We analyze. You decide!
"No lie can live forever." Thomas Carlyle

An Analysis of the Literary Dependency
of The Desire of Ages, Chapter 3

      Some critics have accused Ellen White of plagiarizing the contents of The Desire of Ages from the writings of various authors. But, did she really? Below is an analysis of the study done on her degree of literary dependency to other authors that was conducted by Dr. Veltman.

      One problem with those who are "victims" of parallelomania is that they confuse the mere presence of a few words in both texts as being evidence of plagiarism. They completely overlook the context and meaning of the words that are similar, an even more importantly, the far greater number of words that are dissimilar.

      It has been noted by students of plagiarism that one can make a work look like it was plagiarized when it is not by carefully using ellipses and discarding all the material that is different. What we want to do is determine whether the critics did a fair analysis, or whether their comparisons actually distorted reality. Accordingly, we have coded the text so that you, the reader, can easily come to your own conclusion. Material that is not coded means that neither the critics nor Dr. Veltman and his team of researchers, could not, or did not, find anything worthy of note.
Color Key

Material in Ellen G. White that is an exact, word-for-word match to her alleged source.

Material in Ellen G. White that is similar to her alleged source.

Material that is represented in either Rea's book or Dr. Veltman's study by an ellipsis.

Material dropped from the beginning or end of the paragraph of the alleged source in Rea's book or in Dr. Veltman's study. This also means that Ellen G. White did not use this material in the creation of her book The Desire of Ages.

Material clipped from the beginning or end of a sentence in Rea's book, without giving the reader any indication of such. (Either a capital letter or a period appears where it should not, hiding the fact that material is missing.)

Material that was mis-capitalized or mis-abbreviated in Rea.

      Typical author's caveat: all errors are, of course, mine. If you find any errors please let me know and I'll fix them.

Alleged Source(s)
Desire of Ages. (1898)

"The Fullness of the Time"

      "When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, . . . to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." Gal. 4:4, 5.

      The Saviour's coming was foretold in Eden. When Adam and Eve first heard the promise, they looked for its speedy fulfillment. They joyfully welcomed their first-born son, hoping that he might be the Deliverer. But the fulfillment of the promise tarried. Those who first received it died without the sight. From the days of Enoch the promise was repeated through patriarchs and prophets, keeping alive the hope of His appearing, and yet He came not. The prophecy of Daniel revealed the time of His advent, but not all rightly interpreted the message. Century after century passed away; the voices of the prophets ceased. The hand of the oppressor was heavy upon Israel, and many were ready to exclaim, "The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth." Ezek. 12:22.

Thayer, page 21; as per Dr. Veltman's study

While the dominion of Rome so oppressed the nations; it yet unified the world, and harmonized it into the semblance of one family [skipping over the next sentence] When we further consider that there was, as it were, one universal language, superseding by its copiousness and fulness all others,--the language of literature, of cultivation, of the arts, and of trade and commerce,--we easily see that the whole world had almost become one family: . . .

Harris, The Great Teacher. (Gould and Lincoln, 1853): page 19

      When, in the fullness of time, the eternal Son came forth from the bosom of the Father, he descended to a region of spiritual darkness. [skipping over two sentences, almost 6 lines of text] Reason, confident in her resources, had sent forth her sons under all auspices, and in every direction: but they returned, defeated and disheartened; the footsteps of truth could nowhere be found. [skipping over 14 lines to the next page and then another 11 lines of text]

      Not only did this awful exigence exist, it was extensively felt and acknowledged; and by many of the more enlightened heathens, a Divine Instructor was ardently desired. [17] In illustration of this, the language of Plato has been often cited; nor is it easy to conceive of any thing more conclusive and striking than his picture of Socrates advising his pupil to forego the usual sacrifices until a teacher should be sent from on high. [18] In another place, speaking of such an inspired teacher, he represents, with prophetic sagacity and precision, that 'he must be poor, and void of all qualifications but those of virtue alone; that a wicked world would not bear his instructions and reproofs; and therefore, within three or four years after he began to preach, he would be persecuted, imprisoned, scourged, and at last put to death.' [19] In this remarkable passage, we behold the divine philosopher, rising from a mournful survey of human ignorance, turning with an air of despondency from every earthly resource, yet eagerly thirsting for a knowledge of God, and virtue, and futurity, till his thirst grows into a desire for celestial aid, and his desire matures to an anticipation, and even a prediction, which God was actually intending to fulfil; perhaps indeed, we err in not cordially recognizing in his language the presence of heavenly inspiration.

