was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead; even Jesus Christ our Lord.' Again it is written that, 'as concerning the flesh,' Christ is an Israelite; and then come the words 'Who ¹ is over all, God blessed for ever.' Again it is written that God the Father 'delivered ² us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love; in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him were all things created, ³ in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and unto him; and he is before all things, and in him all things consist . . . . For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in him should all the fulness dwell.' By using such an expression as 'the image of the invisible God', the Apostle is endeavouring to teach merely the same truth which the Lord Jesus Christ Himself taught when He said: 'He ⁴ that hath seen me hath seen the Father,' or, in other words, that he is the only manifestation of God (مَظْهَرُ الله). The

title 'firstborn of all creation' means 'heir ¹ of all creation', as the Son of God. It is also declared that all the fulness of Deity dwells in him, and that he is the creator of the whole universe. So also it is written in the same Epistle that 'In ² him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, . . . who is the head of all principality and power.'

The first chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews teaches precisely the same doctrine. In that chapter passages are quoted from the Old Testament to show that the prophets, long before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, were taught by inspiration to bear witness to His supreme greatness and dignity of nature (ذات). Thus it is written 'God,³ having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners, hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made ⁴ the worlds; who being the effulgence of his glory, and the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had made purification of sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; having become by so much better than the angels, as he hath inherited ⁵ a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said he at any time,