Of the Latter Articles of Christian Faith Contained in the Apostles’ Creed. The Eighth Sermon
LeT us first of all pray to our God, that he will vouchsafe to grant us an happy, speedy, and very fruitful proceeding in the declaration of the other articles of christian belief. ΠΩ The fifth article of our belief is: “The third day he rose again from the dead.” And this article, verily, of our belief is in a manner the chief of all the rest. Neither are the apostles so busily occupied in declaring and confirming the other, as they are in this one. For it had not been enough, if our Lord had died only, unless he had also risen from the dead again. For if he had not risen from the dead, but had remained still in death, who should have persuaded us men, that sin was purged by the death of Christ, that death was vanquished, Satan overcome, and hell broken up for the faithful by the death of Christ? Yea verily, we have foolish fellows! that would never cease to blaspheme the very God, to make a mock of our hope, and to say: “Tush, who did ever return from the dead, to tell us whether there be a life in another world after this or no, and what kind of life it is? Because therefore we cannot find, that any man did ever return from the dead, that is to be doubted of, which these babblers? do tattle touching the life of the world to come.” That the Lord therefore might declare to the whole world, that after this life there is another, and that the soul dieth not with the body, but remaineth alive; he? returned the third day alive again to his disciples: and at that instant shewed them, that sin was purged, death disarmed, the devil vanquished, and hell destroyed. For the sting of death is sin: or the reward of sin is death: the devil hath the power of death? and shutteth in hell for sins. Now therefore, in that Christ riseth alive again from the dead, death could have no domi-
[1 absurdi nostri homines, Lat.] [2 spermologi, Lat.; Erasmus’ rendering, not the Vulgate’s, in]
[Acts xvii. 18.] [3 Dominus noster, Lat. ] [41 Cor. xv. 56; Rom. vi. 23; Heb. ii. 14.];]
nion over him: and because death, by suffering the Lord to pass, is broken, it must needs follow, that the devil and hell are vanquished by Christ; and lastly, that sin, the strength and power of them all, is purely purged. It is evident, therefore, that the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ doth, as it were, certify and by seal assure us of our salvation and redemption, so that now we cannot any longer doubt of it.
We confess, therefore, in this article, that our Lord Jesus Christ is risen again, and that he is risen again for our behoof; that is to say, that he hath wiped away our sins, and that for us he hath conquered death, the devil, and hell, according to the saying of the apostle: God hath saved us, and hath called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and favour, which was given unto us through Jesus Christ before all beginning, but is declared openly now by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath verily put out death, and brought forth life, light, and immortality by the gospels.” There are many more like this in the fourth of his epistle to the Romans, and in the fifteenth of his first to the Corinthians, For the Lord also in the gospel after St John saith: “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, although he be dead, shall live; and every one that liveth and believeth in me shall not die for ever.”
Now also let us throughly consider every word of this article severally by itself. We confess the Lord his resurrection. But a resurrection is to rise again. That riseth which Wnatare falleth. The body of Christ fell, therefore the body of Christ riseth; yea, it riseth again, that is to say, the very same body of Christ, which before it fell did both live and stir, doth now rise again; it doth, I say, both live and stir again. For truly said Tertullian of the resurrection of the flesh, that “this word resurrection is not properly spoken of any thing, save of that which first fell. For nothing can rise again but that that fell. For by rising again, because it fell, we say the resurrection is made; because this syllable re “is never added but when a thing is done again.” Wherefore
[5 2 Tim. i. 9,10. ante tempora eterna, Lat.; Erasmus’ render]
[ing; the Vulgate has, tempora secularia. ] [6 John xi. 25, 26.] (7 Resurrectionis vocabulum non aliam rem vindicat, quam que]
the women in the gospel, when they went to anoint the body of the Lord, which hung upon the cross, did hear the angel of the Lord say: “Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen,” &c. This history of the Lord’s resurrection is set forth in the twenty-fourth after Luke, and the sixteenth after Mark. Peter the apostle also, in the second of the Acts, affirming the Lord’s resurrection by the testimony of David? doth expressly shew that the Lord is verily risen again.
After this we say again, that he is risen out of or from the dead: which member doth express the truth both of his death and resurrection. For the body or flesh dieth, or is destroyed; but, being dead, is raised up again: this body, therefore, or flesh, is raised up again; as though he that maketh confession of his belief should say, Our Lord died even in the very same condition of nature that other mortal men do die in; but he tarried not, nor yet stuck fast among the dead. For the very same mortal flesh, which he had taken unto him, and by dying had laid aside, he now taketh again immortal; as David had foretold before, saying: “Because thou shalt not leave my soul in hell, nor suffer thy Holy One to see corruption” For Christ is the firstbegotten of them that rise again, in whom, as in the head, «there ought to be declared in what sort the resurrection of all Christ his members shall be in the day of judgment.
