- 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,
