After an attentive and accurate examination of this subject, I believe I may venture to assert, that nine times out of ten, when the pretended subjunctive form of the verb is used after a conjunction, either in the vulgar translation of the Bible, or in our best profane authors, the sense is actually future, and to render the sentences complete, it would be necessary to insert _shall_ or _should_.[115] This will be more obvious by attending to the Latin translation of the New Testament, where the future is almost always employed to express the Greek future and aorists. _Igitur si munus tuum attuleris ad altare_--If thou _bring_ thy gift to the altar; _et illic memineris_--and there _rememberest_; (what confusion of modes.) If his son _ask_ bread--_Si filius ejus_ petierit _panem_. And if the house _be_ worthy--_Et si quidem_ fuerit _domus digna_; and so throughout the whole New Testament. Will any person pretend to say that the verbs _bring_, _ask_ and _be_, in the foregoing passages, are present time; or that _rememberest_ is not bad English? The elliptical future, _If thou be_, _if he ask_, &c. is correct English, but should by no means be confounded with the present tense, which, in English, has but one form. I do not deny that good authors have used this form, after conjunctions, in the present time; but I deny that the genius of the language requires it, that it is agreeable to the ancient or modern elegant languages, and that it has been or is now the general practice. With respect to the ancient practice, examples sufficient have been already produced, to show that authors have considered the present of the indicative, after conjunctions, denoting uncertainty or doubt, as at least correct; and the present practice in speaking is wholly on this side of the argument. With respect to the Roman and Greek languages, I believe examples enough may be brought to prove, that the subjunctive mode after the conditional conjunctions or adverbs, was not generally used, except when the idea was such as we should express by _may_, _might_, _should_, _let_, or some other auxiliary before the verb. "Quid est autem, quod deos _veneremur_ propter admirationem ejus naturæ, in qua egregium nihil videmus?" "Ut, quos ratio non posset, eos ad officium religio _duceret_."--Cicero, De nat Deorum, l. I. 42. To render _veneremur_ and _duceret_ into English, _should_ may be prefixed to _adore_, and _might_ to _lead_. At any rate, the conditional conjunctions do not all, nor generally require the subjunctive mode: "Quæ, _si_ mundus _est_ Deus, quoniam mundi partes sunt, Dei membra parim ardentia, partim refrigerata dicenda sunt."--Ibm. 1. I. 10. "_Si_ Di _possunt_ esse sine sensu," &c. The indicative after this conjunction occurs frequently in the best Roman authors.