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031 - Homily 16 Part 3 - Romans 91 · Homilies on Romans

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  Speaker 1: Homily thirty one of Homilie's on Romans by John Chrysostom,
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  Speaker 1: translated by J. B. Morris. This LibriVox recording is in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. Homily sixteen, Part three, Romans nine, vers one,
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  Speaker 1: Verse twenty. Nay, but o man, who art thou that
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  Speaker 1: repliest against God? This he does to take down the
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  Speaker 1: objects unreasonable inquisitiveness and excessive curiosity, and to put a
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  Speaker 1: check upon it, and teach him to know what God
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  Speaker 1: is and what man, and how incomprehensible his foreknowledge is,
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  Speaker 1: and how far above our reason, and how obedience to
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  Speaker 1: Him in all points is binding. So when he has
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  Speaker 1: made this preparatory step in his hearer, and has hushed
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  Speaker 1: and softened down his spirit, then with great felicity he
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  Speaker 1: introduces the answer, having made what he says easy of
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  Speaker 1: admittance with him. And he does not say it is
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  Speaker 1: impossible to answer questions of this kind, No, but what
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  Speaker 1: but that it is presumptuous to raise them, For our
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  Speaker 1: business is to obey what God has said, not to
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  Speaker 1: be curious, even if we do not know the reason
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  Speaker 1: of them. Wherefore, he says, who art thou that thou
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  Speaker 1: repliest against God? You see how very light he makes
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  Speaker 1: of him, how he bears down his swelling spirit. Who
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  Speaker 1: art thou, art thou a sharer of his power? Nay
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  Speaker 1: art thou sitting in judgment upon God? Why in comparison
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  Speaker 1: with him thou canst not have a being, even not
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  Speaker 1: this or that sort of being, but absolutely none? For
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  Speaker 1: the expression who art thou doth much more set him
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  Speaker 1: at naught than thou art nothing. And he takes other
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  Speaker 1: ways of showing further his indignation in the question, and
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  Speaker 1: does not say, who art thou that answerest God? But
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  Speaker 1: that repliest against that? Is that gain sayest, and that
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  Speaker 1: opposest for thee saying things ought to be so and
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  Speaker 1: ought not to be so? Is what a man does
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  Speaker 1: that replies against See how he scares them, how he
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  Speaker 1: terrifies them, how he makes them tremble rather than be
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  Speaker 1: questioning and curious. This is what an excellent teacher does.
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  Speaker 1: He does not follow his disciples fancy everywhere, but leads
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  Speaker 1: them to his own mind and pulls up the thorns,
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  Speaker 1: and then puts the seed in, and does not answer
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  Speaker 1: at once in all cases to the questions put him
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  Speaker 1: Verses twenty and twenty one shall the thing formed say
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  Speaker 1: to him that formed it, why hast thou made me?
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  Speaker 1: Thus hath not the potter power over the clay of
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  Speaker 1: the same lump, to make one vessel unto honor and
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  Speaker 1: another unto Dishonor Here it is not to do away
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  Speaker 1: with free will that he says this, but to show
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  Speaker 1: up to what point we ought to obey God. For
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  Speaker 1: in respect of calling God to account, we ought to
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  Speaker 1: be as little disposed to it as the clay is.
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  Speaker 1: For we ought to abstain not from gainsaying or questioning only,
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  Speaker 1: but even from speaking or thinking of it at all,
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  Speaker 1: and to become like that lifeless matter which followeth the
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  Speaker 1: potter's hands, and lets itself be drawn about any where
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  Speaker 1: he may please. And this is the only point he
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  Speaker 1: applied the illustration to, not that is, to any enunciation
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  Speaker 1: of the rule of life, but to the us complete
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  Speaker 1: obedience and silence of those who are the subjects. And
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  Speaker 1: this we ought to observe in all cases that we
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  Speaker 1: are not to take the illustrations quite entire, but after
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  Speaker 1: selecting the good of them and that for which they
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  Speaker 1: were introduced, to let the rest alone. As for instance,
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  Speaker 1: when he says he couched, he lay down as a lion,
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  Speaker 1: let us take out the indomitable and fearful part, not
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  Speaker 1: the brutality, nor any other of the things belonging to
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  Speaker 1: a lion. And again, when he says I will meet
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  Speaker 1: them as a bereat bear, let us take the vindictiveness.
