Chapter XXXIX.—Concerning Those Who Come in the Name of Christ. The Terrible Signs of His Coming. He Whose Coming is So Grandly Described Both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, is None Other Than the Christ of the Creator.  This Proof Enhanced by the Parable of the Fig-Tree and All the Trees. Parallel Passages of Prophecy.

As touching the propriety of His names, it has already been seen2694    See above: book iii. chap. xv. and xvi. pp. 333, 334. that both of them2695    The illam here refers to the nominum proprietas, i.e., His title Christ and His name Jesus. are suitable to Him who was the first both to announce His Christ to mankind, and to give Him the further name2696    Transnominaret. of Jesus. The impudence, therefore, of Marcion’s Christ will be evident, when he says that many will come in his name, whereas this name does not at all belong to him, since he is not the Christ and Jesus of the Creator, to whom these names do properly appertain; and more especially when he prohibits those to be received whose very equal in imposture he is, inasmuch as he (equally with them2697    Proinde.) comes in a name which belongs to another—unless it was his business to warn off from a mendaciously assumed name the disciples (of One) who, by reason of His name being properly given to Him, possessed also the verity thereof. But when “they shall by and by come and say, I am Christ,”2698    Luke xxi. 8. they will be received by you, who have already received one altogether like them.2699    Consimilem: of course Marcion’s Christ; the Marcionite being challenged in the “you.” Christ, however, comes in His own name. What will you do, then, when He Himself comes who is the very Proprietor of these names, the Creator’s Christ and Jesus? Will you reject Him? But how iniquitous, how unjust and disrespectful to the good God, that you should not receive Him who comes in His own name, when you have received another in His name! Now, let us see what are the signs which He ascribes to the times. “Wars,” I observe, “and kingdom against kingdom, and nation against nation, and pestilence, and famines, and earthquakes, and fearful sights, and great signs from heaven”2700    Luke xxi. 9–11.—all which things are suitable for a severe and terrible God. Now, when He goes on to say that “all these things must needs come to pass,”2701    Compare, in Luke xxi., verses 9, 22, 28, 31–33, 35, and 36. what does He represent Himself to be?  The Destroyer, or the Defender of the Creator? For He affirms that these appointments of His must fully come to pass; but surely as the good God, He would have frustrated rather than advanced events so sad and terrible, if they had not been His own (decrees). “But before all these,” He foretells that persecutions and sufferings were to come upon them, which indeed were “to turn for a testimony to them,” and for their salvation.2702    Verses 12, 13. Hear what is predicted in Zechariah: “The Lord of hosts2703    Omnipotens: παντοκράτωρ (Sept.); of hosts—A.V. shall protect them; and they shall devour them, and subdue them with sling-stones; and they shall drink their blood like wine, and they shall fill the bowls as it were of the altar. And the Lord shall save them in that day, even His people, like sheep; because as sacred stones they roll,”2704    Zech. ix. 15, 16 (Septuagint). etc. And that you may not suppose that these predictions refer to such sufferings as await them from so many wars with strangers,2705    Allophylis. consider the nature (of the sufferings).  In a prophecy of wars which were to be waged with legitimate arms, no one would think of enumerating stones as weapons, which are better known in popular crowds and unarmed tumults.  Nobody measures the copious streams of blood which flow in war by bowlfuls, nor limits it to what is shed upon a single altar. No one gives the name of sheep to those who fall in battle with arms in hand, and while repelling force with force, but only to those who are slain, yielding themselves up in their own place of duty and with patience, rather than fighting in self-defence. In short, as he says, “they roll as sacred stones,” and not like soldiers fight.  Stones are they, even foundation stones, upon which we are ourselves edified—“built,” as St. Paul says, “upon the foundation of the apostles,”2706    Eph. ii. 20. who, like “consecrated stones,” were rolled up and down exposed to the attack of all men. And therefore in this passage He forbids men “to meditate before what they answer” when brought before tribunals,2707    Luke xxi. 12–14. even as once He suggested to Balaam the message which he had not thought of,2708    Num. xxii.–xxiv. nay, contrary to what he had thought; and promised “a mouth” to Moses, when he pleaded in excuse the slowness of his speech,2709    Ex. iv. 10–12. and that wisdom which, by Isaiah, He showed to be irresistible: “One shall say, I am the Lord’s, and shall call himself by the name of Jacob, and another shall subscribe himself by the name of Israel.”2710    Isa. xliv. 5. Now, what plea is wiser and more irresistible than the simple and open2711    Exserta. confession made in a martyr’s cause, who “prevails with God”—which is what “Israel” means?2712    See Gen. xxxii. 