LECT.

୧a

λυθείς.

John 8, 35.

33.

200

Christ's kingdom is without end.

A certain one has dared to affirm, that after the end of the XV. world Christ shall reign no longer; and he has dared to say, that the Word which came forth from the Father shall be sis rari. again absorbed into the Father, and shall be no more; utterça va ing such blasphemies to his own perdition. For he has not He listened to the Lord, saying, The Son abideth for ever. has not listened to Gabriel, saying, And He shall reign over Luke 1, the house of Jacob for ever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end. Consider this text. Heretics of this day teach in disparagement of Christ, while Gabriel the Archangel taught the eternal abiding of the Saviour; whom then wilt thou rather believe? wilt thou not rather give credence to Gabriel? Listen to the testimony of Daniel in the text; I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days. and there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve Him; and His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. Hold fast this in preference, these things believe, and cast away the words of heresy; for thou hast heard most explicitly concerning the endless kingdom of Christ.

τὴν παρ

οὖσαν.

Dan. 7, 13. 14.

Dan. 2,

45.

28. Thou hast the like doctrine in the interpretation of the Stone, which was cut out of the mountain without hands, which is Christ according to the flesh; And [His] kingdom shall not be left to other people. And David says in one Ps.45,6. Place, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; and in Ps. 102, another place, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the 25. &c. foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Thy hands; and then, they shall perish, but Thou remainest; and Heb. 1, what follows; but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall 10-12. not fail. not fail. Which words Paul has interpreted of the Son.

1 Cor. 15, 25.

29. And wouldest thou know, how they who teach the contrary arrived at such madness? They read wrongly that good word of the Apostle, For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet; and they say, when His enemies shall have been put under His feet, He shall cease to reign, wrongly and foolishly alleging this. For He who is king before He has subdued His enemies, how shall He This was Marcellus, Bishop of Ancyra, Socr. Hist. ii. 19. p. 99.

201

In what sense Christ is subject to the Father. not the rather be king, after He has gotten the mastery over them?

χεν.

30. They have also dared to say that the Scripture, When (15.) all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also 1 Cor. 15, 28. Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that this Scripture shews that the Son shall be absorbed into the Father. Shall ye then, O most impious of all men, ye the creatures of Christ, continue? and shall Christ, by whom both you and all things were made, perish? Such a word is blasphemous. But further, how shall all things be made subject unto Him? Shall they perish, or continue? Shall then the other things, when subject to the Son, abide, and shall the Son, when subject to the Father, not abide? For He shall be subject, not because He shall then begin to be accord-rubagant to the Father, (for He doth always those things that John 8, please Him,) but because, then as before, He obeys the 29. Father, yielding, not a forced obedience, but a self-chosen xou. accordance; for He is not a servant, that He should be θειαν. subject by force, but a Son, that He should comply of His πεισθῇ free choice and natural love. προαιρέ σει. φιλο31. But let us examine them; what is the meaning of orogyig. "until" or 66 as far as ?" For with this very word will I close with them, and try to expose their error. Since they have dared to say that the words, till He hath put His enemies under His feet, shew that He Himself shall have an end, and have presumed to set bounds to the eternal kingdom of Christ, and to bring to an end, as far as words go, His never-ending sovereignty, come now, let us read the like expressions in the Apostle: Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam till Rom. 5, Moses. Did men then die up to this time, and did none die any more after Moses, or after the Law was there no more death among men? Well then, thou seest that the word "unto," is not to limit time; but that Paul rather signified this,—“ And yet, though Moses was a righteous and wondrous man, the doom of death which was sent forth against Adam, reached even unto him, and them that came after him; and this, though they had not sinned like Adam, in the disobedience concerning the eating of the Tree."

14.

32. Take again another similar phrase. For until this day 2 Cor.3, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Does

14. 15.

XV.

10, 14.

15. 16.

202

Exhortation and blessing.

LECT. " until this day" mean only" until Paul?" Is it not "until this day" present, and even to the end? And if Paul say to 2 Cor. the Corinthians, For we are come as far as unto you also in preaching the Gospel of Christ, having hope to preach the Gospel in the regions beyond you, thou seest manifestly that "as far as" implies not the end, but has something following it. In what sense then shouldest thou remember to take that Scripture, till He hath put all enemies under His feet? According as Paul says in another place, But exhort each other daily, while it is called to-day; meaning, V. Heb. ❝ continually." For as we may not speak of the "beginning of the days" of Christ, so neither endure thou any one who at time speaks of the end of His kingdom. For it is written, Dan. 7, His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.

