“Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.” ~ Matthew 2:16
“Here is opened the mystery of iniquity, which lay brooding in the heart of Herod, all the while he put on the apparent regard he proposed to shew to the new born king. But, can the imagination form an idea so horrid, as that of the destruction of such a number of little harmless children, in order to be sure of the One? Alas! What is the human heart in a state of unredeemed nature! But, reader, be not offended. Your heart, my heart, every man’s heart by nature is the same. And we read this account of Herod to little profit, if we do not see in him the portrait of every son and daughter of Adam by the fall. For there can be no difference in the same nature, but what sovereign grace hath wrought. What one man’s nature hath done, every man’s nature is capable of doing; yea, and would do if the same corresponding causes, temptations, and opportunities led to it, and grace did not restrain. Oh! Who shall calculate, who shall tell, to what a desperate state of wickedness the whole nature of man is fallen, by the original apostasy of our first father? Reader, do you believe this? I do from my very heart. And I bless God the Holy Ghost for the merciful discovery. For never should I have known the want of salvation, neither rightly valued that salvation, but for this divine teaching. Never should I have loved thee, or wouldest thou have been so endeared to my soul, blessed, precious Lord Jesus, as thou now art, had not God the Holy Ghost, as thou didst promise concerning him, convinced me of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.”
Hawker, Robert. The Poor Man's New Testament Commentary.
Vol. 1. Birmingham: Solid Ground Christian Books, 1815. 17-18. 3 vols. Print.
