PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation
Alfred Plummer [1841-1926] · 535,750 words · 528 reading sections
The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 361
will finally sep11rats the righteous and the wicked. " 1 Here, however, we meet (shall we say unexpectedly?) with a .gracious word of monition, in ver. 15. As a writer 1 atrikingly says, "Suddenly the Spirit takes the reader aside, and whispers, 'Behold, I come quickly,'" etc. Thus we gather that this final struggle…
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Never again your loins nnt1e, Nor let your torches wime and die, Till, when the shadowe thickest fall, Ye hear your Master'■ midnight call?" VJI. 0Jr WBOJIBOBVEB IS STANDING IN TIII8. ATTITUDE OF Sl!!BVICB, THE MAsTD'B '1dl&SING IS PBONOUNOEO. "Blessed is he," etc. 1. He has the Lord's approval now. I. The .. signs…
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wicked for the-day of evil"? 3. Meanwhile, God is "long~suffering, ••• not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." V. AT THE APPOINTED HOUR THE "LONG-BUFFERING" WILL CEASE. By thia it is not meant that patience, 88 a Divine attribute, will be exhausted, but that there will come a time …
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HOMILIES-BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Ver. 6.-Be done by as yoo did. "They have shed the blood ••• thou hast given them blood to drink." Grateful, indeed, ought men to be not alone for the golden rule which commands us to do unto others as we would be done by, but also for the converse of that rule, the eternal law-that as …
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Ver. 9.-The hardened heart. "They repented not t.o give him glory." This impenitence is told of in eh. ix. 20, and in this chapter again at vers. 11 and 21. This repeated reference is designed to. as it well may, impress our minds with a fact at once so sinful, so solemn, and so sad. For such impenitence i11- L A VERY…
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Ver& 12-16.-.Armageddon. It is the name of a place. It lies to the north-weai of the Plain of Esdraelon, on the southern slopes of Carmel. It is mentioned on various occasions in the Bible (cf. i'lljra). But these verses tell of a great event aonnect«l with it. I. WHAT WAS THIB? It is called "the battle of that great …
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aervant, or the servant of selfishness and sin ?-has to be sett.led. When all the clamour of passion and the might of temptation are resisted, and the heart goes over to the Lord's 11ide, that has been the spiritual fulfilment of thi1 mysterious vision, II. WHAT OAKE OF rr? This is given not here, but in eh. xix. 17-2…
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out doubt they do. And, therefore, the lssacm of tn, whole, which in ver. 6 the Lord himself solemnly interposes t.o teach his Church, ia for us to-day aa for them of old. " &hold," he says, " I come as a thief." Many there were, many now are, in open 8880Ciation with his people who are not really of his people. 'l'o s…
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Vers. 13, 14.-771e unclean spirits. Following the steps hitherto taken, we come to a aymbol of great repulsiveness-a symbol doubtless intended to represent evil in its repulsive form. Again we premise we see no individual persons or individual systems in this figure. "The descriptions here, as. well as in the paralle…
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ways {Go ye], and pour out the vials [seven bowls) of the wrath of God upon the earth" (ver. 1). From the very shrine of the Almighty, the holy of holies, he deals , ut and regulates every item of the sevenfold plagues. 1. He orders their agent,. E11Ch of the "seven angels" or messengers are sent forth by him. "Go y…
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cities of the nations fell: and grea.t Babylon came in remembrance before God. to give un~ her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath" (ver. 19). Great Be.bylon, what la it ? fie moral ml, of 1M 'WO'l"l<l organiud into ita metnipoli,. Falsehood. sensuality, pride, ambition. impiety, fraud, iyranny, embodied…
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of the image of the beast. The first beast where lt oceun (of. IS&. i. 21; Jer. iL to; la, therefore, identical with Babylon, and iii.; Esek. xvi. ; xxiii. ; Hos. ii. 5 : iiL S : repl'818nts, as we have teen, the openly iv. 15; Micah i. 7). In ha. xxiii. and Nah. hostile and peraecmting world-power of all iii. 14 th…