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      But like the stars in the vast circuit of their appointed path, God's purposes know no haste and no delay. Through the symbols of the great darkness and the smoking furnace, God had revealed to Abraham the bondage of Israel in Egypt, and had declared that the time of their sojourning should be four hundred years. "Afterward," He said, "shall they come out with great substance." Gen. 15:14. Against that word, all the power of Pharaoh's proud empire battled in vain. On "the self-same day" appointed in the divine promise, "it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt." Ex. 12:41. So in heaven's council the hour for the coming of Christ had been determined. When the great clock of time pointed to that hour, Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

      "When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son." Providence had directed the movements of nations, and the tide of human impulse and influence, until the world was ripe for the coming of the Deliverer. The nations were united under one government.1 One language was widely spoken, and was everywhere recognized as the language of literature.2 From all lands the Jews of the dispersion gathered to Jerusalem to the annual feasts. As these returned to the places of their sojourn, they could spread throughout the world the tidings of the Messiah's coming.

      At this time the systems of heathenism were losing their hold upon the people. Men were weary of pageant and fable. They longed for a religion that could satisfy the heart. While the light of truth seemed to have departed from among men, there were souls who were looking for light, and who were filled with perplexity and sorrow.3 They were thirsting for a knowledge of the living God, for some assurance of a life beyond the grave.4

      As the Jews had departed from God, faith had grown dim, and hope had well-nigh ceased to illuminate the future. The words of the prophets were uncomprehended. To the masses of the people, death was a dread mystery; beyond was uncertainty and gloom. It was not alone the wailing of the mothers of Bethlehem, but the cry from the great heart of humanity, that was borne to the prophet across the centuries,--the voice heard in Ramah, "lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not." Matt. 2:18. In "the region and shadow of death," men sat unsolaced. With longing eyes they looked for the

NOTES

      1 This sentence is rated as P3 (loose paraphrase).    Return to text

      2 This sentence is rated as P2 (simple paraphrase).    Return to text

      3 This sentence is rated as P3 (loose paraphrase). Note that while there is a little verbal similarity the usage of the words is quite different.    Return to text

      4 This sentence is rated as I2 (partial independence).    Return to text

Harris, page 20; picking up from where we were above

And in uttering the desire which his words disclose, we may take it for granted, he was clothing the thoughts of a thousand bosoms, venting the secret and cherished longings of unnumbered hearts. If we, though standing in the radiance of the "Sun" which has since risen on the world, are yet sometimes conscious of impatience, and complain of obscurity, what must have been the wishes and aspirations of those who, with a keen perception of the exigence, were sitting in the darkness and the shadow of death?

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      Now, the appearance of a Divine Instructor, thus absolutely necessary, and ardently desired,might have been warrantably expected. Indubitable evidence existed that God already had spoken to man, at sundry times, and in divers manners; and as the ignorance of the world was still unreclaimed, and there was no intimation that his voice had been final, there was ground to anticipate that, in his own time, he would break the silence again. Besides, the very presence and nature of the Jewish economy was the standing evidence that such was his gracious intention.