And we confess that this resurrection was made the third day; I mean the third day after his death. For upon the day of preparation he is taken down from the cross and
carried into a sepulchre, where his body resteth the whole gahbath-day; and about the beginning of the first day of sabbaths5, which, I say, is the first day of the week, and
[cecidit. Surgere enim potest dici et quod omnino non cecidit; quod]
[semper retro jacuit: resurgere autem non est nisi ejus quod cecidit.]
[Iterum enim surgendo, quia cecidit, resurgere dicitur: re enim syllaba]
[iterationi semper adhibetur.—Tertul. Adv. Marcion. Lib. v. cap. 9. ed.]
[Semler. Tom. 1. p. 347.] [1 Luke xxiv. 5, 6.] [2 in prima illa concione sua, Lat. Omitted by the translator: in]
[that his first sermon. ] [3 Psal. xvi. 10.] [ in die parasceves, Lat. Mark xv. 42.] [5 John xx. 1. diei primi sabbatorum, Lat.; Erasmus’ render-]
among us at this day is called Sunday? in the morning he arose again from the dead. Whereas therefore in the twelfth chapter of the gospel after St Matthew we read that the Lord said, “As Jonas was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights;” yet notwithstanding, in the sixteenth and twentieth chapters, expounding himself as having spoken that by synecdoche, he saith: “I must go to Hierusalem, and suffer many things of the scribes and elders, and be killed, and raised up again the third day?”
The sixth article of our faith is: “He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty.” That body, which is of the same substance with our bodies, taken out of the virgin Mary, and taken verily of the substance of the virgin, which hung upon the cross, and died, and was buried, and rose again; the very same body, I say, ascended into the heavens, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father. For after that by the space of forty days our Lord had abundantly enough instructed his disciples touching the truth of his resurrection and the kingdom of God, he was taken up into heaven.
By that ascension of his he declareth to the whole compass of the earth, that he is Lord of all things, and that to him are subject all things that are in heaven and in earth; that he is our strength, the power of the faithful, and he of whom they have to boast against the gates of hell. For he, ascending into heaven, hath led captivity captive; and, by spoiling his enemies, hath enriched his people, on whom he daily heapeth his spiritual gifts. For he sitteth above, that, by pouring his virtue from thence into us, he may quicken us with the spiritual life, and deck us with sundry gifts and graces, and, lastly, defend the church against all evils. For God is our Saviour, King, and Bishop. Whereupon, when as once the Capernaites were offended, because the Lord had called himself the bread of life that came down from heaven to give life unto the world, he saith: “Doth this offend you?
[ing, not the Vulgate’s. The first day of the sabbaths, Cranmer’s]
[Bible. ] [6 dominica, Lat.] [7 ch. xvi. 21, and xx. 18, 19.] [ pontifex, Lat.]]
What therefore if you shall see the Son of man ascend thither where he was before?” As if he should say: Then verily ye will gather, by my quickening, resurrection, and glorious ascension into the heavens, that I am the bread of life, brought down from heaven, and now again taken up into the heavens, there to remain the Saviour, Life, and Lord of heaven and earth. Moreover, St Peter the apostle in the Acts saith: “” Let all the house of Israel know for a surety, that God hath made the same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, Lord and Christ2.” of Furthermore, he did not only rise again from death, and come to his disciples, but also ascended into heaven as they beheld and looked on him, to the end that we thereby might be assuredly certified of eternal salvation. For by ascending he prepared a place for us, he made ready the way; that is, he opened the very heavens to the faithful. God hath placed in heaven the very humanity that he took of us: which is indeed a lively and unreproveable testimony, that all mankind? shall at the last be translated into heaven also. For the members must needs be made conformable to the head. Christ, our Head, is risen again from the dead; therefore we, his members, shall also rise again. And even as a cloud took away the Lord from the sight of his disciples; so shall we that believe be carried in the clouds to meet the Lord, and shall wholly in soul and body be, and for ever dwell, in heaven with our Head and Lord, Christ Jesus. And this doth John evidently teach him that readeth his fourteenth chapter, where. the Lord saith: “I go to prepare a place for you, and will come again to you, and take you unto myself, that wheresoever I am, ye may also be.” Paul the apostle also witnesseth, and saith: “We that live, and shall be remaining in the coming of the Lord, shall be carried in the clouds together with them that are raised up from the dead, to meet the Lord in the airs.”
