2 Chronicles 13:4-12 And Abijah stood up on mount Zemaraim, which is in mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me, you Jeroboam, and all Israel;… These are two. I. THE IMPORTANCE OF AN OFFICIAL AND DULY ACCREDITED MINISTRY. Every Church has in practice some official ministry, even those Churches that profess to owe their separate existence to the necessity of protesting against an official ministry. Men whose chief occupation is to denounce priestcraft may themselves be saturated with the sacerdotal spirit. II. THE IMPORTANCE OF A SUITABLE AND AUTHORITATIVE RITUAL. Every Church, too, has its ritual. The silence of a Friends' meeting is as much a rite as the most elaborate genuflexion before a highly ornamented altar. To regard either the absence or presence of rites as essential is equally ritualistic. The man who leaves his wonted place of worship because "Amen " is sung at the end of a hymn is as bigoted a ritualist as his brother who dare not pass an altar without crossing himself. (W. H. Bennett, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim, which is in mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me, thou Jeroboam, and all Israel; |
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