Chapter VII.—The Question Whether Christ Be Come Taken Up.

Therefore upon this issue plant we foot to foot, whether the Christ who was constantly announced as to come be already come, or whether His coming be yet a subject of hope. For proof of which question itself, the times likewise must be examined by us when the prophets announced that the Christ would come; that, if we succeed in recognising that He has come within the limits of those times, we may without doubt believe Him to be the very one whose future coming was ever the theme of prophetic song, upon whom we—the nations, to wit—were ever announced as destined to believe; and that, when it shall have been agreed that He is come, we may undoubtedly likewise believe that the new law has by Him been given, and not disavow the new testament in Him and through Him drawn up for us. For that Christ was to come we know that even the Jews do not attempt to disprove, inasmuch as it is to His advent that they are directing their hope.  Nor need we inquire at more length concerning that matter, since in days bygone all the prophets have prophesied of it; as Isaiah: “Thus saith the Lord God to my Christ (the) Lord,93    The reference is to Isa. xlv. 1. A glance at the LXX. will at once explain the difference between the reading of our author and the genuine reading. One letter—an “ι”—makes all the difference. For Κύρῳ has been read Κυρίῳ. In the Eng. ver. we read “His Anointed.” whose right hand I have holden, that the nations may hear Him: the powers of kings will I burst asunder; I will open before Him the gates, and the cities shall not be closed to Him.” Which very thing we see fulfilled. For whose right hand does God the Father hold but Christ’s, His Son?—whom all nations have heard, that is, whom all nations have believed,—whose preachers, withal, the apostles, are pointed to in the Psalms of David: “Into the universal earth,” says he, “is gone out their sound, and unto the ends of the earth their words.”94    Ps. xix. 4 (xviii. 5. in LXX.) and Rom. x. 18. For upon whom else have the universal nations believed, but upon the Christ who is already come? For whom have the nations believed,—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and they who inhabit Mesopotamia, Armenia, Phrygia, Cappadocia, and they who dwell in Pontus, and Asia, and Pamphylia, tarriers in Egypt, and inhabiters of the region of Africa which is beyond Cyrene, Romans and sojourners, yes, and in Jerusalem Jews,95    See Acts ii. 9, 10; but comp. ver. 5. and all other nations; as, for instance, by this time, the varied races of the Gætulians, and manifold confines of the Moors, all the limits of the Spains, and the diverse nations of the Gauls, and the haunts of the Britons—inaccessible to the Romans, but subjugated to Christ, and of the Sarmatians, and Dacians, and Germans, and Scythians, and of many remote nations, and of provinces and islands many, to us unknown, and which we can scarce enumerate? In all which places the name of the Christ who is already come reigns, as of Him before whom the gates of all cities have been opened, and to whom none are closed, before whom iron bars have been crumbled, and brazen gates96    See Isa. xlv. 1, 2 (especially in Lowth’s version and the LXX.). opened. Although there be withal a spiritual sense to be affixed to these expressions,—that the hearts of individuals, blockaded in various ways by the devil, are unbarred by the faith of Christ,—still they have been evidently fulfilled, inasmuch as in all these places dwells the “people” of the Name of Christ. For who could have reigned over all nations but Christ, God’s Son, who was ever announced as destined to reign over all to eternity? For if Solomon “reigned,” why, it was within the confines of Judea merely:  “from Beersheba unto Dan” the boundaries of his kingdom are marked.97    See 1 Kings iv. 25. (In the LXX. it is 3 Kings iv. 25; but the verse is omitted in Tischendorf’s text, ed. Lips. 1860, though given in his footnotes there.) The statement in the text differs slightly from Oehler’s reading; where I suspect there is a transposition of a syllable, and that for “in finibus Judæ tantum, a Bersabeæ,” we ought to read “in finibus Judææ tantum, a Bersabe.” See de Jej. c. ix. If, moreover, Darius “reigned” over the Babylonians and Parthians, he had not power over all nations; if Pharaoh, or whoever succeeded him in his hereditary kingdom, over the Egyptians, in that country merely did he possess his kingdom’s dominion; if Nebuchadnezzar with his petty kings, “from India unto Ethiopia” he had his kingdom’s boundaries;98    See Esth. i. 1; viii. 9. if Alexander the Macedonian he did not hold more than universal Asia, and other regions, after he had quite conquered them; if the Germans, to this day they are not suffered to cross their own limits; the Britons are shut within the circuit of their own ocean; the nations of the Moors, and the barbarism of the Gætulians, are blockaded by the Romans, lest they exceed the confines of their own regions. What shall I say of the Romans themselves,99    [Dr. Allix thinks these statements define the Empire after Severus, and hence accepts the date we have mentioned, for this treatise.] who fortify their own empire with garrisons of their own legions, nor can extend the might of their kingdom beyond these nations? But Christ’s Name is extending everywhere, believed everywhere, worshipped by all the above-enumerated nations, reigning everywhere, adored everywhere, conferred equally everywhere upon all. No king, with Him, finds greater favour, no barbarian lesser joy; no dignities or pedigrees enjoy distinctions of merit; to all He is equal, to all King, to all Judge, to all “God and Lord.”100    Comp. John xx. 28. Nor would you hesitate to believe what we asseverate, since you see it taking place.

