Chap. iv.—The same subject continued.
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Clement I, Pope, Hermas, active 2nd century, Ignatius, Saint, Bishop of Antioch, Papias, Saint, Bishop of Hierapolis, Polycarp, Saint, Bishop of Smyrna, Crombie, Frederick, Donaldson, James, Sir, and Roberts, Alexander
Josiah also, beloved of God, when as yet he could scarcely speak articulately, convicts those who were possessed of a wicked spirit as being false in their speech, and deceivers of the people. He also reveals the deceit of the demons, and openly exposes those that are no gods; yea, while yet an infant he slays their priests, and overturns their altars, and defiles the places where sacrifices were offered with dead bodies, and throws down the temples, and cuts down the groves, and breaks in pieces the pillars, and breaks open the tombs of the ungodly, that not a relic of the wicked might any longer exist.[2003] To such an extent did he display zeal in the cause of godliness, and prove himself a punisher of the ungodly, while he as yet faltered in speech like a child. David, too, who was at once a prophet and a king, and the root of our Saviour according to the flesh, while yet a youth is anointed by Samuel to be king.[2004] For he himself says in a certain place, “I was small among my brethren, and the youngest in the house of my father.”[2005]