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The fallen angels and the heroes of mythology
The fallen angels and the heroes of mythology Author:John Fleming 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: CHAPTER II. THE SETHITE-INTERPRETATION. § VI.—General View—Supporters Of The Interpretation— Causes Of Its Adoption. The explanation of the passage, Gen... more ». vi. 1-4, now to come under consideration, is one which was universally received, both in the eastern and in the western Church, for some thirteen or fourteen centuries—in other words, from about the fourth century of our era, to almost our own times—and which, slightly modified by some recent writers, has, probably, at this day the largest number of adherents, although having really as little foundation in the text, as the traditional one of the Jewish schools. This exposition of our passage, which has been called the Seth- ite, of later origin than the angel andyf/n magnatum explanations, may be found, in form more or less complete, in the works of many theological and other writers, in ancient, mediaeval, and modern times. It is given, in the words of several of our own commentators, by Maitland—himself a supporter of the true interpretation—and we cannot better present it to the reader, conveying to him, at the same time, an idea of the groundless suppositions and assertions, by which it is sustained, than by transcribing a passage from that writer's essay on The Fallen Angels. Having quoted the words of Gen. vi. 1-4, he says, " With regard to what I have called the current explanation of this passage, I must say that it is not only in the highest degree fanciful, as being founded on mere imaginations; but also, that the fiction, when dressed up in its most plausible form, is grossly insulting to common sense. I will give it, as it stands, in three of the most commonly used recent expositions; only taking leave here and there to interpolate a question or remark between brackets, believing that to be the most ...« less