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  Speaker 1: And when he says our God is a consuming fire,
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  Speaker 1: the wasting power exerted in punishing. So also here must
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  Speaker 1: we single out the clay, the potter, and the vessels.
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  Speaker 1: And when he does go on to say, hath not
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  Speaker 1: the potter power over the clay of the same lump,
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  Speaker 1: to make one vessel unto honor and another unto Dishonor
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  Speaker 1: do not suppose that this is said by Saint Paul
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  Speaker 1: as an account of the creation, nor as implying a
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  Speaker 1: necessity over the will, but to illustrate the sovereignty and
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  Speaker 1: difference of dispensations. For if we do not take it
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  Speaker 1: in this way, diverse incongruities will follow. For if here
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  Speaker 1: he was speaking about the will, he will be the
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  Speaker 1: maker of things good and those which are not so,
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  Speaker 1: and man will be found, in no sense the cause
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  Speaker 1: of these. And at this rate Paul will also be
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  Speaker 1: shown to be at variance with himself as he always
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  Speaker 1: bestows chief honor upon free choice. There is nothing else
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  Speaker 1: then which he here wisheth to do, save to persuade
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  Speaker 1: the hearer to yield entirely to God, and at no
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  Speaker 1: time to call him to account for anything whatever. For
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  Speaker 1: as the potter, he says, of the same lump makes
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  Speaker 1: what he pleaseth, and no one forbids it. Thus, also,
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  Speaker 1: when God, of the same race of men punisheth some
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  Speaker 1: and honorth others, be not thou curious nor meddlesome hearin,
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  Speaker 1: but worship only and imitate the clay. And as it
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  Speaker 1: followeth the hands of the potter, so do thou also
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  Speaker 1: the mind of Him that so ordereth things, For he
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  Speaker 1: worketh nothing at random or mere hazard. Though thou be
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  Speaker 1: ignorant of the secret of his wisdom, yet thou allowest
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  Speaker 1: the other of the same lump to make diverse things,
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  Speaker 1: and findest no fault. But of him you demand an
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  Speaker 1: account of his punishments and honors, and will not allow
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  Speaker 1: him to know who is worthy and who not. So.
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  Speaker 1: But since the same lump is of the same substance,
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  Speaker 1: you assert that there are the same dispositions, And how
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  Speaker 1: monstrous this is, And Yet not even is it on
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  Speaker 1: the potter that the honor and the dishonor of the
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  Speaker 1: things made of the lump depends, but upon the use
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  Speaker 1: made by those that handle them. So here also it
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  Speaker 1: depends on the free choice. Still, as I said before,
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  Speaker 1: one must take this illustration to have one bearing only,
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  Speaker 1: which is that one should not contravene God, but yield
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  Speaker 1: to his incomprehensible wisdom. For the examples seem to be
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  Speaker 1: greater than the subject, and than the things on account
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  Speaker 1: of which they are brought forward, so as to draw
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  Speaker 1: on the hearer better. Since if they were not greater,
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  Speaker 1: and did not mount far above it, he could not
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  Speaker 1: attack as he ought and shame the objectors, however their
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  Speaker 1: ill timed obstinacy. He silenced in this way with becoming superiority.
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  Speaker 1: And then he introduces his answer. Now, what is the
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  Speaker 1: answer Verses twenty two, twenty three, and twenty four. What
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  Speaker 1: if God, willing to show his wrath and to make
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  Speaker 1: his power known, endured with much long suffering the vessels
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  Speaker 1: of wrath fitted to destruction, and that he might make
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  Speaker 1: known the riches of his glory on the vessels of
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  Speaker 1: mercy which he had afore prepared unto glory, even us,
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  Speaker 1: whom he hath chosen, not of the Jews only, but
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  Speaker 1: also of the gentiles. What he means is somewhat as follows.
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  Speaker 1: Pharaoh was a vessel of wrath, that is, a man who,
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  Speaker 1: by his own hard heartedness had kindled the wrath of God.
