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"THOU art then," he says, "our God, and we knew Thee not, O God of
Israel the Saviour." Who do you imagine chiefly say this; and in whose
mouths are such words specially suitable, Jews or Gentiles? If you say
Jews: certainly the Jews did not know Christ, as it is said, "But Israel
hath not known Me, My people have not considered;" and, "The world was
made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own
received Him not." But if you say Gentiles, it is clear that the Gentile
world was given over to idols, and knew not Christ, though it knew not the
Father any more; but still if it has now come to know Him, it is only
through Christ. You see then that whether the believing people belong to
the Jews or the Gentiles, in either case they can truly say for themselves:
"Thou art our God; and we knew Thee not, O God of Israel the Saviour." For
the Gentiles who formerly worshipped idols knew not God; and the Jews who
denied the Lord, knew not the Son of God. And thus both truly say of
Christ: "Thou art our God and we knew Thee not." For those who did not
believe in God were as ignorant of Him as those who denied the Son of God.
If therefore Christ is to be believed in, as the truth declares, as the
Deity asserts, as indeed Christ Himself declares, who is both, why are you
miserably trying in your madness to interpose between God and Christ? Why
do you seek to divide His body from the Son of God, and try to separate God
from Himself? You are severing what is one, and dividing what is joined
together. Believe the Word of God concerning God: for you cannot possibly
make a better confession of God's Divinity than by confessing with your
voice that which God teaches about Himself. For you must knew that, as the
Prophet says, "the Lord Himself is God, who found out all the way of
knowledge; who was seen upon earth and conversed with men." He brought
the light of faith into the world. He showed the light of salvation. "For
God is the Lord, and hath given us light." Then believe Him, and love
Him, and confess Him. For since, as it is written, "Every knee shall bow to
Him, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth,
and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord in the glory of
God the Father," whether you will or no, you cannot deny that Jesus
Christ is Lord in the glory of God the Father. For this is the crowning
virtue of a perfect confession, to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is ever
Lord and God in the glory of God the Father.
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