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coming of the Deliverer, when the darkness should be dispelled, and the mystery of the future should be made plain. Outside of the Jewish nation there were men who foretold the appearance of a divine instructor. These men were seeking for truth, and to them the Spirit of Inspiration was imparted.5 One after another, like stars in the darkened heavens, such teachers had arisen. Their words of prophecy had kindled hope in the hearts of thousands of the Gentile world.6

      For hundreds of years the Scriptures had been translated into the Greek language, then widely spoken throughout the Roman Empire. The Jews were scattered everywhere, and their expectation of the Messiah's coming was to some extent shared by the Gentiles. Among those whom the Jews styled heathen were men who had a better understanding of the Scripture prophecies concerning the Messiah than had the teachers in Israel. There were some who hoped for His coming as a deliverer from sin. Philosophers endeavored to study into the mystery of the Hebrew economy. But the bigotry of the Jews hindered the spread of the light. Intent on maintaining the separation between themselves and other nations, they were unwilling to impart the knowledge they still possessed concerning the symbolic service. The true

NOTES

      5 This sentence is rated as P3 (loose paraphrase--see sentences #18-19 on the previous table).    Return to text

      6 This sentence is rated as P3 (loose paraphrase).    Return to text

Harris, page 21; picking up where we left off from above

Bearing the marks of a celestial origin, and fraught with important truth, it yet veiled its meaning in types and enigmas, the solution of which remained to be given. Here were mysteries--where was the interpreter? Here were shadows--the substance, "the very things themselves," must be at hand. Here were proofs that, in a former age, God had said, "Let there be spiritual light"--was it not likely that, in the process of his new creation, the time would come when he would collect, and imbody, and augment this light into a glorious sun? Here was a system of divine intimations--an unfinished economy--was it likely that he would leave it incomplete? was it not more accordant with the character of a perfect being that, putting his hand a second time to the work, he would bring it to perfection.

      But, beyond this, the spirit of prophecy had distinctly foretold that an inspired instructor should appear. "For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people. Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel, and those that follow after, as many as have spoken,have likewise foretold of these days." Thus a prediction was to be found, at the very opening of the prophetic roll, announcing the advent of a distinguished teacher, whose words would demand universal regard; while his authority would be supreme, and his power invincible. Unfolding it further, we read, that he should preach the gospel to the poor, and proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord; that he should set judgment in the earth, and the isles should wait for his law; that the Gentiles should come to his light, and kings to the brightness of his rising. For, reading on to its closing lines, we find it predict him as

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the Messenger of the covenant who was yet to come; and the Sun of Righteousness yet to arise. His name was the first which prophecy had uttered; as often as it spoke, it resumed the inspiring theme;and when at length it expired, his name lingered on its lips. "When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth His Son."

Page 96; skipped over 74 pages! and 14 lines from the start of the paragraph

Besides, by widening the breach which existed between earth and heaven, Satan might calculate on the possibility of at length realizing his own life, of wearing out the goodness which only encountered abuse, of extinguishing the last spark of love in the breast of God, and of exasperating justice to doom and destroy the whole species.

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Interpreter must come.7 The One whom all these types prefigured must explain their significance.

      Through nature, through types and symbols, through patriarchs and prophets, God had spoken to the world.8 Lessons must be given to humanity in the language of humanity. The Messenger of the covenant must speak.9 His voice must be heard in His own temple. Christ must come to utter words which should be clearly and definitely understood. He, the author of truth, must separate truth from the chaff of man's utterance, which had made it of no effect. The principles of God's government and the plan of redemption must be clearly defined. The lessons of the Old Testament must be fully set before men.

      Among the Jews there were yet steadfast souls, descendants of that holy line through whom a knowledge of God had been preserved. These still looked for the hope of the promise made unto the fathers. They strengthened their faith by dwelling upon the assurance given through Moses, "A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; Him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever He shall say unto you." Acts 3:22. Again, they read how the Lord would anoint One "to preach good tidings unto the meek," "to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives," and to declare the "acceptable year of the Lord." Isa. 61:1, 2. They read how He would "set judgment in the earth," how the isles should "wait for His law," how the Gentiles should come to His light, and kings to the brightness of His rising. Isa. 42:4; 60:3.

