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Expository Thoughts On the Gospels, with the Text Complete
Expository Thoughts On the Gospels with the Text Complete Author:John Charles Ryle Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: (1 Cor. ix. 22.) To draw such nice distinctions requires no small practical wisdom. But such wisdom is to be had for the asking. " If any man lack wisdom, let hi... more »m ask of God." (James i. 5.) When Christians keep up needless divisions they show themselves more foolish than Satan himself. Notes. Luke XI. 1420. 14.[It was dumb.] The expression here used should he noted and compared with the one which follows in the same verse, "the dumb spake."It was the devil which was dumb. It was the man who spake.-The words would have been more clearly rendered, " The dumb man spake." The action of the evil spirit making the possessed man dumb, and the action of the man released from his power, should he carefully distinguished. 15.[Beelzebub.]The meaning of this name is said to be the " Lord of flies." Beelzebub is mentioned as " the God of Ekron," in 2 Kings i. 3. For what reason so peculiar a name was given to the chief of the devils is a question which has never been fully settled. How great the plague of flies is in a hot country those who have travelled there have always mentioned. 16.[Sought of Him a sign.] Let it be noted that it is always one mark of a thoroughly unbelieving heart, to pretend to want more evidence of the truth of religion. 17.[Every kingdom divided...desolation.] It may be doubted whether our Lord's words in this place are not meant to refer to the many intestine divisions and dissensions which prevailed among the Jews, even to the very day when Titus took Jerusalem. In this light the verse contained a solemn prophecy. It is notorious that the divisions of the Jews were one cause of the success of the Roman army. 19.[Tour sons cast them out. ] It is not agreed among commentators to whom our Lord refers in this expression, Bishop Jewel thinks tha...« less