Salvation of all nations was prophesied from the first: 145 II. 11. of all nations. It was indeed to the people of Israel alone JOHN that Moses was sent, and to that people alone that through him the Law was given, and the prophets themselves were of that people, and the very distribution of periods was marked out according to the same people; whence also the waterpots are said to be according to the purification of the Jews: still, however, that Prophecy was announced to the other nations also, is manifest, since Christ was concealed in him in whom all nations are blessed, even as God promised to Abraham, In thy seed shall all nations be blessed. Only it Gen. 22, was not understood as yet, because not yet was the water turned into wine. To all nations, then, was Prophecy dispensed. But that this may come out in a more agreeable manner, let us make some remarks, as the time permits, concerning the several ages, as denoted by the several waterpots. 18. 1 5,31.32. sacra 10. In the very outset, Adam and Eve were the parents of all nations, not of the Jews only; and whatsoever was shadowed forth in Adam concerning Christ, of course pertained to all nations which have salvation in Christ. What then shall I say of the water of the first water-pot, more appropriate than what the Apostle saith of Adam and Eve? For no man will charge me with misinterpretation, when I bring forward, not my own interpretation, but the Apostle's. How great a mystery then concerning Christ is contained in that one particular, of which the Apostle makes mention, saying, and they shall be two in one flesh: this is Ephes. a great mystery'! And lest any should understand that greatness of the mystery to lie in the several individual mentum men who have wives, But I speak, saith he, as concerning Christ and concerning the Church. What is this great mystery, They shall be two in one flesh? Since the Scripture, in the Book of Genesis, was speaking of Adam and Eve, in the context which led to the words in question, For Gen. 2, this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be two in one flesh: if then Christ did cleave to the Church, so that they should be two in one flesh, in what sense did He leave His Father, in what sense His mother? He left His Father, because, though He was in the form of God, He thought it not Phil. 2, L 24. 6.7. 21. IX. 146 In Paradise, by the mystery of marriage: HOMIL. robbery to be equal with God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant. For this is the meaning of, He left His Father; not that He forsook and went away from His Father, but that He appeared not to men in that form in which He is equal to His Father. How did He leave His mother? By leaving the synagogue of the Jews, of which He was born according to the flesh, and cleaving to the Church which He hath gathered together out of all nations. Thus then even the first water-pot had a prophecy of Christ. Howbeit, while the things I speak of were not preached among the nations, it was still water, was not yet changed into wine. And seeing that the Lord hath enlightened us by the Apostle, shewing us what we are to seek there, in this one sentence, They shall be two in one flesh; a great mystery in Christ and in the Church; we may now seek Christ every where, and drink wine from all the water-pots. Adam sleeps, that Eve may be formed: Christ dies, that the Church may be Gen. 2, formed. While Adam sleeps, Eve is formed from his side. When Christ is dead, His side is smitten with a spear, that there may flow forth sacraments to form the Church. Who doth not see that in those things then done future events were shadowed forth, since the Apostle saith, that Adam Rom. 5, himself was the figure of Him that was to come? Who is, saith he, the figure of Him that was to come. There was mystical prefiguring in all these things. For it was not really so, that God was unable while Adam was awake to take the rib from him, and form of it a woman. Or was it necessary, peradventure, that he should be asleep for this reason, that he might not feel pain in his site, when the rib was taken away? Who is there that sleeps so soundly that his bones could be plucked from him without his awaking? Or say we, because God plucked it out, therefore man felt it not? Why, He Who could pluck it from him without pain when he was asleep, could have done the same when he was awake. But without doubt here was the filling of the first water-pot, the dispensing of the prophecy of that time concerning this time which was then future. John 19, 34. 14. 11. Christ was also shadowed forth in Noah, and in the Gen. 7, Ark the whole world. For why were all animals inclosed in Noah, Abraham, David, all foreshew the Church Catholic: 147 II. 11. 24. the Ark, but to signify all nations? God lacked not the JoHN Said He power to create again every kind of animals. not, when as yet none were in being, Let the earth bring forth, Gen. 1, and the earth did bring forth? He could have remade as then He made: with a word He made, with a word He could have remade; were it not that He was setting forth a mystery, and filling up the second water-pot of the prophetical dispensation, that by wood the figure of the world might be delivered, seeing that on wood the Life of the world was to be crucified. 12. And then, in the third water-pot, it was said to Abraham, as I have already noticed, In thy seed shall all nations be blessed. And who doth not see Whose figure the Patriarch's only son sustained, who himself bore the wood to the sacrifice to which he was on his way to be offered up? For the Lord bore His own cross, as the Gospel declareth. John 19, Let this suffice for the third water-pot. 17. 