In fine, this wise man concludes this book of his by saying, "Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is every man.For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every despised person, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."(3) What truer, terser, more salutary enouncement could be made? "Fear God, he says, and keep His commandments: for this is every man." For whosoever has real existence, is this, is a keeper of God's commandments;and he who is not this, is nothing.For so long as he remains in the likeness of vanity, he is not renewed in the image of the truth."For God shall bring into judgment every work,"--that is, whatever man does in this life,--"whether it be good or whether it be evil, with every despised person,"--that is, with every man who here seems despicable, and is therefore not considered;for God sees even him and does not despise him nor pass him over in His judgment.
CHAP.4.--THAT PROOFS OF THE LAST JUDGMENTWILL BE ADDUCED, FIRST FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT, AND THEN FROM THE OLD.
The proofs, then, of this last judgment of God which I propose to adduce shall be drawn first from the New Testament, and then from the Old.For although the Old Testament is prior in point of time the New has the precedence in intrinsic value; for the Old acts the part of herald to the New.We shall therefore first cite passages from the New Testament, and confirm them by quotations from the Old Testament.The Old contains the law and the prophets, the New the gospel and the apostolic epistles.Now the apostle says "By the law is the knowledge of sin.But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;now the righteousness of God is by faith of Jesus Christ upon all them that believe."(4) This righteousness of God belongs to the New Testament, and evidence for it exists in the old books, that is to say, in the law and the prophets.I shall first, then state the case, and then call the witnesses.This order Jesus Christ Himself directs us to observe, saying, "The scribe instructed in the kingdom of God is like a good householder, bringing out of his treasure things new and old."(5) He did not say" old and new," which He certainly would have said had He not wished to follow the order of merit rather than that of time.
CHAP.5.--THE PASSAGES IN WHICH THE SAVIOUR DECLARES THAT THERE SHALLBE A DIVINE
JUDGMENT IN THE END OF THE WORLD.
The Saviour Himself, while reproving the cities in which He had done great works, but which had not believed, and while setting them in unfavorable comparison with foreign cities, says, "But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you."(6) And a little after He says, "Verily, I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee."(7) Here He most plainly predicts that a day of judgment is to come.
And in another place He says, "The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the utter most parts of the earth to hear the words of Solomon; and behold, a greater than Solomon is here."(1) Two things we learn from this passage, that a judgment is to take place, and that it is to take place at the resurrection of the dead.
For when He spoke of the Ninevites and the queen of the south, He certainly spoke of dead persons, and yet He said that they should rise up in the day of judgment.He did not say, "They shall condemn," as if they themselves were to be the judges, but because, in comparison with them, the others shall be justly condemned.
Again, in another passage, in which He was speaking of the present intermingling and future separation of the good and bad,--the separation which shall be made in the day of judgment,--He adduced a comparison drawn from the sown wheat and the tares sown among them, and gave this explanation of it to His disciples:
"He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man,"(2) etc.Here, indeed, He did not name the judgment or the day of judgment, but indicated it much more clearly by describing the circumstances, and foretold that it should take place in the end of the world.
In like manner He says to His disciples, "Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."(3) Here we learn that Jesus shall judge with His disciples.And therefore He said elsewhere to the Jews, "If I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges."(4) Neither ought we to suppose that only twelve men shall judge along with Him, though He says that they shall sit upon twelve thrones; for by the number twelve is signified the completeness of the multitude of those who shall judge.
For the two parts of the number seven (which commonly symbolizes totality), that is to say four and three, multiplied into one another, give twelve.For four times three, or three times four, are twelve.There are other meanings, too, in this number twelve.