RileyG said:

There's been one man on death row for 40+ years. He's in Florida.

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Dikaioumenoi said:

Thanks for your thoughts, but I still do not see any interaction with the argument of the OP. This thread concerns a grammatical point about 1 John 5:1.

You describe a "lesser faith" versus "saving faith," but can you show from the grammar or context of 1 John 5:1 that it supports such a distinction?

My point concerns the present participle ὁ πιστεύων and the perfect γεγέννηται. The one who is presently believing has already been born of God. That's what the grammar of the text says. Do you object to this?

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Apple Sky said:

Only likely - referring to to the clouds & atmospheric waters, I rest my case.

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Oompa Loompa said:

What is your point? Are you suggesting that Moto is going to dismiss these comments as jokes? Oor that you think Moto is wrong for dismissing Jones comments as jokes? Or you just playing whataboutism?

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Maria Billingsley said:

Total depravity is basically no free will.

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SabbathBlessings said:

The disaster is trying to rip Scripture away from the Testimony of God when the entire Bible hangs on it. Showing how to love God according to God and love to our neighbor keeping intact what God of the Bible said plainly He would not alter Psa89:34 Deut 4:13. We either believe Him or try to make the Bible teach against God's Testimony out of context. My belief there is no greater Authority than our Creator. Exo20:11 This is the God we are told to get back to worshipping Rev 14:7 before its too late Rev 18:4


But its not for you to decide, or I, we have a much Greater Authority to answer to soon. I do not believe God is going to change His mind of what is under His mercy seat Exo25:21 Rev15:5 Rev 11:19 His written and spoken Testimony Exo31:18 which He tells plainly who He shows mercy to Exo20:6 which reconciles one through love and faith Rev 22:14

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Psalm 89:34 “I will not violate My covenant, Nor will I alter the utterance of My lips. | New American Standard Bible - NASB (NASB2020) | Download The Bible App Now

“I will not violate My covenant, Nor will I alter the utterance of My lips.

bible.com

Deuteronomy 4:13 So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone. | New American Standard Bible - NASB (NASB2020) | Download The Bible App Now

So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone.

bible.com

Exodus 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be prolonged on the land which the LORD your God gives you. | New American Standard Bible - NASB (NASB2020) | Download The Bible App Now

“Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be prolonged on the land which the LORD your God gives you.

bible.com

Revelation 14:7 and he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth, and sea and springs of waters.” | New American Standard Bible - NASB (NASB2020) | D

and he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth, and sea and springs of waters.”

bible.com

Revelation 18:4 I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive any of her plagues | New American Standard Bible - NASB (NASB2020) | Download The Bible App Now

I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive any of her plagues

bible.com

Exodus 25:21 Then you shall put the atoning cover on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony which I will give to you. | New American Standard Bible - NASB (NASB2020) | Download The Bible App Now

Then you shall put the atoning cover on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony which I will give to you.

bible.com

Revelation 15:5 After these things I looked, and the temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened | New American Standard Bible - NASB (NASB2020) | Download The Bible App Now

After these things I looked, and the temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened

bible.com

Revelation 11:19 And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder, and an earthquake, and a g | New American Standard Bible -

And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder, and an earthquake, and a g

bible.com

Exodus 31:17-18 It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed.” When He had finished speaking w | New American Standard Bible - N

It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed.” When He had finished speaking w

bible.com

Exodus 20:6 but showing favor to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. | New American Standard Bible - NASB (NASB2020) | Download The Bible App Now

but showing favor to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

bible.com

Revelation 22:14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life, and may enter the city by the gates. | New American Standard Bible - NASB (NASB2020) | Download The Bible App Now

Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life, and may enter the city by the gates.

bible.com

Dikaioumenoi said:

1 John 5:1a reads:

πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ἐστὶν ὁ Χριστός, ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ γεγέννηται
("Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God")

A few grammatical observations:

First, ὁ πιστεύων is a present active participle functioning substantively: "the one who is believing." The participle presents the subject, and describes a present, ongoing activity rather than a completed act of faith.

Second, γεγέννηται, the main verb of the clause, is a perfect passive indicative: "has been begotten" or "has been born [of God]." The perfect tense is more than just a "past" tense. Its aspectual function specifically points to a completed action in the past whose effects continue into the present.

