Chapter II.
The goodness of the Son of God is proved from His works,
namely, His benefits that He showed towards the people of Israel under
the Old Covenant, and to Christians under the New. It is to
one’s own interest to believe in the goodness of Him Who is
one’s Lord and Judge. The Father’s testimony to the
Son. No small number of the Jewish people bear witness to the
Son; the Arians therefore are plainly worse than the Jews. The
words of the Bride, declaring the same goodness of Christ.
20. Howbeit, I
would not that the Son should rely on the mere prerogative of His
nature and the claims of peculiar rights of His Majesty. Let us
not call Him good, if He merit not the title; and if He merit not this
by works, by acts of lovingkindness, let Him waive the right He enjoys
by virtue of His nature, and be submitted to our judgment. He Who
is to judge us disdains not to be brought to judgment, that He may be
“justified in His saying, and clear when He is
judged.”1923
21. Is He then not good, Who hath shown me
good things? Is He not good, Who when six hundred thousand of the
people of the Jews fled before their pursuers, suddenly opened the tide
of the Red Sea, an unbroken mass of waters?—so that the waves
flowed round the faithful, and were walls to them, but poured back and
overwhelmed the unbelievers.1924
22. Is He not good, at Whose command the
seas became firm ground for the feet of them that fled, and the rocks
gave forth water for the thirsty?1925
| 1925 Ex. xvii. 6: Num. xx. 8, 11. |
so that the
handiwork of the true Creator might be known, when the fluid became
solid, and the rock streamed with water? That we might
acknowledge this as the handiwork of Christ, the Apostle said:
“And that rock was Christ.”1926
23. Is He not good, Who in the wilderness
fed with bread from heaven such countless thousands of the people, lest
any famine should assail them, without need of toil, in the enjoyment
of rest?—so that, for the space of forty years, their raiment
grew not old, nor were their shoes worn,1927
| 1927 Bible:Ps.105.40 Bible:John.6.31 Bible:1Cor.10.3">Ex. xvi. 12
ff.; Deut. viii. 3, 4; xxix. 5; Ps. lxxviii. 24, 25; cv. 40; S. John
vi. 31; 1 Cor. x. 3. |
a figure to the faithful of the
Resurrection that was to come, showing that neither the glory of great
deeds, nor the beauty of the power wherewith He hath clothed us, nor
the stream of human life is made for nought?
24. Is He not good, Who exalted earth to
heaven, so that, just as the bright companies of stars reflect His
glory in the sky, as in a glass, so the choirs of apostles, martyrs,
and priests, shining like glorious stars, might give light throughout
the world.1928
| 1928 Cf. S.
Matt. xiii. 43; Dan. xii.
3. The radiance of
these heavenly choirs is the reflection of Him Who is the Light of the
World, the True Light.—S. Bible:Rev.22.5">John i. 9; viii. 12; xii. 46; Rev. xxi.
23; xxii. 5. |
25. Not only, then, is He good, but He is
more. He is a good Shepherd, not only for
Himself, but to His sheep also,
“for the good shepherd layeth down his life for his
sheep.” Aye, He laid down His life to exalt ours—but
it was in the power of His Godhead that He laid it down and took it
again: “I have power to lay down My life, and I have power
to take it. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of
Myself.”1929
| 1929 S. John x. 11, 17, 18. |
26. Thou seest His goodness, in that He laid
it down of His own accord: thou seest His power, in that He took
it again—dost thou deny His goodness, when He has said of Himself
in the Gospel, “If I am good, why is thine eye
evil”?1930
Ungrateful
wretch what doest thou? Dost thou deny His goodness, in Whom is
thy hope of good things—if, indeed, thou believest this?
Dost thou deny His goodness, Who hath given us what “eye hath not
seen, nor ear heard?”1931
27. It concerns my interest to believe Him
to be good, for “It is a good thing to trust in the
Lord.”1932
It is to
my interest to confess Him Lord, for it is written: “Give
thanks unto the Lord, for He is good.”1933
| 1933 Ps. cxviii. 1; cxxxvi. 1; cvi. 1; cvii.
1. |
28. It is to my interest to esteem my Judge
to be good, for the Lord is a righteous Judge to the house of
Israel. If, then, the Son of God is Judge, surely, seeing that
the Judge is the righteous God and the Son of God is Judge, [it follows
that] He who is Judge and Son of God is the righteous God.1934
29. But perchance thou believest not others,
nor the Son. Hear, then, the Father saying: “My heart
hath brought forth out of its depth the good Word.”1935
The Word, then, is good—the
Word, of Whom it is written: “And the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.”1936
If,
therefore, the Word is good, and the Son is the Word of God, surely,
though it displease the Arians, the Son of God is God. Let them
now at least blush for shame.
30. The Jews used to say: “He is
good.” Though some said: “He is not,” yet
others said: “He is good,”—and ye do all
deny His goodness.
31. He is good who forgives the sin of one
man; is He not good Who has taken away the sin of the world? For
it was of Him that it was said: “Behold the Lamb of God,
behold Him Who taketh away the sin of the world.”1937
| 1937 The reff. in
§§ 30 and 31 are to S. John vii. 12 and i.
29. |
32. But why do we doubt? The Church
hath believed in His goodness all these ages, and hath confessed its
faith in the saying: “Let Him kiss me with the kisses of
His mouth; for thy breasts are better than wine;”1938
and again: “And thy throat
is like the goodliest wine.” Of His goodness, therefore, He
nourisheth us with the breasts of the Law and Grace, soothing
men’s sorrows with telling them of heavenly things; and do we,
then, deny His goodness, when He is the manifestation of goodness,
expressing in His Person the likeness of the Eternal Bounty, even as we
showed above that it was written, that He is the spotless reflection
and counterpart of that Bounty?1939
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