28. Now, one cannot wonder that He forbade “premeditation,” who actually Himself received from the Father the ability of uttering words in season: “The Lord hath given to me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season (to him that is weary);”2713    Isa. l. 4. except that Marcion introduces to us a Christ who is not subject to the Father. That persecutions from one’s nearest friends are predicted, and calumny out of hatred to His name,2714    Luke xxi. 16, 17. I need not again refer to. But “by patience,”2715    Per tolerantiam: “endurance.” says He, “ye shall yourselves be saved.”2716    Comp. Luke xxi. 19 with Matt. xxiv. 13. Of this very patience the Psalm says, “The patient endurance of the just shall not perish for ever;”2717    Ps. ix. 18. because it is said in another Psalm, “Precious (in the sight of the Lord) is the death of the just”—arising, no doubt, out of their patient endurance, so that Zechariah declares: “A crown shall be to them that endure.”2718    After the Septuagint he makes a plural appellative (“eis qui toleraverint,” LXX. τοῖς ὑπομένονσι) of the Hebrew לְחֵלֶמ, which in A.V. and the Vulgate (and also Gesenius and Fuerst) is the dative of a proper name. But that you may not boldly contend that it was as announcers of another god that the apostles were persecuted by the Jews, remember that even the prophets suffered the same treatment of the Jews, and that they were not the heralds of any other god than the Creator. Then, having shown what was to be the period of the destruction, even “when Jerusalem should begin to be compassed with armies,”2719    Luke xxi. 20. He described the signs of the end of all things: “portents in the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity—like the sea roaring—by reason of their expectation of the evils which are coming on the earth.”2720    Luke xxi. 25, 26.

That “the very powers also of heaven have to be shaken,”2721    Luke xxi. 26. you may find in Joel: “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth—blood and fire, and pillars of smoke; the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.”2722    Joel iii. 30, 31. In Habakkuk also you have this statement: “With rivers shall the earth be cleaved; the nations shall see thee, and be in pangs. Thou shalt disperse the waters with thy step; the deep uttered its voice; the height of its fear was raised;2723    Elata: “fear was raised to its very highest.” the sun and the moon stood still in their course; into light shall thy coruscations go; and thy shield shall be (like) the glittering of the lightning’s flash; in thine anger thou shalt grind the earth, and shalt thresh the nations in thy wrath.”2724    Hab. iii. 9–12 (Septuagint). There is thus an agreement, I apprehend, between the sayings of the Lord and of the prophets touching the shaking of the earth, and the elements, and the nations thereof. But what does the Lord say afterwards? “And then shall they see the Son of man coming from the heavens with very great power.  And when these things shall come to pass, ye shall look up, and raise your heads; for your redemption hath come near,” that is, at the time of the kingdom, of which the parable itself treats.2725    Luke xxi. 27, 28. “So likewise ye, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.”2726    Luke xxi. 31. This will be the great day of the Lord, and of the glorious coming of the Son of man from heaven, of which Daniel wrote: “Behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven,”2727    Dan. vii. 13. etc. “And there was given unto Him the kingly power,”2728    Dan. vii. 14. which (in the parable) “He went away into a far country to receive for Himself,” leaving money to His servants wherewithal to trade and get increase2729    Luke xix. 12, 13, etc.—even (that universal kingdom of) all nations, which in the Psalm the Father had promised to give to Him: Ask of me, and I will give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance.”2730    Ps. ii. 8. “And all that glory shall serve Him; His dominion shall be an everlasting one, which shall not be taken from Him, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed,”2731    Dan. vii. 14. because in it “men shall not die, neither shall they marry, but be like the angels.”2732    Luke xx. 35, 36. It is about the same advent of the Son of man and the benefits thereof that we read in Habakkuk: “Thou wentest forth for the salvation of Thy people, even to save Thine anointed ones,”2733    Hab. iii. 13.—in other words, those who shall look up and lift their heads, being redeemed in the time of His kingdom. Since, therefore, these descriptions of the promises, on the one hand, agree together, as do also those of the great catastrophes, on the other—both in the predictions of the prophets and the declarations of the Lord, it will be impossible for you to interpose any distinction between them, as if the catastrophes could be referred to the Creator, as the terrible God, being such as the good god (of Marcion) ought not to permit, much less expect—whilst the promises should be ascribed to the good god, being such as the Creator, in His ignorance of the said god, could not have predicted. If, however, He did predict these promises as His own, since they differ in no respect from the promises of Christ, He will be a match in the freeness of His gifts with