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  Speaker 1: For after enjoying much long suffering, he became no better,
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  Speaker 1: but remained unimproved. Wherefore he calleth him not only a
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  Speaker 1: vessel of wrath, but also one fitted for destruction. That
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  Speaker 1: is fully fitted, indeed, but by his own proper self.
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  Speaker 1: For neither had God left out aught of the things
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  Speaker 1: likely to recover him, nor did he leave out order
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  Speaker 1: of those that would ruin him and put him beyond
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  Speaker 1: any forgiveness. Yet still, though God knew this, he endured
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  Speaker 1: him with much long suffering, being willing to bring him
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  Speaker 1: to repentance. For had he not willed this, then he
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  Speaker 1: would not have been thus long suffering. But as he
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  Speaker 1: would not use the long suffering in order to repentance,
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  Speaker 1: but fully fitted himself for wrath, he used him for
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  Speaker 1: the correction of others through the punishment inflicted upon him,
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  Speaker 1: making them better, and in this way setting forth his power,
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  Speaker 1: For that it is not God's wish that his power
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  Speaker 1: be so made known. But in another way, by his benefits,
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  Speaker 1: namely and kindness, he had shown above in all possible ways.
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  Speaker 1: For if Paul does not wish to appear powerful in
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  Speaker 1: this way, not that we should appear approved, he says,
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  Speaker 1: but that ye should do that which is honest. Much
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  Speaker 1: less doth God. But after that he had shown long
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  Speaker 1: suffering that he might lead to repentance, but he did
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  Speaker 1: not repent. He suffered him a long time that he
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  Speaker 1: might display at once his goodness and his power, even
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  Speaker 1: if that man were not minded to gain anything from
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  Speaker 1: this great long suffering. As then, by punishing this man,
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  Speaker 1: who continued incorrigible, he showed his power. So by having
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  Speaker 1: pitied those who had done many sins but repented, he
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  Speaker 1: manifested his love toward man. But it does not say
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  Speaker 1: love towards man, but glory to show that this is
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  Speaker 1: especially God's glory. And for this he was above all
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  Speaker 1: things earnest. But in saying which he had afore prepared
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  Speaker 1: unto glory, he does not mean that all is God's doing,
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  Speaker 1: since if this were so, there were nothing to hinder
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  Speaker 1: all men from being saved. But he is setting forth
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  Speaker 1: again his fore knowledge and doing away with the difference
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  Speaker 1: between the Jews and the Gentiles. And on this topic
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  Speaker 1: again he grounds a defense of his statement, which is
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  Speaker 1: no small one. For it was not in the case
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  Speaker 1: of the Jews only that some men perished and some
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  Speaker 1: were saved. But with the Gentiles also this was the case.
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  Speaker 1: Wherefore also does he not say all the Gentiles, but
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  Speaker 1: of the Gentiles, nor all the Jews, but of the Jews.
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  Speaker 1: As then Pharaoh became a vessel of wrath by his
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  Speaker 1: own lawlessness, so did these become vessels of mercy by
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  Speaker 1: their own readiness to obey. For though the more parties
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  Speaker 1: of God, still we also have contributed ourselves some little.
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  Speaker 1: Whence he does not say either vessels of well doing
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  Speaker 1: or vessels of boldness, but vessels of mercy, to show
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  Speaker 1: that the whole is of God. For the phrase it
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  Speaker 1: is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth,
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  Speaker 1: even if it comes in the course of the objection,
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  Speaker 1: still were it said by Paul, would create no difficulty,
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  Speaker 1: because when he says it is not of him that willeth,
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  Speaker 1: nor of him that runneth, he does not deprive us
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  Speaker 1: a free will, but shows that all is not one's own,
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  Speaker 1: for that it requires grace from above. For it is
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  Speaker 1: binding on us to will and also to run, but
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  Speaker 1: to confide not in our own labors, but in the
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  Speaker 1: love of God toward man. And this he has expressed elsewhere.
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  Speaker 1: Yet not I but the grace of God which was
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  Speaker 1: with me. And he well says which He had afore
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  Speaker 1: prepared unto glory. Since they reproached them with this, that
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  Speaker 1: they were saved by grace, and thought to make them ashamed.
