Page:Lives of the apostles of Jesus Christ (1836).djvu/417



parts of the word, and are never taken into consideration in tracing a word from one language to another,—the consonants being the fixed parts on which etymology depends. The change also from the aspirate Ph, to the smooth mute P, is also so very common in the oriental languages, and even in the Greek, that it need not be regarded in identifying the word.

Taking into consideration then, the striking and perfect affinities of the two words, and adding to these the great body of presumptive proofs, drawn from the other circumstances that show or suggest the identity of persons,—and noticing moreover, the circumstance, that while Matthew, Mark, and Luke speak of Alpheus, they never speak of Clopas,—and that John, who alone uses the name Clopas, never mentions Alpheus,—it seems very reasonable to adopt the conclusion, that the last evangelist means the same person as the former.

Second: Was James the son of Alpheus the same person as "James, the brother of our Lord?" An affirmative answer to this question seems to be required by the fact, that Mary the wife of Clopas is named as the mother of James and Joses; and elsewhere, James and Joses, and Juda and Simon, are called the brothers of Jesus. It should be understood that the word "brother" is used in the scriptures often, to imply a relationship much less close than that of the children of the same father and mother. "Cousins" are called "brothers" in more cases than one, and the oriental mode of maintaining family relationship closely through several generations, made it very common to consider those who were the children of brothers, as being themselves brothers; and to those familiar with this extension of the term, it would not necessarily imply anything more. In the case alluded to, all those to whom the narratives and other statements containing the expression, "James the brother of our Lord," were first addressed, being well acquainted with the precise nature of this relationship, would find no difficulty whatever in such a use of words. The nature of his relationship to Jesus seems to have been that of cousin, whether by the father's side or mother's, is very doubtful. By John indeed, Mary the wife of Clopas is called the sister of the mother of Jesus; but it will seem reasonable enough to suppose,—since two sisters, daughters of the same parents, could hardly bear the same name,—that Mary the mother of James, must have been only the sister-in-law of the mother of Jesus, either the wife of her brother, or the sister of her husband; or, in perfect conformity with this use of the term "sister," she may have been only a cousin or some such relation.

The third question which has been originated from these various statements,—whether James, the brother of Jesus and the author of the epistle, was an ,—must, of course, be answered in the affirmative, if the two former points have been correctly settled.