We confess therefore in this article, that Jesus Christ, being taken up into heaven, is Lord of all things, the King and Bishop, the deliverer and Saviour of all the faithful
[1 John vi. 61, 62.] [2 ch. ii. 36. hunc Jesum, Lat.] [3 rather, “our whole manhood.” totum hominem, Lat.] [41 Thess. iv. 17.]]
in the whole world. We confess, that in Christ, and for Christ, we believe the life everlasting, which we shall have in this body at the end of the world, and in soul so soon as we are once departed out of this world.
But now, by the way, we must weigh the very words of this article. “He ascended,” we say. Who ascended, I pray you? He that was born of the virgin Mary, that was crucified, dead, and buried, that rose again from the dead: he (I say) ascended verily both body and soul. But whither ascended he? Into heaven. Heaven in the scriptures is not taken always in one signification. First, it is put for the firmament, and that large compass that is over our heads, wherein the birds fly to and fro, and in which the stars are placed, that are called the furniture and host of heaven. For saith David: “God is clothed with light, as with a garment: he spreadeth forth the heaven as it were a curtain.” He saith also: “I shall see thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, and the moon and stars which thou hast laid.” And again: “Which covereth the heaven with clouds, and prepareth rain for the earth.” And again: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth forth the works of his hands.” Then also, heaven is taken for the throne and habitation of God: and lastly, for the place, seat, and receptacle of them that are saved, where God giveth himself to be seen and enjoyed of them that be his. For David, witnessing again, saith: “The Lord hath prepared his seat in heaven.” Whereupon the Lord in the gospel saith: “Swear not by heaven; for it is God’s seats.” And the apostle Paul saith: “We know, if our earthly mansion of this tabernacle be destroyed, that we have a dwelling-place for ever in heaven, builded by God, not made by hands” And therefore, in this signification, heaven is called the kingdom of God, the kingdom of the Father, joy, happiness, and felicity, eternal life, peace and quietness. And although God indeed be not shut up in any place, (for he saith, ““Heavenis my seat, and the earth the footstool of my feet!’;)” yet, because the glory of God doth most of all shine in the heavens, and because that in heaven he giveth himself to be seen and enjoyed of them
[[> extentione, Lat] [6 Psal. civ. 2. viii. 3. exlvii. 8. xix 1.] [7 Psal. ciii. 19.] [8 Matt. v. 34.] [ 2 Cor. v. 1.] [10 Isai. Ixvi. 1.] 10 [BULLINGER. ]]
that are his, (according to that saying, “We shall see him even as he is’;” and again, “No man shall see me,” saith the Lord, “and live?;”) therefore God is said to dwell in heaven. Moreover Christ our Lord, touching his divinity, is not shut up in any place; but, according to his humanity once taken, which he drew up into heaven, he is in the very local place of heaven; neither is he in the meantime here in earth and every where bodily, but, being severed from us in body, remaineth in heaven. For he ascendeth, which, leaving that which is below, doth go to that above. Christ therefore, leaving the earth, hath placed a seat for his body above all heavens. Not that he is carried up beyond all heavens; but because, ascending up above all the circles into the utmost and highest heaven, he is taken, I say, into the place appointed for those that are saved. For Paul the apostle, speaking plainly enough to be understood, saith: Our conversation is in heaven, from whence we look for the Saviour to come?” &c. In the same manner also Luke the evangelist saith: “And blessing them, he departed from them, and was carried into heaven.”
But why do I make so much ado about expounding that which is most evidently declared in the very Creed by that at which followeth? For the next is: “He sitteth at the right God hand of God, the Father Almighty.” For by this we understand what kind of place heaven is, and what our Lord doth in heaven. It is not surely for our frailty over-narrowly to seek out or discuss the secrets of heaven; and yet it is not against religion to inquire after that that is taught us in the scriptures, and so perfectly to remember it as it is taught us. Our Lord is simply said to sit; and that too to sit at the right hand of the Father Almighty. Let us therefore see what the right hand of the Father is, and what it is to sit at the right hand of the Father.
