Lecture X
LECTURE X.
ON THE ONE LORD, JESUS CHRIST.
1 CorInTHIANS viii. 5, 6.
For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or tn earth, (as there be gods many and lords many,) but to us there ts One God the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him. nba 1. Tuey who have been taught to believe in One God, the — Father Almighty, ought also to believe in His Only-begotten see Son ; for whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Johnio, Pather.
Jesus says, / am the Door; no one cometh unto the 9; 14,6. Father, but by Me.
For if thou deny the Door, the knowpegorel sledge concerning the Father is closed from thee.
No man th knoweth the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him; for if thou deny Him who reveals, thou remainest in ignorance.
There is a sentence in the Jobn 8, Gospels to this effect, He who believeth not on the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth upon him: for the Father is wroth, when the Only-begotten Son is set at nought.
It is a great matter to a king, if even one of his soldiers be but dishonoured; and when it is one of his more honourable guards or friends, then his anger becomes yet greater; but if any offer outrage to the king's only-begotten son himself, who shall sooth the father, when wroth concerning his onlybegotten son?
2. If then a man wishes to be religious towards God, let him worship the Son; since otherwise the Father accepts not his service.
The Father spake with aloud voice from heaven, ee 8, saying, This ts My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased;
Names of the Only-begotten Son.
the Father was well-pleased with the Son; unless thou also be well-pleased in Him, thou hast not life.
Be not inveigled by the Jews, who craftily say, There is only One God; but together with the knowledge that God is one, know also that God has an Only-begotten Son.
I am not the first to say this; for the Psalmist in the person of the Son saith, The Pv. 2, %.
Lord hath said unto Me, Thou art My Son.
Heed not therefore what the Jews say, but what the Prophets say.
Wonderest thou that they who have stoned and slain the Prophets, set at nought their words?
8. Believe thou on One Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-be- (2.) gotten Son of God. We say One Lord Jesus Christ, to signify that God's Son is Only-begotten; we say, One, lest thou shouldest suppose another.
We say, One, lest thou shouldest profanely disperse the many Names of power among many sons.
For He is called a Door; but take not the name literally for a thing of wood, but a spiritual, a living Door, discriminating acyesde. those who enter in.
He is called the Way; that is, not one Johnl4, trodden by men's feet, but one which guides us to the Father i in heaven.
He is called a Sheep; not an irrational one, but Acts 8, the one, which through its precious blood, cleanses the world a from its sins; and when led before the shearer knew when Iss. 53, to be silent.
This Sheep, again, is called the Shepherd, who ° says, I am the good Shepherd; a Sheep by reason of His Johnl0, manhood, a Shepherd on account of the loving-kindness of ~ His Godhead.
And dost thou wish to know whether there are spiritual sheep? the Saviour says to the Apostles, Behold, +74.
I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves, Again He is4**'® called a Lion; not a devourer of men, but as if shewing by Rev-5,5. the title His princely and stedfast and resolute nature.
Also évversHe is called a Lion, in opposition to the lion who is our" adversary, who roars and devours those who have been! Pet.6, deceived.
For the Saviour came, not as having laid aside © the gentleness of His own nature, but as the mighty Lion of the tribe of Judah, to save them who believe, and to trample Ps. 118, upon theadversary.
He is called aStone; nota lifeless one, =< 28, quarried by men's hands: but the chief/-corner stone, on whom ie whosoever believeth shall not be ashamed. rare 4. He is called Christ, the Anointed; not anointed by human hands, but having eternally from the Father an unction
H 2
Manifold offices of the Only-begotten Son. to be High-priest over man.
He is called Dead; yet not as having his abode among the dead, as all they have who are in Ps.88,5. Hades, but being alone free among the dead.
Heis called the LEcT.
Son of Man; not as being born of the earth, as all we are, but as coming upon the clouds to judge the quick and dead.
He is called Lord, not improperly as some men are, but as having a Lordship, natural and eternal.
Fitly is He called Jesus, deriving His name from His salutary medicine.
He is called a Son; not advanced by adoption, but having been naturally begotten.
And many are the titles of our Saviour; lest therefore His manifold appellations should make thee think that there are many sons, and because of the errors of the heretics, who say that Christ is One, and Jesus another, and the Door another, and so on, the faith secures thee beforehand, and says well, " In One Lord Jesus Christ;" for though the titles be many, their subject is one. idersas.