the good god himself; and evidently no more will have been promised by your Christ than by my Son of man. (If you examine) the whole passage of this Gospel Scripture, from the inquiry of the disciples2734    In Luke xxi. 7. down to the parable of the fig-tree2735    Luke xxi. 33. you will find the sense in its connection suit in every point the Son of man, so that it consistently ascribes to Him both the sorrows and the joys, and the catastrophes and the promises; nor can you separate them from Him in either respect. For as much, then, as there is but one Son of man whose advent is placed between the two issues of catastrophe and promise, it must needs follow that to that one Son of man belong both the judgments upon the nations, and the prayers of the saints. He who thus comes in midway so as to be common to both issues, will terminate one of them by inflicting judgment on the nations at His coming; and will at the same time commence the other by fulfilling the prayers of His saints: so that if (on the one hand) you grant that the coming of the Son of man is (the advent) of my Christ, then, when you ascribe to Him the infliction of the judgments which precede His appearance, you are compelled also to assign to Him the blessings which issue from the same. If (on the other hand) you will have it that it is the coming of your Christ, then, when you ascribe to him the blessings which are to be the result of his advent, you are obliged to impute to him likewise the infliction of the evils which precede his appearance.  For the evils which precede, and the blessings which immediately follow, the coming of the Son of man, are both alike indissolubly connected with that event. Consider, therefore, which of the two Christs you choose to place in the person of the Son of man, to whom you may refer the execution of the two dispensations. You make either the Creator a most beneficent God, or else your own god terrible in his nature! Reflect, in short, on the picture presented in the parable: “Behold the fig-tree, and all the trees; when they produce their fruit, men know that summer is at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is very near.”2736    Luke xxi. 29–31. Now, if the fructification of the common trees2737    Arbuscularum. be an antecedent sign of the approach of summer, so in like manner do the great conflicts of the world indicate the arrival of that kingdom which they precede. But every sign is His, to whom belong the thing of which it is the sign; and to everything is appointed its sign by Him to whom the thing belongs.  If, therefore, these tribulations are the signs of the kingdom, just as the maturity of the trees is of the summer, it follows that the kingdom is the Creator’s to whom are ascribed the tribulations which are the signs of the kingdom. Since the beneficent Deity had premised that these things must needs come to pass, although so terrible and dreadful, as they had been predicted by the law and the prophets, therefore He did not destroy the law and the prophets, when He affirmed that what had been foretold therein must be certainly fulfilled.  He further declares, “that heaven and earth shall not pass away till all things be fulfilled.”2738    Luke xxi. 33. What things, pray, are these? Are they the things which the Creator made? Then the elements will tractably endure the accomplishment of their Maker’s dispensation.  If, however, they emanate from your excellent god, I much doubt whether2739    Nescio an. the heaven and earth will peaceably allow the completion of things which their Creator’s enemy has determined! If the Creator quietly submits to this, then He is no “jealous God.” But let heaven and earth pass away, since their Lord has so determined; only let His word remain for evermore! And so Isaiah predicted that it should.2740    Isa. xl. 8. Let the disciples also be warned, “lest their hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this world; and so that day come upon them unawares, like a snare”2741    Luke xxi. 34, 35. [Here follows a rich selection of parallels to Luke xxi. 34–38.]—if indeed they should forget God amidst the abundance and occupation of the world. Like this will be found the admonition of Moses,—so that He who delivers from “the snare” of that day is none other than He who so long before addressed to men the same admonition.2742    Comp. Deut. viii. 12–14. Some places there were in Jerusalem where to teach; other places outside Jerusalem whither to retire2743    Luke xxi. 37.—“in the day-time He was teaching in the temple;” just as He had foretold by Hosea: “In my house did they find me, and there did I speak with them.”2744    Hosea xii. 4. One reading of the LXX. is, ἐν τῳ οἴκῳ μου εὕρεσάν με. “But at night He went out to the Mount of Olives.” For thus had Zechariah pointed out: “And His feet shall stand in that day on the Mount of Olives.”2745    Zech. xiv. 4. Fit hours for an audience there also were. “Early in the morning”2746    Luke xxi. 38. must they resort to Him, who (having said by Isaiah, “The Lord giveth me the tongue of the learned”) added, “He hath appointed me the morning, and hath also given me an ear to hear.”2747    Isa. l. 4. Now if this is to destroy the prophets,2748    Literally, “the prophecies.” what will it be to fulfil them?