When the two forms are set in relation to each other, especially with the present participle functioning substantively -- that is, as the subject of the main verb -- the natural sense is that the person who now believes does so as one who has already been born of God. The grammar, therefore, suggests a logical ordering in which the new birth precedes the act of believing.

This does not, of course, deny the simultaneous experience of these realities in human perception, but grammatically the text places regeneration as the root (the logical grounds) and believing as its fruit.

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rjs330 said:

I actually love this. Trump LOVES to troll the media and the rest of the left. This thread is a great example. Its quite hilarious.

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Always in His Presence said:

If they 'have all the power' why are they not opening the government?

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Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)

I just got back from Asia where I met the Leaders of many Countries, including China, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and others. It was a Great Honor to meet them but, more particularly, to see that America is respected again...

truthsocial.com

Abraham1st said:

Matthew 7, is a warning how to tell who is a false prophet.

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Dikaioumenoi said:

This is too soft a definition of ἑλκύω. The lexical range of ἑλκύω is primarily in the realm of "drag" or "haul" (see John 21:6, 11; Acts 16:19; James 2:6). It's a term that expresses decisive action resulting in movement, not gentle persuasion. Even when used metaphorically, as in John 6:44 and 12:32, the same strength of meaning carries through, because the drawing accomplishes its intent. In John 6:44, it accomplishes (at the very least) an enablement to believe; in John 12:32, it accomplishes the worldwide extension of the gospel's appeal. These efforts do not fail. They describe an effectual change of position -- from unable to able to believe (6:44), and from restricted to universal scope in gospel proclamation (12:32). That's the semantic force of ἑλκύω, "draw."

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Dikaioumenoi said:

mankind as a whole is naturally incapable of coming to Christ, apart from the Father's drawing.

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Dikaioumenoi said:

These warnings describe those who are exposed to the blessings of God's gospel (tasting, seeing, or experiencing) without being truly regenerated. They illustrate the danger of false profession and the severity of rejecting God's gift. They do not demonstrate that the elect, those whom the Father draws and Christ saves, can finally fall away. The "return to death" is evidence of those who were never truly born of God (1 John 2:19).

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prodromos said:

It doesn't. Light can be emitted or reflected.

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essentialsaltes said:

Johnson initially promised to seat Grijalva whenever she requested it, but then backtracked and said he’d only do so after Democrats in the U.S. Senate agreed to support a stopgap spending bill to reopen the government.

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The Liturgist said:

Remember, this didn’t happen until the reign of Emperor Theodosius in the 380s, after he smashed the Altar of Victory and moved to ban Paganism and Arianism (perhaps emboldened by the successful vigil St. Ambrose organized in Milan in defiance of his own order to turn a basillica over to the Arians to prevent unrest).

Prior to that point, Christianity was the state religion only in Edessa, Armenia, Georgia and Ethiopia. After the death of St. Constantine, the Arians tried, and came very close to succeeding, at making Arianism the state religion of the Roman Empire, but ironically I would argue this was averted by Emperor Julian “the Apostate” who rejected not only Christianity but heretical forms of Christianity like Arianism, and released St. Athanasius and other Christian bishops from exile, hoping for the fireworks that this would cause - but there weren’t any, rather, the Arians were slowly and steadily corrected within the Roman Empire, so that most of the remaining Arian population consisted of Ostrogoths and Visigoths who had been mal-evangelized by Arian “missionaries” - the same tribes who would later sack Rome and kill so many Christians.

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Spiritual Jew said:

LOL. Says you. But, not scripture.


You are taking 1 Corinthians 2:14 completely out of context. That verse relates specifically to someone not being able to understand the deep things of God or what Paul called the meat or solid food of God's word. It has nothing to do with one's ability to understand their need to repent and put their faith in Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.

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bèlla said:

Trump administration slashes number of refugees, prioritizes Afrikaners

The State Department will also no longer manage the resettlement of refugees.

The Trump administration announced Thursday that it will slash the number of refugees the United States will accept in the coming year and prioritize white South Africans it alleges are facing discrimination in their country.

In notices posted to the Federal Register, the White House said that only 7,500 refugees will be accepted during the coming fiscal year, which runs from October 2025 to September 2026. The notices added that priority will be given under this category to Afrikaner refugees “and other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination in their respective homelands.”

That’s a dramatic drop from the Biden administration, which regularly accepted around 100,000 refugees a year. It also represents the lowest number of refugees to be admitted since the 1970s, when there was a cap of 17,000 a year. Even during Covid-19 under the first Trump administration, the U.S. accepted at least 11,000 refugees a year.

