Page:Lives of the apostles of Jesus Christ (1836).djvu/415

 *terly impossible to ascertain at this day; for the original word is known to have been applied to persons, in every one of these senses, even in the New Testament. But, however this may be, a serious question arises, whether this James the Little was actually the same person as the James, called, on the apostolic lists, the son of Alpheus. In the corresponding passage in John's gospel, this same Mary is called Mary the wife of Clopas; and by Matthew and Mark, the same James is mentioned as the brother of Joses, Juda, and Simon. In the apostolic lists given by Luke, both in his gospel, and in the Acts of the Apostles, Juda is also called "the brother of James;" and in his brief general epistle, the same apostle calls himself "the brother of James." In the beginning of the epistle to the Galatians, Paul, describing his own reception at Jerusalem, calls him "James, the brother of our Lord;" and by Matthew and Mark, he, with his brothers, Joses, Juda and Simon, is also called the brother of Jesus. From all these seemingly opposite and irreconcilable statements, arise three inquiries, which can, it is believed, be so answered, as to attribute to the subject of this article every one of the circumstances connected with James, in these different stories.

James, the Little.—This adjective is here applied to him in the positive degree, because it is so in the original Greek, [[Greek: Iakôbos ho mikros], Mark xv. 40,] and this expression too, is in accordance with English forms of expression. The comparative form, "James, the Less," seems to have originated in the Latin Vulgate, "Jacobus Minor," which may be well enough in that language; but in English, there is no reason why the original word should not be literally and faithfully expressed. The Greek original of Mark, calls him "James, the Little," which implies simply, that he was a little man; whether little in size, or age, or dignity, every one is left to guess for himself;—but it is more accordant with usage, in respect to such nicknames, in those times, to suppose that he was a short man, and was thus named to distinguish him from the son of Zebedee, who was probably taller. The term thus applied by Mark, would be understood by all to whom he wrote, and implied no disparagement to his mental eminence. But the term applied, in the sense of a smaller dignity, is so slighting to the character of James, who to the last day of his life, maintained, according to both Christian and Jewish history, the most exalted fame for religion and intellectual worth,—that it must have struck all who heard it thus used, as a term altogether unjust to his true eminence. His weight of character in the councils of the apostles, soon after the ascension, and the manner in which he is alluded to in the accounts of his death, make it very improbable that he was younger than the other James.

First: Was James the son of Alpheus the same person as James the son of Clopas? The main argument for the identification of these names, rests upon the similarity of the consonants in the original Hebrew word which represents them both, and which, according to the fancy of a writer, might be represented in Greek, either by the letters of Alpheus or of Clopas. This proof, of course, can be fully appreciated only by those who are familiar with the power of the letters of the oriental languages,