{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/210/2100207.htm","path":"chr/ecf/210/2100207.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/210/2100207.htm","text":"The goodness of the Son of God is proved from His works, namely, His benefits that He showed towards the people of Israel under the Old Covenant, and to Christians under the New. It is to one\u2019s own interest to believe in the goodness of Him Who is one\u2019s Lord and Judge. The Father\u2019s testimony to the Son. No small number of the Jewish people bear witness to the Son; the Arians therefore are plainly worse than the Jews. The words of the Bride, declaring the same goodness of Christ.\n20. Howbeit, I would not that the Son should rely on the mere prerogative of His nature and the claims of peculiar rights of His Majesty. Let us not call Him good, if He merit not the title; and if He merit not this by works, by acts of lovingkindness, let Him waive the right He enjoys by virtue of His nature, and be submitted to our judgment. He Who is to judge us disdains not to be brought to judgment, that He may be \u201cjustified in His saying, and clear when He is judged.\u201d 1923\n21. Is He then not good, Who hath shown me good things? Is He not good, Who when six hundred thousand of the people of the Jews fled before their pursuers, suddenly opened the tide of the Red Sea, an unbroken mass of waters?\u2014so that the waves flowed round the faithful, and were walls to them, but poured back and overwhelmed the unbelievers. 1924\n22. Is He not good, at Whose command the seas became firm ground for the feet of them that fled, and the rocks gave forth water for the thirsty? 1925 so that the handiwork of the true Creator might be known, when the fluid became solid, and the rock streamed with water? That we might acknowledge this as the handiwork of Christ, the Apostle said: \u201cAnd that rock was Christ.\u201d 1926\n23. Is He not good, Who in the wilderness fed with bread from heaven such countless thousands of the people, lest any famine should assail them, without need of toil, in the enjoyment of rest?\u2014so that, for the space of forty years, their raiment grew not old, nor were their shoes worn, 1927 a figure to the faithful of the Resurrection that was to come, showing that neither the glory of great deeds, nor the beauty of the power wherewith He hath clothed us, nor the stream of human life is made for nought?\n24. Is He not good, Who exalted earth to heaven, so that, just as the bright companies of stars reflect His glory in the sky, as in a glass, so the choirs of apostles, martyrs, and priests, shining like glorious stars, might give light throughout the world. 1928\n25. Not only, then, is He good, but He is more. He is a good Shepherd, not only for p. 227 Himself, but to His sheep also, \u201cfor the good shepherd layeth down his life for his sheep.\u201d Aye, He laid down His life to exalt ours\u2014but it was in the power of His Godhead that He laid it down and took it again: \u201cI have power to lay down My life, and I have power to take it. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.\u201d 1929\n26. Thou seest His goodness, in that He laid it down of His own accord: thou seest His power, in that He took it again\u2014dost thou deny His goodness, when He has said of Himself in the Gospel, \u201cIf I am good, why is thine eye evil\u201d? 1930 Ungrateful wretch what doest thou? Dost thou deny His goodness, in Whom is thy hope of good things\u2014if, indeed, thou believest this? Dost thou deny His goodness, Who hath given us what \u201ceye hath not seen, nor ear heard?\u201d 1931\n27. It concerns my interest to believe Him to be good, for \u201cIt is a good thing to trust in the Lord.\u201d 1932 It is to my interest to confess Him Lord, for it is written: \u201cGive thanks unto the Lord, for He is good.\u201d 1933\n28. It is to my interest to esteem my Judge to be good, for the Lord is a righteous Judge to the house of Israel. If, then, the Son of God is Judge, surely, seeing that the Judge is the righteous God and the Son of God is Judge, [it follows that] He who is Judge and Son of God is the righteous God. 1934\n29. But perchance thou believest not others, nor the Son. Hear, then, the Father saying: \u201cMy heart hath brought forth out of its depth the good Word.\u201d 1935 The Word, then, is good\u2014the Word, of Whom it is written: \u201cAnd the Word was with God, and the Word was God.\u201d 1936 If, therefore, the Word is good, and the Son is the Word of God, surely, though it displease the Arians, the Son of God is God. Let them now at least blush for shame.\n30. The Jews used to say: \u201cHe is good.\u201d Though some said: \u201cHe is not,\u201d yet others said: \u201cHe is good,\u201d\u2014and ye do all deny His goodness.\n31. He is good who forgives the sin of one man; is He not good Who has taken away the sin of the world? For it was of Him that it was said: \u201cBehold the Lamb of God, behold Him Who taketh away the sin of the world.\u201d 1937\n32. But why do we doubt? The Church hath believed in His goodness all these ages, and hath confessed its faith in the saying: \u201cLet Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth; for thy breasts are better than wine;\u201d 1938 and again: \u201cAnd thy throat is like the goodliest wine.\u201d Of His goodness, therefore, He nourisheth us with the breasts of the Law and Grace, soothing men\u2019s sorrows with telling them of heavenly things; and do we, then, deny His goodness, when He is the manifestation of goodness, expressing in His Person the likeness of the Eternal Bounty, even as we showed above that it was written, that He is the spotless reflection and counterpart of that Bounty? 1939\nPs. li. 4 (Prayer-book).\n226:1924\n\u201cHath shown me good things.\u201d\u2014Ps. xiii. 6. For the passage of the Red Sea, vide Ex. xiv.\n226:1925 226:1926 226:1927\nExod. 16:12, Deut. 8:3, 4, Deut. 29:5, Ps. 78:24, 25, Ps. 105:40, John 6:31, 1 Cor. 10:3.\n226:1928\nCf. S. Matt. 13:43, Dan. 12:3. The radiance of these heavenly choirs is the reflection of Him Who is the Light of the World, the True Light.\u2014S. John 1:9, John 8:12, John 12:46, Rev. 21:23, Rev. 22:5.\n227:1929\nS. John 10:11, 17, 18.\n227:1930\nS. Matt. xx. 15 (the rendering in the Bible is slightly different).\n227:1931 227:1932 227:1933\nPs. 18:1, Ps. 36:1, Ps. 6:1, Ps. 7:1.\n227:1934\nSt. Ambrose\u2019s syllogism appears to be: The Judge is the righteous God, the Son of God is the Judge; therefore, the Son of God is the righteous God.\n227:1935 227:1936\nS. John i. 1.\n227:1937\nThe reff. in \u00a7\u00a7 30 and 31 are to John 7:12, John 1:29.\n227:1938 227:1939","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. X: Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons.: Chapter II. The goodness of the Son of God is proved from His works, namely, His benefits that He showed towards the people of Israel under the Old Covenant, and to Christians under the New. It is to one's own interest to believe in the goodness of Him Who is one's Lord and Judge. The Father's testimony to the Son. No small number of the Jewish people bear witness to the Son; the Arians therefore are plainly worse than the Jews. The words of the Bride, declaring the same goodness of Christ.","type":"page"}