150.
"From the beginning I have known," he saith, "as concerning Thy testimonies, that Thou hast grounded them for ever" 1 (ver. 152)...What are these testimonies, save those wherein God hath declared that He will give an everlasting kingdom unto His sons? And since He hath declared that He will give this in His only-begotten Son, he said that the testimonies themselves were grounded for ever. For that which God hath promised through them, was everlasting. And for this reason the words, "Thou hast grounded them," are rightly thus understood, because they are shown to be true in Christ. 2 Whence then did the Psalmist know this in the beginning, save because the Church speaketh, which was not wanting to the earth from the commencement of the human race, the first-fruits whereof was the holy Abel, himself sacrificed in testimony of the future blood of the Mediator that should be shed by a wicked brother? 3 For this also was at the beginning, "They two shall be one flesh:" 4 which great mystery the Apostle Paul expounding, saith, "I speak concerning Christ and the Church." 5
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[Here the author says: "The Greek word katarchas hath been variously rendered by the Latin translators by ab initio, initio, and in initiis. Those who rendered it in the plural, have followed the Greek phrase. But it is more usual in the Latin tongue to express the idea conveyed by katarchas, which in the Greek is used in the plural or adverbially, by the words ab initio, or initio; just as with us, when we say, Otherwise I do this (alias hoc facio), we seem to be using the plural of the feminine gender, whereas the word is an adverb, and signifies, at another time."--C.] ↩
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1 Cor. iii. 11. ↩
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Gen. iv. 8. ↩
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Gen. ii. 24. ↩
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Eph. v. 32. ↩