CAPUT XXXIX.

Olim (Luc. XXI) constitit de nominum proprietate, ei illam competere , qui prior et Christum suum in homines annuntiaret, et Jesum transnominaret. 0455B Constabit itaque et de impudentia ejus, qui multos dicat venturos in nomine ipsius; quod non sit ipsius, si non Christus et Jesus Creatoris est, ad quem proprietas nominum pertinet; amplius, et prohibeat eos recipi, quorum et ipse par sit, ut qui proinde in nomine venit alieno, si non ipsius erat a mendacio nominis praevenire discipulos, qui per proprietatem nominis possidebat veritatem ejus, Venient denique illi, dicentes: Ego sum Christus. Recipies eos, qui consimilem recepisti. Et hic enim in nomine suo venit. Quid nunc quod et ipse veniet nominum Dominus Christus et Jesus Creatoris? Rejicies illum? Et quam iniquum, quam injustum, et optimo Deo indignum, ut non recipias eum in nomine suo venientem, qui alium in nomine ejus recepisti! Videamus 0455C et quae signa temporibus imponat, Bella, opinor, et regnum super regnum, et gentem super gentem, et pestem, et fames, terraeque motus, et formidines, et prodigia de coelo: quae omnia severo et atroci Deo congruunt : Haec cum adjicit etiam oportere fieri, quem se praestat, destructorem an probatorem Creatoris? cujus dispositiones confirmat impleri oportere, quas ut optimus tam tristes quam atroces abstulisset potius quam constituisset, si non ipsius fuissent. Ante haec autem persecutiones eis praedicat et passiones venturas, in martyrium utique et in salutem. Accipe praedicatum in Zacharia (Zach. IX, 15): Dominus, inquit, omnipotens proteget eos; et 0456A consument illos, et lapidabunt lapidibus fundae, et bibent sanguinem illorum velut vinum, et replebunt pateras quasi altaris ; et salvos eos faciet Dominus illo die, velut oves, populum suum, quia lapides sancti volutant. Et ne putes haec in passiones praedicari, quae illos tot bellorum nomine ab allophylis manebant, respice ad species. Nemo in praedicatione bellorum legitimis armis debellandorum, lapidationem enumerat popularibus coetibus magis et inermi tumultui familiarem. Nemo tanta in bello sanguinis flumina paterarum capacitate metitur, aut unius altaris cruentationi adaequat. Nemo oves appellat eos qui in bello armati, et ipsi et eadem feritate certantes cadunt; sed qui in sua proprietate atque patientia dedentes, potius semetipsos quam vindicantes 0456B trucidantur. Denique, quia lapides, inquit, sancti volutant, non quia milites pugnant. Lapides enim sunt et fundamenta, super quae nos aedificamur: exstructi, secundum Paulum (Eph. II, 21) super fundamentum Apostolorum, qui lapides sancti oppositi omnium offensui volutabant. Et hic igitur ipse vetat cogitari; quid responderi oporteat apud tribunalia, qui et Balaam quod non cogitaverat, imo contra quam cogitaverat suggessit (Num. XXII), et Moysi causato linguae tarditatem, os repromisit; et sapientiam ipsam, cui nemo resisteret, per Isaiam (Is. XLIV, 5) demonstravit: Hic dicet: Ego Dei sum, et clamabit in nomine Jacob, et alius inscribetur in nomine Israelis. Quid enim sapientius et incontradicibilius confessione simplici et exerta in 0456C martyris nomine cum Deo invalescentis? quod est interpretatio Israelis. Nec mirum si is cohibuit praecogitationem, qui et ipse a Patre excepit pronuntiandi tempestive subministrationem: Dominus mihi (Is. L, 4) dat linguam disciplinae, quando debeam proferre sermonem. Nisi Marcion Christum non subjectum Patri infert. A