Mark 1:3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare you the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. He had rough work to do; therefore a man of refined taste and delicate organization could not perform it. John is fitted for his work — a coarse man levelling mountains and filling up valleys, sternness in his looks, vehemence in his voice. The truth is — Reformers must despise the conventionalities of society. They have rude work to do, and they must not be too dainty respecting the means they adopt to effect it. Adorn your frontispieces, embellish your cornerstones, but let the foundations be as rugged as you please. Decorations are for the superstructure, strength and solidity for the base. Luther has often been charged with rudeness, coarseness, and even scurrility. The indictment contains, perhaps, too much truth for us successfully to gainsay. But we should not forget that he had a coarse age to deal with, coarse enemies to contend with, coarse sins to battle with. Coarse or not coarse, the question is — Did he do his work? If he did that, who are we to cavil at the means he used? Would our smooth phrases and rounded periods accomplish the task of regenerating half Europe, and of giving the other half a shaking from which it has not yet recovered, nor is likely to recover this century? Regenerate half Europe indeed! Shame upon us! We cannot regenerate half a parish, and who are we to find fault with a mall who regenerated half a continent? Who will go to fell forest trees of a thousand years' standing with a superfine razor? Is not the heavy axe the fit tool wherewith to cut them down? (J. C. Jones.) Parallel Verses KJV: The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. |
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