CHAPTER 1
THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL
Bk. VI. the call of the Gentiles, and announce the promises of the reward of holiness not only to the Jewish race, but to all men throughout the world.
As this is so, we must now hear the divine oracles.
CHAPTER
(25S) Of the Sojourn of the Word of God with Men.
From Psalm xvii.
The Shewing forth of the Coming of God to Men, and the Consequent Call of the Gentiles.
[Passage quoted, Ps. xvii. 9-1 1.] I CONSIDER that we have here an express prophecy of God's
Descent from heaven.
For after telling many divine truths he adds the above.
In saying "He bowed the heavens and came down," he notes that humiliation of the Divine Glory, which the divine apostle expressed, when he said
(c) " Who being in the form of God, did not consider it ii. 6, a prize to be equal with God, but emptied himself, and took the form of a servant."
And by the words, "He rode upon Cherubim and flew,"
I believe he presents darkly the return to Divine Glory, which He made surrounded by troops of angelic and divine powers.
And this also seems to be intended by, '" He flew upon the wings of the wind."
And by, "making darkness his secretplace, and darkness under his feet," is signified the hidden and secret dispensation, under which He accomplished all this.
What shall we understand by "round about him was his tabernacle " but His Holy Catholic Church, either
(d) the earthly, or the heavenly ?
And afterwards at the end of the same P.salm, there is a prophecy of the rejection of the former people coincident with the call of the Gentiles:
" 43. Save me from tlie gainsayings of the people, thou wilt make me the head of the Gentiles.
.\ people whom I have not known shall serve me.
"44.
.\t the hearing of the ear they obeyed me : the strange children lied to nie.
Ch. 2.
DESCENT AND ASCENSION
"45. The strange children waxed old : and grew lame from their paths."
I will examine in the proper place what meaning is to ba attributed to this.
CHAPTER
(259) Psalm xlvi.
The Ascent of God Who had First descended, and the Calling of all the Gentiles thereafter, to know the One and Only God.
[Passage quoted, Ps. xlvi. 1-9.] What can the Ascension of the Lord God here mentioned imply, but a Descent previous to His Ascension, after which the calling of all the Gentiles is again prophesied, and good news of joy and gladness announced to all nations in their future knowledge of Ciod, when the Lord Himself, Pie that is the one Most High God and King of all the earth, is said to subdue the peoples under us.
And who are meant by " us " ?
Surely those who give the prophecy : which will (d) be clearly seen to be fulfilled, when all the nations that believe in Christ are subdued to the teaching of the prophets.
Or they might be spoken in the person of our Saviour's apostles, who also could say, " He has chosen out an inheritance for us."
And what else could be understood by " his inheritance," but the calling of all nations, which the Christ of God shewed forth Himself, when He said " The Lord said unto me, Thou art my Son
: to-day have I Vs. u.
7. begotten thee .
Desire of me and I shall give the heathen for thine inheritance, and the bounds of the earth for thy possession ? "
This inheritance, then, that was given Him by the Father He subordinated to His apostles and (260) prophets, by subduing those that believed on Ilmi to their words agreeably to the above prophecies.
And the Word of God, of ^Vhom I have discoursed so much, after accomplishing all things in His appearance among men, "ascended with a shout."
This is interpreted by the apostle, who says :
" That he ascended, what is it but Epli. iv. 9.
THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL
Bk. VI. that he also descended first to the lower parts of the earth ?
He that descended is the same as He Who ascended far above all heavens."
And he says that He ascended with a shout, because of the companies of angels proclaiming His (It) Divinity^ as He went up, who also said
" Open your gates, r.s. xxiii. ye rulers, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the 7King of glory shall come in."
And you would not err in identifying the sound of the trumpet with the preaching of the Gospel heard in all the world.
For as the trumpet is the loudest of all musical instruments, it seems a fit symbol to shew forth that the teaching given to all men about Christ is proclaimed in stronger and louder tones than any other teaching has ever been, by which as by a trumpet for the hearing of all men (c)the Holy Spirit shouts and cries what follows in this I'salm, *' Sing to the Lord, sing, sing to our King, sing. That God is King" not only of the Jewish race in the future, he says, but " of all the earth, sing with understanding."
No more the d;vmons of old, he says, no more the earthbound and weak spirits," but God Llimself rules over all tlie nations, God Himself, \\'ho sits upon His holy seat,
(d) I have already in the preceding book treated of the throne of God the Word, on which the Father bade Him sit, " Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet."