proximis quoque persecutiones et nomine ex odio utique blasphemiam praedicatam, non debeo rursus ostendere. Sed per tolerantiam, inquit, salvos facietis nosmetipsos; de qua scilicet Psalmus (Ps. IX, 19): Tolerantia, inquit, justorum non peribit in finem. Quia et alibi (Ps. CXV, 5): Honorabilis mors justorum; ex tolerantia sine dubio, 0457A quia et Zacharias (Zach. VI, 14): Corona autem erit eis qui toleraverint. Sed ne audeas argumentari apostolos, ut alterius Dei praecones, a Judaeis vexatos; memento prophetas quoque eadem a Judaeis passos, tamen non alterius Dei apostolos fuisse, quam Creatoris. Sed monstrato dehinc tempore excidii, cum coepisset vallari exercitibus Hierusalem, signa jam ultimi finis enarrat, solis et lunae siderumque prodigia, et in terra angustias nationum obstupescentium velut a sonitu maris fluctuantis pro exspectatione imminentium orbi malorum. Quod et ipsae vires coelorum concuti habeant, accipe Joelem (Joel. II, 30): Et dabo prodigia in coelo et in terra, sanguinem et ignem, et fumi vaporem. Sol convertetur in tenebras, et in sanguinem luna, priusquam adveniat dies magnus 0457B et illustris Domini. Habes et Habacuc (Haba., III, 9): Fluminibus disrumpetur terra; videbunt te, et parturient populi; disperges aquas gressu . Dedit abyssus sonum suum; sublimitas timoris ejus elata est; sol et luna constitit in suo ordine, in lucem coruscationis tuae ibunt in fulgorem; fulgur scutum tuum, in communicatione tua diminues terram, et in indignatione tua depones nationes. Conveniunt, opinor, et Domini pronuntiationes et prophetarum, de concussionibus mundi et orbis, elementorum et nationum. Post haec quid Dominus? Et tunc videbunt Filium hominis venientem de coelis cum plurima virtute. Cum autem haec fient, erigetis vos, et levabitis capita, quoniam appropinquabit redemptio vestra. In tempore scilicet regni, de quo subjectarit ipsa 0457C parabola. Sic et vos cum videritis omnia haec fieri, scitote appropinquasse regnum Dei. Hic erit dies magnus Domini et illustris, venientis de coelis filii hominis secundum Danielem (Dan. VII, 3): Ecce cum coeli nubibus tanquam filius hominis adveniens, etc. Et data est illi regia potestas, quam in parabola postulaturus exierat relicta pecunia servis, quae foeneraretur . Et universae nationes, quas promiserat ei in psalmo Pater (Ps. II, 8): Postula de me, et dabo tibi gentes haereditatem tuam. Et gloria omnis serviens illi et potestas ejus aeterna, quae non auferetur, et regnum ejus quod non corrumpetur: quia nec morientur in illo, nec nubent, sed erunt sicut angeli. De eodem adventu filii hominis et fructu ejus apud Habacuc (Habac. III, 13): Existi in salutem populi ad salvos faciendos christos tuos; erecturos scilicet se, et capita 0458A levaturos in tempore regni redemptos . Igitur cum et haec, quae sunt promissionum, proinde conveniant sicut et illa quae sunt concussionum, ex consonantia propheticarum et dominicarum pronuntiationum, nullam hic poteris interstruere distinctionem, ut concussiones quidem referas ad Creatorem, saevitiae scilicet Deum, quas nec sinere, nedum exspectare deberet Deus optimus; promissiones vero Deo optimo deputes, quas Creator ignorans illum non prophetasset. Aut si suas prophetavit, non distantes a promissionibus Christi, par erit in libertate optimo Deo; nec plus videbitur a Christo tuo repromitti, quam a meo filio hominis. Ipsum decursum Scripturae evangelicae, ab interrogatione discipulorum