Page images
PDF
EPUB

82

Two senses of the word Father.

LECT. air: for they sow not, neither gather into barns, and your VII. heavenly Father feedeth them. And, My Father worketh Mat. 6, hitherto, and I work.

26.

17.

17.

John 5, 7. But in case any one, whether from simplicity, or perverse (4.) ingenuity, 7, suppose Christ to be but equal in honour to righJohn 20, teous men, from His saying, I ascend to My Father, and your Father, it is well first to lay down, that though the Name of Father is one, its meaning is manifold. As understanding this, He said without hesitation, I go to My Father, and your Father: not saying, To our Father; but making a distinction, and using at first in its proper meaning, to My Father, which was by nature, and then adding, and your Father, which was by adoption. For though we have been allowed to say without qualification in our prayers, "Our Father, which art in Heaven," this is a privilege from God's lovingkindness. For we do not call Him Father, because we were by nature begotten of the "Father which is in Heaven:” but having been translated from bondage to adoption, by the Father's grace, through the Son and the Holy Ghost, we are by ineffable loving-kindness allowed thus to speak.

Deut. 32, 6.

8. And if any wishes to learn, how we call God, Father, let him hear Moses, the most excellent of elementary teachers; Is not He thy Father, he says, that hath bought thee? Hath He not made thee, and established thee? And Esaias Is. 64,8. the prophet; But now, O Lord, Thou art our Father: we are the clay, and we all are the work of Thy hand. In the plainest way has the Prophetic gift shewn, that not by nature, but of God's grace, and by adoption, we call Him Father.

4, 15.

9. Let Paul too explain to thee still more certainly, that in Holy Scriptures, it is not by any means the father according to the flesh only, who is called father; for he says, For though 1 Cor. ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers; for, in Christ Jesus have I begotten you through the Gospel. For not by begetting them according to avays the flesh, but in teaching and begetting them again according Ta to the Spirit, was Paul the Father of the Corinthians. Again, consider Job's words, I was a father to the poor. For he Job 29, named himself a father, not as having begotten them all, but as taking care of them. And the Only-begotten Son of God

νῆσαι και

μα.

16.

The Son and Holy Ghost alone see the Father.

83

33.

Himself, when at His crucifixion, His flesh was nailed to the tree, seeing Mary His mother according to the flesh, and John His dearest disciple, says to him, Behold thy mother; John 19, and to her, Behold thy son: teaching her the parental 26. 27. affection due to him, and indirectly explaining that which is said in Luke, and His father and His mother marvelled at Luke 2, Him: words which heretical schools catch at, as if He were Ιωσήφ, begotten of a man and a woman. For like as Mary was Joseph, called the mother of John, from her parental affection to him, received not from having given him birth: so was Joseph called the Griesfather of Christ, not as being really so, (for he knew her not, reads as says the Gospel, till she had brought forth her first-born Son,) Cyril. but on account of his care in nurturing Him.

text; but

bach

Mat. 1,

25.

16. vid.

(68, 5.)

10. Thus much then, in the way of a digression, to put you in remembrance. However, I will add yet another text in proof that God is called the father of men, but in an improper sense. Considering Isaiah says to God, Thou art our Father, Is. 63, though Abraham be ignorant of us; and Sara travailed not with Is. 51,2. us, is it necessary to pursue the enquiry? And when the Psalmist says, They shall be troubled from His countenance, Ps.67,6. the Father of the fatherless, and Judge of the widows, is it Sept. not evident at once to all, that when God is called the Father of orphans who have lately lost their own fathers, He is thus named, not as having begotten them of Himself, but as tending and shielding them? Of men, then, He is, in an improper sense, the Father, as has been said: but only of Christ the Father by nature and not by adoption: moreover, of men in time, but of Christ before all time, as Christ Himself says, And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine John 17, own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the5. world was.

John 6,

11. We believe then in One God the Father, the Unsearch- (5.) able, and the Ineffable: whom none of men hath seen, but John 1, the Only-begotten hath declared Him for He which is of 18. God, He hath seen the Father: whose countenance the 46. Angels continually behold, yet behold, according to the Mat. 18, measure of their respective orders; but the undimmed vision of the Father is reserved in its purity for the Son with the Holy Ghost.

12. At this point, recollecting what I have been just saying

10.

VII.

84 God our Father through adoption and our own choice.

LECT. concerning God being called the Father of men, I am greatly amazed at men's insensibility. For while God has with unspeakable loving-kindness deigned to be called their Father,He in heaven, they upon earth; He the Maker of Eternity, Is. 40, they the production of time; He who holdeth the earth in 12. the hollow of His hand, they upon the earth as grasshoppers,yet man, having forsaken his heavenly Father, has said to a Jer. 2, stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth; and methinks, for this cause the Psalmist says to Ps. 45, human nature, Forget also thine own people, and thy father's house, whom thou hast chosen for thy father, whom thou hast coveted, to thy destruction.

Ver. 22.

27.

10.

41.

4, 15.

18.

ἐκ τού.