(3.) 5. Now the Saviour shews Himself under various forms to each, for his profit.
For to those who stand in need of rejoicing, He becomes a Vine; to those who want to enter in,
He is a Door; to those who need to offer prayers, He stands a mediating High-Priest.
Again, to those who have sins, He becomes a Sheep, that He may be sacrificed for them ;
He becomes all things to all, remaining in His own nature what He is.
For, continuing to hold the true unchangeable prerogative of Sonship, as some skilful physician or considerate teacher, He adapts Himself to our weaknesses; though Very Lord, and not receiving the Lordship by advancement*, but having that dignity by nature; not like us, improperly called Lord, but being so in verity ; since by the Father's decree, He is Lord of His own works.
For whereas our lordship is over men of like rights and like passions, nay, often our elders, and often a young master over aged servants, our Lord Jesus Christ's Lordship is not so; but He is sana first Maker, then Lord; first He made all things by the will
1 Cor.
9, 22. teers wares. of the Father, then, He is Lord over the things which He has made'.
* Ix weexowits.
This was the doctrine > It was a point of controversy in the of the Samosatenes, Athan. de Syn. 26. early Church, (though of course not ne- §. 4. and of the Arians, Alex. apud cessarilymorethana verbalone,)whether
Theod. Hist. i. 4.
God, and Christ, could be called Lord,
Christ was God before His Incarnation.
6. Christ the Lord is He who was born in the city of Lukea David.
And wouldest thou know whether Christ is the!!; Lord with the Father, even before His incarnation'?
That (4.) thou mayest receive the doctrine, not only by faith but by proof, from the Old Testament, go to the first book, Genesis;
God saith, Let Us make man, not " in My image," but, 77 Gen. 1, Our image.
And after Adam was made, the sacred writer 2" says, And the Lord created man; in the image of God Geo.1, created He him.
For he does not confine the prerogative of ?7-5¢P* Godhead to the Father alone, but includes the Son; to shew that man is not the work of God only, but also of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who is Himself also Very God.
He, the Lord, who works when the Father works, wrought with Him in the case of Sodom also, according to the text, And the Lord Gen.19, rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire **
Jrom the Lord out of heaven.
He, the Lord, afterwards appeared to Moses, as far as that was possible ; for the Lord is merciful, ever accommodating Himself to our infirmities.
7. But, in order to be sure that this is He who appeared unto Moses, hear Paul's testimony, who says, They drank Cor. op that spiritual rock which followed them, and that rock was bo ok:
Chrisi*, And again: By fatth Moses forsook Egypt.
And Heb.11, shortly after he says, Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater ae €. riches than the treasures in Egypt.
This Moses says to Him, 26Shew me Thyself.
You see that the Prophets too saw the ae 9 18.
Sept. doret (Qumst. in Josh. 4.) and S, Athanasius (de Incarn. Christ. 17.), agree with Cyril in understanding this text to mean, that Christ, as God,—S. Basil (de =p. Sanct. 14.), and Tertullian (de Baptism. 9. in Marcion. iii. 5.) that Christ ae already incarnate in His mercies vouchsafed to faith,—watched over the Israelites in all their wanderings, and was typically a Rock, i. e. as being like the rock in the desert. Tertullian (de Patient. 5.), and S. Jerome (in loco) adopt the Jewish tradition, that the stream flowing from the rock followed them all through their wanderings. Photius (vid. Justinian. in loc.) understands "* followed" to mean "' indalged,"
'+ gratified,"
'* provided for," them; as if, when they drank of the rock, they drank of His virtue who condescended to consult and answer to their wants.
Omnipotent, &c. before creation.
To avoid the difficulty, Origen is said to have held that God created all things from eternity. vid. Bull, Def. F. p. i.
13. §. 9. and Origen de Princip. i. 2.
§. 10.
On the other hand, Tertullian contr. Hermog. 3, considering the attribates in question to belong, not to the Divine Nature, but Office, denies that God was Almighty frometernity; while the Greeksaffirmed this, vid. Cyril Alex. in Joan. xvii. 8. p. 963. Athan. Orat. ii.