1 Cor.

15, 25.

Heb. 3,

13.

7, 3.

27.

any

33. And though I have many more texts out of the divine Scriptures, that the kingdom of Christ has no end ever, I will be content with those above alleged, because of the (16.) advance of the day. But thou, O hearer, worship Him only as thy King, fleeing all heretical error. And if the grace of God permit us, the remaining Articles also of the Faith shall be in good time declared to you. And may the God of all keep you all, as ye bear in mind the signs of the end, and remain unsubdued by Antichrist. Thou hast received the tokens of that Deceiver who is to come; thou hast received the proofs of the true Christ, who shall openly come down from heaven. Fly therefore the one, the False one; and look for the other, the True. Thou hast learnt the way, how in the judgment thou mayest be found among the company on the right hand; guard that which is committed to thee concerning Christ, and be conspicuous in good works, that thou mayest stand with a good confidence before the Judge, and inherit the kingdom of heaven:-Through whom, and with whom, be glory to God with the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever. Amen.

1 Tim.

6, 20.

LECTURE XVI.

ON THE ONE HOLY GHOST, THE COMFORTER, WHICH SPAKE IN
THE PROPHETS.

1 COR. xii. 1, 4.

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. . . . Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

1. NEED have we truly of spiritual grace, that we may discourse concerning the Holy Spirit; not that we may speak suitably to His dignity, for this is impossible, but that in alleging the words of the divine Scriptures, we may not put ourselves in jeopardy. For surely a very fearful thing is written in the Gospels, where Christ says plainly, Whosoever Mat. 12, speaketh a word against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be 32. forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. And there is often fear, lest a man, either from ignorance, or from what is considered religion, speaking what he ought not concerning Him, should receive this doom. The Judge of quick and dead, Jesus Christ, has declared that he hath no forgiveness; if then any man stumble, what hope has he?

2. To Jesus Christ's very grace, therefore, it must belong to grant both to us to speak without deficiency, and to you to hear with discretion; for discretion is needful not to them only who speak, but also to them that hear, lest they hear one thing, and receive a different impression. Let us then speak nothing concerning the Holy Ghost but what is written; and if any thing be not written, let us not busy ourselves about it. The Holy Ghost Himself spake the Scriptures;

XVI.

204

There is but One Holy Ghost.

LECT. He has also spoken concerning Himself as much as He pleased, or as much as we could receive. Be those things therefore spoken, which He has said; for whatsoever He has not said, we dare not say.

19.

(2.) 3. There is One Only Holy Ghost, the Comforter; and as there is One God the Father, and no second Father;-and as there is One Only-begotten Son and Word of God, who hath no brother; so is there One Only Holy Ghost, and no second spirit equal in honour to Him. The Holy Ghost then is Power most mighty, of a divine and unsearchable nature; for He is a living and intelligent Being, and is the sanctifying principle of all things made by God through Christ. He it is who illuminates the souls of the just; He was in the Prophets, He was also in the Apostles in the New Testament. Abhorred be they who dare to separate into parts the active power of the Holy Ghost! There is One God, the Father, Lord of the Old and of the New Testament; and One Lord, Jesus Christ, who was prophesied of in the Old Testament, and came in the New; and One Holy Ghost, who through the Prophets preached of Christ, and when Christ was come, descended, and manifested Him.

4. Let no one then divide the Old from the New Testament; let no one say that the Spirit in the former is one, and in the latter another; for thus he offends against the Holy Ghost Himself, who together with the Father and the Son is honoured, and at the observance of Holy Baptism is included with them in the Holy Trinity. For the OnlyMat.28, begotten Son of God said plainly to the Apostles, Go ye, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Our hope is in the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. We preach not three Gods; let the Marcionites be mute; but we preach One God, by One Son, with the Holy Ghost. The Faith is indisiríßua. visible; religious worship is undistracted. We neither divide the Holy Trinity, like some; nor do we as Sabellius introduce uvaλ confusion. But we know according to godliness One Father, who sent His Son to be our Saviour; we know One Son, who promised that He would send the Comforter from the Father; we know the Holy Ghost, who spake in the Prophets, and

φήν.

2 As did the Gnostics and Manichees. Philast. Hær. 126.