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The Conversion of the Northern Nations; The Boyle Lectures for the Year 1865, Delivered at the Chapel Royal, Whitehall
The Conversion of the Northern Nations The Boyle Lectures for the Year 1865 Delivered at the Chapel Royal Whitehall Author:Charles Merivale General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1866 Original Publisher: Longmans, Green Subjects: Missions Church history Christianity and other religions History / General History / United States / General Religion / Christianity / History Religion / Christian Ministry / Missions Religion / Christianity ... more »/ General Religion / Christian Church / History Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: LECTURE V. PREPARATION OF THE NORTHERN NATIONS FOR THE RECEPTION OF CHRISTIANITY. St. Luke i. 80. And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel. The contrast between youth and age so vividly presented to us in the opening chapter of St. Luke's Gospel has a solemn interest for all men. The contrast in the mere outward lineaments, as it appeared to the bystanders, between John and his aged parents, between the infant Jesus and Joseph and Simeon, is heightened to the eye of faith by our sense of the deeper moral contrast involved in it; and from this spiritual intuition the great painters of sacred story have drawn no small portion of their energy in imagining and portraying. I too would invite you to consider it in its spiritual bearing, and see in it the operation of Grod's providence in the religious training of His creatures. First stands before us an ancient priest named Zacha- rias, with his aged wife Elizabeth, both descended fromthe priestly race, both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the law blameless ; both doubtless feeling deeply the corruption of their age, the sinfulness of their people, and the drawing-back of God's hand from the children of His promise, the veiling of His face be...« less