12—14, as understanding by the term the inherent but latent attribute of doing what He had not as yet done, vi ievrsaeeinis, Vid. Method. es) cé ytrvnris, ap. Phot. Cod. 235. p. 933, 94.
© Almost all the early heretics, except the Arians and Munichees, denied our Lord's personal existence before His incarnation.
4 8. Chrysostom (in loc.), Theo-
102 Christ is spoken of as the Lord in the Old Testament.
Lact, Christ, that is, as far as each was able.
Shew me Thyself, that I may see Thee with understanding.
And He answers, = = There shail no man see My face and live.
Wherefore, since nea no man living could see the face of the Godhead, He took ev. on Him the face of human nature, that we though seeing it, might live.
Yet when He wished to shew even that with a Mat.17, little majesty, when His face did shine as the sun, the disciples fell to the ground affrighted: if then His bodily countenance, shining, not in the fulness of Him who wrought but in the measure of those who followed Him, yet terrified them, and was too much for them, how could any man gaze on the majesty of the Godhead? ' Thou desirest a great thing,
O Moses,' saith the Lord; ' and I allow thine unappeasable Exod. desire ;' And I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken,
88,17. but according as thou art able; Behold, I will put thee ina ver. 22. cleft of the rock, for being little, thou shalt lodge in a little space.
8. Now here keep a watch on what I shall say, on account of the Jews.
For my object is to shew that the Lord Jesus Christ was with the Father.
The Lord then Exod. says to Moses, J will pass before thee with My glory, and ate will proclaim the Name of the Lord before thee. Being Himself the Lord, what Lord doth He proclaim?
Thus thou seest, how He hath covertly taught the godly doctrine of the Father and the Son.
And again in what follows, it is written ore in the very letter, 4nd the Lord descended in the cloud, and d&o.Sept.8tood by him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord; and the Lord passed before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord merciful and gracious, long-suffering, abundant in mercy and true; keeping righteousness and shewing mercy unto thousands, taking away iniquities, and transgressions, and sins.
And then in what follows, Moses, having bowed his head, and worshipped before the Lord who proclaimed ver.8.9.the Father, says, Do Thou, O Lord, go with us.
(5.) 9. This is the first proof; now receive a second plain one.
Ps. 110, The Lord said unto My Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand.
The Lord says this to the Lord; not to a servant, but to the Lord of all, and His own Son, to whom He hath put all ie things in subjection.
For when He satth, All things are put under Him, it is manifest that He is excepted which did put
Christ is Lord of Angels.
all things under Him: and afterwards, that God may be all t# all, The Only-begotten Son is Lord of all things, and yet the obedient Son of the Father, who instead of seizing on the wa «Lordship', by nature received it of the Father's own will; ™*for neither did the Son grasp at it, nor the Father reluctantly hee communicate it. He jt is who says, All things are delivered tir sunio Me of My Father ; " delivered unto Me, yet not as though rh na
I had them not before'; and I keep them well, not withMat, drawing them from the Giver."
He 10. The Son of God then is the Lord,—the Lord, who was born in Bethlehem of Judwa, according to the Angel who spoke to the shepherds, J bring you good tidings of great joy ;
Luke 2, Sor unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, !° 'which és Christ the Lord.
Of whom in another place an Apostle says, The word which God sent unto the children of Acts 10,
Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: He ts Lord of all.
~ But when he says, of all, except nothing from His Lordship; whether they be Angels, or Archangels, or principalities, or powers, or any created thing named by the Apostles, all things are under the Lordship of the Son.
He is Lord of Angels, according to what thou hast in the Gospels.
Then mat. 4, the devil departed from Him, and Angels came and ministered '}unto Him; for Scripture says not, that they succoured Him, but that they ministered to Him, which is the part of servants.
When He was about to be born of a Virgin, Gabriel did Him service, having it committed to him as his peculiar privilege.
When He was about to go into Egypt, that He might overthrow the gods of Egypt made with hands', again an Angel appeareth to Joseph in a dream. Mat. 3,
After He had been crucified, and had risen again, the Angel !*brought the good tidings, and as a trusty servant, said to the women, Go, tell His disciples that He is risen, and goeth Mat.28, before you into Galilee; behold, I have told you.
As if he i © Oby dewdeas vi nugudus, thought it _ © Vid. Isai. 19, 1. '" Behold the nae cater ee aie ERs 2, 6.
