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Phyllis of Philistia by Frank Frankfort Moore
page 53 of 326 (16%)

One of the chaplains of the bishop occupied a seat in the aisle;
according to the facetious newspaper he held a watching brief.

The rector was, of course, oblivious of his brilliant entourage. He
could not even tell if Phyllis or her father were present. (As a matter
of fact both were in their accustomed seats in their own pew.) He, as
usual, took but a small part in the ritual--as Lord Earlscourt once
remarked, George Holland wasn't such a fool as to keep a dog and do the
barking himself. (It has already been stated that he had a couple of
excellent curates.) But the sermon was preached by himself, as indeed it
usually was after the morning service.

It was the most brilliant of all his efforts. He took as his text the
words, "All Scripture is given by inspiration and is profitable," and he
had no difficulty in showing how vast was the profit to be derived from
a consideration of every portion of the sacred volume, it appeared to
him, than the account given of the early history of the Hebrew race.
That account appealed as an object lesson to all nations on the face of
the earth. It allowed every people to see the course which the children
of Israel had pursued at various periods of their existence and to
profit by such observation. The Hebrews were a terrible example to all
the world. If they were slaves when in the land of Egypt, that was their
own fault. Milton had magnificently expressed the origin of slavery:

"He that hath light within his own clear breast May walk i' the noontide
and enjoy bright day, But he that hides dark deeds and foul thoughts.
. . . Himself is his own dungeon."

The bondage of Egypt was, he believed, self-imposed. There is no account
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