Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1886-10-05

the divine spirit, but respite was granted.
They were thus placed on trial for O limited
time. This condition of a limited probation
under Gods supervision could not more ex-
actly be presented in brief, emphatic Ian
guage, such as the apostle Enthusiastically
employed than is the phrase in Greek zen
phulake"-the literal, exact, universal mean
ing of which is in watch or in guard or ward.
The ward may be used to express the
place of watching or guarding-of Efwatch
and word'' 'as our old authors used towrite and
SO bring in the idea of prison, if the circum-
stances allowed, and in such cases it may be
properly translated prison. But this is not
the original or proper meaning: only a deri
vative or simply suggestive meaning which
should never be given it unless the context
require it. The wo d is used where the idea
of prison is necessarily excluded, as in Luke
ii, g.. the shepherds are described as keeping
watch and elsewhere in the New Testament.
The condition of those antediluvian proba-
tioners was prominently and characteristical
ly that of being under the watch and ward
of the divine spirit during this growing visi-
tation. 1t was this feature of their condition
most obviously presented to his readers by the
apostles allusisn to the history in Genesis.
His indication of it by this phrase they could
at once understand; could hardly fail of un-
derstanding. They could not, SO far as we
can see, put any other meaning into the
phrase. There can be no reasonable doubt,
of the antediluvians as under the watch and
ward of the divine spirit for the one hundred
and twenty years before the food It is clear
why the apostle used the phrase; it is clear
also how his hearers must have understood
it. How carefully the apostle used language
is indicated in the fact that he speaks of
their spirits being in this condition of divine
supervision and watch; their bodies were
still left free.
The other point deserving a moments ex-
animation is the preference in the words
"when once the long-suffering of God waited
in the days of Noah" The presumptive ref
erence of this modifying clause, in the first
place, is to the principal verb in the sentence
preached. The thought, in the next place,
would be left strangely incomplete without
this reference; for the first question that
would arise in reading the statement of the
apostle would be: when or where did Christ
preach to those spiritss The very object in
the apostles allusion to the antediluvian
story would be frustrated then but for some
definite indication by which Christ's preach
ing could be identified by his readers. In
the third place, Christ did preach as the
apostle asserts, by his spirit in the days of
Noah to those spirits; and there is not the
slightest indication in all scripture that he
ever preached to them at any other time.
gesis connect this time-reference with
the participle rendered disobedient more ex-
actly and suitably unbelieving apeithesasion;
for the participle is here an attributive not
a defnitive, if we may use the technical dis
tinctien familiar to grammatical scholars
The defnitive use, which would be requisite
in order to allow this time notification
would require the article. which does not ap-
pear here As used thus attributively the
word must be understood to point to the
character of the spirits to which it refers, not
to define or specify certain ones among them.
The spirit, we conclude then, addressed his
strivings-Christ preached-to the antedi-
luvian spirits in the gracious custody or
keeping of God in their unbelief at this time
when the long suffering of God waited in the
days of Noah while the ark was preparing
BIBLE STUDENT