      The dying words of Jacob filled them with hope: "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come." Gen. 49:10. The waning power of Israel testified that the Messiah's coming was at hand. The prophecy of Daniel pictured the glory of His reign over an empire which should succeed all earthly kingdoms; and, said the prophet, "It shall stand forever." Dan. 2:44. While few understood the nature of Christ's mission, there was a widespread expectation of a mighty prince who should establish his kingdom in Israel, and who should come as a deliverer to the nations.

      The fullness of the time had come.10 Humanity, becoming more degraded through ages of transgression, called for the coming of the Redeemer. Satan had been working to make the gulf deep and impassable between earth and heaven.11 By his falsehoods he had emboldened

NOTES

      7 This sentence is rated as P3 (loose paraphrase).    Return to text

      8 This sentence is rated as P3 (loose paraphrase).    Return to text

      9 This sentence is rated as P3 (loose paraphrase).    Return to text

      10 This sentence is rated as V2 (verbatim--see Harris, page 19 first sentence; I have marked the one on page 22 instead as it is closer in proximity to what has gone before.).    Return to text

      11 This sentence is rated as P2 (simple paraphrase).    Return to text

Harris, page 163; we skipped over 67 pages!

[this paragraph began on the previous page and continued for 17 lines of text] At different times he seems to have put all the forces of his kingdom into motion to bear upon it: for to shut up the temple of God, to seduce the people to idolatry, to erect an idol in the holy place, was to sit on the only throne of God upon earth, was a triumph which could only be exceeded by ascending the throne of heaven.

      For ages previous to the divine advent, the world seemed almost entirely his own. His contest for earthly supremacy, so long disputed by heaven, seemed crowned with success. His vice-regencies and powers sat in the quiet and unchallenged possession of their thrones. No prophet smote them on their lofty seats, or denounced their usurpations; no miracle reminded them of an omnipotent antagonist. The world appeared to be as completely theirs, to portion out and rule at pleasure, as if they held it by grant and seal from God himself, and were appointed to reign in his name. Nor did Judea itself form an exception to this wide infernal sway; for (short of formal idolatry) it belonged to the universal confederacy, and formed one of the fairest and most faithful provinces of the satanic empire. [see below opposite DA, page 37]

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men in sin. It was his purpose to wear out the forbearance of God, and to extinguish His love for man, so that He would abandon the world to satanic jurisdiction.12

      Satan was seeking to shut out from men a knowledge of God, to turn their attention from the temple of God, and to establish his own kingdom.13 His strife for supremacy had seemed to be almost wholly successful.14 It is true that in every generation God had His agencies. Even among the heathen there were men through whom Christ was working to uplift the people from their sin and degradation. But these men were despised and hated. Many of them suffered a violent death. The dark shadow that Satan had cast over the world grew deeper and deeper.

      Through heathenism, Satan had for ages turned men away from God; but he won his great triumph in perverting the faith of Israel. By contemplating and worshiping their own conceptions, the heathen had lost a knowledge of God, and had become more and more corrupt. So it was with Israel. The principle that man can save himself by his own works lay at the foundation of every heathen religion; it had now

NOTES

      12 This sentence is rated as P2 (simple paraphrase). See the quote from Harris on the previous page.    Return to text

      13 This sentence is rated as P2 (simple paraphrase).    Return to text

      14 This sentence is rated as P2 (simple paraphrase).    Return to text

Harris, page 70; skipping back 93 pages!

      VI. And as representative of the Father, our blessed Lord offered this gift to all. Human reason, arguing from the limited application of the benefit, would infer that the extent of the love which provided, and the value of the means which procured it, are limited also; would examine them by the torture of its logic, and bring its insignificant line to the measurement of boundless grace. Human selfishness would make a monopoly of eternal life. The Jewish Christians would fain have made it a local and national benefit; till the unconfinable spirit came, and showed them that like the air, it belonged to the world. And the inheritors of their selfishness, in every succeeding age, have attempted to number Israel, to count the people,--have adhered to the persuasion that the greatest gift of eternal life is only to be offered to a party. But an attempt to imprison air, and to enchain the light, would be wise and salutory compared with this.

Harris, page 164; skipping ahead 94 pages!

