Of whom I have no certain thing to write unto my lord. Therefore I have brought him forth before you, and specially before you, O king Agrippa, that, after examination, I might have somewhat to write.
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George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
To my lord. This was a title the emperors afterwards took, but which Augustus and Tiberius are said by Pliny, in his epistle to Trajan, and by Tertullian, to have refused, as too assuming and too high, ut nimis sublimem atque gloriosum. This was perhaps done, that none might bear the title at a time when the Lord of lords was to appear on the earth. (Tirinus)
Whilst we can approve and admire the motives which actuated the emperors in refusing this title, we cannot go the lengths which some modern enthusiasts do, (mostly Americans, Quakers) who pretend it is blasphemy to call a mortal man a lord, as if that name were incommunicable to any but the Creator of the universe. Whence they derive this article of faith it will not be easy for us to guess; certainly not from Scripture, in which the word Dominus or Lord, applied to man, occurs almost as frequently as King. Certainly not from our Saviour's words, who give both himself and others this title, (Mark xiv. 14. and other places.) nor from St. Paul's doctrine, who also uses this word indiscriminately through his epistles, Galatians iv. 1; Ephesians vi. v.; Hence we are justified in retaining this practice, in opposition to their cavils; and in treating that opinion as superstitious and void of foundation, which makes it a necessary part of religion to use no titles. (Haydock).
