The testimony of the ancients.
The testimony of the ancients.
§ 16. Here we must place the statements of the ancients in which they describe the proper doctrine of the Gospel and explain its genuine nature. Ignatius (Ad Philadelph., toward the end): “The Gospel has something very special, namely, the presence of the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ, His Passion, and also the resurrection.”
Eusebius (De praepar. evangel., 1, ch. 1): “We call that ‘Gospel’ which is filled with the eternal and incorruptible goods that are certainly the finest and greatest, things foretold from the earliest times and recently illuminating the world with their splendor. [The Gospel] announces these things to all people; it does not provide us with the bland and transitory riches of this time nor with this brief and calamitous life, the unstable conditions of the body, but with the greatest happiness most proper for our souls.”
** Ambrose (bk. 9, Letter 22): “Thus the Law has the severity of a sword, as a teacher possesses a stick in order to frighten off the weakness of an imperfect people at least with a declaration of punishment. But the Gospel has forgiveness, by which sins are put away. Therefore Paul speaks correctly then when he says that the letter kills but that the Spirit gives life [2 Cor. 3:6].” **
[Ambrose] again (on Romans 1): “The Gospel is the good news by which sinners are called to forgiveness.”
Chrysostom (on Matthew, homily 1): “The Gospel announces the removal of punishment, the forgiveness of sins, satisfaction, righteousness, redemption, the adoption of sons, and the inheritance of heaven, as well as kinship with the Son of God.” On Matthew (homily 8): “The Gospel is good news because it announces and promises to men the blessedness of heaven, the forgiveness of sins, the adoption of sons, the resurrection of the dead, the immortality of life, the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven, the possession of eternal glory, the fellowship of the angels.”
** [Chrysostom] again (on 2 Corinthians 3): “In the Law, the man who has sin is punished. But here the man who has sin comes, is baptized, and becomes righteous. But having become righteous, he lives, free from the death of sin. If the Law catches a murderer, it kills him; if grace receives a murderer, it illuminates and vivifies him.” **
Philippus Presbyter, the hearer of St. Jerome (on Job 42): “The word of the Gospel is sweet and gentle; like peaceful rain and dew it falls on souls silently.”
Augustine (Ench., ch. 46): “In the Old Testament, whatever promises forgiveness of sins, our justification, illumination, and regeneration before God also pertains completely to Christ and the Gospel.”
** Jerome (on Eccles. 3): “To be sure, the Law is unyielding, unkind, unsparing. It kills the sinner. The Gospel of grace has mercy on him and calls him to repentance.”
Bernard (Sermon 30 on Song of Songs): “Grace and the Law are not at all alike, because the gentleness of the former and the harshness of the latter offer themselves to every conscience with different expressions on their faces. For who would give an equal look at condemner and comforter, at demander and forgiver, at punisher and embracer? One will not want to receive with equal longing shadow and light, wrath and peace, judgment and mercy, figure and reality, whip and inheritance, rein and kiss.” **
Primasius (on Romans 1): “The Gospel is said to be good news, and what good news is greater than that Christ was born, suffered, and rose again for us?”
Charlemagne (De imagin., 4, ch. 10):
The Gospel is good news and really good news because those who receive it are called the children of God; for it flows as a four-channeled river from one ineffable spring of Paradise, and branching out into four streams it is sent to bring healthful irrigation to parched hearts. It is the way that leads to life; it is the light that leads mortals back from the darkness of their sins and directs their steps to heaven by an easy path. It is the protection of a very powerful city in which to be firmly ensconced, in which is an outstanding advantage of life, and to depart from it is a serious detriment. It is the fountains of truth which do not know how to deceive and be deceived, etc.
Rabanus (on Ecclesiast., bk. 8, ch. 7): “Mercy—that is, the grace of Christ, through the preaching of the Gospel—heals the wounds of souls and cools the fever of carnal concupiscence.”
Theodoret (on Romans 1): “The Gospel is the preaching which announces the reconciliation of God, the destruction of the devil, the remission of sins, the end of death, the resurrection from death, eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven.”
Theophylactus (preface to Matthew): “The Gospel is so called because it announces to us prosperous things which bring good fortune, that is, good things, such as the forgiveness of sins, righteousness, a return to heaven, adoption as the sons of God. It also declares that we have received these freely and easily; that we have obtained these things without our own effort; that we have received them not because of our own good works, but that we have received good things such as these freely, of God’s mercy.”
The Gloss. ordin. (on Acts 1): “The Gospel is the good news in which rest after labor, reigning after slavery, life after death is announced.”