XII. And therefore He came after Christ,
that a Comforter should not be lacking unto us; but Another
Comforter, that you might acknowledge His co-equality. For this
word Another marks an Alter Ego, a name of equal Lordship, not of
inequality. For Another is not said, I know, of different kinds,
but of things consubstantial. And He came in the form of Tongues
because of His close relation to the Word. And they were of Fire,
perhaps because of His purifying Power (for our Scripture knows of a
purifying fire, as any one who wishes can find out), or else because of
His Substance. For our God is a consuming Fire, and a
Fire Heb. xii. 20. burning up the ungodly; Deut. iv. 24. though you may again pick a quarrel over
these words, being brought into difficulty by the
Consubstantiality. And the tongues were cloven, because of the
diversity of Gifts; and they sat to signify His Royalty and Rest among
the Saints, and because the Cherubim are the Throne of God. And
it took place in an Upper Chamber (I hope I am not seeming to any one
over tedious), because those who should receive it were to ascend and
be raised above the earth; for also certain upper chambers Ps. civ. 3. are covered with Divine Waters, Ps. cxlviii. 4. by which the praise of God are sung.
And Jesus Himself in an Upper Chamber gave the Communion of the
Sacrament to those who were being initiated into the higher Mysteries,
that thereby might be shewn on the one hand that God must come down to
us, as I know He did of old to Moses; and on the other that we must go
up to Him, and that so there should come to pass a Communion of God
with men, by a coalescing of the dignity. For as long as either
remains on its own footing, the One in His Glory ἐπὶ
περιοπῆς; Billius
renders “In specula sua,” “On His watch
tower,” and the meaning is admissible, but the context seems
rather to point to the passive sense of Majesty or Glory. The
word is not in the Lexicon, and Suicer does not notice it; but the
corresponding adjective has only the passive sense.
Specula, however, is used in the sense of Eminence, but apparently only
geographically. the other in his lowliness, so long the
Goodness of God cannot mingle with us, and His lovingkindness is
incommunicable, and there is a great gulf between, which cannot be
crossed; and which separates not only the Rich Man from Lazarus and
Abraham’s Bosom which he longs for, but also the created and
changing natures from that which is eternal and immutable.