Lord rideth upon a swift cloud and ! The Arians arguedthatcommunicashall come into Egypt, and the idols tion of power implied a time when it of Egypt shall be moved at His prewas not communicated, whereas the sence," &c. which is considered to be Catholic doctrine is, that the word falfilled, when our Lord was taken describes a state which was without there in His infancy, by Eusebius, beginning. vid. Athan. Orat. i. 14.26, also Dem. vii. 20. Athan. Incarn. V.
97. and Petav. de Tria. v. 9.
36, &c.
Tha Name of' Jesus.
Lecr. had said, "I have not disobeyed my command, I protest that I have told you; that if ye neglect, the blame may not rest
Ardy upon me, but upon the persons neglecting."
This then is the \nsmn, One Lord Jesus Christ, of whom now the text speaks also,
1 Cor. For though there be that are called Gods, whether in 8, 5. 6 heaven or in earth,— Yet to us there is One God the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and One Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him.
(6.) 11. And He has two names, Jesus Christ; Jesus, because He saves,—Christ, because of His priesthood.
And knowing this, the inspired Prophet Moses conferred these two titles on ene two most special men: changing the name of his own sucSept. cessor in the government, Auses, to Jesus; and surnaming ae his own brother Aaron, Christ, that by two special men, ho
Lev. 4, might represent at once the High-priesthood and the kingdom b Sere of Him who was to come, the One Jesus Christ.
For Christ ed. is a High-priest like Aaron: since Christ glorified not Himos 5, self to be made an High-priest ; but He that said unto Him,
Thou art My Son, this day have I begotien Thee.
And Jesus the son of Nave was a type of Him in many things.
When he Josh. 3, began his government of the people, he began at Jordan; whence Christ also, after baptism, began His Gospel.
The Josh.14,30n of Nave appoints the Twelve, who were to divide the
A ° inheritance ; and Jesus sends forth the Twelve Apostles, the _ heralds of truth, into all the world.
The typical Jesus saved Mat21, Rahab the harlot, who believed; and the true says, Behold,
'the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of heaven before you.
With only a shout the walls of Jericho fell down Lowe » before the type; and because of Jesus' word, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, the Jewish temple opposite us is in ruins; not indeed on the ground of the denunciation, but of the sin of the transgressors.
12. There is One Lord Jesus Christ, that wondrous Name, ese glanced at beforehand by the Prophets.
For Esaias the Prophet says, Behold the Saviour is come nigh thee, having His reward; ' Jesus' among the Hebrews signifying Saviour.
For the Prophetic gift, foreseeing the traitorous and bloody spirit of the Jews, veiled His name, lest from knowing it for certain, they might plot against Him leisurely.
Moreover, He was called Jesus, not of men, but distinctly by the Angel,
The Name of Christ.
not coming on his own authority, but as sent by the power of God; who said to Joseph, Fear not to take unto thee Mary Mat. 1, thy wife; for that which ts conceived in her is of the Holy™Ghost.
And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His nume Jesus: and he straightway adds the reason of this name, for He shall save His people from their sins.
Con-«¢ + sider how could He have a people, who was not yet born, 7277" unless He was in being, before He was born.
And this the Vid. NiProphet says in His person, From the bowels of My Mother Creel. hath He made mention of My Name, because the Angel forearil ; told that He should be called Jesus.
And again, concerning Ip, 49,1. the conspiracy of Herod, He says, In the shadow of His hand? hath He hid Me.
- 18. Jesus then means among the Hebrews, " a Saviour,"
Jépssves. but in the Greek tongue, "a Healer:" seeing that He is Physician of souls and bodies, and curer of spirits; curing copas the blind in body, and leading minds into light; healing the ete lame in limb, and guiding the steps of sinners to repentance; xaaa» saying to the sick of the palsy, Sin no more, and, Take up thy el bed and walk; for since for the soul's sin the body was John 5, palsied, He first gave a cure to the soul, that He might!* ® extend it to the body.
If any therefore is suffering in soul from sins, he has a Physician; and if there be any here of little faith, let him say to Him, Help Thou mine unbelief.
Mark 9, And if any be encompassed with bodily ailments, let him not? mistrust, but let him approach; (for such also does He cure,) and let him know that Jesus is the Christ.