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had,-there the spirit of Babylon has been article (see Alford, in we.). Some oom• manifested. In short, we have in the great mentators ·have thought that the " wilder- harlot-city neither the Christie.n Ohuroh as ness" signifies the desolation whieh is the a whole, nor the Bomish Church in par- lot of the harlot ( see …
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eh. xiii. 7. (On the "ne.mes ef bhtsphemy," of the Church, though nominally Ohristian, as signifying opposition to and rivalry with is in reality identical with the world, which G~ see on eh. xiii l.) The ,e,,en kead, is openly antagonistic to God. Indeed, the denote universality of (earthly) dominion. ll\tter porti…
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ing exph1.ne.tion, which 11how1 how the tl,e abyss to go fnt.o perdition." This non• unfaithfulness is avenged. existence, contemporaneously with exist- °V81'. 7.-And the e.ngel Rid unto me, ence and subsequent --reappearance, is Wherefore didst thou marvel t did tl-.o• exactly what is deecribed in the wound "on,ler t…
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pagan or papal Bame. And, indeed, tbfe form the ftrat seven. The BeYiled Tenliaa may be a pamal fullllment of the mion; probably give, the oo~ meaning, • 19 cl but it is not the whole signifl.<'ation. To ihe aeven ; " that Is, the beast himtel( eon- understand 911!HIII mountaine literally in aista of, and ia fOl'med…
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give tlletr power and ltreqth unto the beut ; whole, serves the beasl.(cf. eh. xiii. 3, 8, U. thq gi116 {I>retkm t tense) their p<Ylller and a• 16). and out of which are selected the re- .thqnCy. eto, Th.at iB, though apparently split deemed (eh. v. 9; ix. 9). up tnto 1118Dy sections, they form practically Ver. 16.-…
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HOMILETICS. Vm. 1-18.-" Babyltm tM great." Our aim in this homily will be to show to whd form of evil the name "Babylon the great" specially aeems to point. The comph~xity and difficulty which have gathered round this chapter seem to the writer to arise ra~ from .the enormous incubns of human interpretation which h…
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aloud, "Come out of her, my people ••• that ye receive not of her plagues." Ot.ltl '11111 tWtD poinl to any form ur form• qf ~ tbal . _ to IM, ,gmbolitm P We have no hlll!it&tion in saying-Y~ In BO doin:;:, let us observe that there really is not room for &n)I great diversity in applying aucA symbolism as we have here,…
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one 'wbo hu watched the lt'Ol'king flf papal Rome td Rome will need -oo words to CQ.11.• vince h,im of her gorgeous display and daz211ing sheen. 9. She i11 dnmk witb :the w.d of the holy (Yer. 6). · ~ t talea doe& hlllt.ory unfold I A hundred and fift,y . ~ persoBII perillhed under the Inquisition in thirty yeanJ; and…
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are lO di'iected u io serie God's purpoaes and not man•s (vers. 16, 17). "The king's htat1i la in the hand of the Lord, and he tumeth it wbithersoever he will;". "The lot itl cut into the lap, but the wllole. disposal thereof is of the Lord.;• "A man's heart cleriseth his way, but the Lord directeth -his steps." . (…
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shall minister at her altars. The walls of her mighty temples will be sbatter0d 1 a.nit the shrieks of many an unclean bird shall reverberate from oolWWl to oolWWl of her dilapidated pile. "ThUI terribly shall Babel fall, Th-nd no more be. found at all In Note: 1. TM amazing e:i:tmt of the dominion of papal Romtt …
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m0l'8. Bo soon, so certain, was his removal, that he i.a spoken of In ver. 8 as "the beast thH was, and ia not, and yet ia;" and again (ver. 11), a.a "was, and ill not;" though, from ver. 10 and many other sources, we kuow that when St. John wrote Nero was yet living, and furiously persecuting the Church of God. Thie …
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Emperor Julian. And Constantine confessed the eame, and Rome bowed to Cbtwt. 4,. By fhe aonaenl 'II ronacie,ia,,Blessed be God, there ill a better self in th41 wont of men, and the appeal io that betl er self in men, though drowned by many a l'i1e clamour for • long Ume, will yet be beard and· obeyed. And Christ by …
