S. 1. Although some things have
already been said in the previous chapter about the son of God, who is the
first born of all creatures, nevertheless many things remain to be said about
this matter which are necessary for the correct understanding of what follows;
hence for that reason we write this chapter. By the son of God (the first born
of all creatures, whom we Christians call Jesus Christ, according to Scripture,
as shown above) is understood not only his divinity but his humanity in eternal
union with the Divinity; that is, his celestial humanity was united with the
Divinity before the creation of the world and before his incarnation. The
ancient Kabbalists have written many things about this, namely, how the son of
God was created, how his existence in the order of nature preceded all
creatures; how everything is blessed and receives holiness in him and through
him, whom they call in their writings the celestial Adam, or the first man Adam
Kadmon, the great priest, the husband or betrothed of the church, or as Philo
Judaeus3 called him, the first-born son of God.
S. 2. This son of God, the first
born of all creatures, namely this celestial Adam and great priest, as the most
learned Jews call him, is, properly speaking, the mediator between God and the
creatures. The existence of such a mediator is as demonstrable as the existence
of God, as long as such a being is understood to be of a lesser nature than God
and yet of a greater and more excellent nature than all remaining creatures. On
account of his excellence he is rightly called the son of God. (Anne Conway, The
Principles of the Most Ancient and Modern Philosophy [trans. Alison P.
Coudert; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996], 23-24)
Furthermore, since it agrees with
sound reason and with the order of things that just as God is one and does not
have two or three or more distinct substances in himself, and just as Christ is
one simple Christ without further distinct substances in himself (insofar as he
is the celestial man or Adam, the first of all creatures), so likewise all
creatures, or the whole of creation, are also a single species in substance or
essence, although it includes many individuals gathered into subordinate
species and distinguished from each other modally but not substantially or
essentially. Thus, what Paul says about human beings can also be understood
about all creatures (which in their primitive and original state were a certain
species of human being designated according to their virtues, as will be
shown), namely, that God made all tribes and troops of creatures from one
blood. Surely this is the explanation of the following two things: that God
made all tribes of human beings from one blood so that they would love one
another and would be bound by the same sympathy and would help one another.
Thus God has implanted a certain universal sympathy and mutual love into his
creatures so that they are all members of one body and all, so to speak,
brothers, for whom there is one common Father, namely, God in Christ or the
word incarnate. There is also one mother, that unique substance or entity from
which all things have come forth, and of which they are the real parts and
members. And although sin has weakened this love and sympathy in creatures to
an astonishing degree, nevertheless it has not altogether destroyed it. (Ibid.,
30-31, my thanks to my friend Allen Hansen for making me aware of this work)
