Chapter XII.

The kingdom of the Father and of the Son is one and undivided, so likewise is the Godhead of each.

92. I would now ask how they suppose the kingdom of the Father and the Son to be divided, when the Lord hath said, as we showed above: “Every kingdom divided against itself shall be speedily overthrown.”606    Matth. xii. 25.

93. Indeed, it was to debar the impious teaching of Arian enmity that Saint Peter himself asserted the dominion of the Father and the Son to be one, saying: “Wherefore, my brethren, labour to make your calling and election sure, for so doing you shall not go astray, for thus your entrance into the eternal realm of God and our Lord and Saviour607    Orig. “conservator.” This title must have reference to the present work of Christ. Jesus Christ shall be granted with the greater abundance of grace.”608    1 Pet. ii. 10, 11.

94. Now, if it be thought that Christ’s dominion alone is spoken of, and the place be therefore understood in such sense that the Father and the Son are regarded as divided in authority—yet it will be still acknowledged that it is the dominion of the Son, and that an eternal one, and thus not only will two kingdoms, separate, and so liable to fail, be brought in, but, furthermore, inasmuch as no kingdom is to be compared with God’s kingdom, which they cannot, however greatly they may desire to, deny to be the kingdom of the Son, they must either turn back upon their opinion, and acknowledge the kingdom of the Father and the Son to be one and the same; or they must ascribe to the Father the government of a lesser kingdom—which is blasphemy; or they must acknowledge Him, Whom they wickedly declare to be inferior in respect of Godhead, to possess an equal kingdom, which is inconsistent.

95. But this [their teaching] squares not, agrees not, holds not [with its premisses]. Let them confess, then, that the kingdom is one, even as we confess and prove, not indeed on our own evidence, but upon testimony vouchsafed from heaven.

96. To begin with, learn, from further testimonies [of Scripture], how that the kingdom of heaven is also the kingdom of the Son: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, that there are some amongst those which stand here with us, who shall not taste death, until they see the Son of Man coming into His kingdom.”609    S. Matt. xvi. 28. There is therefore no room for doubt that the kingdom appertaineth to the Son of God.

97. Now learn that the kingdom of the Son is the very same as the kingdom of the Father: “Verily, I say unto you that there be some of those which stand around us, who shall not taste death until they see the kingdom of God coming in power.”610    S. Mark viii. 39. So far, indeed, is it one kingdom, that the reward is one, the inheritor is one and the same, and so also the merit, and He Who promises [the reward].

98. How can it but be one kingdom, above all when the Son Himself hath said of Himself: “Then shall the righteous shine like the sun in the kingdom of My Father”?611    S. Matt. xiii. 43. For that which is the Father’s, by fitness to His majesty, is also the Son’s, by unity in the same glory.612    S. John xvii. 5. The Scripture, therefore, hath declared the kingdom to be the kingdom both of the Father and of the Son.

99. Now learn that where the kingdom of God is named, there is no putting aside of the authority either of the Father or of the Son, because both the kingdom of the Father and the kingdom of the Son is included under the single name of God, saying: “When ye shall see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God.”613    S. Luke xiii. 28. Do we deny that the prophets are in the kingdom of the Son, when even to a dying robber who said, “Remember me, when Thou comest into Thy kingdom,” the Lord made answer: “Verily, I say unto thee, to-day shalt thou be with Me in paradise.”614    S. Luke xxiii. 42, 43. What, indeed, do we understand by being in the kingdom of God, if not the having escaped eternal death? But they who have escaped eternal death see the Son of Man coming into His kingdom.

100. How, then, can He not have in His power that which He gives, saying: “To thee will I give the keys of the kingdom of heaven”?615    S. Matt. xvi. 19. See the gulf between [the one and the other]. The servant opens, the Lord bestows; the One through Himself, the other through Christ; the minister receives the keys, the Lord appoints powers: the one is the right of a giver, the other the duty of a steward.

101. See now yet another proof that the kingdom, the government, of the Father and the Son is one. It is written in the Epistle to Timothy: “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the government of God, our Saviour, and Christ Jesus, our Hope.”616    1 Tim. i. 1. One, therefore, the kingdom of the Father and the Son is plainly declared to be, even as Paul the Apostle also asserted, saying: “For know this, that no shameless person, none that is impure, or covetous (which meaneth idolatry), hath inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.”617    Eph. v. 5. It is, therefore, one kingdom, one Godhead.

102. Oneness in Godhead the Law hath proved, which speaks of one God,618    Deut. vi. 4. as also the Apostle, by saying of Christ; “In Whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”619    Col. ii. 9. “Bodily,” i.e. manifested in bodily form, in human flesh and blood. For if, as the Apostle saith, all the fulness of the Godhead, bodily, is in Christ, then must the Father and the Son be confessed to be of one Godhead; or if it is desired to sunder the Godhead of the Son from the Godhead of the Father, whilst the Son possesses all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, what is supposed to be further reserved, seeing that nothing remains over and above the fulness of perfection? Therefore the Godhead is one.

CAPUT XII.

