fountains, before the foundation of the mountains, before all hills, he brought me forth. When he When he prepared the heavens, I was present with him, and when he established the fountains under the heavens, I was with him, adjusting them. I was his delight; daily I exulted before him at all times, when he rejoiced that he had completed the world." That the Divine Word, therefore, pre-existed and appeared, if not to all, at least to some, has been thus briefly shown.

The reason, however, why this was not also proclaimed before in ancient times, to all men and all nations, as it is now, will appear from the following considerations. The life of men, in ancient times, was not in a situation to receive the doctrine of Christ, in the all-comprehensive fulness of its wisdom and its virtue. For immediately in the beginning, after that happy state, the first man, neglecting the Divine commands, fell into the present mortal and afflicted condition, and exchanged his former divine enjoyment for the present earth, subject to the curse. The descendants of this one, having filled our earth, and proved themselves much worse, excepting one here and another there, commenced a certain brutal and disorderly mode of life. They had neither city nor state, no arts or sciences, even in contemplation. Laws and justice, virtue and philosophy they knew not, even in name. They wandered lawless through the desert, like savage and fierce animals, destroying the intellectual faculty of man, and exterminating the very seeds of reason and culture of the human mind, by the excesses of determined wickedness, and by a total surrender of themselves to every species of iniquity.

Hence, at one time they corrupted each other by criminal intercourse; at another, they murdered; and at others, fed upon human flesh. Hence too, their audacity, in venturing to wage war with the Deity himself; and hence those battles of the giants, celebrated by all. Hence too, their attempts to wall up the earth against heaven, and by the madness of a perverted mind, to pre

pare an attack upon the supreme God himself. Upon these men, leading a life of such wickedness, the Omniscient God sent down inundations and conflagrations, as upon a forest scattered over the earth. He cut them down with successive famines and pestilence, with constant wars and thunderbolts, as if to suppress the dreadful and obdurate disease of the soul, with his more severe punishments. Then it was, when the excess of malignity had nearly overwhelmed all the world, like a deep fit of drunkenness overshadowing and beclouding the minds of men-then it was, that the first-begotten Wisdom of God, existing before all creatures, and the self-same pre-existing Word, induced by his exceeding love of man, appeared at times to his servants, in visions of angels; at others, in his own person. As the salutary power of God, he was seen by one and the other of the pious in ancient times, in the shape of man, because it was impossible to appear in any other way. And as by these pious men, the seeds of godliness had been already scattered among the mass of mankind, and the whole nation that claimed its origin from those ancient Hebrews, continued devoted to the worship of God-to these, therefore, as to a multitude still affected by former corrupt practices, he imparted, through Moses, images and signs of a certain mystical Sabbath and circumcision, and instructions in other spiritual principles, but did not yet grant the privilege of an immediate initiation. But when their law obtained celebrity, and like a fragrant odour was spread abroad among all men; and by means of this law, the dispositions of men, and philosophers every where, who softened their wild and savage ferocity, so as to enjoy settled peace, friendship, and even among most of the gentiles, were improved by legislators' mutual intercourse; then it was, when men at length throughout the whole world, and in all nations, had been as it were, previously prepared and fitted for the reception of the knowledge of the Father, that he himself again appeared, the master of virtue, the minister of the Father in all goodness, the divine and celestial Word of God. He appeared in a human body,

in substance not differing from our own nature, at the commencement of the Roman empire; and performed and suffered such things as were to follow, according to prophecy, viz. that man and God, the author of miraculous works, would dwell in the world, and would be exhibited to all the nations as the teacher of that piety which the Father will approve. In these prophecies, also, were foretold the extraordinary fact of his birth, his new doctrine, and his wonderful works; as also the manner of his death, his resurrection from the dead, and finally his divine return to the heavens. The prophet Daniel, under the influence of the divine Spirit, foreseeing his kingdom in the end, was inspired thus to write and describe his vision, in adaptation to human capacity, in the following language: "I beheld," said he, until the thrones were placed; and the Ancient of Days sat, and his garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head was as pure wool; his throne was a flame of fire, his wheels burning fire; a river of fire rolled before him; thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand thousands stood near him. He appointed judgment, and the books were opened." "And next, I beheld," says he, "and lo! one coming with the clouds as the Son of Man, and he advanced as far as the Ancient of Days, and he was brought into his presence. And to him was given the dominion, and the glory, and the kingdom, and all people, tribes, tongues shall serve him. His power is an everlasting power, which shall not pass away; and his kingdom shall not be destroyed." These passages can evidently be referred to no one but to our Saviour, that God-word* which was in the beginning with God; called the Son of God, by reason of his final appearance in the flesh. But having collected the prophetic declarations concerning our Saviour Jesus Christ, in distinct commentariest on this subject, and having elsewhere digested whatever is revealed concerning him, in a more