13. And not only stocks and stones, but even Satan himself, some have ere now chosen for their father, even the destroyer John 8, of souls: these men the Lord thus reproves, Ye do the deeds of your father; that is, of the devil, who is the father of men, not by nature, but by deceit; for like as Paul for his godly 1 Cor. teaching was called the father of the Corinthians, thus also the devil is called the father of those who of their own choice Ps. 50, consent with him. For they are not to be tolerated who 1 John pervert the text, By this we know the children of God, and 3, 10. the children of the devil, as if by a law of nature some among men were to be saved, and some to perish: whereas neither του γινώxy, do we come to such holy sonship of necessity, but of choice; nor was it by nature that the traitor Judas was the son of the devil and of perdition: else he would never at all have cast out devils in the name of Christ, for Satan casteth not ior, in out Satan; nor on the other hand would Paul have turned manifest. from persecuting to preaching the Gospel; but the adoption aurižoú- is at our choice, as saith John, But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in His name. For not before faith, but from faith, we of our own choice have been counted worthy to become the sons of God.

but in

the rec.

text, τούτῳ φανερά

this are

σιος.

John 1,

12.

14.

(6.) 14. Knowing this then, let us walk spiritually, that we Rom. 8, may be counted worthy of God's adoption: for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For it avails us nought to possess the name of Christians, unless John 8, the works follow; lest to us also the words apply, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.

39.

Duty of honouring and obeying our earthly parents. 85

For if we call on the Father, who without respect of person 1 Pet. 1, judgeth according to every man's work, let us pass the time of 17 our sojourning here in fear; not loving the world, neither the 1 John things that are in the world; for if any man love the world, 2, 15. the love of the Father is not in him. Therefore, my beloved children, let us offer glory to our Father which is in heaven, through our works: that they may see our good works, and Mat. 5, glorify our Father which is in heaven; casting all our care 1 Pet. 5, upon Him; for our Father knoweth what things we have? need of.

16.

Mat. 6,

8.

Heb. 12,

9.

20, 12.

20.

Mat. 10,

15. And while we honour our Heavenly Father, let us also (7.) honour the fathers of our flesh: since the Lord hath evidently so appointed in the Law and the Prophets, saying, Honour Exod. thy father and thy mother, that it may be well with thee, and' thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. This command claims especial attention from those here present, who actually have fathers and mothers. Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well Col. 3, pleasing to the Lord. For the Lord said not, He who loveth father or mother is not worthy of me, lest thou shouldest 37. from ignorance understand badly a good word, but added, more than Me. For when our fathers upon earth have views at variance with those of our Father which is in heaven, then we must obey this word: when, however, not hindered by them in respect of godliness, but from want of affectionate feeling, and forgetfulness of their benefits to us, we despise them, then that oracle will have place, which saith, He that Exod. curseth father or mother, let him die the death.

our

21, 17. Mat. 15,

νῆται

· οὐδέποτε δυνησό

16. The first virtuous observance in a Christian is, to 4. honour his parents, to requite their troubles, and with all his might to provide for their comfort: (for though we ariyer. should repay them ever so much, yet we never can be what τούτους they have been to us:) so that they enjoying comfort of providing, may establish us in blessings, which Jacob the μεθα. supplanter knew the value of, when he appropriated them: ayaand that our Heavenly Father approving our virtuous course, aige. may count us worthy to shine with the just as the sun, in the Mat. 13, kingdom of our Father: to whom be glory, with the Only- 43. begotten, our Saviour Jesus Christ, with the Holy and lifegiving Spirit, now and ever, to all eternity. Amen.

θὴν προ

LECTURE VIII.

ON THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD".

LECT.

JER. Xxxii. 18, 19.

The Great, the Mighty God; the Lord of Hosts is His Name, great in counsel, and mighty in work.

1. By belief" in One God," we utterly eradicate the misVIII. belief in many gods, using it as a weapon against the Greeks, and every opposing power of heretics: and by adding, “in One God the Father," we oppose those of the circumcision, who deny the Only-begotten Son of God. For, as I said yesterday, even before we speak plainly concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, yet by our speaking of God the Father, we have already implied that He is the Father of a Son; that as we understand that God is, so we may understand that He has a Son. Now we add to this, that He is also " Almighty;" and that, because of Greeks and Jews together, and all heretics.

Ps.36,5.

Ps. 139,

8.

2. For some of the Greeks have said that God is the soul of the world. Others again, that His power reaches only to heaven, but not to the earth as well. And some, going into the same error, and perverting the text which says, And Thy faithfulness unto the clouds, have dared to bound God's providence by the limits of the clouds and the heaven, and to despoil God of the things on earth; forgetting that Psalm which saith, If I ascend into heaven, Thou art there; if I go down to hell, Thou art there. For if nothing is higher than heaven, and if hell is deeper than earth, He who is master of the lower regions, must reach the earth also.

a Eis rò, Havrongaróga, Omnipoten- and English versions of the Creed. tem, or Almighty, according to the Latin

« PreviousContinue »