      But the great object which had brought Christ upon earth was to dispute that sovereignty, to re-assert the original and supreme rights of God to the alienated homage of mankind, and thus rescue man from the destroyer. What the enemy reserved as his last and most powerful temptation--the splendid vision of a thousand provinces--was a sight, we may suppose familiar to the eye of Christ; though seen by him, alas! under a far different aspect. He beheld in it a scene of woe, which never failed to call forth his profound compassion. On all sides he beheld the blinded victims of satanic cruelty; vast, crowded tracts of spiritual beings, immortal essences--wasted, ruined, murdered, lost;--a captive world, chained to the wheels of the spoiler, and moving along, (most of them so beguiled, as to be actually pleased with the mock pomp of the gloomy procession) to endless death--while immediately beneath his eye, in the very land where he had taken humanity, he saw legions of fiends in actual, bodily possession of miserable men. Not satisfied with the evil they could inflict by ordinary temptation, he beheld them consummating their cruelty by actually incorporating with men; turning their bodies into living tombs, engrossing and demonizing all their powers, merging the man in the fiend. Yes, man, who had been created in the image of God, became 'the habitation of dragons;' [(YLT) Jeremiah 51:37] his heart, the fuel consumed by their passions; his senses and organs, the slaves of their rampant impiety; hell brought to him, and begun in him, upon earth; an incarnate demon, his features putting on the image of the legion within him. What a sight for the Lover of souls!--what a spectacle for infinite Goodness to contemplate! [skipping over the last 6 lines of this paragraph]

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become the principle of the Jewish religion. Satan had implanted this principle. Wherever it is held, men have no barrier against sin.

      The message of salvation is communicated to men through human agencies. But the Jews had sought to make a monopoly of the truth which is eternal life. They had hoarded the living manna, and it had turned to corruption. The religion which they tried to shut up to themselves became an offense. They robbed God of His glory, and defrauded the world by a counterfeit of the gospel. They had refused to surrender themselves to God for the salvation of the world, and they became agents of Satan for its destruction.

      The people whom God had called to be the pillar and ground of the truth had become representatives of Satan. They were doing the work that he desired them to do, taking a course to misrepresent the character of God, and cause the world to look upon Him as a tyrant. The very priests who ministered in the temple had lost sight of the significance of the service they performed. They had ceased to look beyond the symbol to the thing signified. In presenting the sacrificial offerings they were as actors in a play. The ordinances which God Himself had appointed were made the means of blinding the mind and hardening the heart. God could do no more for man through these channels. The whole system must be swept away.

      The deception of sin had reached its height. All the agencies for depraving the souls of men had been put in operation. The Son of God, looking upon the world, beheld suffering and misery.15 With pity He saw how men had become victims of satanic cruelty.16 He looked with compassion upon those who were being corrupted, murdered, and lost.17 They had chosen a ruler who chained them to his car as captives.18 Bewildered and deceived, they were moving on in gloomy procession toward eternal ruin,--to death in which is no hope of life, toward night to which comes no morning.19 Satanic agencies were incorporated with men.20 The bodies of human beings, made for the dwelling place of God, had become the habitation of demons.21 The senses, the nerves, the passions, the organs of men, were worked by supernatural agencies in the indulgence of the vilest lust.22 The very stamp of demons was impressed upon the countenances of men.23 Human faces reflected the expression of the legions of evil with which they were possessed.24 Such was the prospect upon which the world's Redeemer looked.25 What a spectacle for Infinite Purity to behold!26