And we can still more clearly refer the words, "The princes of the peoples were gathered together with the God of Abraham,'' to the Gentile rulers of the Christian Church coming into the inheritance of God's pious prophets of old, who, waxing strong by the power of the .Saviour, have been lifted up, no man being able to cast them down or humble them because of tlie right hand of God that raises them and gives them power. lUil of this (261) I will give fuller treatment when I have leisure.
Sia Trj** fls aiiTuu fieoXoyiav TaJc Sopo(popovvTaiv avThv ai'iivra ayyt\(jjt'.
' anaTTjKa Trffr/uara.
Cf. P.K. 7
Ji.
'jf' -4^ '^^
Ch. 3. 4-
GOD MANIFEST
CHAPTER
From Psalm xlix.
How it is said that God will come clearly to Men, and will call all Races of Men to Himself.
[Passage quoted, Ps. xlix.
1-14.] Here the divine prediction clearly prophesies that God will come manifestly, meaning none other but the Word of God.
And it shews the reason of His coming, again emphasizing the calling of all nations of the world.
For it says, " He (J) has called the earth from the rising of the sun to the setting "
; and it teaches that the rejection of the outward worship according to the Mosaic Law will follow hard after His Manifestation and the calling of the Gentiles, a worship which actually ceased after the manifestation of the Word of fJod to all men.
For from that day to this all men throughout all the world have been called, and all the nations of the east and west.
And the Jewish worship has ceased {262) and been abolished, all men being called to worship according to the new Covenant of the preaching of the Gospel, and not according to the I>aw of Moses.
\Ve might also apply these prophecies to our Saviour's second and glorious Coming.
CHAPTER
From Psalm Ixxxiii.
That God is said to be about to be seen on Earth through the Manifestation of the Christ to Men.
[Passage quoted, Ps.
Ixxxiii.
7.] After saying that the God of gods shall be .seen, he prays (c) that His Manifestation may take place quickly, teaching in what manner He will be seen in the words, " Look on the face of thy Christ," as if he said more clearly, " Manifest thyself to us in the person of Christ."
For since " He that fohn xiv hath seen me hath seen the Father that sent me," He naturally
9promises that the God of God who dwells in Christ will manifest Himself in the Person of Christ.
THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL
Bk. VI CHAPTER
From Psalm xcv.
The Coming of Christ on Earth, and His Kingdom over the Gentiles, and the New Song which shall he given, ttot to Israel but to the Gentiles.
[Passage quoted, Ps. xcv.
1-13.] 00 Here again the Coming of the Lord to men is foretold, and that a new song shall be sung at His Coming, by which is meant the new Covenant, by the whole earth, not by the Jewish race ; and that the good news will be no longer for Israel, but for all the nations, since it says that the Lord Who is to come will be their King.
But who could this be but God the Word, Who, intending to judge the world in righteousness and the human race in truth, reckons all men in the world eciually worthy of His call, and of the salvation of God consecjuent thereon ?
(c) CHAPTER G From Psalm xcvii.
The New Song, the Knowledge of the Heathen of the Lord's Righteousness and His Own Coming as Judge of the Universe.
[Passage quoted, Ps. xcvii.
1-8.] It is prophesied here that the Coming of the Lord will bo the cause of great benefits to the nations, wliich have been proved to have actually accrued to them, through the manifcstatif)n of our Saviour.
P'or of a truth from then and not before the new song of the new Covenant has been sung among all men, and Mis wonders have been known -(>A) and heard by all men through the written gospels.
Yea, and .salvation also, by the Resurrection of the Lord from the dead, has been revealed to all nations, and the true righteousness, by which it has been clearly jiroved, that God is not the God of the Jews only, but of the Gentiles.
"Since there is one God,'' in the words of the holy apostle,
Ch.
THE WORD THE SAVIOUR
" who will judge the circumcision from their failh, and the Rom. iii. uncircumcision through faith." ^ And the words, "for he 3ocometh to judge the earth," might refer also to His second
Coming."
CHAPTER
From Psalm evil.
The Word of God sent forth for the Healing and Salvation of Souls Long Time afflicted with Evil.
[Passages (juoted, Ps. cvii. 15-19, 32-36.] This clearly gives the good news of the Descent of God the Word from heaven. Who is named, and of the result of His
Coming.
