Testimonies.

1. That Christ is the First-born, and that He is the Wisdom of God, by whom all things were made.

In Solomon in the Proverbs: “The Lord established117    Jer. vii. 25; xxv. 4.    [Condidit. Bull, Opp., v. p. 515.  ἐκτήσατο, Jerome; ἔκτισε,alii. See Justin, vol. i. p. 264; Athenagoras, vol. ii. p. 133; Clement, ib., p. 194; and see note, Oxford translation. See Irenæus, vol. i. p. 488.] me in the beginning of His ways, into His works: before the world He founded me. In the beginning, before He made the earth, and before He appointed the abysses, before the fountains of waters gushed forth, before the mountains were settled, before all the hills, the Lord begot me. He made the countries, and the uninhabitable places, and the uninhabitable bounds under heaven. When He prepared the heaven, I was present with Him; and when He set apart His seat. When He made the strong clouds above the winds, and when He placed the strengthened fountains under heaven, when He made the mighty foundations of the earth, I was by His side, ordering them: I was He in whom He delighted: moreover, I daily rejoiced before His face in all time, when He rejoiced in the perfected earth.”118    The words “and again” are sometimes omitted; and sometimes read “Moreover, in the same place.”    Prov. viii. 22–31. Also in the same in Ecclesiasticus: “I went forth out of the mouth of the Most High, first-born before every creature: I made the unwearying light to rise in the heavens, and I covered the whole earth with a cloud: I dwelt in the high places, and my throne in the pillar of the cloud: I compassed the circle of heaven, and I penetrated into the depth of the abyss, and I walked on the waves of the sea, and I stood in all the earth; and in every people and in every nation I had the pre-eminence, and by my own strength I have trodden the hearts of all the excellent and the humble: in me is all hope of life and virtue: pass over to me, all ye who desire me.”119    Jer. xxv. 6, 7.    Ecclus. xxiv. 3–7. Also in the eighty-eighth Psalm: “And I will establish Him as my first-born, the highest among the kings of the earth. I will keep my mercy for Him for ever, and my faithful covenant for Him; and I will establish his seed for ever and ever. If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they profane my judgments, and do not observe my precepts, I will visit their wickednesses with a rod, and their sins with scourges; but my mercy will I not scatter away from them.”120    1 Kings xix. 10.    Ps. lxxxix. 27–33. Also in the Gospel according to John, the Lord says: “And this is life eternal, that they should know Thee, the only and true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do.  And now, do Thou glorify me with Thyself, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was made.”121    Neh. ix. 26.    John xvii. 3–5. Also Paul to the Colossians: “Who is the image of the invisible God, and the first-born of every creature.”122    Col. i. 15. Also in the same place:  “The first-born from the dead, that He might in all things become the holder of the pre-eminence.”123    Col. i. 18. In the Apocalypse too:  “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto Him that is thirsting from the fountain of the water of life freely.”124    Rev. xxi. 6. That He also is both the wisdom and the power of God, Paul proves in his first Epistle to the Corinthians. “Because the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews indeed a stumbling-block, and to the Gentiles foolishness; but to them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”125    1 Cor. i. 22–24.

CAP. I.---CHRISTUM PRIMOGENITUM ESSE, ET IPSUM ESSE SAPIENTIAM DEI, PER QUEM OMNIA FACTA SUNT.

APUD Salomonem in Proverbiis: Dominus condidit me in initio viarum suarum, in opera sua ante saeculum fundavit me. In principio antequam terram faceret et antequam abyssos constitueret, priusquam procederent fontes aquarum, antequam montes collocarentur, ante omnes colles genuit me Dominus. Fecit regiones et inhabitabilia et fines inhabitabiles sub coelo. Cum pararet coelum, aderam illi, et cum secerneret suam sedem. Cum super ventos validas faceret desuper nubes, et cum confirmatos ponebat fontes sub coelo, quando fortia 0696C faciebat fundamenta terrae, eram penes illum disponens. Ego eram cui adgaudebat. Quotidie autem jucundabar ante faciem ejus in omni tempore cum laetaretur orbe perfecto (Prov. VIII, 22). Item apud eumdem in Ecclesiastico: Ego ex ore Altissimi prodivi primogenita ante omnem creaturam. Ego in coelis feci ut oriretur lumen indeficiens, et nebula texi omnem terram. Ego in 0697A altis habitavi, et thronus meus in columna nubis. Gyrum coeli circuivi , et in profundum abyssi penetravi, et in fluctibus maris ambulavi, et in omni terra steti, et in omni populo et in omni gente primatum habui , et omnium excellentium et humilium corda propria virtute calcavi. In me omnis spes vitae et virtutis . Transite ad me, omnes qui concupiscitis me (Eccli. XXIV, 5). Item in Psalmo LXXXVIII: Et ego primogenitum ponam eum , altissimum apud reges terrae. In aeternum servabo illi misericordiam meam et testamentum meum fidele illi, et ponam in saeculum saeculi semen ejus . Si dereliquerint filii ejus legem meam, et in judiciis meis non ambulaverint, si justificationes meas profanaverint et praecepta mea non observaverint, visitabo in virga facinora eorum et in flagellis delicta eorum. Misericordiam autem meam non dispergam ab eis. Item in Evangelio 0697B cata Joannem Dominus dicit: Haec autem est vita aeterna, ut cognoscant te solum et verum Deum, et quem misisti, Jesum Christum. Ego te clarificavi in terra , opus perfeci quod dedisti mihi ut faciam. Et nunc tu clarifica me apud te ipsum claritate quam habui apud te priusquam mundus fieret (Joan. XVII, 3). Item Paulus ad Colossenses: Qui est imago Dei invisibilis et primogenitus totius creaturae (Coloss. I, 15). Item illic: Primogenitus a mortuis, ut fieret in omnibus ipse primatum tenens. Item in Apocalypsi: Ego sum α et ω, initium et finis. Ego sitienti dabo de fonte aquae vitae gratis (Apoc. XXI, 6). Quod idem sit et sapientia et virtus Dei. Paulus ad Corinthios I: Quoniam Judaei signa desiderant , et Graeci prudentiam quaerunt. Nos autem praedicamus Christum crucifixum, Judaeis 0697C quidem scandalum, Gentibus autem stultitiam, ipsis autem vocatis Judaeis et Graecis Christum Dei virtutem et Dei sapientiam (I Cor. I, 22).