The right hand of the Father in the scripture hath two God’s… gjgnifications. First, the right hand of God is the place applace’s pointed for them that are saved, and the everlasting felicity in
[11 John iii. 2.] [2 Exod. xxxiii. 20.] [3 supra omnes orbes, Lat.] [4 Phil. iii. 20.] [6 ch. xxiv. 5.] [6 ex scripture testimoniis, Lat. Omitted by the translator: From]
[the testimonies of seripture. ]]
heaven. This did St Augustine set down to be marked long before us; who, in the twenty and sixth chapter of his book de Agone Christiano, writeth, that the right hand of the Father is the everlasting felicity given to the saints; even as also the left hand is most rightly called the continual misery allotted to the ungodly: not so that by this means, that I have said, the right or left hand is to be understood in respect of God himself, but in respect of his creatures’ capacity”.” And this did St Augustine speak according to the scriptures. For David saith: “The path of life shalt thou make known to me: the fulness of joys is in thy sight; and at thy right hand is gladness for ever” What else is this, than if he had said; Thou shalt bring me into life, I say, into the very heavens, where I shall be filled with joys, both by seeing and beholding thee, and also by enjoying thee: at thy right hand in eternal blessedness are joys everlasting? In the gospel also we read, that the sheep are placed by the Judge at the right hand, and the goats at the left. And when the right hand is taken in this sense, then “to sit” doth signify to rest from all labours, and to live quietly and in happy state. For that saying in.. the prophet is very well known, “A man shall sit under his vine!:” as if he should have said, All things shall be at peace, in safety, and at quiet. So then this that I have said is meant by the right hand of the Father: and where we confess, that the Son doth sit at the right hand of the Father Almighty, we do acknowledge, that our Lord, being delivered from all trouble and mortal infirmities, doth now in his humanity both rest and rejoice in the very local place of heaven, where we believe that both our souls and bodies shall be and live for ever. For the Lord himself in the gospel witnesseth, that in his Father’s house there are many mansions, which he goeth to prepare, that they may have a place; and although he did depart, yet that he would return to them again, and take them unto himself, that where
[7 Dextera Patris est beatitudo perpetua, que sanctis datur; sicut]
[sinistra ejus rectissime dicitur miseria perpetua, que impiis datur: ut]
[non in ipso Deo, sed in creaturis, hoc modo, quo diximus, intelligatur]
[dextera et sinistra.—August. de Agon. Christ. cap. xxvi, Op. Tom. 1π.]
[fol. 164. Par. 1531.] [8 Psal. xvi. 11.] [9 Matt. xxv. 33.] [10 Micah iv. 4.] 10—2]
he is, they also might be in the same place with him!. Wherefore we believe, that Christ is at rest in heaven, where he hath prepared a place of rest for us also, to remain in joys everlasting. And for because our bodies shall not be every where in felicity, but in the only appointed place; therefore saith St Augustine truly, that Christ our Lord, according to the measure of his very body, is in some one place of heaven.” And St Cyprian saith: “To sit at the right hand of the Father is the mystery of his flesh taken up into heaven?”
Secondarily, the right hand of God is put for the virtue, kingdom, protection, deliverance, and power of God. For David saith: “The Lord’s right hand is high: the Lords night hand doth mighty things%” And Moses said: “Thy right hand, O Lord, is magnified in power: thy right hand, O Lord, hath broken the enemy5.” And when the right hand is put in this sense, then “to sit” doth signify to reign, to deliver, to use power, and do the office of a prince. For saith David: “The Lorp said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.” And the prophet Zachary saith: Behold the man that is called the Branch: he shall bud out of his place, and build the temple of the Lord, and sit and rule upon his throne, and be a priest upon his seat”.” In this sense the right hand of God is infinite, and contained in no measure of place. Whereas we confess, that our Lord doth “sit” at the right hand of the Father, we do profess, that the Son is exalted above all things, having all things subject under himself, as Paulin his first chapter to the Ephesians, saith; and finally, that the Son, being so exalted, can do all things, doth reign in the universal church, doth deliver them that are his, doth make intercession to the Father in heaven, and in the power of his Godhead is present in all places. For therefore did the Creed add almightiness to this sitting of his,
[1 John xiv. 2, 3.] [2 Non dubites (Christum esse) in loco aliquo cceli propter veri]
[corporis modum.—August. Op. Par. 1679—1700. Lib. ad Dardan.]
[Tom. 11. col. 692.] 15. Sedere ad dexteram Patris carnis assumpte mysterium est.—]
[Cypr. (Ruffin.) Expos. in Symb. fol. 25. Oxon. 1682.] [ Psal. cxviii. 16.] [5 Exod. xv. 6.] [6 Psal. ex. 1.] [7 ch. vi. 12,13.] [8 et cum, Lat. And whereas, 1577.]]
where it is said, “He sitteth at the right hand of the Father Almighty.” And in St Matthew the Lord saith: “To me is given all might in heaven and in earth: go therefore, and bring all nations unto me?”