14. For that He is Jesus, the Jews allow, but not that He is Christ; wherefore the Apostle says, Who is a liar, but hei John that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? But Christ is an" ??.
High-priest, having an unchangeable priesthood: neither yep. 7, having begun His High-priesthood at any date', nor deliver-?+ing it to a successor; as thou heardest me say when on theie) eis
Lord's day we discoursed in church on the words, After the fre order of Melchisedek.
He has not received His High-priestvia. hood from a carnal line, nor was He anointed with oil duly aAY compounded, but by the Father before the worlds; and being none Peet ori scen held by $187, Bvecbiusalohelde Demons
Philo, (vid. de Somn. p. 597. ed. Franc. v.3. Nestorius accused the Catholics of 1691.) Sh with a vw of dishonouring holding it. Cyril contr. Neator. iii. p.64.
Christieas eo called from Christ.
Lace: so much more excellent than the others, in that He is a Priest with an oath.
For they gre priests without an oalb ; ET but He with an oath by Him that said, The Lord sware, pete Ad will mot repent.
It was indeed an asaurance enough, addedin that the Father should but will it: but now it is twofold, pee a for with the will the oath follows ;—That by two immutable inuk " things, in which ét was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, for our faith, who receive Jesus
Christ the Son of God.
15. He, the Christ, when He came, was denied by the Jews, and confessed by devils; yet he was not unknown to Ps. 132, our forefather David, who says, J have ordained a lamp for 17.
'my Christ, which lamp some have interpreted to be the 119." brightness of Prophecy, others the flesh which He took of 2Cor. the Virgin, according to the Apostle's words, We have this
4,7treasure in earthen vessels.
Of Him the Prophet was not Amos 4, ignorant, when he said, And who declareth unto men Has
13.SeptChyést.
Moses also knew Hiw, and Esaias knew Him, and Jeremias knew Him; there was none of the Prophets who ae knew Him not.
Him even the devils recognised ; for He 1. yebuked them, and the sacred writer proceeds, because they knew that He was Christ.
The Chicf-priests knew Him not, John 4, and the devils confessed Him; the Chief-priests knew Him not, and a woman of Samaria proclaimed Him, saying, Come, see acnas which told me all things that ever I did; is not thés the Christ ?
Heb.9, 16, This is Jesus (Christ, soho ts come, an High-priest of : good things to come; who out of the munificence of His
Godhead has imparted to us His own title.
For kings among men have a royal style, which they keep to themselves; but Jesus Christ being the Son of God, has counted us worthy to (8.) be called " Christians."
But some one will say, The name of " Christian" is new, and before this not in use; and naw things are often objected to, on the score of novelty.
The Is. 65, prophet has anticipated the objection, when he says, But ee be them which serve Me, He shall call by a new name, which shall be blessed upon the earth.
Let.us enquire of the Jews:
Do ye serve the Lord, orno? Shew then your new name; for your name was " Jews" and " Israelites" in the time .af
Moses and the other prophets, and after the return from
St, Pauls conversion.
Babylon, and up to the present time; where then is your new name?
But we, since we serve the Lord, have, as might be expected, the new name; new indeed, but that new name which shall be blessed upon the earth.
This name has got hold of the world; for Jews cover only a certain spot, but Christians reach the bounds of the world; for we preach the Name of the Only-begotten Son of God.
17. But perhaps thou wouldest know whether the Apostles received and proclaimed the Name of Christ, or rather had Christ in themselves?
Paul says to his hearers, Seek 2 Cor. ye a proof of Christ speaking in me? Paul preaches Christ, !* * saying, For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the 2Cor.t,
Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
Now" who is this? It is the former persecutor.
O mighty wonder!
He who first persecuted, himself preaches Christ.
But wherefore? was he bribed? There was no one to bribe him this way. Had hea sight of Him when on earth, and was awestruck thereby?
He had already been taken up into Heavea.
He came out to persecute; and after three days the persecutor is a preacher in Damascus.
By what power?
Others call friends to be witnesses for friends; but the witness I present to thee is this former enemy; and waverest thou yet? The testimony of Peter and John, though weighty, was open to suspicion, because they were His friends; but when His former foe afterwards dies for Christ's sake, what room is there for doubting the truth?