The administration also said it is shifting refugee resettlement contracts from the purview of the State Department to the Office of Refugee Resettlement at the Department of Health and Human Services — a major departure from the typical way the U.S. refugee program has been administered under recent administrations.

The administration offered little explanation for the changes in the notice, beyond the need to conduct refugee resettlement “in a manner that serves the national interest, promotes efficient use of taxpayer dollars, protects the integrity of the United States immigration system, and supports refugees in achieving early economic self-sufficiency and assimilation into American society.”

The changes in how the program is administered comes after a July layoff at the State Department largely gutted its Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, which oversaw and coordinated refugee efforts with U.S. embassies around the world.

ORR previously mainly administered shelters for migrants — including those for unaccompanied minors — and distributed resources to refugee families. It will now take over all work with private and public partners to place refugees around the U.S. and provide them with funding to sustain their operations.

The White House said that “no refugees will be admitted in FY26 until the appropriate consultations with Congress are held, which are being delayed because certain members of Congress insisted on shutting down the government.” It added that the Trump administration is looking to “end” alleged “abuse of the refugee program” under President Joe Biden.

HHS did not respond to requests for comment. The State Department referred reporters to the same statement issued by the White House.

But the policy change reflects the Trump administration’s desire to put more restrictions on who can enter the United States, as it also cracks down on unauthorized immigration. The Trump administration nixed Biden administration programs offering temporary legal status to Afghans, Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelan migrants earlier this year. Administration officials have hinted at cutting such programs for Salvadoran and Honduran migrants as well.

~bella

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bling said:

I am talking about prior to rebirth and what the spiritual dead can do.

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Always in His Presence said:

No - sorry one riot at the capital, while indefensible - is not equivalent to numbers riots causing billions of dollars in damages - a 1,000% rise in violence towards police officers and numerous insurrections against Federal Building in multiple states.


The ONLY death on Jan 6 was a protestor - to state otherwise is not true.

Compared to more than 50 instances of the self same actions over the course of a year in multiple states against multiple facilities.

And the treasonous were not even arrested.

No - they are not - four other Republicans were injured on the same day -

Yes they have -

No it has not.

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rambot said:

Oooo....BLM protests are really really REALLY tricky because it is indisputable that there were Far right provocateurs mixed within those protests. I am 100% not willing to lay ALL the blame of BLM violence on liberals.

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Hawkins said:

It's rather a human misunderstanding of what out situation truly is.

The big picture is, both Eden and Earth are sandboxes emulationg the Final Heaven where high intelligence angels live with low intelligence humans. Eden displays where the issue is, the crafty snake (high intelligence angel) defeated humans. The same happened on Earth, all mankind is kept captive (Isaiah 14:17) without exception (that's why each and every single human requires Jesus). Humans should have been destroyed completely through the Flood. Earth however illustrates the ultimate solution. Humans stand no chance to defeat the angels in terms of intelligence and strength, they are hopeless without Jesus.

Jesus' self-sacrifice changed the rule legally and legitimately. Earth is so designed that the angels (fallen ones) will be utterly defeated, not through intelligence or strength but through Faith. Faith in Christ is brought us by the New Covenant. Faith remains the only weapon which humans can rely on to break the chains and to be saved. Atheism leans on the Tree of Knowledge, atheists keep asking stupid questions which the same snake (in Eden) would like them to ask while blinding them from accessing the answers (which are usually simple answers). Those strange questions from the atheists become their own stumbling block. Just as said, the god of world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, atheists themselves are the proof.

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Postvieww said:

Lincoln didn’t have media to deal with comparable to what Trump has.

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SabbathBlessings said:

Best not to add what's not there.

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SabbathBlessings said:

why he clearly said there will be no gatherings (on the first day)

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SabbathBlessings said:

. 2. establishing a new day of worship.

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SabbathBlessings said:

It was simply a onetime collection to help with the needy

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SabbathBlessings said:

that there be no gatherings when I come.