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  Speaker 1: He far more than sets aside this insinuation, for if
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  Speaker 1: the thing brought glory to God, much more to them
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  Speaker 1: through whom God was glorified. But observe his forbearance and
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  Speaker 1: unspeakable wisdom. For when he had it in his power
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  Speaker 1: to adduce as an instance of those punished not fairaoh,
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  Speaker 1: but such of the Jews as sin, and so make
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  Speaker 1: his discourse much clearer, and show that where there were
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  Speaker 1: the same fathers and the same sins, some perished and
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  Speaker 1: some had mercy shown them, and persuade them not to
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  Speaker 1: be doubtful minded. Even if some of the Gentiles were
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  Speaker 1: saved while the Jews were perishing, that he might not
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  Speaker 1: make his discourse irksome the showing forth of the punishment
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  Speaker 1: he draws from the foreigner, so that he may not
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  Speaker 1: be forced to call them vessels of wrath. But those
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  Speaker 1: that obtained mercy he draws from the people of the Jews.
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  Speaker 1: And besides, he also speaks in a sufficient way in
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  Speaker 1: God's behalf, because though he knew very well that the
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  Speaker 1: nation was fitting itself as a vessel of destruction, still
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  Speaker 1: he contributed all on his part his patience, his long suffering,
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  Speaker 1: and that not merely long suffering, but much long suffering.
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  Speaker 1: Yet still he was not minded to state it barely
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  Speaker 1: against the Jews. Whence, then, are some vessels of wrath
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  Speaker 1: and some of mercy of their own free choice. God, however,
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  Speaker 1: being very good, shows the same kindness to both. For
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  Speaker 1: it was not those in a state of salvation only
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  Speaker 1: to whom he showed mercy, but also Pharaoh, as far
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  Speaker 1: as his part went, for of the same long suffering,
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  Speaker 1: both they and he had the advantage. And if he
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  Speaker 1: was not saved, it was quite owing to his own will,
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  Speaker 1: since as for what concerneth God, he had as much
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  Speaker 1: done for him as they who were saved. Having then
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  Speaker 1: given to the question that answer which was furnished by facts.
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  Speaker 1: In order to give his discourse the advantage of other
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  Speaker 1: testimony in its favor, he introduces the prophets, making these
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  Speaker 1: same declarations a full time for Joseah. He says, of old,
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  Speaker 1: but this in writing as follows those twenty five, I
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  Speaker 1: will call them my people, which were not my people,
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  Speaker 1: and her beloved which was not beloved. Here to prevent
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  Speaker 1: their saying that you are deceiving us. Here with specious reasoning,
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  Speaker 1: he calls Hosea to witness, who crieth and saith, I
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  Speaker 1: will call them my people who were not my people,
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  Speaker 1: who then are the not people plainly the gentiles, and
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  Speaker 1: who the not beloved? The same again, however, he says
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  Speaker 1: that they shall become at once people and beloved and
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  Speaker 1: sons of God verse twenty six. For there they shall
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  Speaker 1: be called, he says, the children of the living God.
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  Speaker 1: But if they should assert that this was said of
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  Speaker 1: those of the Jews who believed, even then the argument stands,
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  Speaker 1: for if with those who, after so many benefits, were
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  Speaker 1: hard hearted and estranged, and had lost their being as
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  Speaker 1: a people, so great a charge was wrought, what is
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  Speaker 1: there to prevent even those who were not estranged from
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  Speaker 1: being taken to him, but were originally aliens from being called,
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  Speaker 1: and provided them obey from being counted worthy of the
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  Speaker 1: same blessings. Having then done with Hoseiah, he does not
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  Speaker 1: content himself with him only, but also brings Isaiah in
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  Speaker 1: after him, sounding in harmony with him Verse twenty seven.
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  Speaker 1: For isaiahs he says, crieth concerning Israel, that is speaks
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  Speaker 1: out boldly and uses no dissimulation. Why then lay a
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  Speaker 1: charge against us, when they afore declared the same thing
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  Speaker 1: with more than trumpet's loudness? And what does Isiah cry,
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  Speaker 1: though the number of the children of Israel be as
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  Speaker 1: the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved?
