Μετά πιο

saver un βασικα Tion auτις.

10.

Anfwer to them, and be a further Conviction of your unfair
Representation of your Quotations, and of your treating your
Texts, as you have done your Teftimonies.

The Firft is out of Eccl. i. 4. Wisdom hath been created before all Things.

Now it is evident, that this is meant of Wisdom, as it fignifies the Grace of God, or, in Bishop Patrick's Words, the wife Directions given by God; for Verfe 9. She is with all Flesh, according to his Gift, and he hath given her to them that love him: And Verse 14. To fear the Lord is the Beginning of Wif dom, and it was created with the Faithful in the Womb. And Verse 20. To fear the Lord is call'd the Root of Wisdom. Now 2 Chron. i. what can this Wifdom be, but that which Solomon had ask'd of God for himself, and God had given to him? How can it be apply'd to the Son of God, as the Wisdom of God? Is the Fear of God the Beginning, the Root of him? Was he created with the Faithful in the Womb? And Verfe 5. The Word of God in the highest is the Fountain of Wisdom. Now either the Word of God here is the Son of God, and then Wisdom must neceffarily be taken in the Senfe which I have mention'd: For the Word.or Wisdom of God, as denoting the Son, can't be the Fountain of the Wisdom, or of the Son of God; or if the Word of God be taken for the Directions given by God, &c. then Wisdom muft be understood to be the Fruits and Effects thereof, which is the Thing I was to prove.

ΛόγΘ.

P. 9, 10.

And this Conftruction will be further evident by the 24th Chapter, out of which you have taken your next Quotation and which is introduced by a Quotation, v. 7. as ask'd by Wifdom, which you have omitted: In whofe Inheritance shall I abide? And the Answer is given, v. 8. which you cite in Part: Then the Creator of all Things gave me a Commandment, and he that created me caus'd my Tabernacle to rest

Here you stop with a Stroke according to your Cuftom; for the next Words are an Anfwer to the Queftion, and would have fhewn, that your Quotation was not to your Purpose: Like John xviii. him who ask'd, What is Truth? and went away without ftaying for an Answer. The Words which follow are:

38.

And faid, Let thy Dwelling be in Jacob, and thine Inheritance 'in Ifrael. And v. 10. In the Holy Tabernacle I ferv'd before him, • and fo was I establish'd in Sion, likewife in the belov'd City he gave me Rest. And v. 23. All thefe Things are the Book of the • Covenant of the most High God, even the Law which Mofes commanded for an Heritage unto the Congregations of Jacob.

These fully explain what Wisdom is fpoken of in this Chapter, viz. That it was the Law, and thofe Divine Instructions which God had given more particularly to the Jews, and which Pfal. xix. are faid in the Scripture to make them wife, and wiser than their Enemies, who had no Knowledge of God's Laws.

7.

Pfal. cxix.

98.

1

And

And the 20th Verse (My Memorial is sweeter than Honey, and my Inheritance than the Honey-Comb) is the fame as in Pfal. xix. 9, 10. The Judgments of the Lord are sweeter than Honey and the Honey-Comb.

And the 18th Verse, (I am the Mother of Love, Fear, Knowledge, and holy Hope) is moft properly apply'd to Wisdom, as it is the Grace of God, and the Divine Affiftance; for it is God's Grace that begets thefe Virtues in us.

But if you will ftill apply Wisdom here to the Son of God, then the 18th Verfe ftiles him aieryvns, Eternal, or begotten from Eternity. And Verse 36. He that finneth against Me wrongeth his own Soul. Surely there is no Sin but against

God.

There are fome Paffages in the Pfalms fo exactly parallel to your Text out of the Proverbs, that one would think Solomon had learnt and tranfcrib'd them into his Proverbs from Mofes and David, as the Son of Sirach, who imitated Solomon, did from him.

Pfal. xc. 2. Before the Mountains were brought forth, or ever Ano T thou hadst form'd the Earth and the World; even from everlasting aiv thou art God; or from everlasting to everlasting thou art.

&ws & aiwNow if the Text in the Proverbs, Before the World, before he ya ou e made the Earth, and before the Mountains, do fignify the Beginning of Wisdom: And Eccl. i. 9. Wisdom fhall not fail to the End of the World (according to your Tranflation of thefe Texts) then you ought to conftrue the fame Expreffions in the 90th, Pfalm of the Almighty God in the fame manner, viz. That he did begin but, as Wisdom did, before the World, and shall last to the End of it; which would be Blafphemy: And neverthelefs, to my Aftonishment, you do fo conftrue it; for p. 6. you cite this Pfalm, and render it, from the Age to the Age, or from the Beginning of the World to the End of the World, thou art God.

