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I want you to tell me, you heretic, whether in this passage He who, as
the Apostle tells us, speaks in him, is man or God. If He is man, how can
another's body speak in his heart? If God, then Christ is not a man but
God; for since Christ spoke in the Apostle, and only God could speak in
him, therefore a Divine Christ spoke in him. And so you see that there is
nothing to be said here, that no division or separation can be made between
Christ and God: because complete Divinity was in Christ, and Christ was
completely in God. No division or severing of the two can here be admitted.
There is only one simple, pious, and sound confession to be made; viz., to
adore, love, and worship Christ as God. But do you want to understand more
fully and thoroughly that there is no separation to be made between God and
Christ, and that we must hold that God is altogether one with Christ? Hear
what the Apostle says to the Corinthians: "For we must all be manifested
before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the proper
things of the body, according as he hath done, whether it be good or
evil." But in another passage, in writing to the Romans he says: "We
shall all stand before the judgment seat of God: for it is written: As I
live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall
confess to God." You see then that the judgment seat of God is the same
as that of Christ; understand then without any doubt that Christ is God;
and when you see that the substance of God and Christ is altogether
inseparable, admit also that the Person cannot be severed. Unless forsooth
because the Apostle in one Epistle said that we should be manifested before
the judgment seat of Christ, and in another before that of God, you invent
two judgment seats, and fancy that some will be judged by Christ and others
by God. But this is foolish and wild, and madder than a madman's
utterances. Acknowledge then the Lord of all, the God of the universe,
acknowledge the judgment seat of God in the judgment seat of Christ. Love
life, love your salvation, love Him by whom you were created. Fear Him by
whom you are to be judged. For whether you will or no, you have to be
manifested before the judgment seat of Christ, and laying aside wicked
blasphemy and the childish talk of unbelieving words, though you think that
the judgment seat of God is different from that of Christ, you will come
before the judgment seat of Christ, and will find by evidence that there is
no gainsaying, that the judgment seat of God is indeed the same as that of
Christ, and that in Christ the Son of God, there is all the glory of God
the Son, and the power of God the Father. "For the Father judgeth no man,
but hath committed all judgment to the Son, that all men may honour the Son
as they honour the Father." For whoever denies the Father denies the
Son also. "Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that
confesseth the Son, hath the Father also." And so you should learn that
the glory of the Father and the Son is inseparable, and their majesty is
inseparable also and that the Son cannot be honoured without the Father,
nor the Father without the Son. But no man can honour God and the Son of
God except in Christ the only-begotten Son of God. For it is impossible for
a man to have the Spirit of God who is to be honoured except in the Spirit
of Christ, as the Apostle says: "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the
Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. But if any man have
not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." And again: "Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he
that condemneth? It is Christ Jesus who died, yea rather who rose
again." You see then now, even against your will, that there is
absolutely no difference between the Spirit of God and the Spirit of
Christ, or between the judgment of God and the judgment of Christ. Choose
then which you will --for one of the two must happen--either acknowledge in
faith that Christ is God, or admit that God is in Christ at your
condemnation.
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