Luke 9:18-20 And it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him: and he asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am?… Not long ago there was a researcher of art in Italy, who, reading in some book that there was a per. trait of Dante painted by Giotto, was led to suspect that he had found where it had been placed. There was an apartment used as an outhouse for the storage of wood, hay, and the like. He sought and obtained permission to examine it. Clearing out the rubbish, and experimenting upon the whitewashed wall, he soon detected the signs of the long-hidden portrait. Little by little, with loving skill, he opened up the sad, thoughtful, stern face of the old Tuscan poet. Sometimes it seems to me that thus the very sanctuary of God has been filled with wood, hay, and stubble, and the Divine lineaments of Christ have been swept over and covered by human plastering, and I am seized with an invincible desire to draw forth from its hiding-place, and reveal to men the glory of God as it shines in the face of Christ Jesus! It matters little to me what school of theology rises or what falls, so only that Christ may rise and appear in all His Father's glory, full-orbed, upon the darkness of this world! (H. W. Beecher.) Parallel Verses KJV: And it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him: and he asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am? |
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