(1.) This might help the Arians, who fancied Christ to be created or made Ijefore all things, and to have been the instrumental cause whereby God created all other things; but how this concerns them
ct terram crcasse ? — lis ubi scriptum extat, quod per eum ovinia facta si)it, et sine eo factum sit nihil quod factum sit, John i. 3 ; et iternm, Mundus per ipsuni factus est, ver. 10, et rursus, quod in eo omnia sunt condita, etc., Col. i. 16, et quod Deus per eum scEcula fecerit, Heb. i. 2, denique, et ex eo, Tu in principio, etc., ver. 10-12.
" Qui vero ad primum testimonium respondes ? — Primum, non habetur in primo testi- monio crcata sunt, verum facta sunt. Deiude, ait Johannes, facta esse per eum, qui modus loquendi, non eum qui prima causa sit alicujus rei, verum causam secundam ant mcdiam exprimit. Denique, vox omnia non pro omnibus prorsus rebus hie sumitur, scd ad subjectam niateriam restringitur omnino, quod frequentissimum est in libris divinis, prajsertim Novi Testamenti, cujus rei exemplum singiilare extat, 2 Cor. v. 17, in quo habetur sermo de re, huic, de qua Johannes tractat, admodum simili, ubi dicitur, omnia nova facta esse, cum certum sit miilta extare, qufe nova facta non sunt. Cum vero subjecta apvid Johannem materia sit evaugelium, appai'ct vocem onmia de iis omni- bus qua3 quoquo modo ad evangelium pertinent accipi dcbere.
" Cur vero addidit Johannes, quod sine eo factum est nihil quod factum est 9 — Addidit hscc Johannes, ut eo melius illustraret ilia superiora, Omnia per ipsmn facta sunt, quie earn vim habere videntur, per solum Verbuni vel Filium Dei omnia ilia facta esse, licet ejus generis queedem, et quidem magni momenti, non per ipsum, verum per apostolos facta fuerint, — ut est vocatio Gentium, et legalium ceremoniarum abolitio: licet enim hscc originem ab ipsis sermonibus et opei'ibus Domini Jesu traxerint, ad effectum tamen non sunt pei-ducta per ipsum Christum, sed per ipsius apostolos, non tamen sine ii^so; apostoli enim omnia nomine et authoritate ipsius administrarunt, ut etiam ipse Do- minus ait, Sine me nihil facere potestis, Joh. xv. 5."
DEITY OF CHRIST PROVED, ETC. 221
to insist on who deny that Christ had any existence at all before the world was some thousands of years old is not easy to be apprehended.
(2.) In their own sense this is not to the purpose, but expressly contradictory to Avhat they offer in the last i^lace, by way of answer to the latter part of the third verse. Here they say he is not the principal efficient cause, but the second or mediate; there, that all things were either done by him or in his name and authority, which certainly denotes the principal cause of the things done. But, —
(3.) This very expression is sundry times used concerning God the Father' himself, whom our catechists will not therefore deny to have been the principal efficient cause of the things ascribed to him : Rom. xi. 36, "From him, and 8i' aurou, by him are all things;" 1 Cor. i. 9, " God is faithful, di' ov, by whom ye were called;" Gal. i. 1, "Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but dia 'l^eou Xpiffrou, xai ©soD Uarpog, by Jesus Christ and God the Father;" Eph. i. 1, A/a ^eX^- /Marog QioiJ, " By the will of God." So that this also is frivolous. Thus far we have nothing to the purpose. But, —
3. " ' All things' are to be referred to the gospel, all things of the gospel whereof John treats; so are the words to be restrained by the subject-matter." But, —
(1.) This is merely begged. John speaks not one word of the gos- pel as such, gives no description of it, its nature or effects; but evi- dently, plainly, and directly speaks of the Word that was God, and that made all things, describing him in his eternity, his works, his incarnation, his employment, his coming into the world, and his business; and treats of the gospel, or the declaration of the will of God by Jesus Christ, distinctly afterward, from verse 15 and forwards.
(2.) For the expression, 2 Cor. v. 1 7, " All things are become new," it is expressly restrained to the " new creature," to them that are " in Christ Jesus;" but as to this general expression here, there is no colour why it should be so restrained, the expression itself everywhere signi- fying the creation of all things. See Gen. ii. 1, 2 ; Ps. xxxiii. 6, cxxi. 2 ; Isa. xxxvii. 16, xliv. 24, Ixvi. 1, 2; Jer. xxxii. 17; Acts xiv. 15, xvii. 24.
And this is it which they plead to the first part of the verse, " All things were made by him."
4. The other expression, they say, is added to manifest that " what was done after by the apostles was not done without him ; and that is the meaning of these words, ' And without him was not any thing made that was made.'" But, —
(1.) Their irpujTov -^iuhog, of referring the whole passage to the de- scription of the gospel, whereof there is not the least tittle nor inti- mation in the text, being removed out of the way, this following fig- ment falls of itself.
(2.) This gloss is expressly contrary to the text. The " all things" here mentioned are the " all things" that were made in the beginning