God-word. The literal expression is retained here.

+ Commentaries. Eusebius here refers to two other works of his, written before this history-his " Preparation" and " Demonstration."

66

demonstrable form, what has been said upon

here may suffice for the present.

CHAPTER III.

the subject

THE NAME JESUS, AS ALSO THAT OF CHRIST, WAS BOTH KNOWN

AND HONOURED FROM ANCIENT TIMES, BY THE INSPIRED

PROPHETS.

It is now the proper place to show that the very name of JESUS, as also that of CHRIST, was honoured by the pious prophets of old. And first, Moses himself, having intimated how exceedingly august and illustrious the name of Christ is, delivering types and mystical images, according to the oracle which declared to him, "See that thou make all things according to the pattern which was shown thee on the mount,"-the same man whom, as far as it was lawful, he had called the high priest of God, the self-same he calls Christ.* And in this way, to the dignity of the priesthood, which surpasses with him all superiority among men, as additional honour and glory, he attaches the name of Christ. Hence he evidently understood that Christ was a being Divine. The same Moses, under the divine Spirit, foreseeing also the epithet Jesus, likewise dignifies this with a certain distinguished privilege. For this name, which had never been uttered among men before Moses, he applies first to him alone who, by a type and sign, he knew would be his successor, after his death, in the government of the nation. His successor, therefore, who had not assumed the appellation Jesus,† (Joshua,) before this period, being called by his other name Oshea, which his parents had given, was called by Moses Jesus, (Jehoshua, Joshua.) Num. xiii. 17. This name, as an honourable distinction, far superior

Christ. Christ and Messiah, the same epithets in different languages, signify anointed, or the anointed one.

Jesus. By some corruption of the name of Joshua, Eusebius calls him Ause. Jesus is the Greek form, for the more Hebrew Joshua. The Septuagint invariably uses the former, and in two instances it is retained in our English version, Acts vii. 45. Heb. iv. 8.

to any royal diadem, was conferred on Joshua, because Joshua the son of Nun bore a resemblance to our Saviour, as the only one after Moses, and because of the completion of that symbolical worship given through him, that should succeed him in a government of pure and undefiled religion. Thus Moses attaches the name of our Saviour Jesus Christ, as the greatest honour, to two men, who, according to him, excelled all the rest in virtue and glory; the one to the high priest, the other to him that should have the government after him. But the prophets that lived subsequently to these times, also plainly announced Christ before by name; whilst at the same time they foretold the machinations of the Jews against him, and the calling of the Gentiles through him. Jeremiah bears testimony, speaking thus: "The breath* (the spirit,) before our face, Christ the Lord, was taken away in their destructions; of whom we said, Under his shadow will we live among the nations." Lam. iv. 20. David also, fixed in astonishment, speaks of him as follows: "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ." To which he afterwards adds, in the person of Christ himself: "The Lord said to me, thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee; ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." Ps. ii.

Nor was the name of Christ among the Hebrews, given solely as an honour to those that were dignified with the priesthood, in consequence of their being anointed with oil prepared for the purpose, as a sacred symbol; the same was done also to the kings, whom the prophets, after anointing them under a divine impulse,

* This passage from Jeremiah is rendered as the above from the Septuagint, as quoted by Eusebius. In our English version, the force of the allusion is not perceptible, but the Hebrew fully admits the Greek version as here given.