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they who are witnessing in heaven, bear witness concerning Jesus Christ, and a true witness is present and not absent, not so much with reference to those to whom He witnesses, as with reference to the things which He witnesses : therefore they who are witness- ing on earth, are said to witness concerning Jesus Christ in such a manner that their testimony chiefly has to do with the dwelling of Jesus on the earth, so that it may be testified that He is the Christ : whence He Himself is said to have come by water and blood, that is, to have come into the world ; though the state of His exaltation is not excluded from this testimony, especially during the life of the apostles. But they who are bearing witness in heaven, bear witness of the same Jesus Christ, so that their testi- mony is chiefly concerned with the heavenly glory of Jesus, the Son of God, exalted to the right hand of the Father, without ex- cluding His state of humiliation. Undoubtedly the testimony of water (for instance), or of baptism, was chiefly administered by John before the death, or rather before the manifestation, of Jesus Christ, as He walked on the earth ; whereas the testimony of the Paraclete was reserved until the glorification of Jesus Christ. Whence the Lord had said respecting the apostles, /xaprvpeTrs, ye hear witness , in the present ; but respecting the Paraclete, flaprupfou, He shall hear witness : .John xv. 27 [reading with the best authorities fiap- rvperre, not as Engl. Vers., Ye shall hear witness ], 26.
The seventh verse therefore, together with the sixth, contains a recapitulation of the whole economy of Jesus Christ, from His bap- tism until the day of Pentecost, Acts ii. The eighth verse con- tains a summary of the Divine economy from His exaltation and thenceforth : see John viii, 28, xiv. 20 ; Matt. xxvi. 64. Where- fore Christ, on His ascension, commanded to baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost : Matt, xxviii. 19 ; and the Apocalypse commences with announcing grace and peace from the Sacred Trinity.
Since these things are so, a new argument arises, that the ar- rangement of the verses, which first makes mention of the witnesses on earth and then of the witnesses in heaven [not vice versa , as Engl. Vers.], is to be preferred, as containing a gradation most suitable to the subjects themselves.
9. E /, if) From that which is undeniable, and yet of smaller consequence, he draws an inference to that which is greater. — rZv avOpurtuv, of men) in the case of any business whatever, John viii. 17 ; and in administering the very testimony of the spirit, and the
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