This place, or the testimony therein given to the divine power of Jesus Christ, they seek thus to elude : —
The word here, " all things," doth not, no more than in many other places, sig- nify all things universally without exception, but is refei-red to those things only
PROVIDENCE ASSIGNED TO CHEIST. 279
which belong to the kingrlom of Christ ; of which it may truly be said that the Lord Jesus " beareth," that is, conserveth, " all things by the word of his power." But that the word " all things" is in this place referred unto those things only a])p;^areth sufficiently from the subject-matter itself of it. Moreover, the word which this writer useth, '• to bear," doth rather signify governing or administra- tion than preservation, as these words annexed, " By the word of his power," seem to intimate.'
This indeed is jejune, and almost unworthy of these men, if any thing may be said so to be; for, — 1. "Why is rd ivavra here " the things of the kingdom of Christ"? It is the express description of the person of Christ, as " the brightness of his Father's glory, and the ex- press image of his person," that the apostle is treating of, and not at all of his kingdom as mediator. 2. It expressly answers the "worlds" that he is said to make, verse 2 ; Avhich are not " the things of the kingdom of Christ," nor do our catechists plead them directly so to be. This term, " all things," is never put absolutely for all the things of the kingdom of Christ. 3. The subject-matter here treated of by the apostle is the person of Jesus Christ and the eminency thereof The medium whereby he proves it to be so excellent is his almighty power in creating and sustaining of all things. Nor is there any subject-matter intimated that should restrain these words to the things of the kingdom of Christ. 4. The word f spwi/, neither in its native signification nor in the use of it in the Scripture, gives any countenance to the interpretation of it by " governing or admi- nistering," nor can our catechists give any one instance of that signi- fication there. It is properly " to bear, to carry, to sustain, to up- hold." Out of nothing Christ made all things, and preserves them by his power from returning into nothing. 5. What insinuation of their sense they have from that expression, " By the word of his power," I know not. ' " By the word of his power" is " By his power- ful word." And that that word or command is sometimes taken for the effectual strength and efficacy of God's dominion, put forth for the accomplishing of his own purposes, I suppose needs not much proving.
Grotius would have the words hhvafiig abrou to refer to the power of the Father, " Christ upholdeth all things by the word of his Father's power," without reason or proof, nor will the grammatical account bear that reddition of the relative mentioned.
About that which they urge out of Jude 5 I shall not contend. The testimony from thence relies on the authority of the Vulgar Latin translation; which, as to me, may plead for itself.
* " Hie vcrbum, omnia, non minus quam in pluribus aliis locis, non omnia in univer- sura sine ulla exceptione designare, verum ad ea tantum quae ad Christi regnum pertineant referri ; de quibus vere dici potest, Doniinum Jesum omnia verbo virtutis sua; portarc, id est, conservare. Quod vcro vox, oni/u'a, hoc loco ad ca duntaxat re- feratur, ex ipsa materia subjccta satis apparet. Prtetcica, vcrbum quo hie utitur scriptor, portare, magis guberuandi vcl administrandi rationcm quam consei'V'andi signi- ficat, qucmadmodum ilia quo3 amiexa sunt, verho virtutis suw, innucre videntur."
280 VINDICI.E EVANGELIC^.
Neither of what is mentioned from 1 Cor. x. shall I insist on any thing, but only the 9th verse, the words whereof are, " Neither let ns tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destx'oyed of serpents." The design of the apostle is known. From the ex- ample of God's dealing with the children of Israel in the wilderness Tipon their sins and provocations, there being a parity of state and condition between them and Christians as to their spiritual partici- pation of Jesus Christ, verses 1-4, he dehorts believers from the ways and sins whereby God was provoked against them. Particularly in this verse he insists on the tempting of Christ ; for which the Lord sent fiery serpents among them, by which they were destroyed^ Num. xxi. 6. He whom the people tempted in the wilderness, and for which they were destroyed by serpents, was the Lord Jehovah ; now, this doth the apostle apply to Christ: he therefore is the Lord Jehovah. But they say, —
Fi-om those words it cannot be proved that Christ was really tempted in the wilderness, as from the like speech, if any one should so speak, may be apprehended. " Be not refractory to the magistrates, as some of our ancestors were." You would not thence conclude straightway that the same singular magistrates were in both places intended. And if the like phrases of speech are found in Scripture, in which the like expression is referred to him whose name was expressed a little be- fore, without any repetition of the same name, it is there done where another besides him who is expressed cannot be understood; as you have an example of here, Deut. vi. 16, "You shall not tempt the Lord your God, as you tempted him in Massah." But in this speech of the apostle of which we treat, another besides Christ may be understood, as Moses or Aaron ; of which see Num. xxi. 5.'