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_aainta and prophets; "-J.n BUCh t.erms is the antipathy to an righteomml!SII decland. 3. Occasion of all evil, seen in the corruption of life. the deceitfuln- of iniquity; the •loiie of the blessings of righteouanesa, degradation in Bin, to which the "peoples. and -multitudes, and nations, and tongues" are reduced " …
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life. Although her kingdom ii" "not of this world," her demand is that the world should biw t.o her, In yielding to worldly influence ahe lost her pristine purity and primitive power; she got corrupted, and became more and more the servant of rulers and the instrument of atatea. Thia she has been from before the day…
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It ia very like the "harlot" on account of its political mbserviency, worldly proclivity, and teligi.oua intolerance. What aNt we to do with Uiis .abomination f .Flee .from this Sodom; oome out of Uiia Babylon. "Oruah the monaw l "-D. T• . Ven., 7-1$._;.A pldur. of moral ffl"Of'. • A~d the angel Mid UDto me. Wberelon …
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~ nune of religion. Wrong Is ----ay hypocritical. 8. On account of 1M 1.IIOfMlm,- !,Al lMwe• llaal will r...i,Jrom U. Resulta will 1pring from evil which the origioaton and agents never designed, nay, wl1ich they would dread. The introduction of u became the ~ion of a new and brighter manifestation of God. All the glo…
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Vera. 14-18.-~it great moral campaign. "These shall make war with the Lamb, and. the Lamb shall overcome them : for he ia Lord of lords, and King of kings : and they tha.t are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful," etc. '110 our mind these verses seem to adumbrate the greatest of all the campaigns this world h…
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EXPOSITION. Tim. v. 11. It llignifles overweening pride CIIAPTER.Xvtn. and insolence and wantonness, arising flOIII Ver. ].-And after these thinge l nw auperfluity of wealth and gifts. Of. the another angel. come down from heaven; warning 1io ihe Church of I..a.odicM (oh. after ~omiitfag u and ") . • • oomiflg dat…
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Va. '1.-How much the hath glorlS.ed apace of time during which the kings rule henelf, and lived delicioUlly, 10 muoh tor- <- eh. xvii. 12); bnt a oompa.rlson with ment and 1orrow give her, (For "lived ver, 8 leads to the oonclo81011 that the mean• d.licio1111Jy," ,ee on "·clelioaoies," ver. B.) Ing :is " suddenly ; " t…
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on !ICllOunt or the beanty of I.ta wood for Yer. 13.-And ili.yi'nlr, AIU, alu that variollt! ornamental purposes. By the great oity! Most authodties omit "and." Ron:µml! the tree was called citrus, the wood Woe, fDGe, the great ciiy I (nominative C1188); citrbm. It is a na1iveof Barbo.ty, and grows exactly a.Ii in v…
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HOllILETICS. Vera. 9-24.-Laffll!'fftatiom over UuJ fall of Babylon. In our previous study of 11 Baby Ion the great," we had occasion to remark that there were three forms under whiqh a great Babylon might be recognized. 1. In that world-wide spirit of alienation from God which bas corrupted every form of human life e…
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England of OUl'II in her world-wide tran~actions is the chief manifestation at this moment! So that, as Dean Alford cnµinP'Q11ly ren,arks, some parts of the description rather suit London than Rome. Commercially, iudeed, we have done with any avowed tratlc in the bodies of mB'll. But that iu the eight of God many of…
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lmmlED m VAIN; 1, We should first of al! learn that tM hoU of O«l on all Uidl., Jw,ve and are iw abriorute. We are but t"nants-a•-wm. The proud and conceited. talk as if the world were ours-" :My river is my own, and I have made U for mysalf"- ie an abomination to the !Ard. God has never waived his rights in entn&in…
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16, '19). 8. But Uw lament la uttwly selfish. They mourn ,not because of the wil:kednese; that doea not trouble them, Nor even for Babylon's sufferings. But becallB8 the hope of their gain is gone (ver. 19). 4'. .dnd they do nol go lo her help (Yer. 16). They stand afar o:lf for the fear of her torment. Look well at th…