Pfalm xciii. 2. The Lord reigneth-the World alfo is establish'd, that it cannot be moved. Ver. 3. Thy Throne is establish'd of Old ; thou art from Everlasting.

ment.

If this be apply'd to the Son of God, of whom the Jews His Comaffirm, (as Bishop Patrick fays) this was a Prophecy, furely this fufficiently expreffes Eternity; or if it be faid of God the Father, then your Conftruction of this will be as bad as the former, for the Words are the fame; or if you let them be understood as they ought to be, of the Eternity of God, you muft in Juftice understand the Text in the Proverbs in like manner of the Eternity of the Son, if he be meant by Wisdom in that Place.

Before I difmifs your Texts out of the Proverbs, I must say Something to the latter Part of the 22d Verfe, The Beginning of his Ways.

To

In Pha

To this it might fuffice to fay, that if the Ways of God are everlafting, as is faid Hab. iii. 6. then the Beginning of thofe Ways must be everlasting too; or, to fpeak more properly, there is no Beginning of them. God the Father is faid to be the Beginning and the End, furely this fignifies his Eternity, for you will not fay he has either; and this is faid in the Revelation more than once of the Son too. But let us confider what elfe this Word xl, which you render the Beginning, may fignify in this Place; for to interpret it so as to make Wisdom, or the Son of God, the First of his Ways; or, as you mean, of the Creation, and fo a Part of it, is moft abfurd, as well as untrue, as I fhall fhew by and by.

Ap fignifies not only Beginning, but alfo Principle, Principa lity, Dominion, Power; and in thefe Senfes is us'd in the best Greek Authors, and in the Bible.

Ariftotle has wrote a Book, which he entitles, wei säv, of or concerning Principles; and so has Origen too.

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And both Aristotle and Plato agree, (*) that dp, the dro,p.245. Principle, is unmade; for by the Principle it is of Neceffity that e6 very Thing that is made, be made.

P. 10.

And your Quotation out of Clem. Alex. as you your felf render it, agrees with this Signification of the Word, God who • made the Beginning or Principle of all Things: And you add, Peter perfectly well understood that Expreffien, In the Beginning, or by the Principle, God made the Heaven and the • Earth.

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And fo is ap by Juftin us'd in your Quotation out of him, if you would have truly rendred that Paffage.

Why then will you not allow it the fame Signification in this Text of the Proverbs, fince it perfectly agrees with what you do allow, viz. that the World was made by the Word, or Wifdom of God; or, in the Words of Peter and Clement, the Principle? And this very Text of the Proverbs implies this Conftruction; for the Conclufion of the Verfe is, eis ép za auto, for his Works; and thus the Two Parts of this Verfe will agree ve ry well, the Principle of Ways for his Works; but then the Confequence will be, that the Son of God (if he be meant here by Wisdom, which I think he is not) was not created, for the Principle is unmade.

And why may not even the Word Beginning be equivalent to Principle; for Origo, which fignifies Beginning, is made an English Word, Origin, and fignifies alfo the Source or Springhead.

The other Signification of ap, viz. Principality, Dominion, Power, is very proper and applicable to the Eternal Wisdom of

(*) Αρχὶ δαγένης ξ ἀρχῆς δ' ανάγκη πᾶν τὸ γι[νομένου γίγνες.

God;

God; for he directs, orders, and governs us, and the whole Ifa. ix. 6. Creation; as the Prophet fays, The, or whofe Government (not • whofe Beginning) shall be upon his Shoulders. And fo in the tol- Men Μεγάλη κ lowing Verfe, (not his Beginning, but) his Government or Do- apr minion is great. And thus Tertullian expounds both the Signi- P. 416. fication of the Word de, and the Application of it: And moft §. 19. certainly the Text in Deut. xxxiii. 37. must be so understood, Adv. Herwhich, as it is in the Septuagint, muft be rendred, the Power mog. or Dominion of God fhall cover thee; for furely you will not Exσí tranflate it, the Beginning of God, who has no Beginning. And e de fo Jude the 6th, dev is render'd in the Margin, Principality; Xn and fo alfo Col. i. 16. apxai, Principalities.