CAPUT VII.

0609C Igitur in isto gradum conferamus, an qui venturus Christus annuntiabatur , jam venerit, an venturus adhuc speretur. Quod ipsum ut probari possit, etiam tempora sunt nobis requirenda, quando 0610A venturum Christum prophetae annuntiaverunt; ut si in ista tempora recognoverimus venisse eum, sine dubio ipsum esse credamus quem venturum prophetae canebant, in quem nos, gentes scilicet, credituri annuntiabamur: et cum constiterit venisse, indubitate etiam legem novam ab ipso datam esse credamus, et Testamentum Novum in ipso et per ipsum nobis dispositum non diffiteamur. Venturum enim Christum nec Judaeos refutare scimus, utpote qui in adventum ejus spem suam porrigant. Nec de isto pluribus quaerendum, cum retro omnes prophetae de eo praecinuerint , ut Esaias dicit: Sic dicit Dominus Deus Christo meo Domino, cujus tenui dexteram, ut exaudiant illum gentes: fortitudines regum disrumpam, aperiam ante illum portas, et civitates non claudentur 0610B illi (Isa. XLV, 1, 2). Quod ipsum adimpletum videmus. Cui enim dexteram tenet pater Deus, nisi Christo filio suo? quem exaudierunt omnes gentes, id est cui omnes gentes crediderunt, cujus et praedicatores Apostoli in psalmis David ostenduntur: In universa, inquit, terra exiit sonus eorum, et usque ad terminos terrae verba eorum (Psalm. XVIII, 5). In quem enim alium universae gentes crediderunt, nisi in Christum qui jam venit? Cui enim et aliae gentes crediderunt? Parthi, Medi, Elamitae, et qui inhabitant Mesopotamiam, Armeniam, Phrygiam, Cappadociam; et incolentes Pontum, et Asiam, et Pamphyliam; immorantes Aegyptum, et regionem Africae quae est trans Cyrenem inhabitantes, Romani et incolae; tunc et in Hierusalem Judaei (Act, II, 9, 10), et 0610C caeterae gentes: ut jam Getulorum varietates, et Maurorum multi fines, Hispaniarum omnes termini, et Galliarum diversae nationes, et Britannorum inaccessa Romanis loca, Christo vero subdita, et Sarmatarum, 0611A et Dacorum, et Germanorum , et Scytharum, et additarum multarum gentium, et provinciarum et insularum multarum nobis ignotarum, et quae enumerare minus possumus? In quibus omnibus locis Christi nomen, qui jam venit, regnat; utpote ante quem omnium civitatum portae sunt apertae, et cui nullae sunt clausae: ante quem serae ferreae sunt comminutae, et valvae aereae sunt apertae (Is., XLV, 1, 2). Quamquam et ista spiritaliter sint intelligenda, quo praecordia singulorum variis modis a diabolo obsessa, fide Christi sint reserata; attamen perspicue sunt adimpleta, utpote in quibus omnibus locis populus nominis Christi inhabitet . Quis enim omnibus regnare potuisset, nisi Christus Dei Filius? Qui omnibus in aeternum gentibus regnaturus (Psal., 0611B XLVI, 2, 9; LXXXV, 9; Is., II, 4; XLIX, 6) nuntiabatur. Nam si Salomon regnavit, sed in finibus Judae tantum, a Bersabee usque Dan termini ejus regni signantur . Si vero Babyloniis et Parthis regnavit Darius, non habuit in omnibus gentibus potestatem. Si Aegyptiis Pharao, vel quisque ei in haereditate regni successit; illic tantum potius est regni sui dominium. Sic Nabuchodonosor cum suis regulis ab India usque Aethiopiam habuit regni sui terminos. Sic Alexander Macedo nunquam Asiam universam et caeteras regiones, posteaquam devicerat, tenuit. Sic Germani adhuc usque limites suos transgredi non sinuntur. Britanni intra Oceani sui ambitum conclusi. Maurorum gens et Getulorum barbaries a Romanis obsidentur, ne regionum suarum fines excedant. 0611C Quid de Romanis dicam, qui de legionum suarum praesidiis imperium suum muniunt, nec trans istas gentes porrigere vires regni sui possunt? Christi autem regnum et nomen ubique porrigitur, ubique creditur, ab omnibus gentibus supra enumeratis colitur, 0612A ubique regnat, ubique adoratur, omnibus ubique tribuitur aequaliter; non regis apud illum major gratia; non barbari alicujus inferior laetitia, non dignitatum aut natalium cujusquam discreta merita; omnibus aequalis, omnibus rex, omnibus judex, omnibus Deus et Dominus est. Nec dubites credere quod asseveramus , cum videamus fieri.