18. Here I am led to express a suitable admiration of this appointment of the Holy Spirit; how He has confined the Epistles of the rest to a small number, but to Paul, the former persecutor, has granted fourteen.
It was not because Peter or John were less than Paul, that He restrained the gift; (God forbid!) but in order that His doctrine might be beyond question, He granted to the former persecutor and enemy to write more, that thus we might all be made believers.
But all were amazed about Paul, and said, Is not Acts 9, this he who used to persecute?
Did he not come hither to?! lead us bound unto Jerusalem?
'Wonder not, says Paul, I know that it is hard for me to kick against the pricks; I know that I am not meet to be called an Apostle, because I} Lier. persecuted the Church of God; but I did it ignorantly ; for 1 rf,
Witnesses of Christ.
Lecr. I thought that the preaching of Christ was the destruction of X: the Law; 1 knew not that He came to fulfil the Law, and 1Tim. not to destroy it; but the grace of God was exceeding
1,1\@ abundant in me.
(9.) © 19. Many, my beloved, are the true testimonies concerning Christ.
The Father from Heaven is Witness of the Son; the Holy Ghost is Witness, descending bodily in the shape of a dove; the Archangel Gabriel is His witness, bringing good ders. tidings to many; the Virgin Mother of God is His witness ; ssthe blessed manger is His witness.
Egypt is His witness, who received her Lord while yet young in the flesh. Symeon
Luke 2, is His witness, who received Him in his arms, and said, Lord, 29.30. now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people.
And Anna the iynaprophetess is His witness, that widow of most devout and i austere life.
His witness is John the Baptist, the greatest among the prophets, the introducer of the new covenant, who in a manner joined in himself the two Covenants, the Old and the New.
Jordan is His witness among rivers: the sea of Tiberias is His witness among seas.
The blind, the maim, the dead raised to life, are His witnesses.
The devils are His Mark 1, Witnesses, saying, What have we to do with Thee, Jesus; we
4. know Thee who Thou art, the Holy One of God. The winds are His witnesses, bidden and bridled by Him: the five loaves are His witnesses, multiplied to five thousand.
The wide. holy wood of the cross is His witness, which is seen among io: "us to this day, and, by means of those who have in faith taken thereof, has from this place now almost filled the whole world.
The palm-tree in the valley is His witness, which supplied branches to the children who then hailed Him.
Gethsemane is His witness, which to our imaginations almost shews Judas still.
Golgotha, this holy place which is raised above all others, is His witness in the sight of all.
The holy Sepulchre is His witness, and the stone which lies there to this day.
The sun now shining is His witness, which then at the season of His salutary Passion suffered eclipse.
The darkness is His witness, which was then from the sixth to the ninth hour; the light is His witness, which shone out from the ninth hour till evening.
The Mount of Olives is
Witnesses of Christ.
His witness, whence He ascended to the Father; the clouds, laden with showers, are His witnesses, which received their
Lord.
The Heavenly gates which received their Lord are His witnesses ; concerning which the Psalmist said, Lift up Pe.24,7. your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting ** ®: doors ; and the King of glory shall come in. His former foes bear witness to Him, of whom the blessed Paul is one, for a little while hating Him, for a long while serving Him.
The Twelve Apostles witness of Him ; not in words only, but by their own tortures and deaths, heralding the truth.
The shadow of Peter is His witness, which in the Name of Christ healed the sick.
The handkerchiefs and aprons are His witnesses, which once by Christ's power wrought like cures
' by means of Paul.
Persians and Goths, and all they of the Gentiles, are His witnesses, dying for His sake, whom with the eyes of their flesh they never beheld.
The devils, whom believers to this day drive away, bear witness to * Him.
20. So many and diverse, yea and more than these, are the witnesses of Christ: will any one then, henceforth, disbelieve in Him, thus witnessed?
If, therefore, there be any who before believed not, let him believe now; if any was before a believer, let him take to him a greater increase of faith, believing on our Lord Jesus Christ, and understanding whose name he bears.
Thou art called Christian ; be tender of that Name; let not our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, be blasphemed through thee, but rather let thy fair deeds shine before men ; that they who see them may, in our Lord
Jesus Christ, glorify the Father who is in heaven :—To whom be glory, both now, and for ever and ever.
Amen.