3. These words, Heb. x. 5, " Coming into the world, he saith," etc., do not in the least intimate any thing of the world to come, but express the present world, into which Christ came when God pre- pared a body for him at his incarnation and birth ; which was in order
quemadmockim et aliae quae prorsus idem in Scripturis valent, non solum coelum et terram denotat, verum pi-ieter alias significationes, vel genus humanum designat, \xi locus prsesens ostendit, ubi ait, In mundo erat, et mundiis eum non agnovit, John i. 10, et Mundtis eum secuttis est, John xii. 19, aut etiam futuram immortalitatem, ut apparct, Heb. i. G, ubi ait, Et eum iterum introducit primogenitum in mundum, ait, Et adorcnt eum omnes angeli Dei, quod de futuro mundo accipi apparet c cap. ii. ejusdom epistola;, ubi ait, Etenim non angelis sidijedt mundum futurum, de quo loquimtir, at nusquam de co locutus fuerat, nisi ver. 6, cap. i. Prceteroa, babes locum, cap. x. vcr. 5, ubi de Christo loquens, ait, Propterea ingrcdicns in mundum, ait, Ilosliam et ohlationem noluisli, verum corpus adaptasti mihi; ubi cum palam sit eum loqui de muudo in quem ingrcssus Jesus, sacerdos noster factus est (ut circumstantiiB omnes dcmonstrant) apparet, non de prce- senti, sed de futuro mundo agi, quandoquidem, cap. viii. ver. 4, de Christo dixcrat, Si in terris esset, ne sacerdos quidem esset."
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to the sacrifice whicli he afterward offered in this world, as shall be evidently manifested when we come to the consideration of the priesthood of Christ.
It remains only that we hear their sense of these words, which they give as followeth: —
Q. Bat what dost thou understand by these words, " The world was made hy him' ?
A. A twofold sense may be given of them : — First, that human kind was reformed by Christ, and as it were made again, because he brought life, and that eternal, to human kind, which was lost, and was subject to eternal death (which also John iipbraideth the world withal, which being vindicated by Christ from destruction acknowledged him not, but contemned and rejected him) ; for that is the manner of the Hebrew speech, that in such terms of speaking, the words to " make " and *■ create" are as much as to "make again" or to "create again," because that tongue wants those words that are called compounds. The latter sense is, that that im- mortality which we expect is, as to us, made by Christ; as the same is called "the world to come" in respect of us, although it be present to Christ and the angels." '
1. That these expositions are destructive to one another is evi- dent, and yet which of them to adhere unto our catechists know not, such good builders are they for to establish men in the faith. Pull down they will, though they have nothing to offer in the room of Avhat they endeavour to destroy.
2. That the latter sense is not intended was before evinced. The Avorld that was made in the beginning, into which Christ came, in which he w^as, which knew him not, which is said to be made, is a world, is not immortality or life eternal ; nor is there any thing in the context that should in the least give countenance to such an ab- surd gloss.
8. Much less is the first sense of the words tolerable ; for, —
(1.) It is expressly contradictory to the text. "He made the world," that is, he reformed it ; and, " The world knew him not," when the world is not reformed but by the knowledge of him !
(2.) To be made doth nowhere simply signify to be renewed or re- formed, imless it be joined with other expressions restraining its significancy to such renovation.
(3.) The world was not renewed by Christ whilst he was in it; nor can it be said to be renewed by him only on the account of laying the foundation of its renovation in his doctrine. "'By him the world
' " Quid vcro per hsec, Mundus per eiimfacttis est, intelligis? — Duplex eorum sensus dari potest : Prior, quod genus liumanum per Christum reformatum, et quasi denuo factum sit, eo quod ille generi humano, quod pericrat, et seternse morti subjectum erat, vitam attulit, camque sempitcrnam (quod etiam muudo Johannes exprobrat, qui per Christum ab intei'itu vindicatus, eum non agnoverit, sed spreverit et rejecerit) ; is enim mos Ilebraici sermonis, quod in ejusmodi loquendi niodis, vei'ba faccre, creare, idem valeant, quod denuo facere, et demto creare, idque propterea, quod verbis quse composita vocant ea lingua careat. Posterior vero sensus est, quod ilia immortalitas quam cxpectamus per Chi-istum, quantum ad nos, facta sit; quemadmodura eadem futurum sajculum, habita ratione nostri, vocatur, licet jam Christo et angelis sit proesens."
DEITY OF CHRIST PROVED, ETC. 225
was made;' that is, he preached that doctrine whereby some in the world were to be reformed." The world that Christ made knew hiin not; but the renewed world hioiu him.
4. The Hebraism of " making" for " re-forming" is commonly pre- tended, without any instance for its confirmation. John wrote in Greek, which language abounds with compositions above any other in the world, and such as on all occasions he makes use of.
There is one passage more that gives strength to the testimony insisted on, confirming the existence of Christ in his divine na- ture antecedently to his incarnation, and that is verse 14, "The Word was made flesh." Who the Word is, and what, we have heard. He who was in the beginning, who was God, and was with God, who made all things, who made the world, in whom was light and life, he was made flesh, — flesh, so as that thereupon he dwelt amongst men, and conversed with them. How he was, and how he was said to be, made flesh, I have declared in the consideration of his eternal sonship, and shall not again insist thereon. This, after the interpo- sition of sundry questions, our catechists take thus into considera- tion : —