And this is all, the whole sum of what any of our adversaries, or rather the adversaries of Jesus Christ, have to object in their cause against these testimonies; whence we thus argue: —
He who was begotten of God the Father with an eternal genera- tion is eternal, and so, consequently, God ; but so is Jesus Christ be- gotten of God the Father with an eternal generation : therefore he is eternal, and God blessed for ever.
To clear what hath been spoken, I shall close my considerations of this text of Scripture with a brief parallel between what is spoken in this place of Wisdom and what is asserted of Jesus Christ in the New Testament: —
]. It is Wisdom that is spoken of: so is Christ, Matt. xi. 19; 1 Cor. i. 24; Col. ii. 3. 2. " Wisdom was set up from everlasting," chap. viii. 23 : " Grace is given in Christ, t^o ^pcvuv atuvluv, from ever- lasting," 2 Tim. i. 9; " He is the beginning," Col. i. 18; " The first and the last," Rev. i. 1 7. 3. " The Lord possessed me in the begin- ning of his way," says Wisdom, verse 23 : " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God," John i. 1. 4. " Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth," verse 25 : " He is the first-born of every creature," Col. i. 1 5 ; " He is be- fore all," verse 17. 5. "I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him," verse 30 : " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," Matt. iii. 17; " The only-begotten Son is in the bosom of the Father," John i. 18. 6. " By me kings reign, and princes," etc., verses 15, 16; He is "the Prince of the kings of the earth," Rev. i. 5; the " King of kings, and Lord of lords," Rev. xix. 16. 7. " Re-
DEITY OF CHEIST PEOVED, ETC. 245
joicing in the habitable part of his earth, and my delights were with the sons of men," verse 31 : " The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among its, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-be- gotten of the Father," John i. 14. 8. Compare also verse 84 with John xiii. 17, Luke xi, 28, John x. 9; and verses 85, S6 with John vi. 44, 47. And many the like instances might be given.
Grotius takes no notice of Christ in this place, yea, he seems evi- dently to exclude him from being here intended. His first note on verse 1 is, " Hsec de ea sapientia quoe in Lege apparet exponunt Hebraei : et sane ei, si non soli, at praecipue, htec attributa conve- niunt ;" — " The Hebrews expound these things of that wisdom which appears in the law; and truly these attributes agree thereunto, if not only, yet chiefly." Of this assertion he gives no reason. The con- trary is evident from what is above said and proved. The authority of the modern rabbins, in the exposition of those places of Scripture which concern the Messiah, is of no value. They do not only, as their forefathers, err, not knowing the Scriptures, but maliciously corrupt them, out of hatred to Jesus Christ. In the meantime, 'one no less versed in the Hebrew authors than our annotator, expound- ing this place, from them concludes, " Nee dubito, hinc Johannem augustum illud et magnificum Evangelii sui initium sumpsisse, ' In principle erat Verbum;' nam Verbum et Sapientia idem sunt, et secundam Trinitatis personam indicant;" — "I doubt not but that John took that reverend and lofty entrance of his Gospel, ' In the beoinning was the Word ' from hence ; for the Word and Wisdom are the same, and denote the second person of the Trinity."^
Before I proceed to those that follow, I shall add some of them which are produced and insisted on usually for the same end and purpose with those mentioned before, and which in other places are excepted against by the catechists with whom we have to do, but properly belong to this head.
Of those is John xvii. 5, " And now, O Father, glorify me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." To this they put in their exceptions towards the end of the chapter under consideration, saying, —
Q. What answerest thou to this ?
A. Neither is here a divine nature proved ; for that one may have glory with the Father before the world was made and yet not be God appeareth from that of 2 Tim. i. 9, where the apostle says of believers that grace was given unto them before the world began. Besides, it is here written that Jesus asked this glory, which is repugnant to the divine nature. But the sense of the place is, that Christ asked God that he would really give him that glory which he had with God in his decree before the world was.^
' Mercer, in loc. ver. 22.
2 " Quid ad hoc respondes ? — Neque liinc naturam divinam probari; posse enim aliquem gloriam habere antefiuam mundus ficrct^ apud Patrcm, ncc tamen hinc effici