Note f — CANTO VIII.
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Chosen of Men! I believe that he was chosen for this great service; and that, because he was to be so truly an apostle, as in effect be proved to be, therefore was his origin obscure; that therein he might resemble those who were called to make known the name of the Lord from seas and rivers, and not from courts and palaces. And I believe also, that, as in most of his doings he was guarded by some special providence, his very name was not without some mystery: for in it is expressed the wonder he performed; inasmuch as he conveyed to a new world the grace of the Holy Ghost, &c. F. COL. c. 1.