So then I suppose that briefly thus I have well declared what manner of place heaven is; to wit, a place of quietness, joy, and everlasting felicity, wherein the Son of God doth sit, doth dwell, and is in his humanity, as we also, that are the members of Christ, shall be in the very same place without all dolour and grief in joy for evermore. And although our Lord be delivered from all grievous business, yet we mean not that he sitteth idly leaning on his elbows. For he is a King, a Priest, and very God in the very temple of God: he cannot choose therefore, of his natural property and office, but work salvation in the elect, and do all things that lie God, a king, and priest, in hand to do. So then now we all know what our Lord doth, as he sitteth in heaven. Neither is it any trouble to him at all to do and work that which he doth; for he worketh not of compulsion, but naturally, and of his own accord.
Thus, and no otherwise, did the ancient interpreters of the holy scriptures handle this article of our belief; some of whose testimonies I will here allege. St Hierome, in his exposition of Paul’s first chapter to the Ephesians, saith: “He hath declared the power of God by the similitude of a man: not because a seat is placed, and God the Father sitteth thereon, having his Son sitting there with him; but because we cannot otherwise conceive how the Son doth judge and reign, but by such words applied to our capacity. As therefore to be next to God, or to depart far from him, is not to be understood according to the distance of places, but after men’s merits, because the saints are heard by him, but the sinners (of whom the prophet saith, Behold, they that get themselves from thee shall perish,’) are removed far enough from coming near him at all; even so likewise, to be either at the right or left hand of God is to be taken so, that the saints are at his right hand, and sinners at his left. As our Saviour himself also in the gospel, affirming the same, doth say, that at the right hand are the sheep, and the goats at the left. More-
[9 ch. xxviii. 18,19.] [1 non otiosum desidere, Lat.]]
over, this very word to sit doth argue the power of a kingdom, by which God is beneficial to them on whom he doth vouchsafe to sit; insomuch as verily he doth rule them, and hath them always in his guiding, and doth turn to his own beck or government the necks of them that before ran out of way at random and at liberty 1.”
St Augustine, in his book de Fide et Symbolo, saith: We believe that he sitteth at the right hand of God the Father. Yet not so therefore, as though we should think that God the Father is comprehended within the limits of a man’s body; so that they that think of him should imagine, that he hath both a right and a left side: and whereas it is said, that the Father sitteth, we must not suppose that he doth sit with bended hams; lest peradventure we fall into the same sacrilege, for which the apostle accurseth them that have changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the similitude of a corruptible man. For a detestable thing it is to place God in such a likeness in a christian church: and much more wicked is it to place it in the heart, where the temple of God is verily and indeed, if it be cleansed from earthly desires and error. We must therefore understand, that at the right hand is as much to say as in greatest happiness, where righteousness and peace and gladness is: even as also the goats are placed at the left hand, that is, in misery for their iniquities to their pain and torment. Whereas God therefore is said to sit, thereby is not meant the placing of his limbs, but his judicial power, which his majesty never
[[ Per humanam similitudinem Dei potentiam demonstravit: non]
[quo solium ponatur, et Deus Pater in eo sedeat, secumque Filium habeat]
[residentem; sed quo nos aliter judicantem atque regnantem nisi per]
[nostra verba intelligere nequeamus. Sicut ergo proximum esse Deo,]
[vel ab eo procul recedere, non secundum locorum spatia, sed juxta]
[merita, sentiendum est; quod sancti juxta eum sint, peccatores vero]
[(de quibus ait propheta, dicens, Ecce qui elongant se a te peribunt) ab]
[omni ejus vicinia submoveantur; sic et in dextris vel in sinistris Dei]
[esse accipiendum est, quod sancti a dextris ejus sint, peccatores vero]
[a sinistris: Salvatore quoque id ipsum in evangelio comprobante,]
[quum oves a dextris, heedos esse memoret a sinistris. Sed et ipsum]
[verbum, sedere, regni significat potestatem, per quam beneficium ejus]
[Deus tribuit, super quibus sedere dignatur; quod scilicet regat eos, et]
[in curru suo habeat, et ad nutum proprium vaga prius et libera colla]
[convertat.—IHieron. Comment. in Ep. ad Ephes. cap. 1. Par. 1706.]
[Tom. 1v. par. 1, col. 335.]]
wanteth in bestowing worthy rewards on those that are worthy of them?” And so forth.
The blessed bishop Fulgentius, in his second book to king Trasimundus, saith: “The Lord, to shew that his humanity is local, saith to his disciples, “1 ascend to my Father and to your Father, my God and your God’” And by and by
“1 19
after: “Declaring the incomprehensibility of his Godhead, he saith to his disciples, ‘ Behold, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world3.’”
