it is also proper, that those which follow on to glory should know Him who bestows upon
them the gift of glory.
2. Then again Matthew, when speaking of the angel, says, “The angel of the Lord appeared
to Joseph in sleep.”729 Of what Lord he does himself interpret: “That it may be fulfilled
which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, Out of Egypt have I called my son.”730 “Behold,
a virgin shall conceive, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel;
which is, being interpreted, God with us.”731 David likewise speaks of Him who, from the
virgin, is Emmanuel: “Turn not away the face of Thine anointed. The Lord hath sworn a
truth to David, and will not turn from him. Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy
seat.”732 And again: “In Judea is God known; His place has been made in peace, and His
dwelling in Zion.”733 Therefore there is one and the same God, who was proclaimed by the
prophets and announced by the Gospel; and His Son, who was of the fruit of David’s body,
that is, of the virgin of [the house of] David, and Emmanuel; whose star also Balaam thus
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prophesied: “There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a leader shall rise in Israel.”734 But
Matthew says that the Magi, coming from the east, exclaimed “For we have seen His star in
the east, and are come to worship Him;”735 and that, having been led by the star into the
house of Jacob to Emmanuel, they showed, by these gifts which they offered, who it was
that was worshipped; myrrh, because it was He who should die and be buried for the mortal
human race; gold, because He was a King, “of whose kingdom is no end;”736 and frankincense,
because He was God, who also “was made known in Judea,”737 and was “declared to those
who sought Him not.”738
3. And then, [speaking of His] baptism, Matthew says, “The heavens were opened, and
He saw the Spirit of God, as a dove, coming upon Him: and lo a voice from heaven, saying,
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”739 For Christ did not at that time
descend upon Jesus, neither was Christ one and Jesus another: but the Word of God—who
is the Saviour of all, and the ruler of heaven and earth, who is Jesus, as I have already pointed
729 Matt. i. 20.
730 Matt. ii. 15.
731 Matt. i. 23.
732 Ps. cxxxii. 11.
733 Ps. lxxvi. 1.
734 Num. xxiv. 17.
735 Matt. ii. 2.
736 Luke i. 33.
737 Ps. lxxvi. 1.
738 Isa. lxv. 1. [A beautiful idea for poets and orators, but not to be pressed dogmatically.]
739 Matt. iii. 16.
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Chapter IX.—One and the same God, the Creator of heaven and earth, is He…