XVI. The word paverla signifies originally, to be brought forth into light; and thence, simply, to exist: as when we read, "It was never so seen," it never so appeared," in Israel." The multitude, who uttered these words, by no means intended that similar works had, in reality, been done in Israel, though they had not appeared; but simply, that nothing similar had ever happened. Things that do appear,"* are things actually existing, which stand in no need of the Divine call to cause them to be, or to appear. "Things which do not appear," are nothing,-" things not existing,"‡ which indispensably require to be called into existence by the power of God, before they can appear. Rom.iv.17. XVII. Schlichtingius, an erroneous interpreter, perverting, as usual, the sense of the Apostle, affirms that the things which do not appear, are those elements of things which were in a state of confusion at the beginning of the world. He infers from these words of the Apostle, what, he contends, is apparent also from the history of the creation of the world as recorded by Moses; that God, when he made this world, or when he began the creation described at the beginning of Genesis, did not make it absolutely of nothing, but of that mass which was without form, and covered with darkHe quotes, too, this expression used by the writer of the book of WISDOM, 'apogpou vans, " of matter without form;" which the Latin Translator renders ex materia invisa, "of unseen matter." He affirms, at the same time, that no mention is made in holy writ of the creation of this matter. Volkelius reasons at great length in the same absurd style,* and adds this observation; that in the Greek Version of the Old Testament, which the New Testament writers generally follow, the earth is called invisiblet in that passage, where, in the Hebrew, it is denominated void. XVIII. The design for which these remarks are brought forward, is to make us believe that something besides God existed before the creation of the world, and to weaken the force of that argument in support of the true Deity of Christ, which our Divines are accustomed to derive from his existing before the world ;-which, according to the language of Scripture, denotes eternity. XIX. But the heretics miss their aim; for the Mosaic history expressly declares, that God made that earth which was "without form and void," and covered with thick darkness. The words run thus: "In the 66 beginning God created the heaven and the earth. "And the earth was without form and void." The obvious meaning is, that the earths which God created was then, when first made, a mass without form and void. It was not, therefore, created out of a shapeless Whence then was it created? What remains mass. but-nothing? xx. If they urge, that the first verse contains a summary of the whole work, and that, in the subsequent verses, it is particularly shown whence all other things were created; we answer, that, even allowing the first part of this assertion to be true, it was far from the intention of Moses to intimate that what in the first verse he calls the heaven and the earth," was formed of that matter which in the second verse he calls the earth " without form and void." But, after he had comprehended all things under the denomination of the heaven and the earth, saying nothing further with regard to the highest heaven, in which God has prepared his throne, he shows, in the following verses, what was the state of the earth when it first proceeded from the hand of God, and in what manner and order all other things were formed out of it. Vatablus, to whom Volkelius appeals in this cause, expresses himself in the following terms: "You may clearly understand it thus; "In the beginning, when God created the heaven and "the earth, the earth was then without form, &c. By "the heaven he intends the celestial bodies, and by the 66 earth, the terrestrial. He sets forth, at first, the "whole universe, that its Author may be known,— "that it may be understood, both that the world did not "exist from eternity, and also that God created some"thing out of nothing." Do writers who express themselves in such terms as these, agree with the heretics? XXI. It is not necessary for us, besides, to admit that the first verse briefly comprehends all those works which are afterwards particularly detailed. The opinion of David Kimchi, in which a great number of Divines both ancient and modern acquiesce, appears to me to be highly probable. He considers the order of the creation as here propounded by Moses in this manner: That, first of all, God created the heaven, that is, the highest heaven with the angels; then the earth, the first appearance and condition of which are described in the second verse, and out of which other creatures were subsequently formed. And it is called " without form and void," in opposition to heaven, which was immediately carried to its full perfection, and replenished with inhabitants. XXII. Moses, indeed, mentions that the earth was at first covered with water, and involved in thick darkness; and the Greek Interpreters, failing to express properly the sense of the Hebrew term, have called it "invisible." It cannot, however, be proved from any resemblance betwixt the expressions, which are considerably dissimilar, that the Apostle alluded to this passage. "The things which do not appear," mentioned by Paul, and "the invisible earth," mentioned by the Greek Interpreters, are, in reality, quite different from each other. When Paul speaks of " the things which do not appear," he refers to the state of things prior to the creation.§ "The invisible earth," on the contrary, does not signify a mass existing before the creation, but the second part of the universe, which, as well as the heaven, was created on the first day. Those who wrest these expressions to any other meaning, offer manifest violence, not only to the Mosaic history, but also to the whole tenor of Scripture. We have now spoken of the former; let us proceed to the latter. XXIII. If this pretended matter of which the world was made, existed previously, I ask, was it previously made of nothing by God, or was it really self-existent, and co-eternal with God? The one or the other of these is unavoidable; but both are contrary to holy writ. XXIV. The matter in question, was not made before the creation of which Moses gives an account: for the Mosaic creation took place "in the beginning;" and the beginning of something else prior to this universal beginning cannot be alleged, without contradicting the sacred historian. The Scripture, too, makes the pre • Αόρατος. + Τα μη φαινομενα. בראשיח: || 66 eminence of the Supreme Being above all others, to con-sist in this, that he existed" before the mountains were brought forth, ere ever the earth and the world were "formed;" and God himself urges this as a proof of his Deity; "Yea, before the day was, I am he."s In short, whatever existed before the beginning, ere ever the earth was, existed before all time—according to the phraseology of Scripture, was ETERNAL-was before the works of God-and could not have been made. xxv. Besides, whoever denies that this matter was made, is not afraid to contradict the four-and-twenty Elders in heaven, who thus address themselves to God in their song of praise: THOU HAst created alL THINGS." Nor does he scruple to contradict the Apostles John and Paul, who teach the same doctrine in John i. 3. Col. i. 16.—passages which, in defiance of truth, are applied by the heretics to the new creation of things by the Gospel. If these declarations of the Elders and Apostles are certain, as unquestionably they are, it is also certain, that this original matter of the world is either a mere figment, and indeed absolutely nothing, or that it was created by God. XXVI. Further, if this matter both existed from eternity, and existed of itself, and thus was indebted to God for nothing it possessed, what right had God to it? or what title had he, to fashion it according to his pleasure? Basil Basil says, "If it was, in reality, uncreated, it "must be esteemed worthy of the same honours with "God."* Our adversaries, on other occasions, contend that every right of God in relation to the creatures arises either from a favour conferred by him upon them, |