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SabbathBlessings said:

every first day

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The first victory of Clovis had insulted the honor of the Goths. They viewed his rapid progress with jealousy and terror; and the youthful fame of Alaric was oppressed by the more potent genius of his rival. Some disputes inevitably arose on the edge of their contiguous dominions; and after the delays of fruitless negotiation, a personal interview of the two kings was proposed and accepted. The conference of Clovis and Alaric was held in a small island of the Loire, near Amboise. They embraced, familiarly conversed, and feasted together; and separated with the warmest professions of peace and brotherly love. But their apparent confidence concealed a dark suspicion of hostile and treacherous designs; and their mutual complaints solicited, eluded, and disclaimed, a final arbitration. At Paris, which he already considered as his royal seat, Clovis declared to an assembly of the princes and warriors, the pretence, and the motive, of a Gothic war. “It grieves me to see that the Arians still possess the fairest portion of Gaul. Let us march against them with the aid of God; and, having vanquished the heretics, we will possess and divide their fertile provinces.” The Franks, who were inspired by hereditary valor and recent zeal, applauded the generous design of their monarch; expressed their resolution to conquer or die, since death and conquest would be equally profitable; and solemnly protested that they would never shave their beards till victory should absolve them from that inconvenient vow. The enterprise was promoted by the public or private exhortations of Clotilda. She reminded her husband how effectually some pious foundation would propitiate the Deity, and his servants: and the Christian hero, darting his battle-axe with a skilful and nervous band, “There, (said he), on that spot where my Francisca, shall fall, will I erect a church in honor of the holy apostles.” This ostentatious piety confirmed and justified the attachment of the Catholics, with whom he secretly corresponded; and their devout wishes were gradually ripened into a formidable conspiracy. The people of Aquitain were alarmed by the indiscreet reproaches of their Gothic tyrants, who justly accused them of preferring the dominion of the Franks: and their zealous adherent Quintianus, bishop of Rodez, preached more forcibly in his exile than in his diocese. To resist these foreign and domestic enemies, who were fortified by the alliance of the Burgundians, Alaric collected his troops, far more numerous than the military powers of Clovis. The Visigoths resumed the exercise of arms, which they had neglected in a long and luxurious peace; a select band of valiant and robust slaves attended their masters to the field; and the cities of Gaul were compelled to furnish their doubtful and reluctant aid. Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, who reigned in Italy, had labored to maintain the tranquillity of Gaul; and he assumed, or affected, for that purpose, the impartial character of a mediator. But the sagacious monarch dreaded the rising empire of Clovis, and he was firmly engaged to support the national and religious cause of the Goths.

The accidental, or artificial, prodigies which adorned the expedition of Clovis, were accepted by a superstitious age, as the manifest declaration of the divine favor. He marched from Paris; and as he proceeded with decent reverence through the holy diocese of Tours, his anxiety tempted him to consult the shrine of St. Martin, the sanctuary and the oracle of Gaul. His messengers were instructed to remark the words of the Psalm which should happen to be chanted at the precise moment when they entered the church. Those words most fortunately expressed the valor and victory of the champions of Heaven, and the application was easily transferred to the new Joshua, the new Gideon, who went forth to battle against the enemies of the Lord. Orleans secured to the Franks a bridge on the Loire; but, at the distance of forty miles from Poitiers, their progress was intercepted by an extraordinary swell of the River Vigenna or Vienne; and the opposite banks were covered by the encampment of the Visigoths. Delay must be always dangerous to Barbarians, who consume the country through which they march; and had Clovis possessed leisure and materials, it might have been impracticable to construct a bridge, or to force a passage, in the face of a superior enemy. But the affectionate peasants who were impatient to welcome their deliverer, could easily betray some unknown or unguarded ford: the merit of the discovery was enhanced by the useful interposition of fraud or fiction; and a white hart, of singular size and beauty, appeared to guide and animate the march of the Catholic army. The counsels of the Visigoths were irresolute and distracted. A crowd of impatient warriors, presumptuous in their strength, and disdaining to fly before the robbers of Germany, excited Alaric to assert in arms the name and blood of the conquerors of Rome. The advice of the graver chieftains pressed him to elude the first ardor of the Franks; and to expect, in the southern provinces of Gaul, the veteran and victorious Ostrogoths, whom the king of Italy had already sent to his assistance. The decisive moments were wasted in idle deliberation the Goths too hastily abandoned, perhaps, an advantageous post; and the opportunity of a secure retreat was lost by their slow and disorderly motions. After Clovis had passed the ford, as it is still named, of the Hart, he advanced with bold and hasty steps to prevent the escape of the enemy. His nocturnal march was directed by a flaming meteor, suspended in the air above the cathedral of Poitiers; and this signal, which might be previously concerted with the orthodox successor of St. Hilary, was compared to the column of fire that guided the Israelites in the desert. At the third hour of the day, about ten miles beyond Poitiers, Clovis overtook, and instantly attacked, the Gothic army; whose defeat was already prepared by terror and confusion. Yet they rallied in their extreme distress, and the martial youths, who had clamorously demanded the battle, refused to survive the ignominy of flight. The two kings encountered each other in single combat. Alaric fell by the hand of his rival; and the victorious Frank was saved by the goodness of his cuirass, and the vigor of his horse, from the spears of two desperate Goths, who furiously rode against him to revenge the death of their sovereign. The vague expression of a mountain of the slain, serves to indicate a cruel though indefinite slaughter; but Gregory has carefully observed, that his valiant countryman Apollinaris, the son of Sidonius, lost his life at the head of the nobles of Auvergne. Perhaps these suspected Catholics had been maliciously exposed to the blind assault of the enemy; and perhaps the influence of religion was superseded by personal attachment or military honor.

