himself to be his own interpreter, (John v. 17, 19,) saying to the Jews; My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.' But to the Jews, who easily perceived from this saying, that he did not call God his Father after a common way of speaking, but that he made himself equal with God; he said moreover, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do; for what things soever he doth, these also doth the Son likewise.' By which words indeed Christ honoureth his Father, but teaches at the same time, (verse 23,) that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son, (understand, even as he honoureth the Father) honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.' Likewise in St. Paul's epistles, when the particle dia, (by,) is used concerning the Son, it is so clearly signified by other words, and so sublime a sense is given to it, that any one may easily perceive he does nothing else, but propose the order of the divine operations, and declare, that all manifestations of the Father, both in the kingdom of nature and grace, is made by the Son, and in the Son, as the eternal Word of God. And as long as this is not understood from the word of God, so long also it is not understood as it ought to be, what Christ is, and what is obtained by him.

IV.

"The first principle or cause original of life is the true and essential God: the Word, as by which all living things were created, is the first principle or cause original of life; therefore the Word is the true and

essential God.” Or, “ He by whom all created things do live, and who gives life to all created things, must be God: the word gives life to all creatures; therefore the word must be God." By this twofold way of reasoning, the Rev. John Arndius forms his conclusion from the words of St. John. No one could doubt of the major proposition, who would but a little consider it. For indeed a man's reason cannot conceive, how to be the first original or principle of life, or to be him by whom all created beings do live, and who gives life to all created things, can be assigned to any other than the living God. Whence God is not only wont to be called in the Holy Scriptures the living God, (Deut. v. 33. John vi. 57. 1 Sam. xvii. 26. 2 Kings xix. 4, 16. Psalm xlii. 3. John i. 2,) but to be the origin and fountain of life is also attributed to him alone, as David says; (Psalm xxxvi. 9.) With thee, (DY πρòs TOY Oedy,—with God. John i. 2.) is the fountain of life.' By which fountain of life, no other indeed but Christ is in this place to be understood. But if any one should not be persuaded of this, yet he cannot deny but that the fountain and beginning of life is to be ascribed to God alone, all other beings, which cannot be said to be God, being excluded: with which place ought to be compared, (Jer. ii. 13,) where it is said, 'They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters;' which it is manifest cannot be understood of any other, but of the living God. As to what now belongs to the minor proposition, we are plainly enough taught in the New Testament, where we ought to seek this fountain of life, or source of living waters. For thus Christ says to the woman of Samaria, (John iv. 10.) If thou knewest the gift of God, and who

it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water:' (and verse 14.) "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him, shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.' This is what John saith: In him was life,' (John i. 4.) If any one would so understand these words, as if nothing else were meant by them, but what is wont to be said of any other living thing, to wit,—that there is life in it-it is most evident, this was not the thing that John was concerned about: for what had he said worthy the mentioning? How would this agree with what he had said before? How with what follows, where this life is called the 'light of men,' (John i. 4.) Wherefore by this expression, [that in him (i. e. in Christ) life is said to be] something more sublime must necessarily be denoted, to wit, the very origin of life, which cannot be in any created thing, but is in Christ, as the true and essential God. But if some would still interpret these things no farther, than that therefore only there is life in Christ, because he hath taught other men the way of life, every one must perceive that such an interpretation is very far from reaching the intention of St. John, since neither does this so agree with the preceding and following words, that it should be taken for their adequate meaning. And might not the same thing have been said in this sense of John the Baptist? But since this remarkable predicate is plainly in the text denied to John the Baptist, but is given to Christ, though John, by the testimony of Christ himself, was the greatest that were born of women; certainly it is evident, that by this the text

instructs us, that Christ is more than a mere man ; that the principle of life is to be sought for in him, and cannot be looked for in any created thing. Truly these, and other the like interpretations, are so managed, that it is easy for every one that considers them without prejudicate opinions to know, that the sublime declarations which are here made of Christ, are by such interpretations extremely, and as far as can be done by corrupt reason, industriously extenuated. Therefore let the matter be considered as it plainly appears in the text with its connexion, and it will be easily and without trouble perceived: (1) That these words, ' In him was life,' flow from the antecedent words. Now in the former words, the eternity of the Son, his true and essential divinity, and his omnipotence, are by John in plain words set before our eyes, (of all which we have already discoursed) from thence therefore now properly follows what St. John here affirms concerning the word, to wit, that in him was life,' as in the Eternal, Essential, and Almighty God, together with the Father. But especially this latter assertion, (in him was life) is most closely conjoined with his omnipotence, which shews itself in the creation of all things. And hence (2.) it clearly follows, that St. John's meaning was this: As all things were made by the Word, and without Him was nothing made that was made; so neither was life made or produced in any created thing without the word of God, in whom the fountain and origin of life in such a manner is, as out of him to transfuse itself into things created, and thereby to impart life to them: which if we diligently consider, we shall easily perceive (3.) this also to lie hid in the words of John; that

the Son of God, in his eternal generation from the Father, in which he has his divine essence, had life also from eternity, as he himself says; (John v. 26.) 'As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.' Therefore this fountain of life-the word of God,-which hath imparted life to his creatures, is an eternal fountain flowing out of the eternal generation from the Father. On which subject the Rev. Dr. Spener hath discoursed with great solidity, in his sermon concerning the eternal generation of the Son of God. Wherefore (4.) this also is contained in the words of John: that this life, which flowed from this eternal fountain into things created, does also preserve the things that are created; as for that reason St. Paul says, (Col. i. 17,) by him all things consist:' and (Heb. i. 3.) He upholdeth all things by the word of his power:' and from the same foundation, (Psalm civ. 29, 30.) 'Thou hidest thy face, they (the things created) are troubled; thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.' Hence also the son of Sirach introduces this Word of God speaking in this manner: (Eccles. xxiv. 3-9.) 'I came out of the mouth of the Most High, and covered the earth as a cloud. I dwelt in high places, and my throne is in a cloudy pillar. I alone compassed the circuit of heaven, and walked in the bottom of the deep; in the waves of the sea, and in all the earth.' The Rev. John Arndius, in his Evangelical Postill, writes excellently on this subject: "All things are full of God, and they live, are, and are moved in God, more than in themselves. For as he hath by his Word ordered and