Part 2781

8:12-17; 8:18-22; 11:33-36; 12:1-5; 12:6-15; 12:16-21; 13:8-10; 13:11-14; 15:4-13) VII. 1 Corinthians (1:4-9; 4:1-5; 5:6-8; 9:24-27; 10:1-5; 10:6-13; 12:1-11; 13:1-13) VIII. 2 Corinthians (3:4-11; 6:1-10; 11:19-23, 12:1-9) VIII. Ephesians (3:13-21; 4:1-6; 4:22-28; 5:1-9; 5:15-21; 6:10-17) IX. Phillipians (1:3-11; 2:5-11; 3:17-21; 4:4-7) X. Colossians (1:3-14; 3:1-7; 3:12-17) XI. 1 Thessalonians (4:1-7; 4:13-18) XII. 2 Thessalonians (1:3-10) XIII. Titus (2:11-15; 3:4-8) XIV. Hebrews (1:1-12; 9:11-15) XV. James (1:16-21) XVI. 1 Peter (2:11-20; 2:21-25; 3:8-15; 4:8-11; 5:5-11) XVII. 1 John (3:13-18; 5:4-12) XVIII. Isaiah (60:1-6) * 1 * This Gospel is severe against the persecutors of faith. Yet, the severer it is against them, the more comforting it is to the believers who are persecuted. It teaches how obstinate the natural light, our own fancy and reason is; for when it falls into works and commands, it no longer listens to any one, as is set forth in the following Gospel. But the work and fancy of reason claim to be in the right, and it does not matter how much is preached, how many prophets God sends to her; all must be persecuted and put to death, that oppose the great red murderess, as she is pictured in Revelation of St. John 17:4. Here she is called Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots, arrayed in purple and scarlet, sitting upon a beast, that was also red, and having in her hand a golden cup full of the abominations and the unclean things of her fornications, that is, the teachings of men, by which she leads pure believing souls from faith and puts them to shame and strangles every one that tries to restrain her. * 2 * Such stiff-necked murderous obstinacy is set forth in this Gospel; first, in that God tries to convert her in every way possible, sends to her all kinds of preachers, who are mentioned by three names; prophets, wise men, and scribes. * 3 * The prophets are those who preach, being moved only by the Holy Spirit, who have not taken t