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,1g1&e 111Aal BabylOR tl1(J8. Be like Babylon, and you are Babylon. Her doom ill yours, aud her final fate yours also. For the law of God is, "Wheresoever the carcase is, tt1<1re will the vultures," et.c. (Matt. uiv. 28). For this is- IL Tn LA w THAT THEY EXBHPLIFY. Our Lord had been telling of Divine judgments coming…
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lliai;(«fom i& • greai ■tumbling,.b•ck to both reason an<}; faith, •Will n • noi &11 miumi0unt&ble one. Bui were it not f0r the truth we are COllll:lidering ao•,. that all this acc&raed Al.let of evil. shall one day be ''no more,"' we do not tee. bMr faiih in God ellitkl ave-. Fu, tlat f&itit necessita~ as its corol…
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illJIIC8, bui a mere meteor', brilliant and mft fO?' a moment, then bleck and atm · a ever. A.. there ia a law of diaintegration ill the mat.erial universe, that 110 separa.tea the h11g,eat mountains that they ultimately disappear, so there ia In the moral a law of retribtaion, which will ultimately break into pitce…
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attnietion links planet.I! to the sun. "Ae you stood IODle stormy day upon a lllla-OlHf; and· marked the giant billow rise from the deep to rnah on with foaming crest, and throw i-1! thundering on the trembling shore, did you ever fancy that you could ata7 ilB course. and hurl it back to the depths of ocean? Did you ev…
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Ven. Q--24.--The/al! of thf ClDf"Nlpt ia hlf2'lalffl lifo. "And the. kings et the earth, ~ ha~e committed f@rnkatioo antl lived de+iciouel.y uh her," ett. All along through ~ remallks on the Apocalyptic visions, of this book 1 have not lilllly discarded any a.ntemflt u a l i ~ mte!pretation, but have affirmed that, 8…
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-"Babylon is fallen." The false and the wrong everywhere are constantly falling, and mu.st continue to do so. Do not, then, understand that the whole of corrupt BOciety on this earth will in some distant day in the mighty aggregate be at once clearly swept &om the .face of the earth. There is no rea.son to believe t…
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thrilled with delight at the sight of even "one sinner that repenteth.n The change of governments, the fluctuation of markets, the revolution of empires--.such things as these awaken the deepest ooncem of the ignorant and erring eons of men. But they wu. no ripple on the deep translucent river of oele1tial minds. Where…
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EXPOSITION. for the worship of ver. 1. Oom,pt t1M -0.; OH.APTER XIL. uin eh. xi. 18, where a form of the 118.1118 Ver. 1.-Alul after thete thl.ng1 I heard a verb is used ( of. also Jer. li. 25). HBf' for- sr-,t voioe of mueh people in )leaven, say- ing; a.fur tJi.e,e tl,inga I MMd, a, it -e. a mcatum; her unfaithfu…
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is evident, from the reproof of the angel, Ver. 12.-Hil ey&1 were u a flame of fire; that it wa& more than could be becomingly 11nd his 8rJBI [are] a flam8 of fire. Again u and safely paid to a created being. And he in eh. i. 13. " Fire " is the type of pnrity --111 1111to m.e, See thou do it not : I am thy and judgmeu…
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waged. (On " white" and " ftne linen," see Ver. 18.-That ye may eat the :8.esh of previous chapters.) kings, and the ftesh of captains, and the Ver. 15.-And out of hill mouth goeth a flesh of mighty men, and the tl.eeh of horsea, llharp ,word, that with it he should smite and of them that Bit on them, and the fl.eah t…
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HOMILETICS. Vert. 1-9 (coupled with eh. xviii. 20).-Rejoicings over the/all of Babylon,. When we put side by side the lament of the kings, merchant.a, and seamen, with the rejoicings of the great multitude in heaven over Babylon's fall, the effect is very strange. At first sight there seems an incongruity between them…
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a procel!II in which God is going to do exceeding abundantly for ue above all we can ask or think. Let us, then, watch for the sequel. And meanwhile let us, in the light of the paragraph before us, ask and answer three inqniries- 1 WHO ABE 'l'BE BEJOICING ONES? "A heavenly hallelujah celebrate.q the first aet of the f…