The blessed martyr and bishop of Trent, Vigilius, in his first book against heresies, saith: “This was to go to the Father, and to depart from us; to take away out of this world the nature which he took of us. Thou seest therefore, that it was proper to the same nature to be taken away, and to depart from us; according to the words of the angels which said, This Jesus, who is taken up from you, shall come again, even as ye see him go into heaven.’ For see the miracle, see the mystery of both his properties: the Son οἵ God in his humanity is departed from us; according to his divinity he saith to us, “Behold, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” If he be with us, how saith he,
[2 Credimus etiam quod sedet ad dexteram Dei Patris: nec ideo]
[tamen quasi humana forma circumscriptum esse Deum Patrem arbi-]
[trandum est, ut de illo cogitantibus dextrum aut sinistrum latus animo]
[occurrat: aut id ipsum quod sedere Pater dicitur, flexis poplitibus]
[fieri putandum est; ne illud incidamus sacrilegium quo execratur]
[apostolus eos qui commutaverunt gloriam incorruptibilis Dei in simi-]
[litudinem corruptibilis hominis. Tale enim simulacrum Deo nefas est]
[Christiano in templo collocare; multo magis in corde nefarium est, ubi]
[vere est templum Dei, si a terrena cupiditate atque errore mundetur.]
[Ad dexteram ergo intelligendum est dictum esse in summa beatitudine,]
[ἘΠῚ justitia et pax et gaudium est: sicut ad sinistram hzedi constituun-]
[tur, id est, in miseria propter iniquitates, et labores atque cruciatus.]
[Sedere ergo quod dicitur Deus, non membrorum positionem, sed judi-]
[ciariam significat potestatem, qua illa majestas nunquam caret semper]
[digna dignis tribuendo.—De Fide et Symb.. 7. Par. 1531. Tom. mr.]
[fol. 31.] [3 (Dominus) ut localem ostenderet humanitatem suam, dicit dis-]
[cipulis suis: Ascendo ad Patrem meum et ad Patrem vestrum, Deum]
[meum et Deum vestrum.—Immensitatem vero suse divinitatis osten-]
[dens discipulis dicit: Ecce ego vobiscum sum omnibus diebus, usque]
[ad consummationem seculi.—Fulgent. Op. Venet. 1742. ad Trasimund.]
[Lib. 11. cap. xvii. p. 50.]]
‘ The time shall come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it?” Both he is with us, and not with us; because them, whom he hath left and departed from in his manhood?, he hath not left nor forsaken in his Godhead’.”2 This saith he.
The seventh article of our faith is this: From thence «he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.” In the former articles there is set forth and confessed the divine goodness, bountifulness, and grace in Christ: now also shall be declared the divine justice, severity, and vengeance that is in him. For there are two comings of our Lord Jesus Christ. First he came basely in the flesh, to be the Redeemer and Saviour of the world: at the second time he shall come gloriously to judgment, to be a judge and revenger that will not be entreated against all unrepentant sinners and wicked doers. And he shall come out of heaven, from the right hand of the Father, in his visible and very human body, to be seen of all flesh, with the incomprehensible power of his Godhead, and being attended on by all the angels. For the Lord himself in the gospel saith: They shall see the Son man coming in the clouds of heaven with great power and glory, and he shall send his angels with the great sound of a trump3,” &e.
But now, to “judge” is to sit in the tribunal-seat, to hear and discuss matters, to take up strifes, to determine and give
[1 The words manhood and Godhead are transposed in ed. 1577.] [2 Hoc erat ire ad Patrem et recedere a nobis, auferre de hoc]
[mundo naturam, quam susceperat ex nobis. Vides ergo eidem natura]
[proprium fuisse ut auferretur et abiret a nobis, quee in fine temporum]
[reddenda est nobis, secundum attestantium vocem angelorum, Hie]
[Jesus qui receptus est a vobis, sic veniet, quemadmodum vidistis eum]
[euntem in ccelum. Nam vide miraculum, vide utriusque proprietatis]
[mysterium: Dei Filius secundum humanitatem suam recessit a nobis 3]
[secundum divinitatem suam ait nobis, Ecce ego vobiscum sum omnibus]
[diebus usque ad consummationem seculi. Si nobiscum est, quomodo]
[ait, Venient dies quando desideretis diem unum Filii hominis, et non]
[videbitis? Sed et nobiscum est, et non est nobiscum; quia quos re-]
[liquit et a quibus discessit humanitate sua, non reliquit nec deseruit]
[divinitate sua.—Vigil. adv. Eutych. in Cassandr. Op. Par. 1616. Lib. 1.]