usque ad parabolam fici, ita invenies contextu sensus filio 0458B hominis hinc atque illinc adhaerere, ut in illum compingat et tristia et laeta, et concussiones et promissiones, nec possis separare ab illo alteram partem. Unius enim filii hominis adventu constituto inter duos exitus, concussionum et promissionum, necesse est ad unum pertineant filium hominis, et incommoda nationum, et vota sanctorum: quia ita positus est in medio, ut communis exitibus ambobus, alterum conclusurus adventu suo, id est, incommoda nationum; alterum incipiens, id est, vota sanctorum; ut sive mei Christi concesseris adventum filii hominis, quo mala imminentia ei deputes quae adventum ejus antecedunt, cogaris etiam bona ei adscribere, quae ab adventu ejus oriuntur; sive tui malueris, quo bona ei adscribas quae ab adventu ejus oriuntur 0458C , cogaris mala quoque ei deputare, quae adventum ejus antecedunt. Tam enim mala cohaerent adventui filii hominis antecedendo, quam et bona subsequendo. Quaere igitur quem ex duobus Christis constituas in persona unius filii hominis, in quem utraque dispositio referatur. Aut et Creatorem optimum, aut Deum tuum asperum dedisti natura. In summa ipsius parabolae considera exemplum: Adspice ficum, et arbores omnes, cum fructum protulerint, intelligunt homines aestatem appropinquasse. Sic et vos, cum videbitis haec fieri, scitote in proximo esse regnum Dei. Si enim fructificationes arbuscularum signum aestivo tempori praestant, antecedendo illud; proinde et conflictationes orbis, signum praenotant regni, praecedendo illud. Omne autem signum ejus est cujus est res, cujus est signum. Et omni rei 0459A ab eo imponitur signum, cujus est res. Ita si conflictationes signa sunt regni, sicut fructificationes aestatis; ergo et regnum Creatoris est, cujus conflictationes deputantur, quae signa sunt regni. Praemiserat oportere haec fieri tam atrocia, tam dira, Deus optimus, certe a Prophetis et a Lege praedicata; adeo Legem et Prophetas non destruebat, cum quae praedicaverant, confirmat perfici oportere. Adhuc ingerit, Non transiturum coelum ac terram, nisi omnia peragantur. Quaenam ista? Si quae a Creatore sunt , merito sustinebunt elementa Domini sui ordinem expungi. Si quae a Deo optimo, nescio an sustineat coelum et terra perfici quae aemulus statuit. Hoc si patietur Creator, zelotes Deus non est. Transeat age nunc terra et coelum, sic enim Dominus eorum destinavit, 0459B dum Verbum ejus manet in aevum: sic enim et Esaias praenuntiavit (Is. XL, 8). Admoneantur et discipuli, ne quando graventur corda eorum crapula et ebrietate, et saecularibus curis; et insistat eis repentinus dies ille, velut laqueus; utique oblitis Deum ex plenitudine et cogitatione mundi; Moysi erit admonitio (Deut. XXXII, 15). Adeo is liberabit a laqueo diei illius, qui hanc admonitionem retro intulit. Erant et loca alia apud Hierusalem ad docendum, erant extra Hierusalem secedendum; sedenim per diem in templo docebat, ut qui per Osee praedixerat (Os. XII. 4): In templo meo me invenerunt, et illic disputatum est ad eos. Ad noctem vero in elaeonem secedebat: sic enim Zacharias demonstrat (Zach. XIV. 4): Et stabunt pedes ejus in monte elaeone. Erant 0459C horae quoque auditorio competentes: diluculo conveniendum erat, quia per Esaiam cum dixisset (Is. L, 4): Dominus dat mihi linguam disciplinae; adjecit : Apposuit mihi mane aurem ad audiendum. 0460A Si hoc est prophetias dissolvere, quid erit adimplere?