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The Spirit of Prophecy Volume 3
Meanwhile terror and mortification had seized the Roman guard at
the prison, when they found that the prisoner was gone. It had been
expressly stated to them that their lives would be answerable for the
life of their charge, and for that reason they had been specially vigilant.
But the God of Heaven had thwarted the purpose of wicked Herod.
There was the guard at the door of the prison, the bolts and bars of the
door still fast and strong, the guard inside, the chains attached to the
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wrists of the two soldiers; but the prisoner was gone.
When the report of these things was brought to Herod, he was
exasperated, and charged the keepers of the prison with unfaithfulness.
They were accordingly to death for the alleged crime of sleeping at
their post. At the same time, Herod knew that no human power had
rescued Peter. But he was determined not to acknowledge that a divine
power had been at work to thwart his base designs. He would not
humiliate himself thus, but set himself boldly in defiance of God.
Herod, not long after Peter’s deliverance from prison, went down
from Judea to Caesarea, and there abode. He there made a grand
festival, designed to excite the admiration and applause of the people.
Pleasure-lovers from all quarters were assembled together, and there
was much feasting and wine-drinking. Herod made a most gorgeous
appearance before the people. He was clad in a robe, sparkling with
silver and gold, that caught the rays of the sun in its glittering folds,
and dazzled the eyes of the beholders. With great pomp and ceremony
he stood before the multitude, and addressed them in an eloquent
oration.
The majesty of his appearance, and the power of his well-chosen
language, swayed the assembly with a mighty influence. Their senses
were already perverted by feasting and wine; they were dazzled by
his glittering decorations, and charmed by his grand deportment and
eloquent words; and, wild with enthusiasm, they showered upon him
adulation, and proclaimed him a God, declaring that mortal man could
not present such an appearance, or command such startling eloquence
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of language. They farther declared that they had ever respected him as
a ruler, but from henceforth they should worship him as a god.
These people had refused to acknowledge Christ, whose coarse
and often travel-stained garments were worn over a heart of divine
love, rich with that inward adorning, a meek and gentle spirit. Their
eyes, blinded by sin, refused to see, beneath that humble exterior,