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17. Every severity, therefore, and apparent cruelty, either in
word or deed, that is ascribed in Holy Scripture to God or His
saints, avails to the pulling down of the dominion of lust. And if
its meaning be clear, we are not to, give it some secondary
reference, as if it were spoken figuratively. Take, for example,
that saying of the apostle: "But, after thy hardness and impenitent
heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and
revelation of the righteous judgment of God; who will render to every
man according to his deeds: to them who, by patient continuance in
well-doing, seek for glory, and honor, and immortality, eternal
life; but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth,
but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and
anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first,
and also of the Gentile." But this is addressed to those who, being
unwilling to subdue their lust, are themselves involved in the
destruction of their lust. When, however, the dominion of lust is
overturned in a man over whom it had held sway, this plain expression
is used: "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh, with
the affections and lusts." Only that, even in these instances, some
words are used figuratively, as for example, "the wrath of God" and
"crucified." But these are not so numerous, nor placed in such a
way as to obscure the sense, and make it allegorical or enigmatical,
which is the kind of expression properly called figurative. But in the
saying addressed to Jeremiah, "See, I have this day set thee over
the nations, and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down,
and to destroy, and to throw down," there is no doubt the whole of
the language is figurative, and to be referred to the end I have
spoken of.
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