Chapter XX.1050    Comp. adv. Judæos, 11 and 12.—The Subsequent Influence of Christ’s Death in the World Predicted. The Sure Mercies of David. What These are.

It is sufficient for my purpose to have traced thus far the course of Christ’s dispensation in these particulars. This has proved Him to be such a one as prophecy announced He should be, so that He ought not to be regarded in any other character than that which prediction assigned to Him; and the result of this agreement between the facts of His course and the Scriptures of the Creator should be the restoration of belief in them from that prejudice which has, by contributing to diversity of opinion, either thrown doubt upon, or led to a denial of, a considerable part of them. And now we go further and build up the superstructure of those kindred events1051    Ea paria. out of the Scriptures of the Creator which were predicted and destined to happen after Christ. For the dispensation would not be found complete, if He had not come after whom it had to run on its course.1052    Evenire. Look at all nations from the vortex of human error emerging out of it up to the Divine Creator, the Divine Christ, and deny Him to be the object of prophecy, if you dare.  At once there will occur to you the Father’s promise in the Psalms: “Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee. Ask of me, and I shall give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession.”1053    Ps. ii. 7. You will not be able to put in a claim for some son of David being here meant, rather than Christ; or for the ends of the earth being promised to David, whose kingdom was confined to the Jewish nation simply, rather than to Christ, who now embraces the whole world in the faith of His gospel. So again He says by Isaiah: “I have given Thee for a dispensation of the people, for a light of the Gentiles, to open the eyes of the blind,” that is, those that be in error, “to bring out the prisoners from the prison,” that is, to free them from sin, “and from the prison-house,” that is, of death, “those that sit in darkness”—even that of ignorance.1054    Isa. xlii. 6, 7. If these things are accomplished through Christ, they would not have been designed in prophecy for any other than Him through whom they have their accomplishment.  In another passage He also says:  “Behold, I have set Him as a testimony to the nations, a prince and commander to the nations; nations which know Thee not shall invoke Thee, and peoples shall run together unto Thee.”1055    Isa. lv. 4, 5. You will not interpret these words of David, because He previously said, “I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.”1056    Isa. lv. 3. Indeed, you will be obliged from these words all the more to understand that Christ is reckoned to spring from David by carnal descent, by reason of His birth1057    Censum. [Kaye, p. 149.] of the Virgin Mary. Touching this promise of Him, there is the oath to David in the psalm, “Of the fruit of thy body1058    Ventris, “womb.” will I set upon thy throne.”1059    Ps. cxxxii. 11. What body is meant? David’s own?  Certainly not. For David was not to give birth to a son.1060    He treats “body” as here meaning womb. Nor his wife’s either. For instead of saying, “Of the fruit of thy body,” he would then have rather said, “Of the fruit of thy wife’s body.” But by mentioning his1061    Ipsius. body, it follows that He pointed to some one of his race of whose body the flesh of Christ was to be the fruit, which bloomed forth from1062    Floruit ex. Mary’s womb. He named the fruit of the body (womb) alone, because it was peculiarly fruit of the womb, of the womb only in fact, and not of the husband also; and he refers the womb (body) to David, as to the chief of the race and father of the family. Because it could not consist with a virgin’s condition to consort her with a husband,1063    Viro deputare. He therefore attributed the body (womb) to the father. That new dispensation, then, which is found in Christ now, will prove to be what the Creator then promised under the appellation of “the sure mercies of David,” which were Christ’s, inasmuch as Christ sprang from David, or rather His very flesh itself was David’s “sure mercies,” consecrated by religion, and “sure” after its resurrection. Accordingly the prophet Nathan, in the first of Kings,1064    The four books of the Kings were sometimes regarded as two, “the first” of which contained 1 and 2 Samuel, “the second” 1 and 2 Kings.  The reference in this place is to 2 Samuel vii. 12. makes a promise to David for his seed, “which shall proceed,” says he, “out of thy bowels.”1065    He here again makes bowels synonymous with womb. Now, if you explain this simply of Solomon, you will send me into a fit of laughter.  For David will evidently have brought forth Solomon! But is not Christ here designated the seed of David, as of that womb which was derived from David, that is, Mary’s? Now, because Christ rather than any other1066    Magis. was to build the temple of God, that is to say, a holy manhood, wherein God’s Spirit might dwell as in a better temple, Christ rather than David’s son Solomon was to be looked for as1067    Habendus in. the Son of God. Then, again, the throne for ever with the kingdom for ever is more suited to Christ than to Solomon, a mere temporal king. From Christ, too, God’s mercy did not depart, whereas on Solomon even God’s anger alighted, after his luxury and idolatry. For Satan1068    In 1 Kings xi. 14, “the Lord” is said to have done this. Comp. 2 Sam. xxiv. 1 with 1 Chron. xxi. i. stirred up an Edomite as an enemy against him.  Since, therefore, nothing of these things is compatible with Solomon, but only with Christ, the method of our interpretations will certainly be true; and the very issue of the facts shows that they were clearly predicted of Christ. And so in Him we shall have “the sure mercies of David.” Him, not David, has God appointed for a testimony to the nations; Him, for a prince and commander to the nations, not David, who ruled over Israel alone. It is Christ whom all nations now invoke, which knew Him not; Christ to whom all races now betake themselves, whom they were ignorant of before. It is impossible that that should be said to be future, which you see (daily) coming to pass.