13. With regard to David, why need I say that his prophecy concerns all nations, when we have just heard the Psalm (and hard it is to name a Psalm in which this is not sounded forth)? But certainly, as I have said, we have just been singing, Arise, O God, judge the earth; for thou shalt Ps.82,8. inherit in all nations. And therefore the Donatists are, as it were, cast forth from the marriage: just as the man, who had not a wedding garment, was invited and came, but was cast forth from among the guests, because he had not a garment to the glory of the bridegroom: for he who seeks his own glory, not that of Christ, hath not a wedding garment: for they will not harmonize with his voice who was the friend of the Bridegroom, and saith, This is He Which John 1, baptizeth. And not without reason was that man who had not a wedding-garment, by way of rebuke cast in the teeth with just that which he was not: Friend, wherefore art thou Mat. 22, come hither? And as he was speechless, so are they too. For what avails the noise of the mouth, when the heart is mute? For they know inwardly in themselves that they have not a word to say. They are speechless within, noisy without. They hear sung among themselves, whether they will or not, Arise, O God, judge the earth; for Thou shalt inherit in all And by not communicating with all nations, nations. 33. 11-13. 148 Daniel saw this, in the Stone cut out of the Mountain: HOMIL. What do they but recognise themselves as cast out of the inheritance? IX. 34. 35. 14. So then, what I was saying, brethren, that prophecy pertains to all nations, (for I wish to point out another sense in those words, Containing two or three metrete apiece,) that prophecy, I say, pertains to all nations, we have already mentioned as shewn in Adam, who is the figure of Him which is to come. And what man knoweth not that from Adam are sprung all nations, and that in the four letters of his name, the four quarters of the world, as they are expressed in Greek, are indicated? For if the words East, West, North, South, as Holy Scripture mentions them in very many places, are expressed in Greek, the first letters, thou wilt find, make 'Adam.' For the Greek names of the four aforementioned parts of the world are Anatole, Dysis, Arktos, Mesémbria. If these four names are written, like four verses, one under the other, the capital letters form the word ADAM. The same was shadowed forth in Noah because of the ark, in which were all animals, which signified all nations. The same in Abraham, to whom it was said more plainly, In thy seed shall all nations be blessed. The same in David, from whose Psalms, not to mention other passages, we have just been singing, Arise, O God, judge the earth: for Thou shalt inherit in all nations. For to what God is it said, Arise, but to Him Who hath been asleep? Arise, O God, judge the earth. As though it were said: Thou hast been asleep, having been judged by the earth: arise to judge the earth. And whither looketh that prophecy, For Thou shalt inherit in all nations? 15. But to proceed; in the fifth age, that is, so to speak, in the fifth water-pot, Daniel saw a stone to be cut out from a mountain without hands, and break in pieces all the kingDan. 2, doms of the earth: and how the stone grew, and became a great mountain so as to fill the whole face of the earth. What can be more plain, my brethren? The stone is cut out from Ps. 118, the mountain. This is the stone, which the builders refused, and it is become the head of the corner. What is the mountain it is cut from, but the kingdom of the Jews, of which our Lord Jesus Christ was born according to the flesh? And it was cut without hands, without the intervention of man, 22. 149 II. 11. John Baptist declared it in his preaching. because our Lord was sprung from a virgin without the JOHN embrace of wedlock. The mountain from which it was cut had not filled the whole face of the earth, for the Jewish kingdom had not obtained possession of all nations. But the kingdom of Christ, we see, occupies the whole world. 11.9. 7-9. 16. To the sixth age John the Baptist belongs, than whom none greater hath arisen among those born of women: of whom it is said, that he was greater than a prophet. And Mat.11, how did he shew that Christ was sent to all nations? When the Jews came to him to be baptized, lest they should pride themselves upon the name of Abraham, O generation of Matt. 3, vipers, said he, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of repentance; that is, Be humble; for they were proud to whom he spake. But of what were they proud? Of their carnal descent, not of their fruit in imitating their father Abraham. What saith he unto them? Say not, We have Abraham to our father: for God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. Meaning by stones all nations, not because of their solidity, as in the case of that stone which the builders refused, but because of their stupidity and foolish harshness, because they were become like the things they worshipped. For they worshipped senseless images, themselves equally senseless. Why senseless? Because it is said in the Psalm, They that make them are become like unto them, and so are Ps. 115, all they that put their trust in them. And therefore, when 8. men begin to worship God, how are they addressed? That Matt. 5, ye may be the children of your Father Which is in heaven, Who maketh His sun to rise upon good and bad, and sendeth rain upon just and unjust. Wherefore, if a man becomes like the object of his worship, what meaneth, God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham? Let us ask our own selves, and we see that it hath been done. For we are come, that are of the Gentile nations; but from the Gentiles should we not have come, had not God of stones raised up children unto Abraham. We are made children of Abraham, by imitating his faith, not by being born of the flesh. For like as they, by becoming degenerate, were disinherited, so we, by imitating, have been adopted. Thus then, brethren, the prophecy of the sixth water-pot 45. |