NOTES

      15 This sentence is rated as P3 (loose paraphrase).    Return to text

      16 This sentence is rated as P2 (simple paraphrase).    Return to text

      17 This sentence is rated as P3 (loose paraphrase).    Return to text

      18 This sentence is rated as P3 (loose paraphrase).    Return to text

      19 This sentence is rated as I2 (partial independence).    Return to text

      20 This sentence is rated as P2 (simple paraphrase).    Return to text

      21 This sentence is rated as P2 (simple paraphrase).    Return to text

      22 This sentence is rated as P3 (loose paraphrase).    Return to text

      23 This sentence is rated as P3 (loose paraphrase).    Return to text

      24 This sentence is rated as P3 (loose paraphrase).    Return to text

      25 This sentence is rated as P3 (loose paraphrase).    Return to text

      26 This sentence is rated as P2 (simple paraphrase).    Return to text

Harris, page 163; continuing from the paragraph given above opposite DA, page 35

And, as if to exact a terrible compensation, even for this slight nominal deduction from full allegiance, many of its inhabitants were held as hostages to hell by a terrible system of demoinical possession. Satan had become "the prince of this world." Wherever he looked the expanse was his own; the teeming population were his subjects; the invisible rulers were his selected agents; temptation in his hands had become a science, and sin was taught by rule; the world was one storehouse of temptation--an armory, in which every object and event ranked as a weapon, and all classed and kept ready for service; every human heart was a fortified place; every human power was at its post. [this paragraph continues for another 2 lines on this page and 8 lines on the next]

Harris, page 62

      "God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Though sin had for ages disturbed the equable flow of the divine benevolence to man, that benevolence had never, for a moment, ceased to accumulate, or lost its earthward direction. Through every hour, of every age, it had continued to increase; and was only restrained till a suitable channel was ready, and the world prepared to receive it. And now, when the fulness of time had come, the windows of heaven, the heart of Deity itself, was opened, and poured forth on the world a healing flood of heavenly

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grace. skipping over the last 16 lines of this paragraph

      "God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved." In order to enhance our views of teh divine compassion, the Savior, in this language, reminds us of the terrible alternative which outraged Omnipotence might have adopted. He carries back our thoughts to the time when God, after looking with centuries of patience and forbearance on the unparalleled spectacle of his holy law prostrate, and broken, and trampled underfoot by a confederated race of rebellious creatures, came forth out of his place, and punished the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity--swept them away with a flood, as with a besom of destruction. But man, insensible to the lessons of chastisement, was no sooner permitted to repeople the earth, than he resumed his weapons--renewed his hostility to heaven under circumstances of aggravation unknown before--and transmitted to his posterity, as if it has been a sacred obligation, the art and spirit of unnatural war. So deep had this infernal enmity to God struck its roots in the human heart, and so wide were its ramifications throughout the entire mass of humanity, that even a solitary indication of returning friendship towards him was denounced as treachery to a common cause; the first relaxation of this imious strife--the first relenting sigh--was instantly detected by a wakeful impiety, quickened by a hatred to an instinctive vigilance; and was summarily dealt with as an enemy in the camp. [skipping over 5 sentences] But at that crisis of the world, when every movement in the government of God was to be watched with breathless apprehension, when, had justice made the slightest move, every thing that had feeling would have veiled its eyes in fear, then mercy prevailed to unfold the scheme of love, and it became the office of justice to wonder and attend; then, when God might have sent his Son to condemn the world, he was sent--amazing grace!--to save it.

Hanna, page 22

      The manner in which the power of the Roman Empire was thus employed to determine the birthplace of our Lord, naturally invites us to reflect upon the singular conjunction of outward circumstances, the strange timing of events that then took place. Embracing the whole sphere of reflection which thus opens to our view, let us, before fixing our attention upon the incidents of the particular narrative now before us, dwell for a little on the Divine wisdom that was displayed in fixing upon that particular epoch in the world's history as the one in which Jesus was born, and lived, and died. "When," says the inspired apostle, "the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law." The expression used here, "the fullness of the time," evidently implies not only that