CAPUT XX.

Sufficit hujusque de his interim ordinem Christi decucurrisse, quo tali probatus qualiter annuntiabatur, 0349B non alius haberi debeat, quam qui talis annuntiabatur; ut jam ex ista consonantia rerum ejus, et Scripturarum Creatoris, illis etiam restituenda sit fides ex praejudicio majoris partis, quae ad diversas sententias vel in dubium deducuntur, vel negantur. Amplius nunc superstruimus ea quoque paria ex Scripturis Creatoris, quaeque post Christum futura praecinebantur. Nec enim dispositio expuncta inveniretur, si non ille venisset, post quem habebat evenire. Adspice universas nationes de voragine erroris humani exinde emergentes ad Deum Creatorem, et ad Deum Christum; et si audes, nega prophetatum. Sed statim tibi in Psalmis (Ps., II, 7) promissio Patris occurret : Filius meus es tu, ego hodie generavi te. Postula de me, et dabo tibi gentes haereditatem tuam, 0349C et possessionem tuam terminos terrae. Nec poteris magis David filium eum vindicare, quam Christum; aut terminos terrae David potius promissos, qui intra unicam Judaeorum gentem regnavit, quam Christo, qui totum jam orbem Evangelii sui fide cepit. Sic et per Esaiam (Is., XLII, 6, 7): Ecce dedi te in dispositionem generis mei , in lucem nationum aperire oculos caecorum; utique errantium; exsolvere de vinculis vinctos, id est de delictis liberare; et de cella carceris, id est mortis; sedentes in tenebris, ignorantiae scilicet. Quae si per Christum eveniunt, non in alium erunt prophetata, quam per quem eveniunt. Item alibi (Is., LV, 4): Ecce testimonium cum nationibus posui, principem et imperantem nationibus. Nationes 0350A quae te non sciunt, invocabunt te, et populi confugient ad te. Nec enim haec in David interpretaberis, quia praemisit: Et disponam vobis dispositionem aeternam, religiosa et fidelia David. Atquin hinc magis Christum intelligere debebis ex David deputatum carnali genere, ob Mariae virginis censum; de hoc enim promisso juratur in psalmo (Ps., CXXXI, 11) ad David: Ex fructu ventris tui collocabo super thronum tuum. Quis iste venter est? ipsius David? Utique non; neque enim pariturus esset David. Sed nec uxoris ejus; non enim dixisset: Ex fructu ventris tui; sed potius, «Ex fructu ventris uxoris tuae.» Ipsius ergo dicendo ventrem, superest ut aliquem de genere ejus ostenderit, cujus ventris futurus esset fructus caro Christi, quae ex utero Mariae floruit. Ideoque et fructum ventris tantum nominavit, ut proprie ventris; quasi solius ventris, non etiam viri: et ipsum ventrem ad David redegit, ad principem generis, et familiae patrem. Nam quia viro deputare non poterat virginis eum ventrem , patri deputavit. Ita, quae in Christo nova dispositio invenitur hodie, haec erit quam tunc Creator pollicebatur; 0350B religiosa et fidelia David, jam sancta religione, et fidelis ex resurrectione. Nam et Nathan propheta in secundo Basiliarum, professionem ad David facit: Semini ejus quod erit, inquit, ex ventre ipsius (II Reg., VII, 12) . Hoc si in Salomonem simpliciter edisseres, risum mihi incuties. Videbitur enim David peperisse Salomonem. An et hic Christus significatur, ex eo ventre semen David, qui esset ex David, id est Mariae? Quin et aedem Dei magis Christus aedificaturus esset, hominem scilicet sanctum, in quo potiore templo inhabitaret Dei Spiritus et in Dei Filium magis Christus habendus esset, quam Salomon filius David. Denique et thronus in aevum, et regnum in aevum, magis Christo competit quam Salomoni, temporali scilicet regi. Sed et a 0350C Christo misericordia Dei non abscessit; Salomoni vero etiam ira Dei accessit post luxuriam et idololatriam. Suscitavit enim illi Satan hostem idumaeum. Cum ergo nihil horum competat in Salomonem, sed in Christum, certa erit ratio interpretationum nostrarum, ipso etiam exitu rerum probante, quas in Christum apparet praedicatas; et ita in hoc erunt sancta et fidelia David. Hunc Deus testimonium nationibus posuit, non David: principem et imperantem nationibus, non David, qui soli Israeli imperavit. Christum hodie invocant nationes, quae eum non sciebant; et populi ad Christum hodie confugiunt, quem retro ignorabant. Non potest futurum dici, quod vides fieri.