Sermons & Letters 42 part 2/2

2:11), and without the reality of the flesh the child would not be commanded to be carried into Egypt, whom Herod desired to slay (Matt. 2:13). Without the power of the Word the voice of the Father sent from heaven would not say, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased' (Matt. 3:17; Luke 3:22), and without the reality of the flesh John would not testify, 'Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who taketh away the sins of the world' (John 1:29). Without the power of the Word there would be no restoration of the weak and no quickening of the dead, and without the reality of the flesh neither would food be necessary to one fasting, nor sleep to one wearied. Lastly, without the power of the Word the Lord would not profess Himself equal to the Father (John 10:30), and without the reality of the flesh the same would not say that the Father was greater than He (John

(Matthew 16:28) — since the catholic faith embraces both and defends both, when, according to the property of the divine and the human substance, it believes the one Son of God to be both man and the Word. There are many things, dearly beloved, which we might draw from the whole body of the Scriptures for the setting forth of this faith which we preach, since nothing is more often commended by the divine utterances than that the Son of God is according to His Godhead everlasting from the Father, and the same is according to the flesh temporal from His mother. But lest the hearing of your charity be wearied, a limit must be set to today's sermon, that we may reserve for the fourth day of the week the things that are to be added, with the help of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns unto the ages of ages. Amen.