70 REV. GEORGE MILLIGAN, B.J)., ON THE GREEK PAPYRI. 



was in use at the time to describe the " visit " to any district of a 

 king or great man. Consequently it points to Christ's Parousia not 

 so much as a Return, but as a Coming, a Presence, which not even 

 His absence from sight for a little while had been able really to in- 

 terrupt, and which, when fully re-established, would last for ever. 



So, again, Bishop Lightfoot's graphic translation of Gal. iii, 1, 

 " 0 foolish Galatians, who did bewitch you, before whose eyes 

 Jesus Christ was j)oded up, placarded before you," receives fresh 

 confirmation when we find the parents of a wayward son 

 giving orders that an order or proclamation should be 'placardMl 

 (TTpoypacj^riuai,) to the effect that no one any longer should lend 

 him money, while the verb used to describe the conduct of the 

 lad in the body of the document, " living riotously " (dacorevo- 

 fjLevo<;), at once recalls the corresponding description of the 

 prodigal in the Gospel, who wasted his substance " with riotous 

 living " (^(ov acrft)Tft)9, Luke xv, 13). 



Examples might easily be multiplied, but these are sufficient 

 to show how much may be learned from the most unexpected 

 quarters regarding our New Testament vocabulary. 



4. The same applies to the help which the papyri afford in 

 restricting the general surroundings of those to whom in the 

 first instance our Xew Testament writings were addressed. 



From no other source can we gain so clear an idea of the 

 conditions under which Christianity arose with reference to the 

 humbler classes of the population. These — among whom the 

 new teaching found many of its earliest and warmest ad- 

 herents — are deliberatelv ionored bv the historians of the 

 time. But now it is just the life of these common people 

 which these frail papyrus leaves, written with their own hands, 

 bring before us with almost startling vividness. 



Notices of birth, of death, contracts of marriage, deeds of 

 divorce, actions for assaidt, arrangements for village festivals, 

 etc., all let us see the men and women of the day, as it were, in 

 the flesh ; while their letters of repentance and mourning, 

 their inquiries for help from oracles and dreams, show that, 

 even if they were " much addicted to religion," the religions 

 of the day were powerless to meet their deepest needs. 



To prove this, I cannot do better than read to you one or two 

 of these documents. I have referred already to one poor 

 prodigal son, here is the actual letter of another (see p. 76), in 

 which he pours out his sorrow and repentance to his mother. 

 The last part of the letter has been torn across, and yet I think 

 you will feel that these broken lines and sentences are almost 

 more pathetic than if they were complete. 