[p- 518.] [3 Matt. xxiv. 30, 31.]]
sentence, and lastly, to defend and deliver, and again, to chastise and punish, and by that means to keep under and suppress injury and malice. We believe therefore, that our Lord Jesus Christ in that day shall deliver all the godly, and destroy all the wicked; according to the words of the apostle, who saith: “Our Lord shall be revealed from heaven with the angels of his power, with a burning flame, and shall lay vengeance on them that have not known God;” and again, “The same just Judge shall give a crown of righteousness to all them that love his coming5.”
The manner of this judgment the writings of the evangelists and apostles do tell us shall be in this sort. When once the wickedness of this world shall come to the full, and that antichrist shall have deceived the world, so that there is but little faith remaining, and that the wicked shall say, Peace and quietness; then shall a sudden destruction come. For our Lord, the Judge, shall send his archangel, to blow the trump, and to gather together from the four winds all flesh to judgment: by and by after shall the Judge himself, our Lord Jesus Christ, follow with all the host of heaven: and he shall descend out of heaven into the clouds: and, sitting aloft in the clouds as in a judgment-seat, shall be easily seen of all flesh. For they that shall be then living at the day of judgment, shall in a very prick of time be changed, and stand before the Judge; and all the dead shall in a moment rise up again. Then shall the Judge divide the sheep from the goats, and, according to justice shall give judgment with the sheep” and against the goats, saying, “Come, ye blessed,” &ec., and, “Go, ye cursed,” &c. Presently after shall follow execution. For the sheep shall by and by be caught up into the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and shall ascend with him joyfully into heaven to the right hand of God the Father, there to live for ever in glory and gladness. The bottom of the earth shall gape 8 for the wicked, and shall suck them all up horribly, and send them down to hell, there to be tormented for ever with Satan and his angels. ΑἸ] this shall be
[2 2 Thess. i. 7, 8.] [5 2 Tim. iv. 8.] [6 in puncto, Lat. 1 Cor. xv. 52. Erasmus, in puncto temporis.]
[Vulgate, in momento. ] [7 pro ovibus, Lat.] [8 dehiscet ima tellus, Lat. ]]
done, not by any long, troublesome, or changeable process, as is used in our courts of law, but even in the twinkling of an eye. For then shall all men’s hearts be laid open, and every man’s own conscience shall accuse himself. This is more at large set out in Matt. xxiv. and xxv., Wisd. iii. and v.,’ 1 Cor. xv., 2 Cor. v., 1 Thess. iv., v., Rom. ii., 2 Pet.}iii. &e.
Now we do simply confess, that the quick and the dead shall be judged. This do some expound of the godly and ungodly. But the Symbol or Creed was ordained for the most simple of understanding; and simple things are fittest for to teach simple men. Therefore we say simply, that the dead are all they, that from the beginning of the world even until the last day are departed out of this mortal life: and the living are they, which at that day shall be alive in this world. For the apostle saith: Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed by the last trump, in a moment of time, and in the twinkling of an eye. For the trump shall sound, and the dead shall rise again incorruptible, and we shall be changed!” And again, in another place, the same apostle saith: This I say unto you in the word of the Lord, that we, which shall live and be remaining at the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. Because the Lord himself shall come down out of heaven with a great noise, and the voice of an archangel, and the trump of God: and first shall the dead in Christ rise up again; then shall we, which shall be alive and be remaining, be caught up together with them in the clouds into the air to meet the Lord: and so shall we be with the Lord for evermore?”
We confess therefore in this seventh article, that we most believe there shall be an end of all things in this world, and that the felicity of the wicked shall not endure for ever. For we believe that God is a just God, who hath given all judgment unto his Son, to repay to every one in that day according to his works, pains to the wicked that never shall be ended, and to the godly joys everlasting. And so in this article we profess, that we look for a deliverance, a ceasing
[1 Cor. xv. 51, 52. per extremam tubam, Lat. and Erasmus. The]
[Vulgate has, in novissima tuba. ] [2 1 Thess. iv. 156—17.]]
from troubles, and the reward of life everlasting. For how should he destroy them that believe in him, his people and his servants, who in the most true gospel saith, Verily, I say unto you, that ye, which have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of his majesty, ye also shall sit upon twelve seats judging the twelve tribes of Israel?” There are most certain rewards and penalties appointed for the godly and ungodly in the word of truth. He cannot lie that said to Esay: “Say to the righteous, that it shall go well with him; for he shall enjoy the fruit of his study. But woe be to the wicked: it shall be evil with him; for he shall be rewarded according to the works of his own hands?” And thus much touching the second part of the Creed. Now are we come to the third part.
