pel of John *."

"If there be any other

"things," fays Austin,

" which intimate

"to the intelligent the divinity of Christ, " in which he is equal to the Father, John "almost alone has introduced them into "his gospel; as having drank more familiarly, and more copiously, the fecret of "his divinity, from the breaft of our Lord,

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on which he was used to lean at meat †.” On this account he compares John to an eagle‡. "The other evangelifts," he fays, "who treat of the humanity of Chrift, were "like animals that walk on the earth; but John, contemplating the power of his divinity more fublimely, flies to heaven.

* At vero de cælefta generatione fi quæris lege evangelium fancti Joannis. In Luc. cap. 2. Opera, vol. 2. p.

26.

† Et fi qua alia funt quæ Chrifti divinitatem in qua æqualis eft patri, recte intelligentibus intiment, pene folus Johannes in evangelio fuo pofuit: tanquam de pectore ipfius domini, fuper quod difcurr.bere in ejus convivio folitus erat, fecretum divinitatis ejus uberius et quodammodo familiarius biberit. De Confenfu Evangeliftarum, lib. 1. cap. 5. Opera, vol. 4. p. 374.1

"with the Lord *." "But now, with an

open voice, he fays, that he is God, and "was always with God, laying open the "mystery of God†.

A very particular and copious account of the pre-eminence of John, in confequence of his teaching the doctrines of the preexistence and divinity of Chrift, which had been omitted by the other evangelists, may likewise be seen in the epiftle of Paulinus, which I put in the notes ‡.

* Cæteri quippe evangelifta, qui temporalem Christi nativitatem et temporalia ejus facta, quæ geffit in homine, fufficienter exponunt, et de divinitate pauca dixerunt, quafi animalia greffibilia cum domino ambulant in terra: hic autem pauca de temporalibus ejus geftis edifferens, fed divinitalis potentiam fublimius contemplans, cum domino ad cœlum volat. In John Pref. Opera, vol. 9. p.

Cyril of Alexandria says, that "John "was the first who taught more fublime

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things*." Marius Mercator fays, that the three former evangelifts, having spoken of Christ as a man, John fhewed him to be God +."

tempore, fed primus in capite facramenti, quippe qui folus e quatuor fluminibus ex ipfo fummo divini capitis fonte decurrens, de nube fublimi tonat: in principio erat verbum, et verbum erat apud deum, et deus erat verbum : tranfcendit Moyfen, qui ufque ad caput mundi et vifibilium creaturarum exordia fcientiæ terminos, et faciem mentis extendit. Ifte et evangeliftis cæteris, vel ab humano falvatoris ortu, vel a typico legis facrificio, vel a prophetico præcurforis baptiftæ præconio, refurrectionis evangelium exorfis, altius volans penetravit et coelos. Neque in angelis ftetit, fed archangelos quoque et omnes defuper creaturas, virtutes, principatus, dominationes, thronos, fupergreffus, in ipfum fe creatorem ardua mente direxit, et ab illa ineffabili generatione ordiens, et coeternum et confubftantialem, et co-omnipotentem, et co-opificem patri filium nunciavit. Ad Amandum, p. 213.

Joannes theologus, tonitrui filius, cui divina dignatione conceffum, ut fupra dominicum pectus recubuerit, indeque nobis fublimiora ac divina hauferit dogmata: cum excellentem erga nos dei benignitatem commendare vellet, primumque quæ diviniora funt dixiffet, utpote ifta, in principio erat verbum. Hom. Opera, vol. 2. p. 75.

+ Poft quam præfationem fubdefcendens, ut oftenderet quem illi tres evangeliftæ hominem fcripferant, effe etiam deum. Opera, p. 165.

VOL, III.

L

Cofmas

Cofmas Indicopleuftes, defcribing John as theologus, and the chief of the evangelifts, fays, that he wrote to supply the "defects of the former evangelists, and

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especially in preaching clearly the divi

nity of Christ, making that the founda"tion of his work, all which had been "omitted by the others. Wherefore, beginning at his divinity, he immediately paffed to his humanity *.”

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John," fays Nicephorus, " did not give "an account of the carnal generation of Jefus, but he first taught his divinity; "this being referved for him, as the most "worthy, by the Holy Spirit +."

"Wherefore, John," fays Theophylact, began with the divinity of Christ. For "whereas others had made no mention of "his existence before the ages, he taught

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"that doctrine, left the logos of God "should have been thought to be a mere "man, without any divinity*." Again," he fays, "John wrote left men should never " think highly concerning Chrift, and ima "gine that he had no being before he was « born of Mary, and that he was not gene"rated from God the Father, which was the • cafe with Paulus Samofatenfis +. σε As

John,” he fays, "has more lofty things « of Chrift than any other of the evange• lifts, fo he has recorded fome of a lower nature; to fhew that, as he was God, fo " he was truly man F.

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Laftly, an account of John's teaching the pre-exiftence and divinity of Chrift, may

Επει γαρ οι άλλοι εκε εμνήσθησαν περι της που αιώνων υπαρξεως το θεό λόγο, αυλος έθεολόγησε περι ταύτης, ινα μη νομισθείη ο τε θες λόγο ψιλος άνθρωπος είναι. In Matt. Pref. vol. r. p. I, 2. + Δεός μεν ην μη πόλε τινες χαμαιπείεις και μηδεν υψηλόν νοήσαι δυναμένοι, νομίσωσι τον χρισον τότε πρωθον εις υπαρξιν ελθείν ότι απο ΜαΓριας εγεννήθη, και εχι προ αιώνων εκ τε πατρος γεννηθήναι, ο πάντων πεπονθὲ ΠαυλΘ- ο Σαμοσατεύς. In John, cap. r. vol. r. p. 553

* Επει γαρ παρά πάντας της ευαγγελίσας υψηλότερα περι το κύριο φθεγεία, καὶ θεολογεί μεγάλα τινα, δια τετο και εν τοις σωματικοις πολυ ταπεινοτερα φθεγεται. οθεν και εν τω πείθει πολυ το ανθρωπινον έχειν φησιν, από τότε δεικνύων

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