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there was a set time appointed beforehand of the Father, but that a series of preparatory steps were pre-arranged, the accomplishment of which had, as it were, to be waited for, ere the season best suited for the earthly advent of our Lord arrived. Some peculiar fitness must then have marked the time of Christ's appearance in this world. We are inclined to wonder that his appearance should have been so long delayed. Looking at all the mighty issues that hung suspended on his advent, we are apt at times to be surprised that so many thousand years should have been suffered to elapse ere the Son of God came down to save us; and yet, could the whole plan and counsels of the Deity be laid open to our eye, we cannot but believe that as there were the best and weightiest reasons why his coming should be deferred so long, there were also the best and weightiest reasons why it should be deferred no longer. To attempt on either side the statement of these reasons would be to attempt to penetrate within the veil that hides from us the secret things of God. Taking up, however, the history of the world as it is actually before us, it can neither be unsafe nor presumptuous to consider the actual and obvious benefits which have attended the coming of the Saviour at that particular period when it happened.
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      Sin had become a science, and vice was consecrated as a part of religion.27 Rebellion had struck its roots deep into the heart, and the hostility of man was most violent against heaven.28 It was demonstrated before the universe that, apart from God, humanity could not be uplifted. A new element of life and power must be imparted by Him who made the world.

      With intense interest the unfallen worlds had watched to see Jehovah arise, and sweep away the inhabitants of the earth.29 And if God should do this, Satan was ready to carry out his plan for securing to himself the allegiance of heavenly beings. He had declared that the principles of God's government make forgiveness impossible. Had the world been destroyed, he would have claimed that his accusations were proved true. He was ready to cast blame upon God, and to spread his rebellion to the worlds above. But instead of destroying the world, God sent His Son to save it.30 Though corruption and defiance might be seen in every part of the alien province, a way for its recovery was provided. At the very crisis, when Satan seemed about to triumph, the Son of God came with the embassage of divine grace. Through every age, through every hour, the love of God had been exercised toward the fallen race.31 Notwithstanding the perversity of men, the signals of mercy had been continually exhibited.32 And when the fullness of the time had come, the Deity was glorified by pouring upon the world a flood of healing grace that was never to be obstructed or withdrawn till the plan of salvation should be fulfilled.33

      Satan was exulting that he had succeeded in debasing the image of God in humanity. Then Jesus came to restore in man the image of his

NOTES

      27 This sentence is rated as I2 (partial independence).    Return to text

      28 This sentence is rated as P3 (loose paraphrase).    Return to text

      29 This sentence is rated as I2 (partial independence).    Return to text

      30 This sentence is rated as P3 (loose paraphrase).    Return to text

      31 This sentence is rated as P2 (simple paraphrase).    Return to text

      32 This sentence is rated as P3 (loose paraphrase).    Return to text

      33 This sentence is rated as I2 (partial independence). On page 37, Dr. Veltman notes that Kennedy uses the words "the fulness of time was come" on page 173 of his book.    Return to text

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Maker. None but Christ can fashion anew the character that has been ruined by sin. He came to expel the demons that had controlled the will. He came to lift us up from the dust, to reshape the marred character after the pattern of His divine character, and to make it beautiful with His own glory.

NOTES

Analysis

      Of the 130 sentences in this chapter Dr. Veltman and his team of researchers rated one sentence to be verbatim ("The fullness of the time had come."), 29 to be a paraphrase of some sort, 5 sentences to have the Bible as their source, 4 sentences are Biblical quotes, and 91 sentences to be independent (67 sentences, or 51.54% are strictly so). If we combine the independent and all the Bible we have 76.9231%, which is pretty close to the 80-90% estimate made by the critics (but the opposite of what they intended!).

Longest Phrases
(only three words or longer are included)

      the language of literature, page 32
      thirsting for a knowledge of, page 32
      of the Hebrew economy, page 33
      The Messenger of the covenant, page 34
      unto the fathers, page 34
      The fullness of, page 34
      between earth and heaven, page 34
      wear out the, page 35
      the temple of God,, page 35
      a monopoly of, page 36
      victims of satanic cruelty, page 36
      become the habitation of, page 36
      What a spectacle for Infinite, page 36
      struck its roots, page 37
      the inhabitants of the earth, page 37
      sent His Son, page 37
      to save it., page 37
      the Son of God came, page 37; I found this phrase
      through every hour,, page 37
      when the fullness of, page 37

© David J. Conklin (June 27, 2005 - January 2, 2006)

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