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Divine truth which always coal&1ce-hurnan effort and the grace of God. 6; ne LmJ, fJIIIMth w daim Ms Church. "'l'he marriage of the Lamb is come." These words, like many others with wb.ich we have met in the course of our expositions, overleap the intervening distance and events, and glance onwards to the outcome. The …
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day of God .Almighty." Not that we are to look for the literal ful:6.lment of such words in a material contest beaded by the Messiah in person leadiag an army I No, no I nothing so sensuous. God's battle is a silent one. Its weapons .are not carnal. Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. 'J'he forc…
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Egypt, Assyria, Chaldea., Persia, Greece. Rome bath gone also since then. And as earthly crowns one by one are falling from kingly brows, he to whom the globe belongs shall bear the glory._ The glory of Egypt is gnne; but the men of Egypt shall riBe again, and crown him Lord of all. So with other rea.lms, empires, nati…
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But. here, here we have a firm rock on which we stawl ; here we fix our hopes ; here we cast. anchor ; nor can our vessel ever be drifted from her mooring. "The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth ef the Lord nath apoken it." And however we may have been disiiearte,,e…
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JL BY WHOK. A goodly company is presented to our view. For: 1. " Mueh people lfl hea'IIM" ware seen by St. John, and he heard the" great voice" of their united praise. And as they beheld the proof of their ancient adversary'11 utter overthrow, in that "the BD1oke" of the fire by which his city was consumed "rose up for…
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word and called it Aivov, 11s we also call it. Now, in four books of, the Bible thia common and inferior variety of linen is referred to. In Leviticus, twice. (1) When the priest is renewing the fire upon the altar, that it may not go out (Lev. vi. 10), He comes in the early morning, gathers up the ashes, etc. In doing…
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declaration of Scripture, of conscience, of right reason, of Christ's people always and everywhere, and of this symbol of the" liaen, white and clean." IL WHAT BY 1TB VARIETIES? 'l'hey tell of the different circumstances in which the believer is found. 1. The first tells of him as co1111ciotes of ,in. He is a believer…
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Bis promises made good. His precepts owned as just. Whoever disput1111 a verdict he bas given? Who does not feel that, when he bas spoken, the last word, be the BUbjeet what it may, has been said, and that there is nothing more to he said? II. 'l'ml UNKNOWN NAHE. {Ver, 12, "And he had a name written, that no man kn…
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these many crowns; and that we may be roused to a holy ambition thus to minister to our Saviour's glory, let us consider these "many crowns." And- L THOSE THAT ABE NOT oP l!ARTll. 1. The heavenly crown. What glorious scenes does this book present to UB of the palace and court of heaven, and of him who is the Centre an…
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impressive vision just granted to the holy seer-a song as "of a great multitude in heaven" breaks upon the ear. It is a song of praise to God, ascribing to him the "salvation" wrought out for his people, and the "glory" of that salvation, and the "power" by which it has been accomplished-a song of praise for his "true …
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II. THE OONFLIOT IS NOT DELINEATED. It has been already, and abundantly. W• are to see in it all the contention long continued between the diverse elements, light and darkneBB, truth and error, righteousness and sin, Christ and Belia], the judgment of human conduct by the true standard of right, the life of Christ. Thi…
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he not "true and righteous,• hoth in himself and in hia procedlll'e, who 0011ld worship him? Moral mind is so constituted, that to worship the falso and ihB wroag would be an impossibility. You may urge me to do so with the threat of eternal damnation, but I could not bow my knee to such; ll(>r ought I, if I could. …
931 wordsSource & rights
Public domain historical Pulpit Commentary. Source page identifies the volume as Public Domain; text extracted from its historical PDF.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.