The eighth article of our belief is this: “I believe in the Holy Ghost.” This third part of the Creed containeth the property of the third Person in the reverend Trinity. And we do rightly believe in the Holy Ghost, as well as in the Father and the Son. For the Holy Ghost is one God with the Father and the Son: and rightly is faith in the Holy Ghost joined to faith in the Father and the Son. For by him the fruit of God’s salvation, fulfilled in the Son, is sealed to us, and our sanctification and cleansing is bestowed on us, and derived from him to us, by the Holy Ghost. For the apostle saith: God, which anointed us, is he also which hath sealed us, and hath given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts” And again: “Ye were indeed defiled with naughtiness; but now ye are cleansed, and sanctified, and lastly justified, through the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our GodS” The Father indeed doth sanctify too, but by the blood of Jesus Christ, and poureth the same sanctification out of him into us by the Holy Ghost: so that it is, as it were, the property of the Holy Ghost to sanctify; whereupon he is called Holy or the Sanctifier. Therefore, so often as we hear the Holy Ghost named, we must by and by think of the power in working, which the scripture attributeth
[3 Matt. xix. 28.] [4 ch. iii. 10, 11.] [6 2 Cor. i. 21, 22.] [61 Cor. vi. 11.]]
to him, and we must look after the benefits that from him do flow to us. For the power, operation, or action of the Spirit is that, whatsoever the grace of God doth work in us through the Son: so that of necessity we must believe in the Holy Ghost. And in this eighth article we do profess, that we do verily believe, that all the faithful are cleansed, washed, regenerated, sanctified, enlightened, and enriched of God with divers gifts of grace for Christ his sake, but yet through the Holy Ghost. For without him there is no true sanctification: wherefore we ought not to attribute these gifts of grace to any other means; this glory belongeth to the Holy Ghost only. Of whom I will more largely and fully discourse in my other sermons.
The hour is spent, which warneth me to wrap up briefly and make an end; therefore I exhort you all to have your faith religiously bent upon the Lord Jesus: for him hath the heavenly Father sent to us, in him hath he wholly expressed and shewed himself to us, and him doth the Holy Ghost print in our hearts and keep in our minds. And in Christ is all man’s salvation and every part thereof contained; wherefore we must beware that we derive it not from any thing else. “It pleased the Father,” saith the apostle, that all fulness should dwell in the Son,” and in him to recapitulate, and as it were, to bring into a sum, all points of salvation, that in him all the faithful may be fulfilled’. For if salvation be sought, then even by his very name are we taught that salvation is in his power: for he is called Jesus, that is, a Saviour. If we desire the Holy Spirit of God and his sundry gifts, we shall find them also in the anointing of Christ: for he is called Christ, the Anointed, I say, the Holy of holies, and the sanctifier, or else the anointer of us with his Spirit. If any man have need of strength and might, of power and deliverance, well, he hath to look for it in Christ his dominion: for Christ is Lord of all. In the same Christ we find redemption: for he hath redeemed us that were sold under Satan’s yoke. In his conception we have purity; in his nativity we have sufferance?: for he became like to us, that he might suffer grief as well as
[1 Col. i. 19; Ephes. i. 10. ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι, id est, recapitulari.]
[—Erasm. Annot. in loc. cit.] [2 indulgentiam, Lat.]]
wed. For in his passion we have forgiveness of sins, in his condemnation we have absolution, satisfaction in his offering or cleansing sacrifice, cleansing in his blood, and an universal reconciliation in his descending into hell. In his burial we have the mortification of our flesh, the newness of life; yea rather, the immortality of the soul, and resurrection of our bodies in his glorious resurrection. We have also the inheritance of the heavenly kingdom, with the assured sealing thereof, in his ascension and sitting at the right hand of the Father. And there is he our Mediator, Priest, and King, our safeguard and our head, our defender and most sure rest’. From thence he poureth into us his Holy Spirit, the fulness of all good things; and doth communicate himself wholly to us, joining us unto himself with an indissoluble knot. From thence we do with confidence and joy look for him to be our Judge, to be, I say, our patron and deliverer, which shall condemn and send down headlong into hell all our enemies with Satan; but shall take us and all the faithful of every age up into heaven with himself, there to sing a new song, and to rejoice in him for ever. ΤῸ him be glory for ever. Amen. OF THE LATTER ARTICLES OF CHRISTIAN FAITH CON-
Tained in the Apostles Creed. The Ninth Sermon
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