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Source: Church History Vol. 3 Chapter 34 Page: 656 (~1872)

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656 we always see him through its shining mystery. We find him a man of God; erring at times, steadfast at others; but finally dying within sight of the 'promised land' which his posterity must at the last inherit. If so, we can greet Moses as a man; patiently waiting, always pressing forward, never doubting the end, but ever ready to strike with the opportunity; a man pursuing the policy with which be begun, through the storms of outside pressure; unyielding to the importunity of the dissatisfied ones of the host he led and governed, and though painfully alive to every breath of censure, daring it all when needful. A man who knew the seductive influence of place and power, yet knew just as well what the end of pride, of haughtiness, and oppression must inevitably be. With these contradictions in himself, Moses did well, and as a man-a noble man-he achieved a crown we cannot envy, but may emulate.

"The apostles, James, John, and Paul, taking them as representatives, were men,-chosen men it is true, but evidently chosen for their known qualifications as ministers of the gospel of grace, as it should be in the warfare of its propagation and its triumphing. Not the least valuable quality in the character of these men, was their, to us, almost incomprehensible endurance of mental conflict which must have been theirs to pass through.

"This conflict must have been at times terrible, yet these men bore it to the end; and the unconquerable tenacity with which they held fast the faith was sublime at the time, and is worthy our best commendation now. They were tried as men; as men they fought and conquered. We regard them as men only, having no wish to lessen the honors due them for their labor and their faithful integrity; and having still less desire to endow them with extraordinary powers to which they never aspired while living, and with which they have become invested by lapse of time only. As men at work for the kingdom of God, by choice of that Almighty Ruler; and by reason of their deliberate convictions enduring all things, death not excepted, for the hope set before them, we can understand them and their lives. Their agency was not destroyed; and, although living in the light

(page 656)

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