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  Speaker 1: Do you see that he too does not say that
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  Speaker 1: all are to be saved, but that those that are
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  Speaker 1: worthy shall For I regard not the multitude he means.
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  Speaker 1: Nor does a race diffused so far distress me that
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  Speaker 1: those only do I save that yield themselves worthy of it.
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  Speaker 1: And he does not mention the sand of the sea
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  Speaker 1: without a reason, but to remind them of the ancient promise,
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  Speaker 1: whereof they had made themselves unworthy. Why theny you troubled,
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  Speaker 1: as though the prompt must have failed. When all the
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  Speaker 1: prophets show that it is not all that are to
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  Speaker 1: be saved. Then he mentions the mode of the salvation
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  Speaker 1: also observe the accuracy of the prophet and the judgment
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  Speaker 1: of the apostle. What a testimony he has cited, how
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  Speaker 1: exceeding the opposite, For it not only shows us that
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  Speaker 1: those to be saved are some and not all, but
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  Speaker 1: also adds the way they are to be saved. How
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  Speaker 1: then are they to be saved? And how will God
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  Speaker 1: count them worthy of the benefit? Verse twenty eight. He
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  Speaker 1: will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness,
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  Speaker 1: he says, because of short work will the Lord make
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  Speaker 1: upon the earth. What he means then is somewhat of
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  Speaker 1: this sort. There is no need of fetching a circuit
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  Speaker 1: and of trouble, and the vexation of the works of
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  Speaker 1: the law, For the salvation is by a very short way.
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  Speaker 1: For such is faith. It holds salvation in a few
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  Speaker 1: short words. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the
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  Speaker 1: Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath
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  Speaker 1: raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved Now
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  Speaker 1: you see what this the Lord shall make a short
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  Speaker 1: word upon earth is. And what is indeed wonderful is
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  Speaker 1: that this short word carries with it not salvation only,
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  Speaker 1: but also righteousness Verse twenty nine. And as isaiahs said before,
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  Speaker 1: except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed,
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  Speaker 1: we had been made like unto Gomorrah. Here again he
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  Speaker 1: shows another thing that not even those few were saved
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  Speaker 1: from their own resources, for they too would have perished
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  Speaker 1: and met with Sodom's fate. That is, they would have
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  Speaker 1: had to undergo out of destruction. For they were also
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  Speaker 1: destroyed root and branch, and left not even the slightest
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  Speaker 1: remnant of themselves. And they, too, he means, would have
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  Speaker 1: been like these unless God had used much kindness to
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  Speaker 1: them and had saved them by faith. And this happened
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  Speaker 1: also in the case of the visible captivity, the majority
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  Speaker 1: having been taken away captive and perished, and some few
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  Speaker 1: only being saved Uses thirty and thirty one. What shall
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  Speaker 1: we say, then, that the Gentiles, which followed not after
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  Speaker 1: righteousness have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is
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  Speaker 1: by faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness,
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  Speaker 1: have not attained the law of righteousness. Here at last
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  Speaker 1: is the clearest answer, for since he had used a
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  Speaker 1: proof as well from facts, for they are not all Israel,
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  Speaker 1: that are of Israel, as from the case of our
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  Speaker 1: forefathers Jacob and Esau, and from the prophets Hazaiah and Isaiah.