There is another Account which may be given of this Text, and is certainly true of the Son, as the Wisdom of God, (tho' take it from a Book, whofe Authority you will not allow, nor Origen. I affert) viz. He is the Way that leads to God; and in this re- ei fpect he may very properly be the Beginning of his Ways, r,p.672. and yet no created Being; for furely 'twas this Wisdom, this Logos, that inftructed the Old World, and came at last into it, to fhew them a more excellent Way; agreeably to this he says,

am the Way: No Man cometh unto the Father but by me; and John xiv. without (or fevered) from me, ye can do nothing. And St. Paul 6. fays, I can do all Things thro' Chrift which strengtheneth me. And weis. as he is ftil'd the Author of our Faith, and the Captain, or Leader, John xv. of our Salvation, (in both Places, dps) he may be proper 5. lý faid to be the Beginning of his Ways, for his Works: For as Phil. iv. we are his Workmanship, fo he fhews us the Paths of Life, 13. and leads us in the Paths of Righteousness, in the Way everlafting; Heb.xii. 2. and the Word of God is a Light unto our Paths, that our Footsteps flip not.

ii.I. Pfal. xvi.

xxiii. 3.

CXXXIX.

24.

cix.105.

xvii. 5.

Upon the whole, as Bifhop Patrick fays, the ancient Fathers 11. thought this Text might be apply'd to the Son of God; fo ic was not apply'd to prove him a Creature. On the contrary, your Eufebius, in the Chapter before cited, when he fays that Solomon gives us the fame Senfe, viz. that he was Jehovah, he immediately cites this Text of the Proverbs; furely you will not fay, that he first makes Solomon affert his Divinity, and then quote his Words to prove him a Creature. And Pamphilus (m) P. 760. in his Apology for Origen, immediately cites this Text, after he had reckon'd into the Number of Hereticks, those who deny'd him to be the Erft-begotten, and the God of the whole Creation, and the Word, and Wisdom, which is the Beginning of his Ways.

(m) Eos, qui primogenitum eum negant, & totius Creaturæ Deum, & Verbum, & Sapientiam, quæ eft inicium viarum

Dei.

But as pofitive as you are, that this Text, Prov. viii. 22. is a full Proof, that Wisdom (which you interpret to be the Son of God) was created; I find, p. 35. that you have quoted Irenaus for applying this fame Text to the Holy Spirit; and you, in like manner, infer from thence, that the Holy Ghost was created by God: I have already fhewn, that it is not to be underflood of the Son of God; and you have furnish'd me with Arguments, that it cannot be conftrued of the Holy Ghoft; for you make him to be the Creature of the Son of God, and not immediately of God the Father; and if you will fay, he was the Creature of God the Father by the Son, yet how can you make him, as is faid, v. 22. the Beginning of his Ways, or, in your Language, the Firft of the Creation? for you fay, p. 37. he was not of equal Antiquity with the Son; nor can there be Two Firfts, or Two Beginnings; nor could the Holy Ghost, the Creature, be before his Creator, fcil. the Son by whom he was created.

That is what I have to offer in Answer to your Three Firft Texts, p. 9. and in fome measure to the laft out of the Revelation, Chap. iii. 14. fo far as relates to the Conftruction of the Word dex; and must be my Excufe for the Length of what I have faid upon them.

I come now to your Text, Col. i. 15. And, First, to the firft Part of it; Who is the Image of the invifible God.

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This Text which is here render'd Image, einer, and fo 2 Cor. iv. 4. is in Heb. i. 3. acanthPosdoras ours. The Character of his Subfiftence or Perfon; and the Words imA-mediately preceding are, The Brightness (or bright Emanation)

of his Glory, equivalent to that in Wifd. Chap. vii. v. 26. of the Eternal Light. Now what hath been already faid of this Splendor and Emanation of the Eternal Light, may partly explain what is meant by χαρακτήρ ἢ ὑποτάσεως, and by εἰκὼν : For it cannot be imagin'd that the firft fhould be infeparable, a neceffary Emanation from, and the fame with, the Eternal Light, and yet the very next Words fhould declare him to be fuch an image as is but a Picture, a Reprefentation of it, but in Nature and Effence different from it: Andante properly fignifies the Impreffion, the Form; fo that in Him, I may fay, was imprinted the Godhead, or, as the Apoftle fays, In Him dwelleth all the Fulness of the Godhead: And, as He again fays, who being in the Form of God, thought it not Robbery to be equal with God; and who can be equal with God, or in the Form of God, but who is God, Infinite and Eternal? And that the Apoftle fo means, is plain by the Expreffion following, which is apply'd to his Manhood; Taking the Form of a Servant, being made in the Likeness of Man. So then we muft either with the Gnofticks deny the Reality of Chrift's Coming in the Flesh, or we must own, that He, by being in the Form of God, was de

clar'd