For it says, " He sent his Word and healed them."
And we say distinctly that the Word of God was He that was sent as the Saviour of all men, Whom we are taught by the Holy Scriptures to reckon divine.
And it (265) darkly suggests that He came down even unto death for the sake of those who had died before Him, and in revealing the redemption of those to be saved by Him it shews the reason of His Coming.
For He saved without aid from any one those that had gone before Him even to the gates of death, healed them and rescued them from their destruction.
And this He did simply by breaking what are called the gates of death, and crushing the bars of iron.
And W then the prophecy proceeds to predict the state of desolation of those who rejected Him when He came.
For it says, " He turned rivers into a wilderness, and rivers of waters into thirst, a fruitful land into saltness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein "
: which you will understand if you behold Jerusalem of old, the famous city of the Jewish race, her glory and her fruitfulness, despoiled now of her holy citizens and pious men.
For (c) after the coming of Christ she became as the prophet truly says without fruit or water, and quite deserted, " saltness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein."
Ka\ a.Kpo$u(TTiav 5io iricrrfws : those words liave dropped out of the Paris Edition.
Mi^ne rejects.
THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL
Bk. VI.
To this is added quite in the prophetic manner a veiled prediction of the change of the long-time desert and thirsty land, referring either to the individual soul, or to the turning of the Gentile Church to holiness, and of its fertility in divine words.
This is clearly predicted in a veiled way, when it says, " He made the desert into pools of water," and that which follows.
But to understand this one must have wisdom from God ; according to the monition at the end of the Psalm, which says, "Who is wise, and he will (d) keep this ? " and that which follows.
CHAPTER
From Psalms cxvii. and cxviii.
The Calling of the Gentiles, God Manifested, and Blessed is lie that cometh in the Name of the Lord.
[Passages (luoted, Pss. cxvii. i and cxviii.
25.] (266) Holy Scripture records that this prophecy was fulfilled when our Lord and Saviour Christ entered Jeru.salem, and a great multitude of men and children went before Him (b) crying with joy, " Hosanna to the Son of David, Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest."
For instead of, " O Lord, save us," as expressed Malt. xxi. in the Psalm, they cried out the Hebrew " Hosanna," which •^^ is translated by " save."
And the words, " Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord," explain the words that follow, "The Lord is God and hath appeared to us."'
It was, then, one and the same Lord God that appeared to them, that is to say the Word of God, as He Who is therefore blessed, because He came among men in the name of (c) the Lord His Father that sent Him.
It was therefore in reproof of the Jews that disbelieved in Him, that He said :
" I came in the name of my Father, and ye received nie not.
Jolinv. 43.
]>tit if one come in his own name, him will ye receive."
So the Holy Spirit suitably addresses the opening verses of the Psalm not to the Jewish people, but to all the nations.
Ch. 9-
THE NEW CO\^NANT
CHAPTER
From Psalm cxliii.
The Descent of the Lord from Heaven for Men's Salvation, {d) and the New Song sung thereafter, which is the Song of the New Covenant.
[Passages quoted, Ps. cxliii.
3, 5, 9.] I CONSIDER this -to be comiected with my present subject. (267) For in his wonder at the knowledge of God the Word coming to men, the Psalmist is astonished above measure at the love by which He descends from His Divinity, and lessens His natural Majesty, and reckons the human race worthy of bearing Him.
So here he prays, saying, " Lord, bow the heavens and descend.''
While in the Seventeenth Psalm it is written, " And he bowed the heavens, and descended, and it was dark under his feet.
And he rode upon Cherubim, and flew, he flew upon the wings of the winds,"' wherein there is a prophecy of His Ascension (b) from earth to heaven.
And when there is a fit opportunity I will shew that we must understand the Descent and Ascension of God the Word not as of one moving locally, but in the metaphorical sense which Scripture intends in the use of such conventional terms.^ But we should also note here the new Covenant, into which the Coming of Christ was about to invite men.
And the new Covenant is that which succeeds the old and is given to all nations.
And so the oracle before us says, " O God, I will sing a new song to thee."
The words, (c) " Touch the mountains and they shall smoke,"
I think are a veiled prophecy of the burning and abolition of all forms of idolatry, which had its chief seats among the ancients in mountains, it being a common charge against the Jews themselves, that they worshipped idols on every high mountain in imitation of foreign nations.
^ Interesting in view of modern controversies.