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  Speaker 1: He further gives the most decisive answer, after first adding
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  Speaker 1: to the perplexity. The points discussed then are too, one
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  Speaker 1: that the Gentiles attained and the other that they attained
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  Speaker 1: it without following after it, that is, without taking pains
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  Speaker 1: about it. And again in the Jew's case, also there
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  Speaker 1: are two difficulties of the same kind, one that Israel
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  Speaker 1: attained not, the other that though they took pains, they
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  Speaker 1: attained not. Whence, also his use of words is more emphatical,
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  Speaker 1: for he does not say that they had, but that
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  Speaker 1: they attained to righteousness. For what is especially new and
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  Speaker 1: unusual is that they who followed after it attained not,
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  Speaker 1: but they which followed not after it attained. He seems
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  Speaker 1: to be indulging them by saying followed after. But afterwards
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  Speaker 1: he strikes the blow home, for since he had a
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  Speaker 1: strong answer to give them, he had no fear of
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  Speaker 1: making the objection a little harsher. Hence he doth not
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  Speaker 1: speak of faith either and the righteousness ensuing thereon, but
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  Speaker 1: shows that before the faith, even on their own ground,
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  Speaker 1: they were worsted and condemned. For thou o Jeu, he says,
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: hast not found even the righteousness which was by the law,
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: for thou hast transgressed it and become liable to the curse.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: But these that came not through the law but by
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: another road, have found a greater righteousness than this, that namely,
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: which is of faith. And this he had also said before.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: For if Abraham was justified by works, he hath whereafter glory,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: but not before God, so showing that the other righteousness
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: was greater than this. Before then I said that there
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: were two difficulties, but now they have even become three questions.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: That the Gentiles found righteousness and found it without following
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: after it, and found it greater than that of the law.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: These same difficulties are again felt in the Jews case,
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: with an opposite view, that Israel did not find, and
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: though he took pains, he did not find, and did
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: not find even the less. Having then thrust his hearer
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: into perplexity, he proceeds to give a concise answer and
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: tells him the cause of all that is said, what
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: then is the cause verse thirty two. Because they sought
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: it not of faith, but as it were, of the
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: works of the law. This is the clearest answer in
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: the passage, which if he had said immediately upon starting,
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: he would not have gained so easy a hearing. But
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: since it is after many perplexities and preparations and demonstrations
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: that he sets it down, and after using countless preparatory steps,
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: he has at last made it more intelligible and also
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: more easily admitted. For this, he says, is the cause
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: of their destruction, because it was not by faith, but
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: as it were, by the works of the law, that
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: they wished to be justified. And he does not say
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: by works, but as it were, by the works of
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: the law, to show that they had not even this righteousness,
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: for they stumbled at that stumbling stone verse thirty three,
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: as it is written, behold, I lay in Zion a
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: stumbling stone and rock of offense, And whosoever believeth on
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: him shall not be ashamed. You see again how it
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: is from faith that the boldness comes, and the gift
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: is universal since it is not of the Jews only
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: that this is said, but of the whole human race.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: For every one, he would say, whether Jew or Grecian,
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: or Scythian or Thracian, or whatsoever else he may be, will,
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: if he believes, enjoy the privilege of great boldness. But
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: the wonder in the prophet is that he foretells not
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: only that they should believe, but also that they should
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: not believe, For to stumble is to disbelieve. As in
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: the former passage, he points out then that perish and
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: them that are saving, where he says, if the number
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: of the children of Israel be as the sand of
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: the sea, the remnant shall be saved. And if the
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: Lord of Sabaoth had not left us a seed, we
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: should have been as Sodomer. And he hath called not
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: of the Jews only, but a of the gentiles. So
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: here too he implies that some will believe and some
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: will stumble. But stumbling comes of not taking heed, of
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: gaping after other things, Since then they did give heed
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: to the law. They stumbled on the stone, and a
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: stone of stumbling and rock of offense. He calls it
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: from the character and end of those that believe not,
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: is then the language used make plain to you? Or
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: does it still want much in clearness? I think indeed
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: that to those who have been attending it is easy
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: to get a clear view of it. But if it
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: has slipped anybody's memory, you can meet in private and
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: learn what it was. And this is why I have
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: continued long upon this explanatory part of the discourse, that
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: I might not be compelled to break off the continuity
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: of the context and so spoil the clearness of the statements.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: And for this cause too, I will bring my discourse
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: to a conclusion here without saying anything to you on
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: the more immediately practical points, as I generally do, lest
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: I should make a fresh indistinctness in your memories by
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: saying so much. It is time now to come to
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: the proper conclusion, by shutting up the discourse with the
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: doxology to the God of all. Let us then both pause,
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: me that I am speaking, and you that are hearing,
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: and offer up glory to Him, for His is the
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: kingdom and the power and the glory for ever and ever. Amen.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: End of section thirty one.