Such is the empire of Fortune, (if we may still disguise our ignorance under that popular name), that it is almost equally difficult to foresee the events of war, or to explain their various consequences. A bloody and complete victory has sometimes yielded no more than the possession of the field and the loss of ten thousand men has sometimes been sufficient to destroy, in a single day, the work of ages. The decisive battle of Poitiers was followed by the conquest of Aquitain. Alaric had left behind him an infant son, a bastard competitor, factious nobles, and a disloyal people; and the remaining forces of the Goths were oppressed by the general consternation, or opposed to each other in civil discord. The victorious king of the Franks proceeded without delay to the siege of Angoulême. At the sound of his trumpets the walls of the city imitated the example of Jericho, and instantly fell to the ground; a splendid miracle, which may be reduced to the supposition, that some clerical engineers had secretly undermined the foundations of the rampart. At Bordeaux, which had submitted without resistance, Clovis established his winter quarters; and his prudent economy transported from Thoulouse the royal treasures, which were deposited in the capital of the monarchy. The conqueror penetrated as far as the confines of Spain; restored the honors of the Catholic church; fixed in Aquitain a colony of Franks; and delegated to his lieutenants the easy task of subduing, or extirpating, the nation of the Visigoths. But the Visigoths were protected by the wise and powerful monarch of Italy. While the balance was still equal, Theodoric had perhaps delayed the march of the Ostrogoths; but their strenuous efforts successfully resisted the ambition of Clovis; and the army of the Franks, and their Burgundian allies, was compelled to raise the siege of Arles, with the loss, as it is said, of thirty thousand men. These vicissitudes inclined the fierce spirit of Clovis to acquiesce in an advantageous treaty of peace. The Visigoths were suffered to retain the possession of Septimania, a narrow tract of sea-coast, from the Rhône to the Pyrenees; but the ample province of Aquitain, from those mountains to the Loire, was indissolubly united to the kingdom of France.

After the success of the Gothic war, Clovis accepted the honors of the Roman consulship. The emperor Anastasius ambitiously bestowed on the most powerful rival of Theodoric the title and ensigns of that eminent dignity; yet, from some unknown cause, the name of Clovis has not been inscribed in the Fasti either of the East or West. On the solemn day, the monarch of Gaul, placing a diadem on his head, was invested, in the church of St. Martin, with a purple tunic and mantle. From thence he proceeded on horseback to the cathedral of Tours; and, as he passed through the streets, profusely scattered, with his own hand, a donative of gold and silver to the joyful multitude, who incessantly repeated their acclamations of Consul and Augustus. The actual or legal authority of Clovis could not receive any new accessions from the consular dignity. It was a name, a shadow, an empty pageant; and if the conqueror had been instructed to claim the ancient prerogatives of that high office, they must have expired with the period of its annual duration. But the Romans were disposed to revere, in the person of their master, that antique title which the emperors condescended to assume: the Barbarian himself seemed to contract a sacred obligation to respect the majesty of the republic; and the successors of Theodosius, by soliciting his friendship, tacitly forgave, and almost ratified, the usurpation of Gaul.(The History of the decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 4, Chap. 38, pgs. 65-71 of the Everyman's Library edition)

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Trump Chief Stephen Miller’s Wife Explicitly Threatens Cenk Uygur’s Citizenship in Shocking On-Air Meltdown​