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7. “Give heed unto me,”
the Church says unto you; give heed unto me, whom ye see, although
to see ye be unwilling. For the faithful, who were in those times
in the land of Judæa, were present at, and learnt as present,
Christ’s wonderful birth of a virgin, and His passion,
resurrection, ascension; all His divine words and deeds. These
things ye have not seen, and therefore ye refuse to believe.
Therefore behold these things, fix your eyes on these things, these
things which ye see reflect on, which are not told you as things
past, nor foretold you as things future, but are shown you as
things present. What? seemeth it to you a vain or a light thing.
and think you it to be none, or a little, divine miracle, that in
the name of One Crucified the whole human race runs? Ye saw not
what was foretold and fulfilled concerning the human birth of
Christ, “Behold, a Virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall
bear a Son;”1668
but you
see the Word of God which was foretold and fulfilled unto Abraham,
“In thy seed shall all nations be blessed.”1669
Ye saw not what was foretold
concerning the wonderful works of Christ, “Come ye, and see the
works of the Lord, what wonders He hath set upon the earth:”1670
but ye see
that which was foretold, “The Lord said unto Me, My Son art Thou,
I have this day begotten Thee; demand of Me and I will give
Thee
nations as Thy inheritance, and as Thy possession the bounds of the
earth.”1671
Ye saw not
that which was foretold and fulfilled concerning the Passion of
Christ, “They pierced My hands and My feet, they numbered all My
bones; but they themselves regarded and beheld Me; they divided
among them My garments, and upon My vesture they cast the lot;”1672
but ye see
that which was in the same Psalm foretold, and now is clearly
fulfilled; “All the ends of the earth shall remember and be
turned unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall
worship in His sight; for the kingdom is the Lord’s, and He shall
rule over the nations.”1673
Ye saw not what was foretold and
fulfilled concerning the Resurrection of Christ, the Psalm
speaking, in His Person, first concerning His betrayer and
persecutors: “They went forth out of doors, and spake together:
against Me whispered all My enemies, against Me thought they evil
for Me;” they set in order an unrighteous word against Me.1674
Where, to
show that they availed nothing by slaying Him Who was about to rise
again, He adds and says; “What? will not He, that sleeps, add
this, that He rise again?” And a little after, when He had
foretold, by means of the same prophecy, concerning His betrayer
himself, that which is written in the Gospel also, “He that did
eat of My bread, enlarged his heel upon Me,”1675
that is, trampled Me under foot:
He straightway added, “But do Thou, O Lord, have mercy upon Me,
and raise Thou Me up again, and I shall repay them.” This was
fulfilled, Christ slept and awoke, that is, rose again: Who through
the same prophecy in another Psalm says, “I slept and took my
rest; and I rose again, for the Lord will uphold Me.”1676
But this
ye saw not, but ye see His Church, concerning whom it is written in
like manner, and fulfilled, “O Lord My God, the nations shall
come unto Thee from the extremity of the earth and shall say, Truly
our fathers worshipped lying images, and there is not in them any
profit.”1677
This
certainly, whether ye will or no, ye behold; even although ye yet
believe, that there either is, or was, in those idols some profit;
yet certainly unnumbered peoples of the nations, after having left,
or cast away, or broken in pieces such like vanities, ye have heard
say, “Truly our fathers worshipped lying images, and there is not
in them any profit; shall a man make gods, and, lo, they are no
gods?”1678
Nor think
that it was foretold that the nations should come unto some one
place of God, in that it was said, “Unto Thee shall the nations
come from the extremity of the earth.” Understand, if you can,
that unto the God of the Christians, Who is the Supreme and True
God, the peoples of the nations come, not by walking but by
believing. For the same thing was by another prophet thus foretold,
“The Lord,” saith he, “shall prevail against them, and shall
utterly destroy all the gods of the nations of the earth: and all
the isles of the nations shall worship Him, each man from his
place.”1679
Whereas
the one says, “Unto Thee all nations shall come;” this the
other says, “They shall worship Him, each man from his place.”
Therefore they shall come unto Him, not departing from their own
place, because believing in Him they shall find Him in their
hearts. Ye saw not what was foretold and fulfilled concerning the
ascension of Christ; “Be Thou exalted above the Heavens, O
God;”1680
but ye see
what follows immediately after, “And above all the earth Thy
Glory.” Those things concerning Christ already done and past, all
of them ye have not seen; but these things present in His Church ye
deny not that ye see. Both things we point out to you as foretold;
but the fulfillment of both we are therefore unable to point out
for you to see, because we cannot bring back into sight things
past.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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