Regnum Patris atque Filii unum esse ac indivisum; et unam similiter utriusque divinitatem.

92. Quaero autem quomodo regnum velint Patris et Filii esse divisum; cum Dominus dixerit, ut supra ostendimus; Omne regnum in se divisum, facile destruetur (Matth. XII, 25)?

93. Et ideo ad excludendum Arianae sacrilegium saevitatis, unum imperium Patris et Filii etiam 514 Petrus sanctus asseruit dicens: Quapropter satagite, 0608C fratres, certam vestram vocationem et electionem facere. Haec enim facientes non errabitis; sic enim abundantius ministrabitur vobis introitus in aeternum imperium Dei, et Domini nostri conservatoris Jesu Christi (II Petr. I, 10, 11).

94. Aut si quis de Christi tantum imperio dictum putat, et hoc ideo sic accipit, ut Patrem Filiumque potestate secernat; is tamen et regnum Filii fatebitur, et aeternum. Itaque non solum duo inducent regna divisa, ut obnoxia sint defectui; sed etiam cum regna comparabilia nulla sint Dei regno, quod Filii esse, etiamsi velint negare non possunt: aut contra suam sententiam redibunt, ut idem Patris et Filii regnum esse fateantur: aut, quod sacrilegium est dicere, jus Patri regni minoris ascribent: 0608D aut, quod contrarium est, quem minorem divinitate impie memorant, ejus regnum fatebuntur aequale.

95. Sed hoc non quadrat, non congruit, non cohaeret. Dicant igitur unum esse regnum, sicut nos dicimus, et probamus: probamus autem non nostris, sed coelestibus testimoniis.

96. Primum enim etiam aliis exemplis disce regnum coelorum, regnum etiam Filii esse: ipse enim 0609A dixit: Amen, amen, dico vobis quoniam sunt aliqui dehic astantibus, qui non gustabunt mortem, donec videant Filium hominis venientem in regnum suum (Matth. XVI, 28). Dubitari ergo non potest quod sit regnum Filii Dei.

97. Sed accipe ipsum esse regnum Filii, quod Patris est: Amen dico vobis quod sunt quidam circumstantium, qui non gustabunt mortem, donec videant regnum Dei veniens in virtute (Marc. VIII, 39). Eo enim usque unum regnum est, ut unum sit praemium, idem haeres, eadem merita, idem sponsor.

98. Quomodo non idem regnum, cum praesertim ipse de se Filius dixerit : Tunc justi fulgebunt sicut sol in regno Patris mei (Matth. XIII, 43). Quod enim Patris est per majestatis proprietatem, id etiam Filii 0609B est per ejusdem claritudinis unitatem. Ergo et Patris regnum Scriptura dixit, et Filii (Joan. XVII, 5).

99. Accipe nunc quia ubi regnum Dei dicit, nec Patris nec Filii separat potestatem; quia et paternum et Filii regnum uno Dei nomine comprehendit, sicut habes: Cum videritis Abraham, Isaac, et Jacob, et omnes prophetas in regno Dei (Luc. XIII, 28). An negamus in regno Filii prophetas esse, cum et latroni dicenti: Memento mei, cum veneris in regnum tuum; responderit Dominus: Amen dico tibi, hodie mecum eris in paradiso (Luc. XXIII, 42, 43)? Aut quid est esse in regno Dei, nisi aeternam nescire mortem? Qui autem nesciunt aeternam mortem, vident Filium hominis venientem in regnum suum.

100. Quomodo ergo potest non in potestate habere 0609C quod donat dicens: Tibi dabo claves regni coelorum (Matth. XVI, 19)? Et videto distantiam. Servus 515 aperit, Dominus largitur: iste per se, ille per Christum: famulus claves accipit, Dominus ordinat potestates: aliud jus donantis, aliud dispensantis obsequium est.

101. Accipe adhuc unum regnum, unum imperium esse Patris et Filii. Habes ad Timotheum: Paulus apostolus Jesu Christi secundum imperium Dei Salvatoris nostri, et Christi Jesu spei nostrae (I Tim. I, 1). Unum igitur Patris et Filii regnum evidenter est declaratum, sicut et apostolus Paulus asseruit dicens: Hoc enim scitote quod omnis impudicus, aut immundus, aut avarus, quod est idololatria, non habet haereditatem in regno Christi et Dei (Ephes. 0609D V, 5). Ergo unum regnum, et una divinitas.

102. Unam divinitatem lex probavit, quae dicit unum Deum (Deut. VI, 4). Probavit et Apostolus, 0610A dicendo de Christo: In quo habitat omnis plenitudo divinitatis corporaliter (Coloss. II, 9). Si enim juxta Apostolum plenitudo omnis corporaliter divinitatis in Christo est, aut unius divinitatis Patrem et Filium fatebuntur: aut si Patris et Filii divinitatem cupiunt separare, cum omnem plenitudinem divinitatis corporaliter Filius habeat; quid est quod existimant amplius reservandum, cum amplius nihil sit plenitudine perfectionis? Ergo una divinitas.