Paul at Rome, A. D. 61 and 62, and then by this one apoftle only. Writing to the Ephefians, he fays (ch. iii. 9) to make all men fee what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God, who created all things by fefus Chrift. This is only an incidental expreffion at the close of a sentence, the object of which was to teach fomething else; alfo both the terms creation, and all things, are of very uncertain fignification, and therefore, may well be fuppofed to refer to what is figuratively called the new creation, or the reformation of the world.

The fame apostle, in the epiftle to the Colloffians (ch. i. 15) says of Christ, who is the image of the invifible God, the first born of every creature. For by him were all things created, that are in heaven and that are in earth, vifible and invifible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities or power's. All things were created by him and for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things confift; and he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstVOL, I.

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burn from the dead, that in all things he might have the pre-eminence. On this passage it is obvious to remark, that the things which Christ is said to have made are not the heavens or the earth, but some things that were in the heavens, and in the earth; and these were not natural objects, such as stars or planets, trees or animals, &c. but the creation, or establishment, of such things as thrones and dominions, and therefore may naturally be interpreted as referring to some exercise of that power in beaven and in earth, which Christ says was given to him after his resurrection. Also, as his being the head of the body, the church, is mentiòned after all the other particulars; it is most probable that this power, whatever it was, related only to his church, and that it had nothing to do with the creation of the heavens or the earth.

In the epistle to the Hebrews, the apostle says (ch. i. 1, &c.) God, who, at fundry times, and in divers manners, Spake in times. past unto the Fathers, by the prophets, hath, in these last days Spoken unto us by his Son; whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by

whom alfo he made the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory, and the exprefs image of his perfon, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our fins, fat down on the right hand of the majefty on high.

In this paffage it is evident, that it was not the object of the writer to make an exprefs affertion concerning the making of the world by Christ, so as to exhibit it as an article of any confequence. He was afferting fomething else; and what he does fay on the fubject is only one incidental circumstance, among feveral others. And is it to be supposed that a doctrine of this importance would never be laid down but in such a manner as this. Befides, nothing is here faid, or intimated, about Christ making the material worlds, for it is only said that he made the ages (awras) and the all things here mentioned evidently means all things relating to a particular object, viz. the miffion of Chrift, and not all the works of nature.

Lastly, in the introduction to the gospel of John, we read, In the beginning was the word,

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word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. All things were made by him (or, rather by it) and without him (it) was not any thing made that was made. In this celebrated paffage, there is no mention, as I obferved before, of Chrift, and that the word (logos) means Chrift is not to be taken for granted; fince another interpretation is very obvious and natural, viz. that the word here fpoken of is the proper word, or power of God, by which the fcriptures of the Old Teftament inform us, that all things were actually made. Thus the Pfalmift says, Pf. xxxiii. 6, &c. By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the hoft of them by the breath of his mouth. He Spake and it was done, he commanded and it food faft. The fame word or power refided in Christ, and performed all his miraculous works. Agreeably to which he himself fays, the Father within me he does the works.

On the flender foundation of these four paffages, refts the great doctrine of Chrift having been the inftrument in the hands of God of making the world and all things. When they are all put together, and even fhutting

fhutting our eyes on all the direct and positive evidence that the world was made by the supreme being himself, and by no other acting under him, can it be said that they all together amount to a sufficiently clear declaration of a doctrine of so much magnitude as the Arian hypothesis is, viz. that Christ, having been first created himself, did (and, as far as appears, without any previous essays or efforts) immediately makė the whole system of the visible universe, and from that time support all the laws of it, himself only being supported, or perhaps unsupported, by the Father.

Where would have been the evidence of the Arian hypothesis, if Paul had not written the two epistles to the Ephesians and the Colossians, which are supposed to contain it. For, little as is the evidence for this doctrine from the passages I have recited from these epistles, it is much greater than that which can be derived from the two others. And had neither the epistles themselves, nor the introduction to the gospel of John been ever written, it would not have been suspected that F 3

any