CHAPTER 2

Psalm xlvi.

The Ascent of God Who had First descended, and the Calling of all the Gentiles thereafter, to know the One and Only God.

[Passage quoted, Ps. xlvi. 1-9.]

WHAT can the Ascension of the Lord God here mentioned imply, but a Descent previous to His Ascension, after which the calling of all the Gentiles is again prophesied, and good news of joy and gladness announced to all nations in their future knowledge of God, when the Lord Himself, He that is the one Most High God and King of all the earth, is said to subdue the peoples under us. And who are meant by "us"? Surely those who give the prophecy: which will be clearly seen to be fulfilled, when all the nations that believe in Christ are subdued to the teaching of the prophets.

Or they might be spoken in the person of our Saviour's apostles, who also could say, "He has chosen out an inheritance for us." And what else could be understood by "his inheritance," but the calling of all nations, which the Christ of God shewed forth Himself, when He said: "The Lord said unto me, Thou art my Son: to-day have I begotten thee . . . Desire of me and I shall give the heathen for thine inheritance, and the bounds of the earth for thy possession? "This inheritance, then, that was given Him by the Father He subordinated to His apostles and prophets, by subduing those that believed on Him to their words agreeably to the above prophecies.

And the Word of God, of Whom I have discoursed so much, after accomplishing all things in His appearance among men, "ascended with a shout." This is interpreted by the apostle, who says: "That he ascended, what is it but - 4 - that he also descended first to the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same as He Who ascended far above all heavens." And he says that He ascended with a shout, because of the companies of angels proclaiming His Divinity as He went up, who also said: "Open your gates, ye rulers, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in."

And you would not err in identifying the sound of the trumpet with the preaching of the Gospel heard in all the world. For as the trumpet is the loudest of all musical instruments, it seems a fit symbol to shew forth that the teaching given to all men about Christ is proclaimed in stronger and louder tones than any other teaching has ever been, by which as by a trumpet for the hearing of all men the Holy Spirit shouts and cries what follows in this Psalm, "Sing to the Lord, sing, sing to our King, sing, That God is King "not only of the Jewish race in the future, he says, but "of all the earth, sing with understanding."

No more the daemons of old, he says, no more the earth-bound and weak spirits, but God Himself rules over all the nations, God Himself, Who sits upon His holy seat.

I have already in the preceding book treated of the throne of God the Word, on which the Father bade Him sit, "Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet." And we can still more clearly refer the words, "The princes of the peoples were gathered together with the God of Abraham," to the Gentile rulers of the Christian Church coming into the inheritance of God's pious prophets of old, who, waxing strong by the power of the Saviour, have been lifted up, no man being able to cast them down or humble them because of the right hand of God that raises them and gives them power. But of this I will give fuller treatment when I have leisure.