place of the same name near Jerusalem. Its exact situation cannot now be ascertained; but it was commonly placed about fifteen or twenty miles south of Lake Gennesaret.

Lamb of God.—This expression has been the subject of much discussion, and has been amply illustrated by the labors of learned commentators. Whether John the Baptizer expected Jesus to atone for the sins of the world, by death, has been a question ably argued by Kuinoel and Gabler against, and by Lampe, Wolf, and Bloomfield, for the idea of an implied sacrifice and expiation. The latter writer in particular, is very full and candid: Wolf also gives a great number of references, and to these authors the critical must resort for the minutiae of a discussion, too heavy and protracted for this work. (See the above authors on John i. 29.)

After narrating the particulars of his call, in which he was merely a companion of his brother, and after specifying the circumstance of his being present at the prophecy of the temple's destruction, the New Testament history takes not the slightest notice of any action of Andrew's life; nor is he even mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, except in the mere list of their names in the first chapter. For anything further, reference must be made to that most dubious of historical materials, the tradition of the Fathers; and the most reasonable opinion that can be pro